WRITING ON WALLS? CINNAMON COLORED DUST STORM, AND GOBLINS!

Following a couple days of rest, we were, once again, on the road.  We drove highway 191, found Potash Road along the Colorado river in search of petroglyphs.  We found more than we imagined we would! 

Someone named this one “Paper Dolls,” do you see them? 


Some of the petroglyphs were very light and a bit difficult to find.  We persevered.


Big Horn Sheep, Lizards and human form.  Now, that was easy!

This is a puzzler.  Do you have any ideas?

Warriors?


A lonely hand.  Is it old as the other petroglyphs?


What do you think?




We returned to our site as the sun was dropping toward the western horizon.  These clouds captured my attention because they were filled with dust from ATV and motorbike riders.  The lighter portions of the clouds is the dust. 

Little did we know what the night was to bring.  The evening was accented with a refreshing, cool breeze.  We left our windows open as we went to bed. 

What followed during the peaceful evening was anything but peaceful.  Lying in bed sound asleep, I much too slowly became aware that the wind was blowing and the motorhome was rocking and rolling.

Then, the gale force winds of approximately fifty miles per hour struck.  We jumped up and pulled in the slides.  First the bedroom. Then as the large slide was retracting one massive gust hit us and we felt that the slide toppers were being ripped off.  The noise of the winds actually made me cover my face in fear.  

With the slides retracted, we closed the windows…..way too late.  The damage had been done, but we did not see the piles of “cinnamon” covering the interior until morning. 

The next two days were spent with the vacuum and a shop vac we carry in the basement.  We vacuumed and used the nozzles to suck that darned “cinnamon” from window tracks, counters, tables…..every flat surface.  We used attachments to clean the valences, curtains and blinds. 

Finally, we felt that we had sucked up every grain and that we could move to the Valley of the Goblins State Park. 

Guess what we found upon our arrival.  The movement of the motorhome released another dose of “cinnamon.”  I told John that I didn’t think I could bear to use cinnamon again.  That lasted until our next meal and cinnamon was part of the recipe.

Oh, I forgot to mention that we left the windows down on the night of the sand storm.  John vacuumed as much as he could and now we are waiting until we can put the top down and let the wind blow the rest out of the car.

The campground at the Valley of the Goblins was both full and the sites were too small for our forty foot Allegro Bus and the sixteen foot trailer loaded with the Miata.  Thank goodness we enjoy boondocking.

If you have a rig that is over twenty four feet in length, forget the campgrounds.  The view is much better in the desert, anyway. 

That evening, we heard the sound of a para-sailor.  This is our view of him flying past us and toward the mountain range.  Fascinated, we watched him maneuver closer and closer to the mountain.  He began to gain altitude, but at the last moment, turned and retreated. We think he was trying to go over the mountain and knew he would never make it. He turned in retreat and headed back to the campground.   I wonder what color his shorts was when he touched down. 



Walking the desert floor, John was on the hunt for pretty rocks.  I was on the hunt for a great hike.  We both were happy.  I took this photo with him looking at the ground, as usual.  I was climbing up from a ravine.  I think it makes an interesting photo.








This was my view on my walk.  I tried to find a way down into the wash.  It was late in the afternoon and I was concerned about getting back to the coach before all light was lost.










How do I describe the The Valley of the Goblins?  What can I say to do them justice?

Photos do not do justice to the Majesty of this area.  Make sure that you do not miss it as you travel Utah. 












A Platypus?  A turtle sticking out his tongue?   It is fun trying to describe some of these rock formations that do not look like goblins.  








As I walked through the valley, I began to see a mountain that looked blue!  I wanted to see more.

What appears to look close is not as close as it appears.  But I kept walking.


The more I walked, the more I was intrigued.  Why that color in the midst of all the red and brown tints of the goblins and surrounding mountains. 



Another twenty minutes or so, I am able to see more of the detail.
But there is one problem.  I know that I have been gone way too long, leaving John sitting on a rock in the sun.  I must turn back. 




But…..which way do I go?  I do not recognize much as I try to retreat, knowing that I am not following the path by which I came.


Uh, oh….I know I’m in the dog house!  But there he is!  He is walking back to the trailhead, I think.  Oops, his water bottle is empty.  Not good.


Thank goodness he still loves me, though he’s a bit irritated, hot and thirsty.  

Keep in mind here that we both purchased Camelback hydrating backpacks, but did not bring them with us.  Can anyone spell stuuupiddd? 








The next day is rest day and late in the afternoon, we leave our campsite and are on the road, once more.  This is the lovely campsite we had for our wonderful nights sleep.  Nothing like a running stream to sing you to sleep.
Looking left…..

Looking right…..












And a beautiful sunset….

When we have beautiful days like today, I can’t begin to imagine what God has in store for us in Heaven!  I pray that you will be there with us.

Thanks so much for joining us on this journey. 

And thanks you so much for shopping Amazon through our blog. 

God bless you all!

HOW TO DISCOURAGE NEIGHBORS FROM PARKING TOO CLOSE WHEN BOONDOCKING NEAR ARCHES NATIONAL PARK. ALSO, HOW MANY PHOTOS?

In my last blog post, I used fifty seven photos that covered three weeks of traveling.  That was a huge amount of photos.  Someone wrote in their blog today that fifteen photos should be the limit.  There are times that fifteen, twenty, thirty or more photos will not be enough to illustrate the story I am trying to convey especially if I am reporting over days or even a week or more.

My blog is for my blogging friends and family.  They want to know about our experiences and what we see and do.  Some readers will never travel to the places we visit.  This is their opportunity to go Trippin with the Talleys.

If I post too many photos to suit you, feel free to scroll right past them.  I use as many photos as it takes to tell my story/stories.  I will continue to blog in that format.

So, now here comes another saga that expands over our time in Moab National Park and the Canyonlands National Park. , and a mouse family while visiting Moab National Park.

First, how to discourage neighbors from being up close and personal.  We all like to have our space when boondocking.  Some enjoy living in a RV community. We can stand it for a short time, but just give us the open range.

Late one night, I thought I had heard some scratches. I asked John if he, possibly, had heard what sounded like a mouse.  “No” was his response.  I quickly abandoned the mouse thought.  Sometimes, we just want to live in denial, don’t we?
A couple of days later, I needed cotton balls to remove fingernail polish.  I went to the drawer and this is what I found!
 
Ah, ha!  I think we have a nest building mouse.  

A check in the cabinet revealed seven rolls of toilet tissue that had the beginnings of being shredded.  We needed to capture the guilty party or parties before they started to raise their family.  Our motorhome is a single family dwelling and we want it to remain that way.

It was time to declare war.  We won that war for now with the capture of mamma and poppa!  Our victory came early in the morning and the traps with mice still attached were set outside our front door.

What does that have to do with keeping neighbors from camping too close from us?  The saga continues…..

There was a knock on our door and a potential neighbor came to ask if they could boondock close by, but first the pointed out the mice by the door.  “Yes, we know they are there.  They were last night’s catch and we had yet to take them to the dumpster.”
 
How can you tell someone that you would prefer that they locate as far from us as possible. Well, we didn’t.  

Gee, I can’t imagine why those people did not park near us!  Actually, we could not see where they parked. That gave us a great laugh.

The next day, we were off to the Arches National Park.  We had to make it more a driving tour than a long hike tour.  John did himself in the previous day hiking in the desert.
 

Some points of interest that were a short walk were just fine, but no long hikes today.
 
The powers that be have called this formation the Three Gossips.

I prefer to call this the Three Sisters.  We have three wonderful daughters and when I saw the  stone formations, called Three gossips, my thoughts leapt to our three daughters, Karen, Nancy Jo/Jojo, and Holly. Not because they gossip, but because we have three great adult children.

Now, come along and follow in pictures some of the sights we enjoyed as I drove John through the Arches National Park.




We enjoyed the above Raven as we did not find many birds in all of our time there. 
We often find rocks with different formations or the beginning of wind caves that are not mentioned on the brochures directing what to see and do. 

This formation is a prime example.  Thank goodness we have never encountered anything dangerous in our explorations...like snakes.


It is formations like these that make me wish that I had studied geology rather than elementary education in college.

Is this a footprint?  A place were  another, softer rock was and then washed away?
 
The more we explore, the more questions I have.  I totally am in awe of God’s handiwork as he created the world we live in. 





This was our one view of one of the Arches.  

Sherry and David did some magnificent hikes in this area.  You might want to check them out at “In The Direction of Our Dreams”

John’s breathing became even more difficult and he was so fatigued that our trip through the Canyonlands National Park was, with two exceptions, totally a driving tour. 







We discovered more beautiful wild flowers. 

                                                                                                                                                                                In the visitor’s center, there was a display showing a piece of ground that looked as if had bubbled tar was scattered about.

This tar-looking soil is actually alive. 

The link below is a great learning tool.  
Please take time to click on it and learn more about the world in which we live. 
http://www.nps.gov/cany/photosmultimedia/inside_soilcrust.htm

More photos of Canyonland National Park.  Most speak for themselves!




 



























As we were leaving we spotted a RV that is a rental.  Many were around Moab.  They come equipped with all the necessities.  What a neat way for someone to see if they would like the RV life.


I love the tenacity of the Juniper trees.  They seem to survive anywhere.  If there is a crack in the boulder,  a Juniper seed and the correct amount of moisture, this is what will happen. 

Thanks for joining me today as we ventured through Arches National Park and The Canyonlands National Park. 

Watch out for mice everyone, tis the season!
 
A special thanks to you all who make your Amazon purchases through this blog.  I would never use the link if it would cost you more for your purchases, and it pays us a very small percentage.
 
Thanksgiving is just around the corner.  One thing that is on my list to be thankful for is my faithful readers and commenters.  God bless your lives to the fullest. 

RAPID CITY

NEXT STOP?  

Ellsworth Air Force Base and the South Dakota Air and Space Museum in Rapid City.  

There is just one problem.  After entering the museum, I was so mesmerized that I forgot to take photos. AND we were too late for the tour of the missile site.  Oops....that was two problems. 

 Anyway, the displays in the museum were exceptional.  We find that each air force base we visit has a totally different style of museum.  This is the best, thus far.

The next day we went into Rapid City.  John was intent on visiting the Dakota Angler and Outfitter to purchase even more 

http://shop.flyfishsd.com  

While John spent time there, I walked for a few blocks looking at the bronze statues of the presidents.                           Later, John and I continued the walk.  Of course my favorite would be of Abraham Lincoln with son, Todd at his knee.                                                                       

 There on Lincoln's right knee is a telegram from the U.S. War Department with a June 7, 1864 report on the progress of the Civil War.   I assume that Lincoln is trying to explain the war and the reason for the loss of so many lives.

Indiana's contribution to the list of presidents,
William Henry Harrison

  

George Herbert Walker Bush

Styles have certainly changed over the decades.

While on my walk, I came upon a curious business that specialised in picture framing, was also a yarn shop and an antique store.  The yarn shop was of interest to me as I am about to finish a blanket for grandson, Ross.  I needed some advise and a crochet hook.  I have knit the body of the blanket but want to create a frame around it making all the sides neat.  

On my return to meet John, I spy a delicious smelling Italian restaurant, Botticelli Restorante Italiano.                                                                                      It seems that John agreed with my choice.  He says that it is the best Lasagna that he has eaten.   That is saying quite a bit since he absolutely loves lasagna.                       

                                                                                                                                                                                                  This was our view from the Botticelli's.  Rapid City has a wonderful gathering area right in the center of town.  There are activities scheduled every day.   

Cabela's was our host campground for our stay in Rapid City. We had the opportunity to meet Judy and Loren, two of our numerous neighbors.  

Their Mountain Aire had a stubborn jack and John was able to help getting the jack to retract.  This was a great thing since, due to John's health, the shoe is usually on the other foot with people helping John.  Needless to say, he was "flying high" for a couple of days.  

We also experienced the Berlin Wall in Rapid City.  

"After the Berlin Wall divided the city in 1961, it came to symbolize all communist oppression.  Man's escape became one of the most meaningful and important actions to freedom-loving people throughout the world."

The exhibit features two twelve foot panels of the actual Berlin Wall.  The area has a walkway that hosts interpretive placards.  At the base of the wall sits two tank obstacles.  It is truly a Cold War victory memorial.    

Another portion of the memorial park is a tribute to those that died in the flood that besieged Rapid City and the Black Hills of South Dakota on June 9 and 10, 1972.  

Canyon Lake Dam became obstructed by upstream debris and eventually failed.  Water flowed into the city sweeping away 238 lives and injuring another three thousand fifty seven people. This memorial is in memory of the lives lost.  Each person is listed on the memorial that is nesting in a lavish rose garden.  

Our time in Rapid City was much too short, but we needed to move on.  We feel that cold weather is creeping our way.

Where next?  Come back and you will see.  

Thanks again for shopping Amazon through this blog!  

God bless!