Veyo the second

Or, perhaps this should be titled

"I SURVIVED A MONSOON TO GET A VEYO PIE"

I picked up Berenice this morning around 10:30 am to attend the Chadburn Reunion in Veyo, Utah.
We had a nice lunch there, Tina Easton and her friend, Ed, were there. So there were all of four representatives from Archie Chadburn at this reunion. After we ate, Berenice was given some time to talk to the group about the history of the Chadburn Reunion, which she started 50 years ago. She also gave a rather impassioned hell-fire-and-damnation speech about the why's of having such a thing--do do genealogy and missionary and temple work...but not too many people were listening, or if they were, they were kind of squirming. Not too many of these folks are LDS, or at least they may not be active. I don't really know. Tina was the only person there that I knew, besides Berenice.  The food was good. The auction after was long-ish. There is definitely an art to being an auctioneer.  There were raffle tickets and items. I had three tickets and won nothing (and I'm not even a little bit disappointed, as there was nothing there I was really pining to have).  We left around 2:30 or three or so.

Veyo is where Berenice was born. She met someone a few years ago at a funeral who said they bought Archie Chadburn's home in Veyo. She's wanted to see inside it for years, so they said, "Come on over any time."

Well, turns out the lady who told Berenice that has since passed away, but we found the place, they invited us in. Three generations live here now, this kindly old man (Leavitt is the last name I think and I think it was his wife that Berenice talked to years ago at the funeral), his daughter, her son and wife and an disabled daughter.  They were all very kind and let Berenice see inside the front room and explained how they had changed things and how it was when he first bought it.  It only had a couple of rooms, they added on (and on and on and on) and raised twelve children there!  Delightful people, all.  There is a deliciously old cotton wood tree in the yard, another that used to hang over the street they took out because of the possible danger of falling on passing cars.  There was an ancient apricot tree. We parked under a weeping willow. The home is handicap accessible.  But it is not the same house any more.  Berenice was only three when they moved away so she didn't remember much from when she lived there, but from subsequent visits to the area over the decades.  Anyway, she finally got to see the place.

This is a very old apricot tree.

This is a very big and very old cottonwood tree in their front yard.

 As we were leaving, it was beginning to rain.  But we were in Veyo, so I decided I would try again to purchase a pie from the famous "Veyo Pies" Store.  Boy, was it raining!

It was a MONSOON!

Thunder, lightning, wind, torrents of rain.   But I parked at Veyo Pies and dashed in anyway.  The previous time I stopped there with Damian and family, I found lots of people waiting in line and I just left without even thinking about making a purchase. This time, there were people in there, but they were just waiting for the rain to stop or for a special order or something, so I just walked right up to the counter, made my selection and left. Just that quickly.

Kind of.

I got a plastic bag to put my pink bakery boxed pie into because that rain was REALLY coming down!

I opened the door and dashed the 12 to 15 steps to my car through the pouring rain and booming thunder and driving wind!

I jumped into the car and slammed the door. I WAS SOAKED.  Fifteen steps!

I triumphantly placed my pink box on the dash and said to Berenice, "I survived a monsoon to get a Veyo pie!"  Lightning!  Thunder!  RAIN like you cannot believe.  HAIL. And when I turned around to get out of my parking spot, look what was behind me-- a broken tree branch that just missed my car.  Whew.

That was quite the adventure.  We weren't sure just which way would be the safest to drive home--the way we came or through St. George.  The road to St. George was closed the day before due to flooding (open today), but who knew what this was going to do...and it's longer that way, too, I think.

We decided to go back on Hwy 18 the way we came, though Enterprise.  It's a winding road though mountains and valleys.

What rain!  What WIND.  Rivers running down the road. I could only drive 40 mph, my wipers were going full blast and I still could hardly see a thing.  Incredible.  Luckily, the hail was pea-to-marble-sized and did no damage and was brief. The lightning and wind and rain let up about 10 minutes later, but that was a harrowing 10 minutes, let me tell you.

Berenice's comment, "Have you ever seen such a storm!?"
My reply: "Amarillo, Texas, July 1976, in your motor home." I remember because I was driving that time, too.  Just about the same.

My hair was still wet when we got back home, even about an hour later. And some of the trim on my pants was still showing signs of dampness.  Yes, it was quite the storm.

But I have my Veyo Pie!  I selected Peach Blueberry. I'll let you know if it's worth it. ;-)