Oct 22, 2012 - Salina, UT

We started our trip back home. We did not want to go back through Salt Lake City so chose to take I-70 to Salina, UT. What a choice that was! Capital Reef National Park is off of I-70, but unfortunately with the 5th wheel on, we didn't want to take a chance in taking the rig into the park. We came to a rest stop along the route though and experienced San Rafael Reef right there along the highway. Absolutely beautiful! We continued on our way and cut through the most beautiful red rock canyon. The sights were just amazing and to think we...

Sep 13, 2012 - Valley of the Goblins

We got a late start from Moab this morning and since it’s usually a long way between gas stations, we stopped for gas at a shell station just outside of Moab. The station didn’t have the prices posted so that should have been a tip off that it was going to be expensive. Up to today the most we’ve paid for gas was about $3.89. This place was the topper at $4.29. It a good thing I only needed about 25 gal. Once out of Moab, we jumped on I70 with the intention of not stopping until this evening, but I remembered that at the wedding one of...

Jul 12, 2012 - Utah hotel swimming

The hotel in Utah had a pool. Finally we can swim! We only swam for 30 minutes because Daddy didn't want to stay there long. The water wasn't deep so Jordan was able to swim. That's pretty much all we did all day. We also grabbed some fast food around the area. That's it for today.

Jul 4, 2012 - Rodeo in the Mountains

We can officially say, we have started our travels homeward bound, as California was the furthest west of our travels. Paul said he wanted to go home today - we can truthfully tell him we are on our way, it will just take a while. Last night when we checked into our hotel, it was 100 degrees outside, and we walked into the hotel room that did not have the air conditioning on and it was hot! We turned it on, and it did work, but it took quiet a while to cool off the room. Sure makes us thankful for 1) a place to stay and 2) that there was...

Aug 14, 2011 - Day 32: "The loneliest highway in the United States"

I kid you not. Hiway 50 across Nevada and western Utah has to be the least populated area of the United States. Highway 50 in Nevada has about 3 towns; and the first 90 miles of Hwy 50 in western Utah has NO towns. But... the beauty is ruggedly spectacular! LOOK magazine, July 1986 issue, called Highway 50 "the loneliest highway in the United States." We agree. Today we did the one way road through Great Basin National Park. We had never heard of this park until we were studying the map. It has diverse habitat, goes from 5000' elevation to...

Sep 9, 2010 - To Capitol Reef National Park

After breakfast, I headed north to Hwy 70, then west to highway 24 and Hanksville, UT. Turned right at Hanksville and enjoyed the scenery into and through Capitol Reef National Park. Capitol Reef is in an area called the Waterpocket Fold, a giant buckle in the earth's crust. The Fremont River runs through the fold and there is an historical Mormon farm area with a museum and fruit orchards where you can pick fruit and eat it there....for free. Pretty cool! I stopped at the Visitor center, as I did in every park I saw, then had lunch in a...

Jun 15, 2009 - Salina, UT

The drive along Highway 89 From Kanab up to I-70 was very scenic. This is also the best route to get to Zion Park. As promised, the campground we stayed at had dozens of bunnies, alon with an aviary. Tyler really perked up, and spent the evening hunting them with his nose. The bunnies are all domestic. The manager's mother lives in one of the trailers, and we watched her feed them by hand. They were every color: black, brown, white, tan, gray, etc. We spent just the one night here, on our way to Palisade, CO.

Jun 12, 2009 - Day 44 Salina, UT., Camp

today our day 44 (june 12) we again did capitol reef NP walking into the capitol gorge looking for where we had signed the wall, that is now illegal, some 32 years ago. we found what we think was where we has signed but due to wind and erosion, it had worn down to just the "77" year i had wrote. we also did a few more things in the park then headed west to camp in salina, ut. at butch cassidy camp site. our routes were ut24w - ut89n - ut50w. OUR DAY 44 PHOTOS CAP/REEF NP - SALINA...

Sep 14, 2008 - Spectacular Drive !

Salina, Utah is a little more that midway between Arches and Bryce on 70W. After leaving Moab and reaching I70 there is a 100 mile stretch of road without services but what a ride! The drive was ( once again) mostly uphill but the scenery was spectacular. Salina is the first town you get to with any kind of facilities. There is one campground here. We decided to park overnight. After checking out the lawn sale that was going on at the campground, we drove into the town of Salina. It is a very small town - 2 streets really- with one grocer,...

Jul 1, 2008 - Drive to Salina, Utah

Drive to Salina, Utah The astute amongst you will have noticed a change of destination. We were due to end the day in American Fork, Utah, however, I woke up early this morning and decided to ninja it as far as I could in order to make tomorrow's leg to Vegas a bit shorter. To that end, a quick WiFi on the laptop saw us booked into a nice room at the Super 8, Salina. Today's journal will be short and sweet as the day was more about covering miles than anything else; there were a few happy snaps along the way and we tracked the mountains for...

Jun 25, 2007 - A Day of Extremes!

We started out this morning in 54 degrees, jackets with liners, heavy gloves and in the midst of the Rockies. As I journal this evening, we are down to about 5000 feet and 86 degrees and in desert/high plains country. In the middle were heights to 11316 and temperatures up to 97. We ran the gamut from beautiful snow capped mountains to almost lunar like desert, from gorgeous red rock canyons to high plains. We logged only 431 miles today but opted to stop early enough to have a nice dinner and get some rest. The heat took a toll on both of...