The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

I promised that I would share the good, the bad, and the ugly. I have shared many good experiences that we have had - today I will share the bad. This, my dear friends, is a picture of 'Ole Thunder' on the side of the road. Let me explain - Dan and I were just driving along on the way to Virginia City yesterday when the truck's check engine light came on - then a message on the message center said to "pull off the road safely" - Dan quickly found a place to pull over, and the truck just died. I mean it quit!!!! We called Ford Road Side Assistance - and they sent a tow truck (only took it a little over an hour to get there since it came out of Bozeman). We loaded the truck on the back of the tow truck and off we headed to Butte (which was another another hour and a half away).
Jessie, Sam and I get in the back seat of the tow truck and Jessie proceeds to lie down and go to sleep. Now this is the dog that is such a timid little thing and she just lies down and goes to sleep. You might ask, why don't I have a picture of Samantha? Well, she climbed up in my lap and rode like she was a little baby - her head on my shoulder. Anyway, we ride in the tow truck to Butte - which was another hour and a half away - we get into the Ford Dealership around 4:30. They took the truck right in and started checking it out - they found a temperature sensor was bad, but what worried them the most was there was NO coolant in the truck - and they didn't know where it went - they couldn't see a leak. Anyway, they couldn't fix the truck last night - so we had to spend the night in Butte. We rented a car (Dan could not be stranded) and the dealership found us a hotel that would take the pups and give us a "stranded motorist" rate. We went to the hotel, checked in, got the girls settled, then went to get something to eat (since we hadn't eaten anything since the cereal we had for breakfast). We also went to Wal Mart and picked up a couple of toothbrushes and a tube of toothpaste, and, of course, some PM's. We went back to the hotel and settled in for the night. The girls actually did very well and we had a pretty goood night.

This morning we went back to the dealership and they were still working on the truck and they were not sure how long it would take them - so we decided to drive out to Anaconda and then on to Philipsburg and Garnet Ghost Town. While we going up the side of the mountain to get to the ghost town the dealership called and said the truck was ready - that they had replaced the sensor, filled it with coolant, had serviced it and it was ready. We went ahead and went up to the ghost town (I'll post those pictures tomorrow). On the way back down the mountain (on a very narrow dirt road) we were hit with a terrific rain/hail storm. Anyway, we got back to Butte, picked up the truck, returned the rental (which was covered by the warranty) and headed for Virginia City (see we don't give up easily!)

This is just one of the building in Virginia City - it is a really cool place - Dan says he would like to go back and spend some more time - we even went through Nevada City which also has a old town like this, but we didn't take the time to stop today - when we go back over we will also go back up to Nevada City (it's only about 15 - 2o minutes up the road). I'll post the other pictures of Virginia City when I post the others tomorrow (I haven't had time to sync them to the Web tonight).

I was really proud of Dan - he didn't get the least bit upset about the problem we had yesterday - we said that things are going to happen and the really good thing was it was all covered by warranty - no charge for the tow truck - no charge for the rental car - we did have to pay for the service, but we would have to do that anyway. We also paid for the hotel, but it was at a reduced rate. So, all was fine. The girls did well with the change - and we were able to buy some really fresh fruit in Virginia City (Blackberries, cherries, peaches, and necterines). So, while the bad happened, and it could have been really ugly - it all turned out to be okay and we did get to Virginia City after all.

We both are really tired tonight - I think the tension got to us and now we can relax we are tired (or at least I am). So, I'm going to sign off for tonight - tomorrow is another work day - I'll get all the pictures "synced" and post a link to them tomorrow (there aren't a lot this time because of the time frame, but there are also some of the ghost town and more of the tow truck and trip - there are even a couple of some deer we spotted on the way up to Garnet Ghost town). I'm going to sign off for now, but before I do - thanks Crystal - you fixed the problem for me. Also, I wanted to say congratulations to Melissa on getting a job in Lake Placid - everything is falling into place and you'll be closing on the house in the next couple of weeks and starting your new job!!! Dan and I are both very happy for you!!!! Oh, Kim, I think your idea is great - maybe I can convince Dan to make the headstone for the volleyball net!! One more thing - Dennis, no we did not find the job through Work Kampers - we looked on line at the US Forestry Service web site and they have all kinds of volunteer postitions available - if you are interested in something like what we are doing you might want to check into that.

Okay, I'm off to take a shower and get ready for bed - talk to you all tomorrow!!