Friday Morning Hike

I went on Match before we left and every woman that lived in Moab that looked interesting, I emailed and said I needed somebody to work here and if that was an inappropriate email for a dating site I apologize but I don't know many people in town. When we get back there are phone calls from one housekeeper and two maintenance people willing to start on Monday. We shall see.

The Day is not Getting Better

We go to Mad Bro and the Kymco's aren't ready. Won't be ready any time soon. Maybe a month. They both need top ends. They've ordered parts and they take forever.

We go to the Hostel to see if we can find somebody that needs a job. They give me grief because Jax isn't on a leash. I saw one sign and it said "No unaccompanied kittens allowed." Or something like that. I open the door, Jax walks in, guy says, "That your dog." I say "Yes." He says "Can't be in here." I put Jax outside and ask the guy if he knows anybody that needs a job. He says "Sometimes." I say "Would now be one of those times?" He says "Maybe." I give him my info and ask him to call if sometimes shows up.

As we're coming down the Base Camp side of Hurrah there's a nasty yank to the left and we've blown a tire. Our first flat since switching to this brand of tire. Probably eight years or so but we for sure have one now and we're out of vehicles. Zero for five.

A side by side comes by and has room for one. I ask them to give Linny a ride and tell Linny to go to the next door hogan and or boat dock and see if there are any vehicles lying around. She calls on the walkie and says she has a Kawasaki side by side and she's on the way to get Jax and I. While Jax and I are waiting, it's quiet, and stunning, as the sun begins setting.

It takes a couple trips to get the $300 in groceries back to the lodge before they go bad. I call Nations and talk to Chris and tell him we're in serious doo-doo. He says he's on the way. Jax and I drive back up with tools to wait for Chris while Linny feeds all the critters and Kobae who is acting weirder than ever.

Maybe Chris can't make it. Jax and I drive to the top of Hurrah where I have phone reception. I call Nations they say Chris has left and is on his way. It's nice sitting on top of the pass. We have a lot of issues today down below but there aren't any up here.

We meet Chris after dark on top of Hurrah. He heads down the pass and by the time Jax and I get there he's about done changing the tire. We leave the truck and he takes off in front of us. When I pull into Base Camp the Jeep is running and he's got the Polaris apart working on that and five minutes later it's running. He probably would have been a little faster but he seemed a bit amazed as the raccoons, skunks, and foxes walked all around us while we were at the vehicles. I showed him how everyone gets fed every night and he was pretty impressed. Me too. We have three vehicles running.

Chris heads home. Linny, Jax, and I head up and get the truck, then return the side by side. When we get home it's 10:30pm. Jax and I left to go hiking around 6:30 this morning and there's been no break.

When all was said and done though, it was a good day, like they almost always are out here. The day had a little bit of everything but mostly there was magic. Never get tired of that.

Good night from the land of canyons.

A Place of Different People and Ghosts

Linny and I have been talking on our drive to town about all the work we have and we need help. We can only talk for a minute or two at a time because Jax has the farts and he's killing us. It's unbelievable the smell that comes out of that dog's butt sometimes. I can barely hold my breath long enough to survive with the windows down and the air going full blast. He looks at both of us each time like he doesn't know who did it.

I tell Linny we need somebody that can fix stuff creatively until we can get to town to buy parts and I know a place where those kinds of people live. Linny says "What kind of people?" I say "Gypsies, Hippies, Nomads, Wanderers, and when they aren't there the ghosts are everywhere." Linny says "Oh great. Just what I need. Can't we find some normal people?" I say "Normal compared to what? Probably just be the ghosts." Linny keeps staring at me. We pull in.

 Linny says "Tom, where are we? I've seen this movie. The people never get out alive. I'm serious. People that go into places like this die and they're never seen or heard from again." I say "Linny, I know these people. They're different but they are good people. We'll be ok."

"Linny says "Where are they? There's nobody here." I say "Almost every time I visit there's nobody here. The most people I've ever seen at one time is three. They come and go, they wander in and out, no way to know. Why would you want to know?"

As we're pulling out Linny says "I can't believe we're still alive." When we drive by the entrance three plus hours later on the way back from town our tire tracks are still the only ones going in or coming out. A day later it's the same.

Tuesday Hike and Stuff

A couple weeks ago I got an email that a friend who had started some youth soccer programs with us had passed. Then the news that Ron Newman the legendary coach of the San Diego Sockers was gone. Almost everything I learned about coaching indoor soccer I learned from Ron and hanging out at Socker's practices at our facility. The rest I got from Erich Geyer who visits here at the lodge most every year. I'm pretty sure I'm going to live forever but my friends are passing more frequently. I suppose it's possible I will too.

Jax and I step outside for our morning hike and there are two foxes lying down in the parking lot, asleep, waiting for a hot dog. I throw a couple out and as we walk down the driveway there are four mule deer eating just off the road.

Two side by sides are in getting top ends and yesterday the Polaris wouldn't start so I have no side by sides. Critters got Linny's Jeep when Jax was gone, the only vehicle hit this year. So, we're down to the truck. We have to find a maintenance person and we have to find somebody to replace Linny leaving in less than three weeks and I guess it would be prudent for me to find somebody that could fill in for me should something happen until Linny or Heather want to run the place someday. I've had very little luck with locals, who aren't really locals, just people that were passing through Moab and never left. They're good for a couple weeks but work ethic isn't what it use to be.

On Monday Jen who use to work with me at Let's Play showed up. Haven't seen or heard from her in maybe five years. On Monday morning Jen, her dog, Jax and I go hiking and we talk. I offer her Linny's job with potential for more. She's a proven winner and I know her work ethic. She'll think about it. I tell her I'm going to keep looking so let me know when you know.

I'm running down Hurrah and I'm making good time when two people show up on electric bicycles coming down. We talk, and talk, and my best time slips away.

I know a place, little bit weird, where all kinds of creative people hang out and sometime they have concerts out of the blue. It's a little bit Woodstock and a whole bunch of ThunderDome. Maybe I can get a maintenance person and a house cleaning person. We'll check it out when Linny, Jax, and I go to town later to get critter food and check on the Kmyco's to see if either one is ready.

Kobae in the Rain

Usually Kobae starts his daily hikes right at the end of August. Two years ago it was Aug 22. Last year September 1st. Linny and I know it's any day now so one of us puts boots on and grabs a pack right after we let him out just in case he takes off down the driveway. On Sunday he came out, ate a little and then just laid in the kitchen door as usual performing his security guard duties.

It began raining just a little, then picked up, then we got a downpour and of course Kobae stood right up and picked this time to go hiking. Down the driveway he headed. Linny got her rain gear on, grabbed a walkie and headed off with him. As they disappeared down the driveway in the pouring rain Jax kept looking at me like "Aren't we going?" When I said "No." he processed that we weren't going and took off the down the driveway in the rain to catch Linny and Kobae.

I walked out on the porch about ten minutes later and here they all came back up the driveway with Kobae chasing Jax and Linny waterproofed. Jax doesn't like getting wet so he ran in the living room and started doing his crazy dry off dance all over the furniture and carpets and Linny and Kobae not far behind.

The Evolution of Chairs

I found a chair that I can carry in my back pack when I go hiking with Kobae. There's no rocks to sit on if we're hiking to the Wind Caves so I take my put together in 30 seconds chair and it looks like this.

Then we found these pretty cool beach chairs that have roofs on them to keep the sun off and you can read while you're hanging at the beach. They look like this.

Then last week Linny and I were in town and we went into this second hand store looking for some bait for fishing. On the way out we both noticed this unique chair and I smiled at each other. We went to Village Market and got groceries and then it was time to head back to Base Camp. I turned the engine on and looked over at Linny and she was looking at me. She said "You know what we have to do right?" I said "Go back and get the chair." Then we did and it looks like this.

Together, when all are occupied it looks like this.

Two Trains Loop

First Day Back: Doing His Job

Return of Jax

Security Tortoise: Doing His Job