S.O.S

Some days when you get out of bed you just get that gut feeling you should stay in bed. Today wasn't one of those days; I got up at 4:30am after getting a great nights sleep and was excited and ready for my drive to Craters of the Moon and Monmouth, OR. I was out of the house and driving by 5am and the only worry I had was what I was going to encounter on WY roads in the dark (mule deer, elk, moose, etc.). The drive was super easy all the way into Yellowstone and I only encountered 2 mule deer which weren't even in my path.

As I entered a 25mph zone I noticed the needles in my gauges jumping. My speedometer was jumping between 40mph and 60mph when my GPS said I was going 23mph. So right there I  knew I had a problem. Then my mileage screen went blank. But there were no funny noises and no odd lights on my dashboard so I pulled over right before the bridge and turned my car off thinking that I would just turn it back on and everything would reset. Funny how that didn't happen.

So now its 6:30am, pitch black, and I am somewhere in the middle of Yellowstone National Park with NO cell service. I'm in Grizzly country and I have to walk to find the nearest place I can get some help? Oh god. So I sat there in denial for a good 30min. praying my car would just decide to get me to Oregon since I already had a Mazda apt in Salem for tomorrow afternoon. So after I got past my denial I got out and went to lock my car...only it wouldn't lock. Really?! So I manually locked all the doors except for the drivers door and I started to walk back to where I had seen a gift shop. I now know what it feels like to be a hitch hiker and I know whats its like to be a frozen hitch hiker. Let's just say I don't want to do it again.

Finally get to the gift shop and it's still dark. My guess is that the shop isn't open and I was right...not until 9am! So I did what any stranded person would do and I started pounding on the door. I gave up after a while and turned to look at my long, cold next 2hrs when the door opened. I was let in the back and given the number of the emergency service for the park. I got a hold of them and they said it would be an hour before they got to me. The employees in the store were so sweet. They wanted me to stay for breakfast and stay in the shop with them until the tow truck came but I was in no mood to be social so I walked back to my dead car still hoping it would turn on. Better luck next time.

Tow Truck #1: From Fishing Bridge to Canyon Service Station
Tow Truck #2: From Canyon Station to West Yellowstone, MT

Tow truck came an hour later, and we drove 30mi to the shop. There they worked on it for about 3hrs before the gave up. The whole time I paced around in circles talking to the girl at the register. The nearest Mazda dealer is in either Billings, MT or Twin Falls, ID. MT is WAY out of my way so I opted for Twin Falls. Apparently there is a mechanical error in the dash of my car and that is why it has to go to a Mazda dealership. Now once again my car was loaded back onto a tow truck and we were driven 40mi to west Yellowstone. I was dropped off in the parking lot of the welcome center in West Yellowstone, MT where I called Geico to come get me. I don't even know what is wrong with the car yet and I have already shelled out a couple hundred bucks to be dropped off in Montana.

Now I am waiting for the next two truck which I will get to be in for the next 3-3.5hrs of my day. I just got off the phone with the Mazda dealership and they know that we are coming. AND the guy said there are 3 hotels in walking distance so the is a MAJOR plus! Ya know I wish I could tell you how I am feeling after a day like today but the best word that I can come up with is numb. It's one of those situations that you never saw coming and you don't really know how to approach it. I go between feeling stressed, lonely, sad, defeated, and scared but everything happens for a reason and this will somehow work out. It just leads to a lot of questions....

How many days will it take to fix my car?
How will I afford this?
How will this effect my trip from here? Do I call it quits and drive home?
Will I ever actually make it to Oregon?
My brain has been reeling all day with these questions and I need to figure it out fast! I am getting to the part of my trip where people are flying in to meet me and I either need to pack it in or figure it out and just get there. My spirits are down and I just don't want to think about anything. I guess it's a good thing tomorrow I have all day to work out some new ideas and go over budgets before Mazda calls with all the good news about how much money they made off me.

The tow truck should be here any minute and then the next phase of this awful day continues. If being in a tow truck with a complete stranger from Montana to Idaho was on my life's bucket list it can officially be checked off.

Tow Truck #3: From West Yellowstone, MT to Twin Falls, ID