3000 miles

[Firebird]

Hi there folks,
I want to jot this down before it gets blurry in my mind. By the time I get home I will have driven 3000 miles.

I had a really nice trip with my mom to visit her brother. At least that was the main reason for the journey. She wanted to fly, but cannot really travel alone anymore. I do not like to fly in jets...(give me a prop plane ) It is an arduous journey to an airport from moms house anyway, so I said …"let me drive you!" She liked the idea and we might have a chance to camp too! She likes to get into the woods to "clear the cobwebs of her soul." Me as well!
Her (little) brother is in very poor health and it is just a matter of time before he takes his journey. Moms sister was to be vacationing just a few hundred miles away during this time so we made plans for us all to meet at little brothers house last Friday.

CENTRAL COAST CA. TO MESQUITE NV., St GEORGE UT. & ZION NATIONAL PARK
I had just bought the new (used) Subaru Outback and was ready to break it in. I drove from my house in the San Fernando Valley to moms in the Central Coast to pick her up. So we took off the Monday before last.
Away on the looooong trip through the desert!
Our first stop was Primm Nevada where we had lunch in a casino, kinda late 2p.m. ) Then back on the road we went through Las Vegas where the traffic was horrible and the temp was 110, good test for the cars AC to be sure. That slowed us down quite a bit and finally made Mesquite NV at about 7pm, I think we drove for 9 hours, that was to be the longest stretch in the trip. We stayed at a Casino Resort but didn't even step foot in the casino...way too tired. A quick dip in the pool and we ate out of the Ice chest crackers and cheese. The next a.m. we had the rank complementary coffee in the room, ate an apple and hit the road to make Saint George Utah in just a couple hours. Stopping in at the visitor center we picked up a bunch of maps and went to the Mormon Temple there in town to marvel at the interesting architecture and listen to a couple docents spout off about the place. Then we lunched in a park (where I had slept 40 years prior when hitchhiking to Michigan!) the place really hadn't changed much except there was WAY more town.
After feeding the birds and ourselves it was back on the road, our goal this day was the Zion Lodge within the park. https://www.nps.gov/zion/index.htm
We had made reservations, it's the only way one can drive into the park these days. They have a bus/tram system for all other travelers. We had such a beautiful view from our room of the canyon. We could also see the main Lodge and the huge grass lawn out front was covered with people in the day and deer at dusk and that night. Supper at the Lodge was interesting I had a bean cake and local brew, mom had Indian taco. We watched the deer take over as the people slowly left. After dinner we took the bus up the canyon to the end. After mom found a resting place, I hiked in a bit and was able to make a connection with the land. Such a beautiful and scared place. One could see all manner of faces and images in the red rocks. Hummingbirds flitted about and the gurgle of the creek was mesmerizing. I could envision the native peoples having a grand summer evening by the creek. Took lots of pictures then headed back to the tram. The sun was dusking as we traveled down the curvy road. Saw turkeys and deer and people hiking back out of the park. When we got back to the lodge, I told mom I was going to take a quick hike up a trail we only made part way earlier in the day. It was to the Emerald Pools.
The sun was seriously setting and I had little time to trot up there to get a pic. She worried, gave me her cell phone, then said she would call the ranger if didn't return by 10. I had to laugh I'll be ok I told her, I'll use my Druid eyes, and brought a flashlight but didn't use it. I managed to get some pretty good shots of this grotto kind of area, and I could see this would be the place to be when it was topping out in the high 90's and low 100's in the day. It was pleasant and cool by now and the water misted coming off the falls. I sat and meditated, was visited by a bird I did not recognize, and who would not sit still enough for a picture so he is still a mystery, though I felt him to be a type of flycatcher. Always on the move bird... I chuckled and thought I had better get on the move as my flashlight didn't exactly have reliable batteries. I was making my way back when I notice golden columbine growing out of the rocks. Took some pics with the flash and without, just gorgeous. Right then a couple showed up on their way down the trail so we hiked together on the way back. Around one corner was startled by a deer standing right near the trail, we communicated for a bit but had to rush off, I wanted to stay with the couple for safety sake. By now it was dark.
When I got back Mom was asleep so I went to visit the deer on the lawn. As I sat on the bench piano music began to fill the air, I could see a young man with long hair playing a piano inside the conference room adjoining the lodge. There was no one else around. I enjoyed the tinkling of ivories an attempted to take night photos of the deer. Most of them did not come out very well. I strolled around the complex some and in returning to the room ran into the man playing the piano. We sat and talked some, he was a theology major and his assignment was doing some kind of final in the parks leading Sunday services. He was practicing the songs for the service. A very nice and interesting young man, I thought I might tell him I was a witch but then decided against it. We parted and I headed to the room, I was exhausted.
In the am we ate on our balcony some goodies out of the ice chest and watched the sun grow across the massive red rocks. We plotted our next stop which was Bryce canyon, we hoped to camp there. After loading the junk in the car I swung by the gift store for souvenirs, and ran into the theological student running the cash register there... Hello again! he greeted me, frankly I was surprised he could recognize me, after all it was pretty dark the night before. It made me feel good and I recalled all the people that said hello on the trails. It's the thing that I love and it always gets me when I travel or camp, people say hi..and it's ok!

More on Bryce tomorrow...and pics!
BB, Firebird

[Firebird]

So I'll have to figure the picture thing out.
They won't upload from my laptop, I used my camera.. says the file is too large, anyone know what to do about that?
I usually use my tablet but I didn't take many pictures with that this time.
>Sigh<

[Firebird]

I'll try to be brief,
Still can't figure the picture thing out. Tried to adjust through the paint program, but wasn't successful...yet. What's a story without pictures?

So out of Zion we went. Up Up the very scary twisted and winding road, I had no idea it would be so steep, I'm not good with that.( Had been anticipating the million dollar road in Colorado and not looking forward to it, so I figured this would be good practice!) We pulled over a couple times to get a good view of the breathtaking vista. I chuckled at the foreigners bailing out of the busses we encountered so that they may take pictures. Then I thought what a crazy job to have to drive these busses on those hairy ass roads. We got to a point where the traffic stopped, A ranger popped a cone in front of my car, I was to be the first through the tunnel. Oh crap I don't like tunnels either, (we were stuck in one going to Yosemite and I thought I would have to get out and run) When the south bound traffic cleared the tunnel, ranger removed the cone and I crept along the road, it wasn't as bad as I thought and pulled over after I got out of the tunnel to let the traffic go. The vistas along this road went on and on when we at last were on the higher mesa that gave way to farming communities.
The trip from Zion to Bryce is only a couple hours. We stopped at a campground for bathroom break near the entrance and entertained the idea of camping at this place but decided to try out luck within the park. We had encountered or first hoodoos at this stop, and I was anxious to see more, so we pressed on. We reached the entry, mom waved her magic wand and we were in the park. (she has a golden age pass that gains us free entry into the National parks) Tried the first campground and even though there were spaces it was quite hilly, not so good for moms bum knee. Next camp was beyond the Lodge and across the street. We found a great spot at the Sunset campground and set out pitching the tent, had a quick bite of lunch and went to view the canyon. Tremendous! Hoodoos abound! https://www.nps.gov/brca/learn/nature/hoodoos.htm
After getting more ice for the cooler and a bundle of wood for a fire, we went to the Lodge souvenirs where a very tall man dressed in black and white cowboy finery tried to sell me really expensive beautiful jewelry. At camp we settled in for dinner, a simmering pan of kielbasa with onions and tomato soup heated up on the handy Sterno stove. After dinner a relaxing fire and star gazing felt like home.
The next morning we packed up and went to see the end of the canyon. Back up another hairy road but the views are unparalleled. We saw the many colors, many hoodoos and encountered all manner of friendly folks from just about everywhere. At one point we even spotted a pronghorn antelope. The wildflowers had me going, they were everywhere and there was one yellow one I cannot identify. I thought it may be arnica, but then again it may not. (if I can get the pic up you'll see what I mean). At one stop that boasted a fabulous arch, a raven came up to the car and squabbled at a fellow bird then proceed to eat something off the ground. We spent a little time at the visitor center, then continued our journey...we lunched at the same campground we came in to the park at and contemplated our next overnight. Seemed Richfield Utah would be as far as we could stand. We made reservations with moms cell phone and started out. The valley we drove through was like high desert with some farming and sweeping plains, mountains on either side. A nice looking creek followed the road. The Sevier river, yet it was mostly inaccessible we exclaimed, "wow!" at every great fishing hole you couldn't get to. Seemed to belong to the ranchers. At one point we saw Canada geese at the creekside teaching baby goslings to swim.
Butch Cassidy was from this area and we read about him at several sites. We stopped at Freemont Indian state park a canyon that the the Paiute passed through and viewed many petroglyphs but is was about 100 degrees so the stroll was brief. https://stateparks.utah.gov/parks/fremo ... /discover/
At last we hit Richfield and pulled into our Hotel, yea shower! Ate at a place called Wingers across the street.
Next we head for Grand Junction.
BB, FF

[Firebird]

ps I'm leaving the central coast in a few moments...will be home in a few hours. See you then!

[Firebird]

We did explore Richfield a bit, I was impressed by the number of older all brick homes, maybe made from the local red rock?
The road north of here went up and up through a forested area then down down through craggy rocks into the most long vast valley of colored rock cliffs and mostly nothing else. when we started going back up we stoped at a view point. (Sand Bench) It was a good place to stretch, We looked a bit at the many native vendors at this stop and though I did not examine really closely, It looked more like stuff made in China. I trotted out to the edge of the bluff and tried to get a photo of the enormous valley. That photo did no justice to the view before me, I switched my focus to some tiny plants that hugged the ground, growing so closely to the earth is evidence of the harsh weather of the place. One kind had tiny yellow flowers growing on it, the other main plant in the area was wind blown juniper trees.
Back on the road I laughed when mom said something like "boy Utah has a lot of rocks" She's made this trip before but it sounded like a revelation. Shortly we were at Green River where we made a brief stop at the visitor center. So, this is the place Creedence Clearwater sings about? More info about Butch Cassidy and how the river had been a way station for travelers and a crossing point for the US mail. We pressed on, mom wanted to get to her brothers by 2p.m.
As we made out way through some pretty bleak desert mom scoured the map for a place to have lunch, "there isn't much out here" she said " maybe Cisco has a park with a tree we can get under. We exited at Cisco, a sign told us there were no services here. The road to town was up and down short hills on a one lane road with no line down the middle. Well, there was one tree. But in a bad spot. This was more like a ghost town with a couple of people still living among the rubble, lots of signs saying "private property" and "take only pictures" Oi vie! we meandered a short bit when I saw a sign that said Fish landing. Mom informed me the Colorado river was down the hill there somewhere. So we started off on this really rough road that was partially paved but mostly potholes. I commented, "a place called Fish landing has to have a tree!" We got along a few miles when I could tell we were going down, down, down and from our vantage point the river was still Waaaay down there. We decided against this as the road was horrible, we didn't see another soul, it was about 100 degrees and we really didn't want to get stuck in east bumfudge when we were so close to our destination. Back we went up, up, up, the terrible road through the ghost town back down the no lane road (in the other direction to catch the more easterly ramp) There was nothing, we exited the next ramp which the map said there was a view point, we never did find that or a tree, we contemplated having lunch under the overpass... nope, on to the next town which was Mack Colorado. We took the first exit went up and down several streets, couldn't find a park so we pulled into the drive of this farm that was clearly setting up for a very large event. We found a tree just within the entrance and proceeded to snack out of the ice chest. Mom said this must be the Country Jam grounds. I had never heard of it but she went on to tell me how her brother and his family had been coming here every year until he wasn't able. We couldn't have been there 5 minutes before a atv roared up to us inquiring about our business. We explained we were on the road and just trying to find a tree to have a bit of lunch. She told me to pull further off the road and that it would be ok. 3 minutes later another atv roared up to us inquiring about our business, we told them what the first girl said. Ok! he waved and roared off. Not 3 minutes after that another atv roared up to us inquiring about our business, I said "man, you guys really got to get walkie talkies!" She answered rather insulted that they did have walkie talkies, we told her what the first girl had said and she roared off. I was the first person to use the out house at that gate! Fresh!
We took to the road and mom pulled out her directions, explaining she can never figure out how to get to his house. The Colorado river was near the road on and off as we made our way into North Grand Junction. This place looked nothing like I remembered. In 1977 all there was here were truck stops. We exited a road turned right and right and mom keept saying this doesn't look familiar. We fogged around for a bit I looked at her really bad directions and couldn't figure it out... Well... We do have a cell phone on board, we could call..."no, no" she said, "go back to those houses that looked familiar", as we got closer she said, "oh!!, turn here, and here and there they are!"
My Uncles wife was in the drive and pointed to a parking area. We hugged, I was the first up the steps, the front door read "No Smoking! Oxygen In Use" I swung the door open to see Uncle sitting directly across the room in a big easy chair. He stretched his arms out I did the same as I walked across the room exclaiming the very long while its been. We got in a good hug and mom was right behind me. We immediately commenced in chatter, shortly I exited to gather stuff from the car. In the very large front yard under a tree on the lawn sat a deer resting in the shade, I watched her a bit took picture or two, brought in a load of stuff, came back and she was still there. I had to have driven right past her. Just then my Moms sister and her new husband (remember?, I did their flowers a couple years ago, this Aunt is Dan's mother) pulled into the drive, the deer didn't really flinch. Wow! I went to hug them, "your timing is great, we just got here like 20 minutes ago!."
The sisters sat by their brother and chattered like chickens the beam on my Uncles face was great, you could tell he was so happy to see them. He mostly listened as he struggles to speak. His voice box was removed several years ago due to cancer and he captures air in his mouth somehow to speak words, his oxygen is hooked to his apparatus that is attached to his stoma. He had a really long hose to the oxygen machine.
His wife's daughters daughter, who just graduated high school was due to be over to click pics for a photo session. A field she will enter when she goes on to college. The pictures were fun and we got a bunch of funny ones too.
As we spoke of our journey, turns out the daughter and her daughter were scheduled to work at the Country Jam. We laughed and told them of our lunchtime antics. They had to leave early to move their trailer to the Jam grounds.
Intermission....

[Firebird]

:sunrune: After the "kids" had left I went to wander around the house and grounds. I saw the deer making her way across the yard, she jumped the low split rail type fences that lined all yards in this neighborhood and continued through another yard. Their pool was covered looking like no one would be using it anymore, The bbq was off limits because of the gas, they also could not use the fireplace anymore. Umbrellas were laying on their side, the vegie garden hadn't been planted. The vast lawn was looking lovely however and I asked Uncles wife who had gone to fetch mail about that. She had been the mower on her little ride on John Deer, but couldn't handle it any more and had to hire a guy to do it. She was also struggling with her own health issues. I told her then that I had actually left the house when the siblings started talking about Dan, I had started crying when my Aunt said she didn't think she would ever get over him being gone. I didn't want to upset anyone with my tears...after all these were strong Norse folk who rarely showed any emotion. I told this woman (who is technically my Aunt also, she is Uncles second wife) who has been caring for my Uncle for what seems like 10 years now, what a blessing she was, it was clear his health demands were great. The two of us hugged and cried a bit.
:sunrune: After some composure she offered the washer and dryer, which I gladly accepted and gathered laundry. Back in the house the new uncle snoozed, my moms brother was doing a nebulized treatment, sisters chatted, step/new- aunt prepared dinner. I went to set myself up in the "attic", which wasn't what I expected at all. There was like a whole other house up there, the top of the stairs was a living room on my left and a game hall on my right with pool table, bar and card table. (these folks are mostly cribbage players) all wrapped up, Uncle said he hadn't been upstairs in 2 years. This room opened up into a library area with desks, couch, lovely burl wood coffee table, a reel to reel music set up, with a bathroom adjoining. This is where my blow up mattress was. Around the corner was a loft like room with a rail overlooking the downstairs, a sewing area and some great windows, beyond that was another library area then a room with exercise equipment. They told me they would stick me in the attic?, Shizer the place was bigger than my whole house. Made me sad he wasn't able to use it anymore. I looked at the many awards and memorabilia that hung around the place. He had been a nuclear power plant consultant, and lived in Switzerland for may years and Japan for many years, I did not really see his two kids he had with his first wife much and I had not been that close with those cousins. There were some pictures of them, but the new Aunts child and her child did dominant the walls. Uncle adopted new aunts child who must be about 15 or more years younger than me. Her (and husband) and the grandkid live locally. (confused yet?)
:sunrune: The day we were there the weather was lovely the air was clear and one could see the red craggy rock cliffs in the near distance, it wasn't too hot though I really noticed the dry heat is much less hot then where we live, except this whole trip I was getting real chapped lips and bloody noses. As a child I remember this dry, dry air that turns ones sandwich to toast in a matter of minutes. I guess this area gets a wee bit of snow too, I could stand a wee bit, but that's about all!
:sunrune: I was able to grabs Uncles attention away from sisters long enough to have some one on one time, we chatted some, he asked about my child and husband. I had brought a video of the beach where him and wife liked to walk when visiting my mom, some of the last pictures I had with Dan, some of our trip thus far. He seemed to really enjoy that. Then we were called to the table for some wonderful roast beast, potatoes and asparagus. Chatting at the table after dinner went on and on there was some very yummy gluten free deserts to choose from. I finally excused myself to finish laundry and take a shower, when I got out everyone had retired. I was beat as well and settled into my attic domain, surfed a bit then collapsed on the air bed.
:sunrune: The next a.m. I rose with the dawn and took some pictures of the sun skirting across the trees. I tried to go back to sleep but could not, my shoulder was super sore and I do not think I moved a bit that night. I waited until I heard voices wafting up the overhang and went down to greet all.
They were already talking about getting on the road, Criminy (I thought to self we come all this way, Ya'all don't think we could stay another day?) Guess they said all they had to say and caregiver Aunt wasn't offering up another day. Mom barked some sort of hurry up and get ready, and I wanted to collapse I was so sore and tired, I really didn't want to drive, so after my gluten free cereal I went to pack my garbage Uh...stuff.
blue_blank (You know... I forgot to mention that the day we got here, I had a message from home that said the Subaru dealer was trying to get ahold of me. I joked that they couldn't cash the check when indeed this is what they told me when I returned the call...(Here I was in Colorado running away with their car!!! LoL) How is this possible? I checked with the credit union to make sure the money had cleared and showed up before I said go ahead and cash the check I spent nearly an hour with the credit union to see what had happened, they really couldn't figure it out. Well when I returned home, they had also put a 30 dollar fee on for the check that WAS able to be cleared, The dude took it off but does that still make a ding on my credit?)
:sunrune: So After hugs and farewells to all, moms sister and new husband hit the road going a slightly different way then we were, but in the same direction. We had planned to go to Durango via the 550, the Million Dollar hwy. However the 416 fire prevented this and we went the long way around to Durango. Decided to take a really scenic bypass along the Colorado river and stop in Arches National Park.
bb, More soon!

[Firebird]

To Arches and beyond.
So the scenic byway turn off was back thru the little Ghost town Cisco, Then you turn down a rather unmaintained road for many miles, from the I- 70 it is one route to Moab. We eventually hit the edge of the Colorado river where the view along this drive was truly fantastic. Mom said there used to be dispersed camping along that route but that must have been some time ago. There were several campgrounds along the way and we stopped in one for a picnic and went to reach for my knife and it was gone. Oh crap my floral knife, my really good sharp one... rats, rats, rats. The wind was howling. We mused at the tents being blown over while their tenants must be out on the water, we saw bunches and bunches of rafters all along this many miles stretch of the river, all with one side a red vaulted display of sheer upright stone.
As we made our way down the river we eventually came to a turn towards Arches National Park. https://www.nps.gov/arch/index.htm
It was only shortly down the road. As we waited in the line to enter the park I gazed up at the hill where I saw tiny vehicles inching their way along a road that was cut out of the edge of this sheer cliff. I looked at mom and said, "Crap!, I don't know if I can do this.! I thought you drove into a valley!" I really wanted to see this place, she told about how Dan's mom did the driving through here just a few years back, Ok, Ok I can do this. I told self. Mom waived the magic wand (the golden age pass) and we were in the park.
We crawled along the road with the others, thankfully no one was in a hurry or trying to pass. We came upon the top where the vistas went on and on. Giant slabs of red rocks weathered and carved into fantastic shapes. Many took on the forms of people, some animals and many faces in the rock could be seen. This place was magical. This place was also 100 degrees, we thought about camping here except the campground was full plus it was just too hot to camp. We drove to the end of the road hopping out at as many points as we thought we could squeeze in. Delicate arch is the icon of Utah and was quite a hike for a close up, we went to the short hike below and took photos up the hill where it looked like a tiny thing, I had the binoculars which were a great help. As we made our way back we stopped at the places we skipped on the way in, mostly viewing from the car. Mom knee was bugging her. The last stop was the top of a dome that overlooked other natural sculptures, as I made my way to the interpretive sign a girl there said, "wow! love your pants!" I exclaimed back, "wow! I love your hair!" My pants were purple so was her hair, we stood there and declared the beauty of the place to be outstanding. She was from Pennsylvania traveling alone. Mom and I decided to press on and had made a reservation in Cortez Co.
From Arches I played tag with an 18 wheeler for some time when he finally broke away. We passed all sorts of domed and mesa rock groups. The terrain was getting more trees, we passed the 'hole in the rock" whatever that was (it was painted on the side of this very giant boulder) We arrived in Monticello Ut, and drove around town a bit, mom accounted the time her sisters 1st husband had a heart attack when there were there last and had spent several days in this town while he was in the hospital.
Back on the road we headed for Cortez. Giant billowing puffs of white clouds were visible in the distance and momentarily we thought thunder heads, then I realized we were directly across from that 416 fire, that must have been a hundred miles or more from here. Wow, the smoke plume was terribly high. We cruised along the 2 lane road listening to the Judds, Garth Brooks and Patsy Cline finally arriving in Cortez in time for some dinner. We checked in at this Best Western and were to be off for food, but the phone in the room was broke when I wanted to report the tv didn't work nor did the door lock. So we were somewhat delayed while the houseman did some repairs. We dined at a little brewery I had a salad and mom had some bbq brisket. The Ale was horrible, just about the most bitter I have tried. Back at the Motel we sat on the front stoop and watched the sun go down and talked about what we would do. from our vantage point the smoke looked really bad towards Durango. Moms hopes of checking white water rafting off her bucket list was fading. She didn't think it would be safe to go so close to the fire.
In the a.m. we dined in the motels breakfast room and scoured the map for places to go and decided to hit Mesa Verde National Park. https://www.nps.gov/meve/index.htm We had come on a family outing here when I was maybe 15. I remembered the cliff dwellings well, the road to the cliff dwellings I did not remember AT ALL. Again we sat in line and I gazed up at the cars inching their way along the cliff side, whaaaaaa I wanted to cry, I do not like scary roads. "We don't have to go in" Mom said, I replied "Heck no!, were here... lets do it!" Out came the magic wand and we were in. Thankfully there were tons of pull outs and I used them frequently. I thought you just drove into a canyon I complained, I did not remember this road We stopped a couple of vistas but that gave me a queasy feeling in my root, (don't know if there is a name for that.) We eventually came to the end where there was a really good museum. Both Mom and I were feeling a little light headed, we were at over 7000 feet but were higher than that at the top of Bryce canyon. We went into the museum and looked at some really cool diorama's and perused the many displays and viewed the movie. Mom told me to go explore she would wait at a viewing location that was directly across from the Spruce House. Last time we were here we were able to go up ladders in into the dwelling, but it may be permanently closed now due to rock fall. I trotted down the trail part ways where a ranger was talking about the many diversities of the place. I was interested in the iron deposits in the stone. Wandering further I spotted the pinyon pine that was a great food source along with many wildflowers. It was really hot and I didn't want to go too far without water, so I trodded back up the hill and got a drink at the fountain and slid into the gift shop. There I got my mom and I matching Mesa Verde ball caps (in different colors), and a backpacking guide to medicinal herbs along with my typical sew on patch and lapel pin. When I rejoined her she was having grand conversation with a Mennonite family (Mom had lived with a Mennonite family for a time when she was growing up) these folks had just come from Durango but were unable to make Silverton, which was their cabin destination. We chatted for a bit then decided to find a place to have some lunch. We went down a road that you could view some of the other cliff dwellings from, again a very scary cliffside road. eventually we found a nice tree and a bench and snacked out of the ice chest. We meandered down the road further to a place that had tours of a dwelling but we just missed the group, we sat under the veranda and took in the view.
I've always had fun reading out loud the many license plates from all around the country and this parking lot was no different, I was surprised at the lack of California plates in all of our stops though. So now where do we go? We decided to head back towards Cortez though nither of us was really wanting to spend another night in that town. As we got back to town I said, "Oooo!, there's a Dairy Queen, lets get ice cream!" So we chilled over a smooth creamy Sunday and talked to the bikers at the next table. They had just came from Durango and said the smoke wasn't bad at all,... that was it! Mom said were going! It's only about an hour or so from here. We found a Comfort Inn, made reservations, got gas and headed up the mountain.
This was a beautiful drive with pines oaks and cottonwoods, large farms connected one to the other until forest took over. We arrived in Durango about 5p.m. setteled into our room and watched the many patrol cars fill the spaces just below our window. We talked with some of these state troupers, they were there to run escorts through the fire, A few hazmat teams showed up too and we had a big bike club from Misouri all parked under our window, it was quite a party! After securing a place on a white water trip in the a.m. we went to seek out supper at the Durango Brewery which was closed, guess they close early on Sunday. A girl drinking beer on the patio told us about the Animas Brewing company and how to get there, after quite a bit of trouble finding the place we arrived in time for the concert in the park across the street to be still in session. Mom was agitated, she gets that way when she is hungry and we fogged around so much she was ready for Burger King, so she ordered an ale. We had a lovely place on the patio, the weather was perfect the music was good, the food was different but filling. She was excited to have made it to this town which she had some sort of enamored feeling for AND she was going to get her whitewater trip after all.

More later! My spell check is not working I apologize for the spelling.

[Firebird]

Durango Whitewater.

I woke earlyish maybe 5:45, we had to get up by 6:30 a.m. anyway. I smelled smoke, like lots of smoke. I cracked the curtains and peered across the valley. Couldn't see the mountains that were visible out this window yesterday, I wondered on the progress of the fire and put on the T.V. Not much progress but the town wasn't in much danger still. Now to consume enough coffee to really wake up and get a bite to eat before the trip. Waking wasn't hard, all those bikers and troupers were up early and they made plenty of noise. They also ate all the bacon, We hit the breakfast area only to have to wait for round two of eggs potatoes and bacon, Mom started with toast, I went an grabbed my gluten free cinnamon bread from the car.
Soon we were on our way, up to the end of town we found the rafting company. All the employees were so funny and upbeat, we got our little neoprene booties and were fitted for life jackets, mom got a splash jacket. At last all the rafters were assembled. We were maybe 30 in all with 2/3rds being children. We all piled onto a really old school buss, and drove shortly down the road over a bridge and onto a big dirt landing next to the water. They split us up into 5 or more per boat, we had 4 boats and one kayak on the journey. Our guide was Cassidy, a really lovey young girl who was in nursing school and doing this as a summer gig. Once all were in their boats we set off. The guide was telling what to expect and when to row. Mom didn't row but I did. We had a Dad and his two children along, the mans 14 year old daughter looked less than pleased to be there the whole time, but her little brother had a blast. We meandered down mostly 1 and 2 rapids, the views were spectacular,We passed a few fishermen, saw lots of birds, water type like egrets, geese and ducks. One duck momma had babies on a sand spit. Lots of swallows under the bridges, and a few hawks and ravens. The water was clear and cold and refreshing. We paddled, swooshed between rocks spun around a few times and got stuck a few times. Once our fellow rafters we able to bump us out of being stuck then they got stuck. At one point we all stoped on a sand barge where the kids played for a bit and one could stretch their legs if they wanted.
Back in the water our kayaker zoomed back and forth between all of the boats, turns out he works at the place but it was his day off. Eventually we got to an area they let the kids out who were under 5 years old, The bus driver was there at the shore to walk them down stream beyond our class 3 rapids, the photographer got out at this point also. Cassidy told us what to expect and to be mindful of her call to row and to stop if that was the call too. After all the talk about people falling out at the beginning of this trip was starting to make me nervous. We cast off when the other boats had caught up.
"Row 3 times! " Cassidy called out, then 2. Ok, I leaned in and told mom hang on and we went over the falls, "Row 3" You could barely hear her, and splash!, another falls, mom kept a tight grip, we went down and up and down and up all the while the guide screaming when to row. We had a moment of calm then it was on to the next set, a quick regrouping and getting situated, "Row 3 times!" was called out and down into the white water we went, a wave swamped the boat but we continued forward splashing and rocking up and down for a bit then we hit smother water with some little rapids. An eddy on the river pointed the way to out exit, the raft made it way to the calm water where the bus driver was there with the kids, this was a half way point. some people went on further. We got out here. The kayaker got here as did the boy photographer. The bus driver drove the four of us back to the parking lot at the rafting place. The child photographer tried to sell us some very expensive pictures, turns out his parents owned the place. The pictures were great but they wouldn't be printing them. He was such a nice kid but I told him we may get them later. So there we were All done and so was I. A bit too much sun got through the sun block. The smoke got much better while we were on the raft trip and by the time we checked out of out Hotel (which was about 1:30) The town was looking much clearer. We went and had lunch at Denny's. After grocery shopping then rearranging the ice chest in the park by the side of the river, we were back on the road, our destination that night was Gallup N.M.

BB, FF

[Firebird]

Through Navajo Nation

We had a very late start to the drive. Our goal this day was Gallup New Mexico. We decided against Chaco Canyon because of the heat, plus there was another fire burning near Farmington which would have been the route. We looked to Arizona for a place to camp, but I was having a terrible time finding camping information. It would appear the ones I could find were all full or in the middle of the desert. We thought about Showlo Az., a place my step son has been thinking about moving to and the area my moms sister and new hubby went to prior to meeting us in Grand Junction. The only other campgrounds I could find that was first come first serve was near Payson. A long way to drive if they were all full up. The state of Arizona, as well as the surrounding areas, were also under stage 3 fire alert which is no fires or BBQ's, smokers go indoors to smoke. There were at least 3 fires in the near area to these places we considered going to.
In any case I wasn't going to be able to drive beyond Gallup so we struck out on the road. It must have been well after 2 in the afternoon quite warm and we had to go back through Cortez on this route. The Mesa Verde loomed in the distance and it was very noticeable landmark now that I know where it was. Mom was dozing already and I felt a similar conundrum. Dang, we have barely started and I was exhausted. I diddled with the radio and found a country channel that played really good old country. I worried about being so tired. Maybe sugar?, this could work against me though if I consume too much I'll go hypoglycemic. As I chugged on my water I slowly popped Mike and Ike's.
We decided to swing by the 4 Corners since it was only maybe a 30 mile diversion. I had heard GPS has change the location of many borders, still it's a tourist spot, had to get that photo of my feet on 4 states! You pay the Navajo's to enter this place, I wasn't aware of that. It is on tribal land. There were at least a couple dozen or more people taking turns doing all sorts of poses in the central area. Finally it wasn my turn and I walked to the center and took off my zories stood on the plaque and snap! History! Mom and I did a few selfies. It was still around a hundred degrees at 5 pm and as we left people were still filing in, even though they were due to close at 6 and many of the vendors had left. We headed towards Shiprock. (The radio station I had found played some tribal music as well as announcements in a Navajo language, and somehow lasted from before the 4 Corners to Gallup.) I saw more hitchikers in this stretch of the trip than I have seen on the road anywhere in the last 10 years. The Shiprock landmark loomed in the distance sailing across the desert. We also saw most homes had a Hogan, some new and larger looking very modern and some very old, small and made with logs and sod roofs. Many homes also had adobe ovens https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horno
I continued to pop Mike and Ike's as we neared Gallup. Mom directed me the wrong way to the hotel so after a bit of a regroup we found our Best Western behind the famous El Rancho Hotel on route 66. Some how they had us in a handicap room. The place was giant. We snacked out of the ice chest, then I went to wander. At the front desk I asked about any pow wows or events in town. The one right close was just wrapping up at 9 p.m. Rats.. It was 8:45. I went back to the room where mom was already getting into bed. I listened to the many trains as they chugged by and thought about my trip trough here a few years ago on my way to the Gathering of Nations Pow Wow. I went to bed early too.
In the a.m. we met many folks down at the breakfast room who were just getting inducted into their jobs as teachers in the state of New Mexico. The large group of mostly very young women and a few men chattered and laughed, one gal sitting next to us talked about their journey. A man called out the bus is here! and they all gathered and left. The place was quiet and the woman on the other side of us began conversation she spoke of her journey and we did the same.
I had to see the inside of the El Rancho Hotel, the night before Mom and I only strolled by. After loading the car an employee said he would take the bellman cart. He asked how we slept and I sounded off.. "really great!", " I thought I would hear the trains all night long but I didn't hear a one".
"HOLD ON!" he exclaimed, "let me get this on recording" he explained that the opposite comment was usually the case. We laughed and hopped into the car to drive over to the older Hotel.
Through the heavy carved doors we walked, inside I savored the fine woodwork, furnishings were traditional ranch style and décor included Navajo rugs and animal busts. Flanking either side of the large brick fireplace area were sweeping staircases to the second floor. All around this level that over looked the lower were photos of every old Hollywood star you could think of. Rooms are named after the stars. The first one I noticed was Humphrey Bogart. Back downstairs I discovered a vintage cigarette machine with stamp machines beside it, 2 and 3 cents! Off the lobby was a Native craft store. Beautiful Navajo rugs and all sorts of crafts filled this store. I went strait to the jewelry case. I really wanted a turquoise ring. After trying on a few I picked a ring that was a heavy silver sand cast type ornate styling with a small blue turquoise cabochon in the center. It's signed by the artist. Beautiful!

Before we left I had finally got ahold of a ranger in the Oak Creek Canyon where Sedona is. She informed me there were still several first come sites at Pine Flat which is the very north end of the canyon, Or destination today is Sedona Az.

BB Firebird

[Firebird]

GALLUP N.M. to THE PETRIFIED FOREST NATIONAL PARK & SEDONA AZ.

We left the El Rancho in our rear view mirror and jumped on the I-40 heading west. The landscape was short red cliffs with a few Native tourist traps, fake horses teepees and all, that was brief soon we were in Arizona and it was getting flatter. In no time we were nearing the Petrified Forest National Park, we debated whether we could squeeze this park in. I could not remember ever being here, Mom said we stoped when I was 5. I also wanted to see the giant hole in the ground, Meteor Crator. We decided we couldn't do it all and still get to the campground at a reasonable hour.
At the Petrified Forest exit the decision had been made, we swung into the visitor center and looked at the displays asked how long to drive through the park, ( about an hour if you don't stop) I stoped at the gift store and bought a couple boxes of raw petrified wood, There were such beautiful slabs all polished up, a bit more than I wanted to spend all the way up to a giant log for 40,000.oo dollars, whew! Again I wondered if we had time to do this Park and mom said, "well you can't just go to the gift store and say you been at the park!" She cracks me up sometimes.
At the gate she waved the magic wand and we were in. No line here. The speed limit was 35-45 with many pullouts to trails and other lookouts. One of the first stops is the painted desert. I hopped out and took a photo. Again it was pretty warm 101 as I recall. Mom stayed in the car. We checked out many overlooks but our two main things we wanted to see was the Crystal Forest and the Rainbow Forest. The Big Logs was also on the menu if we could squeeze it in. At one point we got disoriented coming back to the main road. Not a green tree for a landmark anywhere! At the Crystal Forest I jumped out and took off on the little paved trail, mom said her knee was bothering her too much, so I tried to be quick. I saw crystals growing out the broken pieces of logs that have just been frozen in time, it's really amazing. I trotted along the trail and got to a stop where I could fling off my zories and feel this sandy portion of crushed trees that is 225 million years old. It felt wonderful. The energy of this place drew me in further I examined the smaller broken portions one place looked like chipped bark, not stone. Everywhere you turned there was another rock with multiple colors. At one point I encountered a lizard taking in sun. I took it's picture from afar and watched it for a while. Thing didn't flinch. I began to wonder if he was real standing with body high up so the air could blow under him? It looked like a fake the more he didn't move. Thought some kid had lost his plastic lizard, I took more pictures and got closer, it didn't move. More pictures from a different angle, then Whoops! I invaded his aura, Ha! not a fake, it swung around to another position.
It was a colorful Collered Lizard. Really a pretty critter, don't recall ever seeing this type, very different from our western Fence Lizard. Up the path I went only to discovered this trail went on and on. Sooo I turned around and went back to the car I had been gone awhile. Mom was ready to come look for me. It got a little hot for her. We made the other end of the park at Rainbow Forest and had a picnic at the coverd cabannas there. Talked to folks from all over. After lunch we went to the visitor center there and looked at the dinosaur fossils and enjoyed the AC.

[dinner break back soon]

[SnowCat]

Colorado has Florrisant Fossil Beds National Monument. Petrified trees, hiking trails, fossils to look at in the Visitor Center.

We visited Meteor Crater on our way back from California two years ago. I try to get my grandkids to look at things other than the phones and Nintendos.

[Firebird]

That's so cool Snow, thank goodness we come from a time that goes to see things up close and personal instead of on the devices

Whew! that was a long dinner break!


PETRIFIED FOREST, WINSLOW & SEDONA (still)

After quite a bit of chilling I went to view some of the trees at the rainbow forest there next to the visitor center, mom continued to chill. It was really too hot to do much, I zipped around the trail close to the center and saw an array of colorful petrified trees and pieces, some portions of smaller branches. The trail to the big logs was from here but it was just too hot. We bid farewell to the frozen in time forest and took the south entrance back to the I-40 road. As we neared Holbrook We passed the Giant yard of petrified wood for sale...ooops I already had my gift store boxes...so tempting for a crazy rock person like me.
The road lead on through the sagebrush and Winslow was soon looming. (isn't that also in a song? ) It was a Gas stop, but a McD's was calling us to ice cream! After the super creamy deliciousness we were back in the car looking at the map when, BANG! A teenage girl getting out of the back seat of the car next to me smacked her car door right into mine, What the...I reached out and grabbed her door as I could see about 3 siblings about to follow her, she spouted a pathetic, "uh soooorry" Then she got a little crazy when she saw me holding the door. "I told her I didn't want all her brothers to do the same" Mom thought I was about to rumble with her. "Take it Easy" I thought, ( ) really should have got their name and number, but didn't. Now I have a nice ding with a paint chipped out to remember my ice cream time in Winslow. grrr.
I was showing mom on the map where our hopeful campground would be. Back on the road, in the distance you could see some trees and mountains starting to become visible and slowly we we're going up, my ears are popping. We figured if we couldn't get a campsite, at least Flagstaff was only about 30 miles back up the road if a motel was needed.

SEDONA
We got to our turn, 89A and headed down the road towards Oak Creek Canyon. The swichbacks down the mountain were was less scary than I remembered and after the one outta Zion the one to Arches and the one in Mesa Verde, this was gravy. Thank goodness! In no time we were pulling into the Pine Flat campground. All kinds of open spaces! We scored a real nice spot that was back from the road a bit and you could see the colorful canyon wall across the narrow valley. It wasn't next to the creek which was barely trickling and they did have one whole loop closed...permanently the host said, there had been a rock slide last year. It was still pretty warm so we waited until the sun went behind the canyon wall, about 6pm, to set up our camp. No fires or BBQs here or anywhere in Arizona this week they were under a stage 3 fire watch or alert. The fire pits were yellow taped off as well as the BBQ grills. We would have to rethink dinner. Thankfully my Sterno stove cooked up some soup and we had a sandwich. We didn't have a cribbage board along but did have a deck so played several hands of Kings in a Corner until I had beat the pants offa mom and it was getting too dark to see well. The stars were great as they were in Bryce, we just don't get this display of heavenly lights in the city.
This place was gorgeous, the pine trees smelled wonderful and all manner of plants were still in bloom. Especially a yellow-orange milkweed, red penstemon and fleabane all over. Next to the creek the blackberry bushes were still flowering, some berries were beginning to form and it was alive with little purple butterflies and bees. We also had A vining plant that must have been a variety of grape, lots of oak trees, pines and a few sycamores and several trees and shrubs that I was mostly unfamiliar with. I found a mystery plant, turned out to be called spiderwort. It had a really cool tri-petaled purple flower in the morning, by afternoon they were gone. Looks to be related to wandering jute.
The next day was the ongoing saga of get ice for the chest, had been mostly using the hotel ice machines, block ice is really hard to find anymore. After a filling breakfast of oatmeal with raisins and a pot of coffee, off down the canyon we went. Do you know there really isn't a grocery store on that main drag? We found a circle K store, but upon requesting a bag I heard someone in the store tout, Sedona is all out of ice. And several others concurred. Eeegads, now what? They had been having a heat wave for days already here. The clerk was nice enough to say bring your ice chest in you can use the ice from the soda fountain. Sweet! umm...yeah, accidentally pressed the cola when filling the bag, very sweet.
Now what shall we do? it was just too hot for hiking really, so we went to check out this interesting chapel on the hill my daughter recommended. Built right into the rock outcropping with a sweeping east window that rose up high above the rocks emblazoned with a cross as tall as the window, the road wound around the hill at a very steep rate, there were people everywhere trying to find parking, most had to walk up the hill. I dropped mom off at the top and went to park, The Goddess was with me here as I got the first spot at the top of the hill, someone was just leaving. Upon rejoining mom and ascending the gradual walk that cantilevered over the rocks we came to the entry of the very tall yet sparsely pewed church. Catholic. It was blazing warm with all the candles at the offertory wall burning away, some votives some tall pillars. We sat at the back pew to view the place that had the largest crucified Jesus I have ever seen. Probably made of bronze. I like art and it was well designed, beyond that I was uninterested. I said prayers of my own to the Lady, then realized I still had my hat on..Ooops hard to remember everyone's protocol OK, I didn't get scolded. Told mom I was going to wander and took off to the gift store below the church. It was air conditioned. What a relief. The décor of row upon row of crosses and mother Mary's with many books and other religious trinkets was a bit much for this Pagan. I tried to find crossover stuff, things that could be used in my practice but really couldn't. I wanted to tell mom to come down and chill a bit but after rejoining her she said she couldn't do the stairway. She had been talking to the pastor who had just been transferred here, "very young man", she said. I guess when you are almost 90 everyone is pretty young! We had some other young men who were theology students studying for the priesthood take our photo, they were from Iowa I believe. The gardens surrounding the place were very lovely, the view from there was equally lovely. All down the red canyon one could make out faces and figures on the massive rock formations.
After the church place we went to do a little driving tour out to the Bell rock once again where I found my first vortex. Interestingly enough I had noticed a huge amount of renewed energy since arriving in the canyon and I took several moments when we stoped here to align with the land. I felt the trees and the rocks and the electricity of the air it was pretty invigorating despite the heat which usually takes me down. After our driving tour the thought of just lounging around and relaxing at camp was all either of us wanted to do, so back up the canyon we went. With a couple of brief stops. First at this giant new age store, that had a large copper pyramid with chairs under it on the patio. Mom decided she would sit there while I discovered this store that had the hugest inventory of the most expensive stones I had ever seen. The gems were nicely displayed in sections according to the rock color. I inquired about natural citrine, one clerk smirked, "it's all natural". I explained my quest for non-heat treated citrine, oh ummm ..she pointed out some stones that had been cut and polished. Not what I was looking for really wanted it raw just way too many dollars for these polished, cut to make them double terminated, rocks. Guess I get spoiled at the gem shows. I didn't get a great feeling from the place which made me sad. Seemed they were really capitalizing on the whole new age thing to the umpteenth degree, it really felt kinda ucky. As much as I love stones I wasn't inclined to hang out any further. I was also shocked to see an employee outdoors smudging down the building. Apparently she didn't get the fire memo. With this sort of fire alert one must smoke indoors. That would include sage um..hello?
We also really needed more ice so we went to a small store that was far from the main town but near our camp and got beer, water and Ice. Later we would find that we didn't need to purchase water. Back at camp it was time to kick back, mom whipped out her crossword puzzles and I flopped out in the hammock to read a book. Pure bliss!, the shade was great and it was slightly cooler in the higher altitude, not to mention some suspicious looking clouds started to move in. Rain would be a bit of a bummer, instead they created great shade and the temperature dropped quit a bit.
After a few chapters I went to go on a river hike. I crossed the street and went to investigate why cars had been stopping across the street at this large turnout. As I approached I could see children playing in water, they were running around this man made rock tower that had two water spigots with water flowing out at a great rate.
Inquiring about the flow a young man with dread locks told me about the spring and that it was from a water table that ran all the way from Flagstaff. "Free water"! he beamed. The kids were having so much fun cooling off while their parents were filling rows and rows of bottles Then the man said, "hey, I like your sandals", "Yea?, Ren Faire" I replied and he went, "yep", "Native Earth", "I know those guys, I make shoes too" and he pointed to the shoes on his feet an Ugg kind of style slipper with a strap on the back. Wow, I thought, that's pretty cool that someone could name my shoe maker a way out here far from the Faire. I have a pair in black and brown, just about the most comfortable sandals, I have ever owned and they last. I bid the folks at the spring farewell and went off on my creek journey. There was very little water and it was moving really slow. I took pictures and examine plants and had some time to meditate. Then I sauntered down stream for a bit and back up to the campsites on this side of the road and back to our camp. It was almost time to make dinner, more soup, sandwiches and local beer.
It was almost dark so I broke out my glow sticks to practice some poi which I really suck at. Thank goodness they are not really on fire! Soon it was time for stargazing but mom turned in early. I watched the last few cars make their way up and down this main road and tried to capture some slow shutter shots of them illuminating the trees. Neat. A little star viewing through my pretty crummy telescope and I was ready for bed. The thin blow up backpacking mattress was super comfortable that night.

(almost home! hope the brain fog doesn't prevent me from finishing this story like last time...LoL ...The "Two canyons and a wedding" thread)

bb, FF

[Firebird]

SEDONA AZ, KINGMAN AZ. & LAUGHLIN NV.

The morning was cool and clear and the rain clouds that threatened the day before had mostly dispersed in the night. We had a leisurly pot of coffee with our cereal and watched the sun illuminate the far side of the canyon wall. The colors were great from the different shades of green through the trees and were all manner of oranges, reds yellows, browns, white and some black. The intensity of the color was deepest closer to dawn, as the light grew the pallet dimed some but was still a color combo to behold. I didn't want to leave, the life force was filling me with grand energy despite the amount of fatigue that normally consumes my life, I felt super recharged. Sometimes I guess you have to lay around a half a day in a hammock suspended from oaks reading a book!
Mom and I gathered a couple empty jugs to fill at the eternal spring and went for a short walk on our way to the water. There were lots of birds here, mostly robins, jays, flycatchers and ravens. We could occasionally see a hawk glide above the tree line. I don't remember seeing any four legged creatures, seems there should be chipmunks or some other squirrely types here, but we did have a gorilla. Oh, geeze did I forget to mention the gorilla? He was perched about a 100 feet up the hill from our camp space, through the trees and flowers a shrubby gorilla stood guard over our camp, this am mom had mentioned that it looked like he had shifted his position as if to bid us farewell. After we returned with our jugs of water it was time to strike camp.
Packing is always such a pain and I have tried to perfect it over the years, I tend to bring too much stuff. Mom is not of much help when it comes to rolling sleeping bags and whatnot so she did what she was able and the rest was on me. It's a mad science packing a car to capacity. Luckily this car is a lot smaller than my van was so that really prevents one from bringing the dirt bike, canoe and the full size mattress! LOL, well, I've done anywhere from that to backpacking so this was really inbetween... Oooo the tweeny spaces >>cheesy grin<<
I had purchased a crystal point in Zion at the beginning of the trip, so everywhere along the way I held it to the ground and had a brief meditation, so after the car was full I took a moment with this stone and thanked the land for lending it's energy and letting us partake of it's beauty. One last sweep of the area and we were off back up the Oak Creek Canyon, the switchback road was gravy once again and we stopped at the top of the canyon to walk out to the overlook. The promenade was lined with native vendors, always so hard for me to pass those by but mom didn't want to linger, we had in our mind we would try to make Tehachapi Ca. by that night. So back to Flagstaff and west down the I-40. As we neared Williams I said, "Sure you don't want to go to the grand Canyon? Then we will have made 6 National parks in 10 days!" Mom was done traveling it would seem and she answered with an emphatic "No!"
The road had some construction but wasn't bad but after we cleared Fort Navajo it started to get quite windy. There was a tropical storm pushing up the gulf of California and you could see the edge of the storm all along the route we were on. Unfortunately it made the wind stronger and stronger. At one point I had to stop off the road on a section of route 66 to re-adjust the roof racks they were rattling from the gusts so badly. By the time we made Kingman Az I was exhausted from battling the 40 mph crosswind. We stopped for lunch at Denny's and had a waitress who was pretty umm... overwhelmed, she chatted to everyone which really slowed her down and we were the last out from the lunch rush. No bother, good AC and a re-think, not likely I would be able to drive another almost 300 miles in the wind. It was much later than we would have liked wouldn't get there till about 8pm. The desert is typically windy in the afternoon anyway so we figured an early start in the a.m. the next day would work and we made our way to Laughlin NV.
There is a casino there that we stayed in when I preformed to wedding for my niece and her boyfriend there on 10-10-10. Right on the water, I reasoned that it would be cooler by the water. It had been consistently 101 or so. As we descended the hill into the Colorado River valley the heat went up and up and up. By the time we hit the casino it was 114 degrees and blowing about 30 mph...UCK, friggin blast furnace. So much for my river theory. Inside was the longest line I had ever seen at the check in counter. It reminded me of an airport. It was moving slowly, Oh now we get it!!! bunches of people had vouchers for fathers day, they were arriving early. Finally they added some more clerks about 6 in all and the line started to move. Mom said she wanted to just sit in the AC and watch the river so we got an upgrade to a nice location overlooking the river. SHOWER here we come!!!
That evening we dined in the hotel buffet with a lovely view of the river, after we had a short walk along the river, it was just too hot to go very far. We looked at the brand new pool, it was under construction last time we were here. I didn't swim. We went back to the room and mom was tired so she kicked back some and so did I. Eventually She dozed off and I went down to the casino. Gonna drop a large 20 !..LoL That was to be my limit. I stood and watched the roulette for awhile, I remember a time in Vegas (about 30 years ago) we won back all our money betting on the red or black. (We were just leaving, all out of cash, and in about 7 or 8 bets we had it all back, we left.) That's hard I decided against that and went to my regular Gold Fish slot. Ooo, doubled my money right away, should have just left but no. I played for about and hour and a half on that 20, at one time switching to an Aztec machine that I won 40 dollars on a penny with, no luck there, back to the Gold Fish and done, cash out at 43 cents.
Interestingly enough I slept really good there, (and I remembered my dream, a reminder dream to meet with a Priestess at my home after I return.) I generally don't do high rises very well, they make me dizzy. As do parking structures I was lucky to get one of the 12 non structure parking spaces for this place. We ate out of the cooler for breakfast and hurried to check out. We were on the road before 8 am.


BB Firebird

[planewalker]

FFB,

I'm glad to see you writing. Hope things are going along apace with no unforeseen complication of circumstances. All my care and healing energies, clarity and peace of mind.
Be blessed, be blessed, be thrice blessed.

PW

[Firebird]

LAUGHLIN NV. TO THE CENTRAL COAST...AND HOME

The bell boys are so helpful here, all the other places we stayed we bussed our own luggage, after loading up off into the west we went, the road goes the wrong way here for about 30 miles. We go past a ferret farm, I threaten to get one every time we pass (I miss my little Pooter he was great familiar). Mom doesn't want to stop, would have been surprised if she said yes, they are illegal in California, this farm is in Nevada. At last the road turns and we hit the I-40 once again, it's pretty cool still the high 80's. Suddenly we are struck with a horrible smell, oh no! first thought went to wondering what on earth is burning in my car. It was reminiscent of burnt Pledge, I turned off the AC and tried to see if smoke was entering the cab anywhere, it didn't seem so. I checked the gages, nothing seemed different. It got worse, we rolled down the windows and I became light headed and my lips feet and hands started to tingle. I got in the slow lane fearing I would faint, the was no where to pull off. I pressed on, mom wasn't having the same symptoms but I am very sensitive to toxins. I looked for an exit but we were miles from the nearest one. Wow, this is terrible I'm going to have to get off somewhere, all I could do in that moment was continue. In the distance we were approaching some 18 wheelers, I got around them when I could see an RV in the distance and I exclaimed is that guy leaking something?! The giant RV was towing a boat, as we got closer we could see fluid dripping down across the black grill at the back of the monstrosity. Little wisps of black smoke were sailing out of the grill. We tried to flag or signal the guy as we passed but don't think he got the message. Oh God, fresh air at last, I stepped on it quite a bit to get some space between the guy and us. Man that was horrible, wonder what he was burning, wonder if he caught on fire, wonder if others had such a bad reaction to the fumes.
Soon, off in the distance we were passing by the cinder cone that was Huell Houser's home, this guy did documentary's on interesting places in California, miss his show he passed several years ago now. The desert isn't very windy today, we pass the McDonalds that is made in an old rail car in Barstow, here we get on hwy 58, they are doing lots of construction for many miles through here redoing the road completely. It will bypass a cool little corner that has a great diner where the 58 and 395 cross. We literally sailed through the stoplight here but cringed at the approximately 3 mile back up for the folks going the other direction, yea, the upgrade is needed here, hope they make an off ramp for the diner.
We continue to pass miles and miles of sagebrush and creosote bushes and a portion where the Joshua trees can be seen here and there. The airplane graveyard is looming in the distance as are the wind turbines, which in my opinion are the ugliest thing on the landscape, but it is always very windy out here. Edwards Air Force base is way out on our left, this is where they used to land the space shuttle, the 2 sonic booms that bird would create rattled the house and nerves back when they were still landing here. Never did get to see it land in person though, close as I was, getting up before dawn to drive out here was never appealing. Even as much as I like aviation. The wind is blowing but still not too bad today. We pass under the 14 Fwy and make our way through the towering wind turbines, may of which seem out of order or broken, and up the hill towards Tehachapi. There is a spot here where the Pacific Crest Trail crosses the road and heads into the Sierras.
The gas station in Tehachapi is our fist stop since leaving Laughlin, Mom says there is a park near here where Dad and her used to lunch when they were on road trips, we had a little trouble finding it but at last we were snacking out of the cooler. It was a nice day the air was much cooler up here, the grass was green the kids playing and the porta-potty guy was setting out johns for the evening concert in the park, it was great to get away from the heat. I remembered the times Dad and I used to fly here in his little plane to get a box of apples, which is what the town is know for other than the prison that is up here.
Now were in the home stretch, after leaving the park and back on the road it's down the mountain and out into the long, long San Joaquin Valley. The air quality here seems to always be terrible, between the dust that is churned up, smoke from fires, crop dusters, I would never be able to live out here, but dang, bless the farmers that do. Off now from that short stretch of the I-99 and our highway is back down to one lane each way through the orchards of mostly almonds, pistachios, avocados, walnuts and other stuff. At one point there is a large mini rose farm, I like that. Then we near the crossing at the I-5 and traffic comes to a stop. We inch our way along with the 18 wheelers. Wow, I just then realize the only other traffic we had on our WHOLE trip was in Las Vegas. As we finally crossed over the I-5 we could see the traffic backed up waaaaaay down the freeway to exit our road. What the heck? is everyone still going to the beach at 3 in the afternoon? This is one of the main arteries to the beaches on the central coast, the other is about 50 miles up the road. There is a large junction and truck stop here also, after we cleared that it was smooth sailing once again. The sandy colored Temblor range was our last mountain to traverse, this is where the San Andreas fault runs, then, where the northern road and this road cross is James Deans fateful intersection, a memorial has been erected a few miles beyond this.
At last we are pulling into the drive at moms house, it's about 95 degrees. Unpacking is a breeze, then I run to the market to get something to BBQ. Boy what a trip, after dinner Mom and I go over the pictures. She was so grateful to be able to see her little brother and thanked me profusely for taking her on this epic adventure, we had a lot of fun and laughs, and a tear or two (from me only) at the thought we may not see my Uncle again. Then that night I had the dream about my friend from the old neighorhood.
The next three days, I helped mom with some stuff around her house, then it was the final leg back to my house. I left rather early and hit the 3000 mile mark to this journey in approximately the same spot as a got my speeding ticket on the way back from Dan's funeral. I took a picture of the odometer! 3000 miles in 12 days (I don't really count the 3 days I was at moms because we didn't go anywhere. The total time was 15 days. That was great, Let's do it again! "Ok !"Mom said, "lets go somewhere cooler next time", were looking at Oregon In the Fall

Thank you to anyone who managed to get all the way through this story,
I really don't write well (in my opinion) and this was more of a journal so I don't forget what we did!
Blessed be the road less traveled,
FirebirdFlys