Shooting a touch and go

I'm home. Finally, for the next hundred-hours or so. On Monday, at 0630 I ought to be wheels up on my way to Ukraine for two weeks.

This has been an on again/off again trip. I've been working on the mission since Sept. I've been told I'm going since Oct. Then I'm not, then there are hurdles to be jumped and I can go again (I needed a new Official Passport. That got rejected because they changed the application rules, so I had to re-submit, things like that). The most recent was finding out, this morning, that I don't have a visa.

I am told to not worry about it, and get on the plane anyway.

So, it will be a bit before I get caught up (kate_schaefer I've read your entries, every word, they are no less banal, severally, than some of mine, and jointly they paint, to my mind, a pretty picture, even if I am, usually, against the Oxford comma).

I am told (we shall see what the situation is, on the ground) that I'll have pretty much 24/7 internet access. If this proves to be the case you can expect trip reports, both of this one, and the one just completed.

I'd promise some serious examination of the past three weeks before I leave, but it seems the router at the house has gone tits-up, so I am in a bar in SLO (15 miles away) dealing with the things I had to read before I could pack. If we get it up before I leave, I'll put up more than the next few moments allow.

Highlights, quick and dirty.

Sights.

Animalia.

Collared Lizard

Juvenile White Tail deer

Juvenile Golden Eagle

Mature Golden Eagle

Yellowhead (or Flannel Mouth) SuckerFish (plural, juvenile, and small adult).

Dragonfly nymph

Marmot

Long-Footed Ferret, eating a vole; or some such

Red Spotted toad

Tadpoles and Pollywogs

and


Gymnogyps californianus; commonly known as the California Condor

Places

Colorado City Ariz. Strange, and depressing. Buildings of odd size, and indistinct purpose. No businesses, nor yet (though to be fair (?) it was always Sunday morning when we passed through) people. I'm not sure how much of the nature of the place was real, or my knowing who lives there.

The Paria. Stunning. The sandstone is hard, and has not what one thinks of as bedding planes. It started life as a huge barrow of sand dunes, and the hills, rills, and troughs are kept, cut away by water and dropped by gravity. The most amazing aspect of them is what one doesn't see. The walls fell, one can see the cleavages. It wasn't water which made the canyon sheer and high, at least not running water. But none of those huge slabs (some of which much have been a few hundred cubic yards of rock) remain evident on the floor of the river (no, there are a couple of places). The water has eaten them to sand and clay, and carried them to the sea.

Shiprock. Huge, present, brooding. Every where it can be seen, it dominates the skyline.

Monument Valley. We did the drive from Kabab to Moab in the mid-day, this probably increased the granduer and magnitude of the place, because it was sudden. We passed through a cut and Shiprock was there. We drove, and it remained. We passed through another cut and it was gone. But the buttes, red and orange and vermillion, remained. One was lost, only when another blocked it from view.

Moab. A piece of somewhere else (Santa Monica/West Seattle and a slice of San Francisco, rolled into one, and plopped in country which looks fake when Disney faithfully replicates it), dropped into Utah. Hippies and typical Mormons, living side by side. I have a 14 oz. pt glass; picked up from atop a trash can. One can park for four hours in a one-hour zone, and not get a ticket.

The Manti-La Sal. A 10,000 ft. high range, rising up from the 4,000 foot basin of Utah. Cool, green, with seeping water and a peak (Mt. Peale) which climbs to 12,271 ft.) Deer, and aspen, Spruce and Trout. Golden Flies and Beetles. Too easy to get to.

Red Canyon. This is where Disney found the geology it copied for Big Thunder Mountain. It looks just the same. There are a pair of undercuts, tunnelled out to make the road (lest it fall into the Sevier River) which have been treated with sprayed on cement. Looks just like Disney. Amazing colors. Kneel down and it seems one has crushed Tang onto one's trousers.
Establishments:

Nedra's Too. Nice enough SW/Mex. Good Machaca, adequate Carnitas (more like pulled pork) very good salsa. Serves food until 10:30. Kanab.

Outdoor Outfitters and Coffee Bar. Espresso drinks and books, clothes and waling sticks. Great folks, good gear, decent prices. Kanab.

Back of Beyond Books. Wonderful, and ecclectic, selection of books. Hillermans, "Fly on the Wall" in German. If you see a book you want, make certain to peruse the sale table, as one can find books which are listed at full price, on the shelf, for as little as 25 percent of cover on the table. Moab

A silver jewelry shop. Just down the road from Back of Beyond. I think the owner cruises the reservations and finds things in trading posts which have been left for good. I bought a wonderful armilla (I've been reading on the Roman Legions, and so that was how I thought of it. The Legions gave armillae as modern armies give medals, its an open braceley) of Zuni Squash blossoms, with tourquoise and coral. A style which went out of favor 25 years ago). Moab.

Red Rock Bakery. Good sandwiches, decent coffee (not as good as the place in Kanab, but better than most places) and internet. Buy something and it's $6 an hour, if they charge you. Just want access and it's $12. It's where I posted my piece from the road.