Our Family Trek--Part eins

I'm taking you on our recent trip through 6 states--Arizona, Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico. You're welcome...rofl
June 15, 2016

It was kind of sad watching the dog watch us out of all the windows as the car turned. I wish we could have taken him with us. We left in the evening to go on our family reunion trip after working all day to get book stuff done and a bazillion packing things and last minute chores. I was exhausted and went straight to sleep, as much as I could. Poor Hubs had to drive all night. I'd feel really badly about that but he prefers to drive himself instead of sitting there worrying. There WERE plenty of loonies on the road. I think sleeping in the car means no deep sleep, just dozing. That means you kind of rob yourself and waste lots of time. Unfortunately, I was exhausted. I did offer to drive, but Lon never likes to sit in the passenger seat, especially on long trips.

June 16, 2016

I'm sitting up on the rocks above Navajo Bridge (dam), waiting for the fanfare of the rising sun to paint the cliffs vermilion with purple shadows. The quiet is a blanket, wrapping me round, filling my soul to overflowing with a pervasive peace. Then, up from the bridge on an errant dawn breeze wafts these words: “YOU'RE AN IDIOT!” (Jessa trying the echo thing from the dam bridge.)

The sun etches purple shadows into the ocher, filling the tablelands with an astonishing pallet of colors. My head is so full of the big silences—the soughing of the wind, the sun-drenched rocks, the rays lancing through the eggshell-edged mountains, delicate as robin's egg in the wash of dawn light. The sage-tufted hills dream like a chenille throw. The flat tablelands spread with a misty blue cloth in the distance, colors not yet harshened by their grueling taskmaster, the sun. It's a solitary homage, a worshiping of the wind-smoothed rock, an admission of God's hand in all things. But solitary.
We went up to Utah one way, but ended up driving clear through Dixie National Forest (a place I don't remember ever going before) to go up the other way so we could get to New Harmony, my editor's parents' place. I got to talk to her while Hubs napped and the kids got to ride in the dune buggy. Linda was so nice! We're totally kindred spirits. We hashed out a few more details and I was able to talk to her about details of our contract.
After that we went to Scipio to the mercantile. The little old man there told me he'd like more SUNRISE OVER SCIPIO books to sell (and his wife wants to read it since he sold the last copy out from under her.) I bought a red plate and lavender vase.

We got to the Hub's parents' kind of late. We'd stopped for burgers already, so we talked for a while. Then I had to do more corrections for SUMMERHOUSE. Linda had such nice things to say about me and my writing. It totally made up for having to stay up late and be exhausted the next day...:o)

June 17, 2016  

We drove up to Rexburg to fetch H. It was so green and lush, crops spread across the rolling hills, the round circles of sprinklers blowing out a profusion of water. So much water! Rainbows of it. Creeks of it. Every corner taken up in green growing things.
When we got up to Rexburg, silly H had just left to go donate plasma. We had to wait for almost two hours for him to come home. In that time we had a chance to short sheet his bed, turn all his pictures upside down, and do a bunch of editing on SUMMERHOUSE. We also got to know H's last mission comp/roommate. He was quite nice and entertaining. He offered everyone a soda and tried to feed us, but we declined in the hopes that H would be back any time, and not wanting to devour all their food.

Finally H came home and we left. Oh how I have missed him. I couldn't hug him enough. He was so busy with homework, though. And everyone else was packed in like spoons in a silverware drawer around us, so I couldn't ask how he is really doing. 
We went down a different way, through Logan this time. In fact, we stopped at Logan temple and took pictures. What a gorgeous, peaceful place, even on the outside.

We got back to the Hubs' parents in Morgan UT kind of late after having a burger or chicken or something. I did more work on the book and then went to bed.

Next installment: tomorrow