Wednesday May 8, 2024
Dear Diary,
I woke up at 2 am. Trish was awake too. We both got on our phones. I scrolled through marketplace on Facebook until 4 am and fell asleep. At 5 am, I woke up again when Trish had Angel get in bed with us. Trish said, she got her off of the couch because Missy would be arriving any minute. Angel was squirming around and I dozed off and on until 6 am.
I got up and got ready to leave. Trish was awake and said she had been awake most of the night and was really tired. Missy still hadn’t arrived and Trish wasn’t able to get a hold of her. I got Angel up and had her start getting ready to go. After about 15 minutes Missy texted Trish and said she would be there around 7:30 am. Ok good, that was perfect since that was when I planned on leaving. I was driving 7 hours to Salt Lake City today. On the way, I planned to stop at my moms in Caldwell and drop off her Mother’s Day gifts. Then I planned to stop in Hagerman and go to Miracle Hot Springs ( https://www.miraclehotsprings.com ) for an hour or two. I would arrive in Salt Lake City between 5 pm and 6 pm, around the time my sons and daughter-in-loves would be getting off of work.
I fed Bits, made tea for Trish and myself and made oatmeal for Trish and Angel. I packed the coolers and loaded everything in the truck. We were ready to go. I hugged Trish goodbye. I really wanted to stay longer but I needed to go home and get back to my life there. Missy still hadn’t arrived and I was thinking I should wait for her to get there but Trish assured me that she would be there soon. I found out on the road that she had arrived right after I left.
We headed out at 7:50 am. I prayed my thanksgivings as I got onto the highway:
- Thank you for my sisters.
- Thank you for a wonderful drive to Salt Lake City today.
- Thank you for my beautiful life.
I had been driving about a half hour when my truck told me that the air pressure on one of my tires was a little bit low. I had just put air in that tire yesterday. My tires are getting thin on tread in general and when I got the notification that the air was low again, I decided to stop at a tire shop in Weiser and see about getting brand new tires for my trip home.
When I got to Weiser I pulled into a Les Schwab tire shop. They usually have good tires in stock. A nice gentleman greeted me when I walked in the door. He came out and looked at my tires. He said my tires were a common size and they probably had some available. We went inside and he checked to see. They did have some in stock. They were high grade tires with an 80,000 mile warranty for the low price of $1,100.00. I knew if I shopped around I could get a better price but I didn’t have the time to shop around if I was going to get to Salt Lake City at a decent hour. Plus I knew these were good quality tires. I told him, I would get them and he said they would have them done within 45 minutes. We went inside and Angel played on her phone and I wrote my blog. 45 minutes later, they still hadn’t gotten the truck in the shop. I started to feel frustrated. I acknowledged my frustration and clearly saw the thoughts that were behind the feeling. I instantly switched to thoughts of gratitude. The wait was giving me time to write my blog and rest. Everything was happening perfectly and I was receiving exactly what I needed. They finally pulled my truck into the shop and the extra time allowed me to finish my blog from yesterday, edit it and post it. Then I still had time to start on today’s blog.
When the tires were on, I continued on our journey. I was glad I’d had gotten new tires. I drove to Caldwell and met my mom outside a restaurant to give her the Mother’s Day gifts that Trish, Angel and I had bought her. It was good to see my mom and I gave her a hug. Angel was excited to see her grandma and ran over to her. I handed my mom her gifts and offered to carry them to her car. She said she didn’t need help, took her gifts and walked off.
I continued driving towards Salt Lake City. Getting new tires had put me behind schedule but I estimated I could still stop at Miracle Hot Springs for an hour and arrive at my son’s house around 6 pm. That would give us all time to eat and play a board game before it got too late. The drive to the hot springs was beautiful. I love the high desert, with its colorful plateaus and winding rivers. Driving down into the Snake River canyon to get to the hot springs is like entering an oasis. The landscape completely changes from sand and sagebrush to green grass, lush with plant life and trees. Waterfalls flow out of the canyons walls into the Snake River. It’s a magical area called Thousand Springs Scenic Byway and it has a fascinating history. You can read about it here: https://visitsouthidaho.com/about-southern-idaho/thousand-springs-scenic-byway/#:~:text=The%20Thousand%20Springs%20Scenic%20Byway,towns%2C%20and%20Idaho’s%20famous%20trout.
We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves at the hot springs. I floated on my back in the warm mineral water and became so relaxed that I dozed off for a few minutes. Angel played with a girl that was close to her age. I chatted with the girls mom for a while and found out they had just moved to Idaho from Texas and were loving it. She asked about sightseeing nearby and I told her about several amazing places to visit within 30 miles of where we were at. I gave her my phone number and told her to text me anytime and I could tell her all the best places to explore Idaho. There are so many. Right before we left, we all walked over to a securely fenced off area where alligators are kept. The alligators live outside year round in the warm water from the hot springs.
When we got in the truck to finish our drive to Salt Lake City, I was surprised to see that we had been at the hot springs for 2.5 hours. Wow. I guess I had lost track of time. It didn’t seem like we had been there that long. Now we wouldn’t arrive at my sons until 7:30 pm. I messaged my sons and daughter-in-loves to let them know that I would be arriving later. After exchanging a few texts and a couple of phone calls, I decided to not go to visit because it would too late at night to do anything with them. It was a school night and the grand kids needed to go to bed early. One of my daughter-in-loves was working a double shift and would be tired after getting home late. They all had to get up early for work in the morning. It just wasn’t flowing, so I told them I would bypass Salt Lake City and get a hotel room for the night. We had gotten to spend time together on my way up to my sisters and I will see them all again when I come back in August if not sooner.
I changed my destination on the gps and headed straight towards Oklahoma. On the drive I listened to Land of the Burnt Thigh by Edith Udora Kohl and Angel played on her phone. I stopped at the Utah sign and took a picture. At Brigham City, I thought about stopping for the night. I was starting to feel tired and I’d only gotten 4 hours of sleep, not counting the brief nap I got while floating around at the hot springs. I pulled into a gas station and filled up on gas. I looked up nearby hotels and didn’t really like the choices available, so we continued on. I felt revived after getting out and stretching. I drove a couple more hours until we crossed the Wyoming border. Then I was done driving. At the first town we came to, Evanston, I pulled off the interstate and found a hotel. I got us a room and took Bits for a brief walk to use the bathroom. We got settled into our room and went straight to bed. We didn’t take our usual evening bath because we had been to the hot springs and I didn’t want to wash the mineral spring water off and replace it with chlorinated water.
I wrote on my blog for 2 hours from 8 pm to 10 pm. Angel played on her phone, I had her turn it off at 9 pm and she fell asleep. I fell asleep at around 10:30 pm.
Thank you for reading my blog and being a part of my life. I dearly appreciate you.
Love,
Victoria
P.S. This blog post was inspired by the Holy Spirit.