Glenn & Pat

1158 W 1050 N
Provo, UT. 84604
Dear family,
I guess the most significant event of this past month was our family trip to Moab. We ended up renting a nice and large condo there and the weather was perfect. It was so much extra fun to have little Eliza along and her parents. She just couldn’t get enough of everything and really enjoyed the swimming pool. We took her on all the hikes to Arches Park, including the long and somewhat difficult hike to Delicate Arch. She mainly stayed in the front pack, but did do some walking from time to time. I can’t believe how the Park has changed over the years. I kept thinking back to the early spring of 1971 when my roommate, Jim Ross, and I took a break from the BYU routine, jumped in that cool ’61 Chrysler New Yorker I was using at school and took off for Arches. We arrived late at night and there was no visitor center or any other restraint, so we drove in and picked a random spot and as I remember we just slept in the car until sunup. And what a magnificent sight it was when we woke up to see all the monuments and a balanced rock casting their shadows across the valley floor. But we were not alone. Sometime during the night, a whole fleet of semis and other vehicles had come into the park to begin filming a movie, which we later learned was called “The Wild Rovers, starring Ryan O’Neil and Julie Andrews. And there was really no one else in the park except them and us. Needless to say it made things a lot more interesting for us. For some reason we didn’t think the stars were approachable, though there were several opportunities when they were on break. So we didn’t get any autographs but mainly watched from a distance, usually hiding behind rocks or bushes so as not to get yelled at for being wrongfully in the picture. There was one scene where a cowboy rides along through the brush then falls wounded (?) off his horse. We were just a stones throw away, hiding in the brush! I don’t think the movie amounted to much, but it sure made our trip a lot more interesting. Back then you didn’t worry about walking off the trails or even (heaven forbid) climbing on the arches! If I could just find it, I have a picture of me standing on top of one of the biggest arches in the park.
But where was I ? We had a lot of fun this past trip with the hikes and having a picnic. Huge ravens would fly right up by the picnic table looking for scraps. Eliza was in heaven watching everything and learning so many new words. Dallin brought his mountain bike and went out on the slick rock bike trail. We hiked out there too and watched him ride off out of sight. The only hitch in the whole trip was the condo smoke alarm. Every night about the time everyone was dropping off to sleep, the stupid thing would go off (actually there were a series of them going off together) and freak everyone out. Fortunately, Eliza managed to stay asleep, but Byron, Chris, Dallin and I were up for several hours for two nights taking precautions and trying to figure out if there was really a problem. The second time I called the owner in the middle of the night (he lives in Maryland) to report the problem. To make a long story short, we finally learned that a power surge had set off the alarm and ours was not the only condo involved. But the owner gave us a price cut due to all we had been through.
That’s about it. I did help a good friend of mine, Matt Bushman, perform for the Arthritis Foundation fundraiser this past Saturday at the ”This Is The Place” park in Immigration Canyon. He wanted me to perform some numbers on the banjo as well as play along with some of his songs. It went over really well and we had a good time. They “paid” us with leftover loaves of Great Harvest bread and bagels!
We hope everyone is doing well and also that Dad is improving during his stay at Sunshine Terrace. Pray also for Dick’s health, that the situation with his heart will improve. Love, Glenn and family