Getting home was an adventure

It seems as though I rarely write much in the days after Christmas.  Generally we are traveling (as we did this year), and generally we are spending time as a family having fun.  Swim practices have made the family fun part a little more challenging, but we are still enjoying life together.  We haven't been able to do anything "big", but we did make the trip to visit my in-laws.  We were only there for about 40 hours but it was a nice visit.  The trip home however, was a bit of an adventure.  I had fallen asleep shortly after leaving, but woke up when we stopped for gas about 75 minutes into the trip.  As Andrew was cleaning the back window, I noticed smoke coming from under the hood and smelled an absolutely horrible smell.  Andrew raised the hood and we noticed something that seemed to be leaking.  He checked the oil which was dangerously low, so we filled it, and then decided since things weren't running hot, the rpm's were in the normal range and no "check engine" light was on, we'd try to venture further.  We stopped again about a half hour later and while there was still some smoke and smell, the oil was still fine and the van was running fine.  We drove another 90 minutes, and this time when we stopped there was no smoke at all, and only a slight smell.  We were feeling pretty good about life and knew we were about 90 minutes from home...almost there!  We were cruising right along until about 30 miles away when the "check engine" light came on.  We pulled into a parking lot, and sure enough the smell and smoke had returned.  The oil was still fine, so we decided to try to make it home.  The van began sputtering as we continued, and I really didn't think we were going to make it.  As it turns out though, it was fine out of town where it was able to maintain a more constant speed.  We got home, unloaded, and drove straight to the mechanic.  They were able to diagnose the problem and fortunately it was a relatively inexpensive hose assembly that needed replaced.  We are still concerned as to why the oil was so low, but we'll keep an eye on that.  Very grateful that we've purchased that third vehicle so we haven't had to be down to one vehicle since the van is still in the shop.  That drive home was much more of an adventure that I had been wanting!