It seems that Rick has filled you all in a little on his extended stay in Vail. Mom and the kids and I were not in Vail though. When the truck jerked to a sudden stop while climbing a mountain just east of Vail, I was more than a little nervous/scared/panicked/mad. Traffic was flying by and there was not a full shoulder that Rick could pull off on due to a concrete barrier so we were still in the driving lane a little bit. After we sat there for about 2 minutes I decided that I had to get the kids out of the truck because sitting in it was not safe. As far as break downs go, this was not too bad of a situation. I noticed a bike trail off the side of the road and down a very steep hill, but if we walked along the interstate about 300 feet the bike trail climbed up and we could get over to it. Considering we were going to be on the other side of the concrete barriers for the walk, I used my savvy Department of Transportation instincts and decided we were better off across the barrier than sitting in the truck hanging out in traffic. So we climbed out of the truck, climbed over the barrier and starting walking along the top of a very steep drop off. Millie was very scared but she slowly made her way along the barrier with my mom as I carried Reed until we could hop over to the bike trail. I have never been so relived in my life. I was so scared for those kids but we got them to safety.
Meanwhile, a lady named Vikki Jones from Denver was on her way home from Grand Junction after visiting her grand kids for the weekend. Both of her granddaughters had just had a dance recital (ages 3 and 5) and being the sweet grandma that she is, she wanted to make the several hour drive and see them. She was on her way back to Denver when she saw our motley crew hiking along the side of I-70. She pulled off to talk to Rick and he motioned her up the road to where we were. After rearranging some things in her van, there was room for mom, the kids (sharing a seat with no car seats!) and myself. Knowing the tow truck was not going to be able to take us all along when he picked up the truck, we took our chances with Vikki. What can you do, right? She had told Rick she was going to take us to Vail to the Holiday Inn Express. We asked "Haven't we already passed Vail?" She told us no and that what we saw was West Vail and just ahead was Vail. I wasn't convinced but I assumed she knew what she was talking about. After driving a few miles she realized that we were, in fact, past Vail. She then told us she would take us ahead about 20 miles. There was a town called Silverthorne that had hotels, shopping, groceries and all the necessities we needed. My mom could not hear this exchange between Vikki and I and I am pretty sure she was convinced that after passing about 4 exits that we were being kidnapped.
Mom's spirits brightened 100% when Vikki dropped us off right in front of an outlet mall. My mom had bought a new pair of shoes within 30 minutes of our roadside rescue. Granted we had no clothes with us and mom only had a very flimsy pair of shoes. Remember that when we started walking to the bike trail for safety, we had no idea at that point we would begin hitchhiking so we had no clothes or anything with us. I did happen to grab my camera bag just because it was on the floor at my feet in the truck. That turned out to be a good thing because it had my wallet in it so at least we had money. What I didn't have, if you recall, is a phone. I am sure it still resides with the prairie dogs somewhere between Silverton and Durango where it fell off the train. My mom did have her phone but it is a prepaid phone and has very few minutes on it. I felt that we had time warped to the stone age!
Turns out I should have called Rick when I found out we were going to Silverthorne instead of Vail because the tow truck wanted to take him to Silverthorne but he told them to take him to Vail because that's where we were going. Whoops.
So we were at an outlet mall with no clothes, no place to sleep and no idea where Rick is. Rick is in Vail with a broken truck and no idea where we are. At least he had the trailer, clothes and food...oh and his bike. We finally made contact and let him know that we had found a Comfort Suites. Can I just tell you one thing about the bathroom, it was fabulous! You have already learned of my bathroom issues and even when I stayed in a Ritz Carlton in Naples, FL my heart rate spiked just walking bare foot on the bathroom floor. So apparently trailer living has somewhat cured me, at least temporarily, of my hotel bathroom issues because I had no worries about this one at all! I think the Lord knew I needed a break...from the trailer, not Rick...
My mom and I figure out what we need from the store to get by and so she walks to the only store close by; a Walgreens. Now, Walgreens isn't known for it clothing department so when mom went to get us a pack of underwear, she got the only size they had which was apparently made to go over about 13 pair of depends all at once. We laughed about it and figured they would do while we washed ours in the sink. I would not normally tell the world about our big underwear if it weren't for Reed. See, the other thing we didn't have with us was Reed's potty seat for the toilet and my boy likes to get comfy when nature calls a number 2. I kept asking if he needed to potty and he said no. Well apparently when he thought he was tooting, it has a little more punch to it. He was holding it in, until then, because he didn't want to poo without his seat. This could not have been worse timing for him to have his first accident in over a year! We had no other clothes. This is where our big underwear comes in to play. Yep, we had to put him in something while I washed his underwear in the sink. He, of course, thought this was hilarious, as did we. I am so glad I had my camera. These photos will be brought back to life many times I have a feeling.
The next day Rick picked us up at about 3pm and we were able to hit the road. All of us together, heading the same direction in all of our own clothes. Life is good and the Lord certainly has us in his hands through this trouble. We are now in Missouri and plan to get back a day early and drive all the way home tomorrow. That is provided the trailer stays in one piece because I think we have lost of piece of it in about every state.
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