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It’s off to Mesa Verde via Salt Lake City to pick up our Bambi Airstream trailer where we encounter a Wyoming Road Hazard–ranchers driving their cattle down from the high mountain valleys. Five hours later we arrive in Salt Lake City and stay with my old Jenny Lake Rescue Ranger friend Ted Wilson and his wife Holly. We are joined by Rangers Rick Reese, honorary 3rd mate on my tug Katahdin, and Bob Irvine who was my former boss and now a retired math professor. We camp six miles west of Lake Powell NRA boundary and enjoy burritos and a “propane” campfire.

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And in the morning, we warm up with cafe latte and the New York Times as I explain the subtle nuances of the advantages of mechanized camping:

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Martina and I hike the bottom of the canyon while the fearless Rangers climb above us, risking their lives at every moment. They will eventually rappel down these watercourses to the canyon floor where we now stand. After waiting at the bottom for them, we grow tired and retreat back to our Bambi trailer then proceed down the road towards Mesa Verde

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We eventually reach Mesa Verde National Park–our goal is to produce a centennial poster (2006) of Square Tower–the tallest structure built by the Anasazi’s. We are camped in our aluminum bubble (with heaters running) under steel gray clouds that reach thousands of feet above us with sun lighting the green mountains directly south of us…Mesa Verde or green mesa. Stay tuned for our tour of this park…..