We made it...finally!

Little did I know when I wrote my post on Sunday about how easy our journey would be in comparison to that of the pioneers that we would end up stranded for three hours at Independece Rock! Everything was going well until we stopped at Independence Rock. We've driven by there many times over the last several years and this time I wanted to give the kids a chance to climb it and let them have some hands on learning. So we stopped.

As soon as I got out of the car I smelled gas. I looked under my car to find that I was leaking gas. I tried not to panic as we went to climb the rock. When we were done I loaded up the kids and started the car. The leak got worse. I tried to call my husband on my cell phone, but there was no service available there. I knew something was terribly wrong, but I had no clue what or how to deal with it. I asked a couple of men, mostly tourists, that were at the rest stop there and eventually found a gentlemen who was actually from Casper (about 45 minutes away) and was headed to Rawlins (another hour away) which is where we were headed. After unsucessfully attempting to fix the leak he ascertained that I should not drive any further for risk of endangering myself or my 'precious cargo' (my four children). He continued his drive to Rawlins and sent a tow truck to haul me and the kids in. We ended up spending over 3 hours at Independence Rock before the tow truck made it.

In the meantime we enjoyed watching the approaching storm get closer and closer and then eventually dump rain on us. Fortunately Independence Rock is also a rest stop and there was a place for us to get shelter from the storm. Though my kids were happier playing in the rain. I was happy to watch them from a dry spot! We said a prayer and thanked Heavenly Father that we were not stranded somewhere along the side of the road! We were trully blessed in that nothing serious happened. We were also blessed that we were in a place where we had a bathroom and could get out and play around.

It turns out the problem was with the new fuel filter that we had put on Saturday when we had the oil changed. The morons inept individual that installed it didn't do it correctly and it was leaking. The tow truck man was very helpful and drove us to Rawlins where I bought another new fuel filter and he even put it on for me. Easy enough! I had decided that we would get some dinner and spend the night in Rawlins because I didn't want to drive the final 5 hours of our trip that night. Unfortunately there was something big happening in Wyoming and there was not a single motel room available at 10:00 pm between Rawlins and Green River, Wyoming. Green River was our last stop for a couple of hours before we got to Evanston which is a little over an hour from SLC. I figured if I made it that far I might as well drive the rest of the way. I was dead tired by the time we got to Green River and knew that I couldn't make it any further without some sleep. There are a lot of rest stops along the way where truckers stop to rest at night. I noticed that some cars had stopped too so I decided to give it a try. By this time it was after midnight. I slept fitfully for about 2 hours and decided that I could go on. We pulled into SLC at 4:00 AM. I was relieved and greatful that we had finally made it! My mom was a little surprised when I called her to tell her we were nearly at her house.

Yesterday we even made it to the Parade, though I was not exactly happy at first when my mom woke me up at 8:00. After the parade, which my kids loved, I got a nap and everyone was much happier! :)