Side Trip to Salt Lake City

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

For more information on Temple Square or the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints click on this link https://www.lds.org/locations/salt-lake-city-temple-square?lang=eng&_r=1#d

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.

Dinner was at 106, enchiladas.  Wow, huge and delicious!

Click on this link for pictures of Laconia to Salt Lake City

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. 

For more information on Zion click on this link

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!

For more info on Red Canyon-Dixie National Forrest click here

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!

Click on this link for more information on Dead Horse Point State Park

Click on this link for more pictures of Dead Horse Point State Park

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

At 2:30pm, we are back on the road headed east to NH.  We arrive home at 7:00pm, tired and glad to be home.  260 miles 43.5428°N  71.5014°W

Click here to see pictures from Dead Horse Point until we reached home.