C'mon, cloud!

What a strange week it has been! I did go to Kanab, UT, last Saturday and the new tires are better than advertised. I hit both grocery stores and while picking up a book for Brody, my housekeeping friend (and adopted kid, essentially), I found the perfect software for my laptop. If you've ever used a National Geographic Trails Illustrated map to hike a national park or recreation area, you know they are the essential guide to have in your backpack. And they are the maps the NPS usually sells at their visitor centers. They are also expensive. So, for 49.95 a pair of CD-ROMs with every major Trails Illustrated national park map at your fingertips was a huge bargain. Of course, you cannot take your Dell on the trail, but each map interfaces with my GPS device and on Sunday it seemed to pass the first test out on the Walhalla Plateau.

Back at the circus, however, it was only the beginning of what would be a bizarre series of events. My roommate has been on a rollercoaster of emotions involving his job, this Ukrainian girl and a variety of other issues I cannot begin to understand, much less describe. Briefly, though, he went through this period where he was so depressed about all those things, he simply gave up on living a normal lifestyle. He would sleep at odd hours, wear the same clothes several days in a row, watch videos for several hours on the computers in the EDR, and...well, let's just say drive me nuts with his personal hygiene and habits. Finally, Monday or Tuesday morning as I was leaving for the office, I told him we were going to discuss our "living arrangement" THAT night. In his hungover stupor, he must have understood because when I came home all his clothes were picked up, his bed was made and as the week progressed he returned to the Rick we all had not seen for several weeks. Friday night, we even enjoyed several drinks at the bar.

Saturday morning, however, for reasons I am still trying to comprehend, he decided to force the issue of remaining in his position in the deli. He came back about 7:30 and told me he was going to talk to the HR manager about a transfer. Apparently, though, it was decided that he would get a permanent transfer. Out the door. Discussing it in any more detail would not be fair to Rick, but I can tell you that after making several phone calls he decided to relocate to the South Rim. And I was to be his ride. Actually, I had volunteered to take him wherever he wanted to go. He had four hours to leave the property, so I assumed we would go to St. George or Page. Somewhere close by, at least. No such luck.

You can see the South Rim's massive complex of lodges, stores, trains, buses, and millions of tourists at night from the veranda. It is akin to looking across some dark emptiness at an amusement park on the other side. After all, it is only 12 miles across. To drive there, however, it is 210. I got back about 9:30. Thankfully, it is only a local call and the phone was ringing when I walked into my now-single room. We were all relieved to discover he found a place to stay and Monday morning he will discuss permanent employment.

Today, I rearranged the room, reorganized my clothes into the extra dresser, cleaned the bathroom to my standards of obsessive compulsiveness, then set out to find a nice spot to relax. That spot was about 3 miles from Point Imperial on an outcropping off the Saddle Mountain Trail. I enjoyed my usual snacks, finished a roll of slides, did a little meditating on the view and then headed back to my Jeep at Point Imperial. Someday I will hike the entire trail, maybe with Brody, but today this would be enough. I also wanted to get home to my once-again single dorm room! Maybe after two roomies, it will finally stay that way.

Oh, and the title of this hastily-written entry? If you've spent three or four hours on some shadeless trail anywhere in the Southwest, it is what you say when you spot what could be your only respite as it drifts toward the afternoon sun. "C'mon, cloud! C'mon!"

Time for bed. Another missive in a few days. I promise.