3 weeks, 10 states, 4100 mile reset button

3 weeks, 10 states, 4100 mile reset button

We finally find ourselves back on Nymeria. We’ve been gone nearly eight months. The last three weeks of which has been a spiraling road-trip to get us here. What started as a simple need to get the truck from Utah to Texas turned into quite an adventure.

As we were planning the trip to get back to Texas we began to realize all the places we need to go see while we are in the area. So as part of the “just get back to the boat” we started adding stops. We love Durango, and miss our friends there so we had to add that. Well, while we’re in the area lets add a few days camping in the desert… OOh! We can spread some of The Bruce’s ashes somewhere “lost” in the desert while were there! That reminded us of of all the times we would come up to visit dad, or help him with some house work. As soon as we would arrive after a six hour dive, he would suggest we just jump in his car and head up to Jackson, or Sun Valley for the weekend. This is something we never did, so we added a few days each of those places to the now multiple week road-trip. Dad would also often mention brunch at the Stein Eriksen lodge there in Park City often enough that that became the beginning.

Once the house sale closed, we packed up the truck and left the house I grew up in for the last time. First stop, Stein Erikson Lodge for two nights of Park City style pampering. We reserved a suite with a private mountain view balcony and private hot tub. We spent two days living the “Park City” life. Fancy restaurants, pedicures, and lots of champagne in the hot tub.

From there the “real” trip started. Our first stop was Jackson, Wyoming. Dad has a special place in his heart for Jackson, so we wanted to see what it was like. Last time I was here I was too young to remember much. We hiked mountains, rented E-Bikes (OMG I WANT ONE), and wandered like tourists. We eventually found a perfect spot to leave some of The Bruce in a hidden spot high up on the Jackson Hole Ski Area.

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On to Sun Valley. A reasonable drive over the Tetons and we arrive in Ketchum Idaho. Another place Dad talked about. Though I suspect this has more to do with Candy, my Step-Mother, as this was a special place for her. We found the Pioneer Bar, the local haunt that Candy worked at over 40 years ago. Our main adventure here was to find a place up on the mountain for some of The Bruce as close to the spot were dad had put a small memorial for Candy. We had heard about where this spot was, but it was high on the mountain, and the lifts were not running. So we set off to see how high we could get. Eventually, about 5 miles up and nearly at the top we were stopped by snow. We still found a nice quiet out of the way spot and let some more ashes rest. Next on the itinerary was Reno to spend a few days with my mother. This was a good break to settle for a few days and gather our thoughts. Many conversations with Mom, some casino wandering and the wonderful views of Lake Tahoe filled our days in Reno. We had a quick stop in back in Salt Lake City for the night to break up the 18 hour dive to southern Utah.

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Moab, and the southern Utah desert is my center. I’ve been spending time there camping with Dad since as long as I can remember. Because we were not fully prepared to camp, Shannon found us these excellent little yurts called Glamping Canyonlands that gave us the best of both worlds. We got to escape people and hotels and live outside for awhile, but also had the comfort of a full bed and bathroom.

Because the desert is such a special place for my dad and I. I found it important to put most of The Bruce here. Shannon and I set off to find the place. We started by driving over an hour off into random BLM lands. Once we parked the truck we hiked in a random direction off into the desert. I didn’t know where the spot would be, but I knew two things about it. It was at least 10 minutes away from any sign of human, and I would feel it when we got there. Eventually we came across the spot under an overhang down some random wash in the middle of nowhere. We placed The Bruce, protected by the steel coffee pot he has been making camping coffee in my whole life.

The next few days were in Moab with Shannon’s family giving her mother Lois the tour of Monument Valley, Arches, and Canyonlands that has been on her bucket list for years.

Leaving the Utah desert, we made our way back to Durango. Our home for so many years. This place is Exactly the place I remember. We hit all our old haunts, hung out with as many of our old friends as we could fit in and just took in as much of Durango as we could handle. We also two other set of ashes though. Pete and Lopa who had been with us since the beginning of this adventure had to be placed to rest in their backyard. It was a fitting “ending” to a great road trip. Though it wasn’t over yet. We still had a two day drive back to Nymeria ahead of us.

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Before we knew it we were back on the boat. We’ve been back for a week now and things are great. I really feel like we got a good hard reset and are starting again in a clean state. We got lots of exciting things happening!