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Greetings, Earthlings!

Last weekend was another of those lightening trips to Utah. Friday afternoon, Nathen picked AJ up from school and met me in Oracle (I took off from work 90 minutes early), and after carefully stowing all the previously packed goodies in the car (along with most of what Jim and Karren could not carry on their commercial kerosene comet) we rode off into the sunset at 1645 hrs.

Our first stop was in Taylor, where a local grocer was kind enough to supply us (for an exorbitant consideration) with an abbreviated container of ice cream. Then it was on to the reservation. AJ listened to Harry Potter (on CD's) most of the trip up (and back, if the truth be told), so any attempt at communication with him resulted in a, "What?" delivered with tonal inflections saying, "I am annoyed that you are bothering me." Of course Nathen could not keep from addressing him frequently, with injunctions like, "All Doofuses, say what!" to which AJ invariably answered, "What?" sending Nathen into gales of laughter. It was a long trip.
We drove to the other side of Blanding, where (at 0200 hrs) we followed a side road for a half-mile, then a double cow track for 300 yards before stopping to lay out our sleeping bags. It was cold! I neglected to bring my stocking cap, and the wind whistling through the few remaining hairs on my pate awoke me about three hours later. We arose (some of us more groggily than others), repacked the car, and resumed our journey. Daylight found us in Moab, but being unwilling to wait the eight minutes until the store opened, we didn't get ice cream there.
In Price (or Helper--I can not tell them apart) there is a rock perched on a cliff high above a house. I first remember seeing it while traveling home from BYU in the late 60's. It is obviously unstable and the slightest breeze should upset its tenuous equilibrium. I have been waiting for it to come crashing down for better than 35 years now, but a quick check as we drove past revealed that it is still teetering in place. . . Stand by for late breaking news. . .
We arrived at Grandpas about 10 am, and work was already in progress. Although Jim is nominally the contractor (and most experienced by at least 50 years), it was very obvious who was really in charge. The crew consisted of my two sisters, two brothers-in-law, two sons, and a niece. During the next three days, we hung doors and sheetrock, built shelves, slung sheetrock mud, and painted. We left a tremendous mess (as usual), but at least all the drywall is in place. When the sun shown the temperature was tolerable (assuming one could avoid the shade and wind), but the minute darkness descended, the house immediately became a prison from which it was foolhardy to emerge. It is cold in that country, and why anyone would voluntarily choose to live there is beyond me.
AJ, in the infinite wisdom of youth, volunteered to work Tuesday evening at 1700 hrs, so fourteen hours earlier (0300) the wheels on the bus began to go round and round. That is as close to "O dark thirty" as I care to arise.
My car has an internal radiator that is not a candidate for the title of, "Worlds Greatest Heater" and proved marginal for those conditions. AJ, again in the infinite wisdom of youth, declined to bring a coat so I gave him mine and he proceeded to sleep for the first four hours of the trip. Running the heater set to re-circulate inside air would have been barely adequate if the windows had not fogged. But, given the choice of seeing or being warm, I spent the four hours until sunrise pondering the underlying mental deficiencies that would constrain people to inhabit that hyper-refrigerated region.
We again experienced sunrise in Moab, and again we didn't stop for ice cream. Even with my addiction, shivering sunrise is simply inappropriate. About this time, Nathen discovered the camera, and during the next 10 hours shot some 300 scenery photos.
Some are spectacular,
many are good,
and most are the sort of snapshot that one would expect to see out the window of a speeding vehicle. Some simply could not have been taken if they had been planned.
Several road hazards were encountered on this trip. Some were imagined, but others were real.
We arrived home at 1615 hrs, having traversed 698.2 miles, with plenty of time for AJ to make it to his place of employment.
The next day, I asked AJ (who had not been shy about sharing his discomfort) if he enjoyed the trip. He thought about it a bit then said that it seemed odd, but even as hectic and difficult as it had been, it generated a sense of satisfaction. I think that is not unlike the trip we took to the Kiabab Forest, where we spent a week of 12-hour days gathering pinecones. At the same time, I think I will wait a couple of months before trying anything like it again. Dad.

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