Eastbound from California

Tuesday, July 31, 2018

Day 47

234 miles

Daisy took the rental car back and waited for a return ride back to the KOA campground. She informed me that while we had the rental we put 200 miles on it visiting the kids.  By the time she returned, I had the truck camper packed and road worthy and was ready to pull out.  We were eastbound, heading back to Arkansas via a circuitous path which took us to Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, South Dakota, North Dakota, and then south to Arkansas. With our travel lifestyle, we consider any way we want to go to be a direct route!

 




We were on our way, with our first overnight stop being Bakersfield, California.  The terrain was very dry and the air was hot as we proceeded south and east.  The area reminded me of eastern Oregon.

Yet there as well as here, if you can irrigate, magic happens in the dessert.

As we traveled through California and other open vista 
western states, we saw many wind turbines generating power on the wind-swept hills,






open dry air aircraft storage facilities,






and large arrays of energy producing solar panels.






These were in contrast to what the area would look like without human intervention.






The constantly changing topography had many unique forms of beauty. 






The photo below shows two milestones we observed on our route: an outside temperature of 112 degrees and passing the 60,000-mile mark on our 2015 truck’s odometer when we stopped for lunch. 

We spent that night in a campground where we could plug in and have electricity for A/C.

Wednesday, August 1

Day 48

285 miles

It was 95 degrees when we departed at 9:25 am. We were headed to Las Vegas. We are always interested in seeing the kinds of signs that welcome us to another state.












That evening we had dinner in Las Vegas with Margaret Lichty, a graduate of the Career and Technical Education Ph.D. program at Virginia Tech. She was one of Daisy's students. We have enjoyed keeping up with Marge over the years, and it is special when we can be together in person.  










It was a warm evening just like our last two nights when we got there. Cold brews and light food were warranted.




A lovely sunset closed our day at the Hitchin’ Post campground in Las Vegas.  There was a diner and saloon next door on the same property that was ideal for our visit with Marge. 












We were thankful for the air conditioning as we drifted off to sleep. The next day we would be heading north, hopefully with cooler travels.

Thursday, August 2

Day 49

282 miles

Daisy and I were entering the last phase of this summer's journey. We had been in the north and the west. At this point, we were heading to the central part of this trip and visiting friends in Colorado, Wyoming, and South and North Dakota before heading back to our home base in Arkansas. Of course we had to drive through parts of Utah and Arizona to get there.

Our next state on this trip was Arizona, and we went through about 30 miles on Interstate 15 in the northwestern corner. The temperature was 98 degrees when we began our climb north out of Nevada.

Yes, we were in Arizona and this was a dramatic canyon, but not the Grand Canyon! We have both been there but not together, so we’ll do that on another trip.

This is a different type of geologic formation in Arizona—the Virgin River Gorge. The Virgin River rises on the Colorado Plateau and created the topography of the Zion National Park.  Interstate 15 runs through the gorge and crosses the Virgin River several times, and this section of Interstate 15 was one of the most expensive parts of interstate highway ever constructed. Due to the winding of the canyon, the highway within is also noted for its tricky driving conditions. 





The clouds were building as we traversed up the grade toward Utah border, but the winds were light and variable in direction.

State slogans are another interest of ours. Did you know that Utah is represented as “Life Elevated”?
















The “elevated” aspect can be observed in this lovely Utah scene…















…and in the 7,180-foot Clear Creek Summit. For Daisy's friends from Pilot Grove, Missouri, this is a lot different from the Clear Creek near their home!













The weather began to change as we approached the I-15 and I-70 junction on our way to Richfield, Utah, our stop for the night.





As we traveled through Utah, we were again in an area near wildfires and were warned not to stop to observe the fire or fire fighting activity.









The line of smoke on the mountainsides to our south provided evidence of the location of the fires.







We went through a thunderstorm and Daisy captured this photo of a lightning strike as we drove through the rain.












This exit sign tickled Daisy's fancy. There were no services where you could buy anything, but you were welcome to browse!

We arrived at the Richfield KOA about 4:15 pm after a light rain and were rewarded with blue skies.

The next day, we headed into Colorado.

Friday, August 3

Day 50

295 miles

It was clear and sunny as we made our way to follow the Colorado River along I-70.  Our destination was Silt, Colorado.  We enjoyed the scenery and sharing the ride together.

We arrived at the campground at 4:05 pm and were glad that we had made this reservation in the morning. We got the next-to-last site.  As a result of that experience, Daisy made 3 more reservations for upcoming lodging nights.

With our remaining weekend lodgings secured, we prepared a simple meal, showered, and looked forward to the special day of travel to come.  We had Daisy's family members to meet and a birthday to celebrate.

Mine!