The Final Drive & Arrive in Utah

Thursday was going to be a long day, as we planned to get to Utah that night, and it was still at least 12 hours away.

And, I was determined to stop in Colorado to visit my cousin Skip, my mom’s brothers son, whom I hadn’t seen in 10 years. As we neared his place, we ran into the first snow storm of the season, but luckily, it wasnt too bad, and was confined to the drive through the mountains.

Skip is a talented guy who creates beautiful custom jewelry, while living with his dogs in a cabin on a hill, with a beautiful view of the Rocky Mountains. He truly is a “mountain man”, living off the land, shooting deer for food, with a simple lifestyle.

I wish I had had more time to visit with him, but we needed to press on to Utah.

Our target destination was Provo, where Mel hoped to settle, with one of the primary attractions being a lady he had met online on an LDS Singles site (a great place to meet Mormon singles-remember what I wrote earlier about the "pond" being pretty small in Michigan!). He had visited Utah in April, and met her, and they had a become close, so he felt there could be a "future" for him there.

Mel was excited about seeing her again, and hoped to build their relationship, however, she was wavering, and on the day we left Michigan, had told Mel that she was unable to offer him a place to stay now… so here we were heading to Provo, with no sure place for Mel to land... unless he could convince her otherwise, or find another friend to take him in.

That left me in a dilemma, as I was planning to stay with Dax and his family, and still was unsure if Mel was going to be with me too... what do I tell Dax? And, should I be concerned about baby powder footprints showing up in Ogden?

We arrived in Provo at 11pm, after a long day on the road, driving directly to Mel's lady friends home... and sure enough, she reiterated to Mel that he could not stay there....so after a half hour of discussion (pleading?), he jumped back in the car and we headed to Dax’ house in Ogden, arriving after midnight.