Floy to Thompson

 Oh hi Bakey,

Happy Easter! Was today any different for you? On my mission Easter was a big cultural holiday for the catholic people, but about the same for us missionaries.

Easter here was stake conference. It was a pretty standard stake conference. I do think we as Mormons, and I meant Mormons, could use a bit more Easter story in our services. But then, I also think we could do with a bit more Christ in our Christmas traditions. 

After, we got the house ready and grandma, Abbie, and uncle Steven’s family came over for dinner, so yea, that.

This week a cold went through the family. It started at Joey, mom had it last Sunday, I came down with it Friday. It’s not that bad of a cold, but for the last two years with everyone masked up, they’ve been pretty rare, so this one feels worse than it probably is. The worst thing about it is it makes me so sleepy, maybe it’s the cold medicine.

I took Thursday and Friday off. There was a non official Easter Jeep safari run on Thursday that I wanted to go on. Everyone was too busy to go with me, so I just went by myself. I woke up at four and couldn’t get back to sleep. I always get a bit anxious for a trip, big or small. So it was easy to be on the road by my planned 5:30 departure time. I grabbed some del taco on the way out and was feeling a bit lonely. I popped in one of my long forgotten 90’s bands, the Barenaked Ladies. Calm down, they’re innocent, they’re Canadian. My favorite part of my trip going towards Moab is passing the big wind mills at the mouth of Spanish Fork canyon. I love how the road unwinds into the mountains and it leaves the cruddy Utah county stuff behind. As I got settled into the drive I got the warmest, most familiar feeling. It was more than just excitement for the pending adventure. I felt like I was with someone who loved me. You know how it feels when we’re together in the car doing something fun, even though things may be quiet in the car, it was like that. I’ve had that feeling before. The first time was in the celestial room of the salt lake temple when your mom and I were waiting to get married. I felt you guys close to me. The last time was when I was bringing my old Cherokee home from Texas, I remember at my first gas stop I called mom and told her I felt like someone was with me, taking care of me. When I told your mom that she said, “it’s your dad, he would love a road trip with you!” And I think she was right. Well, I’m pretty sure my dad was hanging out with me on this trip too. I even told your mom that from now on when everyone is too busy to come with me, instead of saying I’m going alone I’ll say I’m going with my dad. Elder holland once gave a talk saying that angels were all around us, protecting us, comforting us, even guiding us. He said many of those angels are family members who have passed before us. That connection I felt was profound Jake, almost overwhelming. I know that there are angels with you too Jacob. Family members that love you and want you to succeed.

Anyway, getting past that tangent. You may have seen the pictures on Facebook. I met the group north of Moab. Near the meeting place was this old structure that had been a stage coach stop for a rout that went between the railroad at Thompson and Moab. There wasn’t much left but some low walls, but it was pretty cool. Then we went north back towards I-70 on a dirt road. It was really barren and dry, but somehow there were still cattle grazing, on I have no idea what. We crossed the freeway at a place called Floy. I always thought that maybe it was a small ghost town or something, but it’s nothing, literally. I looked it up and there is no information on it other than people commenting that there’s no information on it. It did seem to be the entrance to the Bookcliff mountains though. They are the mountain range we pass between Price and the turnoff to Moab. We’ve been there when we’ve gone to the ghost town of sego. I’ve always wanted to go a little further in and this was my chance. The 

Old Spanish Trail went through there as did the old highway between grand junction and green river. The dirt roads we followed went from barren desert to the more typical mesas and formations like you’d find near Moab. But the Sandstone here is more tan than orange or red. The canyon started to close in around the road as the road climbed. After a few forks it leveled out and every once in a while you could see a peek of the elevation gained by seeing the desert plane below. After a while we turned onto a spur road that took us to a place called Doug’s Point. That road was had more obstacles but wasn’t really difficult. By this point I needed to pee so bad I just pulled over. I let a couple of jeeps by but there was one straggler and I just couldn’t hold it. Luckily the person pulling up the rear stayed back until I finished. The terrain up there had a ton of dead wood all over. Occasionally the blm will come in and pull down the juniper forests to let cattle graze. It always seems like such a waste to me, especially in the desert where there’s so little grazing anyway. Within five minutes of my potty break we made it to the overlook. It was spectacular. We must have been eight or nine hundred feet higher than the plane below. We were only a mile or so from the freeway and the town of Thompson. Thompson is almost a ghost town. It used to be a stop for the railroad so the train could take on coal and water. A lot of troops went through there on their way to war in ww2. But when diesel electric trains came, there was no reason for them to stop there anymore. We ate lunch up there and some lady was giving out prizes from the Jeep safari.  I got a hat,  a shirt, some stickers and a little Jeep puzzle. Those situations force you to talk to people you may not normally talk to. I’m no uncle Tim, but I am capable of making friends if I have to. We headed back out and the road brought us the the ghost town of sego. This is the third or fourth time I’ve been there and the lady guiding the run pointed out some cool stuff I hadn’t seen before. We ended up at my favorite petroglyphs. I took a billion photos with my new camera. The details I could get are so fascinating. After that, it was time to head home.

I also took Friday off, by then my cold was in full swing so I didn’t do too much. Saturday I was feeling a little better, but was also pretty irritable. So when mom and ben went to go meet Joey for his lunch break, I stayed home. 

Well, this letter turned out a bit longer than planned, sorry for the rambling.

Love-YA-I-tell-YA! 

Pops