Month: October 2022

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The Exodus

Having been driven from paradise by the Great Storm of 50kt Winds (through no fault of my own), I found refuge in a state park in Green River, UT. Nice enough, I suppose. Any port in a storm, as they say. After a night, I proceeded to Gallup, NM, home of the famous surveys and polls. Only one thing to see there, the awesome Hotel El Rancho!

This restaurant, whose name I cannot recall, is supposed to have the best breakfast in town. They don’t say, however, that it takes a half day to eat there. Rural and Proud, although they pronounce “rural” like “earl” with an “r’ in front. Can’t remember what I ate there, but am sure it maintained my girth.
I love staying here! So kitschy and cool. Built in the ‘30s and home base for a couple dozen old westerns from the golden age of Hollywood. Most definitely not ADA-compliant; when enthroned on the toilet, your knees are under the sink! And you have to open and close the elevator doors with your own muscle power! Fabulous!
The lobby hasn’t changed since 1935. Why would you? If it is good enough for John Wayne and James Cagney, it should be good enough for you.
The lobby has an excellent mezzanine furnished with comfy leather chairs. The walls are adorned with dozens of photos of Golden Age Hollywood stars who stayed at the hotel.
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Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument

[Editor’s note: Some of you reported that the email letting you know of a new post goes to spam or junk. One way to prevent this is to add dennis@calexpeditions.com to my entry in your contacts.]

Reluctantly, I departed Dixie National Forest, bound for Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument…just next door, geographically. They call it that because the mountains (faintly) resemble a staircase and to honor Fr Escalante, one of the early cultural imperialists sent by Spain to steal this land from the indigenous people. He also informed them that their religion was wrong and his was right.

We stayed here for 3 days, taking long exploratory walks. When I watch Xena explore, I try, mostly unsuccessfully, to imagine her experience of the world. Seeing everything from 6 inches off the ground seems so limiting. But the richness of the olfactory world she lives in must be incredible. She stops at some shrub or other and studies each leaf, inhaling, analyzing, cataloguing. I have informed her repeatedly that one leaf is the same as the next, but she is steadfast in her determination to study each separately.

We had delight weather until the very end of our stay. When 50mph winds and rain/snow threatened, prudence demanded departure. Although the van would have kept so comfortable and dry, I did not fancy driving out through the sea of mud the road would have become. So, we fled.

So much wide open space! So much peace and quiet! So much land to explore! Xena loved it.

This lovely tree provides both shade and sustenance to many desert animals.
Dawn’s early light on the distant mountains. They look red because red wavelengths are faster than others and reach the Earth first. This is a universal constant and explains why red cars are faster than others.
Off in the distance you can see the thin dirt road providing access to the profane world.
Xena, the Warrior Princess, is particularly pleased with this camp site.

Xena loves rolling the dirt at every opportunity.

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Bryce Canyon & Dixie National Forest

A couple of weeks ago, a little girl spotted me walking Xena, the Warrior Princess, along the dock. She looked across the little spit of water separating the sidewalk and dock and gasped, “O. M. G.!” She actually said the letters out loud very distinctively, not the words. “That’s the cutest thing I’ve ever seen!”

That’s pretty much how I felt, staying in the Dixie National Forest just outside of Bryce Canyon National Park. The weather was perfect…high in the low 70s, low in the high 30s. Clear skies, just a few benign clouds. Calm winds. Just awesome. My traveling experience is evolving; I stayed in the same spot, never starting the van’s engine, for 3 days straight.

Xena and I took many long exploratory walks. Did you know cats can travel great distances without difficulty? They can. Their path is not the most direct, necessarily, and sometimes requires laying in the sunbeams, but they can travel far.

I had only one disturbance the entire time…an elderly couple walked down the my road one day. Naturally, I took umbrage at their audacity, focussed my mind on a singular thought, “Depart! Ye untutored bourgeois!” My defense successful, they fled, stooped and stumbling. I resumed imagining that no one else existed. Really! The nerve of some people!

The forests Xena and I explored and patrolled. None from the animal kingdom threatened, save the elderly interlopers mentioned above. Who were victi atque extorres. Ha!
Xena peers through the foliage, ever vigilant.
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Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest

The White Mountains, just east of the Sierras, is home of the oldest living organisms on Earth: the Ancient Bristlecone Pines. It is humbling to be in the presence of these trees; some of these trees have been growing on these mountaintops while the pyramids were built, during the rise and fall of the Roman Empire and all the rest of recorded history. You may have read about them in a recent NY Times article.

From the top of the White Mountains, you can see for miles and miles.
This is a bristlecone pine. In a post from a few months ago, I may have misidentified an imposter ordinary pine as a bristlecone. Sorry about that; I never claimed to be a herbologist.
So now you know the secrets of old age: live a life under difficult conditions. Hard work = long life. I suspect many of you should get your affairs in order.
This young man flagged me down; his tire was flat, his hydraulic jack balky. Being the helpful sort, I assisted. By “assisted,” I mean I loaned him my jack and made a cup of coffee while he changed the tire. There are advantages to driving around in your house. He is originally from Idaho, making him an Idahoan (pronounced EYE da whaan). The imperialists named it Idaho after the famous potatoes found there.

 

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Death Valley Revisited

Camper van parked in the twilight with the underlighting glowing.

I realize that the last trip just kind of faded away. That’s what happens when the temperature soars and the crowds gather. I fled both nuisances and sought refuge in the cool, clement clime of the California Pacific Coast.

Now, however, is the perfect time for a road trip. Temps are still moderate, crowds largely evaporated, and diesel prices plummeting to record lows. So I decided to take the long way back to Las Cruces, New Mexico, stopping at several of my favorite places.

Author posing next to his camper van.
I spent a night bivouacking (<= thank goodness for autocorrect, just this once) near Red Rock Canyon State Park. It’s east of California City, quiet, desolate, just fine for a 1-night stay.
Rough, rocket dirt road into Death Valley.
A rough and rugged road into Death Valley, courtesy of a huge rain storm. They got a decade of rain in a day. I would have suggested spreading it out a bit, but I’m no meteorologist.
Lounging in the desert with a black cat.
O! Sweet reward after surviving the perils of the road. Lounging in the garden spot of Death Valley.
Desert oasis, complete with palm trees and soaking tubs fed by natural hot springs.
Just kidding, here is the actual garden spot. Shiftless hippies created this space over the course of a few decades. Lawn, palm trees and soaking tubs fed by natural hot springs. Added bonus, this is the entrance to a low-level training route for naval aviators. They make frequent appearances in their loud and fast planes, just a couple hundred feet above the ground.