Tuesday, November 9/2010

Well, it was supposed to get to below freezing last night so we left one of the heaters on. This morning when I got up, there was no frost on the ground and it actually looked quite pleasant out. It didn't even feel all that bad when I let the dog out.

Went to make coffee this morning and the coffee pot saga continues!! It would not turn on and only leads me to believe that this one has kicked the bucket as well!! This is coffee pot #3 since the summer!! What the heck is with that!! It is a good thing that I carry the old perc with us.

After chatting with my sister on skype for about half an hour and catching up on all the gossip back home, I looked up information on this area. This is what I found.

The road to the Parowan Gap follows an ancient trail through the Red Mountains that was used by Native American Indians who lived in the Parowan Valley. Yearly, they would travel through this area on their way to harvest desert resources. In the process, they would stop and peck designs onto the smooth faces of the large boulders. The exact age of the petroglyphs is unknown. As always, they are considered an important part of the American Indian ancestry.

These petroglyphs are different from the typical petroglyphs with mostly human and animal designs. Here at the Gap, many of the petroglyphs seem to have counting characteristics with tic marks or repetitive patterns of lines and dots. One of the great discoveries within the last few years is that the Indians here must have been fascinated with numbers and dates. To them, the Gap became a great calendar of times and seasons. The inscription on the "Zipper" petroglyph has been determined to be a calendar with solar alignments, a map and a system of outer cairns (gathering of stones).

In 1849, an expedition to scout out places for new settlements discovered the Parowan Gap and the petroglyphs. The Gap was soon used by white settlers as an access route and eventually over the years, improvements had to be made. As late as 1963, many of the large stones were cleared away and even one large stone, covered with petroglyphs and known as the "Hotel" was blasted into pieces. Now, how is that for progress and preserving history!!

It has been estimated that nearly one half of the cultural record has been destroyed since its discovery in 1849. How very sad. I can't help but believe that destruction such as this would no longer be allowed to occur in this day and age. The petroglyphs are now listed on the National Registry of Historic Places signifying their importance as a cultural treasure.

Hogan and I walked down to the "glyphs" and they were incredible to see. Of course on the way back up the hill to the campsite, I realized that we were in the upper elevations as my breathing was rather labored on the climb. Once back at camp, we decided to stay for the day and head out tomorrow. The sun shone all afternoon but once it decided to slip below the hills, it became much cooler and it wasn't long before you could see your breath. Time to move a bit further south and into the lower elevations.

Monday, November 8/2010

We arrived here at Fort Deseret last night. I can hardly wait to get out and explore and of course, take a picture of Rider at the fort!! Although it is a little rainy this morning, I am hopeful that it will stop by the time we are ready to explore.

I did some research on the fort and this is what I found.

Fort Deseret was built by the Mormons in 1865 to protect the settlers during the Black Hawk Wars and to serve as a way station for weary travelers. At the time, the US army was too busy with the Civil War to protect settlers traveling west and advised the settlers to either move to a safe place or build a fort. With nearly 100 men (98- to be specific) working on the fort, it was completed in 18 days. Constructed of mud and straw, it's 10 foot high walls provided portals through which guns could be fired. It was approx 550 feet square. In the Spring of 1866, the fort protected area inhabitants when Black Hawk and his warriors arrived, demanding cattle. With the people and most of the livestock inside the fort, the Indian's threat was settled peacefully.

Most of the walls have fallen, however there is still a trace of where the actual fort stood. The east wall of the fort is the one that remains the most intact (as you can see from the pics) and still has the corner bastion intact as well. It was most interesting and Hogan ran around the place like he was possessed!!

We got the bus road ready and once again headed down the road. John wants to stop at the Parowan Gap Petroglyphs tonight and, if the weather is nice, maybe say for a day or two.

We travelled through "open range" as we soon discovered, as we came around a corner and there were several cows on the highway!! They didn't seem too concerned with us but being rather unpredictable, we slowed down - just in case one decided to cross in front of us. A bit further down the road, we saw a couple that hadn't quite made a successful crossing!!

The area we travelled through today is mostly desert with the Cricket Mountains and the Red Hills in the distance. We crossed one pass that was 6570 feet at the summit and it was here that we encountered a bit of rain which quickly turned into snow on the windshield. Once down to a lower level, it turned back to rain - thank you.

We eventually made it to the Gap and found a campsite and a bit of wood!! Bonus!! There was a cool nasty little wind blowing off the surrounding hills so a campfire was not really in order. We will have to watch the weather reports for this area to see if we will be staying or heading out again tomorrow. In the morning I will hit the internet and read up on the Gap and it's petroglyphs.

Sunday, November 7/2010

We travelled through some of the prettiest country to date today. Once out of the campsite, we headed down (or should I say up!) highway 39. It was a long, gradual steady climb over the mountain range. The bus ran beautifully and we eventually reached the summit of approx 8500 feet. The descent was also long and gradual and like I said earlier, took us through some of the most gorgeous country we have seen. There were cabins and houses strewn along the highway making me wonder if people lived in these year round or if these were their summer getaways. As we got closer to Ogden, there was a continuous stream of properties along the highway that had nothing but a camper trailer on then - most gated - proclaiming "private property". People will absolutely camp anywhere - even 15 feet off the highway!! It was a beautiful area though.

We hooked up to Interstate 15 south, travelled through Salt Lake City and Provo and finally stopped the bus at Fort Deseret for the night. It was a good day.

Saturday, November 6/2010

It was chilly in the bus this morning and there was a bit of frost on the ground but, the sun is shining through the windows and it looks like we are headed into another nice day.

We are staying in this spot for today but may have to move a bit further south tomorrow as the weather forecast for this area is rain Monday and snow Tuesday. What the heck is with that!! We want to stay away from the white stuff!!

There are two football games on today and one of them involves our Roughriders. Go Riders Go!! Before we left Canada, I purchased a Saskatchewan Roughrider Gnome to accompany us on our travels. I have taken a few pictures of "Rider" along the way and as soon as we can get another download cord for the camera, will post them on the blog.

As it turned out, the Roughriders won the game!! Yea!!

When we arrived yesterday, the previous campers had left wood (a rare find) and John and I thought it was our duty to burn it. Hogan and I scoured the nearby area for a few more pieces of burnable wood but that scrubby old sage brush does not offer much in the way of wood.

We did have a great fire and Hogan kept all manner of wild beast away from us!!

Friday, November 5/2010

Up early, frost is once again on the pumpkin and the nearby hills are surrounded in fog. Hopefully no one comes to tell us to move because my hair looks a fright and instead of telling us to move out of this area, they just may tell me to go back to Canada!! Must have my hat ready - just in case. John says not to worry about my hair, it is the fleecy pink pyjama bottoms with the little white lambs on them that will send us packing!! They can all go scrub their asses!!

We continue our travels down 89 south today eventually passing through the town of Afton, Wy. We were able to dump the RV tanks and replenish the water supply (all for free!). The RV park was situated on the same property as the Discount Liquor Store - now isn't that just a remarkable coincidence!! Once this job was done we stopped at the gas station, fueled up and headed out of town.

The countryside is lovely, with the hills and mountains in the background and gentle sloping fields along the highway. There is no shortage of antelope along the way and they appear to be totally disinterested in the passing traffic.

We crossed into Idaho and ran along the side of Bear Lake. A huge lake with some huge homes along the shoreline. The only trouble with this lake is that one would have to walk several hundred yards through pretty marshy land to get to the water. OR one could build a VERY long dock!!

We found no suitable places to camp so continued on and crossed into Utah. I might add a bit of a note now and say that just because the map says there is a campground in a particular area, does not necessarily mean that there is one there!! And, I am using maps I picked up last year!!

We eventually found this cute little boondocking site beside a small creek and soon settled in to watch the football game.

We are nestled in between the hills and out of the blue, John asks me if I want to buy the hill in front of the bus. I look up the hill and there is a For Sale sign on it!! I said "never mind buying it, I can't imagine hiking all the way up there just to put up that sign"!!!

Thursday, November 4/2010

Time to once again start heading South. Although this is such a nice little spot, we are still quite a ways from where we want to be. The weather is still beautiful and it is a good day to travel - no wind!!

Hopefully, we will find another nice spot today and maybe sit for another couple of days. With the bus in travel mode, we headed down the road.

As it turned out, it was a very long day. We travelled through Yellowstone National Park today and I had forgotten just how gorgeous the park is. We saw mountain sheep, deer, elk and of course the Park's famous buffalo. And, even though it is November, there are still stupid drivers that must stop in the middle of the highway when they see any sort of wildlife. We were behind one of these people and let me tell you, it take a bit more time and space to stop this rig than it does a cute little two door car!! We darn near where in his back seat!! We couldn't even get into the other lane because there were even more stupid people stopped there!! Hell, one even had his tripod set up on the highway!! John said **#**^# and gave the fellow his air horns, and the guy simply stuck his hand out the window and gave John the finger - and took another picture!! He was not intimidated at all by this big bus wanting to get up close and personal with his back seat!! All this drama for one stupid elk!! But alas, I chose to believe that this fellow had never seen an elk before - despite the fact the car had Montana license plates!!

It cost us $25.00 to enter the Park but the scenery was well worth the price. The roads were decent, much of it looked like new pavement. There were some tight corners but John wheels this bus around like it is a mini van!! We crossed the continental divide about three times with the highest elevation being 8391 feet. Of course there was about 4-6 inches of snow in the ditches but the highway was clear. Something for which I was truly grateful for. There was very limited camping available and just our luck, they either had length restrictions or were closed. I guess that is the price you pay for traveling in the off season!! We exited the park (elevation 6886) and continued looking for a suitable spot to stop for the night. At least we were out of the snow. We finally shut the bus off at 9pm in a "day use only" area but by this time both John and I were tired and we didn't care.

I had a flicker of use on the phone and was able to send two texts before it told me I had "no service". We talked to Jan on Skype for a while, had supper, then went to bed. Who knows, maybe the "day use only" cops will be at the door tomorrow telling us to move!! No problem-----just leaving!!

Wednesday, November 3/2010

It was chilly in the bus this morning. I believe there is frost on the grass outside so it definitely is colder this morning that it was yesterday. Poor Hogan was looking like he was a little popsicle so I started the heater then both him and I crawled back into bed until the chill had gone out of the air. He loves to curl up under the covers!!

I spoke with Jan today on skype. I love this little vehicle of communication. I really must keep my hat handy though - for those ugly hair days - not that I have any, but I have heard that they can occur!!

She is going to call SaskTel again to see if they have worked out the phone troubles and what they plan on doing if they haven't. I await with baited breath. Currently, my phone says "no service".