Calf Creek

Oh hi handsome Elder Ben!

So this has been a very eventful end of the week, I’ll try to cover it chronologically.

I had my interview Thursday morning, I felt like it went well but as it was only 30 minutes, I felt like I had a lot left to say. The person I interviewed with was very professional and on task. He said he was traveling for two weeks and I would probably hear from him then. More on that later.

I spent the rest of the day getting ready for the Calf-Creek trip and doing yard work. I left most of the stuff in the trailer from our Hole-In-The-Rock trip. Which was kind of a mistake, because there was way too much cold weather crap and extra sleeping bags and blankets, but our cooking supplies were depleted. Mom spent the evening getting the food together. I felt kinda bad because she had such a busy day.

The pig is kinda back to its stalling at stoplights self. Grrr.

Friday while mom was at school in the morning, we hooked up the trailer and finished loading. I noticed that the Jeep's front passenger tire had some really uneven wear, almost smooth in spots. So I rotated the front and back tires on that side for piece-of-mind. I looked up the wear pattern and learned that worn out shock absorbers cause that pattern, so add new tires and shocks to my list of woes, but at least I know why I have so much tire noise.

We got going about 10:30. I had strapped one of the plastic food boxes to the roof of the trailer. As we were going down the freeway a woman pulled up along side of us and signaled to that the box was coming loose. We had made it all the way to Lehi. Luckily, that was the only major mishap.

There was another unexpected surprise awaiting us however. As we pulled into Escalante, back into cell coverage, I received a text from the person I had interviewed with the day before. I have a second interview, this time in person, set for tomorrow at 10 at their office in American Fork. I was able to pull over and reply in a timely manner. Timely being the key word because if we had arrived any sooner or later that window of data coverage would not have overlapped his text, and I may not have seen it until Saturday or even today so I may have missed my chance. 

Ben, prayer is real, and answered.

We pulled in and got set up. I’m getting better at it, and your brothers are too. I do really miss you though. I had an unexpected response from your mom when we got to the camp spot. To back up a little, all the reservable sports in the area were full. I had downloaded an app that is a database of free camp sites on public land. They don’t include a ton of info so I rolled the dice and chose one 7.5 miles from Calf Creek. We hit the jackpot. We had panoramic views to both the east and to the west. To the West was the area we traveled last fall on the Hole-in-the-Rock trip, and to the East were the barren rock formations towards Calf Creek that overlook highway 12. If you have time on Google Earth, follow highway 12 from Escalante to boulder to Torrey, Utah, it’s spectacular. Anyway, mom’s response was that she LOVED this kind of camping, away from it all. She was really into it.

We got everything set up, warmed up mom’s chili verde and tortillas, dropped most of the corn chips, our camping tradition of having one major spill at dinner continues, and ate. The weather was perfect with almost no wind, few bugs, and no rednecks or tree huggers to annoy. There were plenty of moths though. Afterwards we played Uno for two hours, before your cousins Zac and Camille came with baby Reese. Then the stars came out, it was perfect.

We got up semi early and mom warmed up egg and cheese burritos in our camp oven, so good. We then went and hiked Calf Creek. It was crowded, but not nearly as bad as I had feared. The hike seemed way shorter than I remembered, maybe my hiking had paid off. The weather was on the warm side, but not yet hot. The falls were gorgeous, and every bit as cold as we remembered. Everyone got in to some degree, even the baby got her feet in.

After lunch we drove past Boulder to the Burr trail. We were looking for a slot canyon called Long Canyon. I slavishly followed the gps and found a canyon and a trail, but definitely not what we intended to find. Mom called it Let’s Get Murdered Canyon and Zac called it George’s Canyon. I preferred mom’s name. We went up the road less then a mile and found Long Canyon. It was about 100 yards long, and the walls were probably 800 feet high. There were giant Cottonwood trees at the entrance and saplings along the way. It reminded me of a spectacularly gorgeous Utah version of the canyon where Gimley, Legolas and Aragorn went to recruit the army of the dead in the LOTRs. It was an epic drive and I think worth planning another trip for.

This morning we stuck camp and made the drive home. On the way we found the states best rest stop and a rebuilt creamery in Beaver. The cheese curds and ice cream were stellar.

Love you kid. If you get this in the morning please pray that I’ll perform well in my interview. I find it curious that this is the first Sunday I haven’t fasted for a job, but I’ve had a prayer inside of me since Friday.

Looking forward to hearing from you tomorrow.

Pops

P.S. mom suggested we buy another Lifetime cooler. I honestly can’t remember her ever suggesting a sporting goods purchase.

P.P.S. I floated the idea of adding a rooftop tent to the trailer should resources ever allow, she was again, surprisingly supportive.

P.P.P.S. She wants to go again as soon as we can. We’re thinking Great Basin NP

P.P.P.P.S. As I’m sure you’ve been anxious to hear, the potty tent was a success, although not a perfect one as mom’s pee bag sprung a leak, luckily only sand was soiled