A little over 2000 miles in 4 days!

On Monday afternoon, I rushed away from my hairdresser at three. The appointment started at eleven, but after a lengthy discussion of what I liked and wanted, Serafina became inspired and caught a vision to tie it all together. Her plan involved four different shades staying with my preference for the pretty oranges I saw on the sample swatch board.

Why not? If I didn't do it now, I never would. So I gave her full control of the colors.

However, I've never sat that long in a stylist's chair. I wasn't going to make it to Vegas in time to pick up Larry from the airport.

By the time I got to Vegas, he was already at the hotel, so we went out for a late dinner, opting for somewhere within walking distance since the temperature still hovered in the low 100s by the time we went out.

Tuesday morning we drove out to the Hoover Dam (see previous post) before making our way up through the Lake Mead Recreational Area, stopping at the oasis and the Indian ruin in Overton before rolling into St. George. The RV, which is in St. George, is awaiting a refrigerator. However, the refrigerator won't arrive until Larry is back in Missouri. And then there's the install. I'll have to come back for it at a later date. In no time at all, we were back on the road.

Since Larry is a big Hollywood and western buff, we stopped at the Moqui Cave north of Kanab. The cave (like most caves) stays a cool 60° year round. Around the time Hollywood was sending people like John Wayne and Ronald Reagan out to southern Utah to star in westerns, the cave owner used the space as a museum. However, upon hearing that the movie stars complained about the lack of air conditioning and alcohol, the cave owner quickly converted the museum into a bar and dancehall. The stars frequented the place, and--ironically--with the elapse of time, the cave is once again a museum filled with Hollywood western artifacts, rocks and fossils, indigenous artifacts, and dinosaur bones and footprints.

After the cave, we drove up to Red Canyon at the start of Highway 12 and hiked around there, then stopped at Bryce Canyon for a few pics at Sunset Point, before stopping in Tropic for the best Utah BBQ at IDK BBQ.

The next morning--Wednesday--we hiked to Circle of Friends pictograph in Escalante and stopped at Singing Canyon (a short slot canyon) over near Boulder. We saw some more pictographs and some petroglyphs along Highway 24 as it passes through Capitol Reef. Then, we drove out on the desert near Hanksville to look at the Mars Research Station. Only four such research stations exist in all the world. The land in Utah is so otherworldly that it's a great place to test equipment over sand, bentonite, and rocks.

We stopped at Stan's Burger in Hanksville for a burger and a shake. (I've really been digging pineapple yogurt these days, so I opted for the pineapple shake. It did not disappoint!)

Then we drove up to 70 and got off at the Moab exit...only we didn't go to Moab. Instead, we followed the Colorado River through a red rock canyon and stopped to look at some dinosaur tracks along the way.

Then it was through the semi-ghost town of Cisco before getting on Interstate 70 and using the full speed limit (80) to book it over to Grand Junction to pick up the Xterra from George before it got too late.

The next morning, Thursday, we took the Xterra up to Rangely, dropped it off, and headed toward Vernal, Utah. "It seems out of the way," Larry commented. But it was imperative that he see (and touch!) the dinosaur bones at the national park. We were so close, and you never know when the authorities will decide we commoners cannot handle the bones. I dropped him off while I rode into Vernal to pick up some pizzas for lunch/dinner.

As we rode south toward Interstate 70, the sky started clouding up, and distant rain streaked the clouds downward. I was tired and wanted to get some computer work finished, so we found a hotel in Parachute and called it a night.

The next morning--Friday!--we stopped in Glenwood Springs. Larry likes the Old West and gunfighter stories, so we stopped to look at Doc Holliday's memorial. Since he was buried in potter's field, it is known that his bones are up there. No one is really sure exactly where, however. If you look closely at the ground in front of this marker, it looks like someone's ash remains are dumped there. There were actually a few little piles like this throughout the fenced enclosure.

From Boot Hill, it was up and over Independence Pass (still snow up there!) and down to Buena Vista to see Diane and Ruby. We had a nice-but-all-too-brief visit before heading down to Salida for dinner before driving through the canyon to Cañon City. Larry drove the vehicle. I was incapacitated. At the Mexican restaurant I'd asked the server for a virgin margarita. "No tequila," I sad, knowing both those words translated into español. Nope. I got one with tequila. By the time I'd sipped it less than a quarter of the way down the glass, I was loopier than a looney bird. "I guess I'm driving," Larry said. The drink was so strong that I didn't proceed past a quarter. Fortunately, she only charged for a virgin drink ($3.99) because whatever kind of tequila that was...oh my! I think if I'd had any more, I would have been hallucinating!

So...Larry drove the canyon, but I spied Skyline Drive early enough to tell him to turn left and proceed up the hill. What I didn't tell him was how the mountain drops away on both sides, and you're riding a narrow one-way road up along the ridge. Ooops! Sorry about that! (The picture at the start of this blog post is that of Skyline Drive.)

Since he had to be at the airport at 4 a.m., we decided to stay near the airport. I didn't want to be in the city, so we stayed in Bennett, which is about 20 miles east of the airport. It was tough getting up that early after this whirlwind Larry-vacation, moving cars, and my last hurrah at nomad life.

I'm now back in Craig, Colorado. Things are about to get real and serious soon. I'll post about that in an upcoming blog post.

Thanks for reading!