Part Two -
I telephoned the ranger who reported that Love Man and Fred had started out around 5:00 a.m. Fred felt so ill that he came back and was planning to hike out of the canyon the next morning. One of his children was going to drive and pick him up.
I did suggest that maybe Fred should take a mule to the top. "Mules are just not readily available," she grouched at me. I did find out that mules would be available on Monday. A lot of hikers have their stuff schelped to the top via mule. They are a huge part of the canyon culture.
I texted Amy with the latest development about LM and Fred. The hiking group was going to leave at 9:30 as scheduled, but one van with Amy, Amy's husband and two other couples were going to wait for LM. It is about a five hour hike out of the North Rim of the canyon and it is all uphill. One hour per mile is how is it calculated. They thought LM would be out by 10:00 a.m.
As it was Sunday, I was "making" the girls go to Sunday School and Confimation (depending upon the child). We were basically ready to leave by 8:30 and were hanging around until it was time to go. My phone was ringing inside my purse and I missed the call. I told the girls, "this will be about Daddy." Although I have to say, the girls were completed unphased by all of this. I guess they are used to it. It is always something.
It was the exhibition leader. She walked to know what I knew as I had been talking to Amy. I told her, "please know I texted you, Amy and Amy's husband initially." She was wanting to know if anyone was caring for Fred and what was going on with him. I told her all that I knew. She said she had tried to call the number I had gleaned from *69 and that no one answered. "Yeah," I said, "that ranger had somewhere to be."
I told her I would email Fred's house in an attempt to get a hold of his wife. I also found an address on the internet and said I would go over there and ask Fred's wife to call her. I dropped the girls off at church and headed over there. There was no answer and the house looked almost as if no one lived there. Who knows. I also called two numbers I had gotten from directory assistance and they were the wrong Freds.
I phoned Diana, the exhibition leader, and gave her the report and said, "I have done all that I can do. You will have to wait to talk to Love Man." Church had started 20 minutes prior, so I skipped it and went to Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market instead.
Later it occurred to me, I went to this house at 8:30 in the morning wearing a dress, heels and a little sweater. Good God, they probably thought I was a Jehovah's Witness. Might have been the reason the house seemed so vacant.
Tune in tomorrow for final installment of this saga.
