Tag Team Visit at Hopi

Once Ben, Holly and Vaughan got back in the office from their visit to Hopi, Eric and Mark received the message from Erika Schoen of Indian Health Services (IHS) that water and sewer were close to being ready for service to Kerri’s home. Road trip! We loaded up the Red Feather truck with tools to make any necessary adjustments to the heating and plumbing systems as well as install a HEPA air exchanger filter in the home.

HEPA is an acronym for "high efficiency particulate air [filter]" and this will help assist Matthew in his health by eliminating airborne particulates that could make him ill and keep fresh air circulating through the home.

So the truck was loaded, filled with fuel and ready to go until Eric got a call from Mark Roundstone stating their home had been without hot water which also means no heat for three days with temperatures dropping into the -20 F or colder at night. Yikes! Now this meant adjusting the load of the truck to also assist the Roundstones with their needs for heat but also head east instead of south.

We finally headed east to the Roundstones home on the Northern Cheyenne reservation at 1:00 pm on Monday arriving at 5:00pm in time to enjoy dinner, conversation and a game or two of cribbage with the family. The water situation was corrected and hot water and heat was returning to the Roundstones which meant thank you and hugs all around with us feeling the need to hit the road at 10:30 pm and make some headway south to Hopi. By 2:00 am a hotel room in Casper Wyoming was calling our names for the night.

The next day we trekked through Wyoming, Colorado, Utah and Arizona making it to The Shebola’s home around 11:30 that night in Bacavi. There was this collective sigh of relief as we crested the hill up on to the third mesa; it felt like we were home again.

The next two days were filled working on the home with Eric up in the attic amongst all the insulation running duct work. What a champ he is, Go Team! And Mark doing the simple stuff down below. We had a great time visiting Kerri, Danielle and Matthew albeit for a short time and appreciate them opening up their home to us, sharing stories and cooking meals. We also are thankful for Erika and Dani for preparing a wonderful dinner for us and introducing us to the game of Pinochle. Unfortunately having appointments to keep back in Bozeman it was time to say our goodbyes to friends on Hopi needing to embark Friday morning going home in a more direct route.

We are happy to report that everything is working fine and for the first time Kerri doesn’t have to get up extra early to take the three of them down to Kerri’s sister’s home for showers. We can all only imagine what relief this has brought to them.

Mark and Eric