We left Beaver, Utah and got on the road for the final stretch (for Beth and me, anyway). The weather was gloriously cool all the way to Salt Lake City. We stopped in Sandy at the local Costco, gassed up, snagged some of their roast chicken for lunch, which we had right there in the parking lot and then got on the highway. Tangent here: Costco has the best roast chicken! The chickens are always big, plump, and juicy. They are only $4.99 to boot! Beth and I can eat on one of their chickens for at least three meals - [View Full Entry]

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As we descended from the Grand Canyon rim in the early evening we could gradually feel the heat rising incrementally. It soon felt as though we were descending into an inferno. We stopped at a little spot on the road called Cameron. It is on the Navajo Reservation. It was too hot to contemplate sleeping outdoors so Beth and I opted for a night of AC and an actual bed. The next morning we headed off toward Page and toward Zion National Park. The desert formations and colors are amazing. The heat was steadily climbing as we descended down even further [View Full Entry]

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Vincenzo was both interested about being on the original Route 66 and mystified about standing on a corner in Winslow, Arizona. He knew about Route 66 because American tv programs are very popular in Italy. When we lived there, I used to watch "House" regularly. Naturally it was dubbed. This is also the reason that we went to the UFO museum in Roswell. He was familiar with the long running series "The X Files." We have a running joke about the "chupacabra", a subject that was covered in one of the episodes. The "chupacabra" is supposed to be some kind of [View Full Entry]

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On this particular day we woke up with the goal of making it to the Grand Canyon. We planned a couple of stops. One would be at Petrified Forest National Park and of course Winslow, Arizona. Why??? Just so I could stand on a corner in Winslow, Arizona, of course. Vincenzo was a bit mystified about my mission. Hopefully you aren't... [View Full Entry]

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We finally left the West Texas country and entered into The Land of Enchantment. The landscape as you can see in the photos changed from the creosote bush (AKA greasewood) to grassy rangeland. BTW, the creosote bush can live up to 900 years! Betcha didn’t know that. In fact, the plants can clone themselves and may be the oldest living organisms on Earth…things that make you say…hmmmm. We also left the heat in the lowlands as the grassy plains go up to 5,000 - 6,000 feet in elevation. The cooler temps were an unexpected and welcome treat. We rolled into and [View Full Entry]

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I thought you might need a break so I broke this post into two parts. Here are more photos of this part of the drive. [View Full Entry]

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If you want to get a feel for the immense wide open spaces in this country I suggest a drive through West Texas. I had been through West Texas before in my youth and my impression was colored by the youthful impatience of wanting to get from point A to point B. Driving along at a leisurely pace in an RV and being a tour guide for my friends gave me an entirely different perspective. This time I really looked and studied the scenery as we drove through it. I noted for Vincenzo how the landscape and vegetation changed as we [View Full Entry]

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My Italian cousin Vincenzo has immigrated to the USA! He and Sara, are newlyweds currently on a massive honeymoon road trip from Maine to California. Beth and I met them in Houston and road-tripped with them to Idaho. I don’t want to dump all over my fellow Americans that live in Houston, Texas, but getting out of Houston was like escaping Hell. The day we met up with Vincenzo & Sara the heat index was 108 degrees and the humidity was horribly suffocating. An immediate escape was not possible as the traffic on the freeway had slowed down to a crawl [View Full Entry]

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14th day - Friday Day of Departure Plan: The plane departs at 11:15AM. This is late enough in the day so we don’t have to be at the airport too early and yet early enough that we should arrive in Boise, Idaho at a reasonable hour in the evening. I calculate that given the low season we can arrive 2 hours early to make it through the check-in and security and still have time to have a leisurely breakfast and hit the loo before boarding the plane. What unfolds is a classic clustercazzo . Yes, I have coined this new term [View Full Entry]

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13th day - Thursday The plan: Drive to Fiumicino, drop off the rental, hop on the train, check into the hotel, head to the Vatican and have memorable last meal in Italy. What actually transpired: Drove to the Fiumicino Airport in good time and then proceeded to drive around in circles looking for the gas station that is supposed to be at the entrance to the airport. Finally stopped at the Hilton and was given instructions that were actually quite accurate. The instructions for getting to the entrance to the rental car return - not so accurate. Virtually every airport I’ve [View Full Entry]

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