another turn of events

Today, I got to fulfill one of my wishes. For the past several years, Stevie Jay on newstalk WDWS radio in Champaign, Illinois has played excerpts from Hans Peterson's "Twelve Days of Christmas" during the Christmas season. He would periodically say that the only place he knew that handled that recording was Randy's Reconds in Salt Lake City. Finally this past year, I found Randy's Records address and phone number on the web and called. I had a great conversation with Randy. I told him that Stevie Jay was annually giving him good press in Illinois. He said he thought that was interesting because he can't get the local people to play it. The story is that Hans Peterson, a local radio personality made this recording. He made over 400 phone calls looking for supplies to put on a play, The Twelve Days of Christmas, using various voices and personalities. The people he called legitametly did not know anything except what they heard on the phone. I have found this hilarious for years and was so glad when Randy said he could mail me a copy (for a fee.. not much really). It came on Christmas eve and I was overjoyed as one our sons and his family had just arrived for our Christmas celebration. During my conversation with Randy, I mentioned that we were going west and maybe I could stop in for more copies. If you will remember, we got stranded in Wyoming by road closures, so had to rush past Salt Lake City. You may also remember that we raved about the help we got from Angelina in Rock Springs on the way out. 1600 down; 500 to go (no longer available.. taken down to make space) We'll come back to this. Also on the trip out, we were buried in snow. All of that was going out. Now, coming back. We landed in Salt Lake City last nite and checkout wasn't until noon today, and I knew that Georgia would need to rest up as much as possible before heading out again. So, I pulled out my directions to Randy's and Checked on his hours. Shortly after 10 am this morning, I made my way downtown to follow my quest. Randy wasn't in yet (supposed to come at 2pm). however the cool lady that was attending the store was great once I got across to her what I wanted. Most of all it was a blessing to experience Randy's Records. Talk about quaint... And they had to have every recording known to man. You can see by looking around the place that their motto should be the same as the old Huey's in Urbana... "If you can find it, we have it". or something like that. So for me the day started great. Georgia's back was a bit of a problem, but we got that to a managable point and took off. As we left Salt Lake City, the surrounding mountains brought the song we used to sing in church to mind; "like the mountains all around Jerusalem...." as the tall snow covered peaks seem to be standing guard around the city. When we passed through eastern Utah and western Wyoming, we kept saying to each other; "I don't remember this". Well. duh! it was all covered with snow on the way out. Here are a few of the beautiful sightings.

About the time we passed through Rock Springs, we noticed a strange whine in the car. We had made reservations at the Hampton in Laramie, so I had decided that when we got there, I would look up a Ford Dealership and have it checked out. We got about 40 miles east of Rock Springs and there was some serious noise and some girations. We decided we had better just stop. So rather than the sensable "call 911 or 411 or whatever", we decided to call our "old friends at the Rock Springs Hampton Inn" We had the Hampton Inn book with phone numbers, etc. We called and Jessica answered. To make a long story a little shorter, she cancelled our reservations in Laramie, booked us in Rock Springs, and gave us the number of a couple of towing services. We called Bob who came and hauled us back. (another chunk of money tossed into the air). Tonite we are finally staying at the Hampton Inn in Rock Springs, which seems only fitting since they have been of such help to us. We will call Bob in the morning to see what he things about fixing the Explorer. Until then, our life is again in the air.