The Part Came In!!!! The Part Came In!!!!
It is Monday morning, and the part came in on the UPS plane at the airport in Cody, Wyoming!!! Apparently, the person that shipped the part for overnight delivery did not check the Saturday Delivery box, so it wasn't put on the plane for Saturday delivery. So we broke camp and waited until the bus was ready, which was around 2pm. We loaded the bus said a fond farewell to Greybull. While we were ready to head home, we could not have asked for better hospitality from this little town. The people were very friendly and concerned about our plight. I hope to always remember the kindness of our school bus driver from Shell, the lady at the Chamber of Commerce, the gentleman from the park district who brought the pool passes, the pastor and staff from The Shack, the pastor from the Baptist church who dropped off the church van so the scouts could come to church, and so many others. Everywhere we went we heard "Oh, you're one of the scouts whose bus broke down"....news travels through a small town. From what I remember hearing, I think the scouts will mostly remember the fun they had at The Shack and the lifeguards at the community pool.
And here is Larry's early afternoon update!
Here is our farewell photo as we prepared to leave Greybull. We also said goodbye to Tim, our Scoutmaster. His daughter was getting married, and he and his family were flying out to Colorado on Wednesday. Out of concerns for another breakdown, he flew back home later that afternoon. Hmmmm.....out of concerns for another breakdown......hmmmmmmm....
After leaving Greybull, we drove through the town of Shell, where we broke down. This is the front view of the place where we broke down. It was an old general store that was being fixed up to be a new business in this tiny town.
Shortly after Shell, we drove through some incredible scenery in the Big Horn National Forest.
These videos are what it is like to drive through the Big Horn mountains.
More beautiful landscape in the Big Horn National Forest.
Barry & Larry were the drivers for the way home, driving in shifts. Barry took the first shift and Larry the next. Just past Moorcroft WY on Interstate 90, I (Larry) felt a strange vibration in the bus, the kind you sometimes get when the road surface isn't smooth. I looked in my rear view mirror and saw that the back-left wheel well skirting was loose, so I pulled over. I hopped out of the bus and ran back to look things over. As I looked at the tire something didn't look right, and it took a second to realize we were missing the outer wheel!!!!!
What in the world?!?!?!
As I was walking back around the bus Matt asked if I wanted him to get the wheel. Still stunned I looked back at the highway and said, "I have no idea where the wheel is?" Matt quickly replied, "It's right out there." I asked him how he could tell that was it, and he told me how him and the other scouts in the back saw the wheel rolling down the highway next to us and then saw it bouncing out through the fields. Matt and I walked out to retrieve the wheel that had bounced over a barbed wire fence. When we finally reached the tire, I took a photo of the bus so we could actually see how far this thing rolled.
I still can't believe how far it rolled!!!!!
Telling the boys, "Guess what? We're broke down again!"
An interesting side note, to the north across the Interstate, we could see Devil's Tower in the far off distance.
In the below pictures, it appeared that two lug bolts worked loose.
So, we contacted the State Police who contacted a tow truck whose driver and her friend came out with a minivan and a truck to haul us all to the campground in Sundance WY to spend the night. We also notified parents of the break down our plans. Luckily this repair didn't require any parts to be flown in from Chicago. When we arrived at the campground it was dark, so we quickly pitched our tents and went to bed.
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