During the service each of Ken's son's spoke. It was so amazing to hear each of them talk about how they saw and loved their dad. They each have a little part of him in their own personalities. Ken talked about how he was always up for an adventure, which is exactly how Jason describes his childhood. His parting words were, "When you are on your next adventure, think of my dad."
So, with that said, we loaded up our cars again and headed out Sunday morning for home. An 8 hour drive, or so we thought. We had made it about 2 hours outside of Salt Lake City in a light snow, when we received a call from Ken & Kris, who had left an hour or so before us. They were stuck just outside of Rawlins, WY due to a snow storm and I-80 had been closed. We weren't too far off, so we met in Rawlins. By this time it is 2:00pm and the snow was wicked. They would not be reopening the interstate, so we checked into a hotel and settled in with a teenager, 3 toddlers and Wilson (My Mother-in-laws dog we were bringing home). The next morning we wake up to hear I-80 is still closed. Ok, now what do we do?
At 10:00am Ken informs us that I-80 is now open, but would probably be closed in an hour or so due to the new awful snow storm. So, we pack up very quickly and decide to make a run for it. We made it about 20 minutes when we were stopped in traffic. There was a massive 12 semi-truck; 20 car pile up heading west. So, we sat. An hour, nope...we sat for 6! 6 hours with 3 toddlers, a small dog and a teenager. We had run out of diapers, food was gone, no water, and to boot it was snowing and bitter cold, so no getting out of the car. 6 hours later we were behind a Police car being escorted to Laramie at 30 mph. We clocked the stopped traffic on the west side, which was comparable to what we had waited in...8 miles of traffic...8 miles! We finally made it home, safely, yet exhausted by midnight last night. A 3 hour drive home, took 48.
And, on the way home I looked at Jason and said, "This is your brother's fault, dad is looking down on us laughing and telling us to make the best out of our little adventure." Well, Papa Garrett, we made the best of a miserable situation, and we are all stronger for it!
Thank you for the adventure, you were thought of a lot during those 6 hours!
The sign outside of the chapel
Before the flag folding ceremony
Presenting Shirley with the folded flag
Amelia didn't mind being in the car...too much
Our Police escort to Laramie
