The Trip that Never Ends (and what I learned from it)

What started out at as a quick up-n-back trip to Idaho to get Cambria's car turned into the "trip that never ends, Yes, it goes on and on my friends...."

Curtis, Cambria and I loaded up the trailer and headed off to Idaho on Friday. We went by way of Logan because Cambria had a tour set up at the Paul Mitchell School in Logan and she wanted to see Mary, her Bullfrog roomie and bestie. She thought she might be interested in the Aesthetician program at Paul Mitchell but after being there she decided it wasn't for her. We went to Mary's apartment and then we all went to a yogurt place to get a treat and visit for a bit. That put us getting to Rexburg kind of late, but we finally got there. 

On Saturday, we loaded up the Subaru and said goodbye to Jordan, Lindsey and Emerson and headed back down the road. Curtis noticed a light about the brakes as we were getting to the freeway in Rexburg. He pulled over and checked everything he could think of to check and it all looked ok, so we pulled onto the freeway and headed south. We only made it halfway to Idaho Falls before he could tell there were real issues with our brakes so we slowly made our way into IF to have it looked at. (Walmart does not do brakes. Just an FYI ;) ) We called Jordan for a shop recommendation because he has a job driving parts for an auto parts store. We ended up at the Big-O Tire in Idaho Falls. We unhitched the trailer, locked up the Subaru, and went to get a bite to eat while they looked at it. When we got back they explained what it was and that they could not fix it until Monday because they didn't have the parts and there was no way to get them on Saturday. So we called Jordan and he came to IF to get us. 

**Here's where the lesson learned part is. I had only packed a clean shirt and socks and overnight bag. I didn't even have a change of underwear. We were just going to be in the car! I didn't need to shower just to ride another 8 hrs in the car! UGH!!  So we went shopping. Thankfully, there is a Deseret Book in Rexburg with a distribution in it and I was able to get some more underwear. And then Nina and I went shopping for something to wear to church. We found some things at DownEast and Shoes at Payless. Curtis found what he needed also. Whew! 

So we spent an unexpected weekend with Jordan and Lindsey. It was fun to get to know Emerson. We went to a laundromat to wash our few clothes, we watched a lot of TV. We couldn't really go anywhere because we couldn't all fit in Jordan's car. We even had to do two trips to the church to get us all there...

On Monday, we found out that the parts could not be found locally. The problem was one that they had never encountered before and the parts were not ones they generally have on hand. They had to be ordered and overnighted and that put us leaving on Tuesday. More lounging around at Jordan's apartment. 

On Tuesday, we found that only one of the needed parts was delivered. The other one just disappeared. It was put on the truck in SLC, but it wasn't there to be delivered in IF. ugh! It had to be ordered and overnighted again. This time we had already had Jordan drop us off in IF because we were sure it would be ready, so we just got a hotel and stayed in IF for the night. Fish and unexpected company starts to stink after 3 days. It was nice to sleep in a bed, and not on a blow-up mattress. 

On Wednesday, the car was finally ready to go and we were able to get on the road again. What a difference good brakes make. We are so thankful that we were able to learn about the problem at a place where we could still get it looked at and not be down the road hundreds of miles in the middle of nowhere, having caused a wreck when they went out. Especially pulling a car on a trailer. We could have really had a bad situation and I truly feel like Heavenly Father was looking out for us. Even though it was a crazy trip and cost a lot of $ unexpectedly, it was fun to have this 'adventure' with Curtis and Cambria. 

Thanks to Jordan and Lindsey for housing and feeding us.

Thanks to Ford and Shiala for taking care of the other kids for us. I felt so bad every day when I had to text Shiala and say "won't be home today."

Cambria found a railcar behind BigO with her initials on it

Emerson is such a cute boy! He eventually got used to us. That was another great perk of this trip.
More time getting to know him.

He was kind of fascinated by Grandpa's beard...

He was starting to get the walking thing down...

But crawling was still his faster method of travel.

Have to share a tip...stop at the Flying J truckstop near McCammon Idaho when you head up I15 to Pocatello. It's a big truck stop, but the best part of it is the Cinnabon shop right in the middle of it! I got a yummy thing that was all cinnamon roll middles with extra frosting. Oh. My.

We decided that it's a must stop on the Idaho trip. It's like stopping at Farson for ice cream when you go to Cowley and Cody, Wyoming. MMMmmmmmm.

bowl of yummy sweetness

not sure what this plant was but the yellow blossoms were pretty

We are finally good to go! 

Thanks Big O. The guys there were great to work with and gave us very good service, including dropping us off and picking us up at our hotel.
If you're ever in Idaho Falls and need car work done, this is the place to go!
It's on the old Yellowstone Highway.