Robert writes home #117 2 May 1998

117

2 May 1998

Dear Mother,

                Last week I drove back to Utah to move Charlie home, pick up some of Heidi’s stuff and a piece of furniture that Janet’s stepmother left her. Also, to attend Janet’s niece’s wedding.

                I drove the hwy 50 route through Ely, Nev., where I stayed overnight. I was too tired to go further by the time I got there. I love to see the back roads and different scenery when I go back to Utah. I realized the next morning when I took off at 6:30 AM that I couldn't make it to SLC by 10:00AM for the temple ceremony, so I decided to take a side trip up to Calleo to see the Andersons(as family who used to live here in Los Banos, but moved to Calleo to take over her family’s cattle ranch). I found the turn off and took the 68 miles of dirt road up through places like Grandy and Trout Creek which were listed on the map but when I got to them there was nothing but a ranch house and out building there. I saw no cars or people just antelope  for about 45 miles, then I saw the West Desert School sitting right out in the middle of nowhere. I stopped and asked the principle where Don and Beth Anderson lived and he said 27 miles right on up the road. The school is grades 1-12 and has 126 students who bus in from wherever they live out there in the desert. Beth said that there is a polygamous group up one of the valleys that contribute most of the kids.

                I finally found Calleo and the Andersons. What a beautiful spot…those meadows and springs and that big mountain off to the west. Who’d ever think that you’d find an oasis like that out in the middle of the west desert. Beth’s folks had come out for Marcy’s baptism, so he gave me the tour of the pony express station (which is right in their yard) and showed me all the artifacts and memorabilia associated with it. Their place was one of the main stations for the pony express from 1860-69. Then it was a stage coach station after that. I guess the route west went right through there. It skirted the southern edge of the Salt flats.

                I spent about 2 hours with them and then went on a different dirt road out towards Delta. It wasn’t as long. Only about 30 miles of dirt before I hit the hard top (where I took the wrong turn and ended up in a mine). It was really a fun trip. I finally made it to Provo in time for the wedding luncheon and reception.

                The next day I took Mary (my daughter who was down to the wedding) on a trip south to Mayfield to see you and Magdalene. It was really good to see you. You looked so nice and our conversation was insightful and encouraging to me. I realized that your ability to talk has been damaged by those mini strokes more then your comprehension capabilities. This encourages me to know that you are understanding what I tell you better than you are able to tell me.

                The next day, Sunday, we went to Grantsville to go to church and visit Janet’s family and then, on up to Tremonton to visit Melinda  and pick up the last of our load… the antique furniture piece (I don’t know what to call it. Its some kind of thing with drawers.)

                On our way to Grantsville, we went west out of Lehi out past Cedar Fort, Stockton and Tooele…back roads again. About a mile before we got to Tooele we saw a herd of elk beside the road. I had never realized that there were elk in those mountains by Tooele.

                We left Melinda’s early Monday morning and took another back road around the north side of the great Salt Lake through a little remote community called Park Valley. The road meets I-80 in Nevada at Oasis which is a little ghost town a few miles east of Wells. The only traffic we met on the whole 120 mile trip was a herd of deer crossing the road and a couple of pickups as we went through Park Valley and Monticello (which are both just wide sports in the road). I love that traffic free driving.

                We stopped at Circus Circus, in Reno, to eat at the buffet on our way home and then made it all the way back to DP in one day. It was really a fun trip.

                Janet gets a worse headache from driving, so she flew.

                This week is the May Day fair week in Los Banos. I am in charge of seeing to it that the church has a genealogy booth in all the fairs in the stake this year. Our stake covers a large area. There are four fairs happening in it. Its been a big worry but most of the work has been done by other people like Vern Hixson (HP leader) and LuAnn Anderson (PR rep). I even “flaked out” on my assignment to man the booth today. I’ve been home sick this week end.

                We hope everything is going well for you.

Love,

Robert, Janet, Sam Charlie and Heidi Jo