What an Adventure

On Labor Day we decided to do something fun as a family and go to the Dugway Geode beds. We had learned about them online and wanted to go see if we could find any cool Geodes. So on Monday morning we got ourselves ready and headed out. The drive took about 2 1/2 hours. We headed to Tooele then continued south for about 40 miles until we came to the Pony Express Road. We turned onto it and headed west for about 50 miles...45 of which were on gravel roads. Most of the way the gravel roads were pretty smooth, although we did feel like we were on the Dukes of Hazard a couple times when big potholes came upon us suddenly. The last mile or so we had to leave the Pony Express Road and really rough it on the dirt trails. Everything I read about the journey said that any car should be able to make it, so we just went in our minivan. We did make it, but after a really bumpy last mile. A few times we hit bottom pretty hard but we made it there and started digging for geodes. There were several big pits where commercial excavators had come in and dug out big holes. So we climbed in and started looking. It was amazing...everywhere there were broken fragments of Geodes.

The first half hour the kids focused on finding cool geodes that were already broken open. Then we talked to someone who was there and found out the other pit had more unbroken geodes. So we stopped by our van to deposit our treasures and head over to the other pit.

We were all having a great time and the kids loved climbing around in the dirt and finding treasures everywhere. Even Cody was finding some pretty neat geodes.

Here is Shelby holding two of her favorite Geodes. She liked finding the open ones the best. But she was able to find some really good unopened ones too.

When James came over to the van to drop off the geodes he had collected he noticed something bad. There was a pretty significant stream of Transmission fluid running from our van. That is never good!

I heard him say "Oh no" and knew from the tone of his voice that something was really wrong. Even I could tell by looking at it that we had a problem. James looked under the car and said that when we hit bottom that last time we dented the transmission pan and it cracked. I asked if we would be able to make it home if we left right then and he said he didn't think we'd make it. So we were standing there wondering what we would do when a car drove up and guess who was inside...our home teacher! It was amazing that he just happened to arrive there at the exact time when we really needed some help.

So James and Scott Mitchell left to go figure something out and me and the kids stayed with our broken down van. Luckily it wasn't too hot so we were able to rest inside and cool off when we wanted a break from the sun.

Most of the time we continued to look for geodes. We found a whole bag of unopened geodes. They kind of looked like dinosaur eggs, so we called them eggs. The kids wandered around and when they found a good egg they would come back to me and Darcy and show us.

Eventually I was able to get Darcy to sleep and then I tried to get Cody to sleep but he didn't want to sleep. So we just sat around and waited for James and Bro. Mitchell to come back. They were gone almost 3 hours but it felt much longer than that to us. I didn't have a watch or keys to start the car so we had no way of knowing how long it had been. Luckily we had plenty of food but not quite enough water. So we were getting thirsty. We did have a case of James' Diet Mtn Dew, but it just wasn't the same as water. I started thinking about what I would do if James didn't make it back before dark. But luckily they made it back and brought lots of water with them.

They had gone to the nearest place they could find, which happened to be the Tooele Army Depot base store. Since neither of them were army personnel they had to have a police escort to go onto the base. Luckily the people there were nice and allowed them to go in and buy all the transmission oil they had. They also bought anything they could think of to patch up the crack.

They got car tire plugs, shoelaces, athletic tape, duck tape, rags, and bungee cords. They didn't know what, if anything, would work.

James first tried the tire plugs, but the crack was too narrow to fit anything inside. When the rocks smashed into the pan they compressed it and the crack formed where the side meets up with the bottom of the pan. We tried to pry it open so we could plug it up but we couldn't budge it. The athletic tape wouldn't stick to anything. I tried the duck tape and did get it covered up some, but the whole area was covered with oil so nothing stuck very well. We ended up taping it up and then using bungee cords to press a rag against the crack. We knew our repair wouldn't stop the leak, but we were hoping it might slow it down a little.

Then we poured in 6 quarts of transmission oil and prayed for a miracle. Bro. Mitchell said he would follow us out in case the transmission locked up. So we headed out and tried to go as quickly as possible because we knew that every second we were loosing more oil. We made it out of the really rough dirt trail part and stopped to see if our patch was working. It was definitely not working! The oil was pouring out in a steady stream. So we jumped back in the car and kept going as fast as we could. We went about 30 miles and then stopped to put in the rest of the oil we had. Brother Mitchell caught up to us and said they could see the trail of oil we were leaving on the road. It was pretty bad. So we got back in and kept going. It was discouraging to know that we had 80 miles to go before we could reach the nearest city. After driving for about 70 miles James said he had no idea how we were still moving. I said, "I've been praying this whole time, so maybe that's helping!" Then I heard Shelby say from the back of the car,"I said a prayer too." So I'm pretty sure we made it to Tooele on faith and prayers.

We had decided to try to make it to the nearest mechanic shop, if we could get that far, and then have Mom come pick us up. So we pulled into the first mechanic shop and were happy to see the sign say, "Main Street Mechanics, Transmissions and more..." It was closed, which we expected for 8 pm on a holiday. We were going to leave it there and put the key in a key drop, but we couldn't find anywhere to leave the key and the gate was locked so we couldn't get the van inside. So we just parked it outside the gate and were walking toward the main road when we noticed a truck near the front that wasn't there before. I knocked on the door and a mechanic opened it. He had just come to drop off some tools and happened to arrive at just the right time. So he opened the gate and we were able to give him our keys and explain what had happened. Having him stop by was another little miracle.

Mom was on her way, but we still had some time to kill. We were hungry and decided to walk down the street a few blocks to McDonalds. I wish I had a picture of us walking. James was carrying one carseat, a bag and pushing Darcy in the stroller. I was carrying the diaper bag, another carseat, a backpack, and a booster seat. And the kids were walking along with us. At one point a car stopped and asked if we were stranded. I said yes, but my mom is on her way to get us. We got some interesting looks when we walked into McDonalds, but we didn't' care. We were just happy to be able to set our stuff down and get some food. Mom arrived a few minutes later and we ate dinner together then headed home.

It was quite an adventure! We really had a fun time, even with the mishaps that happened. I could really see that Heavenly Father was watching out for us. I am definitely thankful for home teachers! I'd say ours went above and beyond in this situation! And we have a whole bunch of geodes to cut open and see what's inside...so the fun isn't over yet.