Day 34 Hatch

My Missionary Angels!

I started the day a few miles North of Hatch, and Kara had dropped me off so she could go get some work done for her job at the Family History Library back in Panguitch. I called her and told her my headset wasn’t working, which meant I couldn’t walk and be on the phone at the same time, which would greatly slow me down. Two elderly sister missionaries at the library overheard the conversation and volunteered to run to Cedar City and have the guys at the Verizon store see if they could fix it. They were so kind! They also brought me a cheeseburger and onion rings.



Just a few miles outside of Hatch, I ran into a small herd of llamas. Then to my surprise, I came across a small herd of Bison. It was easy to imagine a time when vast herds of Bison would have roamed through these valleys, or at least ones similar to it. Then I got my greatest surprise. A car pulled off the road ahead of me and my brother Dave’s wife, Stella, hopped out. She had come down to walk with me. Stella spent several of her growing up years in Glendale with the Maxwell family, and she had come down to visit old friends and family and spend some time walking with me. 



Homer and Marilynn Dutton

Later that afternoon I passed through Hatch. I saw a Mexican Restaurant, Café Adobe, along the road and decided to stop in and see if they would like to help sponsor the walk by providing dinner for us. The owner, Homer Dutton, said he thought he could do that and I arranged to come back later after I was through walking. I was pretty excited about getting some Mexican food. Kara picked me up after I was done and we went straight to the restaurant, where we met Homer’s wife, Marilynn, who is also the cook. We ordered Chicken Chimichangas – they were some of the best I had ever had. Marilynn said it was probably because I had built up an appetite walking, but I can tell you the food there was excellent and Homer and Marilynn were a pleasure to talk to.