UNEXPECTED GLICHES

DAY 3-
Monday. This is the day we are going to start our camping trip. Woke up around 9am and our first stop is the North Pole, Alaska. Yes, this is where Santa is. It was 10am and already 75 degrees.We drive through the city of North pole and all the street lights are candy canes. We arrived at Santa's house and all the kids had huge smiles on their faces...especially Morgan. They ran out of the truck, headed for the reindeer. There was a lot to see but the kids wanted to go inside the house...imagine that. Well, we were disappointed because there was a sign on the door that said "Santa is out on Sundays and Mondays." Bummer. I still got a chance to show the kids all the letters Santa has received from little boys and girls.

Back on the road headed to Chena Hot Springs area where we rented a state cabin for 3 days. It was called the Colorado Creek Cabin and was ATV accessible. So there were 2 ways in: 1 was 5.8miles for snowmobiles in the winter, and the other was 18miles in good condition. Since we had our Argo I thought we were invincible to any obstacle. It is a mini tanker right? I decided to take the short trail in where we had 3 miles to the creek and then another 2 miles to the cabin.

We headed up the trail at 4:15pm and about 10 minutes into it, the Argo dies. Andy knows this happens often so he jumps off and fixes the problem. 30 minutes later, were back on the road. Then we get stuck. We take everything out, and about 45 minutes later, we are back on the road. Further on down the road, we get stuck again in a mudd bog. By now, we are too far to turn back but are wondering what this trail has in store for us. The trail was terrible and had to make our own trail most of the way. We pulled ourselves out yet again and are on the road, just to get stuck again.

It was 9pm. We were all covered in mudd.We hadn't even made it to the creek. We were in the middle of the mountains, stuck. with 3 kids. A little panic sets in me. The kids and I start walking while Andy works on the Argo. Walking helped to keep my mind off of everything. We walked for about 1 hour and came to the creek. I was excited to see a landmark. Even more excited to see a bridge going over the creek because I didn't want to get stuck in that. Andy came about that time. It was 10pm.
We looked at each other and I knew I had made a huge mistake making this reservation. It wasn't supposed to be this way. I was scared. We were half way there. What do we do now? I cried because I felt this was all my fault putting my family in danger. All the thoughts of my family lost in the middle of Alaska came to my mind. Bears coming and eating little Mattie because she cant fend them off...I was literally scared

We kept going until 11:00pm and we came to this point. A swampy valley below and no cabin in sight. We had gone 4 miles in 7 hours. Andy asked what I wanted to do at this point...there was no question about it. We were turning around. No matter how long it took us to get out, we were getting out of there.

Andy was calm throughout the whole event. If on the road trip I questioned why I was married to this man... this was my answer. I needed him. I need his ability to feel safe no matter what situation we are in as a family. I don't think anyone else could have made me feel safer in the middle of the mountains and help me to focus...that everything was going to be OK.

We made it back in 2 hours and the kids were great. We pulled up to our truck at 1:30am and the kids were not complaining.Mattie fell asleep while driving on the bumpy road. Morgan was hanging on. And Trey was helpful at every opportunity. I learned an important lesson...Things aren't always as they seem.