may 20.  we spent the previous day languishing in the deserts of california and nevada, finally making it to utah, where many gas stations carry mormon literature.  it’s true.  and we stayed in beaver, utah, at a friendly and ridiculously nice smelling KOA there.  and i did a lot of laundry.  and found cabela’s catalogs for Stinky to flip through in his search for an air soft gun.  oh, did i not mention that?  the primary reason Stinky agreed to fly out to california to drive with his crazy sister across the country was to buy an air soft gun.  you must think i’m exaggerating, and i wish i were!  but it was constant, from may 18 onwards- “can we stop at that sports outfitter store?? it looks like it might have air softs.”  and my answer was always “not ’til we hit a cabela’s.”  and we did in colorado, but Stinky was asleep and none the wiser, plus i noticed it too late and dammit i am NOT turning this car around and wasting precious minutes during my journey because there will be another cabela’s.  we’ll talk more about that later.  but back to may 20th:

i felt bad for Stinky from the 18th-19th, because i thought i could swing by yosemite and give the co-pilot some place to romp around in, but sadly, i hit the wrong entrance.  the entrance that’s still heavily snowy in mid-May.  but driving in the mountains was pretty?  pretty and terrifying at times, because you lose count of the number of “runaway truck ramps” and start to wonder if they make such ramps for little corollas.

but on the 20th, after we pitched our tent in the red red sand of moab, utah, i finally felt like the little bro was having fun.

we met an older woman who was also traveling solo.  from california.  she was a talkative lady, yes she was.  and loved the fact that i was driving on my own, just like her.  (i told her i had done the first half of my trip w/o anyone).  she told me about the 16 year old girl who recently set sail around the world.  and that she was “following” the girl (i think she meant by blog?).  so folks- i know that since then, the girl was flown out of the waters somewhere near australia.  sad i guess.  but hey, everything’s for a reason.  i bet this nice older woman would be sad, though, to hear it.  and wherever she is, i hope she’s safe.  and that maybe she’s reading this!  bc i definitely gave her my blog address.  it’s what you do on road trips like this.  but we had to be on our way, because it was getting to be late afternoon (note: in the desert, avoid doing things in midday heat), and we wanted to see some of the park, because we had to leave in the morning.  so off we drove.  annnd,

i mean, i’m boring.  i can have fun just by taking in some sights like that.  just kinda chill, have a seat, and a look see.

see that? amazing.

add to that the fact that i’m easily amused.  and that was good.  but there was a 13 year old on this trip, too!  you can’t just take a few pictures, write your name on them, and expect all to be right with the world.  silly goose.

no, you’ve gotta fling rocks at other rocks.  he actually did this for about an hour.  and i have a few minutes of video of him doing that.  sadly, i sound like an idiot and refuse to put that video up.  i sound like an idiot here too, but i’m willing to allow it.  i like the following video because it gives you an idea of the scope of one of these arches.  huge!  this was when we first got to the base of one.  we saw another nearby, but it was momentarily being swarmed by a busload of asian tourists.  so Obviously, we had to move on.  so move on we did.  and then i sat down.  i have this tendency.  of sitting.  i like sitting.  it works.  it also makes for a relatively steady hand when videotaping.

we stayed at the park til nearly dark.  i wanted to stay longer, but sadly, this was when i had only one functioning headlight, and i was paranoid about things like cops and tickets.  oh and safety.  so we walked down a little stretch of town for fun, where i reaffirmed that moab, utah, is a solid hippy town.  with cowboy leanings.

thankfully, i’m happy with my own boots and don’t need overpriced “vintage” ones to be a happy camper.  i like my boots.  and i made great use of them during my trip.  honestly pretty practical, esp. because i have pansy feet that end up with far too many bug bites, so having boots = no bites.  i wore them out; i think they need to be re-heeled.

hat.  that is one step i have not taken, and probably won’t unless i become a bona fide farmer or something.  besides, i wouldn’t know how to pull of a hijab with a Hat.  without looking like a tool.  tool being a relative term.

besides, this store was way overpriced, and

oooh.  this was tough to put down.  i picked it up, walked around with it.  bit my lip.  then shook myself out of it, told myself i was on a budget, and put the book back down.

besides, i had all of colorado and kansas up next on the roster!  cowboy country is not limited to a borderline hippy town in utah.  nor is it limited to the west.  i would take the tangent to tell you about my recent dealings with cowboys and girls in virginia, but it’s getting late and i need to end this post.  there are far too many pictures and now you’re spoiled.

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