5-13-2018 FRUITA, COLORADO

Ah… Utah, where you can’t get a glass of wine with dinner.  You can recognize the locals immediately.  We were all bundled up because it was in the 40s and windy.  They are in short-shorts and flip-flops.  And it’s usually Mom and Dad with 4 little ones on the runway and another one in the hangar.  Tiny little blonde-haired, blue-eyed miniature conservatives.  Loving it!

Cabinets inlaid with pieces of elm wood.

In Parowan, we stayed the night at the Mountain View Lodge on the outskirts of town in the farm country in the company of many cows and sheep and their lambs.  The room in the lodge was furnished with interesting pieces;  cabinetry, table tops and chair seats and backs were heavy, almost unmovable.  They are crafted of bits of elm wood which had been salvaged from the antique doors of houses in China that date back over 100 years.  Each piece of wood tells an historic story.  We did not get more of an explanation than this.

In the morning, amid rain showers, we packed up the Jeep to head out on the longest leg of our trip.  It was cold and we thought we might run into snow but hey, buck up and forge onward, right?  In a Jeep?  No problem!  The planned route continues east 310 miles to Fruita (pronounced, “FROO-tah”), Colorado.  Who says that the drive across the heartland is boring?  How can these magnificent red rock mesas and canyons along these scenic by-ways be boring?  (I haven’t ever been bored for a minute, not counting my first marriage.)  Every time we came around another turn, we gasped, “Oh my God!”  The scenes are breathtaking!  I’m quite sure that God, as a child, was sitting on the beach with a pail and shovel building incredible sand castles and palaces on Earth’s land.

Ghost Rock in Utah

The wind was unforgiving even for a little Jeep, especially in the canyons, where it would change directions unexpectedly, making the Jeepster all squirrely.  When we finally arrived in Fruita, we were exhausted just from holding the Jeepster in his own lane for hours.  At last, safely moved into our hotel room, it was dinner time.  Rob found a wonderful restaurant named Suds Bros. Brewery.  The fish and chips were the best I have ever eaten.  You know how sometimes the fish is coated with thick pancake-like batter and swimming in grease?  Not here!  This chef makes the batter using one of their home brews.  They would not give me the recipe (Top secret!) but the batter was light and crisp.  It was like the fish was coated in a thin potato chip and not greasy.  If it were walleye, I could say my life would have been complete!

We are now headed to Golden, CO.  When we emerged from the Johnson Tunnel (eastbound), it was snowing.  This tunnel (1.7 mi. long) was bored to cut under the continental divide.  The Eisenhower Tunnel is the westbound side and both are at about 11,000 ft. elev.  Just so you know, as we passed through this location, our popcorn bag exploded.  We thought we'd been shot.  Ah… Colorado:  Stoner Land, where you can not only get a glass of wine with dinner but possibly also a joint, man!

Tonight:  Mother’s Day dinner for Lindy, mother to many little animals, crickets and teddy bears.  Happy Mother’s Day to all with love!

Happy Lucky Lindy!