Tales of Gypsies and Vagabonds

For a writer who stays holed up in her combination office / bedroom most of her life, I am surprisingly well-traveled. I owe that to my wonderful Mr. Vagabond, who spends most of his life over a thousand miles from home. His job is fixing the wire and cable thingies and connection and circuit thingies in a little building at the bottom of cell phone towers. We go off the beaten path quite often. In fact, I don't think there is such a thing as a normal tower site road. Basically, you find a wide spot in the brush, aim the truck in that direction, plow through and hope and pray that Sweetie on the Dash, also known as the GPS, has her head screwed on straight. Topography view on a GPS is fun. Ha! 

Because I'm not tied down to a normal schedule, I travel with him a lot. Here, I'll post some photos of the action. 

The most common destination, at least when I am out west being a gypsy with my Vagabond, is Utah. 

The first time I mentioned being in Utah, the first response was, "Where?  On purpose?  Why?" Those also make up the bulk of the other reactions I get. Without seeing it, you might not have a clue about why Utah is so spectacular.

This, friends and neighbors, is why:

Starvation Reservoir in Uinta, Utah. Ooooh. Aaaaah.

Antelope. Yes, they do play. 

Horseback riding at Castle Creek Winery near Moab. My horse was named Buster. Buster is known as the slowest, most stubborn horse on the trail (Thanks!). About halfway through the ride, the trail guide hollered out, "Every day, I hear someone behind me yelling, 'Come on, Buster, let's go!'" That day, it was me. Mr. Vagabond's horse bit Buster on the butt several times before he finally made an illegal lane change without a signal and passed us up!

Mr. Vagabond in a very rare agreeable minute with the camera. He's cute! I can't remember the name of this place. But it's a dry riverbed situated on America's Loneliest Road, U.S. Route 50. It's either in Utah or Nevada. It was a long day. LOL! 

Little cabin near Ashley National Forest. Within minutes, we were in a completely different landscape covered with pine trees and tons of snow. 

Mr. Vagabond reading about the petroglyphs and pictographs at Buckhorn Wash. This place is incredible, and there's a lot more to it than this picture shows. We didn't know we were going to pass it. When we came close, we were both like, "Wha? Whoa. That's cool (we do that a lot)." So pulled over and stopped for a bit. Sadly, big, stupid dumb-heads damaged these paintings and carvings by being stupid and dumb. They've been partially restored now. Thank goodness for people who care about such things. One of the things I love so much about Utah is how many stunning sights there are just beside the road. 

Arches National Park

Arches National Park. It was SO HOT that day!

This is a typical day for Mr. Vagabond and me. The only reason we take main roads is to find dirt roads away from the rest of the world.

Beautiful Aspens. The smell of the air is incredible. It's the cleanest, freshest air, and it smells like those dangly pine air fresheners wish they did. 

We were living in the middle of wildlife pretty much all the time. Awesome!

She was the biggest doe I've ever seen. She was skittish, but let me get close enough for a few pics. 

Mr Vagabond thinks my fascination with cows is hilarious. Every time I see cows, which is constantly while in Utah, I have to take pictures. His reply? "You and them damned cows."

She posed for us for about 10 minutes, turning this way, then that way, then looking back, then turning around to the other side. She knew she was pretty. Then she pranced off into the woods.