Day: August 12, 2015

Hello Panguitch Lake, farewell Panguitch Lake.  After allowing ourselves a little later start, we pulled out of Panguitch and headed for Flaming Gorge in northern Utah.  Shortly after leaving, traveling along a winding mountain road, we experienced another kind of thrill that got our adrenaline going.  Just around a blind curve stood a construction lady holding a stop sign due to construction just ahead.  Quick reflexes Greg!  He slammed on the brakes and we narrowly missed hitting the nice lady.  All of the loose contents in the RV cabin went flying, but thankfully no big casualties, except for a bottle of Chianti. When Greg tried to tell the worker the dangerous place she was standing, she agreed, but wouldn’t budge from her position.  Don’t say we didn’t warn you!

If the dogs weren’t nervous before, that really shook them up.  Of course, Daisy took it in stride, and Bella wanted to crawl into someone’s womb.  Poor Bella.  This trip has really been unnerving for her.  Like her mommy (that’s me) she really does like the comforts of home, especially her yard.  The poor thing refuses to “do her business” on the road.  She can “hold it” for 24 hours at a time…if there’s no grassy area, that’s literally a “no go” for Bella.

Other than that, the rest of the day was just a beautiful drive through the Utah mountains.  Greg especially loved seeing the Aspen tree lined mountain tops as we made our way north.  Beautiful countryside.  Once again, we found ourselves traveling at dusk, when the deer come out of hiding.  Today we saw a buck, with his velvety horns.  Magnificent!  He was accompanied by two does.  Greg reminded me that in Utah, polygamy is more accepted 🙂

At the end of our long day on the road (thank God for books on tape…we’re almost done with “Unbroken”), we arrived at Flaming Gorge.  A little dinner, a shower and to bed we go! Tomorrow is fly fishing! (weeeee!)  That’s a bucket list item for Sandy…just want to try it once!  Until tomorrow….

Today was our official first day of our road trip.  We awoke bright and early and pulled out of Palm Desert by 6:00 am… we had a deadline to meet!  We needed to arrive in time for our first fun excursion…a helicopter ride touring Zion National Park in Utah. Having traveled through Zion many times over the last years on our way to our annual trip to Lake Powell, Greg decided to treat me to a panoramic sky view of this breathtaking region.  Our driving schedule was pretty aggressive to make it there in time (no stopping for nada!  Food?  No time…did I mention that I think this trip is Greg’s little way of helping me lose my unwanted pounds?  Eating has not been on the agenda for the last two days)… One little glitch, we didn’t compensate for the time change in Utah, so we were an hour late.  Thankfully, they held the helicopter for us and we had the ride of a lifetime.  Confession…I was nervous (what else is new?) But I kept hearing my kids’ encouraging voices in my head. I do not want to be a wimpy mom… this adventure is stretching me, which is so good for me.

After the HIGH of our spectacular helicopter ride, we had only a couple of hours to make it to our campground in Panguitch Lake, Utah, where we would stay the night. 

Now here come the pesky lows.

I am dependent on GPS.  It NEVER lets me down.  But it sure did yesterday! We faithfully followed every one of the voice commands directing us to our next destination, but after 3 hours of driving, we arrived at an empty lot.  ( I must say, between lacking good GPS and a strong WiFi, I’m a bit of a mess!)  Great. Now what.  The sun’s going down, and we have NO IDEA where we are!  Yep! We’re lost.  Road tired, beyond hungry and not so sure how we will find our way, Greg wisely back tracks to the last time he knew we were heading in the right direction.  After another hour traveling through a lightning/rain storm, we finally found our way to our spot for the night. 

Even in the midst of the frustration of being lost, we saw some spectacular things that almost made the detour worth it.  We saw at least a dozen beautiful rainbows… one after another that felt like God was telling us there would be wonderful, brighter days ahead. 

By the side of the road, we saw several deer, including two mamas and their babies (wish I was fast enough with the camera to capture that sight.) And, we caught a beautiful sunset, showing there was a bright way through the clouds. All in all, the highs outweighed the lows and tomorrow is a new day!! Can’t wait to discover what’s in store for us on our way to Flaming Gorge Dam!