Our marathon Road Trip (Part 3)

Back tracking just a little, I have to include a comment made by Ashley a little earlier in the day. She asked, "Why can't we find Utah?" I about died laughing! I guess that's what you get when you tell your kids 'we are driving to Utah' and then go anywhere but!

So, we leave Williams, Arizona at about 10pm- wave at a couple of deer on the side of the road, and set out for "finding" Utah. (Let me just mention that Chad has been driving since 9:30 in the morning-I took the first leg from Tucson to Mesa. Granted, there were extended stops along the way, but still a lot of driving for one man). We decided to drive through Vegas hoping to avoid the snow that was already falling on the Flagstaff/Kanab route... Yeah that didn't work. After a very windy adventure we cross the Hoover dam and note the time change-here is where we think we have just gained an extra hour of time for our trip-blasted daylight savings time!. We stop in Vegas for gas and some more DDP and corn nuts, and shortly there after, Chad finally let Alexis take the wheel. Chad climbed in the back seat to get some rest, and then the craziness began.

The wind that we had hoped to leave behind us picked up again and then started the rain! Alexis ended up taking the wheel as soon as the weather went crazy. It was major windy and the rain was coming down so hard the wipers needed to be on high to even attempt a clear windshield, but that just made it hard to see for the dizzying affect it created.

Now the original plan was to take shifts so we could all get some sleep, but then there is the guilty feelings. Feeling the need to keep the driver company, and help them stay awake!

Well, Chad did rest a little while; right up until we were coming into St. George, Utah. He woke up to the sound of rain on the window and hysteria in the front seat. Now this isn't what you may think, we weren't going crazy, it was just that the delirium was starting to catch up with us and everything was funny. The kind of funny where you don't know why you are laughing, but trying to stop just makes you laugh harder. So Chad tells Alexis to take the next exit, which she misses, because she can't see it? He dramatically points out the next off ramp which we then take, but we are now laughing hard enough that the oxygen supply to our brains is almost completely cut off. I know my throat was closing up with the constant pressure and we almost went over the side of the off ramp and over a small cliff type structure! Alexis is instructed to pull into a Chevron (our Gas station of choice for the trip) and tries to turn a grassy embankment into a driveway! (I know this is so much funnier to me because I was there, but this has to be recorded for posterity)! We switch drivers and Chad is again in the drivers seat. He uses the actual exit for the gas station, and then pulls back onto the highway. Within moment the rain transforms into snow. I know we took measures to avoid it, but what can you do. I was so grateful at that moment that we had pulled over in St. George, for Chad is the only one of us who has spent a significant amount of time driving in snow.

So at this point we are going 30-45mph versus 75-90mph, and how grateful was I for that "extra hour" we picked up in Nevada! (yeah there was no extra hour, we figured out shortly thereafter, that we lost it again when we entered Utah). So we crept along, at some points we were in front of the snowplows and at others behind. I don't know how many summits we crossed, at least four. There was a point were Chad started yelling at some guy for driving down the middle of the road, asking him why he couldn't stay in his own lane...we burst into fits of laughter when we realized it was Chad who was in fact driving down the middle of the road. I am sure the driver in the other car was yelling at us too!

There was some point during the night when we decided to have a contest to see who could stay awake the longest, I'm not sure that the winner would really be the looser or what, but the idea kept us occupied. We start to see signs of the snow letting up and then it would start again. Eventually it did stop, and we started to see signs of civilization. We also began to realize that we were running out of time. We called my parents to find out where the hotel was so we could follow them to the church building were we were leaving the kids. We stayed on the phone with them as we worked our way through the ciaos that is Provo Utah. When we finally had the hotel in our sights it was almost too late to turn. There may have been screeching of tires and a cool slide maneuver involved, but I will neither confirm nor deny. The best (or worst) part, depending on who you ask, was when we passed in front of this little white car as we careened into the parking lot and we all thought/ said, wouldn't it be funny if that was my parents! It totally was and Chad was mortified.

By this time it is about 8:00am. The sealing was to begin at 9:00am, so we were supposed to be there half an hour early!

We continue to driving around the ciaos of Provo until we finally find the church building about 10 minutes later. We deposit the kids to eat breakfast while we run to the restrooms to change and freshen up as best we can. We look pretty good for 27 hours+ without sleep. Then we jump back into the cars, tell the kids we will be back to get them soon, and go looking for the temple. It has been raining again, so when we finally get to the temple (darn map quest directions) Chad drops us off at the entrance so he can go and park. We are just in time and there is a definite feeling of peace as we enter the temple doors. The sealing was beautiful as were Tara and Rob. I am so happy for them, with all that they have been through to finally be sealed together forever.