Grayson decided to spend today wandering somewhere … we don’t know where … and we were distraught. Last seen about 9 am, he was gone for 11 hours; the National Park Rangers as well as the entire campground were on alert. The microchip registry folks were notified and our cell phone outgoing messages updated. Did any of that matter? Maybe on some level Grayson felt the vibe and knew how much we wanted him to come home but in any other respect, no, it didn’t. As darkness began to fall … Grayson’s favorite time to prowl … we went calling again. While telling the tale of our missing cat to some newly-moved-in campers (who happen to be putting in tomorrow for 25 days on The River), he just showed up at our feet. We’re still processing the relief!

“Here” is Lee’s Ferry Campground overlooking the confluence of the Paria River with the Colorado. It is the put-in for the Grand Canyon whitewater run and it is beautiful. We were planning to explore today but instead we worried. Steve did take a hike along the river and I scrambled up a dry wash calling the cat but the enjoyment factor was missing.

Tomorrow the cat stays locked inside and we get to play!

… and we had a glorious paddle on Quail Reservoir this morning before heading off to Zion National Park. Mike and Westi left this morning to join us. Lucky us though… we’re only a half hour from Zion so our travels are short. We spent the last two nights here, outside St. George, Utah. It’s lucky we were so close to a city since Ginger got sick and needed to go to the vet. It turned out to be a bladder infection and something else we’re not sure of … maybe a side effect of her heart meds or maybe she ate something she shouldn’t have. At any rate, she seems to be on the road to recovery today.

Being out on the water was blissful. The water was serene, the views outstanding, and the bird watching was fun too. I didn’t expect to see loons in southern Utah but there they were, in the middle of flocks of eared grebes (life birds for us), western grebes, buffleheads, golden eyes and mergansers. Oh, and with the requisite osprey flying above and the lovely song of a canyon wren serenading from the shore. I took pictures but haven’t done anything with them yet. The same is true for the three days before that spent on BLM land in the Nevada desert, in a place called Whitney Pockets. It was beautiful in a way that photographs (at least mine) can’t begin to capture.

Everywhere has been wonderful … except for the wind. It wasn’t windy in Pahrump, and it wasn’t windy in the Bakersfield Camping World parking lot. Other than that, this morning was the first break from wind we have had. As I said, it was blissful.