Kcaj

This was a long day on the road, but we decided to drive for home rather than stay out another night. Nothing really to write about today. We had another fantastic breakfast at Steve’s in Helena. Honestly, this place is the best for breakfast. I say that in light of everywhere I can ever remember going for breakfast including those few popular places in Calgary. On the way through the canyons north of Helena we took the ‘Recreation Road’ instead of the freeway. This is the old highway and it winds through the bottom of the valley alongside the Missouri River, sometimes sharing the space beside the river with the railway. It is a favourite little drive of mine and I take it every time I come through there. It adds about 20 minutes if you ... read more

This was the day for Arches National Park near Moab, UT and then a lot of driving to get to Ogden, UT for the night. The drive was boring, but fine, whereas Arches was, as always, outstanding. Although our motel at Monticello was pretty basic with thin walls, our neighbours were good so we had a great sleep. The hard part was getting up very early for the trip. This visit to Arches was really for Les. I was there a couple of years ago and saw what I wanted; however, I found that seeing it again gave me a good feeling. The other benefit of being there before was that I knew where to go to give Les the best views of the place. We were there for about three hours, but that was what ... read more

One more day and we’ll start our long drive home. On the way we’ll see Monument Valley and Arches National Park. That part will be fun, but all the driving in between….Yuck! We have settled into a nice routine here. I am up early and out for a walk and latte by 7:30am every morning. Others in the house seem to like to sleep longer. The Oak Creek Fire continues to burn. The fire teams have cut and burned areas surrounding the fire and need to wait until the main fire burns up to those stop points. Sort of lighting a fire to stop a fire. The strategy should prove out, one way or another, during this coming week. In the meantime the smoke is filling the valley and smells awful. On Saturday my friend and ... read more

This was an easy driving day, about 3-½ hours, so I didn’t rush to get underway. I had two things to see. First was the Hoover Dam and the Mike O'Callaghan–Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge, more commonly called the Hoover Dam Bypass Bridge. The next was the countryside near Wickenburg where there are a lot of Joshua Tree cacti to be seen. The latter was recommend by friend Celeste. The dam and bridge were a must for an engineer to see. Both an engineering feat for their time. The Hoover Dam was commissioned in 1936 and the bridge in 2010. I remember seeing Hoover Dam in the 50’s when on holidays with my parents. We toured the whole dam back then and I can remember, as a young lad, being a bit worried about taking the elevator ... read more

This was another day of straightforward driving. I wanted to get to Bishop, CA in time to see Galen Rowell’s gallery, ‘Mountain Light’. It wasn’t a difficult or long drive and I arrived in Bishop at 2:30pm with lots of time for visiting the gallery. On the way I traversed Yosemite Park on Hwy 120 which is called The Tioga Highway because it goes over the Tioga Pass. That was a neat road to drive and would have been a lot of fun on a motorcycle for sure. There weren’t too many cars and the road surface was in perfect shape. The road climbs out of Yosemite Valley on a steep hill, through tunnels and switchbacks, rising to around 10,000 feet at the pass. The car had to work pretty hard all the way as evidenced ... read more