Great-grampa's Tombstone

I've posted before about my great-grandfather being buried in southern Utah in an unmarked grave. We (children, siblings, cousins,etc) all pitched in and bought a headstone (...Tombstone...) for great-grandfather's resting place.

Hyrum Jackson Whetstone's headstone/tombstone is finally placed, so Beverly and I take a ride south to see how it looks. We could easily drive down and back in two days, but where's the fun in that? So instead, we take the Royal Star for a three day ride.

Friday morning we are off, eventually stopping at Marysvale for lunch at 'The Garage'. I had a bacon chicken sandwich...DELICIOUS! They don't have hamburgers at the garage, but it is still a worthy destination for a foodie on a 'burger run'....

A couple miles after our lunch, we are on U.S. 89, a two lane road and at this point only about 2 feet between the outside white line and the shoulder of the road, speed limit 65 mph. As we round a right-hand sweeper I see a car, and a pickup pulling a trailer coming in the opposite lane.....and then I see a pickup pulling a car hauler size trailer trying to pass the other two and coming at us in OUR lane! 

Obviously it all turned out fine, but it was close, and Beverly and I both had our adrenaline pumped up for a while...

And on to Mt Carmel Junction where we spent the night in the Golden Hills Motel; inexpensive, and clean.

Saturday morning we breakfast here; at the home of the 'Ho Made Pies'.

In 2008 Honda used this same place for a Goldwing advert.

Next up is Zion National Park.

From the recent storms there the roads are sandy, some places all the way across the road.

Traffic was surprisingly heavy for a non-summer month.

And then the reason for the trip. We go to New Harmony to see the new headstone.

To have the headstone placed I had to get approval from the New Harmony Mayor, Joel Webster.  Joel is a good man and dealing with him had been a treat for me so, before this trip I had called the town office and left a message telling Joel we would be coming to see the headstone and invited him to join us if he would like.

Upon arriving, as Joel and I were walking toward Hyrum's grave I noted all the U.S. flags spaced evenly around the cemetery border and asked Joel what was the occasion?

He pointed to Hyrum's grave and said, "Right there; he was a veteran so we are honoring him today".

Thank you Mr. Mayor, Councilman Curtis Hadley, and his son, Calvin Hadley for putting up the flags to Honor my Great-grandfather!

Joel Webster on the left, your's truly on the right.

After a nice visit with Joel, we ride north. On our way to Milford where we will spend the night, we pass Parawon Gap. The Gap has numerous native American petrogylphs.

We didn't stay long as the rain was starting to fall.

We finally make it to Milford and about two hours later find out the road had been closed behind us due to the heavy rain.

We leave Milford the next morning and it is still raining. This area is normally quite dry, but today you can see the puddled water on the side of the road.

The ride home is a WET one!

We arrive home soaked, but happy. 697 miles of good times!