We made it up to Oregon to pick up our little treasure on day 3, right on schedule. He’s even more handsome then we expected. Max was our first French Brittany and he showed us how incredible these dogs are, which is why we made a multi-day road trip to bring Xam into our circle. There were still another half dozen puppies in the whelping box when we picked him up and J.C. took an immediate liking to a little female that had markings similar to Max. “Can’t we get them both, Grandpa?” “No!”
As we made away with Xam, his momma whined as another of her litter exited, stage left. We made our way to the local Walmart to pickup supplies for the return trip. Pee pads and wet wipes were at the top of the list. Vickie left J.C. and I with the dogs while she went moseying about the supercenter and by the time she had returned, Xam had peed, pooped and puked in the Subie. I handed J.C. a bag to collect the poop from the kennel where Xam let loose.
“Happiness is a warm puppy.” ~ Charles M. Schulz
He looked at me and said, “I didn’t sign on for this grandpa, I thought I was just going to hold him and hug him. Nobody said I was going to be on dogshit patrol or that he was going to puke in my lap, that’s just gross!” I replied, “It’s just part of the deal J.C. you were a projectile puker when you were a pup and I never dropped you or stopped holding you. I just learned how to aim you.” Vickie finally returned from her shopping excursion and we cleaned everything up and headed south.
The route back was planned with no Interstate highways. We might have even considered some dirt but the Great Basin was getting hammered by a late summer monsoon. In fact I just heard that the revelers at the Burning Man Festival in the Black Rock Desert, a little south of us were trapped on the playa. The porta-potties were full and no one could get in or out. The folks were calf deep in the sticky mud of the High Desert. I’ve experienced that type of gumbo a few times and I definitely didn’t want anything to do with their dillema.
Vickie made a sight unseen hotel reservation in John Day and when we arrived a biker club had the majority of the place rented. There were Harleys, Indians, BMWs, Nortons, Hondas, Kawasakis, Motto Guzzis and Triumphs. J.C. had never seen anything like it, in real life anyway. He was a little concerned about staying there. After taking the dogs to the dog spot a few times though, he said, “Those guys are just like regular people Grandpa, not like what’s on TV.” I replied, “That’s a powerful lesson bud, most of what you see on TV’s just fiction; especially the news.”
We got on the road early the next day, stopped down the road aways at “Annie’s Bakery” in Burns and stocked up on carbs before heading off across the Great Basin. The clouds stayed low all day and it rained on and off. We continued to get reports of chaos caused by the storm all across Nevada. The Las Vegas Strip was flooding so deeply that they had to close some of the gambling establishments. We ran into the wall of water that afternoon and called an early halt to the days driving, stopping for the night in Elko.
Once we made it across the very damp Basin, we entered one of my favorite places in the Great Wide World; The Colorado Plateau. A quarter million square miles of geologic masterpiece. Dozens of National Parks and Monuments litter the countryside and most of that countryside is public lands that you can roam freely on, via foot, bicycle or 4 wheel drive. The list of superlatives and possibilities is nearly endless. There’s enough amazing dirt here to keep me busy for the rest of my days, that’s for sure.
The Colorado Plateau straddles the Four Corners, where Arizona, Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico meet. Ancient volcanic mountains, plateaus and buttes, deeply carved canyons, and amazing ranges in color are the region’s defining characteristics. Elevations vary from 2,000 ft to a whopping 13,000 ft. Ancient Precambrian rocks, exposed in the deepest canyons, make up the basement of the Plateau. Igneous rocks injected millions of years later form a marbled network through parts of the darker metamorphic basement. These rocks formed deep beneath the surface of the earth and were uplifted, eroded, and exposed for eons. The region is one of the world’s premier showcases of geologic history.
“You're off to Great Places! Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting, So... get on your way!” ~ Dr. Seuss
We found a nice spot on the western edge of the Plateau and setup camp. The rains stayed away and we had a wonderful time. The tempertures got really close to the thirties just before the sun rise but we were toasty in our down bags. After a camp breakfast we hit the road to traverse the Plateau, gliding along the red rock highway through Capital Reef, around the uniquely superb, laccolithic Henry Mountains and across what used to be Lake Powell. Perhaps the Monkey Wrench Gang got their wish after all. As the country unfolded before us, I was wishing for more time to explore but puppies and exploring go together about as well as a summer mosoon and the Black Rock Desert.
We stayed in Cortez on the last night of our epic road trip. Then it was over Wolf Creek Pass and into the San Luis Valley, the land of my grandmother and where I got my first taste of the Rocky Mountain West. I was about the same age as my grandson then, and my hope is that our trip together has infatuated him with a similar love for the great outdoors and for exploring the wide open country that we spent the last week in.
We finally got a small taste of dirt as we exited the Valley over La Veta Pass. We took the old pass road, (gravel) through the Uptop Historic District and had a picnic under an ancient, gnarly aspen tree. It wasn’t a lot of dirt but it was enough for now. I can’t wait to get back out on the Plateau and get dirty but for now we have a puppy to potty train.
“You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You’re on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the one who’ll decide where to go…”
~ Dr. Seuss