On the spur of the moment, Lester said, "Do you want to go for a ride on Nebo Loop?" We'd been told to do that by some friends, the Odermats. I agreed, and off we went. Too fast, probably, because it was 3:45 or earlier and no thought as to water, or food, and me a diabetic! The spirit nudged me on the freeway as we were about fairly close to Payson. It hit hard. I searched my purse, and not even a granola bar. Nothing in the car. So I talked to Lester and tried to figure out how long it would take on our little adventure. We ended up deciding to get food, and somehow ran into a Wendys in Nephi. We ate an early supper at 4:30, tanked up on drinks, added some licorice to bring, and off we went. It was one of the most fun and beautiful adventures, and loved every minute of it. We saw 4 dear, one of which I took a picture. The leaves were so colorful and every turn was incredible. Then, something cool happened. I was fixing my camera and I started talking to Lester, only he was across the road. I noticed another couple right beside me which didn't register much. We got in the car and drove away, stopping at the next turnout. This one has a rest room and a path to a "minature Bryce Canyon". I started walking the path when I heard a woman ask Lester, "Are you really from Maine? Did you drive all the way out here to see this?" We laughed and explained how and why we were here. Then I asked her where she lived and she told us Mapleton. We have some old friends that we haven't seen since we got married 45 years ago and knew that they lived in Mapleton also. So I asked if they knew the Gomez's, Sharon and Allan. You should have seen the look on her face! She said that she and her husband Rod, had been married only three years. Both had lost their spouses. Sharon and Allan have two sons. One daughter from Cheryl and one daughter from Rod are married to each of those sons! Man, did we have a hoot over that. So now we are scheming on how to see the Gomez's and surprise them. Rod and Cheryl's last name is Petersen. They are suposed to set it up. We'll see...something to look forward to, anyway. We have these little co-incidences all the time. Here we are, 9,000 feet up, only ones there in the middle of God's country, and we run into people that we have a connection with. Wow!
Back to the sight-seeing... we were told that the peak of the leaves was a week ago, so we missed it a little, and other than not the brightest orange, it was still gorgeous. Next year we'll go earlier. Maine fall peak is mid-Oct. The images we had seen stayed in my mind for a couple of days. Utah seems to be very versatile.
