Not Our Best Day

No grocery stop = no more creamer for my coffee: strike one.  91 degrees in the asphalt jungle of KOA Circus Circus at 8:00am when we headed for Hoover Dam: strike two.  A greater than realized level of dehydration from being in the desert: strike three.  A built-up lack of sleep capped off by a 1am bedtime after finishing laundry: strike four. I could go on, but I will not dwell on the details.  Yesterday was not our best day.  Suffice it to say that nearly five weeks of togetherness combined with the heat made for a day where none of us had the cheeriest outlook. It was bound to happen sooner or later, right?  I'm impressed that we were able to last almost five whole weeks.  By the end of the day, I had requested to check into a hotel (with A/C) more than once...but then again, it did get up to 111 degrees on I-15 where we were stopped in construction traffic for about 45 minutes.  And I can tell you that the truck A/C is not able to keep up with that kind of heat - even when it is moving at highway speeds.

After a morning visit to Hoover Dam and a much-delayed grocery stop at a Wal-mart Supercenter in Mesquite, NV (a shopping experience that was also not a factor in improving the cheery outlook), we finally made it to Zion at about 5pm.  Then we realized that it was not 5, but 6pm...we had entered Mountain Time. Great - less sleep.  And the ranger at check-in gave us the happy news that he would not advise traveling the Zion-Mt. Carmel Highway en route to Bryce Canyon (our next stop) - our combined length was borderline too long and, more importantly, the road was "really rough" due to construction. Double great - an extra 1-2 hours added to the next road trip.  The thermometer on the truck read 104 degrees when we pulled into our campsite...and I was having a hard time even noticing all of the red rocks surrounding us because my internal thermometer was too far into the red zone.

Matt got the electricity hooked up straight away and I got the A/C running full blast.  It took an hour or so, and almost two quarts of water - with the kids whisked away to the Visitor's Center for information-gathering - to cool off a bit and get my wits about me.  When Matt returned with the kids, they had already checked out the river behind our campsite and he drug me down to put my feet in - he insisted.  And he was right. Cold water rushing over my feet and legs (and a cold beer in my hand) brought my internal thermometer down even further and I could begin to feel the built-up stressors of the day rushing down the river with the current.  I began to feel like myself again as I took a deep breath and took in the fresh Zion air.  Maybe this wasn't so bad...a bit warm maybe, but not bad.  I looked up at the red rock formations that Zion is so famous for as I headed back to the camper to make dinner.  Wow - the sunlight bathing the formations in a warm evening glow reminded me why we were here.  Yesterday was just a collision of unfortunate circumstances, all occurring on the same day - most of which I didn't handle very well. But today is a new day and His mercies are new every morning.  Today, after a good night's sleep, I am eager to explore Zion and see the beauty that caused the first Mormon settlers to give this park its name...

Tracy