On Wednesday, August
17, 2016, we rented a U-Haul trailer to carry Jeff’s motorcycle and other
goods out to Salt Lake City. Now that he
and Carly have graduated from college, they are moving out to Salt Lake to look
for work and establish themselves.
Jeff’s older brother and his wife Betsy moved out there a year ago and
really like the area. It is growing, the
cost of living is relatively low and the jobs are plentiful. There are lots of outdoor activities
available (mountain biking, hiking, skiing, etc.). Jeff and Carly will be
living with Jake and Betsy until they can get their own place. They drove out 2 weeks ago and then flew
home. Carly will be flying back and Jeff
is driving out with me.
Thursday, August 18, 2016. We load the
truck with our travel stuff, the dogs (Costis (black lab) and Precious (mini-Schnauzer)
are going with Jeff. Costis is his dog
and Precious is going because these two dogs have never been separated. It is sunny and 80 degrees as we depart
Laconia, NH, at 9:30am. Our first stop
is at noon at Carly’s house in Marshfield, MA, to pick up more stuff to haul to
Salt Lake. 42.0856°N 070.3808°W After loading the truck, walking the dogs and
refueling, we are back on the road headed west.
Mass Pike (I90), then I90 across New York running parallel to the Erie
Canal. We came across the Erie Canal
when we brought the boat down from Canada where we purchased her and had her
fitted out) in 2012. The names and
places along this part of the route are familiar. We stop for the night at a Red Roof Inn in
Falconer, NY, just before crossing over into Ohio. 785 miles today. 42.1277°N 79.1913°W
While
we are making sure we stay at “pet friendly” hotels, we also want to be close
to the interstate. Turns out this one is
25 miles off the beaten path – south by Interstate 86. Beware of hotel advertisements!
Friday, August 19, 2016. We depart the
hotel at 7am. I am sure the dogs are
totally confused by the schedule and what is going on, but they were great in
the hotel. It is good they are with Jeff
and I, have their own regular food, beds and blankets. There are old tractors in the field next to
the hotel making a neat picture with the fog. It is still foggy when we get on
the road. There is little to see as we
cross Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Iowa except farmland. We pass a huge NASA complex in Ohio, Lake
Erie’s south shore, Cleveland, Toledo, Chicago and Des Moines. We stop at the “World’s Largest Truck Stop”
in Iowa, just west of where Interstate 90 and Interstae 80 split heading
east. In Iowa, they are building wind
turbines. One of the rest tops has a
wind turbine blade mounted. It is over
100 feet tall (just one blade of a three blade propeller). There are many trucks carrying these (one
blade per truck) to all parts of the country.
There are also trucks carrying the generators and supports.
Impressive. Heavy rain towards the end of the
day and overnight. We stop for the night at 11pm in Walnut, Iowa at a Super 8 –
that actually is right off an exit ramp.
The dogs have been great today.
980 miles today. 41.4999°N 095.2205°W
Sometime
during the day we crossed into the Central Time Zone. You may not realize it,
but once you leave Chicago, it is uphill almost all the way to Salt Lake City.
Saturday, August 20, 2016. Sunny, windy
and 65 degrees. We depart the hotel at
8:10am. It rains early in the day. As we
pass through Gretna, Nebraska, we see the Holy Family Shrine close to the
highway. It is a very unique and unusual
church building. Click on this link for
more information and pictures.
http://www.holyfamilyshrineproject.com/
We
pass several of the wind turbines being trucked westward. We are still passing
fields and fields of corn and soybeans. We
pass Sherman Summit, WY, 8640 feet, the highest point on I80. Somewhere today
we pass into the Mountain Time Zone. We hoped to make it all the way to Salt
Lake City today, but at 8:37pm, a heater hose under the hood gave way. We had a
bit of steam in the cab of the truck, and lots when we opened the hood. We pulled way off the road and called AAA. (41°34.87’N 110°38.36’W). Great to have that Gold Unlimited
Service. While waiting for the tow
truck, we walked the dogs. In the middle
of Wyoming, at night, it is very dark!
At 9:30pm, Robert with Bradshaw’s Towing in Lyman, WY showed up. Robert
was great! AAA told us that they would
tow the truck wherever we wanted, but not the trailer. Robert loaded up the
truck, then hooked the trailer to his truck and off we went. By this time it
was 11 o’clock. Robert called the owner
of the Gateway Inn and got us and the dogs a room. He then called his Dad to see what could be
done about getting the truck repaired.
Worst case looks like it will be Monday.
It is 11:30pm by the time we are settled into the hotel. It is clear and cool (50 degrees) and still
very windy! 837 miles today, plus 11
miles being towed. 41.3468°N 110.2926°W
The altitude here is 6750 feet above sea level.
Sunday, August 21, 2016. Robert had told us last night to call his
Dad (Jim) early, before he got too involved in anything else. We called at 7:30am and Jim agreed to come
over and take a look at the truck to see if there is anything he can do. If he has to order parts, he will do it first
thing in the morning and hopefully, one of the local parts places has what is
needed. Jim’s shop is right across from
the hotel, which is very convenient. We
started the truck and managed to move it over to his shop. I told Jim I really appreciated him taking
time on a Sunday morning to look at the truck.
He said that 40 years ago he married a Mormon lady and he usually had
Sunday mornings free. After examining the hose that blew, it turns out to be a
heater hose and it ruptured right where it goes through the firewall between
the engine and the cabin. Jim managed to find a piece of new heater hose the
correct size and we used a plug used for flushing the radiator as a
connector. With the hose repaired, we
went for a test drive to get the engine up to temperature and make sure there
are no leaks. Success, it seems to be
repaired! By 9:30am, we are back on the
road to Salt Lake City! When is the last
time you found someone to work on your truck at 7:30 on a Sunday morning? If you are ever in Lyman, Wyoming, stop in
and say hello to Jim Brad
We
arrived at Jake and Betsy’s at 12:30pm.
No more issues. We unloaded the
trailer and returned it to U-Haul. The
dogs made the trip great and are now adjusting to their new home.
122
miles today. 40.6083°N 111.8895°W
Monday, August 22, 2016. Benny’s Birthday. Cool this morning, 65 degrees, clear.
Lisa is flying in today to drive back east with me, but her flight out of
Manchester to Midway was diverted to Baltimore with a mechanical issue with the
flaps. They are routing her through
Midway and Denver to Salt Lake. She
won’t arrive until 9:25pm. I took the
truck for an oil change and to have everything checked out after our
overheating incident. Everything
OK. I finally got the InReach satellite
communicator working. It will track out
position and we can send and receive text messages on it. It will be nice to have when we are in remote
spots on the boat. Jake took me to see
the house he and Betsy have made an offer on.
Very nice and very reasonable by Boston or New Hampshire standards. There
is a neat web/blog site for the ski enthusiasts here. Check it out.
http://www.wasatchsnowforecast.com/
Because
Lisa’s flight will be very late, Jake and Betsy made delicious hamburgers
(including vegie burgers for Jeff and Carly) for dinner. We had planned to go out somewhere nice for
dinner for my birthday, but we will do that tomorrow night instead. Lisa’s flight arrived on time at 9:25pm. The dogs were ecstatic to see her, Me too!
Tuesday, August 23, 2016. Sunny 90
degrees. The dogs seem to be acclimating
to their new home. Of course, it helps
that all the people that are here are ones they have known all their lives. Hopefully, they will continue to do well once
Lisa and I leave on Thursday.
Lisa
and drive downtown and have lunch at the Salt Lake City Plaza Hotel across from
Temple Square. We spent the afternoon
visiting Temple Square. I was here about
30 years ago working on a project to design the genealogical database for the
Church. That design is still in use,
although the technology on which it runs is significantly newer. We also visited the Hotel Utah, owned by the
Mormons. It was originally one of the
world’s grand hotels, and is still used as a hotel for Church events and conferences,
but now is also offices and meeting rooms. More information click on this
link
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Smith_Memorial_Building
Even
though Salt Lake City is in a Valley, the elevation is 4450 feet! For dinner,
we all drove up East Big Cottonwood Canyon to the Silver Fork Lodge. The food was great!. We ate outside and the weather was perfect. Very nice birthday dinner! More info click on
this link
http://www.silverforklodge.com/
Wednesday, August 24, 2016. Another sunny, 90 degree day. Beautiful.
Lisa and I took Carly and Jeff furniture shopping, but nothing was
purchased. We had tapas for lunch at the
Tin Roof.
Thursday, August 25, 2016. Sunny, 95
degrees today, in case you forgot this is Utah!
10am, Lisa and I said good-bye to Jake and Betsy, Jeff and Carly, and
Costis and Precious and headed south to Zion National Park. It is a five hour drive and the landscape
gets more barren all the way. What you
don’t realize is that you are on a huge mesa and then all of a sudden, you are
in among huge cliffs of red sandstone. Magnificent!
This week-end is the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service! So...we get in for free as they are not collecting fees Thursday thru Monday! We stop at the Visitors’ Center and sign up
for an interpretive tour with a park ranger tomorrow morning. We drive up the
canyon and check in at the Lodge. It was
originally built in the 1030s as a CCC project and it is beautiful. We had dinner
at the lodge and it was excellent! It is monsoon season here in the “desert” and
it rains overnight. Mule deer are
everywhere after dusk to feed on the great grass planted around the Lodge.
The canyon was originally settled by Mormons. There is water and the canyon bottom is very fertile. However, the flash floods and occasional rock slides became a problem. Some of the rocks calving off the cliffs are the size of houses (or larger). The original Lodge built by the CCC was destroyed by one of these boulders.
301
miles today. 32.2710°N 112.9573°W
Friday, August 26, 2016. Cool this morning and misty. 9am, we meet at the Visitors’ Center and meet
our ranger for the tour. No cars are
allowed past wherever you are staying (campground or lodge). If you are not staying in the park, you have
to leave your vehicle at the Visitors’ Center.
The busses are all tandems (bus pulling a trailer as big as the bus) and
run on propane. With these vehicles and
limiting private vehicles, they have cut pollution and traffic in the park 80
percent! The interpretive tour stops a
four different locations and is a lesson in geology and the power of
water. Best of all it is free! The tour ends at the end of the canyon at
“The Narrows”, where the Virgin River cuts through a very narrow canyon. Because it is monsoon season, the rangers advise
against hiking farther up the canyon or rock climbing or repelling in the
canyon as the danger from flash floods is real.
Several years ago, seven people were washed away as the tried to repel
down a canyon wall and got caught in a flash flood. The canyon floor is at 4000 feet and the tops
are at 6000 feet.
We
rode the shuttle back to the Visitor’s Center and then went into the town of
Springdale and had lunch at Meme’s. We
visited several of the shops (there are lots) and found an ice cream shop. It is cool in the shade because it is so dry
here. When we get back to the Lodge, the
mule deer are out in force! Rain again
overnight.
Saturday, August 27, 2016. This morning is clear and cool. We climbed the trail to the three Emerald Pools. These are at different levels, and the water flows from one to the other in the form of waterfalls. Beautiful! Quite a hike! The water seeps out of these rocks to fill the pools. According to the Rangers, it takes 3000 years for a rain drop falling on the top of the mountain to seep out and into a pool or stream.
Click on this link for lots of pictures of beautiful Zion
We leave
Zion at 11am headed to the east. It is cloudy,
cool and raining as we climb out of the canyon, we have to pass through a
tunnel which was built in the 1930’s. It
is not very high and somewhat narrow, so they only allow vehicles to pass one
way at a time. Some large vehicles need
an escort. As we head east, we are on a
high plateau (6000+ feet). It is
farmland and there are many cattle grazing.
When we get to Route 89, we head north to Bryce Canyon. South leads to the north rim of the Grand
Canyon. That will have to wait until
another time. We entered the Dixie
National Forrest (again). It surrounds
almost all these National Parks. We stop
at Red Canyon, which has the same sort of red sandstone formations as Bryce. These
formations are called HooDoos and looked like rocks stacked one on top of
another. Beautiful!
At
12:30pm, we stop at the Bryce Pines Motel to check in and have lunch at the
restaurant there (an appetizer sampler), which was very good. They are supposed to have the best pie
anywhere, so we decide to come back and have dinner here too! The next stop was the visitor center at Bryce
Canyon National Park. It is new and there is a huge solar array supplying the
electricity for the center. Neat! There is only one way in or out of this park, but it is still free to get in because of the 100th birthday! We
drove the 18 miles to the end of the Park Road (Rainbow Point). Here you are at
the top of the ridge (over 9100 feet) and the views are spectacular! You can see for over 150 miles from this
point!
We stopped at every overlook on the way back to the Visitor Center. The just are not enough adjectives to
describe to views! . We drove back to
the motel and had dinner (huge pieces of pie actually) and then wearily to bed. 88 Miles today. 37.7101°N
112.2106°W
Sunday, August 28, 2016. It is clear and very cool this morning –
in the 40’s. We checked out of the motel
and had breakfast in the restaurant. The
food here is very good. The motel is
just average. We drove to the Lodge and
checked in. We went to the Visitors Center for a movie on how the Canyon was
formed and then rode the shuttle bus around the park. At Inspiration Point, we
walked up three levels, about ¼ mile apart and there is an observation point at
each level. Then we walked from
Inspiration Point to Sunset Point along the rim of the canyon.
There are storm clouds on the horizon and the
rangers are herding visitors off the rim.
A man was killed by a lightning strike here in 2011 – we are still at
over 8000 feet and quite close to the clouds.
You can see trees which were struck by lightning everywhere. We wanted
to do a Ranger Walk, but that was cancelled because of the weather. We walked back to the lodge and had
dinner. Beautiful place. The food was good, but later that night the
pasta Pomodoro I had really disagreed with me. After the showers past, we
walked to Sunset point for more views and pictures. As the sun moves across the sky, the lighting
changes as so does the view! 37.2710°N 112.9573°W
 |
| Pinyon Pine |
The two most common trees on these high plateaus are the Pinyon Pine (the ones with the twisted trunks) and the Jardine Juniper. Lower down there are Spruce, Ponderosa Pine, and Fir. Next to the rivers and streams are Cottonwood and Aspen.
Monday, August 29, 2016. It is very cool and clear again this
morning. We have breakfast in the room,
check out of the Lodge and walk over to Sunrise Point. We then hiked down into the canyon on the Navajo
Loop Trail. It is three miles down to
the bottom of the canyon and then along a river and back up to the rim.
 |
| HooDoo |
Click on this link for more information on Bryce Canyon National Park
Click on this link for many pictures of Bryce Canyon
About noon, we left Bryce Canyon and headed
east along Route 12 towards Escalante, UT, then Route 24 to Hanksville, UT,
then Route 95 (Bicentennial Highway to US Route 191 North to Moab UT. This route takes you through the Grand
Staircase National Monument, Capital Reef National Park, past Factory Butte,
along the Colorado River Canyons, and the it was getting dark as we headed
north on 191. The drive was supposed to take about 5 hours according to the
GPS, but took us 9.
Next time, we will
leave earlier so we have more time to sight see along the way. We are sure the Grand Canyon is spectacular,
but it is hard to imagine the scenery is more beautiful than the drive
today!
Click on this link for pictures of the drive from Bryce to Moab!
We arrived at the Super 8 in Moab
at 9:30pm, had sandwiches for supper and went to bed. 358 miles today and a lot of stops to take
photos! 38.5873°N 109.5600°W
Tuesday, August 30, 2016. Moab, UT,
sits in a canyon, along the Colorado River. River rafting is very popular here.
It is sunny and very hot here this morning. We had the motel free breakfast and
then drove over to the Arches National Park Visitors Center. There was a line of cars waiting to get into
the park and to park at the Visitors Center. They have a cd that is a guided tour you put in your player in the
car. We used that to tour the park. Very nice!
We walked to several of the arches as well as The Wolfe Ranch, where a
family lived next to the Salt Wash River.
Not far from there is some rock art of the Ute or Paiute Indians called
petroglyphs, which are rock carvings.
At the Double Arch, Lisa’s phone rang and
you could hear the whole conversation ¼ of a mile away – it was like she was
standing in an amphitheater. There was a
“boy group” of musicians there with their photographers having their pictures
taken. They were all dressed in multiple
layers of black long sleeve and long pants clothing and it had to be 100
degrees at the time.
Click here for more information on Arches National Park
Click on this link for more Arches pictures.
We
left Arches and drove a bit farther north to Dead Horse Point State Park. We’re not sure why this isn’t a National Park
also because it is right between Arches and Canyonlands. The park sits on a high bluff overlooking the
canyon of the Colorado River – absolutely breath-taking! In the late afternoon sunshine, the colors a
unbelievable! The Grand Canyon must be
something if it is better than this, especially the overlook of Dead Horse Bend!
As
the sun began to set, we headed east on I70 to Fruita, CO. We had dinner at a nice local diner and
checked in to the Comfort Inn about 9:30pm. 165 miles today, but a very long
day anyway. 39.4003°N 110.1146°W
Wednesday, August 31, 2016. Up early, motel breakfast, and on the road at
8:15am. Clear and hot at we cross the
Rockies toward Denver.
For a while we
follow the Colorado River up to the Continental Divide and then down the
eastern slope to Denver. Along the way
we pass all the ski areas, including Beaver Creek and Vail, where our oldest
son, Jacob, worked for three years when he got out of college.
Across the
heartland into Kansas and then north through the farmlands on back roads north
to I80 in Nebraska, finally stopping for the day just outside Lincoln. Long day 842 miles. 40.8457° N
96.7382° W
Thursday, September 1, 2016. Up early, hotel complimentary breakfast, and
on the road by 8am. It is sunny and warm
– summer still hanging on. We continue
east on Interstate 80 and arrive at our friends (Jim and Pam Hager) house in
Bloomingdale, IL at 4:30pm. We haven’t
seen them in a number of years and we have a great visit. We had dinner at a local Japanese
hibachi-table restaurant, which was very nice.
Another long day on the road – 507 miles, but with a lot of
construction. 41.9887°N 088.1217°W
Friday, September 2, 2016. The beginning of the Labor Day week-end. A beautiful morning in Chicago area,
65 degrees and sunny. Jim made everyone
breakfast and after more visiting, we are on the road at 10am heading east on
I80. The drive is uneventful, except for
the construction projects and we stop for the night at 7pm in Clearfield, PA at
a Comfort Inn. 556 miles today – all on
I80. 41.2140°N 078.4316°W.
Saturday, September 3, 2016. Cool and raining as we leave the hotel
and head east at 8am. At 2:30pm, we
arrive at Lisa’s Uncle Tom’s house in Bloomington, NY. He lives just off Creek Locks Road, which
runs along Round Out Creek, which runs into the Hudson River at Kingston. Round Out Creek used to be navigable and had
several dams and locks and Creek Locks Road was the “tow path” for the horses
which pulled the canal boats. Quite a
few locks are still present. This area
is what first peaked out interest in traversing the Erie Canal by boat. In case you haven’t been following our
travels from that time, we did that part of the trip by (by boat) in 2012, when
we brought Rhiannon down from Penetanguishine, Ontario to Marathon. Wonderful trip!
When
we arrived at Uncle Tom’s, Fred (Lisa’s cousin), Seth (his son) and Maureen
(Seth’s significant other) we all there.
We all went to Tom's favorite diner for lunch. They had these great huge hamburgers!
We
spent the night at Uncle Tom’s. Nice
visit. 296 miles today. 41.8554°N 74.0700°W
Sunday, September 4, 2016. We departed at 9am and drove a short distance
north to Catskill, NY, to Hop-O-Nose marina.
We came here after completing the trek across the Erie Canal from
Buffalo to have our mast re-stepped.
Here we met Dean and Susan on Autumn Borne and have been friends
since. They summer here and we find
Autumn Borne in the same slip as when we met them in 2012. We all piled into their SUV and headed to the
Ambrosia Diner for a huge wonderful breakfast.
We visited with them for a while and discussed tentative plans for the
cruise this winter. Hopefully, we will
get to “buddy boat” with them for at least part of the trip. 34 miles 42.2119°N 73.8693°W
