We Are Still Alive Out Here. I have pictures to prove it.

Hi all... sorry I have been absent from posting pics and stories for a stretch here. We have been so busy hiking and doing stuff and then I am so tired at night I just have not had the gumption to write a post.

Here is a quick run down of where we have been... we left Monument Valley and went up for a two nighter in Kanab, UT. Not much to say about Kanab.... it's a weird little place. If you ever happen through there eat at the Rewind Diner. It's legit. The surrounding landscape is really pretty it's just a real simple, small town. After Kanab we drove the short distance up in to Zion National Park. Now THAT is a place you have got to see. It's amazing. We spent five days there. Rudy stayed at a place called "The Doggie Dude Ranch" over the weekend so we could get some real long hikes in (no dogs allowed in the park or on the trails.) My only complaint about our time in Utah so far is this... CAN SOMEONE PLEASE TURN OFF THE HEAT???? And by SOMEONE I think we all know who I mean....


Good grief, people. How can you even live here? It's like some kind of human torture device this place called UTAH. 100 degrees every ding dong day. I am starting to freak out for a day that stays below 95. Anyway... we stopped off at a state park called Coral Pink Sand Dunes and that was supah dupah cool. Here are some pics from the walk we took....







It had just been raining so I think the dunes are a bit darker in hue than they would normally be. But what a cool place, no? It was fun. Rudy had a blast running loose and digging in the sand to his heart's content.

Here are a million (or so) shots from Zion. And NO... I am not sporting a record breaking sunburn. It just looks like it in every single picture because of the reflection off the red rocks.







This next series is from an ASS WHIPPING hike we did up to Observation Point. It was one of the best hikes we have ever accomplished but people... if you are gonna do it wait til a day that is not 98 degrees. It's 8 miles round trip with a 2100 foot gain in elevation via 4 solid miles of switch backs. Bleh. But the views are ever changing and mind blowing the entire way.

Nothing is more reassuring than huge rocks having fallen right down on the trail.


Look closely and you will see the zig zag of the trail cut through the scene... this is only a small portion of the lower trail taken on max zoom on my camera from the top.


Lower trail view...


These pics are going to be totally out of order here but I am too lazy to fix it so... This is a view from up top on the plateau approaching the look out point.


This is the inner canyon portion of the trail, getting higher up...


And this is the inner canyon... not visible unless you come up about 2 miles on this particular trail...


There I go disappearing around a corner...


Cool trees in an inner hanging canyon...


Almost to the top! The sky was beautiful really adding to the scene...


Billy at the point where you can go no further unless you fling your junk off the cliff.


The western rim above the Virgin River...


And me at the end of the line... whew! Not too shabby of a view. It was worth it.


Another neat thing that happened was that we both ran out of water up on top of the plateau with a 4 mile hike in full mid day sun left ahead of us to get back down. 98 degrees... no water, 4 miles of trail sloping down before you. Good times! That is something I never hope to experience again. By the time we hit the bottom I was like a zombie who just wanted water instead of the more traditional refreshment, brains. It wasn't pretty. We got on the shuttle bus (the only way to get around this part of the park) and seriously... every fool on that bus had a big, full, icy cold bottle of water. It was torture. It's the closest I have ever come to attacking a total stranger and stealing from them. I wanted their water but we had to wait on a steamy, hot, stinky bus, through 4 stops until we hit the visitor center. The water I drank there was the best I have ever had in my whole life. End of story.

One last tid bit. Zion is hoppin' with some creepy crawlies come sun down. On our last night without Rudy we strapped on our head lamps and set out to see what we could see. We were not let down. Here are the people we saw along the way... and a few groovy night exposure shots of the Watchman area of the park.










OK! That's a crapload of pictures eh??! Holy mackerel. Hope you enjoyed it. We have a two night trip across northern Nevada and then we will be in California which is where we will be for quite awhile. At least through the winter anyway. I will post again once we get settled in there. Adios.

The Wild West

So! We jumped out of bed on my birthday, had breakfast and decided to go on a back country driving tour (of our own made up planning based on nothing real or factual) of Navajo lands west of Monument Valley. We drove off down a dirt road that we knew would eventually meet up with some other dirt road somewhere and so on and so forth. We have a GPS system so we just program the campground in as home base and we know we can always find our way back. This can be a really fun way to spend the day... just driving at random all over the back roads seeing what you can see. Yeah! It can be really fun! Exceptions to this "really fun" situation can be listed off as follows... 1. It's 103 degrees outside. 2. The dirt road quickly turns to soft sand. 3. Your 4 x 4 truck which is built for these sort of conditions GETS STUCK IN THE REALLY SOFT, DEEP SAND. 4. You are in the middle of nowhere. 5. Rudy is with you. 6. Several people in trucks drive by over the course of an hour and ignore you even though you are trying to flag them down. Here are some visual aids....




This one here is the oooold Navajo technique of using a Rubbermaid bin lid and dry old sticks to try to get your tire out of the sand.



This situation pretty well sucked. We tried everything to get out but it was futile. It seemed like everything we did wedged the back right tire deeper into the pit it was in. At one point we decided I should walk out and try for help or to get to an area where I could get cell signal and call for a tow truck or something. So I started walking. I got about two blocks down and decided I was scared of dogs. We had passed 3 or 4 homes on the way in and if I have ever seen places where loose dogs that may bite you would live these places were it. So I rejected the walking out plan. We could not really all walk out together because the fragile flower that is Rudy would have died in the heat before we got to the bend in the road. We tried digging the tires out with our bare hands. That was neat. Billy burned his hand on the exhaust pipe and I started to feel distinctly like I was going to puke from the heat. I was also continuously spouting off comments like.. "We are never gonna get this truck out of here without help. That will never work. This is pointless. No one is going to help us. The buzzards are starting to circle." These are the moments when I am sure Billy loves me most.

Eventually another truck was coming down the way so I set myself on fire and laid down in the middle of the road to keep them from driving by. After a few minutes of silent, stoic observation of our situation (and me hopping up and down like an idiot beside the drivers window begging for help) it was decided that the man would go home and get chains and his son and come back to get us out. After almost an hour they returned armed with shovels and chains and knowledge of these sort of situations that we ourselves do not possess. Within ten minutes we were out. The guy told us how to get back down the road and what areas to avoid so as not to get stuck again. As it turns out there was a two track bypass that most people choose to drive on in the spot where we got stuck. We just did not see or know that it was there.

This is one of the dudes who helped us....



We went back to the trailer totally covered in sand and red dirt and sick from the heat. We took showers and then laid around for a few hours. It was a real kicker of a way to spend the first part of the day.

In the late afternoon we headed over to the tribal park (Monument Valley) to do the loop drive. It was a zoo over there compared to how quiet it was the last time we were here. We did the drive and were as awe struck as before. It is a bone jarring drive... really bumpy and full of pot holes and rocks, so by the time we finished and came back home we felt like we had been in a train wreck. I went to bed with my hair so full of red dirt and sand it felt seriously creepy. I did not even care. I just wanted to sleep!

Here are some pics from the drive...



















Thanks to everyone who sent Birthday wishes. Year number 36 is off to a grand start. Tomorrow we leave for Kanab. The drive from here to there is really pretty and only about 200 miles. We are going to hang out there a couple of days and check out the Coral Dunes State Park.

I leave you with a photo of my new jewelry purchases from the peeps selling in the tribal park. Good stuff! The necklace that hangs the lowest is made from petrified wood! It's my new favorite.

Can You Smell My Brain Frying?

So... a lot has happened since I last wrote. We had our yard sale which was absolutely pointless. It rained. No one came. I ended up bringing a crap load of stuff to the Hospice Thrift. People... having a bunch of stuff is way, way over rated. Stuff kills you softly. Slowly. It sucks the life out of you and eats you up like a 7 year old eats a delicious bowl of sugary fruit loops. Let me put a disclaimer on this entire post at this point as there are certain factors which may be affecting my ability to reason. We are in a camp ground in Monument Valley, Utah and it is precisely 179 degrees outside.... or somewhere around that give or take 70 degrees... but who can tell once you top 105??? So, even with the AC cranked inside the trailer it is about 150 degrees in here. Therefore I may talk crazy smack throughout this entire post due to the fact that my brains resemble over cooked sloppy joe mix.

Anyway... we got rid of stuff. Now... I will admit (I have to admit) that we still have TOO MUCH STUFF. The truck is loaded to the gills and the trailer is pretty cramped with random bags and bins filled with an array of confused items. We plan to work on chipping away at this as we go along. Although I did just add a huge bag of new vintage finds in Farmington. Let me just do a shout out to the thrift stores, antique shops and such of Farmington, New Mexico. I love you. I bought myself an absolutely fabulous 1940's navy blue rayon dress that is straight out of a film noir flick for $35. Because you know I need things like this in my camping wardrobe.

We survived a meal of bean tacos that tasted like cheap canned dog food in Aztec and made ourselves sick eating some sort of concoction that tasted exactly like a Robitussin Cherry Cough Syrup Milkshake at the Bloomfield Dairy Queen. Road food can really be an edgy experience.

I have lost track of my point and what I intended to say here... so, yeah... we left Santa Fe. We drove to Farmington where we stayed for two days and today we drove on into Death Valley... I mean Monument Valley, UT. If we don't all die of heat stroke here our next stop is Kanab and then Zion.




Here is a pic of Rudy and I on our last night in Santa Fe. Also some sunset pics from that same night...





This next one is looking South toward Albuquerque...



And this is a shot as we were driving north west to Farmington of a huge cloudscape out over pueblo lands.




Tomorrow is my birthday. So not only am I having the longest birthday in the west (which has been quite exciting and successful by the way) I will also now be celebrating the hottest birthday of my life. I like my birthdays long and hot and in the middle of nowhere.



Another problem we are having is trying to figure out if we are in Arizona or in Utah and what the Hell time it is?? We had the same problem the last time we stayed here and never did figure it out. It's not that it really matters one way or another... but it sort of gets to ya to have no idea. What time is it? I don't know... it could be 6:30 or it could be 7:30. It could be Utah. Or it could be Arizona. Or maybe it's both. Maybe it's neither. Maybe it's time for me to end this nonsense and go chug another Gatorade. Yes. That is what time it is. It's time to lay in bed and drink a sports beverage. So I will check in tomorrow with the weather report and to let you know exactly how we celebrate my birthday. Adios.