A Year Ago June 4: to Salt Lake City

The canyon opened into a wide hot valley.
Looking at this now makes me remember why I got heatstroke.

A year ago today, Jeff and I woke up early and headed out so as to avoid the intense mid-day sun and to get going because we had a long drive after our hike. We got in our car, picked up Ben & Ryan a little farther down the road, drove them to a friend's place 15 miles away (the next "town") and gave them unfettered access to our stash of double-stuf Oreos.

After dropping them off, we high-tailed it to 89 and drove North through undulating hills of southern Utah. We had a sleeping arrangement half-planned, and needed to kill time before we could get there. So, we went to REI and wowed the shoppers with our aura of hardcoreness; they all treated us like we were living the dream and were therefore admirable. I like to think so myself sometimes, but it could be that they just stared in awe because we had a strong smell. In any case, we bought a bunch of great things that I had written down in our plentiful hours of free time, and then headed to Costco and purchased obscene amounts of dried fruit and pine nuts.

We stayed with a friend who was more than a little surprised to see us. He was a gracious host, providing a welcome place to sleep, wash our clothes, dishes and selves.