Last Friday, we were on the road about 10. Aileen drove the car to Safeway in Cortez
where we refilled the larder again. I
hooked the car on while she put the groceries away. We went to the Four Corners Monument for
lunch. The Indians charged us $3 each
for the privilege. We took our
obligatory photo, looked at some of the jewelry then beat it.
We got detoured in Bluff as an old VW camper was on fire
beside the highway. It was 2:45 when we
got to Goosenecks State Park and found ourselves a nice spot right on the
canyon edge. Aileen tried to nap after
we got the motor home set up. I puttered
with the outside things like getting the scooter off the car and building a
bottom step since it was quite a drop from the stairs.
After a good sleep, we had a slow start Saturday morning
just lazing about. Aileen made us
pancakes for a change. After breakfast,
I took my camera for a walk all the way to the end of the mesa then back along
the other side. We both spent quite a
while sitting outside. I read mostly
while Aileen did puzzle book. I cooked
steak for lunch and Aileen did spuds, onions and mushrooms inside and they were
yummy.
We fed Mitzy a little early, packed our supper and went to
the Valley of the Gods. The lighting was
excellent but the road was horrible with huge washboard for much of it. There was lots of crawling along today. I hate washboard like that. I did get some good shots though.
Aileen cut my hair mid morning on Sunday. She was only part way along when the Gig
Harbor, Wash. couple came along and stopped to chat for a while. He‘s the guy in Telluride who said he
wouldn’t run over me when I was in the middle of the road taking a picture. Then they were beside us at the Four Corners
parking lot. They were heading for
Natural Bridges and thought they’d check in on us.
I’d seen a light down in the canyon Sunday night which I
took to be a campfire. On Monday morning I found a couple tents and a
raft tied to shore while looking through my binoculars. I alerted Randy to the fact we would maybe
see a raft float by so he and Diane came over in time to see it. Randy and Diane are from Florida and had
spent the summer work camping at a KOA in Durango. They were parked just up from us at
Goosenecks and we hit it off. Randy is
an avid photographer so we had lots to talk about.
Later, I suggested to them and Aileen we could go to Muley
Point and everyone agreed. We had a
great time up there shooting and visiting and having our picnic. I met a young couple from London. I gave
him my blog with the idea he could see my images of the area.
We stopped part way down the Moki Dugway at a couple of places
to see the view. It was Mitzy’s supper
time when we returned so Aileen fed her then I took her for her stroll. Aileen had a short nap. I put some pictures of Randy
and Diane onto the thumb drive to give to them.
Randy came back with me and I did a few HDR processes while he took
notes.
Randy and Diane came by for a short visit before departing Tuesday
morning. It was very warm all morning
then in the afternoon it clouded over and we had several thunder storms come
rolling through. I was out shooting the
darkening skies for a time. I made it
home before the rain began along with some real major wind.
I chatted with a photographer from Georgia quite a bit. He’s retired air force and has a second
career as a nature photographer. He stopped
by last night and we chatted through the window as he was just leaving and wanted
a bit of info on the Dugway and Muley Point.
Sometime after dark, we saw lights coming in and it was him
returning. He’d enjoyed the Moki Dugway
and Muley Point but didn’t feel like the 1.5 hour, or more, drive back to his
mother ship. He sleeps in his Highlander
two or three nights away from his RV quite often so as to be in good
spots. Bill came and visited until past
10:30. We looked at lots of my
pictures, mostly of places he hasn’t been yet.
He’s 51.
Last night was quite
stormy. I’d run the Honda
generator a while last evening since all the clouds interfered with the solar
panels charging the batteries yesterday. After
five nights boondocking at this great
Goosenecks State Park, we were hooked up and on the road just before ten this
morning and it was dry for a while. We
took Highway 191 south from Bluff, UT to I-40 then I-40 to Holbrook where we
are in OK RV Park tonight. We hit some
major rain along 191. The desert was
really flooded, with water lying everywhere and some of the creeks were
rampaging mud. Unfortunately, there were
no places where I could pull over to get pictures as there was no way we were
pulling over unless it was guaranteed firm.
We had our lunch in a Mormon Church yard in Chinle as we could not find
anywhere else paved to park and it was still pouring and blowing. Shortly after that, the temperature really
started to drop and at one point was down to 1.1C which would be maybe 33 or
34F. We had a lot of sleet on the
windshield and one short stretch had some slush on the road. The ground alongside was white for some
distance also.
Looking down from Muley Point toward the Goosenecks of the San Juan River
I named this the Kissing Rock
Part way down the Moki Dugway looking out over The Valley of the Gods
Storm over Muley Point
The storm coming through the Goosenecks shot from the motorhome window
The last wave of the storm, it is getting brighter