There was no reason to not sleep last night, but the heady mix of anxiety and anticipation had me looking for new bikes on the Internet instead of sleeping. Maybe subconsciously I was hoping to ride my bike away from the charred remains of the RV.
Daylight finally arrived and I cooked up our usual breakfast of oatmeal. I mix mine with brown sugar, peanut butter, salt, hemp seeds, flax and some coconut milk. We quickly ate and hooked lu up with the kindle so we could hammer out the last odds and ends of the house and clean up before the tenants came over to do a walk through at 10am. How I ever thought we would be in Butte to pick up a car dolly by 1pm is s mystery but that's what I set up.
We made a last minute decision to take the Honda Pilot instead of the Kia. I'm not sure if we made the right decision or not yet, it's nice to have a little extra space though. We managed to pack a mountain bike, a cross bike, and a road bike for me and the madsen bucket bike for Sarah and Lu's bike.
Since we were meeting someone from Craigslist in butte to pick up a new car dolly lu, Sid and I loaded into the RV and headed out. Sarah finished cleaning up the house with Aki and Pele and left a few minutes after us. We quickly rendezvoused however because Sarah didn't have any gas or a credit card to get money for the car dolly. We finally got on the highway and were immediately hit by 20-40 mph side winds. Although I tried to keep my cool for Lu I was super freaked out. I hadn't driven this thing more then 50 miles before and wasn't truly equipped to handle the stress of the wind. I nearly gave up at several points and pulled over but couldn't fathom the thought of spending the night in a gas station parking lot. And we still had to get the freaking car dolly!!!
I white knuckled it while yelling back and forth to lu over the howling wind about doc mc stuffins and other important issues in the life of a 4 year old. After being unsuccessful at getting the kindle to work while also driving a giant motor home I gave up and got lu to sit shot gun so we could talk and I could tell her about the continental divide as we drive over the top of it. Of course that didn't last long. We eventually made it to Butte and I was able to let the sweat dry from my drenched shirt. Sarah beat us there and already had the Honda on the dolly. I gave it a half-hearted once over and quickly paid the man. Our options were nil and we needed that dolly. We also needed a trailer hitch with a 6" drop instead of a 2" drop so I left everyone in the RV at a flying J and headed into town for a new hitch.
The Honda was loaded with all the bikes and after purchasing the hitch and getting a free diet Pepsi I was heading back to the Flying J. I went over an underpass and though, "hum, that's a weird noise." And glanced in my rear view mirror to see the Madsen spinning effortlessly from the fast lane off to the shoulder. I immediately panicked and then thought about just giving up and driving on. I'm glad I stopped. All caution aside I reversed on the shoulder against traffic and quickly got the bike out of the way.
Those of you who know me know this isn't the first item I have lost on the freeway. I also lost a brand new fridge from RC Willey and the fear and panic from that situation was about double for this. Sarah freaking loves this bike.
Unbelievably the bike wasn't in terrible shape. Definitely has some scuffs, dings and dents but it's rideable. What a freaking awful part of a day that still wasn't over.
We eventually got over the tears from the near disaster and managed to haul our exhausted asses to Fairmont Hot Springs just 10 miles outside Butte. It was the first time we were all together with everything we would have with us for the next three and a half months.
The rest of the day unfolded beautifully and we made it to bed ready to fight for a better day tomorrow.
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