TORREY UTAH, TO LAS VEGAS, NEVADA

October 28, 2014

We leave Torey, Utah and descend the mountains toward Las Vegas.  As the altitude drops, John's breathing as well as our attitudes improve remarkably. It is amazing what altitude and oxygen levels do to our bodies.  

Late in the afternoon, we enter Las Vegas and find ourselves in a forty foot Tiffin Allegro Bus towing at sixteen foot trailer with our Miata aboard rolling down THE STRIP!   John did just fine, as usual.  

Finally, we pull into the Silverton Casino lot for our dry docking experience.  We are close to McCarran International Airport and it's landing and take off runways. 

Take offs are quiet, but landings are annoying.  Would we stay there again?  No Way!  Free overnights are one thing, but noisy, aggravating overnights are just not worth it.

                                                                                        After a great breakfast, we headed into the city.  We meet the "boys" from Toy Story.  My, they seem to be very tall, or am I really, really short?                                                                                                         
  I am modeling the terrible haircut that I got in Moab, UT. It has been said that the difference between a bad haircut and a good one is two weeks.  It is going to take more than two MONTHS for this cut to grow to my desired length.  I have found that good haircuts are hard to find when traveling.

                         

                                                                                                                                                                                  

We visited many of the high end boutiques and marveled at the prices some pay for clothing and accessories.  

                                                We worked up an appetite for a non-vegetarian, burger and wanted to find Bobby Flay's restaurant, Bobby's Burger Palace.                                                                     The Bobby Blue was calling our names.

   

                                                                                                      The colors were warm and inviting, reminding us of the atmosphere of a '50's diner.  

                                                                                         How did we begin our meal of blue cheese burgers?  We shared a chocolate milk shake!                                                                             Then we indulged in the Bobby Blue, onion rings, and fries for John.

                                                With shrinking wastes of our pants, we headed out to see the night sights.  Thank goodness we had the opportunity to walk off a few of the calories.

                                                                                                                                                Evening approached before we could see everything we wanted. It is going to take another day.  But, Las Vegas at night is beautiful.                                                                          We will need to see more of Las Vegas at a later time.  

Our arrival time at Borrego Springs, California was rapidly approaching.   

We begin the short trip to California and our daughter Jojo's home to collect our mail and lemons from her tree. 



You know you are in southern California when you see dust storms on the horizon.    

Soon, we are on the road to Borrego Springs and our favorite camping area at Clark Dry Lake, BLM land just south of the Springs.

Ahhhh, our home in the southwest.  No more travel for a while.  It is time to enjoy the mountains and the quiet desert! 

Today, this blog ends and begins with photos of the Anza Borrego desert, our favorite place!                                                                                                                                                                              Thanks for visiting our blog today.  It has been a long time since I posted.  The rest has been good, but now, it is time to share some of our activities.  More to come.  

And thanks for making your purchases through our Amazon link.  By linking to Amazon through this blog, we earn a very small percentage.  You pay nothing extra.  

God bless.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

BOULDER TO TORREY, UTAH

Mid October, 2014

What can be better than waking up to a beautiful sunrise peeking over the mountain top?  Nothing, as long as it follows a good night’s sleep.



After a tasty meal prepared by my personal breakfast chef and traveling companion, we left this idyllic scene and continued our journey toward Escalante, Utah and the Petrified Forest State Park. 

Our route toward the Petrified Forest State Park, took us to the historic Elijah Cutler Behunan farmstead.  The Behunans were some of the first to establish their homestead in the Capitol Reef area, a rugged and unforgiving area.   

Mr. Behunan was a farmer and tried valiantly to make a living farming the ground in the area around his home as he searched, as many Mormons, for a location to exercise religious freedom. 

The home had one window and door in the front of the cabin and one tiny window on the south side, opposite the stone fireplace. 




 

The roof is composed of small bits of rock, pebbles and dust from the floor of the surrounding high desert.



There are times that I am shocked to see how our ancestors lived and to what they endured.  This homestead family is no exception.  This one room cabin with a fireplace was the home for thirteen people.  In the first place, I cannot imagine parenting eleven children!  Can you imagine having eleven children in this home?  Talk about having everyone under foot while cooking! 



Imagine trying to grow crops at the base of this mountain considering the lack of rain, the lava rocks, sand and boulders. 



The volcano that spit out this bit of lava must have erupted a long time ago as the edges are smoothed.  If only rocks could tell the tales of their lifetime.


We continue on our way and experience more lovely views that take my mind away from the struggles of the Behunans.








Who knows the minerals that are in the blue rock? 







Often, we think “can life get any more beautiful than this, God’s creation!”









We follow the rim road and experience the colors of fall, once again.



We reach our destination.  The Petrified Forest State Park has no sites large enough to accommodate our fifty six feet of motorhome and Miata carrying trailer.
















Is it not a shame that we needed to pull into the overflow area beside the lake?  Look at that view!  If only we had kayaks! 

The water level was down about ten feet and moss was around the edges making it impossible to walk around the lake, so we walked out on the dock and took in the view. 



What a great way to end a beautiful day. 

Thanks so much for visiting and for shopping Amazon through this blog. 

God bless y’all. 

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!