New Rules

Man, the air in an air mattress sure turns cool when the temperature drops! We woke to 34 degrees, although woke may be a stretch since sleeping was inconsistent as we snuggled and moved around to sat warm. Donnie can't sleep on his left side because his shoulder aches, and I can't sleep on my right because my hip stiffens up - how old did we get :)!!!! Anyway, it's hard to spoon for warmth that way.

We made an agreement before we started this journey that to do it as inexpensively as possible we would camp UNLESS it was below 40 degrees, above 95 degrees, or raining. In summary, in the past two nights we have violated 2 of our 3. Donnie thinks we should add the exception of no camping above 5000 feet elevation but since we don't seem to follow our original rules, why make more? I was always that educator and parent who said not to make rules we can't or won't enforce :)

Now that I'm done whining from lack of sleep, let's get on with the day. We were set to finish our final Bryce mission. We had a two seated ATV reserved for a three hour tour of the plateau. I was thinking it may be too cold but we pushed on. Although it was not quite 50 degrees when we got there it was a clear blue sunny morning. The owner checked us out, had us sign the waiver, gave us a map, and sent us off. The trails were fairly easy to follow and took us up, down, and through some great countryside with views of the red canyon. We had the trails almost all to ourselves by going in the morning and saw pronghorn, prairie dogs, and cows :). It warmed up nicely and was definitely a morning well spent (plus we rocked those helmets!)






After a quick picnic lunch in the Red Canyon, we were headed north through most of Utah so we can reach our second Utah destination, Promontory, assigned by Joe Calhoun. We know we can't get there today so will take our drive time to explore.

We did a drive through tour of Salt Lake City. It doesn't feel like a metropolitan location, and downtown traffic was nill even at 4:30 in the afternoon. We then headed out to Antelope Island for a close look at Great Salt Lake. It is a desolate place but the birds don't seem to mind. When you walk on the sand you can literally see and hear the salt crystals crunch under your feet. The sand looks darker in some places and as you approach those places it MOVES in a wave. They are tiny dark bugs in swarms. It was a little freaky but they don't bother you. It was a little fun to make them do the wave.






We traveled about another hour and set up camp just as the sun was setting over a lake and it was still 80 degrees! It is going to be some great sleeping tonight.



Stats:

358 miles
ATV rental $133.75
Gas $50.75
Ice $2.05
Camping $9


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