The Bates Family: November 2010

Holy cow, long post!

I know I have a bunch of other posts to work on but I just had to share this. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures. I seriously wish I had some to share with you, so you can see what it was really like.

For those of you who don't know this, my husband is quite the outdoorsman. He loves to be in the great outdoors. He had a hunt yesterday in the Glenwood Springs, CO area and the girls and I decided to go with him. The plan was to go with him yesterday to start the hunt, just driving around, I'm not about to go out hiking around a mountain with two little girls and pregnant. Then do my kind of camping, get a hotel room in Silverthorne which has a big outlet mall. Friday he was going to do some work and go back out hunting while mommy and the girls did our own hunting (shopping, hehe).

So we started the day at 2am, I know I'm crazy for doing this. Another thing to inform you of, a snow storm was predicted for this area. Apparently, it's a good thing because it drives the deer off the mountain.

We got to the area he wanted to do some hiking. So we dropped him off and the girls and I went into Glenwood Springs, had breakfast and while they watched a couple new movies, mommy took a nap in the car. What a bum I am, I know. Very adventurous! Well that comes later.

When we left Josh to his hiking, less than a mile down I-70 from where he was I saw about 4 or 5 deer just on the other side of the cement barrier. That comes in later.

When we picked him up about 10am, he walked to the truck with nothing. He was very disappointed. He saw everything except for what he was hunting for. So I told him I saw them right off the highway. We drove past and they were still there. He didn't know the laws for killing a deer off the side of the highway so he decided not to do it. Could you imagine driving down a major highway and you see a guy with a rifle shooting at a deer right on the side of the road? I can't either but apparently Josh found out this morning that you only have to be 50 feet from the center line of the highway, that's not very far people. So he is now mad at himself for not knowing this information before he went out.

So we finally went up the access road to his hunt boundaries, this part I can handle. It's just driving around and looking out the window. This road takes you all the way up the mountain to about 10 to 11,000 feet in elevation. On our way up there we found nothing and towards the top it started snowing more and more. We kept going because it wasn't that deep yet. Josh spotted some tracks going down the mountain and into some trees. We found a little road going downhill right next to the tracks, so we went down---big mistake!!!

We started downhill in the truck and realized it might be tricky getting back up. It was icy with snow on top. We got to a point where we decided to turn back. No luck people! The truck was sliding around like it was on an ice skating rink. As soon as the tires would spin it would turn the snow into a sheet of ice. It was 8 degrees by the way and our GPS said our elevation was over 10,000 feet. Josh and I got out to assess the situation and figure out a way to get out of this. Oh, there was no one in sight, by the way.

We worked on it a few times, found some small logs to put in front of the tires to get some friction. Remember there's snow everywhere and it started snowing harder and harder. The snow storm was over us at this point. Again, I wish I had gotten my camera out at this point but I was a little preoccupied. When you are a parent and are in these situations, it makes it more scary and urgent.

Stuff to remember....10 to 11,000 feet in elevation (not a whole lot of oxygen), I'm pregnant and not in good shape and it's about 8 degrees and snowing hard. Oh and no one in sight on the top of this mountain. Yah, we were not that smart, we know!!! Needless to say I was not much help! Poor Josh has to do all the work.

So he got a shovel out and tried to dig up the ground in front of the tires--thick thick ice. The ground was an ice block. He worked so hard, getting worn out from trying to break the ground. Poor guy!

Josh suggested to say a prayer. I thought, duh, perfect idea. Since Josh and I were trying desperately to get us out of there, I asked Ayva if she would say a prayer with Cheyenne and ask Heavenly Father would help us get out of this. As I was closing the door I heard her sweet little voice starting her prayer. Believe it or not at that moment I felt extremely blessed and grateful that we have taught our children how to pray, even at a young age.

By this time the truck had slipped and sled all over this area and we had tried many ways to get out. Josh and I started to get worried and anxious. It had been a couple hours and a lot of work. I told Josh if he somehow got the truck going to just KEEP going and not stop to get me because we wouldn't get out of there. We had two little girls, I didn't want to take any chances.

The second time we tried it after Ayva's prayer the truck went and kept going and going up this hill. I stood there in shock and threw my hands in the air and said, "go, go, go!!!" It was a wonderful sight to see that truck going up the hill, all I could do was cry and thank Heavenly Father aloud. I've never done that before, aloud that is, but my emotions were just so fresh I couldn't hold back.

Then I realized, huh, that's quite a ways up to the truck!

I grabbed the shovels and hammer and started to run, how dumb! I lost it after a few feet. My throat and lungs started burning and I couldn't catch my breath very well. Josh started down after me but I waved him off, I didn't want the girls to be up there by themselves. It took me a while but I made it up.

Now this is just ridiculous but as we started to drive away Josh spotted those deer just down the hill again and they were maybe 50 ft from where we were stuck. Poor Josh was just not having any luck!!!

Just a funny side note. As Josh would get in the truck and try to get us unstuck (because I would have no idea where to begin on steering that thing out of there), I was behind the truck trying to push it! HAHAHA What makes me think I could have any impact in pushing this F-150 full of gear and people, not to mention the overall size of that monster. HAHAHA!!! What a funny sight, huh!

We thanked Ayva for her prayer and told her that because of her sweet prayer we made it out of there and that her prayer saved the day!!! She was very happy!

Josh had no luck and we decided just to go back home.

No "hunting" for me! :(

If anyone is up for crazy adventures, you could always come with us!!!