July 6, Made it to Utah!

I really love Utah. It is so beautiful. Really, I have never been in an area of Utah that was not drop dead gorgeous! Although I know we won't be anywhere near it, Zion National Park is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. They no longer allow cars to drive through the actual "valley" that rests between the red cliff walls that soar up to heaven, but you can still take a bus tour through it. The Native American's from that area considered the canyon to be a very special spiritual place. The entire area of the park is amazing, but there is nothing like being in the center of that place. Now that I've gotten you all excited about Zion, I have no pics. Sorry. But it was interesting the way the terrain changed almost instantly as we crossed the state line. Well, in truth, it was beginning to change just prior to the state line.

The Utah stateline, along with some of the road ahead!

I'm glad we finally did get to Utah. Today was an interesting day, but now we have 4G! At least in this small town, Manila. I suspect that as we head east towards Colorado, it will be less easy to pick it up. And I do know that most of the northern part of Colorado is not on the AT&T map, either. I really, really wish we got better service from Verizon in our neighborhood!

Jeff left out this morning,  and I was close on his heels. All I had to do was shower and walk the dogs, and make my coffee, then head out. We had a very nice day, lots of sunshine with a bit of a breeze. This particular route that follows along the Flaming Gorge reservoir, was so busy with boat and RV traffic! In fact, we found there was an RV park along the lake just about 5 miles from where we ended up on the side of the road. I found ice there this morning. We are turning 2 to 3 bags of ice per day now. As it gets hotter, that could even grow.








I doubled my miles today. Jeff had mentioned to me that the 15-20 minutes that I give him by taking my turn didn't really allow him to rest. So I doubled from a mile a time to 2 miles per time. That way he can relax about a half hour, and get a couple things done in the meantime.

Today, I got pretty good at finding deer and antelope, even when the sun had been up for hours. The first one I spotted, seemed to be running along the cattle fence. She tried to jump it, but didn't make it! I saw her fall to the ground and she did not get up. So I pulled over and ran out there. She had caught the top two strands of barbed wire, and twisted her forelegs up in them. She was locked tight. I also noticed that she had been hit by a car, which probably accounted for her being out so late in the morning. I called Jeff over, who was passing by as I'd just left him, and together we managed to free her. She got herself up and trotted off. I hope that she will be ok, although it was obvious she was nursing.

Then I saw another, which I think was an antelope, cross the road in front of me while I was wogging. (walking and jogging!)


Later on, I saw several more out in the brush, and one drinking from a creek. I was hoping to not have a close encounter with any of the mountain lions or black bears that are reportedly in the area!

There was just a lot of desert, along with some occasional glimpses of the lake. The lake was actually incredibly blue, but the pics didn't come out well due to the distance and the angle.

Oh, no!!!

It might seem like a million miles! But it's really not.

 There were also a number of really colorful plants out in this particular desert. So we have a flower of the day!

 

Once we got into Utah, a couple miles further was the town of Manila. There was a public RV dump, which had a long line! Imagine.... but then there were a lot of big boats and RV's on the road today.

We also found a little store that had ice cream. The town does not have a laundromat, but it has ice cream!

This town also likes statuary!

 


As we started out of town, we found that the fire danger was VERY HIGH, and also that they put signs on the side of the road indicating what the sedimentary rock in that area is made of and what fossils if any it contains. Very interesting! I don't know if it is the state or the country, but I like that!

 


Believe it or not, there are no mailboxes in this town! They all have to go to the post office to pick up their mail. So, sorry, no Mailbox of the Day!