I think digging my pond that summer was my therapy for missing mom. I loved the physical labor and mindless work, and it wore me out, which made it easier to sleep at night. Still, it was lonely at our house, and the girls missed grandma and I missed my mother.
To help give us something to look forward to we began exploring the mountains around us. Our goal was to take the girls fishing in a new spot every week, which didn't exactly happen, but we had a couple of fun day trips, and Kami, especially, took a liking to fishing.
One Friday Moe decided we should drive over to Big Lake and see what it was like. He downloaded directions from the computer, we loaded the car with snacks and our fishing poles, and off we went.
The route Moe chose took us past Sunrise Ski Resort, on the White Mountain Apache Indian Reservation. He had heard this was the shortest way to Big Lake, although it meant driving on dirt roads the last hour of the trip. We got to that part of the road just about the same time as a large rain storm rolled in. Soon the roads were muddy and rutted.
“Does something sound funny to you?” I asked as we trundled through the deep goo on the road.
“No,” Moe answered, but a few seconds later he turned off the air-conditioner and said, “Hush. What was that sound?”
I couldn't tell, but something sure didn't sound right with the car.
I was reading a book out loud to the girls, but I put it down so we could listen to car.
“I think it's the transmission,” Moe finally decided. “Maybe we shouldn't try to make it all the way to Big Lake.”
“There's a sign up ahead that points to Greer,” I told him, looking out the front window. “I wonder how far that is.”
“Only about half an hour, I think, Moe told me, his brow furrowed with worry. “Maybe we'd better go there. If there is something wrong with the car we won't be able to get any help at the lake.”
So we turned left on the side road and slowly made our way down a hill and through the dense forest, listening all the while to see what the car was going to do. Half an hour later we turned off of that dirt road onto the main road of Greer, and the car died!
“What happened?” I asked.
“I think the transmission went out,” Moe answered. We were almost to the top of a hill on a narrow, two lane road with no shoulders to pull off on.
“I'm going to have to coast back down,” Moe said after trying to restart the car a couple of times with no luck. “Watch behind me.” Carefully he put the car in neutral and we began sliding back down the hill.
What a nerve wracking experience! Thank goodness there were no cars coming, but still I was scared to death. The road was very narrow, there were bushes and trees on either side, and at the bottom of the hill a tiny bridge crossed a rushing river. I was sure relieved when Moe finally got us to the bottom and backed into a wide spot on the opposite side of the road at the bottom of the hill.
“Well, I guess we're going to stay here,” he said. “This car isn't going anywhere by itself. I'll have to get a ride back to Snowflake so I can get the truck and come tow the car back into Show Low.”
“That will take hours,” I worried, “and how will you get a ride?”
“Maybe Stephen can come pick me up,” he suggested.
Stephen was my twenty-five year old son who was staying with us for the summer between college semesters. The only problem was, he had a job working for a well drilling company, and I didn't know if I could even get hold of him.
I tried my cell phone, but had no service, so we all got out of the car, locked it, and walked up to the top of the hill. There was still no cell service, but there was the first of the many summer cabins and lodges that made Greer such a sought after resort destination.
“Maybe we should just get a room and spend the night,” I suggested, half joking.
“Good idea,” Moe surprised me by saying. The only problem was, this lodge was totally booked up. They did tell us that the only place we could get cell phone reception was about half a mile farther down the road, at the Molly Butler Lodge, so Moe and I and the girls walked on there. Sure enough, on the porch of the lodge I was able to use my phone, but when I finally got Stephen, he said he was out on a job and wouldn't be able to come until later that afternoon.
“Well, just come when you can,” I told him. “I don't know where we'll be, but I'll call you later and let you know.”
We went into the lodge to see if they had rooms, but of course they were booked solid, too. It was a summer weekend in Greer, and every hotel and motel had sold out months in advance.
“You might try renting a cabin,” the desk clerk suggested, so we followed her directions around the building to a small office in back where we found a cabin rental service.
Thankfully, there was one cabin available, which turned out to be right in town on the main road so we could walk to it, and it was actually cheaper than a hotel room. Not only that, when we finally got there, after going back to the car to retrieve the few snacks we'd brought and then walked another mile further down Main Street in the rain, we discovered it was an actual house, with three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a loft, a family room and a kitchen. It was amazing!
After exploring the cabin we walked back down to where we could call Stephen, gave him directions to the cabin, then walked back again, this time looking for a store where we could buy food, but to our dismay the only shop in town was closed.
“I guess we'll have to eat at a restaurant,” I told the girls, but they weren't excited. Greer didn't have any McDonalds or Arbie's or even Pizza Huts. In the end, I walked to the closest restaurant and discovered they did make pizza: fancy, expensive pizza, but pizza: so I ordered one to go.
“It will take an hour and a half,” the waitress told me. “This is our busy time, so the chef won't get to it for awhile.”
“OK, I'll come back,” I said, then walked back to our cabin.
We'd used up the entire afternoon walking back and forth, and Stephen got there not much later.
“I'm not going to try to bring the truck back tonight,” Moe decided as he climbed in with Stephen. “It will take two hours to get home, another hour to rent a trailer, and then two hours to get back. I'll just wait and come get you in the morning.” So Kami and Krissi and I were left alone in that huge, three bedroom cabin, to enjoy the evening by ourselves.
Krissi walked back to the restaurant with me to get our pizza while Kami tried to get TV reception at the cabin, but it wasn't ready. We walked back to the cabin, waited another half hour, then walked back to the restaurant, twice. It was 9:00 before we finally got our dinner, which wasn't very good, but it was still an adventure!
After all that walking and getting cold and wet, I was standing in the living room of the cabin eating pizza later that night when I heard my cell phone ring. I picked it up in amazement and found out the only other place in the whole valley, besides the lodge, that got cell phone reception was inside our cabin! Brother!
Anyway, Kami and I enjoyed watching Raiders of the Lost Ark, one of the videos the owners of the cabin had left for guests to enjoy since there wasn't any TV reception, then she and Krissi and I curled up on the king sized bed in the master bedroom while I read to them from our book. In the end, all three of us slept there on that one bed, never even using the other two rooms, but it was sure cozy.
In the morning we walked across the street and got smoothies from a little outside snack bar for breakfast, then we walked back through town to the creek. Kami tried fishing while Krissi sat on the bridge. Just as we were ready to give up (there didn't seem to be any fish in the river) Kami felt a tug on her line, and she caught a great big rainbow trout! She was so happy! She was just getting ready to clean it when Moe drove up with the truck, so he got to help her with the fish.
We drove (it was so nice not to have to walk anymore) back to the cabin and packed up, then drove home to Snowflake. All in all, it was a delightful little unexpected summer vacation, and I determined that some day we would have to come back to stay in Greer again, this time on purpose.
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