Hours of endless fun...

 Watch out if you're headed to Moab.

It's frightening and frustrating and that's nothing compared to what it's like on Highway 191.

We got bogged down in the traffic just outside Moab after we passed a little sign that said "3 hour 42 minute delay, use caution."

We laughed. 

That couldn't be true. Whoever heard of a 3 hour 42 minute delay?

Well, turns out it wasn't so.

It was longer!

We inched along with no further information. It got dark. The people around us and their vehicles became very familiar. The dog hanging out of the car to the side of us started grinning at us.

The ambulance driver on the other side put his feet up on the dash and drove with his hands (I guess).

We couldn't see a reason for the slowdown although we've heard since that the slowdown is being blamed on heavy fall break traffic and construction work.

Well, there is construction work just outside the town but it was all shut down by the time we passed it and we were part of the heavy fall break traffic BUT if there was someone directing the traffic or even conveying pertinent information, it would have gone much more smoothly.

The only directions we got were a couple of "Use Caution" signs. 

(At 2 miles an hour, we couldn't help but be cautious.)

When cars came in from an access road, we let them in because there was really no choice and we had to be cautious every second.

We survived the ordeal largely because we knew we had food in our picnic cooler and we could see the lighted hotel sign after about two hours.

We laughed when the ambulance pulled off and drove on the dirt shoulder to a place where he could wait, turn up his radio and dance!

It really was the worst traffic delay we've ever experienced in our 60 years.

I would complain if I knew who would care and be able to change it up.

Sharing the space...

Marc on our missionary's trail

 

When we got word that our week’s stay at Bear Lake was cancelled, we had no idea where we would go.

But we had to use our week or lose it and the exchange fee we’d paid for it.

The problem was we had three days to make a decision and the options were few.

It was already August.

Everything we looked at was only available in early November or out of the United States which with Coronavirus taking over the planet made that unworkable.

We looked and looked until we found one that fit our timetable.

It was in Pinetop/Lakeside, Arizona, which sounded familiar.

I couldn’t figure out why for a few minutes.

Oh, yeah. That is where our granddaughter was sent to serve her mission.

My heart leapt a little.

I realized we couldn’t and shouldn’t invade her mission space but it would still be interesting to see where she was and had been. (Turned out she was transferred a couple of weeks before we arrived in Pinetop.)

But we could walk in the woods and enjoy the beauty.

We could breathe the same fresh air and revel in the joy she'd found there.

We got a list of places she frequented while she was there, a diner, a soda shop, and a Mexican dinner place.

We found the church and the room she used for a missionary broadcast with her companion.

We walked the trails near to where she told us she lived.

We counted the stars in the sky, 

It was wonderful, sharing the same space.

It was kind of surreal. We'd driven a lot of miles to get where she wasn't anymore, spent a bit of cash and even came close to getting lost a time or two.

I don't regret a minute of it. 

P.S. Samantha was reassigned back to Pinetop/Lakeside shortly after we left. Curious, don't you think?