Day Of Rest Before Moving On - (Monticello, UT)

After our lengthy hike yesterday, we just wanted to sit back and relax in our wonderful location.

It was a beautiful morning and our loungers were calling.

Ah, the silence and the nature.  It was nature appreciation day.

I watched the ground squirrels scampering about, the rabbits playing on the rocks, the birds flying by.  It was quiet enough to hear a pebble move as a lizard went by the chairs.

I recalled yesterday's hike and the various smells of the desert on my fingertips as I stroked the sagebrush, pinched the ends of the junipers, and rubbed together the needles of the pinion pines.  All natural aromas that just create an even more memorable connection to our time here.

Today we had our first hummingbird of the season on our window feeder.  And I found a ground squirrel family.

I sat above them on the rocks for several minutes waiting for them to pop out for a picture.  How cute is that?  :)

It was a perfect morning.

A little later, Ara & Spirit arrived.  Ara had emailed us about parking in our spot here on BLM land when we leave.  Since we decided to stay an extra day, we told him to come on and join us for our last night.

Tomorrow he will shift into a more suitable position, but for today, his spot along side us wasn't too bad.  :)

Later in the day, the wind picked up and we got sandblasted a bit.  But it passed and we made plans to have dinner at our place.

Linda grilled some tilapia and Chef Ara whipped up some peas and a rice dish.  Another fine meal out here in the middle of nowhere.  :)

It looked like some additional weather was approaching, so Linda and I packed up the outside stuff for our journey tomorrow.  We will be leaving here and making a stop for a few days in Pagosa Springs, Colorado.

We are going to do the hook-ups thing and we are looking forward to it.  But we have to say there is definitely more boondocking in our future.

Our solar panels are pumping in over 100 amp hours per day into our batteries.  It would be even more if we could maintain ideal conditions for the full day.

Well, goodbye Utah.  It has certainly been a pleasure, and we look forward to exploring more of your beauty in the future.  :)

Yes, it was a day of rest ... and a day of appreciation for so many of the aspects that make up this wonderful lifestyle we are so lucky to live.  :)

Comments

[Alan Howeth]

A day of rest and relaxation is a good thing every now and again. Sounds like you enjoyed it immensely. Travel safe tomorrow.

[J.C. Webber III]

Howard, you verbally paint a picture that helps me remember fondly our time in Arches and Moab, too. We will definitely be making other trips to Utah during our full-timing lifestyle. What a great place. What a great life!

[Two Wise Ones]

The Needles is one of our favorite places in the whole wide world. Even when we did hikes that started out as short and ended up long... just like yours :)

I can recall one Thanksgiving when my contacts froze cause it went down to 16 degrees. So cold that we were unable to make our morning coffee. Our 3-4 mile Chessler Park hike turned out to be over 10 miles. We returned via Elephant hill with monster caffeine headaches. Oh how we love the Needles :)