Wednesday, August 28
We began the day by attending the Billing’s Temple. I think this is my new favorite temple. The rock wall that the temple backs up to is so beautiful. Rugged, with so much character, like the country in that area. The interior is so unusual. There are skylights in the middle of entry and you can see the statue of Moroni as you look up. Very cool. The office is in the open – large and spacious. Anna was happy because the dress sizes were by length and she finally had a dress long enough. Lol
Looking very tired at this point…
We then drove all day through Montana. It was a difficult day. Most of the day, we didn’t see another car or person. It was like being the only people left alone on earth. Strangely isolating – it was not a good feeling. And then, as we crossed into the Blackfoot Indian Reserve, even the farm machinery disappeared. Nothing for miles. Not even cattle. Nothing. No homes, no windmills. Nothing. It was a relief to see the border at Canada. The customs officer turned out to be a jerk. I think he has been alone at his outpost too long. Lol. He had a sarcastic – not funny sense of humor – and I couldn’t wait to get out of there. Have I mentioned that we are traveling with a live plant?! Who does that? Anna. She had a cute little succulent/cactus that she named Lena. We were worried that they would confiscate Lena upon entering Canada, but no – she continues to be our sidekick, safely tucked into the cup holder mile after mile.
We struggled to convert miles to kilometers, and trying to figure out what the speed limit really was – assuming the sign for 100 wasn’t miles per hour!
We arrived in Cardston at dark. We had begun to make the adjustment to not having ATT at our fingertips anytime we want wifi or to make a call. That is an adjustment all in it self. We did not have accommodations scheduled for the night. Everything was booked and VERY expensive. We were a bit anxious after a stressful driving day. There were only 3 motels in town and none of them looked like a place we would stay for the night. It was getting late and not looking good. I said a prayer that we would be directed to the right place and then decided to go to the visitor’s center to see if there was anyone who could help.
We met a sweet missionary couple, Marie and Grant Cahoon. It turned out the THEY had an Airbnb that was not booked for the night but it was way out of our price range too. We realized that even Canada recognizes Labor Day Weekend and we had arrived at the worst possible time. We negotiated a deal with the Cahoons to clean their apartment before we left and felt like we had a deal we could live with until we realized that we were negotiating in Canadian currency!!! We had just landed ourselves a SWEET deal with the conversion rate. We are idiots. Well, probably just very tired. We completely forgot to convert all of those rates that were advertised. Things were not as bad as it seemed after all. The Cahoons recommended a Chinese restaurant (there were only 4 in town) and we ordered our food to go and took it back to our new Airbnb.
To our surprise – it was AWESOME. A completely renovated, basement apartment with al full kitchen, two bedrooms, washer and dryer and living room with every amenity we could have hoped for. We had SO much food (twice what we would have been provided in Crestwood – way too much for just us). We invited the Cahoons to join us at our (their) kitchen table. It was great and we became fast friends. Brother Cahoon offered to perform the male endowment ordinances we needed the next day at the temple and we ended the day grateful for prayer, the protecting hand of the Lord and our new friends.
Living All In 