Catching Up

Well, I guess I need to fill everyone in our the Clark Family’s escapades for the past couple of days weeks months. The last few months have been nothing if not eventful.

On the anniversary of Paul Revere’s famous ride, I celebrated another birthday. On the anniversary of Lexington and Concorde I participated in a 5K run with Andrew and Emily. While none of us did very well (I came in third... from last. Incidentally, we were all outrun by an amputee.), we sure had a good time thinking about doing well. Emily reminded me the other day of some of the silly things we did.

I was laughing with Aaron and Andrew before the race that we should be an episode of reality television or that we should have been part of a documentary film. I imagined the film of Andrew and I training in Logan versus the film of Aaron in WY. Then the morning of, the anxiety and anticipation, our amature outfits, the car ride over pumping up to a fast paced song, and then us getting out of the car to a victorious soundtrack. Slow motion, ready for the course that lies ahead. I told the boys about that and we had a good laugh. Andrew added the camera shot of Aaron puking in the bushes 10 meters in. (Which by the way did not happen.) Aaron finished right behind Andrew and I. It was a good experience and I’d like to try it again. reprinted without permission

We really had a fun weekend, and we really appreciate Andrew and Kristi’s and Drew and Emily’s hospitality and giving. They let us hang out with them for a couple of days, and we just had a really great time.

 

---

On the work front, we celebrated Administrative Professionals’ day on the 23rd of April, and I was surprised to receive a gift from my boss. I still remember when it was called “Secretaries’ Day,” so I thought it was still sort of a chance to say thanks to your Administrative Assistant. Well, I do work in the administration department, and you can hardly get much more professional than CPA, so I suppose it’s fine. Just surprising.

---

The Saturday after the big run, we (the Wyoming Clarks) decided to meander up to Middle Piney lake to see if the ice had melted. We took off in the late afternoon, and enjoyed the ride immensely. The roads were clear, the trees were lovely and green (they are pine trees after all), but When we got to the National Forest, the road up to Middle Piney hadn’t been plowed. Most of the snow had melted, but there was still a good 4-6 inches on the road. Julie turned to me and said, “If my dad were here, he’d try it.” Well, after having the gauntlet thrown down like that, I threw the truck into 4WD, and we headed up the road. We had scarcely gone 40 feet, when I knew that the snow was still too deep for us. I started to turn around, but about 4 inches from the unsnowy dirt, we weren’t moving. It felt like a scene out of some Patrick McManus short story.

Well, I threw the truck into 4WL, thinking that we just needed a little extra power to get us up and over. No such luck. Rear-wheel differential lock didn’t do any good either. Down in the valley at 7,000 feet, the day had been pretty pleasant, but up in the mountains at 7,500 feet or so, it was right cold. Fortunately, we all had coats and jackets, so we weren’t worried about that. We said a prayer to ask for help, and then got out and started working. We shoved rocks and dirt under the tires, but that didn’t help. We stuck the floormats under the tires, but that didn’t help. We tried jacking the truck up to get rocks and mats directly under the tires, but the jack just sank into the snow and mud. We put James in the drivers seat so Julie and I could push together, but we couldn’t budge the truck. We worked at it for the better part of an hour. Then, as I was sitting in the truck wondering how the kids would handle spending the night in the truck, the Spirit brought a little something to my remembrance.

I heard a story once on NPR about a group that was touring in Iceland, and once they got off road, in order to maintain better traction through streams and snow, they let most of the air out of their tires. So, I got out, dropped the pressure in the tires by about 15 psi. Julie shoved the floormats under the tires again, and we said a quick prayer. Julie drove, and I pushed, and that did it. We were out! I can’t tell you the relief we felt when we got onto a patch of snow free ground. It was great. We said a prayer of gratitude, and headed home.

 

---

Last weekend, the kids and I headed back down to Logan to be a part of Andrew’s graduation, and to celebrate Cuatro de Mayo with Emily and Drew. We had a great time with the piñata, and it’s exciting to me that the Clark siblings have all earned college degrees. Now I’ve got to figure out how to help Julie finish her Bachelor’s degree. We’ll get there soon enough. We’ve got other important things to do right now.

So, that’s the way things are going here in Marbleton. Thanks for your patience with us. We promise we’ll write more often. Don’t worry a bit.