Last Post

Could be the last post of this year!

Up way early on Friday intending to drive all the way home in one day - and we were doing very well until desister struck!!
Our car blew a tire, not just a little flat tire - no no no - a big, you can't even see a hole, blow out!!  Gene was able to safely pull the car over to the side of the road and we got out and inspected the damage. 

I must tell you what happened before we took this trip:  Our trusty old vehicle acquired a dent in one of the fenders, everyone noticed it and mentioned it, however, it wasn't bad enough to take it in and pat the insurance deductible and have it fixed.  So my HH decided to fix it himself.  In the process of taking the tire off so he could pound out the dent he discovered the the lug wrench that came with the car did not fit the lugs on the wheels so if we had a flat, we would be in deep and serious.  Therefore he acquired the correct lug wrench - so when this tire blue we had the equipment to change the tire. 

Did I mention that our Cell Phone battery was dead - and that our DC charger was defective and would not charge.  You get the picture a flat tire and no phone.

To continue, Gene changed the tire - we have a little doughnut spare tire - instructions say don't drive over 50 mph and don't go more than 50 miles.  We put the "fake" tire on and checked GERT our GPS to see where the nearest town was. (we were in the wilds of Wyoming) the closest town was only 3-4 miles - easy.  We drove into Gelnco and found that town so small there was no way we could buy a tire - the next closest was Wheatland - about 30 miles.  Our "fake" tire didn't have enough air, so Gene ask if they had air, They did, however they didn't know if it worked or not - it DID NOT!!  Fortunately my sweet husband had put his compressor that blows up bike tires in the car - in 20 to 30 minutes, we had air in the "fake" tire.  Also I noticed in the convince store "Howards" that they had an assortment of phone charges, found one that would fit our phone and paid a whooping $12.00 for it - so now we have a small tire with air and a phone charger so so would have a phone.

We drove the 30 miles to  Wheatland feeling confident we could buy a "real" tire there and get home safely.  Wheatland had 3-4 tire shops, however, only one tire that would fit our car and it is a snow tire.  OK, OK, we bought it - We had lost a couple of hours so found a hotel in Rowland and settled down until the next day.  Made it home safely on Saturday!!

So does any one need an 18" Snow Tire?  Or it will set in our garage until you know what freezes over. 

I also must let you know how grateful we are for the love and protection of our Heavenly Father - we pulled over safely - we had the tools to change the tire, and later the tools to put enough air in the "fake" tire and we had the funds to buy a tire to get us home.  I know that Heavenly Father and his Son Jesus Christ knows us and are mindful of us!!  We must have more to do in this life, I'm not quite sure what but we are home safe and sound with more opportunities ahead!!

I hope all of you enjoy Conference this weekend, I've cleared my calender so I can hunker down and listen to the the Prophets!!!

The Rest of the Story

Sooooo Wednesday evening  we have a descent room (Big Sky Lodge) in (Rapid City, S.D.) I finally remembered where we were.

We couldn't take "The City Tour" because they closed that down after Labor Day, but they do have one called "The Trolley Tour" - sorry we missed that.  However, we did drive around the city, it's a quaint city.  On many of the corners down town there is a life size statue of one of the presidents of the United States.  Did you know Rapid City, S.D. was voted the most patriotic city in the US??  Well now you know, it was fun to drive around and try to identify the presidents.  We had dinner at The Colonial House (CH) located on Mt. Rushmore Street on Hwy 16.  The food was wonderful sorry we didn't have time to go back.

We drove to Mt. Rushmore, Does anyone know how Mt. Rushmore got it's name??  Kind of an interesting story, for the evening show.  They closed the evening show the end of September, it was very nice.  They explained why the 4 presidents were chosen and the process of getting all 4 faces up on that mountain and a patriotic program. 

The next day Thursday we were "On Tour" from Hayes Fort, beginning with breakfast then the bus took us to Mt. Rushmore - All over the Black Hills and ending up at the Crazy Horse monument.

 

"Where the deer and the Buffalo Rome - we didn't see many buffalo because they had just had their roundup - the keep the herd manageable.

Chip monks living in these rocks, there were dozens of them looking for a hand out.

This was the narrowest of 3 tunnels the bus had to go through.  The bus was an old (30 Years) greyhound bus.  When we got into this tunnel there were several cars waiting at the other end, out driver stopped in the middle of the tunnel and pretended to be stuck, (we had about 3 inches on either side of the bus)  The expressions of those waiting at the other end of the tunnel was the best laugh of the day.  Our driver Matt, had a ton of interesting stories, did a great job.

Remember the movie "National Treasure" with Nicholas Cage?  In the second movie Cage sticks his hand in a crevice of a rock and then lets out a yell?  Behind us to our right is that very rock.  This is a man made lake and is very beautiful!!

Can you make out the Indian's face?  They are working on the horses Head now, they might be finished with it in another 50 years - not in my life time.  This project is 100% privately funded, the foundation will not accept government funds.  It's an interesting story - ask me some day and I will attempt to enlighten you. 

 

We ended up back to Fort Hayes for a "Cowboy Dinner" and a program.  The band was good, sang some good old Cowboy songs.  We went back to the Big Sky Lodge ready for a good nights rest. 

 

We had another adventure on the way home, I'll do that later!!  So, Stay Tuned!!

An Adventure

Last week my HH (happy hubby) and I "ran away from home".  We left Tuesday morning, before breakfast, and headed for the "wilds of Wyoming". 
We stopped at Martins Cove, we almost passed it but Gene recognized Devils Gate so our vehicle came to a screeching halt, I'm glad no one was behind us, we turned around and spent a couple of delightful hours re-learning about those wonderful pioneers that were trapped in snow and cold at Martins Cove.

Most of you will probably recognize the sculptors above of the young Priesthood Holders that came to rescue those trapped in the cold and at their own peril carried many of these across the Sweetwater River when they were too cold and weakened to cross it my themselves.

 

I think Most of you will also recognize this picture of my HH he does get cold now that he's older and the kind folks at Martins Cove provided warmth for old folks.  It wasn't snowing however the wind was a little cool!!!

 

After Martin's Cove we jumped back into our trusty vehicle and continued on, it is now getting late so we decided to stop in Casper, Wyoming for the night.  (A side note)  I am no longer to drive because of my vision, so my sweetheart has become a marathon driver!  We were looking forward to dinner and a warm bed.  Unfortunately when we inquired about a bed in Casper they were all taken.  There was no place in any Inn for us!!  We grabbed a bit to eat "Burger King"  Hug!! then continued on our journey.  Just out of Casper we found a "Sleep Inn" - stopped to inquire and you guessed it still no place for is at the Sleep Inn.  They did call ahead to a motel in Douglas, Wy - indicating that they were latterly "scrapping the bottom of the barrel" to find any room.  However, we did have a reservation at a Motel called the Plains Motel.  It is now dark, so we plug the address into GERT (our vehicle's gps) and headed to Douglas. 

When we arrived at The Plains Motel, Gene's reaction was "OH NO" This does not look good, remember it was dark.  I said, it might be OK - Well  really the only choice we had was to take this room or sleep in the car, and at our age that was no choice at all - So we took the room.  We dubbed it "Motel 2" - even Motel 6 could be this bad.  We were afraid to walk on the carpet in bare feet so we wore our socks to bed, just in case we had to get up in the night - we always have to get up in the middle of the night.  On the bright side - the bed was clean, I think the fixtures were original 1940's maybe 1950, but that is doubtful.  It was a smocking room so you know how that is, I'm glad I had my rescue inhaler with me.  All in all it was a bad motel but better than the car.

We woke early and headed out for our destination, Mt. Rushmore South Dakota, but just so we wouldn't have this situation again - Gene called ahead a reserved a room in  (I forget) at a place called "The Sky High Lodge", he also reserved a place on a tour bus to see Mt. Rushmore and the Black Hills for Thursday.  There is a lot more to this adventure, but I'm done for tonight - tune in when I get rested up and can remember my name!!  Until next time when we actually visit Mt. Rushmore.