daines'n around

After some friends visited to bid farewell, I finally managed to get all of my stuff out of the house and ready to pack into the car at about 2 a.m. One hour later, and presto:

I managed to fit everything I own (minus my guitars and a few boxes of books) into my car. I finished around 3 a.m. and set my alarm for 8. I needed to get an early start on the day to make it through the desert before peak afternoon heat.

Halfway to Vegas, and the overcast day turned into a blessing. Just hot enough to leave the AC on low, I had no problems with my overloaded car.

I stopped In Cedar City, just north of Saint George, Utah. I met up with Kenny (left) and Brandon. I havent seen either in almost a year. Brandon is about to get married next month, and Kenny goes to BYU. They'll be some neighbors around Provo while I live there. It was nice to reminisce and get the biased opinions of Utah.

Cedar City is in southern Utah. The dessert rains created some swamps near Brandon's parent's home and on our way to the new lake formed by run off management, I realized how beautiful southern Utah can be.

It's a constitutional right to bear arms, and folks in southern Utah believe in that strongly. Spent shotgun shells are a common sight around the more out-of-the-way places.

The visit to the lake was shortly after a strong rainfall, and the dirt stuck like thick paste to our shoes and the car tires. The more you moved around, the more gathered on the bottom of your shoes. We didn't stay long in fear that the van would just sink into the soft earth.

Kenny trying to bang the mud off of his sandals.

The neighbors had a barn with horses and a peacock in the loft that would sound a call every night for around 30 minutes. I never got a chance to ask the man why he kept a peacock in his barn.

Brandon's dog Millie waiting patiently for father to come back from working on the property adjacent to their home in Cedar City.

"Thunder Road" Brandon's father called this sign. He approximated distances to many places around the country from Cedar City.

Cedar City.

We took a side trip to Kolob Canyons, which is a few miles away from Zions National Park.

The colors of the desert mountains in the summer is amazing.

The following day, Brandon but my guitars and books in the back of his truck and we convoyed our way to Provo.

While I looked for housing, and began my first week of work I stayed in Alpine, Utah. The house was huge, more than 5 bedrooms, I slept in the basement. It didn't last more than a week. I soon found housing about a mile away from my new job.

After more than a week of non-stop eating out, I was ecstatic to go to the grocery store and finally be able to cook food that wouldn't leave me feeling bloated and tired.

I bought houseplants. I'm thinking of naming them. Potting them worked well, until I tried to water them for the first time on the floor, and dirt generously poured over the side. That caused a trip to the store to buy a vacuum.