More Delays

Ken woke up quite early this morning to a sound like something large breathing outside his window. What could it be? When he finally looked out, he discovered that the regular noise was the burners on a large yellow hot air balloon igniting. We later learned that Red Rock Balloon Adventures offers sunrise flights.

We went to the Orion Bread Company in Old Town Cottonwood to get some locally acclaimed bread this afternoon, on our way to pick up our truck. We were disappointed that they didn't have their whole wheat sourdough, but we were happy to get whole wheat cinnamon raisin bread, and we settled for the Red Rock Sourdough. While we were at the bakery, we enjoyed a piece of yummy cranberry almond bread pudding.

We were nearly in Sedona heading toward Vince's Autobody when Ken answered the phone, only to hear that one of the parts for our truck had turned out to be the wrong part. Although it was in a box labelled "right," it was in fact a left piece of the bumper cover. We turned around and headed home, working on Plan B (there's always a plan B when you're traveling). Soon we got a call that they had located the correct part and should have it in tomorrow morning. We plan to be there early to return our rental car and wait for our truck.

We'll have the trailer all buttoned up to leave, so when we get back with the truck, we can hitch up and take off for Las Vegas. We'll have to stop in Camp Verde to dump and get some fresh water, but we're hoping to make it to Seligman tomorrow and then finish the trip to Vegas Saturday morning. This accident has definitely put a crimp in our plans to visit with Jeff.

The couple who helped me lift the generator out of the truck have been camped near us living in a tent and with no vehicle. We've seen them regularly walking out to the highway and hitching rides to town. They said their Town and Country van had been impounded when he was picked up for driving with an expired license. They both have multiple physical problems. The woman nearly had her leg torn off in a motorcycle accident and has lots of steel and very bad knees. The guy had serious back surgery. They said they were hoping to apply for SSI.

Some of our neighbors have been trying to collect money to help them out, but the story has gotten more complicated. It appears that they don't have insurance and can't find their registration papers. The woman says that her daughter doesn't want to help her out because she's been panhandling. We're beginning to think that the scheme to get their van back may not work out, but we're certainly hoping they find someplace besides a tent with no facilities to live. We did fill up their water jugs and donate a few things, and other folks have been helping out too, as well as local churches. I know we can't rescue them--they'll have to make some good decisions for themselves.