We have a busy, busy week and rest of month coming, so thought I better catch myself up.
I wanted to right down an experience for my own journaling purposes. This was a very humbling experience for Rye, me, and even the boys, especially Knox.
So Last weekend it was Knox's Birthday. All he wanted for his birthday was to go camping. We couldn't go camping so we told him we would go on a day camp/fishing trip. We headed towards Boise early in the morning, to a river called the Bruneau River. We wanted to also check out Jar-bidge the actual town. We went the scenic route and were headed up and over the Jar-bidge mountains. It was so nice outside, so we didn't think about the snow that we were going to run into! We were literally 125 miles deep, invested in getting into jarbridge (Literally hours of driving in the mountains) When we started hitting snow drifts at the peek of these mountains! We were so close to being over them. long story short we literally got stuck every 30 feet. It was a freaking nightmare! We were all in shorts and flipflops in 3 feet deep snow shoveling and pushing the truck. We knew we couldn't turn around either. Our four wheel drive even went out, and the traction control on our truck went out, so the truck that has never failed us was useless. This went on for hours! Finally we are like, oh my gosh we have to turn around! So we turned around and did the whole thing all over again...six hours later (seriously!) We were off that dang mountain. It's so funny to because I kept telling Rye, "I CAN NOT believe this is happening, this is a nightmare, how is it possible that we would have all these thing happen at once!"
So we headed to the river. We both felt rushed. We knew we needed to stop and have Knox's Birthday. That poor kid, worked his little butt off trying to help get the truck out to. So finally we stopped. Looking back, it's so funny that we were so determined to stop there and not any earlier or later. I just could not get myself to say, "Yes stop here." I kept saying no, no, None of the spots seamed right, I was literally stressed out! Heavenly father works in mysterious ways.... We stopped and fished, and hung out for a while. We were literally in the middle of nowhere, and had seen no one, when out of nowhere we smelled fire. At first we were worried we started a fire with the fourwheeler or something, because there was no reason for a fire. We started loading our stuff up when just around the bend (we were in a 30 mile long canyon with a river through it) we saw the smoke in front of us. I am in a photography class, so I was all excited and wanted to go get pictures, and we didn't want to have to turn around and drive all the way out the way we came, so we went to check it out to see if we could pass, and also see if we needed to call it in. When we went around the corner we saw that it was a pretty big deal and growing and we needed to call it in. No service or emergency service though. I told Rye I wanted to run down the road and get some pictures for my class. So I ran about fifty yards, when I saw the Razor...my heart just sank. I knew something bad had happened. I couldn't tell but I thought there was a body in there, so I started yelling for Rye to call 911 and hurry down the road. It was just so weird and scary seeing it just sitting there in flames in the middle of the road. There was obviously not a role over accident or anything. It was just burning. We started yelling for people, and looking for foot prints. Then we started looking for bodies. Again, no service at all. We had decided they had to be alive and they were probably headed down the road, and if they were hurt probably staying by the river. We were able to get across the burn, but thought we had better hurry in case the wind picked up, literally there was no way out of this canyon for hours.
A mile or so down the road we found foot prints. I was so relieved and so was Rye. About five more miles down we found them! It was almost dark. It was a man and his wife. I will never forget the relief in his face when he saw us, and I will also never forget his hands=( He was so burnt, it was so heart breaking, I just wanted to hug him and cry so bad. We all loaded in the truck and prepared for the hours of driving back into town or service. We didnt have anything to offer him but water. His wife was okay. He was clearly in shock and in so much pain.
They said they had just bought this Razor side by side brand new!! This was the first time they had taken it out. They said they were driving when they heard a pop sound. He pulled over, and she said she just had a feeling to get out. She stepped out when the entire razor exploded. She said she fell to the ground then the second explosion happened. It was big enough it started the trees around them on fire. She said she thought she was on fire and she knew he was in the razor, and all she was thinking was "Im going to have to watch him burn!" He said his seatbelt was on. He said just to reach over and unbuckle it was the hardest thing he had ever had to do. It took everything he had in him because of the heat and pain. Luckily he was wearing a coat or he thinks he would not have made it. He was able to roll out and then they said the box's of ammunition started going off, so they had to crawl out of there as fast as possible. They also couldn't believe how fast everything began to burn, and knew they needed to get ahead of it fast. They stayed close to the river because he was in so much pain he needed to keep going down to the river, and she would wait on the road in case a vehicle came. She is a life flight nurse and she said she knew he was in shock, and was so worried about him making it through the night. My heart just breaks when I think about him trying to stay warm through freezing temperatures without being able to use his hands. They literally had nothing, it all burnt, including their keys to their vehicle. His hands were so burnt. They were the size of base ball gloves and the tops looked like hamburger. His face was also burnt pretty good. I think he didn't have a clue how burnt he was, his focus was just his hands. I sat behind him and saw the skin slowly fall off the back of his ears and under his arms looked so sad to. I felt like I was in a nightmare and I just prayed that he would not have to be in so much pain. We had a LONG ride back. They were such good people and refused to let the boys not get their own seat belt. Which made for an even more uncomfortable trip for them. We just small talked with them, and Rye really tried to help keep his mind off the pain. Turns out him and Rye knew each other from the mine. Sometimes you could tell when it was unbearable for him. it was so sad...We ended up driving them right to the ER. He will be okay, but has a long healing ahead of him. Rye saw a picture of him that was going around out at the mine, and his face looked as bad as his hands by the next day or so, like I said, I knew it was going to get worse with time. Hopefully he doesn't scar to bad, and heals good.
Looking back you can see how the stars aligned in order for us to find them, they would have had to walk for another day or so, if they would have made it through the night. It was like we were literally stuck on that mountain waiting....waiting to be there for this poor guy and his wife. It was such a testimony builder that heavenly father is aware of each and everyone of us. And he prompts us and uses us as his tools. This is something I will always remember. Obviously they are going to have quite the lawsuit against Polaris.....Can you believe that happened! We were literally, just moments before saying we couldn't wait to buy one. We will NEVER own one. It's like they said, if their kids were in the back, like they usually are, they would absolutely be dead.
Poor Knox didn't get a birthday. The sad thing is, it was also her birthday date to. They had gotten a room in Jar-bridge. Knox did not say a word though. I was so proud of him. He knew somethings are more important. The next day I was telling him how proud I was of him. He saved those people with his birthday request date, and he was not concerned about himself...He said " I know your proud momma, but heavenly father is more proud." Kid you not he said that, I about bawled!
Sorry, I just wanted to remember details.
This is where we first saw any burn, then I ran down the road and found the razor, you cant see how much was really burning, but it was pretty good in every direction.
Here are some random picture of the little bit of actual fun we had.
The boys were so exhausted!
Knoxs Birthday!! He finally got a party!
I sure love this kid. He is the sweetest little boy you will ever meet! I can not believe he is five!
I Also finished my photography final portfolio. Here are a few of my favorites I took.
These are just a few randoms pictures from another trip =)
Hope your all doing great!
