THE Trip, Driving to Dead Horse Point State Park

CABS for Reflections From the Fence

On May 4, 2011 Man and I made another LONG day trip, to Dead Horse Point State Park and Canyonlands National Park, Island in the Sky District.  You drive right by Dead Horse Point State Park on the way to the Island in the Sky District of Canyonlands National Park, so, you do both. The drive from Moab takes you 9 miles northwest of Moab on US 191 and then 23 miles southwest on Utah 313.  Knowing it would be a long day with no services available we packed a lunch and the fur kids, and we were off.

With almost a 35 mile drive before we get to the park you just know the beauty begins before we ever get to Dead Horse Point State Park:

Lots of rocks sitting on top of rocks that look like they could topple over with a whisper of wind or a rumble of an earthquake. As always, I am mesmerized at Mother Nature's balancing act.

Below is a formation called the Merrimac, after the Civil War Confederate ship by that name (also known by the southern forces by the name, Virginia.)

And, below, is the Monitor, named after the Union ship sent to destroy the Merrimac.

It is said the battle between the two changed maritime warfare forever.  Below, the two, Merrimac on the left, Monitor on the right.  The formations are over 600 feet tall towering over the Utah desert floor.

All this beauty and we have not even entered the state park yet.  By the way, I took 595 photos during this little day trip!  I won't take nearly that many photos again until we do another day trip, to Zion National Park.


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THE Trip, Driving Scenic 279

CABS for Reflections From the Fence

Scenic Route 279 (just north of Moab Utah, off of 191) is more than rock climbers.  It is a beautiful drive along the Colorado River with the towering red rocks to contrast the water.

Always on the lookout for items of interest, especially pictographs, you just know I had to have Man pull over when I saw a sign announcing Indian writing.  Sony and I went hunting.  And, I looked, and I looked, and I looked more. I twisted my head left and right, climbed up the hill a bit, looking harder and harder.  DUHHHH, I could not see them.  I took a photo of what I did see, and once on the computer I tried one of my favorite little tricks, auto-correct, on the photo editing program.  And, this is what I got.   Note, color is NOT what I saw. I sure am having trouble seeing any Indian writing, but Jerome was here.

There are several small camping areas along 279, here is one, no power, no water, no dump, boondocking only, small rigs only, Tana would have trouble fitting in most of these sites.  But for the right family, these sites are fabulous!

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I Was Born WHERE?? Elizabeth Marie Ruthig

CABS for Reflections From the Fence

You know the routine, you are working on a blog post, the next thing you know you are scanning over 100 pages of documents that you never managed to get around to before, and soon you are surfing in and out of other web sites, like FamilySearch.org.  Amazing how that happens, one thing runs into another.

Recently during one such seige, I opened Elizabeth's edit screen and multimedia events in my data base to add her confirmation record, and I re-discovered that she has two birth records.  In two different countries!  Not counties, countries.  See:

Above, record from North Easthope, Perth County, Ontario, Canada.  Note:  I have electronically moved things around a bit on this record.  I have not changed the data, just removed the extra stuff, aka, other records, from the page.  In my data base, I only want to show the portion of the page that contains the party of interest.  I obtained this record when I had a paid "World" membership at Ancestry.com.  I no longer have any membership at Ancestry.com, so I cannot provide you a direct link to the original image.  I cannot find the original downloaded image on my hard drive either, cause, no matter how careful I am, it seems that now and then something gets misfiled or deleted.  Rats!

Above, part of page 1 of 2 that contain the birth record of the same child, but, recorded in Huron County, Michigan.  Again, note, I have electronically edited the document, not changed it, just deleted many of the records above Elizabeth's, maintaining the column headings.  The full document can be viewed at FamilySearch.org.  If you inspect the full document you will note she was reportedly born in Winsor, Huron County, Michigan, represented in this image by ditto marks.

Here is the second page of her birth record as found in the Huron County Michigan records, again edited.  You can find this page at FamilySearch.org as well.  When you have the above record open, look for the little portion that says, Image 917 of 1521.  It is near the top of the page, above the image. Click the arrow to go to Image 918.  That is how I found it!  Did not know that page 2 was available, now I have some serious review to do.  Going back and getting page 2 of  several records where I failed to download it before, cause, mmm, I did not know I could do that "go to the next image" thing in this set of records.  Yahooooo for available parent's names, boohoo for having to redo.  Life is sooooo rough these days for internet family researchers!  LOL

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Mary Ruthig married Johannes Arthur Steinback 14 Jun 1916 in Linkville, Huron County, Michigan.  She died 28 Jan 1949 in Saginaw, Saginaw County, Michigan and was laid to rest at the Roselawn Memorial Gardens, Saginaw, Saginaw County, Michigan.  Lizzie and John had only one child, Richard Arthur Steinback, who died at the age of 10 years.

I currently have no photo of Lizzie, nor one of her headstone (if there is one).  Currently there is no memorial for Lizzie, John or their son, Richard, at Find A Grave.




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Churches in Our Family History, The Lutheran Story, the 109th Carnival Of Genealogy

CABS for Reflections From the Fence

The subject of this month's Carnival of Genealogy is "Our Ancestors' Place of Worship!"  Thanks to Jasia of Creative Gene and a new mystery blog who are sponsoring the COG this month.  Thanks to footnoteMaven for the totally fabulous poster.

Man's family is strongly Lutheran.  I so love that, as there are so many Lutheran church records that have survived, and in my experience, for the most part, their pastor's keep really fabulous records!  Oh, ya, there is that small issue of many of them being written in German, but, even I managed to learn to read the records enough to extract the facts.  Well, those really old handwriting ones have been a challenge, but, I have a secrete helper there.  Seems my daughter-in-law is German, and she knows elders that live in her parent's apartment building (back in Germany) that have been able to read the old German handwriting for me.  Sweet, eh??

I am not sure how many Lutheran Churches may be involved in Man's heritage, I know I have written letters to many!  Thought I would focus on four, all of which have meant so much to this family.

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Calvary Lutheran Church, Lincoln Park, Wayne County, Michigan.  Two of our sons were baptized here, many cousins as well.  Man was confirmed here, as was his mother.  Man's parents were married here.  Cousins married here.


(Right:  Our first born, baptismal day at Calvary.)



Last year we buried Man's mother from this very church.  She attended Calvary since her parents moved to Lincoln Park sometime between 1925 and 1930.  She received her last communion from the pastor of this church shortly before her death.  The pastor came to her apartment, where with 2 of her cousins, she had her last religious supper.

Above:  Calvary Lutheran Church, Lincoln Park, Wayne County, Michigan
(Source of photo unknown.  Year unknown.)

Interior, Calvary Lutheran Church
(Source of photo unknown, year unknown.)


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St. Paul Evangelical Lutheran Church, Pigeon, Huron County, Michigan is the church were Man's mother was baptized.  (See her certificate right, written in German.)

It is also the church where her parents, Man's grandparents, were married.

Many years ago this church let me borrow a photographic copy of their early church records.  Can we say, genie happy dancin'?  I was able to copy pages and pages of baptisms, confirmations, marriages, and deaths.  I have been forever thankful for that treasure trove of data.  There were even page long obituaries, written in German, but of course.  (Several translated, but of course.)

It so happens that this is the only church of the four that Man and I have never personally visited.

Above:  St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran Church,
Pigeon (Linkville), Huron County, Michigan
(Photo appeared on their history dated 1894-1994.)

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The Lihue Lutheran Church in Lihue,  Kauai, Hawaii is where Man's great-grandparents Karl and Charlotte Gehrke and their children worshiped during their years on the island.  Karl and Charlotte lived in Hawaii from 1888 to 1904.  They left Germany in 1888, worked at the sugar plantations and in 1904 moved on to Oakland, Alameda County, California.

The church allowed microfilming of their early church records and I have borrowed that film from the LDS FHC and made a LOT of copies.  I have well over 45 different events recorded from that one film alone.  There are baptisms, confirmations, marriages, and deaths for this family recorded in this church's records.  For example here is Man's grandfather's confirmation record. (This is a two page record, first page on top, second page on the bottom.  I folded photocopies of the record so I could get the headings of each column to line up with the actual record.)

There are some terrific old photos and a bit of history on the church here.  The church also has a web site, while you are there, be sure to click on the tab for the history, which tells us in part:  "The long experience on board ship was reflected in the architecture of the church, as they carried out the symbolism of a ship as descriptive of the church. The floor slants like the deck of a ship; the balcony is the captain’s bridge; the ceiling is like the hull; the lights are ship lanterns; and the pulpit the forecastle."

Man and I had the opportunity to visit the island and the church while we vacationed there in 1993, just six months after Hurricane Iniki hit Kauai.  We were delighted by the interior of the church, you really feel that you may be on board a ship.

Above:  Lihue Lutheran Church, Lihue, Kauai, Hawaii
(Source of photo unknown, possibly a post card,
believed to be pre-Iniki.)

Behind the church is the church cemetery, where several of Man's extended family relatives are buried.

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The last church highlighted is also from Man's lineage.  This church is in Miseau, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany.  There is some interesting town history for Miseau, here.  For those who are interested, I also found a map on this page, that shows where Miseau is located, you can enlarge the focus area for a closer look.

Man's second great-grandfather, Valentine Ruthig (Rudig) was born nearby and was baptized in this church in  1821.  From three rolls of film available via the LDS FHC I was able (with a TON of help from my friends) to take this Ruthig - Rudig - Ruediger lineage back at least 4 more generations and intersecting lines back 4 to 6 generations.

While I was in SLC at the research mecca in May/June of this year I took the very last day of research to review these films and try to capture digital copies of the records.  My prior copies of the records are of rather poor quality and digital is so wonderful.  This is the baptismal record of Valentine's great grandfather, born 1736 and baptized in this church.  Ya, not only is this written in German, it is written in the old German handwriting.  Whew!  I was unable in one day to obtain copies of all the ancestors, but the few I did get are precious and I just love how clear the images are.

In 1997 Man and I (in fact, our entire family) went to Germany to celebrate the wedding of our son and his German bride.  While we were there we were able to visit Miseau.  We did not have a lot of time, for a lot of reasons, much too complicated to go into here.  Suffice it to say, we somehow managed to find Miseau, even managed to stop at a fuel station and convey to the clerk in sign language that I needed a map of the area.  But, alas, the church building was locked when we arrived and we had no idea how to find anyone to assist us in gaining entry (all those that spoke German in our family were not with us on this adventure).  So, we took photos of the outside of this lovely church that was built in 1738 and called it a day.

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Four Lutheran Churches, uncounted documents for baptisms, confirmations, marriages and deaths.  Yes, I do so love researching Lutheran families!


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THE Trip, Rock Climbin' in Moab Utah

CABS for Reflections From the Fence

Moab is full of rocks, and therefore, it is full of rocking climbing enthusiasts. Some prefer the 4-wheeling experience, but others like, mmm, the hands on experience.  I shared our first encounter with hands on rock climbers is here.

On another spectacular weather day in early May 2011 Man and I decided to drive 279, as it came highly recommended by MOC friends, Steve and Vicki, and we were told that there were LOTS of rock climbers out there.  And, there were!  The hands on type of rock climbers.

Below:  the rocks, or formations, or walls, whatever you want to call them, tall, and taller, steep and steeper, hard, and mmm, unforgivably hard, eh??  See the cars??  Ya, they look like little matchbook cars don't they? Shows you how large these rocks are.  Could not even get all the formations in the photo, that is how tall they are.

Another view, could not get all the rocks in this photo either.

And, here are some of the "tools of the trade", zoomed in with the Sony, climbers use these chains and hooks and hardware.   From the ground, from the perspective of a "non-climber", aka, ole lady who would NEVER attempt this, these tools look mighty SMALL!

Something of interest to note, several of these groups of climbers were visitors from Europe, it was not American English they were using to communicate with each other.  They were very enthusiastic about their visits here, Man asked.  They really liked rock climbing Moab style!  We enjoyed watching them and appreciated their skills, and no, I am not gonna try this, ever!  I don't do climbing well, even ladders, can't get past step 3 or 4, cause my feet and legs freeze!  LOL

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So Honored to Share a Photo

CABS for Reflections From the Fence

Some of you may remember that back in late February, early March during THE Trip, Man and I spent a good part of an afternoon at Salvation Mountain near Niland, California.  Salvation Mountain is the life's work and dream of Leonard Knight.

We had no idea what to expect, but, we were mesmerized, and totally enchanted within minutes of our arrival. We had the distinct pleasure of meeting Leonard.  He captivates, he loves, he is so simply real.   In just a short span of time he wins hearts.

Salvation Mountain has a Facebook presence, and, I am a follower, as are over 4,000 others.  I shared the three posts I did on Salvation Mountain on the Facebook page. For those that may have not seen them, they are here:

THE Trip, Salvation Mountain, The Tools of Love

THE Trip, Salvation Mountain, near Niland California

THE Trip, Leonard Knight, Salvation Mountain, A Photo Tribute

After posting the links at Salvation Mountain, I was contacted by Patrick Rea, filmmaker, who also has a Facebook presence and  web presence.  Patrick is making a film about Leonard and Salvation Mountain.  He requested the use of one of the photos I took of Leonard.  Happens to be the photo above.

You know, most photographers hope that someday a photo they have taken will touch others.  For me, the hope is that my photos will make others smile, and maybe, just maybe, touch them in a positive way.  I never dreamed any of my photos would make it past Reflections From the Fence or Reflection's Flora and Fauna.  And, that has been perfectly fine, I have just been thrilled to share on the blogs.

I don't think of myself as any "great" photographer, just an ole gal who loves the challenge and the fun of seeing if she can "catch" some visual with her Sony.  Reflections From the Fence and Reflection's Flora and Fauna have provided me with a creative outlet that I have been looking for for years!  It is my little nitch, fulfilling my need to be creative.  A place to create something sorta artsy, maybe pretty.

On a good day, maybe one of those photos will cause you, my faithful readers and friends, to smile, or go WOW, or sigh in peace and awe.  If a photo takes your breath away, even for just a moment, I am thrilled, it is a great day!

Never would I have dreamed that one of my photos would be picked for something like this.  And, yes, I have granted that permission.  You can see my photo of Leonard on this page at Patrick Rea's web site.  Thank you Patrick for choosing my photo of Leonard to be used in such a positive place and way.  I am humbled and so very honored.



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THE Trip, Treasured Campsite, Real Boondocking!

CABS for Reflections From the Fence

Now and then we see things that are just too much fun, unusual (to us).  Here is one, taken while driving the La Sal Mountain Loop, near Moab Utah.  It is in the middle of NO WHERE.  Believe me, no dumps, no power, no water, no utilities at all.  Left me shaking my head in wonder, as in "wonder why they would choose to boondock here?"  Ah, but we all know, it takes all kinds to keep this wonderful world of ours spinning on it's axis.

Wanna bet he has some interesting neighbors??  This is in the general area that Man and I spied the only wild cat we saw during our 8.5 month trip.  I can almost hear the coyotes yowling, can't you??

Happy Boondocking!



* I am gonna take a wild guess here and think aloud that they have installed some kind of rudimentary sewer system, tote their water in, generator for minimal power and a lot of adult beverages to wash down the dust.  Ya, that works!  LOL
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THE Trip, Driving the La Sal Mountain Loop, Manti-La Sal National Forest

CABS for Reflections From the Fence

After lunch, Man and I climbed back into Big Butt and headed up the mountain, driving into the Manti-La Sal National Forest.  This is one of the first signs we see, followed by signs that also said, "Slide Area", "Steep Grades", you know, normal stuff when you are driving around mountain sides.  In about 2 minutes of drive time we climbed over 250 in elevation.  Yep, we were surely going UP!  This next photo was taken at 7,356 feet.  You might recognize some of the formations from yesterday's post.  But, we were closer to them yesterday!  LOL

Not far up the road, we made a turn, and everything changes, the red is gone, green and grays are in.

And, this lovely stand of trees, so close to the road, elevation 8,332, the outdoor temperature was now 48 degrees.  This was about as high as we would get on today's ride.

Every time we round a corner the views change, finally had to stop and try to capture it all with a panoramic,

Below:  Stunning, even with the clouds behind all that snow on the mountain.

Our descent was filled with wondrous views as well, but the sun was blinding and Sony and I could not capture the beauty real well.  Got some good glare tho!  LOL

The descent was very steep in places, and quite curvy, Man took it nice and slow so I could hold on to Sony and not be totally white knuckled.   (You know that it was ole Carol that was on the outside looking over the long drop offs with just a foot or two from the side of the road to the D*R*O*P*O*F*F! )  This photo only partially captures how steep the roadway was.

Below:  As you can see from this photo, there was some haze going on.  This is looking down at southern Moab, we are still up a ways in the mountains.

It was somewhere along in here that I missed a photo op of the only wild cat we saw the entire 8.5 months of THE Trip.  It ran from the left side of the road to the right side and up a hill so fast you barely caught sight of him, or her.  It was a large cat, maybe a cougar.  Not real sure, about all I saw was a flash of movement, size, as in LARGE, buff color, and the tail disappearing behind the rocks.  Ahhh, for the missed opportunities, one of the few regrets of THE Trip.

And, it is still a LONG way back to Moab, but, I keep taking photos, 'cause it is sooooo beautiful.  And, way, way, way off in the distance, another snow covered mountain, sorry, I cannot tell you the name.

Another panoramic of the La Sal Mountains:

Any number of these hair pin turns to "entertain" us.  Steep too!

If you look close in the following photo, you can just see a body of water, doesn't that blue look wonderful?

Said it before, will say it again and again for weeks to come, the contrasts, textures, colors, size, shapes, leave me stuttering, WOW, again and again.

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