The Great American Journey

GAP WALK JOURNALS - IX

Friday - November 14,  2008

Day - 254

Walking Days - 106       Total GAP miles 1832.7

Today was quite an experience. We headed out from our motel,
with a quick stop at the Diner for our free breakfast, on our way
to Salt Lake City.  We decided to drive out to see Flaming
Gorge first. This is just outside of Green River a bit.

After stopping at one overlook where I took a picture, we drove
a little further to see what else there was to see. It’s probably not
the best time to see it, but the best part was the background of
mountains covered with snow.

We didn’t do much more than that. It was time to turn around
and get to Salt Lake City. But then a spirit of adventure came to
life in both of us. We turned on Lady G (the GPS) to help us
find the shortest route rather than the fastest route.  It took us
down a dirt road to Cedar Mountain. The dirt road was quite
rutted in some spots.

Once at the top of the bluff, Lady G told us we would be turning
soon. The first spot she wanted us to turn, there was no road of
any kind going any direction. The second place didn’t look like
a very safe road for us to go down - especially without four-
wheel drive. We drove out on the Rim Road as far as we could,
then Lady G told us to make a U-turn. She still wanted us to
take that impossible road down into the valley.

We went back to a main junction where a sign told us to go left
for 26 miles to meet up with I-80. This was still a dirt road, but
at least we saw a couple of trucks, and a white van or pick-up
truck on it going off across the valley floor.

One truck was coming toward us, so we had to pull to the side
to let him pass. We soon caught up with the two that were going
the same direction as us. The one in front had to stop to tighten
his load, and the other one pulled to the side enough so we could
pass. When the front one started up again he got to a place
where he pulled over to let us pass him as well.

Eventually we came out to a paved road where we could get up
some speed. Everything got so quiet (it had been very noisy
bouncing over the rough dirt roads.)  We got onto the interstate,
and kept driving. Eventually we stopped for gas just a short
distance before Salt Lake. Then we called Ruth to let her know
about when we would be getting to her place.

The drive from here on took us through some heavy traffic, but
eventually got us to Ruth’s place waiting.  It was good to see
her, and spend a little time visiting before going to dinner at
AppleBee’s.

There we had a delicious meal, and a delightful visit. Just before
we left, Jeannine and her daughter, Whitney came into
AppleBee’s looking for us (we had left a message on her
phone).  They sat down for a bit, and we visited. Then they
needed to get going, so we all walked out to the car together.

Back to Ruth’s home where we settled in to look at genealogy
stuff (Dave and Ruth).  Finally I headed for bed hardly able to
keep my eyes open.

It was a good day and a good evening, but I was very tired..