Wed, May 4, 2011

Wednesday, May 04, 2011

Happy sleep (sleep produced by a day on the road) is more restful than regular sleep (sleep that comes after a day at the office). – Donna Downey

We were up early this morning after a good night’s happy sleep and all four of us were feeling better.  It’s also easier to get up early since we gained an hour by moving into the Mountain Time zone. 

We headed around to the continental breakfast and met a couple of interesting people.  There were two Navaho women there when we arrived and they were cordial (i.e. they did speak when we spoke to them) but quiet.  We knew they had arrived at the motel the previous afternoon in a school bus filled with students from Chinle, AZ. We assumed they were probably ball players.  When I asked them if they had played a game last night they both looked a little puzzled and then one said, with a grin that she was their nursing instructor.  She lit up when she started talking about her kids though. Seems they were in Blanding all week at a rehab center doing their clinical training and testing.  Charles said he wondered why they were so well behaved and quiet… it was because they were tired after working all day!

Then a very friendly guy came in and he and Charles started talking about handball (he had on a handball t-shirt).  The conversation soon progressed to where we all were from and of course he asked about the recent tornadoes when he learned we were from Mississippi.  We asked him if he was traveling (he was from Salt Lake City) and he said he was returning to Blanding to put flowers on his wife’s grave and her family’s graves.  She had died a couple of years earlier and was from Blanding.  He said he comes back each year to place flowers on the graves.

Then it was time to head toward Halls Crossing.  It was another perfect weather day… cool and clear.  This would be a very short driving day since it was lesss than 100 miles to Halls Crossing where we would take a ferry across Lake Powell to Bullfrog Marina and our motel.  We had conflicting reports on the departure times so decided to get there early and the most we would have to wait would be an hour.  That meant there would be no time for side trips.  We arrived at the ferry landing at 9:00 am and sure enough it would leave our side at 10:00 am.  We just found an overlook with a good view of the lake and relaxed.  At about 9:45 we made the short trip back to the landing and after  a late departure (very unusual for this ferry) made the 20 minute ride aboard the ferry to the Bullfrog side of Lake Powell.  We arrived at the Defiance House Lodge and opted for lunch in the restaurant overlooking the lake.  The view is spectacular! 

We wouldn’t be able to check into our room until at least 3:00 pm so we pulled out our Utah back roads map and picked out about a 60 mile dirt road loop.  Once on the dirt road we found a nice place to park and Charles took a nap while the pups and I wandered the surrounding territory.  Paris spent her time checking every sagebrush after she stumbled upon several lizards to pursue.  The rest of the afternoon was spent wandering around old cattle pens, canyons, and springs.  Just before arriving at Thompson Seep (an area we frequent to look for arrowheads) we were treated to some beautiful blue wildflowers I could not identify.  As many times as we have been to this area in the spring I don’t ever recall seeing this particular flower but this spring it was blooming in abundance. 

We spent about an hour at Thompson’s Seep an area where the early Indians camped and made arrowheads.  There is a spring or seep there and the area about the spring is just covered in chips (the remains of arrowheads).  The chips are beautiful themselves but we have never been able to find a complete arrowhead only the chips and a few rejects or broken pieces. 

We made it back to the room well before dark and Charles prepared us a picnic style supper to have in our room while enjoying a beautiful view of the lake.  The sun is just setting now so I believe I will go sit on the porch and enjoy it. 

Tomorrow we will head up the Burr Trail and plan to spend the night in Escalante, UT. 

We are well tonight and hope you all are too!

Peace,

Donna, Charles, Paris & Dodger