"Tropical Storm" Fay?

From Fay

From Fay

You mean I actually remember how to log on this thing?? You see we have been SOOOOOO busy here at TGO this summer - NOT! No excuses.

The few of us here hunkering down for this lovely weather have been getting lots of concerned phone calls. The rain and wind are here alright. I wanted to get some photos posted.

Being our first time in the hurricane zone, Bill and I kind of feel like kids in a good ole Noreaster. But at least with snow you can dig yourself out. Not with this. Brevard County is even asking residents with airboats to please lend their use for emergency help. Wow. I would hate that to be my first airboat ride.
Click on the following photo to see more pics:

Fay

I'll post more as I can. The rain is really hard right now and I don't think I'll be headed out there with the camera!
Stay dry!
Jody

We're back . . .

Sure, get you all checking in on a regular basis and POOF! we are gone. My humble apologies, really. Three months later, it is hard to play catch up - but I'll post something current and attempt to work my way back through the last 90+ days.

Briefly, we left Utah, headed through Colorado on our way to Sturgis, SD for "bike week" to meet up with fellow POGGER's Truk & Nanc and Dale & Jan in Spearfish, SD. Amazing time!!!! This will have to be a post of its own. Then we hightailed it to Washington Court House, OH where we left the bus to be painted. the 5-week job turned into 11 weeks . . . Thanks to the generosity of my sister and family and my folks, we rooted ourselves for 8 of it in CT. When Bill could stand the task of communicating paint issues via e-mail no more, we made a reservation at the local Hampton Inn in OH. We thought we would be there maybe 1 week - WRONG - more like 3 weeks! This delay also caused us to miss the POG rally in Branson and a visit with my cousins, Judy & Wayne.

Regardless, it is finally done - and Bill is very happy with the replication of his design . . . our home looks great! Certainly took a few years off her appearance. Too bad we can't do the same thing.

From OH, we had a quick visit with the kids in VA. Kady took a couple of days off and stayed with us. Dan was only 1 town away, so after he returned from a weekend in SC (visiting his girlfriend at college) he spent some nice dinners with us. I can't tell you how great it was to see them. That is the only hard part for me being a fulltimer.

We left VA to join another POG group for a weekend in beautiful Landrum, SC at the farm of Debi and Bob. I can't imagine a more perfect setting (wonderful hosts!) for a Fall get together. This will be my next post - promise!

Click here to view more pics from Farm POG

But today finds us at Pirateland Campground in Myrtle Beach, SC. We are here for the month trying to get caught up on all the neglected "household" duties around the bus. The weather is great and we can hear the shore (only a 2 minute walk out the door). Let me get some pictures uploaded and I'll be back.

Thanks for coming back . . . .

Jody

Happy (belated) Birthday, Kady!!

Whoooo Hoooo - Kady is 22! Wow - who could imagine this would happen so soon? ok, so I cheated - this is a pic from her 21st birthday! So she is in Delaware and we are in Wyoming. . . so what is a mother to do?????

So, it really feels funny not being there with a cake and candles. She probably had a better time celebrating with her friends – some of her local buddies went out for a yummy Asian dinner. Looks like they were having fun. Happy 22nd!


So, I'll just cheat with showing you some of the pics from last year when Kady came up to CT for a b'day party. Kelsey was tending to the menu and I was hugging the birthday girl.

Cake and presents . . .
Hey, she looks happy - just think if she had come for this year?


Well - she looks like she was having a good time with Johnny - without Mom!
Hope you had a great day, Kady!
We love you!
Love, Mom & Bill xoxoxoxoxox
Don't worry, Dan - your pics are next!!!

Happy Birthday, Ali!!!!! Have a great weekend!

Young Living Farm Lavender Days

The beginning of July one of our “neighbors” in Hatch, Betty, and I trekked up to a small town called Mona just south of Salt Lake City for Lavender Days. Young Living Farms is the leading producer of pharmaceutical grade lavender essential oil. They actually have a whole line of wellness products of which we both were quite impressed.

This was only their second festival at the farm but they did a great job. We drove the 167 miles north on Friday morning to be there on the first day. As soon as we approached the farm, the smell and the sight of 120 acres of lavender in bloom was overwhelming for me. It so much reminded me of all the wonderful herbs I grew in Michigan. Made me just a little homesick, if you will! The different shades of purple with the mountains in the background was an amazing sight.

We attended talks on everything from spa uses of essential oils to reading your aura to using oils in breadmaking! The speakers were great. They had live music and we even found a seat for the Cowboy Poetry session. What? That’s what I said. I had never even heard of such a thing. It was humorous as well as some tear-jerking readings. There were two cowboys who recited all their prose with such drama and obvious practice. Not sure I need to do it again, though!

One of the highlights for me was being able to pick my own bouquet of lavender! We were handed a pair of clippers and a cellophane bag with a piece of purple raffia to tie the stems together. What fun! Mom, you were right there with me!!! The fields were mildly reminiscent of a pumpkin patch at Halloween. Many families with little ones were trying to get that perfect picture for their holiday cards.

We spent the night in a quasi-local motel. That was after we stopped at 5 others only to find there was some Scottish festival in town and most the rooms were taken. That allowed us to participate in another highlight of the event: my first 5K walk/run! I know – not a big deal, but something I have had in the back of my brain to do for a long time. I would have liked to have run it (it is only 3.1 miles) but not ready to do that,yet. The race was actually across and through the fields - beautiful.

Now you might ask how did I get a picture of the start of the race if I’m supposed to be in it. Since there were 700 entrants, I didn’t think I really needed to go all the way to the end of the crowd since I was just going to be walking anyway! This was a much better view, I think!!

All the diehard runners with their stopwatches were set on speed. Then came the walking and talking crowd. Betty and I strolled along with some others, chatting and stopping to take pics along the way. Little did I know that this race was “official” of sorts and we were actually competing against the clock. We were even stopping to take pics of “our finish”!! Imagine my surprise when we received our result’s card at the end and all of our race times were recorded!!!!! OK, I did finish 16th in my age group. Ummmmmm nevermind knowing how many women in my age group participated – no, I wasn’t last!!! Afterwards, Betty and I decided we could have easily shaved, oh, 20 minutes off our time! HAHAHAHHAHAHAHA.

Hey, I’m up for the next one – hopefully it won’t be at an elevation of 7500 feet. Just think what I could have done at sea level! Thanks for joining me, Betty. I had a great time.

On the ride home we were shocked to see all the wildfires sweeping through Utah. We hadn’t been following the news and had no idea they were so close. We stopped on Rt 70 at a place called, Rock Candy Mountain for lunch. This is the mountain before lunch, and our plates becoming covered with ash on the patio.




And the same mountain as we were leaving the parking lot.

Several highways were closed not long after we drove through. Very scary, and fortunately not something we had ever seen before.

It felt good to be back in Hatch.
Click here to see a few more lavender pictures.

More news to come. We are in Buffalo, Wyoming and enjoyed the rodeo last night!

Thanks for checking in on us,
jody

I'm Still Here

We are still in Hatch, UT . . .

I wanted to get a quick post up here. I had to make an emergency trip to be with the kids this past week. Family emergencies are never a good time to socialize. Things are progressing on that front, but it will be a long haul, no doubt. Any special thoughts you can send this way will be most appreciated.

Even though I was in VA, I didn't get a chance to come say hello to the people we think about way out here. A big thank you to some wonderful friends: Jacquie and Frank, Joanna and Steve, Phil's mom, Nina, Gary, Jimmy and Barb in Las Vegas for your company and assistance. Also, thanks to Carrie, Tyler, Jake and Phil for their help and support. Hopefully, the next time we are in the area it will be for visiting everyone.

Bill kept asking me (he didn't come with) if I was going to get out to Leesburg to The Downtown Saloon . . . had no wheels!!! Thanks, Kelly for letting us know you guys are still checking in on us. Hola to kelly, rick, bruce, mike, linda (and the rest of the web crowd), buffalo bob, bill, tom, cheryl, rob, scott, sue, wanda, sturgis, grandpa pat, jackie and all of you behind and in front of the bar! I'm sorry if I missed your name. Hey, anyone going to Sturgis? We will be there from the 4th - 9th. Let us know!

I promise to get some pics up and share some amusing (at least they are for me) stories asap.

Thanks again, everyone for all your help this past couple of weeks.
Jody

Road Crew

Yes, that is me driving the water truck!

We are still in Hatch, UT – guess it is because of how peaceful this place it (Cherokee Springs Golf & RV Resort). I need to take some outdoor pics to share what I mean. The other reason is we are really enjoying the company of the few people here!

Then there is Bandido (it is a d and not a t), our camp host who entertains us late at night by the fire with his crazy stories and colorful jokes!

Bandido is always offering up the chance to workkamp since he is busy with the constant attention the 9-hole golf course needs. So . . . here begins the story of my first day workkamping:

Since we are in the desert the campground roads benefit greatly from being watered to keep the dust down. Each day I have been watching Bandido slowly drive up and down the main drag occasionally stopping to chat and flood a little patch of the gravel road. Now I know this sounds a little crazy (What?! From me???) but there have been a couple of chores I have really enjoyed over the years. Vacuuming the pool when we lived in Michigan was one of them. Partly because I loved that pool and the kids and I thoroughly enjoyed our time in it. The other reason was the solitude. No one could (or did) help me. It was mindless allowing me to (as Deb from Crossfield would say) go to the Bahamas in my head. It was also immediately gratifying when I could see the results of my time right away.

Another chore was mowing the front yard in Virginia. This one was a little trickier. Except for the large slope near the road where if I leaned to keep from tipping over I would lift off the seat causing the mower to shut off it had the same calming effect over me. And, of course the same immediate gratification.

So, watching Bandido, I decided that this chore was another I would enjoy. He laughed at me and I don’t think thought I would (or could) really do it. So when he teased me the other day about not having watered the road I was on my way. The golf course and equipment area is just over a mile down interior road and off I went.

The tank had already been filled with 1600 gallons of water from the spring. I unhooked the water hose, hoisted myself aboard the 1960’s vintage GMC truck and found the lever to slide the bench seat closer to the wheel. A quick look around confirmed the key was in the ignition (like every other vehicle here) and I could reach the gas and brake. OK, choke out, first click and I could hear the fuel pump (and even knew to wait a min.), gear shift in N (no parking gear), looked to release the parking brake to find none – that would be the reason it was in R and there were blocks under the tires! The trick was to get that engine turned over while both feet were holding the brakes (did they even work?)

Got her backed up instead of rolling over the green ahead of me and she stalled. Start again, stall again. Hmmmmm – Gas on E. Just then, Bandido comes running up laughing because he heard the engine and couldn’t believe it was me. How did you get up there without a ladder? HAHAHAHAHAH, funny. How about some fuel? He added a few gallons and wished me well. I headed down the dirt road leading to the area to spray. The steering wheel is as big as the one in the bus although quite a bit “looser”. I felt like the fireman who sits at the back of the ladder truck turning like crazy for even the slightest maneuver. And those brakes . . . yea, right. Jackrabbits and Sage Hen – run for your lives!

As I approached the starting point to water, Arlon (another workkamper) was headed towards me. Whew . . . he graciously climbed up back and opened the water valve for me. All right – it was official now – I was running the water truck!

I made a pass by my cheerleading squad who were enjoying happy hour. The third time by, Jo held up a glass of Merlot for me but I couldn’t get the truck to stay still in N so I could climb out and retrieve it. I’m still wondering why no one brought it to me! By the 5th pass I decided it was easier and more challenging to back up the road rather than go over the cow grate to turn around. I was having a good time bouncing all over the place. No air, no radio, no problem just me and my dustless, damp road!

The road looked wet enough after an hour so I began my return trip. I found a suitable spot to angle the truck so it would stay put in R so I could figure out how to get the valve shut. I couldn’t reach the bar in back to step up, couldn’t get over the PVC shooting out water, so I climbed out the passenger side, stepped on the fuel tank and scooted my way along the side of the water tank. Too bad no one was there to enjoy my rendition of da da da daaaaa, da da da daaaaa (Mission Impossible, you know the tune) as I treacherously dragged my feet in a step together, step together dance attempting to reach the valve before the truck began to roll on its own!

Feeling pretty smug at my little accomplishment, I chugged along the road until I reached the final climb. I was in first gear, floored, slowing down almost to a stop with the remaining water (oh, say, about 1000 gallons) sloshing back and forth. I was even leaning forward coaxing her to just get up another 20 feet . . . the next challenge being parking her back at the water fill which sloped forward. I eased her in place (water still sloshing) and every time I tried to take my feet off the brake (in R) she rolled forward. I was hanging out the door trying to see if I had lined up at the blocks – looked good, but she was still trying to edge forward. Engine off, in R, at the blocks, door open and I carefully inched my way out. It might not have been such a worry but someone had parked the green mower RIGHT in front of where I needed to park the truck! Didn’t need to add that to our bill.

I hit the ground, she creaked a bit and I barely closed the door. Mission accomplished. Betty was watching this scene from the porch and wanted to know what took me so long to get parked? Thanks.

Later that evening, we were all sitting around the campfire (really) watching the 20+ satellites and 3 shooting stars and Bandido asked me what happened earlier. I was imagining the 10,000-pound truck and water carving a trench in the green dragging the mower when he asked why there was still water in the truck. What? I made 8 passes up and down the road! Apparently, he was expecting me to continue until the water was gone. He’s now talking about setting me out in one of the meadows with the back hoe. Oh, baby!

Well, I heard through the sagebrush (there aren’t any grapevines here) that Pete was going to take on the water truck task for the next few weeks. Hmmmmmm did Ole’ Dusty see me having all the fun?!?!?!?!? Make note: I’ll be sure to take him a cool drink during happy hour!

More later,
Jody

Celebrating the 4th

Not a whole lot of stuff going on around here to celebrate the 4th– especially because of the very dry conditions. The little town of Panguitch (of balloon fame) was having a BBQ lunch sponsored by the high school senior class. We (Betty, Jay pictured above rounding out his meal with his 1st ice cream dessert, Bill and I) piled into Mel & Evelyn’s big Ford F350 (boy, does Bill miss his truck) to the BBQ. It took us a while to find where it was – where were all those kids with posters screaming on street corners trying to get the people there? Man, in Northern VA there would have been dozens of kids pointing and yelling at cars with homemade signs to get you to stop and support their cause. Anyway, quite a meal for $5.00.

Don’t know how the guys had room for ice cream afterwards.

We celebrated later with a picnic with too much food for the lot of us – all 10 of us here at the campground! I have to find out who has the pics of the sparklers!

Hope everyone had a good 4th!
Jody

Cedar Breaks National Monument, Utah

Believe it or not, this tree is over 1700 years old!!!

We had a wonderful ride 43 miles over rt. 14 up and over the mountains ascending 4000 feet in 18 miles! Jo and Pete (that would be Ole' Dusty Pete) went with us for the afternoon to Cedar Breaks National Monument. It is called a mini Bryce Canyon. The really nice part was there are only two walking hikes. None of the trails go down into the canyon. But you can walk the rim - awfully close to the edge. The terrain is rough gravel - very "slippery" if you were to lose your footing. The drop is 2000 feet! Forget getting back up!

Check out that trail so close to the drop!

From Cedar Breaks ...

(If you click on that Cedar Breaks link above, it will take you to more pics I didn't post here.)
The many colors of the different "layers" are compared to a wedding cake. Much more colorful than Bryce.

Another cool thing is that the dead wood looks like drift wood. The wind, rather than the water works its power on the surface of things (rocks included!) to wear them down. Really interesting shapes.

There was and older couple near the visitor's center. The woman was pressing the man for details. He responded, "It has been over 60 years since I was here. I can't remember how it looked!" He told me he drove up the dirt road in his 43 Chevy with his buddies hoping they would find what they were looking for. He said there were no railings or fences, no visitor's center, no paved walkways! They drove up hoping to find this really cool view!! WOW! He said cameras were few and far between so he had no printed record of his visit.

The walk took us through Bristle Brush Pines (not cedars) including the oldest one dated as 1700 years old. It actually still has some living branches. The "bristles" are actually soft - like a bottle brush. It is crazy that they can grow in the sandy ground. I wanted to get a whole pic of this incredibly old tree - but there was this rude group totally camped out under the tree with their lunch, backpacks . . . so it would have not been what I wanted. They even had a dog with them even though it was clearly posted that dogs were not allowed on the trail! Tourists!!! Part of this 1700 year old tree is the first pic on this post.

The surrounding forest is full of tons of wildflowers. In fact, the month of July is their Wildflower Festival. They were just starting to bloom. Tons of columbine and lupine - very pretty. I want to go back for one of the ranger wildflower talk/walks. And bring the right camera lens to get the best pics.

We continued on to Cedar City for lunch and a visit to a REAL grocery store.

Now we are busy planning our 4th picnic. I think I'm on dessert duty. Last night I made gumbo and everyone (our neighbors: Jo, Pete, Evelyn, Mel, Betty, Jay, Arlon) brought something for a great picnic. You know - THIS is what it is all about! Getting together with people you meet and enjoy spending time with!!! In fact, Bill and Mel were still outside at 10:30pm looking and photographing the moon through the binoculars . . . great shots - full moon!

Cool place, cool people, great time!
Love to you all,
Jody

Panguitch Valley Balloon Rally (Utah)

From Panguitch Bal...

The little town of Panguitch, Utah hosts a hot air balloon rally the last weekend in June each year. In fact, this is one of the reasons we are still in the Hatch area. Since we have not been to the huge balloon festivals in Santa Fe and Albuquerque this gathering of 30+ balloons was pretty fun.

Each day from Friday until Sunday the launch began at 6:30am. Spectators are invited onto the field and can assist in the inflating of the balloons. We met a couple, Betty and Jay (with whom we are now neighbors at a different campground in Hatch) who because they helped inflate, were invited to ride along! Betty went one day and Jay the other. And they were invited to crew with this balloon pilot in Albuquerque this fall! How exciting! They will be able to camp with all the balloon people and are hoping to be able to ride again.

Bill and I went on Saturday morning to watch the launch but arrived at 7 and missed it. The balloons were all in the air by then. It was still beautiful to round that last mountain and come upon this sight. I was wondering how many people knew nothing about the rally and accidentally did the same thing. There were tons of vehicles (and motorhomes) pulled off the road to enjoy the view.

That evening, Mel and Evelyn went with us back “downtown” for the Balloon Glow. They had about 15 balloons inflating on Main Street and a cross road while we all walked around town. As the sun set (about 9pm) the pilots lit their burners to illuminate the entire envelope (the balloon itself). They needed several strong helpers to keep it from rising into the air. It actually looked like a tough job! They would light the burners for only a second or two at a time.

As an aside: Bill and Mel learned from one pilot that each of his 2 burners was 15 million BTU’s!!!!! Holy cow, my grill has 20,000 BTU’s! Those are some hot fires! Considering a cubic foot of air weighs roughly 28 grams (about an ounce). If you heat that air by 100 degrees F, it weighs about 7 grams less. Therefore, each cubic foot of air contained in a hot air balloon can lift about 7 grams. That's not much, and this is why hot air balloons are so huge -- to lift 1,000 pounds, you need about 65,000 cubic feet of hot air. I wonder if they ask you your weight before allowing you to board a basket (or gondola) for a ride? I can see it now: this is a scene from the dinner table back in Virginia. Bill is telling the kids these interesting facts (and undoubtedly asks a related questions based on this info) and they decide it is time to be excused from the table!

I’ll move on . . . Sunday morning, Mel and Evelyn and I went back leaving at 6:20am to get on the field. I should mention that they both are great photographers so they were as excited to go as I was. Even though they admitted they already had hundreds of balloon pictures from the big rallies. I really enjoyed getting up close while the pilots readied their launch. Being on the field allowed you to be under them as they flew low, to feel the heat from the burners, to hear the directions and the concerns of the crew as they worked. Seemed everyone on the field was carrying some sort of camera equipment and a huge smile on their face. Us, too.

If you click on the person’s head icon at the lower left corner of the balloon pictures on the right it will take you to the whole gallery of balloon pictures I’ve posted at PicasaWeb.

It was a great weekend from start to finish.
Thanks for checking in on us. Be sure to leave a comment (click on comments below) so I know you were here.

Jody

PS: for all you Pisces out there, for the week 6/23-29: The stars give you a burst of courage on the 23rd, inspiring you to be more adventurous. Map out a new financial plan on the 25th, and you’ll have more cash to spend. I’m hoping this comes true for all those born under this sign.

Happy Hour, Cats & HooDoo Chili Cook-Off

I have a couple of things to write about, yet they are related (Walt, Walt, Walt, Walt, Walt, Walt, Walt, Walt). Don't ask.

We arrived at a rustic campground in Hatch, UT two weeks ago Sunday. The sites were pretty tight and for some reason the office kept putting new arrivals right next to us (even though there were plenty of empty sites where they could have spaced them out). By tight I mean the neighboring trailer’s slide was overhanging our picnic table bench and a giant step out our rig would have landed us on top of their utility connection. But the reason we stayed was the great people we met!

Within moments of pulling in, Walt and Pete (Ole’ Dusty Pete of ATV fame) were over welcoming us and inviting us to happy hour! After meeting the rest of the gang, we decided to stay. One week turned into two weeks . . . we got together with Pete, Jo, Mel, Evelyn, Walt & Kelly just about every night. We were invited to White Chicken Chili that first night and Sausage Burgers another, and I even had a BBQ Beef dinner for them. These three couples have over 50 years of fulltiming! I guess we have a way to go.

Occasionally, we were honored by the presence of Cinnamon and Bo– Pete & Jo’s cats. It is ALWAYS good for me to get my cat fix. Too funny: the cats would cry to come out, and would usually settle right down on their (and sometimes my) laps. If they started to get antsy all they would say is, “You had better behave or you are going inside!” and those cats would settle right down! I do miss the cats . . . but not the litter.

Last Saturday the six of us rode to the tiny town of Tropic for the Bryce Canyon Hoodoo District Chili Cook-off. I’m so mad I didn’t get my act together earlier. There were only 8 entries! Man – I make a darn good chili! They had categories for red and green chili and salsa.

My favorite salsa was this peach salsa – very good. The cook said she was just trying it out on us for future competitions. It was really good. I think we were expecting a little more out of this contest! My fav green chili was from, of course, Coyote Jody Chili – even though they spelled Jody wrong . . . We didn’t stay to hear the winners announced and the website hasn’t posted them yet.

Here are Evelyn and Jo and then Pete, Bill and Mel really into their samples!

The highlight for Mr. Bill was . . . the ice cream! He was being his usually “witty” self and the scooper popped back a retort to one of Bill’s remarks. Bill announces (quite modestly) I think I’ve just been out-smart-assed! Boy, was he surprised!

We had a fun time. Made it back with enough time to rest before heading out for the Balloon Glow that night. Next post . . . .

Walt, Walt, Walt, Walt, Walt, Walt - there! Are you happy, now? You are mentioned in this post more than Pete! :)

I’ll try to get to it tonight. Miss you all,
Jody

Wanna Eat Some Dust?

From Hatch ATV Ride

This is a long one. You can stop reading at any time and I'll not be the wiser:)
Walt (Escapee/workamper here at the RV park) runs an ATV tour company in his spare (!) time with his trusty sidekick, Pete. He says he has an extra ATV for a scheduled ride in the morning and did I want to go. Sure! Did I forget to ask what it really meant? Yes.

Be at my site at 7am, wear sturdy boots, long pants and layer up because it will be cold were my instructions. Did I forget to ask about tight fitting glasses, warm gloves, towel and bag to protect my camera, bandanna to tie around my mouth and nose . . . ? Yes. How about the fact I had never really ridden one of these? Fortunately, this ATV had an engine brake control where when I released the throttle it assisted in stopping me. I still don’t have the strength in my left hand to have used the hand brake quickly and there are no foot brakes. (Broken wrist with titanium plate/screws/pins from Feb. in Florida – if you don’t know the story, I’ll post about it later.)

Fortunately, Walt had a helmet with a full face shield – like it was going to keep the dust off my face! HA. Did I mention that Hatch, UT only gets 4” of rain each year? Dust is not the word to explain what was flying everywhere. Off we go up into the canyon for “our two-hour tour, our two-hour tour” – insert Gilligan’s Island theme song.

At first we were on back roads even though all not paved it was a very smooth ride even at 25-30 mph. Then we cross over through a field where it turns gravel. Still pretty smooth and fast. No major ruts or mini boulders in our way. Whoo Hoooo. Now, Walt stops and says we are going to be going slower because of the condition of the “trail” and the dust. Hmmmmmm . . . Oh, and Jody, when we head up the steep part of the climb, you’ll need to lean forward. WHAT?!?!

OK, the trail is narrower and the dust is everywhere. I’m 4th in line with Pete (and his radio and GPS) right behind me. It was getting hard to see with the dust and I had a hard time looking at the scenery (!) while watching the now rougher ride. I’m still not sure how the rocks get in the trail when there is no rushing water to carry them there.

We are gaining some altitude – literally with the climb into the canyon and my body off the seat with some of the uneven terrain starting full of ruts, potholes, branches, rocks & gravel. It occurs to me a little too late that this is why people take these things off road – DUH! Between blinking constantly trying to keep my contacts from permanently sticking to my eyes and wiping off the face shield it was getting adventurous. But I’m still smiling and whooo hoooing in my head. The jarring motion of the handlebars wasn’t very comfortable with my wrist so when I approached one of these “lift off” moments, I would release my left hand and kind of throw my arm into the air (not on purpose – from momentum). Then it dawns on me that from Pete’s perspective I’m a crazy ATV neophyte acting like she’s riding a bull and can only gain points as long as her arm is freely in the air! Was I imagining him yelling for me to keep both hands on the vehicle? Of course, then I’m laughing, inhaling even more dust. Note: just checked with Pete. He says I was leaving so much dust in his path he was lucky to catch a glimpse of my helmet. Whoops.

We round some bends and Walt stops to show us “The Nose Rock”. Pretty cool. Up we head in to a wooded area. Very pretty and very cold with not even the rising sun on us. The woods could have been in any one of the different states I’ve lived. Not much dust and easy to see ahead. It was so peaceful; I was ready to stop for a snack.

I look up as we are slowing down to notice the stream we were about to cross. That’s cool, about 18 inches deep, I like water, no problem – except there is a 2+ foot drop on each bank and it is only 3 feet wide!!! OK, so while I’m aiming over my handlebars to go down, I’m supposed to keep going so my front tires are headed back up while the back tires are headed down???? I’m certain that while I am somersaulting through the stream my ATV is continuing over my body. Oh yea, that can’t happen because when I release the throttle, it will stop and I’ll just crash back into it. Also, the grade is about 20% on the other side so you have to keep going so you can get up and out of the way. I will now admit if I thought I could have navigated the maze of trails, I might have turned around. I think the fact it came up so quickly I didn’t have a moment to be rational. Once again, I’m thinking that this is another one of those things ATV riders look for in a ride.

As we are again climbing, and the trail is narrowing – our fearless and undusty leader (Pete, you need to talk to him about this) is blazing through a herd of cattle!! Yes, a herd of cattle were happily grazing on either side of the trail until becoming surprised by our noisy pack. Several started pacing along side the trail snorting and changing direction faster than I would have given them credit. They are running between the first few riders and I’m envisioning disaster. I slowed (sorry Pete) mostly out of disbelief and half expecting one to hurdle over me since I’m on the smallest ATV. The last was moving along side of me matching my speed and all I could think of was my camera was protectively wrapped in a towel in the storage compartment nowhere within reach! Damn – another Kodak moment missed – the stream being the first.

Onward to a couple of scenic stops. I’m feeling more confidant and thinking how my son, Dan, would be so much better suited for this and would be rolling his eyes at me.

As we were climbing through the towering pine trees the light was beginning to shine through catching all the dust – it was shooting at such a sharp angle – it really was beautiful. I wanted to try to capture it with the camera, but didn’t want it covered with this fine, dry dust.

I guess I lost track of our assent until this one section when I just new I was going to be under Pete’s ATV when I flipped off the back. Ahhhhh ,THIS is where I’m supposed to lean forward. There were sharp turns, rough trail and I felt like we were going straight up. I nearly froze (not from temp for now it was about 60) but from the thought that suddenly dawned on me: what goes up, must come down!!! I would eventually need to follow this DOWN. Keep moving and keep breathing. That's the trail you see in the center of the picture.


One section of the trail felt like some of the switchback miner roads we took in New Mexico up into the ghost towns. It had a very steep drop off several hundred feet into no man’s land. Shouldn’t there be a class to attend or a license to know how to handle these things?

Way off in the distance and way down the mountain we could see the campground. That put our height into perspective.

We checked Pete’s GPS at the next stop: elevation 9081 ft. It was beautiful. Turn around time. We took a slightly different route back. No stream crossings, but still plenty of dust. I stopped a couple of times to take pictures and Pete waited patiently with me. When I started back up the last time, the group in front was so far ahead the dust had settled and they were nowhere in sight. The trail was visible and I took off. I mean really took off. I was smiling and flying along when it dawns on me . . . I turn around to see nothing but dust for a quarter of a mile! And no Pete. Oh man . . . sooooooo sorry Pete. I just wasn’t putting all of this together. Guess I was having so much fun I was lost in my own world.

The rest of the ride was uneventful as far as the story goes. We were gone almost 2 ½ hours and were still home early enough for breakfast – after a shower!! It was a great time. Bill was still trying to shake out my sweatshirt and jeans long after I was scrubbed clean. Thanks guys! I had a great time!

Whooooo hoooooo!

More pics from the Panguitch Balloon Festival and The HooDoo Chilli Cookoff which we visited today.

Happy Saturday - Glad you are home, Mo xoxoxo
Jody