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Karen’s narrative continues….

We arrived into the Valley about 1 a.m. Thursday morning. As we did get into the Valley, we thought “What now?” We had a motel reservation at the A-1 Motel but how do you find it at this time of night? Sister Kader was pouring through the map. Guess we really looked lost as the man in the VW next to us rolled down his window and asked us if we were new. Sister Kader told him where we were headed. He introduced himself as Elder somebody and said that he knew Brother Harker (who owned the motel) and served on a mission with him. He said to follow him and that we did.

Thursday morning, September 22nd (our wedding date), we got up and ate breakfast across the street at Fred and Kelley’s. Then we went downtown to get our marriage license at the County Building. It was a big, beautiful building with a huge yard. We found our way to the Marriage License floor and department. We were directed to wait outside the office of the justice of the peace. Jim and I were waiting nervously looking up now and then giving each other a smile. Finally, the door opened and the justice of the peace stepped out and asked us if we’d like to witness a marriage. We did. It didn’t take very long. The couple looked to be in their early 40’s. After we signed our names as witnesses, the couple were on their way and it was our turn to get our license. We were individually interviewed about the usual things: address, place of birth, date of birth, etc. Then we got our license. We told him we were being married in the Temple. Seems like he made some comment but I don’t remember what.

More Tomorrow….

Dad

Wednesday morning, we all got up and munched on our snacks still left over and took baths. There was really no hurry. We were stuck here until the afternoon. Again, we browsed through their stores. At the scheduled time, we went to the chapel for Relief Society but nobody was around. We went back to the garage to look over our poor car and talk with the mechanics. They told us about the Hot Springs they were famous for. So, Jim, Toot and I went to look them up.

It was a little pool of standing water coming from naturally hot springs underground. The temperature of the water was 144 degrees F. People with arthritis, rheumatism and other ailments find it beneficial when bathing in it. Older men and women were doing just that (bathing in their swimming suits.) The water is also good for drinking. Some people come and bottle it and take it home with them. The springs is some kind of volcanic deposit underground. It is mineral water. You could actually see bubbles from the ground. The pool was enclosed by concrete. People came from quite long distances to bathe in it. A couple came frequently from Montana. They have a permanent house trailer here so they can spend a week or week-end at the springs. Toot and I soaked our feet in it. All really very interesting.

We went back to the garage where Sister Kader and Martin were and told them of our experience. By this time, it was getting near to the delivery truck’s arrival.The mechanics told us where the delivery was made so we headed that way to watch for it. It was at a grocery store. We went in and bought some food for lunch and I introduced Toot and Mart to beef jerky to their mother’s horror!! To make a long story shorter, the delivery truck finally came with the needed part, the mechanics went to work and finally our poor car started. The cost wasn’t as high as we thought and we left the fair city of Saratoga by 7:15 p.m. Wednesday night.

We decided to drive until we got the Salt Lake City as we were a day behind now. Nothing was going to stop us now. Through the rest of Wyoming we saw huge mountains but most of the time the road was cut through them. Really high along the road. Also, they had “Open range” signs indicating that there were no fences to keep stock in. And we saw steers along the roadside and some in the road. We had to keep watch out in the dark, dark night. Jim and Sister Kader did the driving. When we finally got to the mountain over which you could look down over the Salt Lake Valley lit up, it was breathtaking.

Dad

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

We continue with Karen’s narrative:

Before we did get through Nebraska, though, we stopped at a real nice gas station. They had a great big model teepee out away from the station on some grass. As our first souvenir, we bought a model teepee there. Also, they had a sale on teflon utensils which we decided to buy to use with our teflon pots and pans my mother gave us for a wedding present. Must make one more comment before we leave Nebraska. That is that we saw bales of hay stacked up in huge piles out in the open fields with tarpaulins pulled over them. They looked like whole wagon loads of hay. This we saw very often – almost every farm in Nebraska (or maybe it was Iowa) did this. It disturbed us. Maybe the farmers didn’t have enough barn space to store the bales. It was an unfamiliar sight anyway.

We made Jim stop so we could get out and touch the snow to see if it was for real! Also, we stopped at a beautiful lake called Mirror Lake and we oooohed and aaaahed for awhile. But the roads were steep and curvy and almost treacherous in some places. I was surely glad I wasn’t driving. In one area, they were putting in a new road so it was dusty and mostly one-way. But the scenery seemed worth it. We came to places that seemed like “no-Man’s land” with just a little store and a few houses clustered here and there. We never knew where that road was taking us next. Each turn was a new world it seemed. It was quite a long drive through this mountain range.

Dad