04/28 We had planned to stay 2 nights in Little Finland aka Devil’s Fire/ Goblins Park but I messed up the directions and before we realized it we were 2 hours further down the road. I’m HOT and I am ready to leave the desert! Not only is it hot but the winds are terrible and the 5 of us are covered in red dust.
We stop along the road in Mesquite, CA with the A/C running and search the Internet for a new next stop. I want a hotel night! Zion would be great but after several calls no places have space available with dogs. I see a hotel in Cedar City–close proximity to Cedar Breaks National Park which is at a high elevation. That means it will be cool! After a bunch of back and forth calls we book a night at the Crystal Inn in Cedar City. What a great stop! We were able to wash clothes, wash dogs and wash ourselves. And we had a huge, calorie-laden, late lunch. I had a Rueben sandwich and H had a patty-melt. That lunch should hold us for a few days.
I think maybe 5 days may be the maximum between civilization stops. It was so gratifying to wash all our laundry! Everything was covered in desert sand. I can’t believe I actually bathed the dogs–we only let the groomer do that! The amount of red dust that flowed down the drain was incredible–and that included the dog and people baths. We all were soft-furred when we were done.
Toby was a nightmare! He must alert us to very little thing he hears Fortunately he only barked once during the night. We all slept 10 hours!!! And we awake to the task of loading Diana with clean clothes and clean mammals (that’s us and the dogs).