On the road

In order to get where we're going and then spend time doing things, I've been unable to update the blog, so here's the latest...

We left Fredericksburg, VA at 5PM (EST) on Saturday. We were planning to drive through all night, then drive all of Sunday/until we got tired. I put in the navigation system that our stop would be Moab, UT, since I did have a reservation for Sunday night already paid for there (non-refundable). I knew it was highly unlikely that we'd make it that far, but we decided to keep an eye on when we'd arrive and play it by ear.

The travel time indicated that we'd arrive well into the morning on Monday, but we watched it drop 2 hours when we took a route we knew was faster than the navigation indicated. And we drove.....no traffic, no bad weather, no accidents, no construction. We never stopped to eat (except once for a quick McDonald's breakfast)...just ate along the way. Never drove fast, either...only 5-10mph over the speed limit, which was often 75mph and in no event did I ever go over 80mph. We made it to St. Louis by 5:45am, and forged on....we made it to Moab, Utah at 12:25AM (EST)/10:25PM (local time). Total travel time was 31 hours, 25 minutes, and we covered 1,990 miles. Do the math...63.3 mph including stops. We did an excellent job of sleeping when not driving, and staying alert when driving.

The scenery was really awesome. For those who have considered driving cross country, do it! When the sun came up, we were driving through Kansas, and even there you could see a panoramic view of all the different weather patterns.....three storms spaced across different parts of the horizon, partly cloudy over there, sunny over there. Once west of Denver, the scenery really improved. The mountains there were spectacular, and driving I-70 through them was a great way to see them all. Jennifer even saw a bear (Carter said he was pretty sure he saw another).

By the time we got to Utah, night had fallen again, so when we got off I70 to 191 south to Moab, all we could see was the big "hills" in the darkness. I knew they were the red rocks or something, but really seeing them would have to wait until the next day. I went out for a run from our motel in Moab at about 11:30pm and the weather was nice, a little breezy, and it was neat seeing the nearly full moon casting light over the mountains there.

As far as the travel, everyone did great. Carter enjoyed the scenery and Katie (yes, 2 year old Katie) watched movies or slept or sang...never complained!

Monday morning we woke up, had breakfast, and headed for Arches National Park. We all were awestruck....it's undescribable, and when we download pictures from the camera I'll post some. Spires, arches, mesas, buttes, etc. Carter and I took a short walk to Sandune Arch where we walked between two ribbons of rock, through what looked like reddish-brown beach sand, and ended under the arch (just .25 miles each way). At the Delicate Arch viewpoint hike (100 yards), we brought Katie along who finally began to display here independence (you'll see how she felt in the pictures!).

After Arches, we had lunch in Moab, then headed for Dead Horse Point State Park, as well as Canyonlands National Park - Island in the Sky area. Both were close to Moab and offered OUTSTANDING views of the Colorado River cutting canyons, as well as the Green River doing the same. Unfortunately, we didn't have time to get out much here, but in fact we were initially planning on skipping these spots all together, but decided we needed to at least get a glimpse before leaving Moab.

This trip I have often called an "appetizer sampler" of sorts. A little bit of a lot of different things. What I figured we'd come home with is a little knowledge of a bunch of different places, and perhaps a strong desire to go on a single vacation to one or two of those places again someday for an extended time (as opposed to one or two days). I could see spending nearly a week in Moab!

Now it is Tuesday morning, and we are waking up in a Best Western in Delta, Utah. There's not much here, and in fact our next stop is Great Basin National Park over 100 miles away, and the sign entering Delta, Utah states "Gateway to Great Basin National Park." Just like last night's drive from Moab, which had some awesome picturesque views, I don't expect to see much civilization. Today in the park we plan to spend a little time, and hike to see the Bristlecone Pines, arguably the oldest living things on earth at over 4,900 years of age. Tonight we'll stay somewhere, hopefully close to Yosemite National Park, where we are camping at North Pines campground within the valley section of the park on Wednesday and Thursday nights.