Sept. 19
Walked through sand, sagebrush, and swarms of brine flies to the shore of the Great Salt Lake this morning. Les touched it, and I waded in and tasted it. (Did some spitting on my way back to camp!) Bright yellow Black-eyed Susans line the campsites. After breakfast and a coin-operated shower, we went to the visitor center of the Antelope Island Great Salt Lake State Park. We learned about the great Bonneville Lake that covered the area, but the 2.7 billion year old folded rocks were the most interesting. This gneiss is some of the oldest rock on earth.

Driving south, we saw a huge cloud, then we realized it was a wild lands fire. From what we heard, it has been burning for two months and was started at a military base with machine gun practice. We could see the red of flames over the next ridge of mountains, and the road we planned to take was closed, so we continued on the interstate until we could move to the scenic route through forest and red rock and pink sand dunes.
Oh, no! Oh, yes! For the fourth time, we turned back. We went to find Margaret & Nelson’s house in Kanab, then drove on and realized after a few miles that we wanted Alternate Highway 89, not 89. It was getting dark, so we pulled into a car wash next to the Hitch ‘n Post RV park. The car and trailer were spiffed up, and a truck driver helped us back into the last slot at the Hitch ‘n Post. We sat outside and ate tomato bean soup and toasted each other with wine. “Cheers,” as Jasper would say.