TRYING TO CATCH UP!

This format doesn't look right but I'm going anyway...don't have much time but just want to jot down that I am so happy people send Holiday letters...I don't know what my problem is, but I just can't get it together...at least in 2010...I'm hoping my brain will come back for 2011. Wow, that was weird, now the normal format came back...sheesh, sorry for no color...0k, where was I...oh yeah, my brain...I am totally sure now, that I named my blog correctly!!
Anyway...a big THANKS! to all the people who sent those notes of how they are doing and what they did all year...That's another problem.. I can't remember what I did yesterday, let alone 6 months ago....ok, I know I'm supposed to be keeping a journal, but I lead such a boring life-I feel like no one cares...but then...someone jumps on me and says that that's not true. Oh well...I'm not making any promises or resolutions...but...I'm really going to try to do and be better in 2011....Oh, my, I can smell the homemade turkey soup cooking, it smells soooo good...and it is -18 (wind chill factor) degrees outside and a great warm fire in the stove...it's great!!! Life is good!
Russ is working, Kelli is working and Alyssia is working and going to school...and with that I am a happy camper....
I guess I'd better sign off for now, our friends are coming over to make noodles to add to the soup and I hope we have a fun evening...we usually do with Crystal and Jimmy...in fact on the 5th of Jan we leave for Las Vegas...maaan...Jimmy has a computer shop and we are going to the show in Vegas... I'm excited because Crystal and Amanda (another friend) and I will be shopping and goofing off while they are at the show and then in the evening we will all go to a show or wander around...it's gonna be a fun time!!! Ok, gotta go, they just dro9ve up...l have a great weekend and if I don't get back to you...have a GREAT NEW YEAR!!!

OVER THE HILLS AND THRU THE SNOW!

we made it!!!! The worst week to travel, was how the weather stated it. Well, everyone knows the weather people never get it right, so we waited until the fog cleared and decided it wouldn't be that bad. We drove for an hour or so and decided that it was not that bad...until...South Pass. If you know anything about Wyoming, you know that South Pass can be treacherous. It's where a lot of the pioneers lost their lives because of harsh weather. The roads were very icy and then the blizzard was upon us. We drove into white out and wow, you could see absolutely nothing! You didn't dare stop or you could be rear ended, you couldn't go forward for fear of going off the side of the mountain...and then it cleared. When it cleared Skip saw the side pole on the left side of the car...normal, right...WRONG! we were on the wrong side of the street against a hill. Skipper opened the door to survey the situation...he went to step out and found his leg swallowed up in snow...it was about 3 1/2" deep. Quickly he came back into the car and there we sat...t.h.i.n.k.i.n.g...hummm, now what. It was still snowing to beat the band and while we sat there watching the traffic go by...very slowly, some spinning out, a snow plow appeared coming toward us. He stopped and asked if we called a tow truck. Skipper said no, but we had a strap if he could pull us out. So, long story short, barely missing the pole, the one we had missed originally, they were able to pull us back up on the road. Thank you to everyone involved, including the Man upstairs. From South Fork we drove calmly and alertly down theu the blowing snow to Rock Springs where we entered the freeway. That didn't seem to make much difference, cars were still sliding and off on the side of the road. By time we got to Salt Lake (usually only 8 hours away) we were exhausted so we stopped and spent the night. YESSSSSSS, out of the cold blowing snow. We watched the weather for the rest of the trip and yes, it was grim...but we were committed now. Next morning it was not snowing, with a blizzard predicted around 4pm...so we were going to be driving right into it somewhere. We were driving toward Wendover, NV when Skip noticed a car in the center median then he said there was a body on the ground in front of the vehicle. Immediately, emergent situation kicked into gear and down off the road we went toward the crash. We saw others from the other side of the road stopping and running to the scene. What had happened (short version) the wind caught their little car, flipped it over, throwing the unbelted passenger out of the car thru the passenger window (which had been closed). The driver and passenger, brothers, both in shock. Driver was not hurt, the passenger was in deep shock, freezing lying on the frozen ground. We all gathered up blankets, coats, bed mats and sleeping bags from the camper that stopped. We used the bed mats to try and block the freezing wind. An Army medic stopped, he was on his way home from shift and had his bag with him. Used his hand warmers and stethoscope to check breathing sounds, took pulse and applied the plastic molded neck brace. He continued checking him out while I kept talking to him to get his mind working to help from more shock and make sure if there was a concussion that he would not slip into unconcusness. Because we were "in the middle of nowhere" it took the ambulance over an hour to get there. When they did arrive, the injured was still in shock, had hypothermia but was alive with cuts and bruises and pain in several places. (The next day I called Garret, the driver, to see how his brother John had fared...he said tht in two hours they were both able to walk out of the hospital and get back on their way to California to join their family for Thanksgiving...the paramedics told them if it weren't for all of us, it would have been a very different situation.)
We got back on the road and the strong wind was still blowing. Once we passed Wendover it started snowing again and by the time we reached Wells, we were in another white out. So we stopped at a Subway, ate and watched it blow off. When we could see again we drove to Reno where we had to spend the night as they had closed the road because of the ice and blowing deep snow. The next morning, the snow had stopped, beautiful blue sky and we drove into Donnor Pass into more snow. After we had driven thru the pass, we were out of the snow and that afternoon reached our destination...waaa hooo!