St. Thomas is reappearing.  The little burg was abandoned and inundated to a depth of 25 feet when Lake Mead filled in the 30’s.  Over time the lake level has dropped and a ghost town of ruins has appeared.  A loop trail with well done signage winds through the old town site.  It is a great history lesson of early settlement along the trails West and the impact of Uncle Sam through infrastructure projects.

New sighting: this little fellow looks to have eaten recently and is just hanging out near the old school.  A picture in the visitor center identifies it as a glossy desert snake, harmless.

We had to visit the town of Overton while we were up that way.  Their troubles began as the lake level dropped taking with it the tourists and marina traffic it had brought to them.  Today it is a sleepy little place with a pretty good ice cream parlor, The Inside Scoop (we found it the last time we were in the area and tried out again today – Huckleberry Blue Bunny), a couple well stocked hardware stores, and a decent grocery.  We did our part to support the local economy; we restocked our frig and picked up a few things at the hardware store to support the ever-present maintenance projects.