My Pioneer Trek Day 6

 This tale begins with a prime example of how the little frustrating things in life can turn out to be an opportunity.  I was jetting down the highway after leaving Paonia, CO, hoping I'd chosen the best road to get to Salt Lake City.  I discovered that stretch of highway has an 80 mile an hour speed limit so I was having some fun playing with the cruise control on my new car.  I was just considering that I should make a pit stop for the call of nature (old lady euphemism, I know) when I realized I was passing a rest stop - on the wrong side of the road, with a semi between me and the exit.  Those of you who would like to see me make it to my next birthday will be glad to hear that I missed the exit.  The sign said "next services 60 miles" as I barreled past.  So, I'm thinking "I hope I can wait that long." Shortly after that I also began to realize that this is a part of the country I'd never seen before.  How could I have lived my whole life in Utah and traveled around the west without ever seeing this part of it?  I was playing with the idea of trying to take pictures while I was driving when I saw a sign ahead! It said "Harley's Dome View Area" and I was just in time to make the exit - go figure.  As I pulled in, I realized it also had a bathroom . . .  of sorts.  The reality was that it was the non flushing type and it was filthy.  I won't go into details.  I will just say that anyone who needs to sit down to go would not go in there.

While I stood there debating I looked around. The view, just standing by the john (I'm sure there's a John Bytheway quote in there somewhere), was spectacular.  I forgot all about the outhouse and it's problems - there was a hill to climb and I intended to take a picture from the top.  Halfway up I had to pause to huff and puff but climb I did.  It was so worth it.  The best part is that I got to see the view; I can share it with you; and I can mark "exercise" off my daily to do list.  Go team Jan!

 Then, as I came back down the hill I was thinking "I wonder if there is a geocache near here"  Sure enough I had just enough juice in my phone to find that there was a cache hidden with in .2 of a mile to the spot I was standing - then my phone died.  If you are familiar with geocaching you will know that it is pretty hard to find a cache without the gps function on your phone.  What to do, what to do.  I know!  I'll sit in my nice air conditioned car and charge my phone just enough to go and find that cache!!

 While I was thus engaged - a nice man came and cleaned the bathrooms - thoroughly.  I also met a nice couple from Oklahoma.  They were on a family journey of their own.  Their 99 year old relative who lived with them had recently passed away.  This lady's request was for her ashes to be scattered in Colorado.  This friendly and gregarious couple shared that they had never been to Colorado before and they were sure having a good time.  Their plan was to go to California and see the "big trees" on highway 1 and then return by way of Lake Tahoe which they had also never seen.  By the time all this information had been relayed the bathrooms were clean, I was refreshed AND my phone was at 36% charge.  I found the cache with juice to spare!

That was such fun I had to stop at the next spot as well.

 The rest stop was green and well kept with flowers and flushing toilets and everything. 

The hill was steep, very steep, and not paved but I climbed it.  Then I walked along the ridge at the top and took pictures to my little heart's content.  I even had company.  The lizard in the picture (can you find the lizard?) accompanied me along the whole way.  Well, it may have been one lizard and 10 or so of his fast little friends.  I couldn't really tell.

 Next, I stopped in Price for lunch.  I was looking for the way out when it occurred to me that I was probably pretty near Mount Pleasant.  I have been reading a biography written by my great, great, grandfather, James Monsen. In it he records about his father's part in founding the town of Mount Pleasant.  He writes about what it was like to be a child in this part of Utah in the 1860s and beyond and he talks at length about the town and people of Mount Pleasant and Sanpete County.  So I took a detour.  The drive itself was a lot of fun. 

 The marker below commemorates the massacre of the entire Madsen family.  The Madsens were also among those early settlers.


I will be writing details from Grandpa Monsen's history in my blog Tell Me a Smith Family Story  at smithoel.blogspot.com in the near future so I won't go into great detail here except to say that I was having a great time looking for places he had mentioned and seeing what had become of the place he loved so well.

In addition - it was Pioneer Day!  There was a parade just breaking up.  I wondered as I was driving in where all the traffic was going.  People in Utah seem to be in a big hurry to get someplace - just saying.

Peter Mogensen also known as Peter Monsen's name is about halfway down.  His history mentions many of these names. 

These little gold plaques explain when the building was originally built and for what purpose.  Many of these buildings were built during Grandpa Monsen's childhood in the area.

I know that my Grandfather was watching my progress this day,  hoping to share some of the joys he experienced.  I'm grateful for his loving diligence in providing a written history to help me connect with our family's inspiring accomplishments.  I'm also grateful for this opportunity to become better acquainted with my ancestors.