Time with Friends

It was great to see Jess again and I was on my way to see my friend Meris (another one I met at the Ranch). First though I had to finish my day with some time at the Petrified Forest. The name is misleading because there's nothing "foresty" about it. I didn't even see wood until 20 miles in. First, I drove through the Painted Desert which was pretty. Then the road winds by some petroglyphs and ruins and the Blue Mesa which has some striking layers. I finally made it to the Rainbow Forest Museum which had a loop trail full of wood. They have one massive log called Old Faithful that is 35 feet long.
Most of the wood is smaller and fragmented because it was washed away in floods and broken up. It also is harder to cut through than granite. I was tempted to take some but of course it's forbidden and they actually had a museum display of people who had taken some and their lives were cursed. I was planning on camping outside the park because it was free. It was the creepiest place I've ever seen. I thought it was busy but the parking lot was actually full of broke down cars. I did see one camper and I thought, maybe this won't be so bad, but it's tires were flat. The sun was already going down so I consulted Jack but he's so metro he couldn't find a place to stay. I finally ended up at Lyman Lake State Park. It was dark and windy as hell when I got there so I tossed everything out of my car and curled up in the back seat. It was the worst night of my trip. I had a horrible nightmare and I was so sore from being cramped up.

The next day I headed to Meris'. I stopped at the Very Large Array which I still don't fully understand but apparently it records sound from space and makes it into pictures. After that it was all dirt road for a couple hours with a brief respite of pavement. I actually saw three antelope chasing a coyote. No, I am not tired and I did not write that wrong. Maybe global warming is reversing our food chain. It was the oddest thing. There were also many cows along the road. I got to Meris' around 3:00 and hung out with her while the farrier did his thing. The next day we slept in obnoxiously late and went out riding. Jess recommended Shoot 'Em Again canyon so that's where Meris took me. I rode Smokey and we got to lope all the way out there. The canyon was beautiful. It was pretty narrow in some spots. We also got to see a huge herd of elk.




We made it back in time for dinner with the rest of the staff. It was really nice to sit down and have a civilized meal in a home with good people. I'd missed that. The next day we had a late start again but we all went on a ride up Taylor Creek Canyon. I'd done part of that ride before when Kelvin and I had come to visit but we broke off from the group and Meris took me to the top of the world. We climbed up and next thing I knew we were overlooking the creek where we just were! It was amazing. It was awesome to have beautiful, strong, young, fast horses that were responsive. I think we both enjoyed trotting and loping and having a good old reckless time like we used to at Tarryall.

We had a very good rain come pounding down and guests were due in and they said that they had to stop half a dozen times to clear the road of debris. I was worried about driving out and surprisingly the dirt road was fine but the paved road was a disaster for about 3 miles. The mountain has rained down and covered it in mud, rocks, sticks and various debris. I actually encountered a guy on a bike and he was making some hand motions at me. He may have been warning me but there's only one way out of there and I had no choice but to take it. It had been about a year and a half since I'd seen Meris and it was good to see her and her family settled in and doing really well. It's amazing what the West will do to solid East coast people!