Lake Powell: The Journey

It all started sunday afternoon with the drive to St. George to pick up the boat in dry storage. We got there ok, except Cache cried and blubberd the entire way. We arrived and stayed over in one of the new hotels they have there. St. George has just exploded with new growth. We stopped at the store to buy some supplies and had to pick up some sunglasses and flashlights for the kids. This is Ronin in the hotel bed with his. He wouldn't put them down and fell asleep with them in his hands. Ronin and Patrick went swimming in the pool and I think that was the most fun they have had to date. 

We got on the road the next day and had been driving for over an hour when we started to hear an interesting sound coming from the engine. We were on I-70 doing a hill when it started to get intense and we were really concerned. We started to pull over and then engine cut out. An odd smell started to flow into the cab. Once we had stopped and opened the hood we found our alternator ON FIRE! It was a fairly good sized flame and in a frantic dash Patrick put it out with a bottle of water and I swooped the kids from the car. I only could see the truck exploding into flames, which would NOT have been good.  Here's the poor thing. It just chewed itself up.
Once we decide we wouldn't explode Patrick got on the line with our insurance to get things rolling. I of course had to cross the freeway to get a shot of the poor scene. Isn't it a pretty view? Well, besides the broken automobile? 

Here it is getting hauled away. This poor truck sits most of the year and then once in a while someone will come and borrow it. So far I think we have all had troubles with it. It's old and neglected but still quite comfortable to drive in. The last few trips to the Lake have been fraught with problems. So we felt quite calm in the heat of it all since we are used to it.
Patrick decided he would take it upon himself to get the boat to the lake himself. Luckily my brother was only 30 min. away in Richfield. He literally dropped everything to come pick us up. THANK YOU!!! He left his family and trailer there and hurried back to find us. We were SO grateful.

So far we were only a few hours into our journey to the Lake. Little did we know this would only be the beginning of other adventures to come.

To be continued....