Random Reflections

This week, Georgia spent with her mom and sister, leaving me with one less person with whom to interface; beit a very significant person. Although I did quite a bit of yard work, met and made appoints with various doctors including an upcoming carpal tunnel surgery and a sleep study.... and got to attend a few grandkid's baseball games (an aside here; although I claim to not be superstitious, I have noted that whether it be the Cardinals, the Illini, or my grandkids; it seems that when I get to see the game, my team gets trounced.. I guess I'll have to play through that one.).. back to the subject. I had significant time in which there was far less outside stimulus to my thought patterns. When I get to listen to "all day radio"; my pattern is WDWS until 11am when I switch to WEFT http://weft.org/stream where they play "blues" from 11 - 2, then back to WDWS. One line from a song stuck with me because it really painted a picture for me; "She's gone. I have to face Christmas in my overalls." Wow! A picture of absolute dispair gelled in my head. It's Christmas and this guy is walking around his "pad" in slippers, a tee shirt (or not) and bibs. OK, that's one.

This morning on the WDWS "Standard time" where they play "standards". up came "Gentle on my mind". Another flashback. When I came to Illinois in December of 1974 to interview for the job from which I just retired, I ran into one of my idols (so to speak) John Hartford. There was this skinny guy in the airport in a peacoat with a blue sock cap pulled over his ears and a fiddle case over his shoulder. I think that's when I started one of my "habits" in public places which I will embelish later if I don't forget. I said, "are you John Hartford?" He said, "Yup". I said, "I love what you do with music". He said, in that rich deep voice, "thanks". That was about it!, but I can replay that tape over and over as one of my "brushes with greatness". A few months earlier, we had seen one of his stage shows in Athens, Georgia. I of course told him about that and he just grinned (slightly). Now for those of you who "ain't cultered enough" (to borrow a line from another great; Jerry Clower) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slMkcGMFhGw

here is a site on John Hartford http://www.johnhartford.com/biography.cfm

That's 2.

Then she played Elvis' "That's when your heartache begins". For some reason, that took me back to somewhere around 1961, when after I had found myself declaring my love for Georgia Sue (due to my indescretion on our senior trip) she decided that she wasn't sure she wanted to be "going steady" (It was her senior year, after all.) Well, you know the John Denver song?? (She stomped on my heart and squashed that sucker flat). There I was, too cool for bib overalls, but just as mournful. I was a mess. I played every sad song I could find including Elvis' heartbreak hotel, etc. At that time there was also Hank Williams with the "lovesick blues" and "I'm walking the floor over you".. There I was in my new black Ford Galaxie, pining away for my lost love. I nearly got over it, when that fateful auto accident at "THE" stoplight in Silver Lake brought us back together.

Before I finish with my discovery about "RYAN'S" patrons, I'll fill you in on one of my habits. How many times have you heard, "you only go round once in life." ?? That little encounter with John Hartford has brought me so much joy over the years. Just slipping back to the moment briefly, then getting back to life. Although I generally tend to be a "wave smoother not a wave maker", I really get worked up in the "pregnant pauses", such as elevators where we cocoon up, or an opportunity to speak to someone occurs, and we pass it up for fear of embarassment. I find myself more and more, "speaking up". And I'm glad I do. Yes, often I get embarassed monentarily, cause it wasn't the person I thought it was, or the other person has no idea where I'm coming from, but the "hits" are worth it. Today, we live such isolated lives and miss so much because of it. Even if the other person doesn't get the connection, I feel better having expressed the thought and taking the chance. Yesterday while riding my bike back from the pharmacy, I passed by a house that has been on the market for a while, but when we got home from Oregon, we noticed that the "for sale" sign was gone; so we thought it was sold. Yesterday, the same couple who had live there were in the yard. Now I had only seen her once at a garage sale and had never seen him before; but I knew enough to know they were the same people. I stopped and made a comment about them still being there. We visited a bit and I went on. Typically, I would have just said, "huh?" to myself and rode on, but by stopping, we got to interface at bit and I believe the world is better for it. Not because it was expected by either of us, but I took advantage of a small opportunity and am glad I did. Does this make any sense to anyone but me??? A good friend of ours, Tom Richardson has made a "career" (ministry) called "friendship evangelism" out of this very concept.

Now I'm likely to piss some people off!.. Before Georgia left, she gave me some coupons to Ryans Steakhouse and Home Town Buffet. I got to take advantage of 3 of them. However, this morning while sitting in Ryans eating a fantastic breakfast I noticed that although I'm considered "obese" by my BMI http://www.nhlbisupport.com/bmi/ , I was the smallest guy in there. There was one "tall drink of water" with his fat family, whose metabolism is probably like my dad's and my sister's who will never be fat. My dad's nickname was "Bone". nuf sed?? So, anyway, in any event, the portions on my plate appeard larger and larger as I saw all those pigs heading for the trough. (Oh, it wasn't much different at Home Town Buffet as I look back.)

These places are fantastic because they offer such a variety. We don't have to eat EVERYTHING. I think you can eat healthy at those places, but my observation is that the draw is to those who can't handle the responsibility. Although breakfast is my weak spot, I did eat a lunch at RYANS and ate healthy (unless they laced the brussel sprouts with grease and salt).

That's probably enough delusion for now. Gotta get to work, Georgia's coming home. Oh, I will be working at the U of I next week. Home stuff will have to slow down for a week.

Home at last!

We arrived at our "primary residence" 2 weeks ago after dark. The next morning, I went out and there were flakes of SNOW floating about. I said, "NO!, this isn't the way it was supposed to be." The terrible long winter our friends and family have been complaining about was supposed to be over when we got home. The plan was to enjoy 2 springs and no winter after January. Surely we weren't "home". A speaker we enjoy is John (Tim) Savage. (http://www.leadplus.com/Consultants.htm). In discussing understanding our thoughts and feelings, he talks about the ritual of "coming home". If you choose to stay with it, you are about to find out my ritual for "coming home". Since my body clock was somewhere between Pacific and Central time, I was later than usual, but decided to start my ritual by seeing if the "Mahomet Square" family restaurant was still in business. Well, not only were they still there, but the same local guys where there arguing over the same stuff. Ralph and Jim Bob would argue, Wayne would laugh and I would grin. The part that really helped me in my ritual was that Abel, the manager/cook and Brittany the waitress both remembered what I eat when I go there for breakfast. And it was delicious as always. A good start. Since then, I have eaten at Lil Porgys twice. MM good! (http://www.lilporgysbbq.com/) You'll miss out if you don't click on this link! When I got home from breakfast, the first order of business was to go spray Liquid Fence on the emerging tulips. As you can see we were successful in warding off the rabbits again this year. (got home just in time).

In the first few days at home, we got to visit with all of the kids except for Rod and all of the grandchildren except Celina who was with Rod in Atlanta when we were there, and Jack who was with his "guys". Last weekend, however, they were all at our house at one time or another. Jack and his "guys" did a little fishing (Johnny caught one). We had a great visit, but after spending 10 weeks "on our own", it was a little much. We weren't "used to" all of that. but it was great. Got to talk with my sister, finally visited with neighbors on both sides, ordered and spread mulch on the flower beds and am in the process of building a birdhouse for Pam. Got a replacement circular saw at Sears Craftsman Club "sale", took the explorer in for oil change (and dropped some more bucks on fixing a leak in the air conditioner), mowed the yard and trimmed up the dead stuff in the yard. Made a few trips to the Mahomet Ace Hardware for small items and we have eaten from Monicals (http://www.monicals.com/navbar/index.shtml) several times; and once from the Hidaway of the Woods.

Two things left undone; first need to contact Dell about the external monitor issue with the computer. Then second is to find the remote control for the basement TV (DISH). I have interrigated all likely suspects (short of water boarding), we have turned the basement upside down as well as searching the rest of the house. Guess I'll have to see if we can get a replacement... Really a mistery! But makes me feel at home. Tomorrow, I go to "work" at the U of I for a week, then I'll get back to "retirement" for a few more weeks.

So, I feel like I am nearly "home". Still have some stuff to put away, and other stuff to find. Want to be sure everyone knows that we didn't bring the earthquake home from California with us. We were also accused of bringing the Wyoming weather with us, however, after that first day with snow, the weather has been great (until the temp drop yesterday).. Again, thanks to the new friends we found in Corvallis, Oregon and Rock Springs, Wyoming for a really great "spring". Thanks to the folks at home for keeping the place safe. Thank God for all of the surprises we got to experience on this jaunt. Next is Michigan State where we will most likely stay at the same Hampton which is across the road from that shopping center with all of the great restaurants... Oh.. According to the doctor's scales, all of that good eating I told you about seemed to stick to us; we both gained a bit... Odds are we won't loose it before we hit Lansing. THEN.. we'll think about it.

last leg

Today is the day we have been looking forward to for at least the last 10 days. Today we will see the high flying guys at Briarcliff Connection and their mom. (Rest of the family is away on business today.) Most likely tonite will find us at home in our own bed for the first time since late January. As you read some prior posts, you will see that I got to visit a little at a couple of veterinary colleges on the way home. At this point, however, we have "kicked it into high gear" for home. (One of us has a doctor's appointment Monday).. If you are diligent in reading this blog, you will remember who... and why we're not changing the appointment. The point is, that although our trip home has brought us near other people I would like to visit, I had to draw the line somewhere. On the way out of Denver, we passed through Aurora, Colorado, the home of LifeSkills International. http://www.lifeskillsintl.org/. Would have loved to have stopped and visited at the home office. We have been facilitating Family Lifeskills classes since about 1996, but because we are traveling much more, had to "give it up". The local contact at home is http://www.grafixnetwork.net/fls/ . Also, we came relatively close to Colorado Springs, where Val Gates, a long time technologist at the U of I has been there for several years. We can within miles of Manhattan, Kansas where there is another veterinary college, and right now, I'm sitting in Columbia, Missouri, the home of the University of Missouri Veterinary College. Have several friends here, but it is Saturday morning, raining, and we really have the itch to get on the home side of the Mississippi River.

Yesterday on our trek across Eastern Kansas and Western Missouri, we were covered by a blanket of clouds that reminded me of the cover on the bed at a Hampton Inn. Seen too many Hampton Inns??? It was 44 degrees pretty much all day. This morning, it is still raining, but the wind seems to have let up a bit. The one thing I have learned on this trip is that I "don't know nuthin". I remember Kansas as a boring flat plate from previous visits. This trip, even after the fantastic scenery in the Pacific Northwest, we found this area interesting. The most striking thing was the vast area of burned grass. We didn't know if it was intentional or wildfire. I think, however it is part of a controversial controlled burning program. http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/earth/habitats/splendor-of-grass.html

One interesting thing to us were the windmill farms. Here is part of one very close to the highway. The most impressive one was in Wyoming where you could see hundreds of them for miles and miles. We also have noticed that you would see one here and there, presumably privately owned to supply energy for some business. This seems to be another controversy in that some people don't want them "in their back yard".

In Rock Springs, we "got"' to interface with a convention that threatened to send us packing until the great staff there took us under their wing and made a way for us. Here in Columbia, Missouri, there is apparently a youth ball tournament, and some of the teams are staying here. The halls were full of "little voices" full of excitement. We are looking forward to hearing the voices of some of our own grandchildren yet today, and in the near future get some facetime with the rest of the family... Isn't there a birthday to celebrate Monday???

I have to say something about the comments in a recent post on Georgia-wintersong. I was pleasantly embarassed. For the past 10 weeks, I have gotten to spend more constant time than ever before in close proximity with the "shy little girl" I met in 1959, who became the loving mother of my 3 sons, the doting grandmother of my 9 grandchildren and my life partner for these past 45 years. Who wouldn't do their best to make it special???

OK enough is enough

Before I get into the subject of this post, I must apologize for possibly misleading you in the last. Remember, etc. etc. I don't think it was the 3 amigos. That was "plethora". So . Dang, there's another one... I might as well take care of that one right now ... SO, So. Aren't you tired of me saying that? I have noticed that that means the same thing as "anyway". which I have already apologized for at least once. I now realize that a more sophisticated phrase would be, "in any event", or "in any case".. The point is; they all mean nothing, it's just my lame way of starting a sentence.. so... today during the periods when I did have time to think, I realized that the movie with etc. etc. etc. was the King and I.. So ... to give you a handle on it, I looked it up and found this post. Is the King and I a remake???? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_and_the_King_of_Siam

Back to my subject. The last post was about the west bidding farewell to snow loving Georgia. I guess it isn't ready to give her up yet, because it is following us home. Let's start the day at Starbucks. Notice the snow on the hood of our car in the reflection. This is a test for those who know Georgia. What is in the green cup?? I'll post the answer after I have 10 guesses on comments.

We started out for Hays Kansas as I told you in the last post. My assumption was that we would drop down from the "mile high city" and the snow would turn to rain and we would simply be driving through some rain all day. Wrong!!! From Denver to about Oakley, Kansas it was just NASTY. The picture here is from when I felt safe enough to take one hand off the wheel and snap a picture (not under the approval of Georgia). There was white out much of the way. In this picture, do you see the truck (that had just passed us doing about 80)?? It wasn't that the snow was so heavy, but it was horizontal. The strong wind was from the north and we were heading east (Head East; who can give me the significance of that?) so, anyway, in any event; when a truck would pass us, they would break the wind and it was a real b(ear) keeping on the road. (This is a different breaking of wind.) It wasn't fun at all. I DON'T WANT TO SEE ANY MORE SNOW TIL NOVEMBER! (Then when I complained at check in, the girl at the desk said, "Oh, it's supposed to be here tonight and tomorrow". Someone may need to come and get the car after we fly the rest of the way home...

Back to the road. About Oakley, Kansas the snow disappeared and we got to see vast fields of winter wheat. Here is a picture, but I see that the camera focused on the hood of our vehicle, but you get the idea. No Snow.. Then we heard on the radio that I-70 had been closed where we were about 2 hours before. Here we are in a new Hampton Inn in Hays, Kansas, resting up and waiting to see what tomorrow brings.

Goodbye to the west

Although folks in Hays Kansas (our destination for tonite) would argue that they are in the heart of the west, today seems to be the day that the west gives snow loving, cowgirl Georgia a fitting send off. As you can see by these pics, we woke up to a blanket of snow in Denver. The problem is that it looks like we will be sharing the rain for the day with the rest of the midwest, so our planned 5.5 hour trip may get stretched a bit. If you've been mapping us (now who in their right mind would waste their time doing that?) you can see that we are only good for about 5 hours per day. That long trip across Nevada and western Utah really took a toll.

We did try to take a few pictures as we crossed from Wyoming into yet another state on the list for this trip; Colorado. Although the most Spanish I learned wass when our kids were taking Spanish in high school, I think Colorado means, "color red". If you can see (in the picture below) through the rain that followed us from Laramie to Denver, there is probably a reason for that name.

You may wonder why we only went about 100 miles yesterday. Georgia found a western store in Rock Springs, but we didn't have a vehicle to shop there. But... she also noticed there was one in Laramie. If you go back to the early posts, you will find that Laramie was a favorite. Seems like a lot of our favorites are places where we have been in one place long enough to see what is there; Selah! So we found the local Corral West store. It wasn't such a panic when we found that they have a website, so some things we had wanted to get there (but couldn't remember sizes) we can get on line if we want. (Greg and Melissa; you can ignore those phone messages from yesterday.) There is a "back road" from Laramie to Fort Collins, Colorado that cuts off miles, but the time is about the same as taking the interstate via Cheyenne. That road passed withing blocks of the Veterinary College at Colorado State University. As when I visited in Davis, California, I knew that other people actually had jobs, therefore I had no specific expectations as to who I would find. Georgia rested while I went in for a short visit. I got to visit with Radiologist Robert Wrigley who is retiring from Colorado this summer and returning to his home of Australia. I also found that another radiologist whom I consider a friend (and lived in Urbana, Illinois in the early 70's) was doing a partial retirement this summer. He was teaching a class, so I didn't get to visit with him. In a nutshell, Colorado State veterinary radiology is at a similar plight as the University of Illinois, going from 4 radiologists to one in a very short time. (who knows, they may need help in the future also). The surprise was to essentially bump into Dr. Klopp, a veterinary neurosurgeon who used to be at the U of I. So I had a nice visit with the 2 of them and we were on our way. Georgia remembered some things about Fort Collins from when we were there in '89. So off to Loveland (about 10 miles south). Why did we go there? On our '89 trip we were in Colorado in mid February. Somehow, we got booked at the Lovelander B&B in Loveland, Colorado on Valentine's day.. Hows that for romantic? This revisit, however was one of the most disappointing of the trip. The "quaint little town" had grown and we didn't recognize anything; could find no reference to the Lovelander B&B, it was raining, etc. etc. (Isn't that a movie line; etc. etc.... Maybe 3 Amigos, or something of that ilk?) Looks like I didn't do my homework after all. I just decided to look up the Lovelander and find that it is there, on 4th street. See, we thought we would just drive up to it, but the growing town foiled our steel trap memories.

So now what's the plan? After driving "all day" in the rain, we hope to rest in Hays Kansas. That should put us in Springfield, Illinois or home on Saturday. We have to connect with Briarcliff Connection to see which we do. Jan, I noticed that after I mentioned that you guys were charged with keeping the rabbits off our tulips, I haven't heard from you???? hmmm. Surely they can't eat all of them before Sunday when Elmer Fudd arrives on the scene... So relax. Glad to know some of the bulbs are peeking up. Having gone from Snowy Oregon to Sunny California and back to Snowy Colorado in a few days, I have no idea what to expect as we forge toward Illinois. I just can't get the picture in my head between what I'm hearing about the weather there and what I remember from mid-April last year. Again, thanks for keeping an eye out, we're REALLY ready to be home.

Good people of Rock Springs, Wyoming

Here is the view out our room window. This is another part of the "high desert" in Sweetwater County, Wyoming, were we find there is Flaming Gorge and wild horses. It's amazing what you find when you get off the interstate. This morning, with Bob's advice, I called Phil at ABCO about the explorer. To this point, based on all of the people we have met here, I believe I can say that we have found some friends in this town. I already mentioned Angelina and Jessica from the Hampton Inn. Jessica gave us a number of a towing service here in Rock Springs and one in a near by town. We chose the local number and landed "Bob's Towing". This guy started out tough with a quoted fee and the statement; "You'll have to have cash". I'm sure that was due to the fact that he had been ripped off in the past. Well, he came and picked us up and dropped us off at the Hampton Inn. He was going to drop the Explorer off the truck to make it easier to get our stuff out, but I talked him out of it, though it was a bit of a balancing act to get the doors open on the flatbed. He said to call him about 9am Saturday. ON the 40 or so mile trip back to Rock Springs, I think we learned more about Bob and his family than from anyone in that length of time. However, it was just friendly conversation, not anything overbearing. We enjoyed him.

Saturday morning I called him and he said, "I thought you picked it up, it's not here".. This should give you some idea of his sense of humor. He quickly followed with, "I took it for a 15 mile drive this morning and couldn't find a thing, so I took it to Plains Tire to see if they could figure it out." So I called Plains Tire. While on the phone we were discussing that it sure seemed like a wheel bearing, but nothing was for sure. During that time, the mechanic came and told they guy I was talking to that the "scope" pointed to a transfer case. Problem is that they don't do transfer case work. There are apparently 2 qualified places in this town of about 19,000 people (http://www.rockspringswyoming.net/). It was unanimous that the local Ford dealership was a problem. The guy from Plains Tire brough our vehicle to pick me up and I took him back. I went in to settle up. "Since we couldn't find anything we could fix, there's no charge."... What? What auto service do you know that would do that? Then I went next door to settle with Bob. I had to expose my sense of humor by asking him, "I have my car and my keys, what made you think I would come back and pay you?" I didn't tell you that when he dropped us off, I assumed he would want the money then; he said we would settle later. So to my question he said, "I trusted you". Something tells me that in that ride back to Rock Springs, he was making his decision regarding our character. Anyway, assuming there would legitimately be some tacked on the the fee he quoted me over the phone, I asked what I owed him. He gave me a figure $20 LESS than the quote. I asked for advice regarding Monday as ABCO and Six States Distributors don't work on Saturday. We discussed the possibilities, then he said, just come back here Monday morning and we'll get it done. (Meaning he, a local, would "go before us" to get the best situation.)

OK, that's Bob!

Monday; Bob sent me to ABCO and told me to talk with Phil. I called Phil who told me to bring it over, he took me "home" and said he would at least have a diagnosis today. About mid afternoon, he called to say that it was a transfer case. Problem was that the closest one is in Memphis, (and we all know that most of Memphis is at the basketball game.) We decided to have it shipped "emergency" with the idea that it would probably be here Wednesday rather than Thursday, but possibly tomorrow (Tuesday). He said he could have it installed in a few hours. The costs he quoted seemed reasonable.

Since we needed to make the Hampton Inn as our "home" for a few days, and the specific number of days was unknown, we brought our problem to the folks at the Hampton. Chief among these people was Kathy. Although there is a group coming to town that will fill the Hampton, she has assured us that we will have a place to stay if we need it. We had a bit of a problem with a couple of items in the room and Kathy spent considerable time working that out. In all of this we had several conversations that to us formed another "kinship", especially as we found that like us, she lives a faith based life. We traded family stories, coming to the conclusion that although we must always do the best we can, we simply don't have much control over the happenings in our lives. She had read our blogs and among other things, was touched with the TJ horror, especially as they had a similar experience in their family. And of course, "why" often doesn't get answered. Jessica told us about "Wonderful House" a Chinese food place down the street. Georgia loves Panda Express Orange Chicken. So we asked if there was a Panda Express in town. Jessica said, "No, I wish there were, but Wonderful House has great Orange Chicken..." How did she know it was Orange Chicken we were after... hmmm. Those folks were also great as well as the little lady at the Local Pizza Hut who directed me to the Post Office. This morning, Julie at the desk at the Hampton Inn performed some kind of "majic" (I spelled it that way because Kathy Majdic told me they would perform magic necessary due to the conference if we needed to stay over.) Now Kathy has assured us of a room for Tuesday nite if we should need it, and we'll play each day by ear. Hopefully we will be on our way soon. In the meantime, we're getting rest and interfacing with some wonderful people. And now that we know what's here, we may need to come back just to visit Sweetwater County.

Bulletin::: Phil called about 5 minutes before I had planned to call him to see how to plan this day. He said, "are you ready to go?" The part was there this morning when they opened, they had removed the old part last nite and had it finished by 10 am this morning. The bill was, I think reasonable. As I finish this, we are sitting in the Hampton Inn in Laramie where we were stuck on the way out due to weather. Overjoyed with the friendly and honest folks in Rock Springs. So as I say, there are a lot of nice people in Rock Springs, Wyoming.

You know how people who live next to railroad tracks get used to trains and soon it is part of their "background"? Well, the interstate runs "through" Rock Springs and it is uphill near here. So the "background" is trucks downshifting. An interesting concept for we prairie dwellers.

As a bit of an explanation; I started this post on Sunday in Rock Springs and finished it on Tuesday in Laramie. Therefore, it might be more disjointed than usual.

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.