As we approached the town of Moab, we neared the local airport. I noticed a bunch of skydivers who had all jumped out of what I assumed to be a perfectly good airplane.
We were too far away to get a picture of all of them, but I did manage to capture one guy floating through the sky.
It was a beautiful blue-sky day, so I guess it was a perfect day for falling out of an airplane.
The repairman was unable to arrive till later in the day, so we decided to explore the area, beginning with lunch at a nearby restaurant.
We had found some information on the area that described how to find some petroglyphs by the city golf course.
It was not far from either the restaurant where we ate or our RV Park, so we headed that way, directions in hand which we followed carefully.
No sign of petroglyphs anywhere.
Finally we gave up. Then we saw an ominous-sounding sign that said, “Steel Benders Flat Pass.” It was obviously a Jeep road. Don and his brand-new Jeep were just itching to explore an honest-to-goodness “Jeep Road.” I was just along for the ride.
The scenery was stunning, and the road, not too bad…at least for a little while.
Then we reached a hairpin curve and started down a steep incline.
By this time the road was very narrow and rough but we were looking down into a very pretty valley with enormous rock walls all around.
A few more hairpin turns and we found ourselves at the bottom of the canyon with a dirt road canopied in luscious green trees. All the previous dryness of the area had suddenly disappeared.
Once again we were surrounded by huge rock walls, making one feel very small.
Then we crossed a shallow crystal clear stream.
Don said his Jeep had been formally baptized on it’s first official Jeep Trail. He also put the first scratches in it which thankfully he was able to buff out later. So it is now officially an off-road Jeep!
***I jumped out of the Jeep to take a picture of this memorable moment.*** (More on this subject later.)
There was more beautiful scenery down in that canyon at every turn.
About this time Don mentioned that he was seeing footprints in the dirt. Around the next corner was a single guy hiking all alone on the trail.
The trail finally became almost non-existent and we turned around and headed back out.
As we slowly drove back down the street we had originally come, Don pulled over because right there were the petroglyphs that we had been looking for. They had pretty much blended into the rock, but they were there and very interesting as well.
Along the bottom of this rock there is what appears to be a sheep coral and seven sheep, including babies in between each of the larger ones.
And then, of course, there is the graffiti some moron scratched right in the middle of it all. So frustrating to see that damage!!
About this time we found out the repairman would be a couple hours later than expected, so we had time for another drive. This was a highway along the Colorado River over to a little town called Castle Valley.
Again a great scenic drive.
Coming back we saw several large groups of people on raft trips on the river. The river was pretty calm, as least where we were, so I don’t think they got into much white water.
Remember how I told you that we often stumble into “adventures”? Well, today was the first one of the trip.
As we got back into town, about 4pm, I suddenly found my iPhone was missing. Now considering that this little gadget contains pretty much my whole brain, I hit panic mode. I knew I had it at lunch. I remembered laying it on the table so I wouldn’t forget it, but now it was gone.
I dropped Don off at the RV to meet the repairman and headed back to the restaurant. No phone there. However, the nice lady offered to call the phone and see if anyone answered.
Amazingly, a man answered, identified himself as “Jim” who she immediately assumed it was my husband. Finally she handed me the phone.
In talking to “Jim,” I discovered that he was a man that we had seen hiking back in the canyon on the Jeep trail when we were there several hours ago.
"Jim" had looked down next to the ***creek*** where I had taken the picture of the Jeep and found my phone laying in the dirt. He was still in the canyon but coming out.
Ten minutes later, he stopped by the restaurant and handed me my phone. I handed him $20 that he didn’t want to take. Then finally said, “OK, I’ll have a beer and pizza on you!” Works for me!
Thank you, Lord, for helping me find my phone!! What would I do without it?
These are the kind of adventures that makes one old…and I don’t need any help doing that!!
Tomorrow we are going into Canyonlands National Park. Stay tuned for more beautiful pictures.
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