NV-UT-HOME

From Reno to Cedar Crest, we had a choice to make.  We could drive down to Las Vegas, then on down to I-40 and home.  This would give us a chance for a short visit with Heidi.  But, Heidi and Joey are coming to see us in just a week, and there is a steep climb from Bullhead City to Kingman, in summer's heat, so that's the down side.  The alternative was to drive across Nevada on US 50, The Loneliest Road in America, then across Utah to Moab, then home.  I've been intrigued by the Loneliest Road, so wanted to see that, but it was not a place to risk a break-down.  I chose the Loneliest Road, Susie said OK by her, so away we went.

Thursday we drove across NV, stopping for the night in Ely.  The road didn't seem too lonely; there was a bicycle tour group out there and quite a few cars.  Also, some old mining towns that looked interesting.  I read an article recently in Motor Home magazine by a couple who had spent a week or two along this route.  Lots of interesting terrain.  This is basin and range country, so you hop-scotch from range to range, zig-zagging around the end of a range or over a pass, so it keeps you interested.  Some pictures.

At the KOA in Ely they were selling t-shirts: Ely, Nevada: 394 round-trip miles from the nearest Wal-Mart.  It's true.  I've thought about defining the most remote point in the country as the point farthest from the nearest interstate highway.  Maximum distance to Wal-Mart might be a better metric.

The first 150 miles of the next day's drive,  from Ely to Delta, UT, seemed more barren and lonely to us.

That's a dry lake bed out there.  Incidentally, our GPS and our atlas show some lakes in SE Oregon, but when we drove by them, we didn't see a drop of water. 

In UT we connected with I-70 in Salina, then continued across to Moab for the night.  That stretch of I-70 is spectacular.  Soaring red cliffs, multi-colored mounds and mesas, weird hoodoos, etc. 

Moab sunset and sunrise:

Book Report.  We often listen to recorded books while we drive.  Because Cracker Barrel has not penetrated the NW we didn't have our usual resource.  However, when we were with Melinda in Boise, she loaned us some of her recorded books.  Turned the rest of our trip into a Women's Studies seminar.  We had memoirs by Laura Bush, Jenny Sanford, and Sarah Palin and a historical novel, The 19th Wife, that intertwined Mormon history, particularly that of Ann Eliza Young, Brigham Young's 19th, with a modern-day murder mystery, the man murdered being a polygamist in a present-day sect. Ann Eliza Young managed to divorce Brigham, escape Utah, and become a leading voice in ultimately getting the LDS church to ban polygamy.  It was a long book, 19 hours, and it kept us enthralled the whole time, particularly as we were driving through the part of the country in which the book happens.

Drove home from Moab on Saturday.  Here's our welcome to New Mexico shot.  Oh, look!  It's Shiprock!

And here's our returning shot of the Sandia Mountains.

These road shots were taken by Susie, not by the driver.

Statistical Trip Summary: 38 days, 4325 miles on Tuzigoot.


What's next?  Well, I should have mentioned that on the day we left Reno we got a call from Jeff saying we want you to go to China with us.  We're leaving September 1 or 2.  So, it's going to be a busy couple of weeks.  Granddaughter Kaci is returning to school at Baldwin-Wallace.  Grandson Tony departs for Iraq.  Son Jeff Hinkle is coming for a family celebration of his 50th birthday - all four of Susie's kids will be here for that.  Then, it's pack and fly to China, probably Beijing.  We're excited.

Stay tuned.

Cheers,


Susie and Rob