The Epic Journey ended with a visit to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. This visit is a perfect example of our definition of an adventure – Things don’t always go well. It’s all part of the adventure.

Halfway View

The trip to the North Rim Tuesday morning was mysterious and wonderful. It was mysterious because we were never quite sure we were on the right road. There were plenty of indications we were doing the right thing, but we expected to see a lot more signage than we saw. And we experienced a lot less traffic than we expected when approaching such a well-known site. As it happened, we were on the right road all along. The wonderful part was a continuation of the amazing landscapes. The picture shows a panoramic view about an hour from Pipe Spring, and half way to the North Rim. After we decided to stop, we also saw there were toilets, which made the rest of the ride much more comfortable.

Our view of the North Rim

By the time we arrived at the North Rim, rain had set in. I heard the rain was caused by hurricane Paine. We spent some time at the ranger station psyching out trails and viewpoints. By the time we were through with that, fog had set in. The entire day was spent inside the lodge common areas looking for a place to sit and for something to do while we waited out the weather. The lodge had every room reserved. Many of us were waiting until the rooms were available for us to check in. The ranger presentations had record-high attendance. The geologist, who has been doing this for 4 years, said this was the first time he was obliged to do his presentation indoors.

Clearest view all day

Danita had been experiencing some difficulty with one leg. She had pain starting in her hip that occasionally went all the way down to her foot. She was taking it easy and taking Aleve. For no apparent reason, after the geology presentation, she experienced extreme pain in her knee, to the point that she had difficulty walking even with a walking stick on one side and me on the other. We ended up requesting a golf cart to take us the short walk from our cabin to the common areas so we could have dinner.

 When we woke up Wednesday morning, the weather was much better. It was still cloudy, but there was no rain and the fog was gone. However, Danita was still having so much difficulty that she couldn’t walk from our cabin to get a quick glance of the Grand Canyon. We confirmed our intention to leave very early in the morning so we could get to the hospital in Kanab before 9 and get some medical help. (Kanab is 2 hours from the North Rim and half an hour from Pipe Spring. It has the closest hospital to Pipe Spring.) Their doctor examined Danita and they took some X-rays. Then they gave Danita a steroid shot. That’s all they could do in Kanab. They ordered an MRI in St. George, which we will get done Friday. In the meantime, Danita’s taking it easy but back on her feet.

 I visited the more popular South Rim of the Grand Canyon on my first Epic Journey. Danita and I took the kids on a Western tour and visited the South Rim again. Both times we enjoyed excellent health, excellent weather, and amazing views. Based on my limited experience, I definitely recommend visiting the South Rim.

We went to a very nice service at the church here in town. Then we went up the mountain to Cedar Breaks National Monument today. It’s about 10,000 feet in elevation. It is reputed to be one of the best 5 places to see the fall colors. The colors were out today for sure. We drove the first half of the park road and took a moderate 2-mile hike. We finished the hike about 1:30 and drove back to the picnic area. It was breathtakingly beautiful scenery and a wonderful hike.

This alpine pond reflects the surrounding vegetation in perfectly still water

That was enough for us today. We’re enjoying a down day for the rest of the day. We don’t even have to leave the hotel for dinner. We’re having leftovers from yesterday’s restaurant visit.

Tomorrow we will drive to Pipe Spring. We’re just setting up our room and crashing for the night. After that, we’ll have two days at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon before returning to Pipe Spring and starting our training.

The breeze was blowing the leaves, making them sparkle in the sunlight

Way Cool Stove

I-70 starts in the Social Security Park-and-Ride in Baltimore and ends at I-15 in UT, just one mile beyond Cove Fort. We made it to Cove Fort yesterday. It’s not a bucket list item, but it is a milestone of our trip. The Cove Fort museum is run by the LDS (Latter Day Saints), as the Mormons call themselves. The most important part of the tour was the kitchen, where we saw the coolest stove we have ever seen from the era. With its dual ovens and ability to use coal, it was state of the art. The stove was certainly welcome, as Cove Fort was an important stop for Church leaders as they conducted their business, and an important stop for Mormons migrating west, and also the tithing farm. They prepared 70 to 90 dinners a day. Cove Fort was located to bridge a gap between two other Mormon cities. (Cities were 30 miles apart because that was a good day’s travel, and because that was the limit of the length of a single telegraph line.) The LDS built the Fort because there wasn’t enough water to support a town.

Recycling – Ticking cloth, pants, and stripes are shown here

There is no charge to visit Cove Fort. If you arrive, a friendly guide will make themselves available to you immediately, no matter the size of your party. But of course nothing is free. Your guide will be an LDS missionary. Ours was very good at being low key. Here’s a story of life in the late 1800s that was probably true of most people in the West. Ticking is used to make mattresses. When the mattress wears out, better parts of the cloth are used to make pants. When the pants wear out, better parts of the cloth are cut into stripes and stored in balls. The stripes are later used to make rag rugs. When the rugs wear out, what’s left is used to help make soap. Soap is the end of the line for the recycling of the ticking.

Linsey Woolsey Blanket

If you lived out west, you wanted a warm blanket. Wool is warm, but it’s scratchy and it can be hard to sleep under. That made linsey woolsey blankets popular. The wool made the blanket war,. The linen made it less scratchy.

I also learned that the telegraph used water batteries (which used copper sulfate,  copper, zinc, and water). Because the telegraph was limited to 30 miles, a telegraph operator had to receive and re-transmit messages to the next station. Cove Fort had one operator, who was on duty 24×7.

1930s Mining Shovel

After we finished at Cove Fort, it was a short drive to Cedar City. Our room wasn’t ready when we arrived an hour before check-in time, so we visited a local history museum. Mining was an important industry in the early days of Cedar City. Here is a 1930-era mining shovel. It was powered by a 23,000 volt electric tether and had a 275 hp motor-generator. Moving it to a new site involved using two bulldozers. Amazingly, this shovel was used continuously until 1975. For all its size, the dipper capacity was 6 cubic yards. That’s the size of a large extended cab pickup truck, but it struck me as somewhat small considering the overall size of the machine.

Mining Shovel Bucket

We came back to the hotel an hour after check-in time to find our room still wasn’t ready. We waited another hour beyond that. That’s bad enough, but the hotel had also rented the breakfast area out to some kind of family party. Very excited, very loud kids were running all over the place. We were pretty tired by the time we got to our room. Danita had found a nice restaurant for us, but the information was lost. We took the desk clerk’s recommendation, but the street had two names. We were given one name, the GPS used the other. Once we figured that out, we drove by it before finding it. We were too tired to enjoy dinner. We feel much better after a night’s sleep.

Cedar City has the “Western Look”. Here is a list of some movies made in Cedar City.

Deadwood Coach, staring the popular cowboy Tom Mix – the first movie
The Good Earth
Union Pacific (Cecil B. DeMille, 1939)
Drums Along the Mohawk
Brighham Young
Can’t Help Singing
My Friend Flika
Proud Rebel

If you ever visit this part of Utah, I highly recommend you visit Canyonlands National Park. We visited the “Island in the Sky” area, which is the area most accessible to Moab. We only saw one arch. But we saw a lot of amazing scenery. We had more fun in Canyonlands than I had at Arches. Canyonlands is less popular and has a lower capacity for visitors. It was less overwhelming, and every bit as interesting as Arches.

Desert Zen garden, designed by The Master Gardner

We thought we would spend less time in Canyonlands. We ended up spending almost as much time as we did in Arches.

We have extra time to relax today. We are staying two nights in a row in Moab. They aren’t both in the same hotel. When we decided to extend our stay in Moab I went on the Interhet to get a second room. I had the reservation. But I came up with an error — somebody else had taken the room while I was entering the credit card number. We’re getting pretty good at packing and unpacking. And it’s nice to have a couple of extra hours down time plus much less driving than usual.

How would you like to eat lunch here? With the amazing garden. The promise of many interesting things inside. The original, humorous, and friendly super-sized cup of coffee steaming so invitingly? We couldn’t resist eating lunch there today. We both had Ruben sandwiches. The staff were very efficient and very friendly. The food was very good. The prices were reasonable — especially considering Moab is a tourist trap town.

Here are a few more pics I can’t resist posting, all from Canyonlands.

After a 2.5 hour drive, we spent the rest of our day at Arches National Park. The day started out fantastic. There was a 1/3 mile line to get into the park. After we were in the line for a while, two rangers came out and moved some road cones. They then asked if I already have a pass. (I do — the National Parks Senior Pass.) They let me bypass the line and drive into the park. I was the first person today to receive this offer. I felt so special!

The park is all about the sandstone which has eroded and turned into walls, or columns, or arches. But I also found the plant growth quite interesting. I was surprised by the variety, quantity, and color variation of what we saw growing in this desert. It goes all the way from traditional cactus to all kinds of flowering and non-flowering plants and even includes deciduous Cottonwood tress and Juniper pine trees..

Danita discusses “husbands” with another guest in front of the double arch

We were fortunate the weather was so good. The high temperature was in the mid-70s. That still feels quite warm because of the intense sun. I can’t imagine what its like in the summer time.

Landscape Arch

There’s also a large geological variety here — from the sunken salt mounds to major geological faults. The star of the show is still the arches. Here is a picture of the Landscape Arch, which is without a doubt the coolest arch we saw today. There is so much to see. Photos aren’t at all like being here. I usually throw most of my pics away. This time I kept 50 of them. Don’t worry, I won’t put them all in the post.

At the end of the day, we drove to Moab, just 5 miles from the park. It’s a pleasant town with a way cool name and a delightful main street. We went to the Moab Diner. We had a nice dinner and a single ice cream that was as large as most triples. All together, it was an exciting and satisfying day.

Underground salt mounds dissolved, causing this huge area of land to sink.

Mountain Stream

There is a very popular hike near Glenwood Springs called Hanging Lake. It’s 1.2 miles long, and climbs 1020 feet. It was definitely a stretch goal for Danita, but she wanted to try it. The trail goes up the side of a canyon, following a mountain stream in a wooded area. There are plenty of places where one can see water falls. There are also plenty of places where one can see the shear rock walls of the canyon.

Hanging Lake

The weather was perfect — mostly sunny. Temperatures were a little cool, ideal for climbing. Our pace was slow, but we were making steady progress. It took us about 3 hours to climb. A person in good shape should be able to do the round trip in 3 hours. Upon reaching the top, one is rewarded with a beautiful lake. The water is green and clear. Two high waterfalls fill the lake. There is a small cave behind one of the water falls.

Hanging Lake

After enjoying the lake, I wanted to walk an additional short but steep trail to Spouting Rock. I asked Danita if she wanted to rest at the lake. She decided to join me. It was a large amount of water coming out of a single hole in the canyon wall. Behind the water spout was a way cool large cave. We had a good time walking around and checking out the area.

Spouting Rock

Coming back down was less pleasant for Danita. She had a hard time keeping her balance coming down the steep trail with its uneven rocks. Small showers were coming through. We aren’t familiar with the weather patterns in this area. It didn’t seem that any heavy rain was immanent, but we didn’t want to delay our return to the car. The entire trip took us 5 hours. A picnic lunch and some Aleve helped Danita a little. It was a 90-minute drive to our hotel. Fortunately, the hotel’s pool is indoors and in service. Some time in the pool did wonders for Danita. I don’t think we will attempt any challenging hikes tomorrow.

Mountain

We had another exceptional day. We made it to our destination of Glenwood Springs without incident. Our day was divided into three parts. In part 1, we were driving around and saw an incredible area. Part of it was the morning sun. Part of it was exceptionally low temperatures last night (45) that “snapped” the fall colors on like a switch.

Georgetown Loop

The second part was a ride on an old mining train, called the “Georgetown Loop”. It was a lot of fun, with guys taking pictures and wives relaxing. The man you see in front of me in this picture is visiting from Norway. He and his wife shipped their RV to the US. They will be here for at least 6 months. They visited the US twice before, for 3 weeks each. This time, they plan to see “everything else”. The steam locomotive was an unusual gear-drive. These were used in mountainous areas. You can see the drive clearly in this video 08a-locomotive-motion-detail.

Hike

Our third activity was a hike at Old Dillon Reservoir. When we got there, it was obviously going to rain soon. We waited in the car. Within 20 minutes, the rain came and went, and the sky was clear again. It was a beautiful trail with a beautiful destination. It’s hard to say for sure what the best part of the day was, but the pie for desert after dinner would certainly be a contender. Here are a few more pics from our day.

Mountain

Train

Hike

Hike

Hike

We drove from Goodland to Fraser via the Rocky Mountain National Park. The park has a 40-mile long ridge road. We “sped” through the park in 5.5 hours. We spent plenty of time out of the car looking at amazing mountains, several marrots, and even an elk.It was the best day of the trip so far.

In addition to beautiful weather and an amazing area, we were lucky enough to be there during one of the best times of year. The colors were changing. The evergreens were green. Many areas and meadows were brown. Lichens and aspen trees were shades of gold and red. We took a short, half-mile hike on a paved path up a mild hill. It was incredibly hard, because it was at over 12,000 feet.

After we got back, we were quite tired. We had lunch and took a short rest. We were more particular about where we stopped and even took a picture from the car window. When we left the park, we went into the visitor center and watched the movie. By the end of all this, we felt better and went for a 1.5 mile hike. It was an unpaved trail with mild climbing. But we did fine, because we were back down to 8.000 feet, where there’s more oxygen. Our hike took us to a waterfall and an incredible meadow. It was a totally satisfying experience.

We drove from the Kansas border to Greeley, CO. When we stopped at the Colorado welcome center, a talkative and knowledgeable gentleman cleared up our Kansas mysteries.

Very cool looking experimental jet

The flashing lights announcing that I-70 is closed are primary used during severe winter weather. There are huge sections of Kansas that offer the motorist no shelter in an emergency. This warning system is placed shortly before an exit to a town big enough to have hotels. Early motorists can get a hotel room. The town opens a church hall or school gym when the hotels are filled. Like just about everything else in the Midwest, it’s practical and makes a lot of sense.

We didn’t see any amber waves of grain because there weren’t any. Wheat is harvested in June or July. The winter crop won’t turn green until December.

This BD-5 was sold to hobbyists as a kit they could fly. This is one of the few that ever flew.

Or original plan was to drive to Denver and spend the day. But a couple of days ago we decided we would rather detour north of I-70 and visit Rocky Mountain National Park. Hotels near the park are quite expensive. So we stayed in a Candlewood Suites east of the park. The Candlewood turned out to be a great bargain. It’s the same price as a room at the Holiday Inn Express. We sacrifice the swimming pool and the hot breakfast, but get free laundry and a huge room, suitable for a businessman working away from the office.

Bert Rutan’s prototype was the basis for the Adam Aircraft A500 and A700.

As you can tell from the pics, we didn’t entirely skip over Denver. We stopped at the Air and Space museum. It’s the only air museum we will come close to on the trip. I don’t know that we learned a lot we didn’t already know, but we had a lot of fun looking around. It’s a nice size collection for a couple-of-hour visit.

Sierra Nevada Dream Chaser may shuttle people to space.

F4 Phantom II, the most successful jet fighter ever built

Model of Godard’s rocket — the first rocket to ever fly.

We were in Abilene for dinner. We went to Joe Snuffy’s Restaurant. It’s a place where everybody is talking with people at the next table. If you don’t know anybody, the waitress will help you break the ice. By the end of dinner, you’ll be talking away.

The next morning, we visited the Eisenhower museum / library / boyhood home / burial place. Of course we had to visit. Here are some lesser-known Ike facts:

• Ike was a very good card player. Early in his military career, collecting gambling debts from his fellow cadets at West Point was a substantial financial help for him.
• Early in his career, Ike got in trouble for excessively enthusiastic dancing.
• For most of  WW II, Ike had the same female driver. Some people want to make a controversy out of this.
• After Kennedy was elected, the military leaders all but refused to follow his orders. In desperation, Kennedy called Ike. Ike came to DC and attended a meeting with JFK and military leaders. Ike didn’t have to do anything but be there. The military leaders fell into line.

Eisenhower’s Boyhood Home

You won’t learn any of this in the museum. In fact, there is very little about Ike in the museum. Most of the exhibits are about WW II or the 50s. I couldn’t read half  the boards due to poor lighting combined with black text on a dark colored background. And there is absolutely nothing that could be considered the least bit controversial, other than the hint that it was legal for Eisenhower to keep gifts he received from other heads of state. We were disappointed.

Smoky Hills Wind Farm

We drove the rest of the way across Kansas. Near Saline, we drove by the Smoky Hills Wind Farm, which has 150 windmills. It’s an impressive sight.The pic doesn’t do it justice. There are windmills every where one looks for mile after mile.

We had two mysteries and one surprise driving across Kansas. We never saw even one field with amber waves of grain, or anything at all that looked like wheat. We also saw several yellow lights by the side of the road, along with a sign that I-70 is closed when the lights are flashing; driving on the road when closed is not permitted. The light installations are permanent. We don’t understand why anybody would plan ahead of time to close an interstate. The surprise was the bugs. There are so many splats that we have to vigorously wash the windshield at every fill-up. Every Kansas gas station seems to have window washers available. A person we met at the gas station this evening warned not to come when the June bugs are out. They sound like popcorn.

In spite of the mysteries, we made it to Goodland in good order. Below you can see the Big Easel painting. It’s a 24 x 32 foot reproduction of one of Vincent Van Gogh’s painting of sunflowers (Kansas is the sunflower state.) We’re 17 miles from the end of Kansas.

Big Easel Painting