Ranch Trip
10/04/2007 - 10/07/2007
I'm always happy to be going to the ranch. This time, I got excited and
took Friday off, so that we could have an extra day up there. We left
Thursday after work, and so I expected to be up at the ranch by maybe
seven. I was wrong! Things went smoothly until about 20 miles south of
Show Low, when all of a sudden the suburban overheated. There was steam
coming out everywhere! We pulled over, and after we sat there a bit and
let the engine cool off, I backtracked about 4 miles to the nearest
Chevron station, where I bought a bunch of water, hoping to limp the
rest of the way to the ranch. Our next stop was Show Low, where we
again were overheating. I added more water, and refilled a few of the
containers that I had with me. Next stop was just at the top of the big
hill (about 10 miles north of Show Low). More waiting, and more adding
water (with Ne--ie standing there with her cell phone open so I could
see where to pour the water). Next, we made it all the way to Concho,
where this time, at least, we found a sign to stop under -- that gave
us enough light to dump in more water. The next leg of our journey
brought us all the way to St. John's, where again, we had enough steam
to power an old fashioned locomotive coming out from under the hood. We
filled up on water, and managed to find Chris (a good friend that lives
out by our place) across the street at Circle-K. I had Chris follow us
out to the ranch, just in case we didn't make it. We had to stop
halfway to the ranch to add more water and cool off a bit (and we
almost lost the radiator cap when it fell on the ground, in the dark).
This last bit of water enabled us to get all the way to the bottom of
our driveway, where the suburban died. We had to load all of the
luggage onto Chris's car (which is really my old car -- Bandwagon), so
that he could haul it up to our cabin. 10/04/2007 - 10/07/2007
The next morning (Friday), Jason had to take Brandon to his bus stop, which is near to town, so I hitched a ride. Jason hauled my rear-end over to the parts store, where I bought a new water pump, and then hauled my rear-end to Wilbur's, to pick up a few essentials. While at Wilbur's, we got to see a huge Bull Elk in the back of someone's pickup. It was the opening day of Elk season, and already some hunters had managed to bag one. By the time I got back to the ranch, it was already mid-morning, and high time for me to get to work changing the water pump. That took me most of the rest of the day. Friday night, we had a great fire, and went to bed early (and I made the mistake of starting to tell a story, making it up as I went along. The kids now expect me to finish it).
Saturday morning, bright and early, I was back on my way into town. The water pump had not fixed the problem, and I now needed to buy a new thermostat. At least a thermostat is easy to change. I still didn't get back to the ranch until mid-morning... After I got the suburban going (and this time it really was fixed), I took the kids up to Ron and Sherry's place to see the new chicks. Ron and Sherry have decided that they are going to try raising chicks to sell eggs and chicken meat. They have a couple hundred chicks now, but more are coming! While we were up there, we were also given some duck eggs, since I had never tried them before, and was wondering what they tasted like. See the pictures below. Also on Saturday, we did some shooting, and went for a trailer ride (yippee). We finished out the day up at Jason and Kristin's place, having a bit of supper.
Finally, on Sunday, it was time to leave (after an unusually cold night -- it was 24 when I woke up). We cleaned up, loaded up, and started to leave, until.......We got stuck in our own driveway! You see, the "homeowners association" (to call them that is a bit of a stretch, since all they do is take care of the roads) decided to fix up our road a bit. They have built up the entire road through our valley, and installed a few culverts. I am grateful for this, it really is nice. However, they also decided to give me a new driveway -- or at least a new few feet of it. The road people decided that my driveway needed to start slightly up the hill, rather than in the valley, where it currently starts. The problem is, that land is very sandy there, and I just didn't make it through this time. I had to call Jason again, to come pull me out -- and he nearly got his 4x4 stuck doing it! Luckily, one of the days we were in town chasing car parts, we happened to see the road guy, and I talked to him a bit. They are still out in the area, and he agreed to stop by and fix the problem on Monday.
Happily, "Tinky-Winky", our white suburban, made it all the way home without any trouble. Now all I have to do is figure out how to end that dumb story I started...
The Ranch Trip According to Mudge
We thought it was going to be the best trip ever. I was in the very
back seat, playing a game with Megan as we drove up the mountain, when
suddenly, something STANK! I was glad I brought a bandana, and I
quickly put it over my mouth and nose. Just then daddy was pulling
over to the side of the highway. When I looked up to see what was
wrong, I saw smoke coming out from under the hood. I felt like I was
going to puke soon because the smell was too strong! I was a little
worried and wondered if the engine was going to start on fire. But
then, mom and dad said that we could get out, so I forgot about the
smell and jumped out right away. Laurent and Megan and Jacob were already climbing on the cliff that was across a ditch filled with thorn bushes and flower bushes, and in the very middle was a little rocky spring where there was lots of squishy mud. When I started climbing, Laurent was about a quarter of the way from the top, with Jacob right behind her. Megan decided to get down because she wanted to get the dogs. So I climbed a little higher, until I was right next to Jacob, who was starting to come down because it was too high. I heard mom say something about getting down, so I turned around. I saw Jacob sliding down, making a dirt avalanche, till he reached a rocky ledge. I was a little above it, so I started going towards it. Just then, the rock I was holding on to began to come loose. I decided to just pull it out so it wouldn't wiggle. When I pulled it out, there was a place where I could put my foot, so I put my foot there. But there was no place for my other foot, and that was when I almost slid down the rocky slope and and became totally petrified! I felt as though my stomach was falling right out my belly button. I started crying, and Laurent tried to get over to me to help, but she couldn't, so then dad came across the ditch, grabbed my hand, and swung me down off the cliff. I was VERY happy to be down off the cliff.
By then, Megan was walking Sissy and Jacob was walking Bella. Then Jacob let me walk Bella for a while. (All this time some people on a motorcycle who had stopped were talking to dad about the engine. Which was still stinking and steaming.) So I walked her for a while, and then I handed the leash back to Jacob. Then somehow Jacob accidentally let go of the leash, and Bella ran out into the highway, and it looked as though she was going to jump off the cliff on the other side. Then a big old diesel truck came storming up the road! Fortunately, Bella was on the lane next to it, so she didn't get run over. Megan freaked out! We all started calling Bella, but dad went across the way and caught Bella and put her back in the car. Then we were done walking the dogs.
The engine was still steaming, and the motorcycle people were gone, so we were still walking around in the ditch. I was looking down as I was walking around, and I saw what looked like a human arm bone! It was wierd, and I called Megan. I said "Megan, I found some bones!" and she said "Cool! Where?" and I said "Right here," and showed her. And she said "Coooool!" and then she walked away. I was going to ask Dad about the bones, but then it was time to go and there wasn't any more time. So we all climbed back in, and once again I was cramped in the back seat.
When we got to Show Low, we stopped at the Circle-K. It was night time, and us four kids went into the grassy valley where we found a drainage tunnel that was in an area with volcanic rock. There were a lot of douglas firs and bushes that looked like juniper, and it was like a labyrinth at night. I found a little spot where I could peek out and spy on people, and we played there for about 20 minutes, and it felt like we were far away in the middle of nowhere, and it was exciting!
We drove out of Showlow and got all the way to half way up the Big Hill before we stopped and had to do it all over again. It was totally dark out there, and mom went outside with her phone to help dad see what he was doing. After we got going again we drove to Concho, and had to stop at a place called Idle Stirrups, which seemed abandoned because there were a lot of weeds and thorns and overgrown grass around it. Mom let us walk the dogs around the gravel driveway, and there was a street light so dad could see.
This time when we got going again we made it all the way to St. Johns where we stopped at the Fina to get gas. And water. And Milky Way Bars. They are GOOD! Across the street at the Circle K, we saw Mr. Chris in Bandwagon. Dad walked across the street and he talked to Mr. Chris. Then Mr. Chris followed us all the way to the bottom of the driveway at the ranch, where the engine died. So we got out and we put the luggage in Bandwagon, and then we walked all the way up to the cabin and Mr. Chris followed us up the driveway and helped get the suitcases and coolers out. We were finally there!! Dad said it took 8 hours!
When we got in we were too tired to do anything except get into bed.
In the morning, I woke up before everybody else - even Dad! So I put on a sweater and I went outside to look at the temperature. It was 36F. It was very cold! Since I had my shoes on, I made some noise in the cabin and that woke up Dad. He was wearing his red sweater. He put his shoes on and then went over to the shelf and asked what was for breakfast. We didn't have any food because we were too late to shop at Wilbur's the night before. Then Mr. Jason came up the driveway in his pickup, and Dad went with Mr. Jason to town to get some stuff to fix on Fabio. He also had breakfast at Fina, and got some groceries at Wilbur's.
While he was gone, we had applesauce cups for breakfast, and played outside the cabin.
When he got back, he brought in the groceries and we had a "real" breakfast (bread with peanut butter!). After breakfast Dad went to work on the car, and I went to watch him. He was putting a water pump. Jacob and I watched him. Dad had to climb up on top of the engine to reach the bolts with the socket wrench.
While Dad was fixing (and it took a really really long time) Jacob and I went to the canyon. The canyon is made of dirt, that crumbles when you climb on it. We usually climb all over the canyon, but we have one spot where we always go. It's like a tower in the middle of the canyon, and we climb up to the top and can see far down the canyon, and then we slide down and get dirt up our pants.
After we went to the canyon, we came back and I watched Dad again (he was still working). I crawled under the truck with Dad and got sand in my eyes. I got to put on the gasket!
After I was done watching Dad, I went inside and noticed that I had orange gasket paste stuck to my arm. It was easy to get off, though.
The Ranch Trip According to Button
This trip to the ranch was verrrrrrrrry lonnnnnnng. The steam started to billow up from our hood a few miles from Show Low. Then daddy had to stop and fix it. Our first stop was by a slanted cliff that was covered with rocks that we loved to climb - that is, until we couldn't get down. In order to get down, I had to slide to a big rock at the bottom, and then I could get down.
Then we decided to walk the dogs along the big grassy ditch beside the cliff we climbed. I held Bella's leash while Megan held Sissy's. I had lots of trouble with Bella because she ran into the highway and got in front of the cars and then daddy went and rescued her. Then she ran out again and had to be rescued again. Daddy was annoyed and the dogs had to go back in the truck.
When we finally got back to starting again, we went on smoothly for a few more miles, but then steam started billowing out from our hood again. THEN we had to stop AGAIN. And daddy had to get GALLONS and GALLONS of water to pour in because that was what we needed. It happened over and over all the way to the ranch.
When we finally go to the ranch, Daddy had to buy some new parts to put into the truck. A friend, Mr. Jason, drove daddy over to town to get some new parts. Daddy bought groceries so we could have some things to eat, too. Then Daddy worked on the car for TWO DAYS. While he was working on the car, I played -- in St. Aeogelius' mud canyon, in Reginald's fort, the shooting range, at Brandon's place (where we had supper which was very-very fun), and Brandon came over to our place for supper one day and we ate DUCK EGGS! They were very yummy.
We also visited Mr. Ron and Mrs. Sherry's place where we got the duck's eggs in the first place. They had HUNDREDS of baby chicks! I got to hold one. It was very fuzzy and soft.It was all very fun, really.
At night when we were all in bed, before we were asleep, daddy told a story. We had been BEGGING him to tell one around the fire, but he told one at night. It began, "Once upon a time, in a valley, there lived a prince. He was the ruler of it, of course. His name was Zunderwiggle. He was very happy there, for he had all that he wanted, or all that he needed. But, though the valley was happy, and the people were content, just beyond the valley, was a forest, and this forest was supposed to be haunted ... and evil!" The story was filled with scary moments, and daddy kept saying "The end" before it was "the end"!
It was one (just ONE) of the most fun and interesting trips we've EVER had.
The End.
