Riding for Roses

It started with a plan for visiting a couple of state parks. It ended getting home hours late with wet sand all over the car, a wet right shoe, and a great story about our rescue. We made it home a little after 7 PM and thanks to Jenny, Jacob got picked up and taken care of.

It’s Spring Break. “The Plan” was for me to take Spencer on a day of driving through the Hill Country near Austin and visit Longhorn Cavern and Enchanted Rock – an ambitious plan given we wanted to be back in (far northwest) Austin by 6:15 PM to pick up Jacob at daycare.

We were a little slow getting started and got to Longhorn Cavern just before 10 AM and about 10 minutes too late to make the 10 AM cave tour which had filled to capacity. We hiked around above ground for a while, checked out the gift shop, read about the cavern, and managed to entertain ourselves until quarter to eleven. Spencer wanted to be first, so we headed down to the cave entrance then so we wouldn’t miss anything. It has been such a thrill having this week with Spencer. He’s feeling great and full of energy with two weeks off of chemotherapy. We’ve taken great advantage of his energy all week and today is no exception. The tour through the cave is about 1-1/4 mile of walking and Spencer worked to be at the front the entire way. He had a little competition from another kid who wanted to be at the front, but between the two of them they managed to always be at the edge of the lights. The way the guides control the group and keep us together is by turning on lights ahead of us and turning them off behind us. This means you wind up in the dark if you don’t stay with the group. At every pause in the tour, Spencer and the other kid would walk as far ahead as they could until they were starting to be in shadow. The cave itself was definitely entertaining and our guide was awesome. He is a semi-retired geologist who works part-time for TPWD coming in to give tours when they are busy, as they are for three weeks in March for the various school districts’ Spring Breaks, and to give tours to geology groups. We definitely got a lot of extra information out of him both about geology and history. On the way out, we reversed our path and met the tour behind us; they were much closer to us than we had been to the tour ahead of us.

Having fallen a little behind schedule, we sped off Enchanted Rock, but it wasn’t meant to be. When we arrived, the rangers informed us the park was at capacity and the entrance would be closed until 3:30. Unfortunately, that was our target time for getting ready to go home in order to pick up Jacob, so we had to come up with a plan B. Plan B was to go on a short adventure, driving around some dirt county roads and make our way over to Pedernales Falls for a quick hike and then head home. Plan C was to visit McKinney Falls and then head home. We wound up on a variation of plan B – one that didn’t involve actually making it to the park.

We headed off down an unnamed dirt county road, drove through an area where cattle were grazing, crossed a creek at a low water crossing, passed a couple of abandoned buildings and then headed down a hill towards a stream. So far, this is pretty standard Texas county road driving. As we headed toward the creek, it became apparent that, although the water was currently low, the creek bed had been wet pretty recently. We had a bunch of rain earlier in the week. It was right around this point that Spencer suggested we turn around. As I noticed the dampness of the sand on which we were drivng, I finally started to agree with him. I decided to turn around and head back. Unfortunately, was a little late in deciding this and the car started sinking into the wet sand as I tired to reverse course. At this point, we were about 2-1/2 miles from the highway and had passed only cattle and abandoned buildings. My cell phone couldn’t find any signal, analog or digital. First we tried to dig the car out a little and back out of the pits I’d managed to dig around the front tires. We even tried having Spencer try to drive the car (I wasn’t worried he’d go too far in the sand) with me pushing – nada. I hiked ahead a little bit on the road and found another abandoned, and collapsing, house and a gate with a prominent “keep out” sign and no buildings visible nearby.

Now the adventure was going a little south. Spencer’s first concern was that we would not be able to get to any state park this afternoon. My first concern was that we would not get back to Austin in time to pick up Jacob at daycare. My second concern was getting back to Austin tonight. Third, and far below the top two, was actually finding a way to get the car out. We were teetering on the brink, but definitely not actually in, a crisis. Since we only had a couple of miles to get out to the highway, I figured that was the best plan. Worst case, we’d be at the side of the road until county or state law enforcement came by. Spencer hiked about 1/2 mile and I carried him on my shoulders the rest of way. I’m glad I’ve at least been getting enough exercise to make that relatively easy, albeit a little uncomfortable with 50 pounds on my shoulders. Spencer made me promise lots of state park visits to make up for missing Enchanted Rock. I am currently committed to Enchanted Rock, Pedernales Falls, McKinney Falls, Bastrop, and Buescher visits as possible. Boy, did I dig myself into a hole today – if you’ll pardon the pun. Good thing I have a Texas State Parks Pass this year.

Without digital cell service, I had no watch or clock, so I lost track of time. We made it out to the highway (TX-16) and I managed to get analog phone service. Not knowing who to call and at roaming rates, I opted for flagging down a car. Our situation really didn’t merit 911. I did, however, call Rachel and warn her we wouldn’t be able to get Jacob, didn’t know when we’d be home, and she should try for some emergency help with Jacob. We had a couple quarts of water and Gatorade, we’d eaten recently, we were fine, and in reasonably good spirits – with the occasional complaint from Spencer about not going to a park. Fairly soon, some people on their way to Enchanted Rock stopped for us, got our location and my phone number. They promised to ask the Rangers for help and, at the least, direct a tow truck to the intersection where Spencer and I were sitting and making up stories.

We couldn’t have been telling tales for more than 5 minutes when I heard, and then saw, three ATVs coming up the dirt road we’d just hiked out on. There were three riders, a man, a woman, and a young man – apparently a family on vacation. The first thing thing the older man said was “Thank goodness we found you. We’ve been tracking you since we saw your car.” I was thinking this is a good sign. We explained our story briefly, Spencer made sure to mention that he told me to turn around, and that we did not yet have a solution. They offered to help. One of the ATVs had a winch, and if that didn’t work they had a 4WD Suburban with tow chain. They thought I should drive the ATV with Spencer on it so I’d feel more comfortable, so I got the 15 second course on ATV driving and we were off. I figured out pretty quickly that the missing piece of the lesson was “don’t follow another ATV too closely on a dusty dirt road” and let Jim (the father) and Ryan (the son) get a lead on us. My phone began to ring and figuring it was either Rachel or the Enchanted Rock crew I answered and slowed down to about 2 miles an hour. It was the Enchanted Rock crew and they had just called a tow truck. I informed him of current status, got the phone number for the tow truck, and then asked him to call the tow truck to cancel since I was already losing the analog signal and probably had a solution.

Spencer loved the ATV ride. I think it almost made up for missing the parks. We got down to the stuck car and worked a little on digging trenches by hand and attempting the winch, while Spencer and Jay (the mother) did some ATV riding.The ATV is not nearly heavy or powerful enough to pull the Honda Civic Hybrid out of the wet sand. Ryan and Jay went back to their house, which I understand is a couple miles past the “keep out” gate so I’m glad I did not try that option, to get the Suburban.

Jim and I started talking and, at last, the natural question about Spencer pops up: “why is he bald?” I had a long talk with Jim about leukemia, prognosis, Spencer’s spirit, Spencer’s knowledge, Spencer’s awareness of survivorship, side effects, and our Spring Break. His first reaction on hearing “leukemia” is the usual first reaction, equating cancer with death, and I spend a while talking about how treatments have advanced in the last 50 years. I love getting to talk or email with people about cancer. It’s hard to describe why. I think it’s a mix of things. Partly, it just gets a load off and give me emotional support even if the other person just listens. I like educating people, especially addressing that first reaction and talking to them about cancer survivors. Spencer likes playing on the gate – he spends most of the wait jumping on the gate and swinging back and forth.

After a while, we see the Suburban coming down the road. It takes us three tries to get the car out. First we tow it backwards, but we find that even removed from the holes the Honda can’t handle the wet sand – with no gas applied, just easing my foot off the brake causes that front wheel drive to dig into the sand. Next we push and drive the car forward almost back to where it was stuck, but not buried to its bumpers in sand. Then we move the Suburban around front and tow it out and to try ground. Victory is ours. Meanwhile, Spencer had coaxed cheese nips and a cream soda out of Jay and begged for another ATV ride so Ryan takes him.

Talking with Jay, I find that she learned from Spencer that he has leukemia. It’s interesting how adults respond to Spencer. Inevitably, they believe him when he tells them he has leukemia, yet they never believe him when he says he is doing really well and getting better. I spent some time with Jay and Jim, some of it a rehash of what I’d told Jim earlier about prognosis. Then Ryan returned with Spencer and it was time to go.

Jim said he was touched by Spencer and his spirit and asked if he could say a prayer for us and naturally I accepted. I’ll have anyone pray in any language, to any God, if they want to pray with me. Jim said a brief and touching prayer asking for health for Spencer, support for me, and thanking Jesus for getting to meet us. His voice cracked a couple of times and I cried. This certainly wasn’t the original plan for today, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything. And now I have five more state park visits I owe Spencer where we can create more adventures.