Hurricane, UT to Page, AZ

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Blog 10-18-17 Hurricane, UT to Page, AZ

We hated to leave our neighborhood campground but it was time to move on. There was a tree company blocking off one of the streets in the campground to take down a tree that had died in the Santa Anna winds on Oct 8th. The same winds we drove through and the same winds that created havic in Santa Rosa, CA, burning it to the ground.

The tree was not that big but they were making a project of it so we drove to another road to leave the campground. I forgot to take pictures of our campground so we'll just have ot remember how nice it was. We'll write a great review on the internet for them.

We took a right turn onto Rt 59 out of town and were immediately back into the desert with red mesas and open spaces. There are pictures of this section so they can show what it looked like. We didn't see any critters except huge black cows grazing on the dry grasses.

After driving for about an hour we saw a sign saying Best Friends Animal Sanctuary just 17 mile ahead. Ginnie got so excited and when we discovered that it was only 5 miles out of our way, we just had to stop. I called because Ginnie was driving and they said to come on in they had parking for an rv so we pulled off the highway onto Angel Canyon Rd and traveled 1 1/2 miles and parked in their parking lot. Ginnie had been contributing to this organization for years and for her to finally get a chance to see the facility was so exciting. She had no idea it was in this area so the surprise and excitement were incredible. It just so happened that they had 2 openings for the 1 pm tour so we were signed up and went back to the rv to have lunch and take the dogs for a walk. They told us about a trail across the road so we took it and discovered a final resting place for some of the animals that lived here. It was a beautiful, restful place.

We got the dogs settled in the camper and turned on the generator so we could run the air conditioner for the dogs while we were on the 2 hour tour.

The tour began with a 1/2 hr movie about the Sanctuary and what they try to accomplish. They have 3400 acres just north of Kanab, UT and their goal is to have no kill shelters throughout the country by 2025. They currently have 1600 animals at their facility ranging from dogs and cats, to birds, to rabbits, horses and donkeys and ducks. There are 7 full time vets on staff with full operating facilities, hundreds of employees and thousands of volunteers.

We toured the puppy house and got to play with puppies. That's where they get everybody. The facitlities are beautiful and extremely clean and they really do a wonderful job taking care of the unwanted. They get a lot of puppies from the reservations in the area and try to get the older dogs neutered and spayed so this doesn't continue.

They take care of any animal with any kind of ailment for as long as they live. Their main goal is to have the animals adopted and their adoption rate is 83 % so it's very successful. The remainder of the animals live out their natural life at the facility.

There are cabins for rent and 2 rv spots with full hook-ups for those who wish to come and volunteer their time to help. The setting is gorgeous and it is spread out over hundreds of acres so there is no foul animal smell anywhere. The horses have beautiful pastures among the red rock with shelters from the sun.

We went to the cat houses and they live a more comunal life with several cats to a large room with an outdoor porch with access to the rafters so the cats can climb and be up high if they want.

I was so happy for Ginnie that we could tour the facility and when we left I was glad it was my turn to drive so she could just relax and enjoy the experience.

We picked up Rt 89 and went about 70 miles into Page, AZ but not before traveling through some really spectacular scenery. There were red rock mesas or hills to our left and just flat land to our right with a big cliff way ahead. Pictures

We went into Page and found our campground and after registering went to the campsite and got settled. It is on a bit of a slant so Ginnie had to put boards under the leveling feet because we were on small stones. Again we set up the fence and when the boys came out they were not excited. Linus and Alfy have tender feet and the stones hurt them. They are small rounded stones but still it's not comfortable for them. Alfy wasn't too bad and he ran around a bit but Linus was really bothered so Ginnie put a rug out for him to lay on and that seemed better.

We had happy hour watching the setting sun light up the red rock adjacent to our campground. The colors were amazing and were changing all the time from pink to red to fushia with a little yellow mixed in. To add a little more interest there were 2 kids on bikes riding the ridge trying to figure out how to get down. more pictures

After dinner we settled in for the night. It was cloudy today at times and cloudy now with the temperature in the low 60s.

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