<– DAY 1: Sunday April 29th: It’s a Fluid Situation! | Day 3: Tuesday May 1: Weathering Oz –>

DAY 2: We made it to Rawlins, Wyoming, yesterday. Progress has been made.

Here’s what happened to delay our departure from Utah …..

After a stressful morning, a very happy wife.

It was an interesting day of twists and turns. Yesterday morning began with a startle. At 5:17am the motel TV’s audio, but not video, sputtered to life, crackling at first, then clearing up to broadcast some kind of TV news interview. I hunted down the remote in the dark, hit the power, thinking the tv would shut off, but instead the video came to life. I hit the power one more time, then the video and audio shut down. That was weird!

Later, as we were leaving the hotel in search of tires, Ann discovered that she didn’t have her purse. If not in the motel room — and it wasn’t there any of the 74 times we checked — then the only other place it could be was at the nearby Spanish Fork’s Cafe Rio, where we ate the previous night. We called the restaurant at 9am and were able to speak with the manager who closed the night before and was opening it that morning, learning that he hadn’t seen the purse. After another search of the motel room, we concluded it had been stolen after we’d left the restaurant. Gone were her cash, her banks cards, her military ID, her driver’s license, her inhaler, her new glasses, and some other stuff.

We are WINNING on this trip, lol.

Back to the tire search … based on my the previous evening’s research, we ended up at the Springville Big-O tire shop. They had the best local reviews and could get the original OEM tires (which no local tire-shops had in stock). Now, we just had to wait.

How to kill time on a rainy day? First, we thought eating breakfast was a good idea. Not wanting to drive very far on the crappy spare tire, we found a Denny’s just a block away. After being seated, the server asked what she wanted to drink and Ann responded “apple juice”.

Turns out, Denny’s sold out of that the day before. Poor Ann, she just couldn’t win …. having had enough by that time, she broke the soda embargo she’d put in place for the past month and ordered a Dr. Pepper. Since Ann couldn’t see the menu (reading glasses in the missing/stolen purse), she explained to the waitress that she could not read the menu, then described what she wanted: 1 egg over easy, 2 pieces of bacon, a bowl of grits, and the Dr. Pepper. I had the grand slam (2 eggs, toast, 2 pieces of bacon, hash browns).

All was good until we got the bill. They charged me $4 for my breakfast and $9 for hers (the waitress priced all her items ala carte). Life had thrown Ann too many bad pitches over the last 24 hours, so she was ready to throw the ball back.

Ann stood, asked for my wallet, and hunted the waitress down. She was gone several minutes. When Ann returned she said “I told the waitress that the price was unacceptable. She said it was the best she could price it. I told her I expected her to know her menu better and be more creative. Once again, she claimed she didn’t know what to do, so she priced it as best she could. I told her that I’d explained I didn’t have my glasses, so I couldn’t figure out the options myself. I told her to fix the problem.”  I doubt International assassins would have wanted to face Ann at that point. Apparently the problem got fixed. I never did ask what she paid ….

Me working at the Art City Coffee shop … beats working in the jeep.

With the Denny’s ‘experience’ complete, Ann began canceling cards, while I found a coffee shop (Art City Coffee) near the tire shop to hang out. It was quiet, relaxing place with comfy couches. It was filled with art, but now has one less painting ……. Because, as we sat, Ann found herself looking at a painting on the opposing wall. She fell in love with it, finding it soothing for reasons she couldn’t articulate. At this point, soothing was a GOOD thing.

After an hour, Ann was still enjoying that painting and wondering what it would cost. Figuring it was going to be $500 or more, I asked the proprietor. He, in turn, called the artist. Wouldn’t you know, the damn thing was priced at only $175. At that point, I could see it was a done deal. She rarely splurges like that, so it seemed like the right thing to do. Her frustration turned to a big smile.

Yep, we took over the back of the coffee shop. She’s smiling knowing we bought the painting.

Buying the painting brightened her day. It also changed our plans, as now, after the tires, we had to drive it to Salt Lake to store the painting with my son until we return. The ripple effects of that are 1) we skipped Kansas all together, taking I-80 instead, 2) we’ll have to return to SLC on the way home to get the painting and 3) we lost an entire day of travel, which means we will be turning south after Knob Noster, Missouri, so we can catch back up to our planned itinerary.

Remember, it’s a fluid situation … I think I’m going to make myself a shirt with those words, as fate is directing us with regularity thus far! Eventually we’ll make it across the Mississippi, then we can slow the non-stop driving a bit.

<– DAY 1: Sunday April 29th: It’s a Fluid Situation! | Day 3: Tuesday May 1: Weathering Oz –>