Wanderlust trumps gardens

As I have failed at my attempts to bi-locate, I have agreed to depart from my backyard garden oasis where I find daily solace for my heart to fulfill our wanderlust.  Writing while bumping along a ribbon of much-patched asphalt through the vast Navajo Nation in northern. Arizona, I am awed by the expanse of countryside startlingly punctuated by stupendous volcanic throats that soar ruggedly as stark vertical rock monoliths.

Dotted randomly at the base of sandstone cliffs, we pass by isolated primitive abodes, while in the distance through the dust-laden atmosphere march miles-long mesas seemingly inaccessible with their wind-sculpted cliffsides wrinkled by ages of rain that comes to that country seldom but violently.

This day of driving is our initiation into an anticipated six weeks of discovering what we might find during our explore in Utah, Wyoming and Colorado.  It was challenging to sort through and accomplish the myriad tasks that demanded our attention before being away for that extended period.  In the midst of it, though, I began to yearn for time outside beyond what town and garden could provide, so we took a jaunt over to Ferguson Valley to prop up my flagging psyche.

After a span of time bushwhacking through manzanita thickets and climbing up, down & sideways, I was refreshed and ready to tear into what remained to be done.  It positively fills my heart to be out exploring the incredible country in which we live.

Utah . . .

These photos as we approached the LaSal Mountains are notable primarily because we walked through nasty little sticker bushes in our sandels to get out there.

It has been a goodly amount of time since the postal service delivered mail at this lonely outpost.  Were it not for that sticker/sandeldust-up, I would have followed this long-unused track to see where it led.

This was a most impressive job of fence building - right up and over that solid rock face!

On my quest to keep a comprehensive bird list for this trip, I offer the few identified as we drove: turkey vulture, raven, red-shafted northern flicker, collared dove & a surprising bald eagle that flew right over us.