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Show "Hey. ...Can We Roast Our Hot Dogs?" and side roads that turned into narrow trails. Since we had actually believed the weatherman weather-man and his prediction (guess) of snow the following day, we were a bit surprised to see it begin be-gin half-way up the mountain. The higher we got, the heavier it was snowing and with at least 3" accumulating on the roads, Rodger was wishing he had brought the snow chains. I was wishing I had brought a heavier coat. Actually, it wasn't too bad. The deer must have sensed that hunting season started early the next morning and were hiding hid-ing (just as believable as the weatherman), and the hunters hunt-ers were huddled next to roaring roar-ing fires hoping they wouldn't be snowed in come morning. Thus, the road was not cluttered with deer and hunters. We even toyed with the idea of stopping at one of the camps and asking if we could roast our hotdogs, which we would share with them. It would have given them something to talk about! When we got over the summit and half-way down the mountain, the snow disappeared disap-peared and wet, oozy mud took its place. In a moment of weakness,! weak-ness,! even contemplated asking Rodger to drive home, but the thought was quickly suppressed when I remembered only hours before I had adamantly declined his suggestion that we go home. I was on an adventure and nothing noth-ing could make me want to go home. I've already said enough, so you will have to guess what I considered my dilemma and when a dark, scary-looking, snow-surrounded outhouse was spotted, I declined. Oh the vanities vani-ties of old age! When we finally stopped for the night, everything seemed perfect, including the graveled side-road that no hunters in their right mind would camp in. We moved everything to the front seats to prepare our bed, then remembered we hadn't eaten. There was no way we were going go-ing to move everything again, so we set up the camp chairs, sat in the dark and ate our cold supper. sup-per. Remember the hot dogs? We had planned on making a fire and roast our dogs while keeping toasty warm. Thank you weatherman! Rodger is 6'3" and sleeps with his knees bent. I am 5 '10" and sleep with my legs straight unless I'm in the back of a Ta-hoe Ta-hoe that is 5 '8" and then I either sleep on an angle or wake up every ev-ery time I hit the back door. I'm not complaining. I slept tolerably toler-ably well and was glad I hadn't chickened out and begged to go home. That probably would have curtailed future invitations. Although we ate our cold breakfast, my sweetheart wanted something hot, so we stopped at Mayfield's finest fin-est restaurant, actually their only restaurant, and got a hot breakfast sandwich and hot chocolate. There's something to be said for warm food on a cold, wintery morning. Next time we'll bring our . own wood! By the time we reached Pleasant Grove, it was raining like crazy, just as the weatherman weather-man said it would, and as we ran into the house, that still didn't have the heat turned on, I couldn't help think about my pioneer ancestors and how lucky they were that no weatherman could give them false hopes for dry weather. side roads and drive until we get tired, then we can sleep in the back of the truck." I looked deep into the eyes of the man I love, first trying to determine if he was making mak-ing a joke and then wondering how old he thought I was. He was serious, and bless his heart, he was pretending I was much younger, just to make me feel that way. (A very big birthday was coming the next week). He had it all planned, the air mattress, sleeping bags, cooler full of good eats, binoculars, and the best part, just us. That's what I fell for, just us two riding for hours without cell phones, TV, interruptions or deadlines. I can never get enough of just being with my man and even though he doesn't talk all the time, I've learned how to ride in silence and just enjoy the beautiful beau-tiful surroundings with him. I gave up tent camping after I had a knee replaced eight years ago because kneeling became almost impossible. That really wasn't the biggest concern. Out in the middle of a canyon you don't often find a rest room. Enough said. I would reach deep inside my formerly adventurous adven-turous spirit and find the power and patience to. ..wait. The first glitch came when we couldn't find a full-size air mattress. Twins were too small and queens too big, so we settled set-tled for foam mattresses from our trailer and several quilts to cushion the floor. I figured we had slept on worse beds in motels mo-tels than this could possibly be. After getting packed, the sleeping sleep-ing arrangements were forgotten, forgot-ten, for the most part. With a general idea of where we wanted to end up, we explored canyons, lakes by Geri Taylor I understand adventure. At the tender age of 49 I not only got remarried after 22 years of single parenthood, but I stored all my belongings, became a licensed li-censed truck driver and literally drove off into the sunset with my husband. For the next three years I had adventure, some- times coming out my tailpipe, as I learned how to shift 12 gears, navigate narrow roads that big trucks were never meant to traverse, tra-verse, and how to live with a man in a 7' X 8' X 9' truck. Did I say I understand adventure? But, that's a story for another an-other day. I want to share our latest escapade into strengthening strength-ening one's marriage by doing something crazy and exciting. Perhaps you'll understand better bet-ter if your husband has ever said, "I wonder where that road goes." My husband can see an off-the-path road as well as he can spot a deer on the mountainside. mountain-side. They seem to jump out at him. I am certainly not adverse to exploring new roads, especially espe-cially with 4 wheel drive, but this particular invitation added a touch of adventure I questioned. ques-tioned. "Let's take off on these |