We were going fishing.
That was the plan, that is, until our little pug, Ty, decided to do a
face plant off a moving ATV. He was
seriously injured.
We headed into Mountain View, WY, the closest town from the
remote spot in the Uinta Mountains where we were camping. We flew down the dirt road into Lonetree, and
as we made the curve the car stopped.
Just stopped. We pulled over and
it started back up again, but it wouldn’t go into overdrive.
I checked my cell phone for service every 30 seconds. (Are we there yet?) We finally made it into cell range just
outside of Mountain View, and I found the Uinta Veterinary Hospital in
Lyman. I called to let them know we had
an emergency. Then I called again
because I didn’t trust the Google map directions. Then I called again because we just couldn’t
see the place.
Meanwhile, the car is getting worse. By the time we finally arrived at the vet,
the car would only go into first gear. I
hauled Ty into the hospital, which was really busy. They checked me in and we waited for the one
veterinarian on duty to take a look.
Outside, Paul chatted with a few locals. They recommended Bradshaw for towing; Rees
Automotive for the repair. We knew we
were looking at a new transmission – not something they stock in small-town
Wyoming. We also knew that we were
stranded. Our car was broken and we had
no way to get back to our campsite where a working vehicle awaited.
Dr. Osborne, the vet on duty and hospital owner, had good
news. There were no broken bones and the
lacerations could be stitched up. He
would need general anesthesia; the surgery would take about an hour and a half,
and he’d need at least that long to recover.
Well, we weren’t going anywhere.
So we stayed all day at the veterinary hospital. One of the vet techs, who had just finished
her pre-vet program at Utah State, brought us coffee. Each time a tech went to lunch, she offered
to bring us something. “No thank
you. My stomach is still tied up in
knots.” One of the techs offered to talk
with her husband about taking a ride up the mountains and returning us to our
campsite.
We watched all morning and all afternoon as people came in
and out of the hospital. About half of
these people weren’t there for the animal care.
They were picking up or dropping off items for a virtual silent
auction. The story: a local young man was severely burned in an
auto accident and was at the University of Utah Burn Center fighting for his
life. Dr. Osborne’s wife had set up the
silent auction to raise funds for his medical bills, and the entire Bridger
Valley had rallied around them. It
sounded like everyone in the towns of Mountain View, Lyman, Fort Bridger and
Urie – and the surrounding ranch lands – had either donated an item, bought an
item, or both. As of that afternoon Mrs.
Osborne had collected $25,000 of the over $50,000 raised. Wow!
In the end, Bradshaw came to tow the car to Rees, we
gathered Ty up with an assortment of medications and the dreaded cone of shame,
and rode with the vet tech and her husband up the mountain. They refused to let us give them money for
gas. The kindness and hospitality of the
people of these small towns gives me faith that, even in the face of all the
evil we see in the world, there is hope for humanity.
Sadly, Ty died at 6:10 AM the next day. He never woke up from the anesthesia. We took
him back to Uinta Veterinary Hospital.
Their final act of kindness to us was to arrange for him to be cremated. We made a donation to the silent auction fund
in his memory.
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