A jam packed day started with a leisurely breakfast in our cabins at the Bluff Garden Cabins, blue skies and a stop at the Fort Bluff Historic Museum. If you ever have the chance to go to Bluff, UT, make sure you stop there – we have been there several times now – the volunteers are amazing, they have some great videos, amazing re-creations (and in some cases original) of the cabins and buildings of the settlement and it is free. Probably one of the better, smaller museums I have ever visited. Donations gladly accepted!

We then headed out of town, first stopping for some photos of the Twin Rocks at the east end of town and then headed west to see the Sand Island Petroglyphs.

Next on the agenda was to travel up a dirt road that we had never been on to see if we could find any of the ruins or panels in the Butler Wash area. When Jenifer and I were power shopping at the Fort Bluff gift shop, Joel was getting the intel on which site was most easily accessible. We chose the Monarch Cave Ruins.

Supposedly a quick 3/4 mile hike in to the ruins, I think that was one piece information that was wrong! It took much longer to get there than we expected and the terrain was pretty rocky in some areas. We did get a few photos though – pretty impressive!

Then, the fun started … we were about 1/2 way through the 24 mile Butler Wash Cutoff road heading north and we got a flat tire. Mind you, this was a brand new 2024 Ford Explorer with 5,000 miles on the tires. UGH! Joel did a bang up job changing into the donut tire and we then proceeded very slowly to Blanding where we found a tire shop. In the end, they determined that the cut in the tire was too large and deep to repair. So now, what to do? As I was calling the rental car company, the tire shop found a set of the exact same brand, make and size of tire that had miraculously been swapped out the day before. So, we bought a used tire, had it installed and off we went. Now, don’t think that I was trying to outsmart the rental company – I told them exactly what we had to do and they said, “No Problem, we will reimburse you as long as it is not over $200.” Honestly, I don’t think they cared. When I turned the car in I told them the same thing and the only thing the guy asked me was, “Did you fill it up with gas?

As it was getting late, we had to scrap the plans to see Moki Dugway and The Valley of the Gods and headed to Mexican Hat and to our motel, the San Juan Inn. Hopefully after a nice meal we would be able to get some well-needed rest.