Utah, I never knew ya
Trip Start
Nov 21, 2007
1
6
13
Trip End
Dec 06, 2007
Grand Junction,
Colorado,
United States
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Last night I visited Eureka's one restaurant followed by a stop in it's one bar (they're next door to each other about 100yds from the hotel). Cold, cold beer. Friendly, hearty folk. And by hearty I mean many extra layers to get em through the colder times. OK, so they're fat and jolly.
I decided to drive straight through to Grand Junction, Colorado - about 430 miles, mostly across Utah - in order to stay ahead of a storm coming down from the north. We're about a day ahead of it right now and I'd like it to stay that way until I clear the Rockies. Even w/o the snow however, the roads outta town are icy and cold... very cold, between 5-10 degrees. We stopped at a park in Ely to run around and take care of business - that didn't last very long. I try to scrape the white crust off my car - it's not moving.
I picked a great stretch to do my longest drive of the trip - the views are jaw-dropping. Utah has to have some of the most incredible scenery in the world - everything from arid desert to lush pastures around roaring green rivers to high plataeus and deep canyons to towering snow-capped mountain silhouettes. It seems to change every 50 miles or so as we crest another summit and drop into a new geography. I want to pull over every 10 miles but the drive is long enough as it is. We manage a few stops to snap pics and view some Petroglyphs (10,000 BC and graffiti free - is that possible?).
Like the little mining towns of Nevada, Utah has some sweet summit names: jupiter, broad forks, the bastard son, red top, honeycomb, saddle knoll, swallow rocks.... I had to look up some of these, too many to remember.
So, I've been reading two books at night, both given to me by my good friend Clint the day before leaving town. So far they couldn't have been more relevant, in many ways. Travels with Charlie by John Steinbeck chronicles his trip across the country with his dog. Duh. The other, similarly journey-esque but narratively told by Jon Krakauer, is Into the Wild (now a movie, great). In fact, Alex Supertramp spent some time in Grand Junction, where I am now. This book is tough to put down. Steinbeck is losing the attention battle.
Well, that's all for now. I believe our next stop is Colorado Springs. I'm considering swinging north through Aspen. But first, two errands: 1) Kaya has a cut on her right ear that keeps opening up and it's time to get it properly bandaged, and 2) my car computer is telling me to "Check Hybrid System" ever since I 'accidentally' hit 120 mph yesterday afternoon... errrr.
Comments
Sweet Googly Moogly
Travel logs meet the 21st century huh? Next thing you know you'll be attaching videocasts of your view along with commentary from the more eloquent of your pair - the dog. I was jealous when I heard about your trip, but now seeing it is pushing me to the edge. It looks amazing. Please keep the posts coming.