Chapter 29

November 26 - December 25, 1999
Flagstaff and elsewhere

There was a full month to the day between Thanksgiving and Christmas, and by the end of the Thanksgiving weekend they were getting bored. "Hey, Scoot," Crystal said Sunday afternoon, "What do you say we get out and do something, get some exercise?"

"I could be talked into it," Scooter agreed. "You got any ideas?"

"The first thought that comes to mind is that we go out and knock the rust off our skiing and snowboarding," Crystal shrugged.

"Sounds like a reasonable," Scooter agreed. "It'd get me tuned up a little for surfing. Do you know if the ski lodges around here are running?"

"No idea," Crystal admitted. "But that would only blow up an afternoon or two, and I'm a little tired of sitting around Flag."

"Well, when you put it that way," Scooter grinned, "I presume you have an idea."

"Of course," Crystal laughed. "I mean, it's only sort of roughed in, but two winters ago I worked at a ski lodge in Colorado, Cooper Hill. It's actually one hell of a hill. We could head up there, and I might be able to manage to sneak us into the bunkhouse if things aren't too busy. If I can it wouldn't cost that much for motels or something."

"If we want to do that," Scooter agreed, "I used to like snow camping once in a while, but that might be overdoing it a little."

"Yeah, it's way the hell and gone up there in elevation, so I kinda liked the furnace they had in the bunkhouse," Crystal agreed. "Just adding to the idea, I remember Dad saying one time that the scenery is pretty awesome up on Utah 12 and 24, we could go that way and maybe come back another way, like maybe Arches and Canyonlands. Or something."

"Works for me," Scooter agreed. "Wonder if Michelle would like to go along?"

Michelle didn't need to be asked twice, and even suggested that the three of them take her Ford Mustang, which was about a dozen years younger than Crystal's old Dodge. It had a ski rack, and, as she suggested, "You might hit a deal somewhere. Rental stuff can be so-so, and it might not take long to do a payback."

They were on the road the next morning, heading north on the familiar route over Navajo Bridge. For once, they actually stopped at the bridge -- the first time ever for either Crystal or Scooter -- and walked out on the old one to take a long look down at the river. They were still only two and a half weeks off the river, and five since the start of their last trip; already it seemed like forever, and the start of the season didn't seem that much closer. They made what was probably a mistake in driving down to the boat ramp at Lee's Ferry, and stopped for a few minutes to talk with a private party that was rigging for a river trip -- there was a very long waiting list to get the permits for private trips, but taking them way off-season sometimes cut years out of the wait. Even though it was December and it would be pushing Christmas before those folks got off the river, all three of them wished they were the ones rigging rafts and loading gear and supplies. It was hard to get back in the Mustang and head for Utah.

While the original idea was to be gone a week, perhaps a little longer, it was rather open-ended, and they were eventually gone close to three. They hit more than one ski resort; it was closer to a dozen. It wasn't just Colorado; they hit some in Wyoming and Utah, as well. Scooter wound up spending a couple thousand dollars on ski clothes, gear, a new snowboard, lift tickets, meals, her share of a single motel room, gas and the like, but considered every cent well spent. They didn't always stay in motels; Crystal was right, she was able to get them into the bunkhouse at Cooper Hill, although Scooter had something to do with it -- she ran into Jim, the motor-rig guy she'd had a few with at the Burro a couple times when Crystal had been elsewhere. He was overjoyed to have someone he could talk Grand Canyon to, especially when one of those someones was a demi-legend like Michelle. Along the way, they hit a few bars, slept on a few living room floors, and fooled around with several guys, to no heavy drama although it got close at times.

The only reason they turned toward Flagstaff when they did was that there were preparations to make there, both for Christmas and for the long trip that would start almost directly after the holiday. In the beginning, before Randy's wedding entered the picture, they'd figured that about what they had to take were a few pairs of shorts, a few T-shirts, and some swimsuits, but when Spearfish Lake was included the trip started to grow on them.

It then got more complicated when Myleigh announced that she was coming to the Christmas party in Flagstaff, then flying on with the rest to Spearfish Lake. Originally she was going to fly back to Kansas City, but Crystal mentioned they were going surfing in Florida; Myleigh allowed as how she didn't have to be back to Marienthal all that quickly, and it had been a long time since she'd been on a surfboard...

Because of the time factor involved, the plan by that time was to fly from Phoenix to Chicago to Camden, where Randy or his parents would pick them up. After the wedding, they'd fly down to Florida; since Michelle wasn't going to Spearfish Lake, she'd fly in directly from Phoenix. After a few days Al and Karin would fly back to Phoenix, Myleigh would fly back to Kansas City, and the three girls would head for the Bahamas, then fly back to Phoenix afterward.

Crystal noted that the water in Florida could get cold, and maybe the wetsuits wouldn't be such a bad idea. On top of that, it proved that there were more things they'd need to take to the Bahamas than they'd figured on. As the amount of stuff to be hauled started to approach the level of pain in the ass, Crystal mentioned that she had left her surfboard at Randy's parents years before, and she thought she'd like to take it to Florida, or at least have it closer at hand. It could be checked onto the airliner but only at the expense of extra baggage charges on a lot of other stuff. While they talked it around over the seat of Michelle's Mustang on the road from one ski resort to another, Scooter made the comment that given a chance, she'd like to take a swing by Wesser and rescue the stuff she'd left in Leon's basement. That included a high-quality touring bike that was the most valuable thing she owned. Crystal giggled that she'd really like to stop by Ocoee Adventures as well, just to let Tom, her old boss there, see how far she'd risen in the world. Another time the comment was made that it was going to be a pain to only be in Spearfish Lake for a short time, right around all the wedding hassles. It would be fun to spend some more quality time with Randy and Nicole, hear her trail stories and other Spearfish Lake gossip. On top of that, Crystal knew of some neat snowboarding in her old stomping grounds around Marquette...

One thing led on to another, and by the time they turned the nose of the Mustang back toward Flagstaff a vast new plan had been worked out. If Michelle could con her mother out of her Plymouth Voyager minivan -- not considered any sort of problem since Rachel had been itching to get her fingers on the Mustang for a while -- Michelle could leave with gear and snowboards and whatnot about a day after the rest of the gang left for Spearfish Lake, meet the rest of them in Orlando, and they'd have wheels to get around with. Then, after the Bahamas trip, they'd head to Wesser and Ducktown, then on to Spearfish Lake and God only knew where else. After all, they didn't actually have to be back until just before tripping season started; the bottom line was that all they needed was enough time to throw a few clothes and odds and ends in a drybag and hop on the crew bus. Fortunately they ran out of plans for things to do before they ran out of space in the minivan, but it was close.