Life at a "Swell's" pace

Price, Utah 🠊 Green River, Utah

We ended up staying the night in Price, Utah, because we wanted to see more of the town and the areas around it. One of the main places I wanted to see was the mobile home park my parents stayed at while my dad was a mill wright. We stayed at the Legacy Inn RV Park and it was a perfect choice for the bus. We are always afraid someone will turn us away because we are in a converted bus, but so far on this trip we haven't had a single issue. Most people think the bus is "neat," or "cool," and we have even heard a few times, "sick bus," and "totally awesome." Ha! We appreciate everyone that thinks our bus is cool, because we love it so much. Taking this trip in a converted school bus was definitely a great plan!

I had picked up these flowers before we left, because the day we departed it was Easter and I wanted to keep them as long as we could and use them on the table during our trip. So far so good.

We woke up the next morning and fed the animals, and took showers. Eleven ate her food in the back of the bus where the window is, because she enjoys privacy when she eats. It also kept her food from Hardy, because he is a pig and he will eat everything.☺ We also washed all of our dirty clothes from the trip so far, and I also washed a few towels and wash clothes we've used. The Legacy Inn in Price, Utah, is clean, kind, and we highly recommend it to anyone traveling through the area.

Walking back to the bus after doing laundry and taking showers, I scanned the rocks and found this Arkansas-shaped stone. I am no officially on a hunt for rocks in the shape of states, especially Arkansas.

We stopped to view the Price River before we left the area for the day.

We had a small meal and one of the things I packed in the food stash were kumquats. We recently rediscovered these citrus fruits when our local food co-op in Corvallis, Oregon, has a citrus tasting event. We love them now!

After checking out the Price River we headed towards Castle Dale, Utah, where my parents lived 40+ years ago, and where my parents brought me back to after I was born.

The views along the highway between Price and Castle Dale are incredible. My parents said that there wasn't a grocery store in Castle Dale and they had to drive this very highway to Price to get groceries. I always love hearing the stores of when I was born and my parents daily activities when I was young. Being in the very spots that my parents were at over 40 years ago is a feeling I can't describe. It's almost overwhelming emotionally.

We stopped a few times along the way to take pictures of the area. Skylar was always good about finding some sort of rock formation, but he was keeping his hopes us to find a forgotten fossil.

It took us a bit to find the right roads, but with the help of MapQuest and my parents we found it. I have a blip of a memory, either here, or when my parents moved to Arkansas. The memory is of a small incline, or hill similar to the one at this mobile home park and our house having a chain link fence around it and my sister and me playing in the yard on a swing set. I was so little when they moved from this area, and I was around two when they moved from their first location in Arkansas to where they are now. I don't know where the memory is and why I have it, but I like to think it's my first memory of when I was a kid. I like to treasure that memory, no matter where we were living at the time.

We reached the top of the little hill incline and there it was. Of course, according to my mom, too, this area was nice back in the late 70s and early 80s. One thing was still visible from my parents living here; my dad's bricks he laid for a pathway and to surround the yard. I took these pictures for my parents and I was on the phone with them when I sent the pictures. My mom and dad were looking at everything I sent and my dad exclaimed, "MY BRICKS!" when I sent these pictures. His tone, and heartfelt happiness made my heart sing. I was so happy we could bring him this moment. I was also so happy to be sharing this moment with everyone I love together. It was such a wonderful new memory to keep locked in my mind.

The current mobile home in the spot is not the same one my parents owned. They actually took their with them to Arkansas when they moved from the area. We knocked on the door a few times before taking pictures, but no one answered. I also was looking forward to telling them our story. I was a bit bummed that I could visit with the current residence, but just being able to see it made me overjoyed.

The power plant my dad, uncle, and grandpa worked at as mill weights in Orangeville, Utah. It was neat seeing it from a distance close to where my parents lived.

The fire department and view of Castle Dale from the highway through the town.

Castle Dale City Hall.

The last view of Castle Dale before we made our way back to Price.

We stopped at Huntington State Park on our way back to have some lunch and let the animals get out and stretch their legs. We also put the duck pin in the water and let the ducks get in and get off their feet from riding in the bus so long. They loved it! There were also people swimming and riding jet skis near by. It was a beautiful day. That's one thing we all kept saying, we couldn't believe what great weather we came through at each place we were at. Even in the snowy areas it was great weather the whole way so far.

The view here was incredible!

We headed back into Price, Utah, and took a small detour to Helper, Utah, because Skylar wanted to check out the trains and the town...

Ogden, Utah 🠊Price, Utah

We got into Price, Utah, about 7:30 p.m. The sun was still up and we were able to see a lot of Price before the sun set. One of the locations I wanted to see right away was the downtown area, but Jeff surprised me with a stop at the actual location of where the hospital is/was (which is now a technical school). It was a great surprise and the same building is still there, just remodeled. It was an incredible feeling of being in the same place my parents were at when I was born. How they carried me through the halls, and walked with me out to their car. How the moment I was standing at the "emergency room entrance," as if I was reliving the moment and watching all three of us leave and go home. This trip changed me and my thinking of all of the moments, struggles, family time, experiences, love, and newness of their lives at that time 46 years before. My dad was 27 and my mom was barely 22. I had Skylar at 26 and Jeff was 31. It was exciting to think that my parents were so young still, but they did the best they could at the time. My sister was one when I was born, so they were young parents with two kids under two. Incredible and I am so happy for them. I stood at that entrance and closed my eyes for a brief moment. I pictured them coming out to get into the car with the help of the hospital staff and imagined my present self telling them, "Congratulations!" "This little girl will be a free spirit, different, kind, empathetic, caring, hard on herself, compassionate, understanding, lost, weird, creative, emotional, silly, and curious."

We came over a small hill to see a Carbon County sign. I was starting to get extremely anxious to see what the town looked like for my first impression. I had it so built up in my head, and my mom always told me that Price, Utah, doesn't have much. She always said it was a small town with not a lot there other than basic things, grocery store, hospital, post office, so to me I pictured a small town and a blip on the map.

We finally saw a highway sign that read "Price," and I started getting emotional. As we came through the small area where a gas station is and a small intersection, a white SUV pulled out and the license plate was a major shock.

My Nana passed away April 2011, and us being in Price, Utah, in April and to see this I felt it was a sign that she was here with us and excited that I finally got to see where my life began. I immediately started taking pictures on my phone and every one of them were blurry and I was crying and couldn't stay still enough to get a good one. Skylar took a lot on the Nokia digital camera and we were able to see it clearer. I sent it to my family in a large group text and everyone couldn't believe it either. What a cool moment for me to have such a moment of reflection seeing this at that very moment. It is definitely something I won't ever forget. ♥

The old hospital building that is now a technical school for Utah State. The building was in good shape and I was glad to see it still being used for something practical. It was a surreal moment standing in front of it.