A lull had settled over our car, peaceful and still after the laughing, chattering pandemonium that had filled it for the past three hours. I glanced over my shoulder and saw that all of the kids, and even my sister-in-law sitting next to me on the front seat, were asleep. No wonder it was quiet.
It was warm in the old car, but not unbearably. Actually, it was quite comfortable now that we were up in the mountains. It had been very hot down in Mesa when we left, even though it was only 8:00 in the morning. Since we had no air conditioning in the old car we'd driven with all the windows down, and while it was still hot, the rushing wind had at least dried our sweaty faces and made us feel cool. Now, driving slowly over the rocky dirt road leading to the cabin, the roar of the wind had also lessened, making it seem doubly quiet in the car.
Carefully I negotiated the narrow cliff road known as Fisherman's Point, hugging the hill as closely as I could, only glancing down into the deep gorge beside me briefly to see if the creek far below looked clear. Sunlight glinted off it's surface, mirroring the cloudless sky above, and I grinned, imagining how much fun we were going to have swimming in that icy water during the coming week.
We were on our way to the cabin, finally. It seemed like years since I had been there, and I had missed it so much. I still couldn't believe I was actually making this trip. I had tried and tried to get here for the last four months, but something always seemed to get in the way, mostly my husband. Sheldon worked long hours at the print shop in Phoenix were he was employed, but even on weekends and holidays I hadn't been able to talk him into taking us to the cabin. He was too busy flying his model airplanes or going on outings with someone else. He'd been on a fishing trip to Lee's Ferry, three skiing trips with my brothers and dad and other friends, and hunting up on Mount Graham, but he hadn't found time to take us up to the cabin. And I was kind of grumpy.
Normally I did not approve of couples going on separate vacations, but frustrated, I'd finally decided it was time to stop waiting for Sheldon and decided to go to the cabin without him. My sister-in-law, Tammy, had agreed that her kids needed a vacation, too. And although my sister Linda couldn't get away until the end of the week, she was planning to join us at the cabin with her children as soon as possible. Sheldon didn't care one way or the other, he would be busy at work all week, but dad wasn't so sure it was a good idea for us women and children to go alone. He didn’t' tell us we couldn't go, but he made arrangements so he and mom and my little sisters could come with us. We were going to have so much fun!
A fly buzzed lazily in the warm air next to me, disrupting my thoughts for a moment. I glanced down at Alyssa, sleeping peacefully in her baby seat, then back up at the road as I rounded the last curve of the cliff part of the trail. It was all smooth sailing ahead of us now, and only a few more minutes until we would be crossing the creek and almost to the cabin. It was so nice and quiet and peaceful in the car. My shoulders relaxed and I drew in a deep breath. Boy, I had really needed this break! My life had been busy and hectic lately, what with four children of my own to care for, my babysitting kids, our new house, preparing Sunday lessons and attending weekly MIA activities for my calling as Laurel Adviser, becoming Vice President of the Mesa Museum Guild and all the duties that went along with that job, and just all of the other things connected with being a wife and mother and housekeeper.
Bump, bump, bump! My eyes snapped open just in time to see the front end of the car bounce over another rock on the side of the road, heading off into the forest. I slammed my foot on the break and we bounced to a stop. Oh my goodness! I'd fallen asleep at the wheel!
Tammy jerked awake in the seat next to me and whipped her head around. "Gale, are you alright?"
Grinning sheepishly I answered, "I guess it got too quiet in here, and I dozed off."
"What happened mom? How come we're not on the road? Why did we stop? Are we at the cabin?" a bunch of little voices began calling from the back of the station wagon as the kids woke up.
"We'll be there in a minute," I assured them as I gingerly opened my door and climbed out of the car, stumbling over the boulder I had just driven over. Dad had stopped his truck a little behind us, and he hurried up to me.
"What happened," he asked with concern.
"Oh, I guess I closed my eyes for a second and dozed off," I told him sheepishly. "Anyway, the car kept going straight when the road turned, so here we are."
Dad walked to the front of the car and looked to see how far off the road my front tires were. It wasn't really very bad. We'd only driven into the rock filled dip on the side of the road.
"I think you can just back up again and get back on," he finally told me after examining the boulders. I got back in the car and carefully backed up. It was bumpy, but not bad.
The kids sure got a kick out of telling and retelling how their mom fell asleep driving the car and almost got them in a wreck. I had to grin each time they told it, because it really was kind of funny, and since no one was hurt and the car was all right it was a pretty good story. But I wasn't as happy after they told Sheldon all about it the next day when we called him from the general store in Young. This was back in the days before cell phones, so I had made arrangements with Sheldon to call him at work every couple of days.
"Well, it sounds like you guys are having fun," he told me when I finally got the phone back after each of the kids had told him their version of our adventure.
"Do you still have to work this Saturday?" I asked. "You haven't found a way to get off so you can come up and join us, have you?"
"Well," Sheldon said, "I did talk my boss into letting me work later tonight and tomorrow so I don't have to work on Saturday, but Keith is going to drive over to California Friday, and I'm going to go along with him so he doesn't have to drive alone. He has to deliver a job in LA, then we might stop and go to Disneyland on Saturday."
"You're going to go to California?" I asked in surprise, not believing what I was hearing. "You couldn't get off to take us to the cabin, but now you're going to go to Disneyland with Keith?"
"Yeah. You don't want him to have to drive over to California all by himself do you?"
I didn't know what I wanted. Keith was my big brother and I loved him and everything, but at that moment I sure wasn't very happy with him or my husband. But what could I do? After all, I was the one who had left Sheldon home so I could go on a vacation with the kids. Bummer!
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