Picking up where I left off on my last post…there is no “perfect
world.” Jake did make it out to the
truck on our little 2-wheel-drive ATV but the Pass remained “impassable” to street
vehicles. He was able, however, to get
to town for a few heads of lettuce and bags of tomatoes which he carried in a
cooler strapped to the back of the ATV.
The ATV is so small that with a cooler on back, Jake has to scrunch all
the way forward on the machine…he ends up looking a bit like an adult trying to
ride a tricycle.
So, with the knowledge in hand that we wouldn’t be able to
put in “a big Sysco order” (as we had fantasized), we decided to put in a “bare
minimum Sysco order” to see us through at least a few weeks. We can carry two large coolers on our trailer
so we ordered two boxes each of the three most vital components to our lunches:
hamburgers, buns, and fries.
Since Jake had to cover several miles of dirt pulling our
trailer with skis attached, he decided to screw metal flashing on the bottoms
to protect the plastic from the sharp rocks.
(He couldn’t replace the skis with wheels because he knew there was too
much snow on the Pass to get through.)
Well, that flashing lasted about 2 miles before the screw heads sheared
off and the metal went a-flappin’ down the road. A few miles later, one of the skis decided it
had had ENOUGH and twisted itself sideways and then backwards rendering the
trailer unusable for a good long time.
Knowing that he had no option but to move forward, Jake
unhooked the trailer and dragged it to the ditch, to be recovered when we (by
that I mean “he”) could get back out to it to replace the skis with
wheels. Meanwhile, the Sysco order was
already in West Yellowstone awaiting Jake’s arrival, so he hightailed it to the
truck and sped on his way. I’m sure he
was doing some pretty deep head scratching during that ride trying to figure
out how he was going to the our load of groceries back to the Lodge! Well, as it turns out, he was so preoccupied
with those thoughts that he forgot the month’s bank deposit in his backpack
which was sitting out in the wide open on the back of the ATV back at Henry’s
Lake.
You can just imagine the panic that set in.
Jake hightailed it back to Henry’s Lake, tummy rumbling
because he didn’t even stop to pick up a bite to eat, all the while cursing his
luck, the weather, the trailer, and anything else that popped into his mind. I’m pretty sure I even made the list a time
or two. But no harm, no foul…the
backpack and deposit were right where he left them.
After more head scratching, Jake did manage to load all the food
onto our modest little quad and then sloshed his way home through the mud and
the muck. He arrived filthy and
exhausted but triumphant in his success at getting provisions back to the Lodge
to keep our doors open for our guests. I
wish I had pictures of this adventure to help tell the story, but then again it’s
probably best I was nowhere around.
Sometimes a guy just needs to have a little space.
Freezers restocked and frig full, we have been whiling away
the days enjoying a slow trickle of guests who still find their way here
despite the lack of snow. Our youngest
winter guest arrived on her own machine…all of eleven years old and already
brave enough to handle herself not only on the rough mountain trails, but also
across the lengthy expanse of frozen lake she had to cross to get to the Lodge.
I hadn’t been out on iced-over Elk Lake all winter,
partially because the idea gives me the heebee-geebees, but also because I
haven’t had the chance to spend a lot of time on a snowmobile. I took at lesson from that little 11-year-old
girl. I put my big girl pants on and
bravely ventured out onto the ice.
It was exhilarating.
Snowmobiling in and of itself is fun and can be breathtaking, but being
out on slick ice is another thing. The
back end of the machine likes to sashay around so there is a need for
correcting much like you would if a vehicle started slipping on the ice. Of course speed impacts one’s ability to do
this successfully, so I was consistently yards behind Jake who went flying up
ahead.
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| In this case he was coming AT me! |
It’s a good thing I took advantage of the ice when I did
because ever since that short ride, the temperatures during the day have gotten
up to the mid-40s. I don’t think the ice
is going to disappear any time soon, but it’s prudent to error on the side of
caution when you live in the middle of nowhere. By the way, we spent the rest of the evening gazing at the beautiful sky!
And with these warm temperatures comes the information that
Red Rocks Road has been plowed open from the Henry’s Lake side. Jake rode the ATV out to the truck today and called
back to report that while the Pass is very iced over, he intends to bring the
truck back home today. I’ll let you know
how THAT turns out in the next post.
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| Time to put Frosty away. |
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