Live from the Red Rock Inn, Kanab Utah, Wednesday, September 8th
Yesterday I worked, then headed south on Hwy 5 towards Pasadena… The Great Valley smelled wet… the tumble weeds were still green, and not yet rolling across the fields. There were tomato trucks and, cattle trucks.
Twilight fell as I reached the end of the valley, with its oil wells.
I reached Pasadena in the dark… about 5 ½ hours after I left… good time… Pasadena was once home, and is still home to long time friend Richard, partner for this trip. We went to elementary school together… so are school mates since kindergarten…
We (Richard, Jenny, (Richard’s wife, I have known Jenny since High School) Adam (Richard’s son, He arrived later)) talked… we went to bed, me in a sleeping bag on the floor… Sparky kept us company...
I slept on the floor in my sleeping bag…
The next morning, we arose, had coffee, Jenny took Adam to school, we packed the car and left…
We stopped for gas in Claremont… in a light rain… We crawled up Cajon pass, through the clouds, breaking out about Victorville, the beginning of the high desert.
We stopped to look around Baker… home of the world’s largest thermometer, the Bun Boy Motel, and the Mad Greek… plus Alien Jerky… At 10:00 in the morning it was over 90. On to Las Vegas for a stop at Cabela’s sporting goods… too large to describe… with a trout stream, fiberglass sharks, guns and knives and instruments of destruction, and even beef jerky… along with a wide variety of camouflage clothing, and even an owner to dog two way radio… This being Las Vegas they also had a casino... with signs saying you couldn't take you newly purchased guns inside... no fun...
We continued north east to Mesquite… and a Wal-Mart for supplies… then through Arizona, climbing through the gorge of the Virgin River, where the landscape changed from desert to red rock country. We grabbed a bit to eat in St George Utah, then left the Interstate at Hurracane. Into Zion where the trip started to get interesting… we ignored the canyon, instead traveling east along the tunnel road, up switchbacks and through tunnels.
By now the sun was getting low in the sky and the light was getting interesting. We stopped several times to take pictures… This was red sand stone at its best, swirls, gnarled trees and brush, wild flowers… and… drum roll, a big horn sheep… The first I had seen in the wild…. We went looking for some petroglyphs we were told about but didn’t find them… we continued through the park, encountering a lone buffalo… an animal not indigenous to the area, but impressive none the less.
Into Kanab, our stop for the night at the local Best Western… Dinner at the Flying V café next door… As Richard put it we had the geezer conversation… about ailments, medication, Drs and such… we are getting so frigging old…
We walked about town, discussing the quality of the souvenirs, the German tourists in surprisingly good well worn western wear.
The town is surprisingly well kept, pleasant for the tourists… the tourists seem to respond well and all the local motels on main street are showing “no-vacancy” signs…
Tomorrow we continue east back into Arizona on the way to Navajo National monument.
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