Stormy Drive to Bryce Canyon

...A black cloud overhead, blanketing the sun and the sky for miles..... that's where I think I left off. Lightning strikes lit up in zig-zagging streaks surrounding us like electric ghosts of Native American Chiefs, warning:

"You dare to pass this way??!"

I fought back an eerie anxiety with prayers for peace and faith. Trust.... God, surely you wouldn't draw us out here for destruction. And at the same time the landscape was huge and forbodingly fearsome, it was beautiful - majestic, towering plateaus and mountains in the distance stood in deep purple ominous layers.... All this desert storm drama in the "middle-of-no-where - Utah" .... had I mentioned 300 miles without seeing any signs of civilization?? -

We were running dangerously low on gas. When we had left Arches Canyon National Park, our tank had shown an abundant almost 3/4 full -... and now it read "E," with not a substantial town on the map for 35 or 40 miles. "Oh GOD," we prayed, don't let us run out here, in this stormy barren place, where even on a clear day, no one might find us in our plight for days, maybe weeks (probably a slight exaggeration.) I could picture rickety old skeletons, gleaming in the desert sun beside dried planks of bleached wood and a strap of tattered canvas flapping in the wind, remnants of a covered wagon, whose trail ended in this very spot.

I found a dot on the map, looking to be 15 miles or so off the highway, but it had a name, Emery, and the map key showed it could have a population anywhere from zero to 2,500, ( we'd be lucky if it was 20) We thought possibly a rancher may have a pump for his tractors. So, we ventured off onto this smaller, more remote road, still surrounded by blackening storm clouds, pelting rain and flashes of lightning.

We chugged into Emery, Utah on fumes, to find 10 or 12 dwellings, and low and behold, a 2 pump gas station/store the size of my bedroom. Praise the LORD! This po-dunk establishment, which sold cheese sticks, potato chips and peach yogurt became also our diner - as the "village" hadn't one of these. We needed to get out of the heavy rain for a moment anyway, so we ate right in the little store with the teenage girl working at the register. Besides selling cigarettes and some booze, our gas station did carry a few T-shirts silk screened with a map of Utah and a thumbtack on Emery; It read "I ran out of gas in Emery, Utah." That kind of said it all.

Been there, done that - didn't buy the T-shirt.

We holed up for probably 25 minutes to wait out the storm, and as we stepped outside we were blessed with GOD's beautiful promise of protection and care - the clearest double rainbow stretching from east to west - as clear as if painted with "artist quality" watercolors. We stood and stared at it for a while -praising God. The storm was gone, and as we turned and drove out, we saw there was another rainbow to the south, thats three in all; vibrant color surrounded us now for about 7 minutes as we made our way back to the highway, and on to Bryce Canyon. Kevin and I set up in the dark, flopped all the kids into bed around 11 pm, thankful and tired.