Thursday, February 16th, was a rainy, miserable day. A storm with big thunder and lightening, heavy rain and strong winds came in overnight and would stay through most of the day. Claude had to be up early and off to Frankfort. His drive to Frankfort was miserable due to this weather. Claude is Stake Communications Director at church. Several stakes in our area all organized visits with the stake legislators in their area that would each last 10 - 15 minutes. Claude organized and needed to lead our stakes attendees through this process. On top of this, he came down with a lovely head cold. Ugh!! He would be able to get through all of this and then get home in time for an hour nap before we traveled.
Travel was what I prepared for while Claude was gone. I tried to print our boarding passes and it would not work. Into the rain I went to get his prescriptions and some other things. I tried again to print boarding passes and it would not work. Packing was completed and all was ready when Claude returned. I tried again to print boarding passes and it would not work. I did have them on my cellphone.
You see, we had planned and made all the hotel, car and flight reservations for an 53rd anniversary trip to Phoenix, Arizona. We booked a cruise on the Dolly Steamboat on Canyon Lake. We also booked a 45-minutes helicopter flight over the Grand Canyon. Then...we received the news that Joann, Claude's sister, had passed away. Her funeral was to be the Friday (Feb 17th) before our Monday through Friday (Feb 20 - 24th) trip. We decided to go to the funeral and stay out west. I could not change the flights on-line as we needed to add a leg from Salt Lake City to Phoenix. This meant I called Delta and had to talk to an agent help us set this up. We were blessed to secure an evening flight on Thursday which allowed Claude to attend all the Frankfort event.
The next problem was rental cars. When we finished setting up the flights, it was midnight. We were tired and I told Claude I would get the rental cars for Utah and Arizona the next day. That was a good plan. However, there was some big ball game event in Salt Lake City and they didn't want to rent a car for the limited amount of time I needed it for a funeral. The end result for Salt Lake after talking with Hertz was to rent for a week, pay when I returned and get a refund on the days I didn't use. I truly couldn't see Hertz letting me take a car without paying first. But, the agent said they would. Booked a car for the week in Salt Lake. Then tried to change the car rental I had for Phoenix from Monday through Friday to Sunday through Friday. Again, they couldn't do that. No cars available. I talked to the Alamo agents supervisor and was still told no. I was told that upon arrival in Phoenix, I should go to the rental car area (not on the airport site) and see if they might have a car. This was now our plan. We had a car we could pick up Monday evening. Leaving us Sunday and Monday with no car. I changed our hotel plans to a hotel close to the airport with a shuttle in case we couldn't get a car. Whew.
Claude awoke from his much needed nap. I tried one more time to print our boarding passes and it would not work. Claude tried on his laptop and it worked fine. Ugh!! We loaded the Jeep with our luggage and were off to Cincinnati Airport in what the forecast said would be this awful powerful storm. Another blessing. We had a few light showers, no big storm. Hallelujah.
Our plan was to have a good meal in Cincinnati Airport at Max & Erma's. They were closed. We opted for Plan B...seemed to be a pattern here...and ate at The Outback.
While there I was texting with Kris. She and Cordell were staying in our hotel in Brigham City, Utah. She asked if they could pick us up and be our wheels while in Utah. YES!! That meant we would not have a rental car issue in Salt Lake. Another blessing. I cancelled the Hertz rental car and gave our arrival information to Kris.
Our flight went well. We were very happy to see Cordell at the foot of the escalator when we left the airport. On to the Holiday Inn Express in Brigham City for the next two nights.
Friday, February 17th, was Jo's funeral. The viewing was at 9am with the funeral at 11am all at the Thatcher Penrose church. It was good to see family again. We walked into the Relief Society room for the viewing. John was there talking to two of his friends. He was in a sports coat and tie. Now, I never see John dressed like this. It took me a minute to pick out my very casual brother-in-law. It was good to give him a big hug and tell him we love him. This two hours was a good time to see family and catch up with them.
I was visiting with Marlene, John's sister. She told the story of visiting John and Jo and asking the names of all of Jo's donkeys. John started to tell her and Marlene quickly realized they were all named after John's siblings. She also noted that none of Jo's siblings had a donkey named after them. Marlene said, "It is okay. I have been known to be an ass. I can say that because it is in the Bible."
Flowers from Claude and our family.
Jo's siblings. Claude, Tami, Cordell, Lynette, Kayla and John (Jo's husband)
Katy, Jo's homecare nurse and also her hospice care nurse, gave one of the talks. She shared how positive Jo was through all of this. How she was always ready to do whatever the next step was to try and beat the cancer. Only at the very end did Katy notice a lack of enthusiasm. Katy said she looked at Jo and said, "You aren't giving up. You are changing your goals." I loved that sentiment. We were none put on this earth to be here forever. Our permanent home with with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. This was to be Jo's goal as well as mine. Love that thought.
Valley View Bothwell Cemetery.
The service and interment were very tender and perfect for Jo. I hope it gave John some closure and peace. He will be very lonely.
I took some pictures of the snow covered Wasatch Range for our children. They have a good snow pack this winter which bodes well for their spring runoff. This is a huge part of their water source. Very important to get good snow in the winter.
Back to the hotel the four of us went. Claude would get another much needed nap. Then we went out for dinner that evening. Claude and I had an interest in going to Peach City. After we were married, Claude took us there to have a 'Fresh Lime'. He loved these when he was younger. Cordell wanted us to try a place called the Rusted Spoon. We drove to the Rusted Spoon and had a great dinner. I enjoyed a Navajo Taco made on a scone. Very good. This was a place one would drive past and not necessarily think of entering. It teaches that lesson to not just a restaurant (book) by its cover.
Saturday, February 18th, was a free day in Utah. The four of us slept in a bit.
Our first errand for this day was a visit to the Distribution Center in Brigham City. You see, my dear hubby had only packed the top portion of his underwear, not the bottoms. We needed to purchase some bottoms to make this trip a lot more pleasant for him.
Then we drove to Tremonton to meet with Claude's siblings for a meal together before we all parted ways. We drove up to John's to be sure he was going to join us. He planned on it but had not caught the message we were meeting earlier. We were very happy he joined us for this time with Jo's siblings. We ate at The Grille in Tremonton.
Then Cordell and Kris drove us to our hotel by the Salt Lake City Airport. We would spend one night there and catch a very early shuttle the next morning to meet our 8am flight to Phoenix. This was a very nice Comfort Inn. We got checked in and settled down for the evening. After a while, the power went out. It was only out in our hotel. The hotel next door and across the street all had power. I was wishing I had plugged my phone in when we got to the hotel. After a good while, the power came back on. I quickly plugged in all my devices just in case. We enjoyed television and settling in again when the fire alarm went off. It didn't quit quickly. That meant we really needed to get outside. Pulled on our coats and out the hotel we went...with a prostitute in tow. She came out of a room and Claude held the door for me and her. Nice lady. We waited downstairs until the alarms finally went off. No firetruck came. Not sure what precipitated this alarm. I took this picture of the guests in front of the hotel waiting for the alarm to stop. I posted it on our family Facebook page with the question, "Where's Claudo?"
We slept until our 5am alarm went off Sunday, February 19th. Then we were caught the shuttle at 5:30am and on to the airport. Our flight went off without a hitch. I was very amused with the children sitting behind us on plane. There were three very active little boys. They were a delight to listen to as they said in very loud voice, "We are going (as we left the airport). It's gonna land (as we arrived in Phoenix). I even heard one of them tell the youngest, "It's going to be okay. We are alright." as we landed. Very cute.
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