The travels of the Rambling Roses: Thursday , June 13. Day of recovery.

I decided to take the day off, considering the events of yesterday, and the 30 mph headwinds today. My legs are still stiff and sore from the cramping, and we are in the most beautiful place on earth, so why not enjoy it. We went over to the Hatch River Adventures headquarters, which is right where we are staying, just to say hello to a couple of our guides. Then we had three egg omelets at the Cliff Dwellers restaurant. Breakfast was followed by an afternoon spent lounging at Lee's Ferry, which is a piece of the Colorado River that is accessible by car, where all the rafting trips put in. We took chairs down to the water and spent the afternoon watching tomorrow morning's rafting trips set up. We learned a lot about how the boats were transported, assembled, and loaded. Whenever we got hot watching, we just dunked ourselves into the clear, 45 degree waters of the river. We saw an otter swim by, and fish jumping. The forecasted temperature was 101, but it was only about 95 by the water. A very relaxing day, although it was a little windy, gusts to 34 mph, and the gnats loved Pam. After a nice supper, my legs feel better, but not great by any means. I'm gonna try to tone things down a little tomorrow, hopefully the wind will cooperate, but I heard that my destination is about 7000 ft, and I'm at 4000 now. I'm going to go three miles back down the road to where Pam scraped me up, and try this again.
A little excitement occurred during the evening hours. On the way home from our day at the beach, we saw a wreck, a flipped pick up truck and cargo trailer, right about where I blew up yesterday. As we were eating, police lights pulled up to Cliff Dwellers and blocked off the road. A life flight helicopter landed on the road right in front of us, and hauled a guy out of his RV, and took him away. We heard that he had fallen while hiking in Utah, which is about an hour north of here, and broke his leg. I guess he tried to drive and only made it as far as us before he couldn't go on. Crazy hikers! Also our waiter told us about the last time they had so much action here. I guess the actor, Dennis Hopper, owned the cliffs behind Cliff Dwellers, and one night, for kicks, he called the police and reported an accident when there was none. When the cops arrived he lit four car tires on fire, and rolled them from the top of the cliffs, down at the police. It happened at night, so the flaming tires were quite a spectacle. I don't know if this is true or not, but it was a great story, and Dennis Hopper was a pretty bizarre character, so.....

Glen Canyon Recreation Area - Lee's Ferry

Colorado River at the Lee's Ferry boat launch

When we first arrived, this was the only boat in the water. When we left, it was filled from the far boat all the way to where we stood to take this picture!