Moab-part 2

The next morning we woke up early, unhooked the RV, and headed into Arches.  We had tickets for a 9AM ranger hike into the Fiery Furnace.  Kevin and I had done this hike seventeen years ago and knew the boys would enjoy it.

Even if one child claimed he didn't want to follow a ranger on a hike.

The hike only covers less than three miles, but it takes you into red rock, slot canyons and it's easy to get lost once down inside.

 We had plenty of breaks in the shade, and water on hand for Kevin.

 And it was amazing.

 But as we hiked, I noticed what looked like a rash on the back of Kevin's calf.

 And as the day went on, it spread.
Our guide from the evening Jeep ride had offered to take us back out in the afternoon, and since Kevin was not 100%, we had already arranged for Mike to pick us back up for ride #2.
This time we headed north out of Moab to a huge area of fossilized dinosaur footprints.
It was amazing!
A mountain biker happened to be the one who made the discovery, and it is huge.
Looking at footprints of a T-rex, & sauropods that seem like they were left yesterday....it was crazy.
We didn't take too many pictures; just enjoyed.

Then Mike (our driver) took us back to a pile of fossilized brontosaurus bones.
There were ribs, and legs coming out of the rock right next to you.
Amazing.
After that we were whizzed & bounced across the sand dunes to the base of a mesa.
We scrambled up a short trail to an opening in the rock.
Mike headed in, and told us to follow him, but watch out for snakes.
I was not thrilled, but followed them all....and we came out of the tunnel to this:

A massive sandstone gully with petroglyphs from another era.
We heard different stories of what the petroglyphs could represent, and Mike's opinion (hunting tally marks), then he shared some great stories of Billy the Kid which the boys really enjoyed.
Big Iron Tours is the way to go if you're ever in the Moab area.
After we got dropped back off at the RV, we walked to a nearby restaurant for dinner & milkshakes.
Kevin's leg looked awful, so we planned to pack up, resupply at the grocery, then visit another Urgent Care before we headed to Bryce the next morning.
The next morning, it looked the same.
This urgent care was connected to the local hospital.
The boys & I settled in the RV to wait, and it wasn't too long before Kevin sent me a text.
He was being sent over to the ER to rule out a blood clot.
I sent a few texts, prayed, & waited anxiously to hear back from Kevin.
So very thankful for good friends to text/pray with, for having a doctor in our mix, and for the boys who tried to keep me occupied while we waited.
After about thirty minutes we got the news-no blood clot, was a skin infection.
All things considered....great news.
Kevin had a prescription to fill, and we had a long drive to Bryce Canyon ahead of us, but since it was a Sunday, the challenge was finding a pharmacy open to fill it.
What is normally a beautiful drive through desert, became a bit more nerve wracking as every pharmacy we approached, had already closed.  We didn't want to have to leave Bryce the next day, to drive to another town to fill his prescription so we headed about 40 minutes out of our way to our last chance of the day.
Kevin pulled into the Walgreens parking lot in Cedar City and slowed the RV so I could jump out and run inside....at 5:55 pm.  Bless that pharmacist for filling it.
The boys ate sandwiches while we drove on to Bryce, pulling into our campground as the sun set.
A storm rolled in shortly after, and we were all pretty tired.
Oh, and it was Father's Day.
A memorable one for sure.