Thanksgiving trip and adventure.

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Jan, Terry the dog and I drove to Spokane to have Thanksgiving with our son Greg. We were prepared for winter travel: chains, de-ice pellets, shovel, boots, blankets, heavy winter hats and gloves, etc.

We left home Saturday November 23 and spent the night in Billings MT. We drove I25 and I80. The next day we arrived at our son’s house. We had great weather and at 79 miles per hour you can cover a lot of ground in a day.

We had good but cold weather in Spokane and a good Thanksgiving in a small house with 5 kids and 2 dogs. Greg lives in the woods on a dirt road. On two previous trips to Greg's', Jan sprained her ankle and then broke the same ankle. I was very attentive with the ice .

The following Sunday, we drove to Seattle to take our grandson back to his Dorm. There is a major pass just east of Seattle and it was just raining. The next day it was snowing heavily. We were stuck in traffic for about 1.5 hours on the pass. It was dark when we got to the university. We got to see his “plush but not overly ostentatious‎” room, which means it is plain but OK. There are three bunk bed ensembles with a bed on top and desk and drawers under the bed. He cooks most of his meals in the room. We did see the campus that next morning and it is beautiful.

That morning we drove to Gresham Oregon a suburb of Portland to see Colorado Springs friends Inge and Pappy Johnson, who moved to Portland to be nearer their daughter and granddaughters. The trip was sunny. It snowed today in Portland.

On Wednesday 12/4 we headed home on I84 and I80. It was good weather, with some snow on the ground. Utah has 80 mph speed limits most of the way. We had a few flurries in Utah. We spent a night in Burley Idaho. Around Salt lake City we started having more snow on the ground.

Around Evanston WY, the roads started getting very icy. There were many trucks in the ditches. We say a pickup truck in the right side ditch with only the front of his hood visible. The owner trying to get a signal but there was none. We have On-Star emergency service on our Saturn Vue SUV. On-Star is a satellite phone and can be accessed anywhere and we called in his location. They thanked us for being good Samaritans. It was sunny most of the day. We had expected to get home late that night. We got to about 40 miles from Rawlins and white smoke came billowing out of the back. The temperature gauge starting climbing so I pulled over. We didn't really know where we were so I called On-Star again. With On-star we also have emergency road service. It took the wrecker about an hour to get to us. Did I say that it was -14 degrees outside? We were getting very cold in the process. A trooper stopped by and he said that we could get in his cruiser, but not Terry. We got towed to Rawlins, a real one-horse town. He towed the car to the Chevy dealer which a little bigger than a Jiffy Lube at about 5 pm. The service manager said that they were really booked for Friday (today), but he would try and get our car in. The wrecker then took us to the Quality Inn. The word Quality is a stretch. We had to load our stuff in the back of the wrecker in a back seat with about 6 inches of leg room. Jan had most of the bags and Terry in her lap. We have a Good Sam Extended warrantee with a $500 deductible on the Saturn which will give us a week of motels and a week with a rental car.

I decided to go the Laramie WY about 100 miles east and get a Hertz car at the airport. I was afraid that the repair would be major and we could then go home until it was ready. I was even prepared to come back with the motorhome and tow the car home if it the problem was major.

There are no rental cars in Rawlins and a taxi would cost $300. This morning I took a local cab to the truck stop. I tried for 3 hours to get a ride to Laramie but everybody was heading west! I thought about it but I would probably not give ME a ride either. I took a Greyhound bus and it was scheduled to get to the truck stop at 1:30 pm. Greyhound travelers are a unique lot!! The bus could have been late because of the weather. I would have had a problem because the Hertz dealer closed at 5 pm. I got to the bus stop and Hertz drove me to the airport. At the hotel, I got a call from the Chevy dealer. A radiator hose came off. We are so lucky.

Tomorrow we will get our car, drive to Laramie and return the car and head home on the 255 mile drive.



I won’t close this blog unless we have another adventure.

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