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Arizona – Monday, September 30

I got everything packed up (clean laundry and all!) first thing this morning, and it was already getting warm out, so I decided to take Tula for another walk around the neighborhood to get a few miles in before continuing on my way. I had 11 miles to walk before leaving Arizona, and Tula and I walked a little over 2 1/2 miles before leaving Leif and Karena’s neighborhood (thanks again!!). I’m so used to seeing Halloween decorations in autumn surroundings that it looks funny to me to see them in the desert! And I found some more blooming cacti.

I headed for downtown Phoenix to make my last Arizona donation to the MANA House, which is a shelter for transitioning veterans – MANA stands for Marines, Army, Navy, Airforce. I first heard of them while listening to the news last week – they had a clip on the news about some Home Depot volunteers re-painting and fixing up the second floor of the local YWCA for female veterans. So I called to talk to someone there to see what kind of donation would be best – financial, food or household goods, which were all on their wish list. They told me they were in pretty good shape food-wise, and a financial donation would be best. So that’s what I did!

I couldn’t find my Arizona map, so I had to find a Triple A office to replace it since the New Mexico map was part of the same one. I had to drive across town for that (and then later found the map in my purse – maps are never in my purse!!). At that point I decided to head to Scottsdale for some more walking. I found the Arizona Canal trail and Tula walked about a mile with me, and then because of the heat, she stayed in the car with the A/C while I walked another 3 1/2 miles. I walked another mile in downtown Scottsdale, and by then it was getting to be evening, and cooling off a little, and Tula and I walked another couple miles through the Old Town area, which was fun to wander through. The old town is full of wooden storefronts, wooden sidewalks, old hitching posts, and lots of art galleries and souvenir shops – a fun place to window shop! By this time I had walked 10 of the 11 miles that I needed, and it was getting dark, so I decided to save the last mile for the morning, since I wouldn’t actually make it into New Mexico tonight. I headed northeast to Pinetop, and I could tell by the winding road that I was probably missing some pretty scenery. But sometimes that can’t be helped! I listened to the news for a good part of the way, and all the talk was about the impending government shutdown. And if that happened, the national parks would be closed, and although that night not be as major as other programs that would be affected, I still didn’t want to see that happen!

Aside from my final mile of Arizona walking which I’ll do in the morning, I was all done in Arizona, with all miles walked (almost!) and 7 donations given – Circle of Page food pantry, Cancer Outreach, Wood Bank, Hunters for the Hungry, Sedona food pantry, socks for Team Hope to pass out, and MANA House. Tomorrow I’m off for New Mexico!

Arizona – Sunday, September 29

Leif, Karena and Kelsi headed out early for church, while I took advantage of a quiet Sunday morning to start with some walking in their desert neighborhood. With all the stucco homes in various shades if browns and tans, and decorative stones in the front yards instead of grass, and flowering cactus, it was all very different from back home! I also saw some kind of tree with green bark and fern-like leaves. I walked nearly 2 miles with Tula, and the morning began to get hot, so she seemed to have enough. I put her in the van with the air conditioner on, and since the others weren’t back from church yet, I continued my walking around the neighborhood. I think I covered all the streets (some more than once!), and the paths that ran between the backs of the houses and by the playground. By the time I got back, I had covered almost 5 miles, and the others were back from church. I was happy to get so much walking in before the heat of the day.

Late last night and this morning, I had been in touch with an old high school friend who also happened to live in Phoenix, but on the other side of town – coincidentally right around the corner from Rustler’s Rooste! We decided to meet for lunch, and she offered to drive out here to get me. Her name is Karen (not to be confused with my cousin Karen from last night, or Leif’s wife Karena!) and she got to their house a little early, and it was great to see her again. Since she moved away from Michigan, we hadn’t seen each other for about 25 years, although we had been pretty good about keeping caught up during all the years. We went to Macaroni Grill, and 3 hours passed in what seemed like a half hour! They weren’t real busy, so the staff didn’t seem to mind us sitting there for hours, although we didn’t realize it had been that long! We headed back to Leif and Karena’s house, and they told me Tula had been a good girl the whole time, and only whined once or twice after I first left (she doesn’t like to be left behind!). Karen was going to walk a few miles with me, and we took Tula with us. But it was still pretty hot out, and she didn’t seem very interested, so I took her back. I imagine the sidewalk was pretty warm, so I didn’t want to push her. Karen and I set out once again, and in no time at all, we had covered a little over 3 miles, so I was up to 8 for today. Karen had to head back home, and we hope it’s not another 25 years before we see each other again!

I sat and visited with Leif for a while, and Karena joined us too. It’s so unusual for me to have time to just sit and relax! Kelsi had headed back to college, and Karena told me about an event for the homeless people she and Kelsi were going to participate in next Saturday. Once a month their church (along with others in the area) puts together bags of food, toiletries, new socks and hats, and then the volunteers – who are all part of Team Hope – go to downtown Phoenix where the homeless people are, and pass out all the bags to the many people who show up. I wanted to help a little too, so Karena talked to one of the organizers, and they still needed more new white socks, so a little later I was going to head out to Wal-Mart, which was really close by and open all night. My good intentions of taking Tula out for an evening walk went out the window when we simply sat outside again on a nice evening. Both Leif and Karena get going really early in the mornings during the work week (earlier than this night owl would be up!), so after they turned in, I ran to Wal-Mart for socks for Team Hope to take to the homeless, and ended up getting about 70 pair. The only driving I did today was a couple miles to Wal-Mart and back – it’s a very rare day when I only drive a few miles! I did a little computer work and finished my laundry before calling it a day.

Arizona – Saturday, September 28

I got packed up from my nice stay at the Matterhorn and took a few pictures from my patio, then before I left Sedona, Tula and I took another 2 1/2 mile walk all around town below all the big red rock formations. Then I headed south out of town, and stopped at the Chapel of the Holy Cross, a chapel built right into the rocks. A couple people had recommended stopping there, because it’s such an unusual location for a church. And it is impressive up high in the rocks! It appears to be wedged between a couple of the big rocks, and there were a lot of tourists stopping by – enough that they even had to have parking assistants for the tight spaces. I got into a parking space and walked up the hill to take a look at the chapel – there are pretty views from all around. And there were also some cacti in bloom on the grounds.

Then it was time to head south toward Phoenix, which would take a couple hours. I was going to be meeting up with cousins and extended family for dinner at The Rustler’s Rooste. On the way down there though, I couldn’t resist stopping at 2 locations of the Montezuma Castle National Monument, which were pretty much on my way. The first stop was to see Montezuma’s Well (these sites have nothing to do with Montezuma!), which looks like a big pond set deep into layers of a stone wall. This “well” continues to produce water, and I think it’s still used for irrigation. There’s evidence from ancient canals that it’s been used for irrigation since about 800 A.D. The Indian civilizations back then built dwellings into the stone layers, and some of those are pretty well preserved. I’m not sure how they got into their dwellings – probably by ladder. They must have been pretty difficult to build, but they were certainly close to a constant supply of water! About 10 miles away was another national park site called Montezuma’s Castle. My time was running a bit short, and I debated about stopping, but it was close to the highway, and the preserved dwelling was only a 1/3 mile walk from the visitor center. I’m so glad I stopped! This was an amazing cliff dwelling – one of the best preserved examples in North America. The dwelling was a 5-story building set into the cliff – difficult to build, easy to defend, and it’s pretty amazing to see something this well preserved from around 1100-1300 – centuries before the “New World” was discovered. There were also a couple other preserved dwellings built into a neighboring cliff. Again, they must have used ladders to reach the dwellings. As I was looking at the “castle” built into the cliff, I tried to imagine what it would have been like with lots of people up there in them too.

Since I’m ahead by a day with donations, I didn’t make one today. I only did about 5 miles of walking today, but I have a couple more days to make up the extra 3.

Then I made a beeline for Rustler’s Rooste, where my cousin Leif had made reservations. I got there just after they did – and met up with Leif and his wife Karena and their college-age daughter Kelsi, and my cousin Karen and her longtime boyfriend Scott. I hadn’t seen them for a few years, so it was great getting together again. Rustler’s Rooste was an awesome western steakhouse – “beef and brew with a view.” It’s located up high on a mesa (with a pretty view overlooking the city) and legend has it that it was a former hideout for cattle rustlers. They say they’re open 364 days a year, even on Christmas and New Year’s -the only day they’re closed is Super Bowl Sunday! There was a long-horn steer in a pen to greet us as we walked in; and a tin slide to slide down to the main level (stairs available for those who didn’t want to slide!), and sawdust on the floor. Leif ordered some rattlesnake bites for an appetizer, and yes, I actually tasted it after making sure the cousins survived their tastes! There was light breading on it and sauce to dip it in, and it sort of reminded me of alligator bites. It was served in small pieces on a plate with a portion of the backbone to prove it was from a rattlesnake. I would never have ordered it on my own, and only managed 3 bites, but I’m glad I had the nerve to sample it! And my steak was delicious! We took our time at dinner, and then I followed Leif and Karena back to their house, where they kindly let me stay for a couple nights. They have 2 dogs and 3 cats, and even though Tula was invading their space, they tolerated her – even the cats! Tula’s not used to having cat friends! We stayed up for quite a while visiting on the patio outside. Phoenix was nearly 30 degrees warmer than the Flagstaff/Sedona area, but it was very pleasant outside after the sun went down.

Arizona – Friday, September 27

I woke up to a pretty day – the soggy rainy night had cleared up. I opened the curtains and was treated to a view of big red rock formations. It was fun to take Tula out first thing for a short walk right in town. Today I was planning to make a donation to the Sedona Food Bank, but then I read that they weren’t open on Fridays. I decided to call them anyway, and actually got a human being on the phone, and he told me someone would be there until about 11:30 this morning. When I asked if there was anything in particular that they might need, he told me ramen noodles and single serving containers of peanut butter for their backpack program. The grocery store was in a different part of Sedona, so I found that, and loaded up the cart. I bought all the boxes of Jif individual peanut butter servings, and then filled up the cart with beef and chicken ramen noodles. They’re not very expensive, so I had a lot of them, which prompted several comments from fellow shoppers! When I was in line to check out, the guy behind me said I must really like ramen noodles. I said they weren’t for me, and they were going to the local food bank. He immediately reached in his pocket and gave me 5 singles to give to them when I dropped the food off. No one has ever done that before (although people don’t typically know I’m buying groceries to donate!). It took a few minutes to load all the bags into my cart, and by then the guy behind me, James, was finished paying for the few things he got. When he got his change he added another $5 to the money he already gave to me, so the food bank will not only get my donation of food, but an extra $10 from James.

I found the food bank – they’re able to use the basement of the local Seventh-Day Adventist Church. One of the volunteers, Jessie, was in there sorting and organizing food and cleaning the place up. They pass out food to families on Wednesday mornings and Thursday evenings, and then volunteers come in on Friday to clean up, and put away some tables so that the church can use the space over the weekend. Yesterday they passed out food to about 50 families. Volunteers also go around to several of the local grocery stores to gather food from them, and that is also sorted, and if they get produce or something that won’t last until the next distribution, they take it to the senior citizen home, or some other group so that nothing goes to waste. And they also started a backpack program 3 years ago, and that seems to have been a success. Jessie was a sweet soul – she used to need food from the pantry, and now she’s giving back by volunteering there. I asked her about walking trails, and she had several suggestions, including a trail that starts right by the church parking lot. She was very kind, and I took her picture to add to the blog – with the pretty scenery behind her that she enjoys so much.

When I left the food pantry, I got Tula out of the van and we set off for a walk up into the mountains. The trail went uphill for a short distance (the church was already a good ways up the side of the mountain) and then it kind of followed the ridge, high above town, and I had good views of lots of red rock formations, and it was kind of cool to look way down at the town. We walked over a mile, and then we came to a road, and I wasn’t sure where the trail went from there. But there was a parking lot, and a lot of rocks, and the sign pointed the way up the rocks to an observation point. I wasn’t sure if Tula would be able to go up that trail on all the rocks, but she’s like a little mountain goat, and didn’t seem to have any trouble climbing up. The view from the top was beautiful – there are so many rock formations and I was way up high to see them. We made our way back down, and covered a little over 3 miles by the time we got back to the van. Then I drove over to a rock formation called Chimney Rock, and it looked very similar to the Chimney Rock in Nebraska.

I headed back to the motel, and since I hadn’t had much to eat yet today, I wandered along the street in town with all the shops and cafes, and ended up getting a pulled pork sandwich. It’s hard to resist barbecue! Then I stopped at the visitor center, and the guy there suggested another walk down by a creek. I had a little trouble finding the place he was talking about, but I ended up Red Rock Crossing, by a picnic area at Crescent Moon Ranch. I had to pay to park, but it was worth it. There was a mile long trail on my side of the creek by the picnic areas, but most of the trails were on the opposite side, and people cross the creek by stepping across 5 big boulders. I figured I’d have to walk Tula on the near side of the creek because I didn’t think she could do the stepping stones. But as it turned out, the stepping stones were all under water because of recent heavy rains, and people were just carefully wading across. So I decided to give it a try because I wanted to hike on the trail across the creek, so I put my phone back in the van, put my camera in a zip-loc bag, and Tula and I headed for the creek. The water was a little over knee-high, and I crossed where I had seen other people crossing. There wasn’t much of a current, and I took it slow so I wouldn’t slip on any rocks, and made it across the creek. At first Tula couldn’t quite figure out what I was doing, and stayed on the other bank, and I had to call her a couple times, and then she waded in and swam across. She ran in circles like a goofy puppy when she got out on my side. We enjoyed nearly a 5 mile hike – one of the most well-known rocks (and one of the most photographed) in the Sedona area is Cathedral Rock – it’s enormous and looms over the surrounding countryside; looking very much like a cathedral. As we followed our trail, we climbed up a bit and also passed some different kinds of cactus. Tula was able to be off-leash most of the day today, and she seemed to be thoroughly enjoying our hiking. It was very pleasant out – not hot at all, and I think that makes a difference for her. She was bounding along like she owned the place, and I ended up taking lots of pictures of her too! I finally turned around because the sun was beginning to set, and we made our way back to the creek. I got across again with no mishaps, and then Tula and I walked the mile trail by the picnic area so she could dry off a bit before getting back in the van. It was pretty dark by the time we finished. I passed an old building and an old mill with a water wheel – if I’d known it was there, I would have taken a better look at it before it got dark!

I drove back into town, and took another walk along the street, and ended up with some buffalo chili and prickly pear ice cream to take back to my cozy motel room. Tula conked out right away – we had covered a little over 9 1/2 miles today, and she walked most of it – up mountains, and on rocks, and swimming across a creek. What a dog!

Arizona – Thursday, September 26

After a good breakfast at a Route 66 diner just down the street, I headed over to some trails just outside of town. Tula and I walked a couple miles on the Arizona Trail, and that led us to Buffalo Park, where we headed out on the McMillan Mesa Trail for another mile and a half. It was really pretty with all the long grasses and pine trees – very different from some of the other desert-like areas of Arizona. Then I headed back into town to walk on the Route 66 bike trail for a bit.

I didn’t make a donation today since I had doubled up on both of the previous days.

By then I had walked 5 miles and was ready to sit in the van for a while to head toward Sedona. But first, I was going to backtrack about 12 miles to the Sunset Crater National Monument. I was surprised to see the hardened black lava all over the place! The volcano erupted about 900 years ago – and the lava flow covered a good 6 miles of the surrounding countryside. I followed a trail up one of the old cinder cones in the park, and it was like walking uphill on black sand. Then I walked along the Lava Flow Trail through all the old lava – there are numerous cinder cones in the park. I couldn’t help but think that the first explorers walking through this part of Arizona must have been astonished to suddenly come across a big lava field, and then another 60 miles or so away, they would come across the Grand Canyon. The countryside is indeed full of unexpected, beautiful surprises.

About 18 miles farther on was another national monument – the Wupatki National Monument, and this park had several old ruins from about 1000 years ago when the ancient pueblo people lived there. I walked out to the ruins in back of the visitor center, and this one had been a very large 100-room community oriented pueblo. It’s incredible to see all the old bricks, and how much of the structure is still standing. There was even an old ballcourt, which currently was flooded with water. And the most intriguing part of the site was a blowhole – a small hole in the ground that air continuously blows through. Scientists don’t really know the extent of the cavern underground that the air comes gushing out of, but the strength of the wind depends on temperatures. They’ve put a screen over the hole so people don’t step on it, but I leaned over the blowhole and was astonished how hard the wind was coming out. The Indians who lived in the area believed the Wind Spirit lived there in the ground. When I leaned over the hole, the wind was blowing hard enough to blow my hair straight out from my head, and when I took a picture of my shadow with my hair blowing out, I felt a bit like a spirit myself!

Then I drove a ways down the road to The Citadel ruins. This old structure had been built on a rock base high above the surrounding countryside, which, with all the grasses blowing, looked something like the African savanna. It’s unknown why the pueblo was built so high – whether to catch breezes, or for defense, or to not use up good farmland. I was able to walk inside these ruins, and it was kind of amazing to walk among bricks that were made 1000 years ago. The sun set while I was in the ruins high above the ground, and it was gorgeous. Watching the same sun set that the ancient Indians would have watched is pretty amazing. I sort of wished I could just haul my air mattress up the hill and sleep right in the ruins!

There was one more set of ruins to see before I left the park grounds. And once again, I could go inside – standing in one of the small partially-intact rooms of something that was built 1000 years ago is pretty powerful. I’m guessing people are still allowed to go in the structures because this park is a little off the beaten path, and doesn’t get nearly the volume of visitors that a place like Mesa Verde gets. It was very special to be able to visit these ruins.

By this time it was dark, and I continued on my way to Sedona. The threatening clouds finally let go and it rained most of the way there. But I didn’t mind – I’d done all my walking and I had a nice place waiting for me. Last Christmas, my brother gave me a gift certificate for a nice pet-friendly inn to stay at for a couple nights right in the heart of uptown Sedona. The room was large and beautiful and more comfortable than the places I usually stay! I could still hear the rain and it was a very peaceful way to end the day.

Arizona – Wednesday, September 25

I drove down to Flagstaff last night, and this morning we set out to explore. I headed for the historic part of downtown Flagstaff, along the old Route 66. I stopped at the visitor center, which is right in the old train station, and is still used by passenger trains. A lot of freight trains come through too. Tula and I set out for a walk, and when she’d had enough, I continued on a bit more, and ended up covering 3 miles. Then I stopped for a big hotdog from a street vendor that had lots of people lined up his cart. I stopped by the post office and wrote out another set of post cards, and by then it was 1:00, and the Northern Arizona Food Bank in Flagstaff opened.

The food pantry has a lot of different programs, and I was intrigued by 2 of them, and I wanted to make a donation to each of them. The first one was a “wood bank” for people who heat their homes with wood, and the other program was Hunters for the Hungry where hunters can get extra game for the needy. I went inside the building and met Kerry, the executive director. He told me about the many programs that the food pantry is part of and showed me around. We went out back to look at all the wood. I hadn’t run across a wood bank before, and to do so in Arizona puzzled me at first – in my mind the southwest is always warm, but that certainly isn’t the case! Kerry told me northern Arizona can get cold in the winter and Flagstaff had an unusual amount of snow last winter. Flagstaff also borders a large Indian reservation, and many of the people who live on it rely on wood for cooking and heating, and wood is not a plentiful commodity. Many of them live so far out in the desert that it’s not practical for natural gas, and some of them live in traditional hogans and propane isn’t the best choice either. So wood is a necessity, and many volunteers cut and split wood – even the local prison fire fighting crew! There were about 120 cords of wood already split in preparation for the upcoming colder weather, and over the years since the wood bank was implemented, they’ve given away nearly 4 million pounds of split fire wood. I was so interested in the wood program I didn’t hear as much about the Hunters for the Hungry program, but it’s a wild game recovery program that has provided more than 174,000 meals of elk and venison since 2001. So I made a donation to each of those programs since I really liked both of them.

And then I was off to the Grand Canyon. It was about an hour and a half away, and I stopped along the way to walk Tula along a mile-long wildlife path out in all the pine trees. This part of Arizona is really pretty with meadows and lots of big ponderosa pine trees. On the other side of the road from the wildlife trail was a tiny little chapel in the woods – they’re always so unexpected and peaceful to run across. It was late afternoon by the time I got to the Grand Canyon, but at least by then the crowds had begun to thin. As I went through the entry station (it costs $25 to get in – my annual national park pass has been a wonderful thing to have!) there were flyers posted urging people to use caution while visiting the park. The rangers have to rescue an average of 250 people from the depths of the canyon every year, and most of them are fit young men. I had just enough time to stop in the visitor center to ask about good walks, and the ranger said the rim walk would be a good one. And Tula could go on part of that one. We headed over to the rim, and the first view of the canyon just about takes one’s breath away – it’s awesome. And it was fun to hear similar reactions from other people coming up behind me. There were lots of foreign people there – I heard a lot of people speaking French, and others speaking eastern European languages. There are a couple big observation areas that are fenced in, and Tula and I went down to those to admire the view. After a while I put her back in the van, and started off along the rim trail. Beyond the initial observation areas, there were no fences or guard rails or anything, and there were quite a few outcroppings to step out and get good views, yet it never seemed scary or dangerous. My photos just can’t do it justice. People were starting to find good perches to watch the sunset, and I stopped to watch the sunset too. I didn’t know which way to look – to the west to see the sun go down, or to the east where the setting sun turned the canyon rocks fiery red. Once the sun was down, I continued my way along the rim walk in the pretty post-sunset light. After I’d walked a couple miles, it was time to turn around so I could get back before it was totally dark. By then, there were only a few people still out walking, and I had long stretches of the rim walk all to myself – it was just me and the canyon and the wind, and then the stars began to come out. It was spectacular. There was a little sign that explained how the Colorado River continues to carve out the canyon – at the rate of one thickness of paper a year. That description really helps make one sort of understand how long it’s taken to make the canyon as deep as it has. It was an incredible thing to see, and I’m so glad I had the time to drive up and see it. Altogether I walked 4 1/2 miles there. The Grand Canyon “village” was a mile or 2 away, and I drove over there and stopped by the cafeteria to get a dinner to go, which I enjoyed as I started the drive back to Flagstaff.

Arizona – Tuesday, September 24

After I was packed up, we headed east and soon came to Zion National Park. Tula and I did a little walking outside the park borders where we could still see some of the impressive red rocks. I parked in a lot right outside the park borders, and finished the last couple of miles of Utah walking on a short trail in the park. Zion encourages use of their shuttle buses, which run frequently, and they make numerous stops so people can hop on and off at different points. One of the roads is only accessible by the shuttle bus, but the other road is open to anyone since it’s a part of a normal 2-lane highway for people who are just trying to get from Point A to Point B (a scenic way to do so!) The other reason they encourage use of a shuttle bus is because of limited parking. After my walk, I proceeded to drive through the park, since I needed to continue along my way on the other side. There are quite a few pull-offs, and I stopped at lots of them to admire the views. Sometimes I think I’m pretty lucky to not drive off a cliff while admiring a view!

Once I was out of Zion National Park, I had to decide which of 2 ways I was going to head into Arizona, and I decided to enter the state near the town of Page, because the Circle of Page Food Pantry was there and it happened ed to be open late on Tuesday afternoons. But I got distracted by the views of Lake Powell and the Colorado River as I got close to the border, and as soon as I crossed into Arizona I came to the Glen Canyon National Rec Area – one of the national park sites. I stopped at the visitor center,then got Tula out for a short walk by the dam. Then I walked across the bridge that spanned the Colorado River (the Grand Canyon isn’t the only canyon that it carves!) and looked at the massive concrete dam, and the canyon walls. From there I drove into town, and called the food pantry to see if they would prefer a financial donation or a food donation. They said a financial donation would be preferable. I wanted to make a donation to this food pantry because they provide hot meals on Mondays and Wednesdays (they call it ‘Come to the Banquet!’), and supply food boxes on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Families are eligible to get a big food box once a month, and can come to get a hot meal (prepared at a nearby church) as often as they like. Wal-Mart occasionally brings supplemental food that anyone can pick up, and the volunteers never know what they’ll get on those deliveries.

When I was done at the food pantry, I set out to do a little more walking. As I came to a local park, I discovered there was some sort of event going on called Fireball Run. Decorated cars were pulling in, and there were food booths set up, and a stage with people getting some music ready. I finally asked a firefighter what was going on, and he said the Fireball Run is a 2200 mile road trip involving 40 vehicles to raise awareness of missing children. I’d never heard of this. Each of the cars that came in had posters of missing children on them. I read later that the road trip goes though the states of Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico and California, with scheduled stops along the way, and I just happened to be in Page, which was one of the scheduled stops. These events do help locate missing children. I went back and got Tula and we wandered all over the park looking at all the cars coming in. There was a huge variety of vehicles, from little Volkswagons (with false eyelashes over the headlights) to old limos, to little cars where the doors opened upward like wings. There were other informational booths and food stands, and quite a few Native Americans dressed in traditional clothes. One of the booths that caught my eye was the Cancer Outreach booth, so I stopped and talked with the volunteers. They told me Page was kind of a remote town on the edge of a large Indian reservation, and the purpose of the Cancer Outreach program was mostly to provide transportation to and from local hospitals for cancer patients who don’t have transportation. And they also help with other needs of cancer patients. Even though I’d already made a donation today, I also liked this organization – it was a new and different opportunity. So I made another donation and they were happy to get it. I looked around at some more cars, and then a Native American dance performance began, and I enjoyed that. Tula and I walked around some more and walked a little over 3 miles altogether in Page.

My original plan for this afternoon had been to make the donation in Page, and then drive over to the Grand Canyon. But that didn’t happen. After my time at Glen Canyon, and then at the Fireball festivities it was too late to drive to the Grand Canyon. One of the roads I would have needed was washed out anyway. There were 2 detours – one was a very long one, and the other was a road that was only open during daylight hours, and it was much shorter than the other detour. I was lucky to get on that road before it was closed for the night. I discovered that a big piece of warm Indian fry bread covered in honey was a very messy thing to eat in the van while driving. I can eat most anything while out on the road, but I kind of made a sticky mess with the fry bread!

I drove on through the evening hours to Flagstaff where I called it a day.

Utah – Monday, September 23

The first thing I did this morning was pick up Tula from the Desert Dog Daycare. They said she was a sweet, mellow dog and all went well. Tula acted as though I’d been gone for months – it was a very enthusiastic greeting! Then I headed off for my first donation of the day, which was going to the Kids Cafe program run by the Utah Food Bank. This program provides a hot meal after school for 1700 students in 27 after-school sites. I arrived at the Utah Food Bank the same time a camera guy from the CBS affiliate in Salt Lake City arrived. They had contacted me over the weekend to see if I could do an interview today – they had heard about my story from the governor’s press secretary who had passed my information on. And when we spoke this morning, we agreed to meet at the food bank. I went in to talk with the person at the desk about my donation, and she called in a couple other people for me to talk to. The CBS guy filmed some of that, plus recorded me handing over my donation. We went to look in the window of their huge commercial kitchen, and today’s volunteers were already working on the next meal. Once the food is made, they keep it in thermal bags, and they have a 4 hour window to drive the food to the various destinations it goes to.

When we were done inside the food bank, the camera guy and I went back outside and we did a little interview on camera (telling me to simply ignore the big black camera is easier said than done!). Then he wanted to “stage” a few scenes – he got pictures of me getting out of the car, and getting back in, and then we drove a couple blocks to a little park, and he got some footage of me and Tula out walking across a bridge. I don’t know what the final story looked like because I wasn’t near a TV when the evening news was on. After the cameraman left, Tula and I walked a bit more in the park.

Then we were ready to leave Salt Lake City. I drove south for a ways to find the Ching Farm Rescue ranch. The physical address wasn’t anywhere to be found on the website (intentional because they don’t want people randomly dropping off animals by their gates). This is another donation opportunity that my friend Perrine suggested – she found out about them quite a while ago when she got up one day to find a potbelly pig in her yard. The farm rescue ranch is different from many of the animal shelters I’ve been to because they’re set up to take some of the bigger, unwanted farm animals – they had horses, a couple steer, an emu, sheep, barnyard pigs and potbelly pigs, goats, ducks, geese, llamas and donkeys. I met Faith Ching and she showed me all around and pointed out all the different animals – and she knows all their names and quirks and who gets along with who! It was vaccination day for some of the animals and a big group of vet techs were out volunteering their time. It’s a nice arrangement for all since the vet techs get good practical experience, and the farm rescue group doesn’t have to pay for their time! Last year the farm was threatened by wildfires, and they needed to think about transporting all those animals to a safer location. When word got out, people showed up with about 25 trailers, and they were ready to do what they had to do. In the end, their farm was saved. I made my donation, then it was time to get started on some walking.

I drove south for several hours, then Tula and I stopped in Beaver to do a little walking. We continued on to Cedar City, and walked a little over 3 more miles before it got too dark. I was kind of close to the Arizona state line, but the next part of the drive would take me through the heart of Zion National Park, and I wasn’t going to miss out on the scenery by driving through the park in the dark, so I stopped for the night.

I only had a couple more miles to walk to finish my 56 Utah miles, and I would do those tomorrow in Zion. All 7 Utah donations were done – the Honor Flight, Central Utah Sharing food pantry, Heart and Soul (Porchfest), Tabitha’s Way, Moab Food Pantry, Kids Cafe and Ching Farm Rescue. Utah took a little extra time because I had to circle back around to Salt Lake City for my flight to Seattle, and then I had to drive south again. But it’s a pretty state to drive through, and I would be crossing into Arizona tomorrow afternoon.

Thursday. September 19 – Sunday, September 22

I had to take Tula over to the Desert Dog daycare place by 9am, so they could keep her for a couple hours before my plane left to make sure there weren’t going to be any problems, and she seemed to settle in okay. This was a place where the dogs go through an “interview” observation to make sure there’s no aggressive behavior or anything, and then the dogs are together all day, and have their own kennels at night. Tula didn’t want to leave me, but once they got her back in the room with the other dogs, they told me she did just fine. Then later I got to the airport and had an uneventful flight to Seattle, via Phoenix which didn’t make sense geographically, but that’s what it was. The best part of the flight was a beautiful view of Mt. Rainier at sunset as we were flying in. My brother and niece got in right after I did, so I caught a ride to my sister’s house with him.

On Friday I met my new little great-nephew Blake Hunter, who was only 9 days old, and enjoyed seeing the various family members as they arrived. Some of us went out for pedicures, and then we went to the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner.

Saturday was the wedding day for niece Kim, and new husband Adam. They were a radiant wedding couple, and most everything went real well. The only disappointment was my dad was unexpectedly hospitalized for 3 days shortly before leaving for Seattle, and was unable to attend after looking forward to the event all summer. But at least he was out of the hospital and doing well, and Kim called him shortly before walking down the aisle to include her grandpa in the day. Both the ceremony and reception were at Salish Lodge, overlooking the Snoqualmie Falls, and although the wedding was moved under cover to a nice tent instead of being outside (because of potential bad weather), they were able to keep the flaps up and the beautiful view was still there.

On Sunday, Christy, Rick and I put together a big brunch for more than 20 family members. I had gone shopping yesterday morning (courtesy of my dad!) for a whole bunch of fruit and other stuff, and Rick made several pans of egg bake dishes and I sliced up a big variety of fruit and we set out a bunch of pastries and coffee cakes and all. So we all kind of lingered over that, and some of the kids headed back to college. By mid-afternoon, I had to start packing up, and I had a non-stop evening flight back to Salt Lake City after a wonderful wedding weekend.

Utah – Wednesday, September 18

After I packed up the campsite, I started my morning with a breakfast at Duke’s Slickrock Cafe, which was the little restaurant that the campground was behind. With a name like that, I had to get a good egg and hashbrown breakfast! And then I drove the 30 miles or so to the one other national park that I wanted to visit before heading toward Salt Lake City. This one was Capitol Reef National Park – another park I’d never heard of before! Just inside the park boundaries was a hike through a gorge called The Grand Wash, and visitors were told not to begin the hike if rain was in the forecast, because this is an area where flash floods occur. But the sky was clear and blue and other hikers were out and about, so I headed into the canyon. I took a wonderful 3 1/2 mile walk alongside immense red rock walls, some with little “caves” going deep into the rock, and cracks and holes and all – Mother Nature’s work is never done! The walls got so close together that the sun was blocked out for a good bit of the walk. I ran across a couple of local ladies who were also out walking, just because they wanted to see if there was anything new and unusual in the canyon that might have surfaced after the recent heavy rains, and sure enough, they picked up (but did not keep) a piece of petrified wood. I was able to hold it and get a picture too. (And that reminds me of a news report I heard that panning for gold in Colorado is experiencing a surge with all the recent rain and flooding that has knocked loose rocks and other debris where gold can now be found.)

When I was finished with that walk, I drove a little farther to an area where there are some petroglyphs on the rock walls. Visitors can walk along a boardwalk along the side of the cliffs, but can’t get close enough to touch, which is the point! By now I was in a little valley that the early (mostly Mormon) settlers had turned into an orchard. The area was called Fruita, and there were lots of groves of fruit trees, many of which still produce fruit today. There was also a one room house still standing – it was home to a family of 10 (parents and youngest kids slept inside; girls slept in wagon bed outside; and boys slept in a hollowed out depression in rock wall). And there was an old one-room schoolhouse too, complete with old desks and ink wells and all.

Then I stopped at the visitor center, and found out there was a river trail that dogs could go on, so Tula and I set off for a nearly 2 mile walk along the river, past still more orchards, picnic areas and the campground. Then I headed out for the scenic drive up to see the main feature of the park, called Waterpocket Fold, which is a “warp” in the earth’s crust where new and old layers of the earth are folded over each other. It’s such a big gouge in the earth that they say it’s visible from space. But sadly, about 7-8 miles into the drive, the road was closed – parts of it had washed out due to the heavy recent rains, so I was unable to get to a good vantage point to see the fold. I will have to come back!

I had also missed the white dome-shaped rock on my way in called Capitol Rock because it looks like the shape of the US Capitol building. It sounds like there are numerous other white dome shaped rocks back in the part of the park I couldn’t get to. The ranger told me that particular rock wasn’t visible from the direction I came from, so I backtracked a mile or so to get a picture. There were other people taking pictures (there always are!) so I waited for them to get out of my way. There were a couple photographers, and they called everyone over for a group photo – I just figured it was some tour group. Then one of the photographers told me to go get in the picture, but I told him I wasn’t with that group. And he told me that’s alright – if I wanted my picture taken with the governor, I could just go get in the picture. But I wasn’t with them, so I didn’t. It turns out Utah’s governor, Gary Herbert, was visiting the area, and while they were getting some more pictures of him with some commissioners, one of the ladies on his staff came up and asked me where I was from and why I was visiting this part of Utah (I was the only other person there at the moment besides the governor’s group), so I gave her a short version of what I was doing, and then she called over the press secretary, who thought it was interesting, so then he thought I should tell the governor about it, so I did! Then he proceeded to tell me that Michigan’s governor had visited Utah to attend some meetings, and in the end, Michigan’s governor “stole” Utah’s budget director. What does one say to that ?!? It was an interesting chance encounter.

And then it was really time to start driving back into civilization. A good part of the day had slipped by, and I had lots of miles still to cover. I had been texting with the owner of a farm rescue facility, where I was going to make another donation, and if it was still daylight when I came through, she was going to give me a tour. But in the end, it was getting dark when I got near, so we decided to postpone the visit until Monday after I got back from the wedding. I got back into Salt Lake City late, and tried to get organized for the upcoming weekend.