Day 61: Walking with Chris

I had company again today. Chris took a break from filming and walked most of the morning and all afternoon with me. He put in about 11 miles and I put in 14. This is absolutely the last day for a while that I don’t do at least 17-20 miles. I promise. It just has been one thing or another keeping me from that goal, and now that I’m out of the Provo area and my walking buddies have all gone home, it should be back to the ole’ grind. It was a good little break and I really did appreciate the walking company.

We have made it to the junction of US 6 and a shortcut road that takes us to US 191. We should arrive in Duchesne in two to three days, then it is on to Vernal and Colorado. We hope to be in Colorado in eight or nine days. The terrain today was mostly downhill after we went 3.5 miles uphill to Soldier Summit. It was really pretty with a river following us on the north side of the road, and mountains on our right and left. There are railroad tracks that follow the river for a good part and the occasional train. The snow caps are way off in the distance but the mountains near us are formidable. We had to go through about three miles of road construction today and that was not fun.

We met a fellow today, Dennis Finch who runs the Hilltop General Store in Colton, UT. Now Dennis is a character. He had first hand knowledge of the history of the area and showed us a picture of his grandfather and Butch Cassidy, taken in 1931. Now if you all remember the film, you know ole’ Butch and Sundance bought the farm in Bolivia in the early 1900’s. I’ve seen pictures of Butch Cassidy before and it was for sure him in the picture I saw. Dennis said Butch died an old man in the area and only his relatives know where he’s buried. He said Sundance died in prison under the false name of Beebe. It was a real interesting few minutes with Mr. Finch

Coming down to the start point today, we passed a pasture on the side of some large hills filled with sheep. They were all over the hills. It was quite a sight. Later when Chris arrived, he told us the sheep had gotten through the fence and were heading for the highway with the shepherd giving chase. We also came upon a herd of ‘domestic’ elk in a fenced in area. Don’t know what you do with ‘domestic’ elk. All in all it was a good day and hopefully a better one tomorrow. We still aren’t sure about the broadband until Duchesne.