Lost and Found

Remember in 2006, when Dad and Mother made a trip to Montana for Grandma and Grandpa's 60th anniversary? Well, there was a bad snowstorm on the way home, so we took a different route than we had ever driven to try to skirt the storm. As we were driving along, Dad kept pointing out the diamond willow bushes along the road. Finally, Mother said, "Oh, go ahead and stop!" Once given permission, it didn't take him long to pull over. He spent about an hour trekking around the underbrush, and he cut a bunch of sticks. He was a happy man.
We continued on our journey, and late that night we arrived at Spanish Fork to stay at Tim and Nancy Glover's house. As Dad was unloading the car, he asked, "Where are my keys? Where is my cell phone?" Eventually, Mother asked if he had fallen down out in the woods. When a look of horror crossed his face, and he acknowledged that he had indeed fallen down, we knew where the keys and cell phone had become lost.
Two weeks later, as Mother was preparing for a trip to New Jersey and Spain, she looked into Dad's eyes and said, "Don't even think about it!" He said, "What?" Mother told him under no circumstances was he to drive back up to Montana to look for the keys, and he said, "How did you know?" We just know, right, ladies? He was reluctantly persuaded not to go.
So, he decided on this return trip to Montana, he would divert to that old "road-less-traveled," and find the keys. We humored him. We had a few detours and delays along the way, but eventually he pulled into the exact same turnoff where he was determined to locate his lost keys and cell phone. We (Tim, Nancy[Asay], and Mother) gave him a few minutes, then Mother went to help him look.
While walking along the trail, Mother saw an old beat-up VW bus pull in to the deserted looking log cabin, and the driver came swiftly out to approach us.
Mother: "Beautiful place you have here."
Snorkel Bob: "Thanks. Did you just pick it at random to stop for a walk?"
Mother: "No, actually almost 2 years ago, we stopped here so my husband could cut some diamond willow to make walking sticks, and he lost his keys and cell phone, so he's over there looking for them."
Snorkel Bob: "They're back at my place in Idaho Falls. I have been trying to figure out who they belonged to. We didn't smell a dead body around here for a long time, so we couldn't figure out why they were left there. My dog found them, sat down in that place, and wouldn't move till we picked them up."
Dad, arriving on the scene: "What???"
Snorkel Bob: (Recounted the story for Dad)
Dad then proceeded to offer money and the gift of a walking stick, and Snorkel Bob agreed to send the keys and cell phone right away. Even though Dad had said a prayer and had faith that the keys would be found, Mother was highly skeptical and cynical. However, once the mystery was solved, Dad magnanimously gave Mother, "The Finder of Lost Things," credit for the find. Dad and Snorkel Bob are new BFF!