We continue with Karen’s narrative:
Finally, though, we came to this stop sign at this junction and knew we were out of the scenic country. The car seemed to know it, too. She didn’t want to go after we stopped for the stop sign. This was about 4:30 p.m. still Tuesday. We all got out of the car to inspect under the hood. A hitchhiker happened along and helped us look. Also, a truck with construction men in it coming from where we came from stopped and helped. They poured cold water over something hot. That seemed to help the car. The men told us that Saratoga was the next town and only seven miles away. So, we headed for Saratoga, Wyoming. We got there to a garage at 5 p.m. After inspecting our car, the mechanics decided we needed a part which they didn’t have. (Note from Jim: a head gasket). So Saratoga, Wyoming turned out to be where we were going to spend our second night of our journey to Salt Lake City.
We checked into the Sage and Sand Motel where we had a kitchen and two bedrooms and a hall. It was very nice accommodations but not under very good circumstances since we were planning to be in Salt Lake City this night instead of the middle of Wyoming. Also, the extent of repair worried us. All kinds of questions were going through our minds, some spoken, some silent. There was no bus service, no taxi service, no train, plane – no nothing!! Except by foot or car. We were stranded in this little town at the mercy of someone – the garage. It’s pretty frightening. What if they couldn’t find out what was wrong with the car? How would we get out of here? What if they did find out but the part wasn’t available anywhere? How would we get out of here? Would we have to get married in Saratoga, Wyoming? Would we have to live here all of our lives? What would we do for a living? Hunt, fish, go mountain climbing? Yes, these and many more questions were going through our minds.
But, we decided to make the most of it, so we took a “tour” of Saratoga, Wyoming. We found a rather nice drug store, a bank, hardware store, a couple restaurants, a couple grocery stores and about four or five gas atations plus two or three churches and a post office. Guess what? Saratoga, Wyoming had a Mormon church! Unbelievable! Would Mormons live here? In the post office we looked to find the days and times for meetings and also the Bishop’s name and number if we did need him. This seemed to give us hope. We had brothers and sisters here if we needed them. And we were sure we would. Their Relief Society meeting was held Wednesday afternoons so we decided we would attend that if we were still in town. With that we went back to the garage to check out the mechanics. They said that the thermostat had locked up and the engine overheated warping the head gasket and letting water into the cylinders. They had to replace the head gasket. They could get a part from Rawlins, Wyoming but their delivery truck didn’t come until Wednesday afternoon. Since there was nothing else we could do, we went back to our motel and went to bed.
More tomorrow…..
Dad