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	Utah/Nevada continued... Unfortunately, we hit some bumpy air and the cockpit was a little warm, so Kathy, who had flown relief missions in The Democratic Republic of Congo in the same type of plane, ended up not feeling well at all. Nothing like being next to someone loosing breakfast while you're trying to enjoy the scenery. Her son did fine but she just had a bad combination of something. Poor lady. She recovered after a bit and everything was okay. After several passes around the valley, we began our trip back to Bryce airport. The cloud cover just out of Monument valley was hovering around 10,000' so we got a closer look at the ground. I can now appreciate flying rather than driving to see Monument Valley. That place is ridiculously huge, akin to Death Valley big. Plus there were many dirt roads you'd have to drive to see many things and some you couldn't even drive to. Flying was definitely the best option to see Monument valley because you get to enjoy the scenery from a different perspective and you got to see it all, in 360, in a short while. Highly recommended! Heading in toward Bryce Canyon, we ran into some really rough air and it took poor Kathy out. For a moment I thought her shoes had landed in the bag she was hurling so badly. No recovery for your grace with that one. It was fun landing at the airport because there was such a left-to-right cross wind that the pilot lined up to the left of the runway and drifted straight in with the slide of the wind already compensated for. He really did know what he was doing because it was effortless. Tipped Lance $20 for his effort, the plane ride costing $265, not too bad. Took my leave of Chris and poor Kathy at 12:30pm. Tore out of there and fueled up at Ruby's Inn for $2.19/gallon. Seems the price in this part of Utah is almost exactly the same. Headed north on SR-12, blowing past things I'd seen yesterday and on to more interesting things. Stopped at a few interesting overlooks and such but nothing was exciting until Escalante and then only to see an old cabin. Each town in this part of Utah is spaced about one every thirty miles, designed to be a one day horse ride, according to Lance. Makes sense back in the day. Tried to send a New Years wish to everyone back home but the cel signal just wouldn't connect through. Crap! I found the turn-off for Hell's backbone around 3pm and headed out toward it. It's about 14 miles off the main road and not too bad to get to. It was actually worth the drive to see the construction of that old road through some unbelievably rough country. The bridge is perched up on a high hill, straddling to crevasses leading to deep gorges and stunning valleys. I even walked under the bridge and looked at the old bridge work. Kind of scary walking on it next to 100' drops on either side. Getting my fill of that, it was time to get going as the day was wearing on. Made it to Boulder, hoping for a place for dinner. Nothing will be open until March for that sort of thing. The lady at the gas station I arrived at 5 minutes before closing related that I'd have to travel to Torry to find anything to eat or a place to stay. And it was over Boulder mountain, it was getting late and I'd better get going. Got about half way up and it started snowing on the mountain while darkness fell. Not too badly but enough to make things interesting. Got down to the town of Torrey right around 6:30pm, just in time to make it to the Wonderland Inn for dinner and a place to stay. Room - $40 and a great trout dinner, $14. Heading out to the Patio, some place just outside of town to see if there's anything interesting going on for New Year's Eve. The Patio was probably the only place in Wayne county that had anything accessible and vaguely exciting going on. Met Lorien, Mark and Beth who kept me entertained for the evening. After seeing how thrilling the place wasn't, I'm once again glad I don't live in a small town at this stage in my life. It was entertaining enough, though a stupid drunk cowboy found it necessary to come over to us and play quarters. Geeze, they're all the same. You don't need a college reason to drink on New Year's Eve. Fortunately, DD cowboy was pretty far gone already so it didn't take but a couple rounds before he crawled back to the table where his wife was. Apparently, watching the New Years ball drop in Manhattan is the defining event all across the country. Had maybe four light beers, unlike the barkeep and the rest of the people there. After a tiny bit of dancing, we all headed over to Lorain's house in Bicknell, a hotbed of excitement. We suffered through the movie Ghost Ship which left everyone except me sleeping and once the movie was over, they all woke up and sat there with some thin conversation. It appeared that they all wanted to stay up 'till dawn, but I'd already paid for my room at the Wonderland Inn, so I bid them adieu at 4am. Gah. With the big blow and snowstorm that ripped through that night, the roads were quite icy so it was a 4wd all the way back. Didn't want to end up in a ditch when I was practically asleep. Got to the room and crashed out until 8am. Whoa, going to pay for that one. January 1, 2006 Sunday Gathered my gear and convinced a family from South Africa that they didn't need to put on snow chains to drive 200 yards on quickly melting ice to make it to the road. Headed for Capitol Reef National Park. Capitol Reef NP was quite a fun place, too bad I'd "partied" most of the night and missed the morning light. Drove into the park and enjoyed the spectacular views. At sunrise or sunset, this place has to be awesome. Didn't shoot that many shots because I didn't have a lot of time to hike up the various trails. Did get to the pioneer register, a place in the sandstone in the Capitol Gorge at the drivable end of the park. Quite fascinating to see all the names scribed into the wall from as early as 1888 (?). Also did the short hike to the Capitol Tanks, huge depressions in a sandstone wash were water collected. Unfortunately the biggest one was covered in over 10" of ice, so I couldn't ascertain how deep it was. Tried to break through the ice but to no avail. Got back to the truck, drove along and took a few scenic grab shots on the way out. Drove a short distance east to the Petroglyphs along SR-24 and shot those with greater satisfaction. Used the polarizer to cut the glare off the rock and got some excellent shots with the 80-400. At least at the allowable distance - you couldn't get closer to them without being busted. Headed on to Hanksville, a nothing place at the junction of SR-24 and SR-95 where I had dinner and refueled. This far out, you don't skip fueling when you have the chance, even to top off. Got to the Hite town overlook on SR-95 where I slept for the night in the truck. The tent might have been more comfortable but with a stiff wind blowing, maybe not. Didn't want to get blown off the cliff there. The town of Hite was a former uranium boom town, now merely a storage and refuel station for the Colorado. January 2, 2005 Monday Got up at the crack of dawn and took some snaps of the Dirty Devil and Colorado River bridges and had a fun time throwing rocks. Finally made it to Natural Bridges National Monument around noon and poked around. I filled up my water jugs at the drinking water pipe but I think the water was contaminated because I spent several times trying to toss my shoes out my mouth. Not fun. Went to see all three bridges anyway. Made for slow going but with the mean overhead light with a thin veil of clouds, I knew I wasn't going to get any Pulitzers on this one. 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