Kane Creek Saturday

Teresa went to town Saturday and emailed me the creek was fixed by Clark and dry. Four hours later guests trying to check in send me this and said they weren't coming.

I called Teresa and told her might want to stay in town but ten minutes later people pulled up and said the creek was muddy but very passable. I called Teresa back who had a truck load of groceries and said I'd meet her there. She got through fine and said there was some other folks that might need help so I crossed the creek. They said they'd come down Lockhart Basin and got three flats but they were just fixing the last one and thought they'd be good to go so Jax and I headed back to Base Camp. Guests checked out this morning (Sunday), emailed me and said they watched a couple people go through and just did what they did and it was fine.

Kane Creek

Thursday guests from Germany were checking out and there had been a lot of rain around us though we got almost nothing. Still figured I escort them up and down Hurrah and check the creek out. This is what I found. In the second picture I'm driving the white truck, get across go back and get the guest's rental, then back again to drive the side by side across that Teresa drove so we can get it in to be worked on. Truck got across no problem working around a stuck side by side. Hiked back through it, got the guest vehicle right to the end and it had something called positraction or something like that, slows the engine way down until the tires find traction. I was just about out when it kicked in and got me stuck a couple feet from the end where a Jeep tow trapped me out. Then I hiked back through the mud and Jax, Teresa, and I drove the side by side through.

Teresa dropped the side by side off at Mad Bro, we got errands done, and filled up the back of the truck with water and gas and that was my error. When we went back through the creek I got high centered on the hump before going into the creek with all the weight in the back but fortunately Clark showed up from the county and cleaned everything up and I got winched by a Jeep.

Sunset

Drive em Out

Guests schecking out the next day ask me to drive them up and down Hurrah Pass on their departure but weren't leaving until 8am. Meaning Jax and I could be hiking back under a brutal sun so the night before we drove the truck up to the balanced rock so we could drive part way back after getting to the bottom of the other side of Hurrah. Been thunderstorms most evenings but we're hardly gotten any rain. Mostly sprinkles. On our evening hike back from Hurrah Mother Nature lit things up for us.

Late July

There are days when we only have one or two out of eight units rented. Time to hike but with the temps still 100 most days you have to pick your spots to hike very far away.

Hardy ever see a tour boat go down the river. The water level is very low and I suspect anybody with a hull more than three or four feet below the water line is at risk. Still rafts, kayaks, and the like coming by most days.

The beach across the river shrinks every day while this side keeps getting larger. It goes all the way from the boat ramp, past the lodge, to within a hundred feet or so of the island.

It's a miracle but I finally got to finish The No Delay Cafe book that I started last year. Slowly time is opening up for me.

Toyota Corolla

Life

Jax and I got a hike in. Was nice. The landscape was really lit up. We started out was still over 100, been doing about 105 most days, had a 111 twice. Then the clouds came over which gather every afternoon and was all pleasant after that.

Jax always has to stand right on the edge. Always.

Usually one side or the other gets the beach but this year we both got one and a little island popped up in the middle as well.

Doug says he told the guys across the river $25 million take it or leave it. I assume they left it as I haven't heard from anybody. I assumed, wrongly maybe, that if I sold I'd have 10 to 15 million to work with. I went through Utah Real Estate and couldn't find a single thing in the whole state I liked in that price range. This place is special. It's been real quiet across the river. Most days two trucks. Rarely does anybody even shoot a weapon anymore and maybe saw two planes land all month.

Most days feed the birds, squirrels, and chipmunks at the three Breakfast at Tiffany's locations around 8am. Kobae comes out to eat on the front porch usually between 5 and 6pm. Right around 9:30pm the little people show up to the front porch. There are a couple families of raccoons, a few baby skunks, a baby ringtail, and a couple foxes that look even smaller than usual. The foxes are coming back but it takes a lot of work to make sure everybody gets a couple hot dogs so they keep returning.

Linny's Jeep

Linny's been out washing her Jeep and when she left still a little bit of Moab leftover.

The Journey

The beater, F-250 broke a leaf spring and I have no way to get it into town as it's too big for the trailer. So, I need the 4th truck back which is in San Diego and Linny's Jeep is here. I talk to Linda and we're going to each drive half way, roughly Mesquite, Nevada. The Jeep had a death wobble problem but seems to be gone so I take off around 5pm and Linda from San Digo closer to 10 or 11pm. The Jeep drives beautifully. When getting passed by semi's it gets knocked around a little as it's so light. 2006 Wrangler. I get off at the Mesquite exit and the rear end sounds horrible. By the time Linda gets there it's only an hour or so until the repair shops open so we take it in. I tell the guy about the problem and ask if he can take a look at it. He says "Yea" then walks away. I follow him and ask him what does "yea" mean. He says "What, I can't understand you." We're like three feet a part. I say "When can you take a look at it?" He says "today" and walks away. I'm waiting to go back to Moab and Linda can't go on to San Diego until it's fixed. I follow him again and say "When today?" and explain the situation. He says "Where you from? I can't understand you?" I say "Moab" He says "After I fix the tire on this truck." We leave to go do a couple deposits at the Wells Fargo down the street and when we get back it's on the lift. He comes over and says "U joint swallewed a cotter pin." I say "You got it." He says "I'm working on it." 30 minutes later he backs it out and says "About $100. I pay, Linda heads for San Diego I head for Moab. I pull in for gas at Beaver County Chevron. I get out to put gas in and a guy comes out and start's cleaning the truck windows. I say "I pull into a full service or something?" He says "You pulled into old school. Doing things the right way."

I'm driving along thinking what a nice day it is but having trouble staying awake with the three hours roughly of sleep I got. Linda calls and says she just got a death wobble and held on for dear life to get over to the side of the freeway.

Linda calls to say that she got pinned between a big semi on both sides of her and bounced around a lot almost getting driven into the next lane and run over.

I'm at a rest stop up in the moutains in the San Rafael Swell. Linda calls and says her phone just sent her a warning of bad weather and it's hailing hard, is pulled over on the side of the freeway but the freeway is flooded and she's getting pushed off the highway in the flood waters.

As I'm leaving the San Rafael Swell and getting close to Green River Linda calls to say, and sends me a picture, of a big yellow spider that came out of the air vent while she was driving. Crushed it with her shoe.

Wow, what a nice drive that was. Linda may not feel the same.

The Beach

The beach is massive this year. Going from a little bit north of the boat ramp all th

Last week up river at the Pot Ash Boat Ramp somebody drown and for two nights and three days SAR was out there searching. Going down to the beach had search boats going by and a helicopter flying up and down the river. At night a truck would sit up on Pot Ash Point with it's lights shining into the same spot on the river while they waited for a sighting. Lydia and Teresa were at the large garage and saw somebody at the boat house and went over to boot them but it was a SAR member watching the river for the body. We got him some binoculars and stayed out of it. Still going down to the river was a little eerie knowing at any moment he could come by.

A Wedding

We don't do weddings anymore unless they are very small. They are so much work and in most cases we're full anyway so it doesn't make sense. There's no upside and it's a lot of work. In this case a couple wanted to get married with a photographer and the same lady taking pictures will marry them also. That's pretty small. I said I'd take them around the property but the trip kept expanding and finally we were all the way to Chicken Corner. While they walked around random places on the journey Jax and I stayed in the shade.

They said they'd discuss it and the following day they pulled up with the photographer and said it was done.

Fish Bones?

Collin moved on a couple weeks ago and is working on some land he owns up north a bit. He's a good guy and I wish him well. Teresa has taken on some of his duties and I the rest. Lance came out to help on a couple coolers on the roof and as he was leaving he pointed off into the distance and said he use to find fish bones over there. For a couple days Jax and I walked around in the area where Lance pointed and we found something, I don't know what, but a lot of them.