3 Towel Roadtrip

In 1955, after my freshman year of college, I spent the summer working at the newly opened Jackson Lake Lodge, located in Moran, Wyoming.
My mode of transportation was a 14-year-old 1941 Hudson automobile that should have received its burial 10 years earlier.
Among the car's other identifying traits, the floorboards had rusted so badly that, if not for a piece of plywood, I could have literally dragged my feet on the highway.
The positive is that unlike most 14-year-old cars in this time period, it used no oil--lots of water in the radiator, but no oil.
I could never figure out where the water went and why the oil continually got thinner and thinner and clearer and clearer.

In preparation for the 185-mile drive home at the end of the summer, I took the car to the only mechanic in Moran.
After a quick analysis, the mechanic explained that the engine block was cracked and was leaking water into the oil.
That explained the water and oil mystery.
I wondered if I could get the water to leak into the gas tank; I would get better gasoline mileage.

Now the confession: after the miracle of arriving home, my father came out and happily greeted me.
After  a hug and a few pleasantries, he looked into the backseat of the car and saw three Jackson Lake Lodge towels--the kind you cannot buy.
With a disappointed look he merely aid, "I expected more of you."
I hadn't thought that what I had done was all that wrong.
To me these towels were but a symbol of a full summer's work at a luxury hotel, a rite of passage.
Nevertheless, by taking them I felt I had lost the trust and confidence of my father, and I was devastated.

The following weekend I adjusted the plywood floorboard in my car, filled the radiator with water, and began the 370-mile round trip back to Jackson Lake Lodge to return three towels.
My father never asked why I was returning to the lodge, and I never explained.
It just didn't need to be said.
This was an expensive and painful lesson on honesty that has stayed with me throughout my life.

-Richard C. Edgley -Three Towels and a 25-Cent Newspaper -October 2006 General Conference

Until you next see these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi