*Post-continued*

As soon as we hit the main highway, we had cell service. We tried calling Josh but his voice mail answered each time. We called the family at camp and told them to have Josh call us if he called them. What were our chances of finding him? It would be like looking for a needle in a haystack but Miss Kayanna hadn’t seen her dad in a year and she had the look – the look of a kid that has waited all year for Christmas and finds out that it’s been cancelled on Christmas Eve. The worst that could happen is that we would drive 70 miles and not hear from him – or find him – and have to head back to camp with no news. The best that could happen is that he would call us and we’d find him back on the road or we’d be there to help him if he needed it.

We immediately had five deer cross the County Road – at different intervals – in front of us; dim shapes just off the road that materialized into living beings as they danced across the blacktop. Kayanna loved it! I hated it! I don’t want to see a deer or any animal materialize out of the dark void as it charges into my path. We saw them in time to slow way down. After we hit the highway, of course, we saw the dead ones by the side of the road, some of them just hit, fresh blood spreading across the pavement, and I hate that too.

My little traveling companion was wide eyed and looking for her dad but within a few minutes, she crashed. The demon from hell had taken over my thoughts once again and I was DRIVING. I went clear through Spokane and turned around up by the airport exit, having tried Josh’s cell several times and routed to his voice mail, I figured we were just going to head for camp. Funny but Spokane is the city of Josh’s birth. It was sort of like going through labor again, hoping he would call/show so I would know he was alright and so my passenger would get her wish…to see her daddy. Damn that labor stuff is painful and it doesn’t all relate to childbirth.

Magic happened. My phone rang. He had just left Spokane, we were behind him; we rendezvoused in Coeur D’Alene about 20 minutes later. I let the beauty queen sleep until we pulled into a gas station. She went to radiant sunshine and beaming light in a heartbeat when her dad tapped on the back window. Nothing like hugs and kisses to warm a heart.

We made the trip back to camp – 45 miles – it was around 1 a.m. by now and everyone was asleep. Josh was settled in the tent next to Kayanna, I was in my cot, Ryan was trying to sleep through all the noise…and Christmas was back on. SWEET!

The lake the next day:

And she’s airborne:

And once again – post-poned…another installment coming.