Dear Isaac, Maia, and Virtual Wanderers,

Today is my mama’s 106th birthday. My trip planning included some time in Wyoming to honor her childhood and family roots. Today, we got close but were still in Utah all day. We did spend part of a day in Wyoming, but not today. However, Mama was on my mind all day. I miss her. Has it really been 43 years?

This day was a day of new territory. I don’t think I have ever driven Jensen to Vernal then north on 191 to Flaming Gorge. If I had, then I saw it with new eyes this day. The weather shifted to rain – it was still light when we left Dinosaur. I stopped at the Visitor’s Center for a few tokens, then to Vernal. On 191, we climbed and climbed. Perhaps the fog made it more surreal than I remember. There were signs by the road with the geologic information related to dinosaur formations. I remember how green it looked. There were several places I would have liked to have stopped if it had not been raining.

We were nearly to the campground and I decided to stop for lunch at the Flaming Gorge resort – because this would be my real meal of the day. It was good – I ate too much plus dessert. I also stopped at the little store at the dam. When we arrived at the campground called Mustang Ridge, which was fairly heavily forested, it was raining more heavily. I hitched the girls where they could be under the table while I set up camp.

Once again, we waited in the tent for the rain to pass. I fed the dogs, made soup, and set Koko’s tracker for the safe zone. We took a short walk down to the water – I wanted to hike all the way but it was wet so we drove to the parking lot. Not many miles logged on foot this refreshingly cool day.

Love ya’all, Cathy Hartt (Grandma Hartt)