Our first mishap

Well, the good luck couldn't continue forever.  We made it to Dinosaur National Monument on Saturday afternoon (July 11) and set up camp.  The Monument (park) is in a very remote area on the Colorado/Utah border.  It was very different than the other national parks in that we did not see another soul until we reached the campground which is about 5 miles from the gate.  Even the gate was deserted with no ranger there to collect the entrance fee.  At the campground, it was self-serve registration and there were a handful of other campers.  We were in the middle of a canyon along the banks of the Green River (although we could not see the river from the campground.)  The campground had bathrooms and running water, but no showers or other amenities.  It was pretty rustic and scenic and we thought it was a very cool.

At about 11 o'clock that night, a wild storm passed through.  We had heard thunder and lightning for some time, but when the storm reached us it wasn't the lightning, but the wind, that threatened us.  The wind was whipping through the canyon and blowing the tent all around.  Hannah and I were the only ones awake and we were just lying there watching the tent and hoping that the tent would withstand the storm.  It did, primarily because all five of us were in the tent, holding it down.  The storm passed through after about 20 minutes and all was calm again.

The next day (Sunday, July 12) was Berhanu's birthday.  We left the campsite early to go on our whitewater rafting trip down the Green River.  That was a beautiful day.  The rapids were just right - wild enough to be fun, but not so wild to be dangerous for children.  More on that later, or at least I hope to post photos.  After the rafting, we had dinner in the town of Vernal to celebrate Berhanu's birthday.  We stopped at a market and as we returned to our car, another storm was coming in with the same high winds.  We rushed back to the campground to find our tent in a different location.  All the stakes had come out and the tent toppled over and blew away several feet from where it had been.  That would have been okay except that one of the supporting poles broke during the mishap.  As I tried to figure out what to do, another storm was threatening.  It was a stressful few minutes.  The clouds passed and we could calm down knowing that we weren't going to be pelted with rain, lightning or wind.

Two things saved us:  The kindness of a stranger and the excellent return policy of LLBean.  A man was passing by with his daughters and saw what had happened.  He offered us a tent for the night and I accepted.  I had been trying to fix the pole with duct tape, but it wouldn't hold.  I then called LLBean customer service and they shipped a whole new tent to us at our next stop - Moab.  It arrived today.  It meant having to stay an extra day in Moab in order to await delivery of the tent, therefore missing Mesa Verde, but that's hardly something to complain about.  LL Bean rocks!!  UPS delivered the tent today.  LLB gave me a return label.  I just took the new tent, put the old tent in the same box, added the label and left it at the campground office for UPS to pick up tomorrow.  We've been in a camping cabin last night and tonight, which I had reserved because it has AC and it is 100 degrees here in Moab, so I did not need the tent.  We're off to the Grand Canyon tomorrow with our new tent.

By the way, the man who saved us is from Seattle.  He is home with his kids for the summer while his wife works.  He has been traveling with them for a month and is now on his way back home.  He's doing what I'm doing!  So now I have to pay that forward and I'll be happy to do it.  I never did get his last name, but Mark from Seattle was our angel and saved the day.