pondering and I rolled out to investigate. Well, crawled out. Rolled out is a no-no for the overcab sleeper. The sound was coming from the outside. Opened the door to a crystalline blue sky and a brightly colored hot air balloon moving serenely by. The kafoosh, of course was the burner going off and on. Snapped a couple of pics as it drifted down and out of sight. Since we're in the middle of nowhere, hard to figure where it came from or was landing. Breakfasted and out to take on the Panorama trail to Panorama Point. No breeze today, so fairly hot slogging across ravines and hills to the Point, which is a mound of earth high enough to give a good view of the west end of the park. Back to the rig, buttoned everything up, and off to Escalante.
Stopped in Cannonville in a little park to have lunch, surrounded by dozens of local high-schoolers celebrating "Cindy"'s birthday. Ther was a certain innocence of spirit that reminded me of my Modesto days many years ago, and which seems quite lacking in Los Angeles teens.The drive to Escalante is along highway 12, which is designated a scenic highway for good reason. Spectacular views at every turn, and we stopped often. Arrived at Escalante State Park, checked in, and took off to the adjacent town to get groceries and precious fluids which, again thanks to Utah laws, can't be bought in the same place. The produce section at the only grocery store was all of six feet long --- for everything! But, surprizingly, we got
excellent tomatoes, strawberries, and bananas. Back at the park we found the entrance blocked by five trailer rigs that were traveling together and all checking in at the same time. Killed the engine and sat for 20 minutes. Serenity, now. Then, 35 minutes of crawling behind on the single lane road as each one made multiple attempts to fit into its space. Bottled serenity, NOW! Once installed at our site, we found the park quite nice. It's at 5,500 feet, with grass instead of grit, and a 145 acre lake. Took four blocks high in the front to get level. Chicken-veggie-noodle stir-fry for dinner, washed down by the last of Paul's wines, an Adelaida Rhone-style blanc. Oh, yes.
Leges, Pablo. A great station out of Logan is playing good soft rock mixed with old standards -- Tony Bennett, Sinatra, etc. Might as well finish the bottle as we're well beyond half way. Serenity achieved. Life is good. About 10:00 we made our way through the dark down to the pier on the lake. We had it to ourselves, and a full moon was rising behind and through some low cowboy clouds, with the rest of the sky clear. Absolutely beautiful, silent night. A magical moment. Then, "Marrrrroooooouh." "Marrrrrooooough." Ah, the haunting bellow of the night-cow, floating across the lake from some pasture over thataway. We burst out laughing. Talk about a spellbreaker. To bed.FRIDAY Cat active all night. Going to have to keep her moving more during the day. Escalante
is the home of a petrified forest, so we're off on the trail to view the ancient wood. Pretty neat stuff. Some pieces even show the growth rings, all in minerals, of course. Hiked for a while with a nice young couple from Germany who are touring the west in a rented RV. After finishing the hike, we rode the bikes over to the Interagency (BLM, National lparks, Forest SErvice, etc) Center in the town. Very nice displays including some microscope stations for examining the cyanobotic structures in the local rock. Very neat. Son Mike, the geologist, would like this. Loafed the rest of the afternoon and watched a large group of Dads and Sons (all of whom seemed to be about 5 years old) move in and set up tents. At least four of them had bright red hair. Took advantage of the stellar bath facilities here to take a liesurely shower with plenty of hot water. Utah State Parks appear to be very well run and have excellent bathroom and shower facilities, even heated for night or cold weather use. Sinach, cheese and tomato omelets for dinner tonight, with half a bottle of cab that we had been sitting on for too long. Logan is plaing Nat King Cole, etc, so all is well. No moos. Loni trounced me in gin rummy. ZZZ.SATURDAY Up at 6:30, off the blocks, dump tanks, and into Escalante for provisions. Out again on fabulous highway 12. DO take this road. Loni declines the generous offer to drive the serpentine, corkscrew descent through beautiful canyons. She gets to sit shotgun and peer over the dropoffs on that side. We only go about 15 miles from Escalante and pull into the Calf Creek BLM campground. We were alerted to this by a guidebook that said the waterfall hike was great.
The campground is tiny -- only 13 spaces -- placed on both sides of Calf Creek with a submerged roadway through the Creek. We had to ford over it to get the only available spot, # 7, which was quite fine. I walked back to pay the fee, casually disregarded the warning sign at the ford: "extremely slippery due to moss," and proceeded to pirouette my way across. Nothing damaged but dignity, which already was in short supply. We took off on the hike to Lower Calf Creek Falls, six miles round trip. Despite the sandy slogging on much of the trail, this is a gorgeous hike, with steep walls that look like a sandstone Yosemite with multiple half domes. The falls were worth the effort. 126 feet high spilling down a mossy cliffside. It was at least 25 degrees cooler in the waterfall cleft, and with a steady breeze generated by the water. The Dads and
Boys from Escalante were all here as well, and kudos to those kids for toughing out the slogging trail. Lunch (nuts and apple) at the falls, then back to the rig for some down time. Stretch out on one of the couches and continue my reading of McCulloug's "1776," an account of the early days of the Revolution, focusing on George Washington. It's a miracle this country ever got birthed with all of the bad decisions being made by you-know-who. Dinner is sticky rice-ham-corn-bell pepper-broccoli hash. Trust me. It tasted much better than it sounds, and matched quite well, thank you, with a Heineken. No cows along the Calf Creed, just the sound of rushing water to . . . zzzzzzzzz.
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