Las Vegas ideas?.. http://www.ghosttowns.com/states/nv/nelson.html For gatherings...Sunday mornings 8am at corner of Jones and Cheyenne is good, or Friday night dairy queen 7pm at Rancho and Craig. The Quad car collection.
On your way back to Southern California, if it's Saturday, try again to see the Donut Derelicts car show in Huntington Beach at Adams and Magnolia. The whole FREE show runes 5:30AM to 8:30AM, so you gotta get there real early and just sit and watch the cars and trucks roll in, all 250 of them, with good weather of course.
Hi i.rant, thank you for the kind words. Do***enting the trip this way will allow me to look back from time to time and remember. We've been on the road for over 6 weeks now, and the 'early' stuff is a bit of a blur now, so I'll probably have a look back when we get home. I'll probably wince at some of my opinions, but what the hey, they were what was in my mind at the time. I'm glad you have enjoyed the trip. I ***ure you, we have. Cheers.
Hi Six Ball, Since we left Pueblo a few days ago, we've seen what feels like dozens of NPs, National Forests and State Parks. Unfortunately, the motels we've stayed in have had non-existant internet (Grrrrr!!!) We've taken many people's suggestions and will detail the exact path when I get a chance to. Mrs DB has gone snap-happy and I have to wade through hundreds of pics each day to trim it down to a manageable number of pics for me to post. We're in Cedar City tonight and heading to LV via Zion tomorrow where we will be cooling our heels for a couple of days and I will be able to put up all the pics, etc Thanks again for your helpful suggestions - we did do most of them. Cheers.
Thanks rfraze. We did do many of the things you suggested. I appreciate all the helpful suggestions that everyone has made - some of them have taken us through areas we would have otherwise missed and we would have missed out on some out-of-this-world sights Detail and pics to follow soon.
"No worries!" - are you an Aussie? That is so ocker! I definitely understand what you are saying about the tourists being the lifeblood of Deadwood (as well as Sturgis, etc). They provide employment for hundreds, if not thousands of people, so my over-sensitive criticism is a bit hollow - ah well. As for Bonneville, it is a place I definitely want to see - with dry salt, baking sun and a shipload of hot-rods and 'liners running at full-noise. Fingers crossed that one day it'll happen. Cheers.
Thanks 6ftunder. We're getting into LV tomorrow night (Tues) and will be leaving Friday morning to spend a week in LA(/SD/etc). I'll have a look at Nelson and we might get a chance to head there. Thanks for the suggestion
Not Aussie but I have spent way to much time with you blokes! Dr Goggles is fond of that beer I mentioned.
Watch for falling rocks in Zion. A big one blocked the road last week. I forgot to tell you about Highway 14 into Cedar City from over the hill. There is so much left to see. You'll have to come back again. Hopefully the salt at Bonneville will improve and I'll see you out there.
Hi tom124 - that's part of why we're leaving LV on Friday. We missed the gathering on our first day - by the time we got through Border Control, Customs, Rental Car collection, we got there about 9-ish which was a bit too late. I will definitely have trouble jack-hammering Mrs DB's derriere out of bed to be there for 5.30 - she's on holiday, you know. But I'm sure going to give it a good old try. Thanks again for the suggestion. Cheers.
Bonneville looked a little different the day we were there - a whole lot different, actually. We did take UT-14 into Cedar City. There was some snow at Duck Creek Village and the summit was just above freezing at 9900'. Awesome bit of road though. Thanks
Well ****! Wished I'd seen this thread sooner as I would have loved to meet up with you guys. I was in Cedar City yesterday dropping my grandson off. I live in St. George and if you two have time to stop for a burger on your way through I'd be happy to buy. PM me if you do. This area is truly one of the most gorgeous places in the western US, sure hope you enjoy it.
Day 42 - Pueblo CO to Durango CO Some days, we have literally hundreds of photos to go through to pick which ones to post and end up leaving out many more than we wish we could include. Other days, I'm kinda scratchin' to find ones to post. The reason might be that we end up driving along roads where the scenery isn't 'doing enough' to have warranted taking a pic - the flatter parts of the plains are prime examples. Driving through the highlands of Colorado wouldn't normally be expected to fall into that category but compared to some of the places we've driven through, maybe we're just a little jaded. The drive out of Pueblo started out heavily overcast but didn't turn into any rain worth talking about. The sky looked pretty threatening though (at around 8.00am) After an hour or so, it cleared up When we got to Salida, we noticed a store-front advertising marijuana just up the street from McDonalds This would be unthinkable in Australia - I don't smoke and I don't really care either way. It was just noteworthy from my POV. (I told you it was a quiet day that day)
As opposed to wholesale marijuana? Colorado is becoming California on ……well, marijuana. Nevada just has gambling and *****s.
'The scenery alongside the road was attractive, don;t get me wrong. We p***ed a lake on the way over Monarch P*** and into Gunnison. And the Aspen trees looked splendid in their fall colours We had to make a choice whether to drive around the less-travelled north side of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison or the south side. We chose the southern route as it had a visitor's centre in the National Park plus it was shorter by probably more than an hour. We weren't quite sure how long it would take us to get to Durango and didn't relish the idea of driving through the mountains late in the day. The Gunnison River has carved a very steep sided canyon in the hard dark coloured rock, which makes it a little less photogenic than others such as the Grand Canyon of the Yosemite, but that is just being picky, I guess.
In spite of The Black Canyon of the Gunnison maybe not shining in the photos as much as some others, the difference due to the harder rock is that the canyon sides are so much steeper as the hard rock resists wear more and is only torn (or worn) down when the river runs very hard, carrying larger rocks and other particles along with the rushing water. This summer flow is much lower than the spring snow melt volume, but you can still see it is running pretty good. There are a number of viewpoints providing slightly different views of the canyon and we did take quite a few photos, but, as the name implies, the dark rock doesn't show up so well. After the National Park, we headed to Montrose and then south. At Ouray, a lovely old town with lots of original buildings and features, the road heads back up into the mountains. Unfortunately for us the road was closed for roadworks - closed for a few hours in the morning and from 1.00 - 5.00 in the afternoon. We got to the stopped traffic at around 3.20 and had to just sit there until around 5.00. We looked at alternative routes, but sitting and waiting made more sense. When we finally got a chance to get going, the weather had closed in again and the daylight was getting low. Again, not ideal conditions for photos, even though the road was very picturesque and in pretty good condition (other than where they are rebuilding the road) The scenery was great, but at the top of the p***, the cloud closed in on us plus rain meant a lack of pics again. Down the other side, past Silverton, then into Durango. We ended up catching up with another HAMBer (readhead) - Andy, while we ate dinner at a great BBQ place on the north side of town. It was great to meet Andy and we chatted for an hour or more. We really enjoyed his company
Sorry daddio211, we don't have a cell phone here in the US so we just aren't able to be that spontaneous - catching up takes a few PMs back and forth, so we've only had a chance to meet a couple of guys. We would have loved to catch up. Meeting fellow HAMBers has been great so far. As for enjoying the western US, it has been really great - a trip that we will remember for ages to come.
Day 43 - Durango Co to Blanding UT OK, the day before was 'quiet'. We didn't see a lot of noteworthy places or take many photos. Day 43 was just the opposite. We left earlyish on Saturday morning (for us). There was a parade planned for that day to celebrate the Cowboy Poetry Festival (Cowboy Poetry being two words I wouldn't have normally put together) that was being held in Durango that weekend, but it was on at 10.00am and we couldn't wait around for that - we had lots of places to go and things to see. Not far up the hill to the west, you come across this ****e projecting up into the sky. The sky was crystal clear after the rain and clouds of the previous day and the ****e stood out against the blue.. A little further along the road is Mesa Verde National Park. After the visitor centre located near the highway, access to the National Park is via a road carved up the side of a very large ****e with the mesa on top. Mesa Verde is famous for being the location where the local inhabitants built a few cliff-side Pueblos or dwellings / villages right under the overhanging cliffs around 700 years ago. Evidence showed the same people had lived there for around 1000 years before they started construction in more temporary shelters. The locations they eventually chose provided protection from aggressors as well as high daytime temps and also from freezing winter winds. Having the rock form the rear of the dwellings would have also provided a tempering effect to the high and low temps and was a very good choice of where to build. The pueblo in the photo above is called Cedar Tree House, which was located near the roadway. The other pueblos were closed for the winter season. Access was down winding paths, allowing them to climb up to the large flat-ish open areas up on top for grazing or crops. It seemed like an ideal location to live but scientific dating methods show they all moved away around 1300AD. No reason is known why this might have occurred though the suggestion is some climate change event, which changed whether they could live there or not.
Cedar Tree House is in very good condition. It appears that it remained untouched by man until it was found by 'accident' by some local ranchers looking for lost cattle back in the late 1800s. Grains were stored for use over winter and water was available year-round from seep springs providing clean water. With protection in their houses, they seemed to have all the requirements needed to live safely. The real reason for their departure can only be speculated.
Kansas City Missouri was the city with industry in the old days, the river boats docked here and we had the cattle yards in the west bottoms. Kansas City Kansas was originally built to house the people that worked in the cattle yards. The money stayed on this side of the border and the laborers stayed across the Kaw River. As time went on Kansas City Missouri annexed all the small settlements around it. For example West Port was West Port not Kansas City. or there is an area called Hickman Mills in SE Kansas City that was a town ship that got taken up by the city. And so on and so forth. Kansas City was initially down town to the River Quai (City Market) and the west bottoms. Yea but the country you live in is a continent all by itself.
On the way back from looking at the pueblos, we went to a lookout located on the highest point of the Mesa. It is about 8500 ft and provides 360 degree views for up to 100 miles on clear days. A Ranger's Station is located there which is used to spot fires during the fire-risk seasons. The views are spectacular - this is Colorado to the north-east. And this is Utah to the west. A large fire was burning some way in the distance to the north-west - lots of smoke was billowing from it.
After leaving Mesa Verde, we headed for Four Corners, where the four states of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah all meet. Along the way from Cortez, the countryside still looked spectacular with geological features prominent. At 4 corners, the obligatory photo of being all four states at once was taken Along with a look around at the Navajo Indian sellers
The tribe spent a whole lot of dough to remodel the place several years ago and then found out that the actual corner was a few hundred feet away. They had no intention of moving the monument. Most people have no idea and it still makes a great picture. It used to be just the monument in the dirt and a bunch of ramshackle wood huts for selling trinkets. As you can see it is a much nicer experience now.
From 4 Corners, we headed west to Kayenta, encountering numerous projecting rock formations along the way. We also nearly ran into a white horse that was just wandering alone along the road just over the crest of a hill. I ***ume it is just a wild horse as the fences were non-existent in the vicinity. A cool looking horse, but we didn't need a new hood ornament on the renter. After Kayenta, then it was north to Monument Valley. Monument Valley has appeared in dozens and dozens of movies, video clips as well as just about every Wile E Coyote and Road Runner cartoon made. This is the view that appears on many brochures for America - sure, they are cropped and lit a LOT better, but this is roughly the spot.
Thanks readhead. As you say, it seems there were a couple of 'spots' over time. The original surveyed 4-corners marker was checked afterwards and found to be out by the few hundred feet you noted, but then everyone meaning the four states directly involved) agreed to just leave it where it is and live with it. I wasn't quite sure what to make of the stalls - most were selling pretty much the same stuff. I hope they make a few bucks out of it (no pun intended). BTW, thanks for your time last Friday evening. It was a pleasure to meet up with you. Cheers
We continued along US-163 towards Mexican Hat The cliffs at the sides of Monument Valley showed lots of coloured bands of strata laid down over millions of years This bridge is located at Mexican Hat over the San Juan River which continues to carve away at the soft rock layers. We thought that Mexican Hat was a funny name to call a town, but it is obviously famous for a rock formation located just out of town Clearly, this has inspired local artists to ***emble rock in a replica Sure, it's tongue-in-cheek, but it's fun.
Just out of Mexican Hat, a branch state road (UT-261) heads off to the left. Signage said Goosenecks and Moki Dugway. I had seen photos of Goosenecks, but the dots didn't join up in my head - we weren't going to drop in, but we were still a bit earlier than we thought we might have been (due to the earlyish start that morning). I didn't know what goosenecks was going to look like. The view of the goosenecks is just jaw-droppingly amazing. You walk up to the edge without any idea of what might be before you, and there is a river winding a few hundred feet below. Truly amazing and I definitely recommend a visit to anyone. From there, further along UT-261, you are pre-warned to expect an unimproved section of road ahead. You figure, how bad can a gazetted road be? You find out. Moki Dugway has its own Wiki page and advises; The Moki Dugway was constructed in 1958 by Texas Zinc, a mining company, to transport uranium ore from the "Happy Jack" mine in Fry Canyon to the processing mill in Mexican Hat. The road winds its way up the side of a cliff, ranging in width from barely more than one vehicle wide to pull-outs where you can park and look around. A few 'intrepid' people (note that 'intrepid' and 'stupid' both end in '...pid' - I'm sure there's a real reason for that) in RVs were attempting to drive up. One guy and his wife that we p***ed just before we got to the Dugway were crawling up it, giving every impression they knew they had taken the wrong road, but without any idea of how to go back. Stupid people - didn't Darwin have a theory about them?
When you get back to California and the Saturday Donut Derelicts car show, look up my buddy Larry and his slightly OT 1966 Chevy Chevelle Station Wagon. Larry is a cool guy and has been alerted to be on the look out for you. Larry parks in the same area (the second row out from the shops) all the time and gets there early. Please remind Larry to buy a donut for his wife.
The Jalopy Journal
