Utah Day 13: On the road again

We were on the road by 7:10 this morning. The first three hours were beautiful--through the Colorado Mountains.

After that... Well, eastern Colorado and Nebraska don't merit a lot of photos.

We're back to Mom in the back so she can put her feet up. The walker is packed in the trunk so getting out involves taking an arm and less independence at rest stops. Now that we are at the hotel, everything comes out of the trunk including the walker. It is Sunday evening so supper is popcorn, apples and good Burnett Dairy cheese, as it would be at home.

Tomorrow we'll be up early and on the road. Should be an eight-hour trip home so Steve can hop back in the car and head for band practice. Mom and I will no doubt be sound asleep when he gets home.

It's been a wonderful trip with almost more beauty than we could take in. My brain is already planning the Shutterfly book. Mom's highlights are sunset at Bryce Canyon and the hogback where canyons dropped away on either side of Rt. 12 (day 8). Steve's highlight was clinging to the cliff on the gravel Shafer Trail Rd. in Canyonlands (day 4). I loved sunset at Bryce and at Arches (days 8 and day 4), but I think my highlight was getting down among the hoodoos, hiking in the early morning at Bryce Canyon (day 9).

Mom has been a trouper, getting up way earlier than she usually does at home, eager for the sights of each new day. We are grateful for fabulous weather, good health for all three of us, and no car problems (except needing to add air to a tire a couple times, but considering some of the roads we were on, that's hardly surprising!)

Delightful as it has been, I am eager to get back to revisions of Glastonbury III and follow-up on rights for a non-fiction book in process. Also home-cooked food, my own bed, and not having to repack every morning.

Unless something unexpected happens, this will be my last post until Panama in October.

Day 14:
We finished the audiobook just north of the Twin Cities. (I highly recommend the whole series.) I found a North Dakota license plate somewhere in there. We ended the journey with 44 plates seen, missing West Virginia, Maryland, Rhode Island, Delaware, New Hampshire, and of course, Hawaii. You almost have to be on a military base to find a Hawaii plate. I saw Alaska twice. Does that count? For the record, national park parking lots are great places to hunt.