Beyond belief . . .

Well, it's Monday and we are in a little po-dunk (but nice) town in the southern part of Utah. We are very glad to be here - safe and sound. Are you ready for the latest? Yesterday, we hopped in the suburban, left Durango, CO and made our way to the Grand Canyon. It was a trecherous drive AGAIN (what is with this area anyway?! Have they never heard of straight roads??!) and we stopped for gas and noticed that we had water leaking out from underneath the RV. MMM. Well, it happened to be a severe break in the fresh water tank (probably because we drove over a forgotten soccer ball as we left the last RV park) and so all the water was dripping out as we drove. Great. But, not crucial, and since there was nothing we could do, so we just kept going. We figured we would have to try to repair it when we got to civilization. Because at this point, I can tell you, we were not anywhere NEAR civiliazation!! We did see a ton of 'beware of roaming cattle' signs as we went along, but for the life of me I can not fathom how any living creature could survive on red dust, rocks and sage brush. I mean - it was BARREN. For MILES. You could just see the covered wagons in your mind as they crossed this place back in 1860, and my thought was, no wonder no one was smiling in all those old black and white pictures there are of the pioneers. Pretty tough area, this is, I have to say.

Anyway, we get to the first lookout in the Grand Canyon and we were awed, of course. One thing that Gary was surprised at was that the crevice itself was filled with huge rocky land masses that spanned up and down the entire canyon. One would assume that it would be flat land, a deep chasm with the river flowing through it, and then the steep canyon wall on the other side. No, it isn't like that. You can see the river in some places, but it's view is obscured by all the land that seemed to just burst up from the valley floor. Incredible. And the colors were more than beautiful and the overall view - well - magnificent. We took hundreds of pictures and after oo-ing and ah-ing hunderds of times, we decided to head for the campground. We got within 10 miles of it, and believe it or not - I know - you are just waiting for it aren't you -what else could possibly happen to these guys anyways? Right????? Well - wait no longer!!! A tire blew on the RV! Can you believe it? Oh, come on. Yes, you can. Given our track record, this is pretty much expected of us by now - no??!!
Well, we pulled over into a little wooded alcove and saw the tire was shredded. So, we unhooked, let the campground and the ranger station know why we were parked in the forbidden zone, and since it was near evening on a Sunday, with no tire store around the next tree, we had no choice but to just wait til Monday to make the repairs.

So, we headed back to the RV, which was in the middle of the 'watch out for mountain lions' area, we locked everything up tight, ourselves included, into the RV and went to sleep. Well, some of slept. Bright and early this morning, we drove an hour to Williams, AZ, and on the infamous Route 66, we found a tiny old tire station with a restored Model T in the garage and bought a new tire. I always wanted to drive on Route 66, and here I got my wish! See, something good always comes out of bad - right?!

Back we drive to the RV, put the tire on, hook up the suburban and once again, head out down the road. Whew! Mid-afternoon we stopped in Page, AZ and saw Lake Powell. Beautiful. What a refreshing site, seeing all that azure blue water amid the vast arid desert. It was a site to behold. But, we are on a mission, so we kept moving on. Finally, at 7pm, we come to this little town, with a scrappy RV park, and decided to stop. So, here we are, ready to rest a bit after a couple chaotic days. We are so thankful to be safe and well, and I am glad things were able to get worked out as they did. And now we hope to get to Salt Lake City, or there abouts, tomorrow. (Our Father willing!!!) But with us - you never know! :)

Well, I better get some sleep. Have a great week everyone!!

Blessings,
jill and all