Chapter 1: The Adventure Begins...

(Lake Powell seen from satellite)

Chapter 1 of the Lake Powell Expedition:
The first "leg" of our journey was early Wednesday morning...and when I say early, I mean 3am. The parentals were...uh...true to form as the stress of the trip and coming departure became a reality. We finished packing and departed Mountain Road Ranch to pick up DesertBound, Mayflower and Michex, and then Sayyadina and her spawnlings. It was definately a tight squeeze, getting all eleven of us and our stuff in two vehicles, but we did it and left Ogden by 4am. Because One-armed-Bob left the Park Pass at home, he went back to retrieve it, while Dreampacker drove remarkably slow to let him catch up. It took us an hour and a half to get to Uncle Kevin's house. The rain was pouring down, and I was glad I had packed all my things in plastic bags. After re-packing everything at Kevin's to make room for the gas cans...we left West Jordan at about 7am. We arrived at Bullfrog Marina around 1:30pm, only to spend nearly seven hours waiting out the windstorm. And by "waiting", I mean hanging out in the car or the tiny visitor's center. I'm sure glad we got up at 3am. Nothing like "running to stand still". The wind was causing waves about four feet in height to crash on the rocky shore. Most of us said little prayers that the tempest would soon cease, so we could board the houseboat in safety. Mayflower asked Dreampacker, "Why didn't you spray the air sooner?"....meaning with her trusty "field organizer". Well, about 7pm, the winds calmed just enough for us to load the houseboat. Darkness settled in time for everyone to be tightly squeezed on the rocking boat (the winds had picked up again...) and eat dinner. Kevin was surprised at how the massive amounts of room and space on the houseboat had ceased to exist once we were all aboard. Sayyadina and I, with our kids, had the pull-out beds in the kitchen. Pocketmouse was asleep before she hit the pillow, and NAM quickly followed. I loved the rocking of the boat. It was such a different and soothing motion. DesertBound and her girls braved the winds and slept under the stars on the upper deck. Morning greeted us with sunny skies and calm waters. Sayyadina jumped at the chance to be first to ride a wave runner while Kevin, Carol, and "The Captain" readied the houseboat for our journey to the arm of the Escalante. About 8am we left Bullfrog, and spent the next 5 hours blissfully floating down Lake Powell to our campsite.

(Sayyadina early Thursday morning)