Needles area… Utah

Friday, May 9th, 2008

Needles stitch

This is where we are camping now! Not too good at this Photostitch process (at least I spelled it right!), six pictures using a tripod and a straight lens, maybe too many pictures but I wanted to show the road coming and going! We have been here for a couple days now and spend the first night parked next to Howard and Linda, also full timers on the road, they were the Hosts at the Arches Campground for a while, I posted their picture a while back, and now on vacation… What am I saying? They are always on vacation, originally from Louisville, Kentucky. Great people, funny people… very much into the teaching to others all about living on the road with an RV… I think their’s was bigger than any house I have ever lived in… no joke… with a fireplace and two TV’s!… There are so many ways to live on the road… from tents to 50′ buses… but being out in the wilderness is what counts for us.

Campsite 4

This is the terrible view we have right now… I am looking at it as I am writing and feeling this abandonment that has been lingering since we have arrived. We have not done a thing besides having dinner with Howard and Linda! Great Talapia she prepared with plenty of garlic cooked on the grill… eventually on… high temp.(inside joke). I made a rice pilaf, with olive oil and almonds, not butter (I am watching it!) and a mixture of Roma tomatoes and little green peas with cinnamon, chili powder and a bit of brown sugar. Howard who does not like tomatoes loved it… I took it as a compliment.  I should have taken pictures… it was as dining at the Ritz Carlton… a 38′ 5th wheeler with 5 pull outs…

campsite 1  

Campsite 2

NO… I am not even thinking about it… I am thinking about my tent actually. We will return to Bluff soon where I will be able to store "White Elephant" a few days a week at the time and take off… hide behind some rocks, shelter from the winds which today picked up again with some dark gray clouds. It is Friday night and suddenly we are not the only ones here. The next camper being about a quarter mile away, I will still take this spot anytime… they will all be gone by Sunday anyhow.

Sunset 1

Last night’s Sunset brought Peace and Serenity to my well being. We have been walking a lot, did not take a little ride till this afternoon into Canyonland, a short one, worried a bit about the wind blowing my Dish away. I like to be near by when under certain conditions! I woke up this morning or maybe it was in the middle of the night and took a short stroll, alone, outside watching the multitude of star layers which can only be seen when real dark and clear… millions of them, they make me think a lot… about the Journey, about Life itself, this "time" going by for us to reach the destination we are bound for.

Needles Park 3  

Needles Park 5

Spirit himself has come to love these wide open spaces. He will walk and walk, always ahead knowing exactly how long his leash is. I think he might have some hunting dog traces in him! It is now rabbits he would love to chase. I follow his behavior… we stop… we point, his ears up, mine open, I don’t hear a thing but he does. I wait for him listening to the silence, learning to be still inside and out, he has always been a great Teacher of Life… You might be smiling but it is the truth, if we could all of us live as simply… It would be a better World!

Spirit

I put his cover on today, it was sunny and hot, his water bowl even when spilling always has some left in it… of course while we ride this way he has to stick his head out and look forward. When on dirt roads he looks down at the ground, I have no clue why! "I have never come upon any of my discoveries through the process of rational thinking" [Albert Einstein]. You can barely see him… he likes his cover!

Needles Park 9  

Needles Park 8

Tomorrow, weather permitting, we are taking a ride to the other Needles overlook. I hear that the views are also spectacular, will check out some free camping I was given the direction of. I think of summer now, thinking of the heat as to where we will go and yet undecided. Colorado sounds tempting with its higher elevations which would mean cooler temperatures. Would love to go back to Halfway, Oregon, again for another month as we loved it there… remember the Rodeo! There was only one Lady Baker at the baked goods competition and she made me promise to come back to compete against her!!! All those Forest service roads which we could only ride half of them due to lack of time with winter approaching, and needing to go South. Maybe western Idaho… and then again Montana and Wyoming have so much land to offer. Thoughts?

Needles Park 7  

Needles Park 6

Tuesday will be an all day affair in Moab changing all 3 tires… Old Faithful will have new rubber! They go fast, specially the rear one and being a knobby which helps for this area I am lucky to get 3000 miles out of it. Winter makes up for it… Unlike Life which is the greatest bargain as we get it for nothing, everything else has a price!

Needles Park 2  

Needles Park 4

It is dinner time… walk time… what else time?… Of course Spirit’s dinner comes first!!!… Suddenly all is gray outside, there will not be any pictures tonight but I still have decent one from last night to show you…

Sunset 2

Modern technology in the skies mixed with this ancient Earth… all in one… everyone is buzzing somewhere… "It is not stress that kills us, it is our reaction to it" [Hans Selye]

Till next time… have a great day, come and visit! Utah is beautiful…

You be well and stay well…   Ara & Spirit

Have you checked the T-shirts? "Throw the Dog a Bone!"… T-shirtsMouse padsPhotography

We are always under deep appreciation toward the readers that have send in a contribution helping this website’s expenditures. For those who have not, continue enjoying the site, pictures, recipes, and if you feel it’s worth $1 a month, the contribution button is above, snail mail is below…

Ara Gureghian   853 Vanderbilt Beach Rd #245   Naples, Fl 34108

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2 Responses to “Needles area… Utah”

  1. rv-boondocker-explorer Says:

    Ara and Spirit, Dogs are great Teachers of Life, indeed.

    Your rig has a lot of advantages compared to the big whale you wrote about today. They really can’t camp in many of the special places that you are always looking for. That’s why they usually camp on a concrete pad in a campground for $35 per night, serviced by 50 amps…

    Your summer destination: stay in the four corner states. There is a lot of high land, unlike the northern states, Wyoming excepted. Up north you will be hotter than in the four corner states, unless you are in a forest. Think how boring your photographs will be in the boreal forests.

  2. Jo Says:

    I love your website and plan to buy one of your t-shirts soon. My husband has fallen in love with Spirit, he keeps saying “Are there any new pictures of that cool dog with the helmet?”

    I’ve read the blog of the couple you were with this week and agree with RV-boondocker about that big whale they live in. That kind of conventional, materialistic lifestyle would be no better than a sticks and bricks. It seems you’ve found the Oasis of your Soul by letting go of the conventional and material trappings many folks cling to. I hope you never change.

    Your pictures are so beautiful. I love the Monument Valley area and really enjoyed following your travels there. You have a truly adventurous spirit.

    Many blessings to you in your travels.

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