COME AND GONE

Time does indeed march on, at an ever-increasing pace it seems! Another springtime trip to the Mountainview Hideaway is in the books and the countdown has begun for the next trip which will be in July. I left on April 16th and drove to Denver to meet my best friend Brenda who was flying from St Louis; she has a very busy schedule and had several upcoming commitments so we had a tight window for our annual work trip. The drive to Denver is only *13 hours from here and while I would've enjoyed her company, I figured this would give us more time at the house instead of on the road. I loathe driving interstate 25 from Pueblo to Denver so I took an alternate route through the Oklahoma Panhandle and eastern Colorado which was less stressful; as it turned out I would have more than enough stress, behind the wheel. I had been watching a weather system that had been moving through the Rockies a day or two before the trip and I estimated that I would be coming up right behind it, I wasn't however, counting on it to stall over the mountains!

At Limon, Colorado I began to drive into a rain/snow mixture but arrived at the Denver airport two hours before Brenda's flight; giving me more than enough time to gas up the van, eat dinner and relax. As I sat looking out the window, the rain and snow mixture gave way to snow; big, wet flakes that began to accumulate.

As I checked and rechecked Brenda's flight information the end result was the same, her flight was delayed due to the weather. I had hoped we could make it north of Cheyenne by day's end but that notion was beginning to slip away right before my eyes. I altered my expectations and figured we would stop in Cheyenne for the night. Once it showed her flight had landed, I started driving over to the concourse in this unfamiliar airport. The snow was really beginning to come down; in my opinion, the airport is not very user friendly in the first place and then add to it, a spring blizzard and my stress level began to increase! After being honked at by security to move on from where I was waiting, it took another ten minutes to circle back around and get to the pick up area. Eventually we connected and we started making our way through this intense white out blizzard!

It should come as no surprise that I don't exactly have a lot of practice driving in snow while living here in Texas. Ice storms find me holed up inside where it's safe and staying off the roads! I admit the snow was beautiful but it would have been more enjoyable if I were not driving "The Mothership" which was weighed down and loaded to the brim. It got to the point where my headlights weren't even lighting up the road in front of me, forcing me to exit and clean off the 3" of slush that had accumulated all over the front of the van. It was shortly after this that I made the executive decision to pull off the interstate and stop for the night! We had barely been able to drive forty miles since leaving Denver International Airport!

After getting a good night's sleep we awoke to snow still falling....seriously? We loaded up and headed out, northward bound on Interstate 25. We saw several snowplows but they were clearing on the southbound side meaning we were just slowly making our way on the uncleared roadway. There was a scary moment that sent me on the verge of hyperventilating when a semi decided to pass me, forcing me onto the shoulder and then being momentarily blinded as its slush covered the windshield. After composing myself I was able to thank the good Lord that we were safe and still on our way. By the time we hit Cheyenne, the snow was once again a rain and snow mixture and by the time we hit Casper, we were finally out of it!

Only 500 more miles to go!

To quote Helen Keller:

"Life is either a daring adventure or it is nothing."

It seems that our adventure wasn't over just yet!

We were making really good time and I was beginning to think that we might still make it to the Mountainview Hideaway by day's end, albeit late that night. We had just crossed Homestake Pass and were roughly twenty miles west of Butte when I felt the van jerk. It continued to jerk and buck and I had no power steering: I drove it slowly until I crested a hill to where I could get a cell phone signal. I realized that we were going to have to get a tow truck and have it towed back to Butte. We had pulled off the interstate and drove to the Fairmont Hot Springs Resort and waited for Triple AAA to send out the truck. I was nervous seeing him tow the van behind us, all loaded down with furniture and stuff but I had the presence of mind to give thanks to God that I hadn't lost my ability to steer "The Mothership" while I was on the mountain pass! The driver got the van to the FORD dealership and then dropped us off at a hotel for the night. I normally would not take the van to a dealership but when you are stranded on a Friday night in an unfamiliar city, you do what seems to be the most logical. The next morning the hotel shuttled us over to the dealership so we could be the first ones in line once they opened at 8 AM. Apparently on Saturdays they have a skeleton crew working and it took them a couple of hours to tell me that in their estimation, the serpentine belt broke because the pulleys were rusted and had ground down the new belt we had our home town mechanic replace, just 1,500 miles ago...The pulleys should arrive by days end on Tuesday (via wagon train)...UGH!

I made the decision to rent a car, transfer our personal gear along with some of the boxes and high tail it to the house. Whilst rattling off our vehicle options I stopped her at a Subaru Forester. Dave and I are planning to replace the van next year with a brand new Subaru; we have had the Outback as a rental before so I figured this would give me an opportunity to test drive our other consideration. I ended up forgetting all the movies and my shoes in the van but in the long run, once we finally made it to the Mountainview Hideaway I was able to take a deep breath...we were finally here. I am confident in saying that Brenda and I met the criteria for Helen Keller's idea of life being an adventure!

Stay tuned for my next post on our work projects...

TWEAKING

One of the many things we did on our April 2014 trip was to hang pictures that I brought up as well as tweak items, to make rooms complete. My best friend Brenda is SUCH an asset on these trips because she has a wealth of knowledge and she is fearless! Dave and I had the Hopkins Mountainview Hideaway sign made last summer and I knew that I wanted it hung in the family room. It would be the first thing you would see when you stepped into the family room along with items displayed on the shelf that is about 8 feet up along the wall. We got the required hanging items and Brenda went to town!

Another room we tweaked was the Guest Bedroom AKA "The Glacier Room". We moved the antique prints that used to hang over the bed and placed them to the right of the doorway. I brought up one of dave's gorgeous pictures he took in 2012 of Lower Grinell Lake with Beargrass, inside of Glacier National Park. This hangs to the right of the chest of drawers.The Great Northern Railroad lantern on top of the chest of drawers is from Dave's collection. Over the years he has collected these lanterns from the various railroads that have all merged at one time or another to create the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad that he has worked for over 32 years. The Great Northern Railroad has been his favorite over the years. When he was a little boy living in the Seattle area his family would ride the Great Northern's Empire Builder to Michigan to visit family. This route actually skirts Glacier National Park and James Hill, founder of the Great Northern Railroad and nicknamed "The Empire Builder" himself, was instrumental in promoting Glacier National Park and advocated that it be designated a National Park. We have a very solid connection and it was important to incorporate this interesting information into our dream home.

We had a bear clock made for the bedroom and we hung it over the bed. I also brought up the second Juniper lamp (Dave had bought these 2 lamps last year in the Grand Canyon when he did his "Rim to Rim" hike with his 2 younger brothers) and moved the second nightstand into the bedroom. I was really pleased with the way it worked out.

Last summer when Dave had to undergo radiation he had a great attitude over the whole ordeal. He had decided to not feel sorry for himself but rather, asked God to let him be a blessing to someone else. God answered that prayer in the form of a parking valet at the radiation facility. Fabrizzio and his family moved from El Salvador to Texas a few years ago for political reasons. They had lived very comfortably in their former life but the suddenness of the move really hurt them financially; he felt blessed to even have a job. As he and Dave got to know one another better, Dave learned that he was an artist. Years ago he had been diagnosed with Parkinson's so he had to teach himself to draw, using dots instead of brush strokes. He had asked God to heal him, which God did but he never returned to using brush strokes. He asked if he could draw our Mountanview Hideaway for us and naturally Dave said YES! The end result just touched my heart deeply! We had it matted and framed and this past April, it was hung in the living room and eventually our leather sofa will sit underneath.

Dave and I with Fabrizzio and his lovely wife Jaleesa at Dave's "End of Radiation Party", August 2013.

I brought up another area rug that I had found earlier this year at Canton Trade Days. I have to be careful because rugs are my weakness and we have reached our limit on any more rugs for the house. This one however I fell in love with and decided it will go in the living room.

Dave was on a mission to find another antique cooler for us to keep firewood in. He found this smaller red one on E bay and once I got it to the house, I swapped it out with the turquoise one I had brought up last year. That one is now in the dining room next to the larger wood stove.

I brought up a load of books and placed some of them in the bookcase in the family room.

The other bookcase holds books and games that I brought up. This bookcase is in the "office" area which we had remodeled.

Tomorrow I will post pictures about the "office" remodel.

SPRINGTIME IN MONTANA

This past April, I planned another working trip at the Mountainview Hideaway. I was excited because my sister-in-law Peggy flew down to Dallas and we made the LONG 1,800+ mile drive to the house. We left at 4 AM and drove 1,000 miles that first day, spending the night in Casper, Wyoming.

I was in the midst of doing a "Flat Stanley" project for our youngest grand-daughter, so I taped him to a paint stirring stick and took pictures along the way!

We left Casper at 5AM the next day and made our way into Montana!

We were making such good time that we stopped in Bozeman at a store that carried rustic furnishings and stretched our legs for an hour. We arrived at the house around 6:30 that evening which meant it was light enough for Peggy to be able to enjoy the scenery as we got closer and closer to the house. After I gave her the tour of the house and the property, we decided that we would only bring in our luggage and relax for the rest of the evening.

After a good night's sleep, we enjoyed our morning coffee and a fire in the dining room wood stove then set out unloading the van; which was overflowing with stuff.

We managed to unload everything from the van with the exception of the heavy, coffee table that was still in the back. Charlie and Dave had loaded it up for me and it was going to take some manpower to get it back out. We changed clothes and went into town to get breakfast and do some grocery shopping. The next day my best friend Brenda would be flying in to the Kalispell airport and then our work projects would begin.