Headed South

After leaving the McKnights we took care of many last minute tasks to secure our home for the winter and headed South on November 18th. On the way to Utah we had our token breakdown for the trip. After leaving the rest stop south of Tremonton the step failed to retract. A freeway repair was not possible and the problem was later diagnosed but a part was not found to fix it until we reached Las Vegas. The first stop was to visit the families in Utah. We parked at the O'Donnal's for a visit and then went to visit Leon and Chrissy as they were also making last minute preparations for a trip to Europe early Friday morning. We took Brendon with us overnight and went to visit Laurie. It was strange to go to the Ockey home and find no one home but Laurie. She needed help with a couple of Daddy-do's. Later that day we did get to see more of the family and Dad was very pleased when Breanne had saved him some of her delicious peanut butter and chocolate candy she had made. (Dad loves Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and some time ago he and Breanne made a batch together.) Toward afternoon a major snow storm was predicted to arrive Saturday and so we felt it best to try to get to St George that day. Laurie took Brendon a couple of days earlier than scheduled and we got blown all over the road all the way to St George, arriving late in the evening. We parked at Murray and Collene Taylor's home and spent the next couple of days visiting them and attending church. These were very close next door neighbors when we lived in Salt Lake City. On Sunday evening we went to Hurricane, Utah to visit Doug Shaw and his family. Doug was a mission companion of Dad's at the MTC in Provo prior to leaving for Brazil. Elder Shaw went to the South mission and Dad went to the North. We had an excellent dinner with Doug, his wife Alanea, his son and daughter-in-law, his daughter and three grandchildren. We reviewed pictures from the MTC and the mission field and crammed as much catching up as was possible into a couple of hours. It was a wonderful evening. On Tuesday Dad helped Murray get a slide scanner working at their stake family history center and Wednesday morning we headed for Mesquite, Nevada to meet up with the Liljenquists for Thanksgiving. The Liljenquists and Gardners left in early November and have been in the Overton area. This week the Gardner's had gone to California for Thanksgiving with Laurene's sister. The cold front that brought a major winter storm back home also brought unseasonably cold weather far south as well. Temperatures even in Las Vegas have been into the 20's at night and 30's to 40's in the daytime. I have said that my luck is such that if I went to Hell it would even freeze over! We had a nice traditional Thanksgiving dinner at the Eureka and enjoyed bowling at the Virgin River. We camped at the Casa Blanca where they have a beautiful pond and waterfall out front. On Friday we went on an adventure with Gene and Lynn to the southeast of Mesquite to see a giant sinkhole called Devil's Throat and some rock formations called Whitney Pockets. We then wound along a primitive road through parts of Arizona up over a mountain pass with snow on the road and back to Mesquite after dark. On Saturday we drove to Overton where we attended church on Sunday and on Monday waited until afternoon to meet Dave and Laurene. They and the Liljenquists are leaving motor homes in storage and going back to Idaho together until after Christmas. After a brief greeting when the Gardners arrived and a farewell we headed for a campsite in the Valley of Fire Nevada state park. Tuesday we toured the Valley of Fire. It is a varied and beautiful area typical of Southern Utah. We did the hikes to Mouse's Tank and around the White Domes where remnants of a set from the movie "The Professionals" exists. We then drove down the Northshore Road into Las Vegas where we found a Wal-Mart off the Boulder Highway across from Sam's Town to camp. That Tuesday evening we went to visit another of Dad's mission companions, Jim Bohne and his wife Diane. He and Dad served five months together in the city of Campinas and were very close companions. Again it was difficult to cram so much catch-up history into a two-hour visit but we reviewed all of Dad's mission pictures from Campinas and thoroughly enjoyed the time as we learned that in two months they will be leaving to serve a mission in the Czech Republic. On December first we toured the Lake Mead Parkway from Henderson around the lake shore to Hoover Dam. There we took the walkway over the just opened bridge over the gorge below the dam. It is a creepy feeling to walk out and look down 900 feet to the river below. That evening we had the unique experience of getting permission from a guard to enter a gated community and visit Laurie and Evan's daughter Kristina and her newlywed husband Jared in a lavish casita where they are living briefly until they return to Rexburg soon for Jared to finish school. It was fun to see them and we enjoyed our visit.