I jumped out of my no-tell motel bed in Provo, UT at 0430 and was fueled, caffeinated and hitting I-15 North at 0500. I asked the young Mormon cashier boy at the 24 hour Maverick store if I could beat the SLC morning commute by leaving now and he just smiled with glazed over eyes and said I suppose, which really means he doesn’t get out of Provo much. I did beat it and Piper’s purring on my lap now as I write this.
It was a fun adventure and I’m glad I went. I had my share of close calls though, like walking down a straight 3-story flight of stairs at the Virgin River carrying my bags and my old knees started to give out. I had visions of me toppling down head first, and it wasn’t pretty. I didn’t, but after loading up my truck I took off into the early morning, spotted a convenience store and after confirming nobody was on the road, turned left towards it. Some little blue car pulled out fast from somewhere and we almost smacked but my cat like reflexes saved me again. There’s just something about Mesquite…
The next day I was standing on a cliff overlooking Laughlin, NV as the wind began gusting really bad. I had battled the wind climbing up there to take some pictures but I thought for a minute I was going to become a kite! I managed to get out of there and avoided all rattlesnakes. This is the same wind by the way that had ripped off my poor canopy earlier in Arizona (or was it Nevada or California, they all converge here).
Anyway, the pluses outweighed the minuses, I’m tanner, and home again.
