Hello:
Four years ago, in July, we loaded up two pickup trucks with one motorcycle, lots of food, water, three tents, 5 adults, and one dog that looks to be 99 percent wolf. The adults were my wife, a family lady friend of ours, my wife's daughter and her husband and myself. Off we went, all prepared to camp out 5 days and 4 nights with my wife and I sponsoring and paying for this treasure hunting trip.
Before we left, we purchased $400.00 worth of food. Now the store we bought the food from was having a sweepstakes drawing, with the prize being a very nice, brand new bar-b-q grill. For every $25 dollars spent on food or anything in the store, we received 1 entry form but the cashier gave us an extra hand full under the table so to speak. So we had lots of entries to fill out, and we did. So, a day later, off we go, we are on our way. It was a good trip, stopping here and there to look at the scenery, or to grab a bite to eat. Six hours later we arrive at our destination.
We unloaded and as I started setting up our Lady friends tent and my wife's and my tent, I looked over there and our son-in-law does not know how to set up their tent. In fact, it was still in the box it came in when they bought it. It had never been opened. Now I had told him weeks before that he needs to prepare for this trip by going to a place and practice setting it up. He assured me he knew how. Well, as it turned out, he did not have a clue about it. OH BOY, what's next with him. Am I going to be his nurse maid on this trip or what? I was ticked off to the max, but kept my cool.
To make things worse, it was hot and windy and there are no trees for shade n that area. Even the dog looked for shade by digging a depression in the sand under bushes. We had purchased a cheap gazebo from that store, then managed to break the plastic frame the second day out. So that did that. No more shade or at least very little. It was miserable in the day time, but the nights were great.
I had brought my motorcycle along to ride to the treasure site and started riding it around the area and managed to crash in a dry wash. Nothing was broken.
I had fitted my metal detector with a sling to carry it like a rifle and was going to carry it and my dowsing rods that way when I ride to the area each day. But because of the apparent ineptness of our son-in-law, I dared not leave camp for fear he could not take care of things as needed. Maybe I was wrong on that but that is how I felt at the time. So, I spent two days in camp doing nothing but trying to keep out of the heat.
On the third night at about 2 A.M., I was sleeping like a baby when all of a sudden I heard a deep, horrible, hair raising growl come from the dog in the next tent. I was stunned. My rifle was in our truck about 20 feet away. I stuck my head out the tent door but saw nothing. None-the-less, I went and got my rifle. Our friend asked me if she could sleep in the truck to which I said no, it's OK. Nothing else happened that night.
When we were awake and having breakfast, our son-in-law said that at about the same time the dog growled, he heard a sniffing sound coming from outside their tent next to the tent wall he was closest to. We figured it was a coyote or two that came into camp to kill that dog. After all, we were in their territory and that dog had urinated all over the place. As a result, coyotes could smell his urine deposits and was looking for him to make a meal out of him. If given a chance, they will gang up on a dog and kill it.
The schedule was to hunt each day except Sunday. That day we went to Goblin Valley to take showers and to tour the valley. Everyone felt good after their showers
When we got there, I needed to take the dog out of the cage that was in the back of the truck. To do that, I had to remove the bike off its carrying frame to let the tail gate down. After doing that, I went down into the valley with the com radio to communicate with others that did not go with me. They had the other radio.
It wasn’t long when my wife came on the radio, telling me her daughter had fallen down. WHAT? Yes she has fallen and hurt herself. So I rushed back to the parking lot and there she was, lying on the ground. She had stepped between the truck bumper and the bike carrier and tried to back straight back and twisted her leg. If she had gone to her left, she would have been OK. She is on the heavy side too so that did not help.
I now know our trip is over, finished, including the steak dinner I had planned on buying everyone that evening in the nearest town; Hanksville Utah.
We get on the phone and call 911. A half hour or so later, the ambulance showed up. It loaded her and her husband up and left for the hospital in Price Utah. That leaves our friend, my wife, myself, and the dog in the Goblin Valley parking lot.
Now we need to go back and break camp and head for Price Utah. When we get back to camp, it is close to sundown and it starts to drizzle.
About this same time, in an angry voice, my wife starts telling me what she really thinks about these treasure hunting trip things. You fill in the blanks. With our guest looking on, all I can do was smile and say: YES DEAR, NO DEAR, THREE BAGS FULL DEAR. YES, WHAT EVER YOU SAY DEAR. NO YOU DON'T HAVE TO COME BACK HERE AGAIN. Oh boy. Hell hath nor fury like that of a woman’s anger. Of course, in addition with all that has gone wrong, she is now worried about her daughter's welfare.
So we break camp, that is, our friend and I break camp. We worked so fast we have to leave small things there which I hated to do. I don't like leaving trash in the desert like that but we had to.
Off we go, me driving one truck, my wife driving the other one, and me and our friend communicating back and forth on the radios as we go along. Now my wife does not like to drive, much less at night and it is now dark, very dark.
On the way out, with them following me, I make a wrong turn and it now takes us hours to get to Price. If I had turned right instead of left at that intersection, it would have been much shorter. POINT: Know the roads around your area of interest and where they go before you go.
At about 2 A.M. we arrived at the Price Utah hospital. She sprained her leg, but they want her out of there, as she is not scheduled to be there and they want the bed open. She is now very tired, almost asleep and on crutches. We are all very tired.
So, off we go to the nearest hotel. I walk in and book three rooms. The hotel is not pet friendly. OH BOY, now what's going to happen? I dare not tell them we have a dog or that the dog does not drink beer and gets drunk, does not fight with room mates, does not turn the TV up to the highest volume, does not smoke in bed and all that. No in fact it is the perfect guest to have. BUT, I DON'T SAY A WORD ABOUT ANY DOG. So, the dogs owner successfully sneaks the dog in and nothing more comes of it. We all get a good rest and woke up refreshed.
The next morning, after a nice breadfast at a near by Burger King, we go home. It was a great return trip back through some very beautiful country.
The very next day after arriving back home, the phone rings. Hell?, Hello, is this …..? Yes. Is your wife there? Yes. Well she just won the Bar-B-Q grill here at the store. Come and get it and if it is OK, we would like to post her picture with it in the local newspaper. OK, we'll be right there says I. I hang up and shout: DEAR, YOU WON THE BAR=B-Q GRILL. She makes a pleasant sound in reply.
HOLD ON DEAR READER. THERE IS MORE TO THIS STORY.
About a month later, our lady friend who went with us on that trip, WON the same kind of grill at another store in town.
We still have that grill but have used it only one time.
Now despite the stress and all on that trip, the food was excellent.
Since that time, I have taken our son-in-law on many exploring trips that are close by and lasted only one day or less. He's is great fun to be with.
I have planned several times to return to that location alone, but never seem to carry through on it. Sometimes watching TV programs while eating potato chips and dip, or going for day long shopping trips / rides to Wall-mart with the wife are more enticing than venturing forth alone into the wilds, and risking everything while doing so. You know what I mean. I have gone out alone since then to other places closer to home. So maybe this summer I will commit and go again for a couple of days.
Here are pictures of that grill.
Well, I hope you enjoyed this story.
How about paranormal or unusual experiences ? Or.............whatever you prefer Senor Don Jose.
And was such a place known as Guadalupe de Tayopa
