In the spring of 1990, I lived at home with Mom and Keri to run the ranch while Dad was on the road with Jimmy Hoopes' sheepshearing crew. I did the ranch work and drove Dad's school bus route. Annette was at BYU for the second semester of her freshman year.
After the Winter 1990 semester at BYU ended, we got married on May 4, 1990. Annette and I lived in the cabin in Turnerville. I continued the work at the ranch and drove the school bus until Dad came home from shearing in mid-June.
Before we got married, Annette came to Star Valley a few times to visit me, and I made a few trips to Provo to visit her. For my trips to Provo, I would go to Provo and back on the same day as I didn't have a place to stay in Provo.
One Saturday in February, I drove to Provo to see Annette. We spent the day together, but we kept delaying the time for me to leave for the drive back to Star Valley because we did not want to be apart. Finally, around 10:00 p.m., we decided that it was too late for me to drive all the way back to Star Valley. I told Annette that I would just sleep in the car and leave the next morning.
Then we decided that we would both sleep in the car. However, Annette needed to be at work at 5:00 a.m. in the Desseret Towers (DT) cafeteria. We were worried that we would not wake up in time for her to go to work.
So ... we went to Smith's on Freedom Boulevard in Provo and bought a windup alarm clock.
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| we keep the windup alarm clock in our 72-hour kit now |
We decided to park the car in the Harmon conference center parking lot (also by the Marriott Center) because it was the closest lot to Deseret Towers on campus that did not require a parking permit.
I had a blanket in the trunk of my car (as per good training from my parents to keep emergency blankets in the car during winter). We parked the car, set the alarm clock for 4:45 a.m., put our winter coats on, laid the seats of my Ford Probe back all the way, pulled the blanket over the top of both of us, held hands, and went to sleep.
It was not a comfortable sleep. We both woke up around 2:00 a.m. because it was so cold. We started the car and let the heater warm up the space. Then, we turned the car off and went back to sleep.
When the alarm rang, Annette went to work. I drove back to Star Valley.
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