Thursday, August 2, 2007
Wow! Today is day 3 of my trip from Shreveport, LA to Lake Tahoe where I will attend the Squaw Valley Writer's Workshop. Leaving Shreveport on Tuesday, it was all rain rain rain until I finally got north of Dallas.
From there all the way to north Arizona, it was pretty much uneventful...no pictures.
However, once I got off I-40 and started moving through Arizona, things began to pick up. I stayed Wed night in Kayenta, on Hwy 163, just south of Monument Valley. For those who did not read my travel posts from last year, when I did the big western loop on the Road King, Monument Valley is where John Wayne did a lot of his films because of the buttes that populate the area.
So, this morning, bright and early, I headed north on 163, then turned to 261. Holy Cow! 261 climbed up the side of a large mesa, switching-backing more than a teenage son's story about how the car got a dent. See the picture...the road went left of center then climbed right across the upper part of the bluff.
After getting up on the top of the bluff, I stopped and shot a couple of pictures of the valley.
Then, it was a left turn to the west on Hwy 95 and a quick stop at the Natural Bridge National Monument. There, I saw this bike. Man, this guy must be serious.
After leaving Natural Bridges, the road cut through Glen Canyon, which is famous for rafting.
Then, it was time to drive through Capitol Reef, where the rock formations huddle over the road.
This picture is looking east after I crossed the border into Nevada on Hwy 50. There were huge valleys laid in between the mountains and you could imagine the saratoga wagon drivers looking ahead to the mountains and saying, "I'm never gonna reach them." By the way, Hwy 50 is called "The Loneliest Highway in America."
It was a long day, but the views were great. I'll tell you something else: it's easy to run out of gas in southern Utah.
Mike Sledge
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