April Showers...

Gopher Flats
Moab, UT
April, 2019

April has certainly been a rainy month here. We are not complaining though...desert rains are a wonderful thing !  But usually with the rains come strong winds and that part we don't particularly like.  Looks like the last few days of April will be thunder storms and high winds.   

There are lots of lilac bushes at Gopher Flats.  This one is just outside our window at the kitchen table.  











 Another pretty flower here is the Austrian Copper Rose.  


The thorny bush has doubled in size from last year and is full of buds.  These blooms were near the ground yesterday.  

 I LOVE red flowers and these are especially bright.  But what makes them unique is that they are yellow on the under side of each petal.   

I can't believe April will be a memory and May is right around the corner.  My how time flies these days.  

Joe and I volunteered to help with the Benefit Run again this year during Easter Jeep Safari (EJS).  It is a benefit to raise money for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.  
The trail for the day is Fins and Things.  

About half way through the run, the participants stop at the overlook and we serve them grilled hotdogs with all the fixings.  






Participants make a donation and Red Rock 4 Wheelers matches the total.  

During this week we decided to take our spring drive around the LaSal Mountain Loop.  Our first views were of Castle Valley.  If you look closely, you can see the Priest and Nuns and Castle rock formations in the center of the photo below. 

Did I mention the road is curvy?

  

And that the sky was a beautiful cobalt blue? 

 Or how patiently the winter trees are waiting for warmer weather?

 And that the evergreens stood proud and strong?

Did I point out the glistening snow or the eery shadows that danced along the roadside?

Joe enjoyed a few days working on Wile E.

He replaced the spark plugs, the distributor cap and rotor.  He adjusted my seat so I can see out the front better without a cushion.  For fun, he installed a speaker so we can use the iPod...it's so cool to have some tunes playing when cruising on Main St....insert lots of laughing emojis here !






We now have hummingbirds feeding regularly at the feeder.

    

Sally and I are easily entertained ! 

We also saw a Western Meadow Lark.  Actually, we heard it before we found it sitting on Dee's garage.  I read that the Eastern Meadow Lark has a series of simple, plain whistles.  Not the case for the Western cousins.  



It's a "rich flute-like jumble of gurgling notes descending the scale".    


He just throws back his head, opens wide and sings!  My oh my, what a song he sings !

(I enlarged these photos so they are a little fuzzy.)

As I am about to wrap up  this post, the wind is howling and it's pouring...a hard steady rain.  Sally is in her "safe" place under the steering wheel.  





This past Saturday we had a club run scheduled for Hell's Revenge.  The trail was packed so we cut it short and only did The Escalator.   

Hell's Revenge slick rock...

Dee and Joe and I went to do a quick run up to the Moab Rim overlook.  It's only our second time to run MR in Wile E. Last year when we did it our brakes gave out...thank goodness for boulders !  We were excited to try again hoping for a successful run. 

 Well. it wasn't meant to be.  We slashed the front driver tire coming off a good size ledge and the tire caught a sharp edge on a rock that was jutting out. 

Can you see the slash in between the R and A on the top of the tire.

 The jeeping community is such an awesome group.  We heard jeeps coming and since we were blocking the trail, Dee walked down to tell them we were trying to patch the tire and air it up.  One of the young men offered to let us use his spare and even hauled out our slashed tire on his spare tire holder.  We were so grateful.  

The beautiful view coming down MR.  Thank you Jason.

That wraps up our April.  So, until next time,

Sweet dreams...(photo taken April 19)

 HAPPY TRAILS !