Category: travel

I’ve been flexible this winter with travel plans, some happened and others didn’t.  In fact this was a remarkable winter for exploring new and old places.  But I have to admit, I’m a tired traveler.  What I don’t want to admit, is I’m aging.  I thrive on travel, but it’s not always easy and when you’re on the go all the time it can be exhausting.  Especially if solo, when everything to be done, is done by me alone.

The most recent plan to visit Arches, Canyonlands and stay with a Ranger friend at Capitol Reef were abandoned due to the long Easter weekend, when I didn’t want to be out with the crowds.  Would have required way more driving than playing, and that’s just not my style.

I left Yarnell last Tuesday and picked up my new eyeglasses in Prescott.  I like the totally new frame look but the lenses have to be re-ground because of a scratchy-smudge right in the middle of the right lens.  Then headed just up the road to visit friends in Chino Valley.  The wind blew all day and night, rocking the camper.

We had a great visit and I got to smooze with the Icelandics who are so friendly they’re almost always too close for full shot photos.

Took off Wednesday morning north with more wind pushing on the side of the camper until I pried my hands off the steering wheel in Flagstaff.  By then I’d already changed the plan and parked at a friends place just out of town.  We took a little loop drive through Sunset Crater and Wupatki National Monuments, places I haven’t been in a long time.

With continued high wind Thursday my decision to head to Kanab, Utah where I’ll be dropping the camper off the truck seemed the best and would get me off the highway over the holiday.  Besides, I got to visit with more friends.  But the wind whipping across the Painted Desert was brutal and I made no stops.  If I’d gotten out of the truck I’d surely been blown away.

I drove the newly opened SR89 up to Page.  This road had fallen off the cliff face several years ago.  The new road just reopened March 27 and winds against tall cliffs of sandstone.  Unfortunately there are now less overlooks to park in and enjoy the distant view over Marble Plateau where the Colorado cuts its way to the Grand Canyon.

From Page I crossed the Glen Canyon Dam, not on the dam, and saw how low the water is by the white ‘bath tub ring’ below the red rock.  Didn’t stop as I was focused on getting to Kanab and off the windy highway.  Besides I’ve been there before.

Once I had the protection of the Cockscombs to the southwest the wind dropped a bit but still not enough to entice me out for a walk, although the landscape is breathtaking.  Sorry, none of the drive-by photos do this country justice.

The towering rock formation called Mollie’s Nipple appeared in the distance approaching Kanab.

I arrived exhausted from fighting the wind then parked at a friends and did basically nothing for the next couple of days.

I am so thankful they helped me unload the camper.  It’s a round and round job to jack it up high enough to drive out.  Now I can hit the road back to Yarnell.  Then in two weeks I’ll be hooking up to the 5th-wheel to head to the North Rim of Grand Canyon for my eighth summer season.  And my first weekend I’ll drive the 85 miles to Kanab to put the camper back on the truck for the summer.