Hello Everyone!
It has not been the best week out here on the road, but that doesn’t mean I’m complaining because it also could have been significantly worse. I’ve spent most of the week in limbo, waiting for things that were out of my control. I was in tiny Challis, Idaho for five days, waiting for some unexpected work on my van to get done. The rest of the week I’ve been just up the road from Challis in Stanley, waiting and hoping for the weather to clear. I’m very grateful to have had two excellent mechanics, John and Scott, working on Shadow Catcher. During my time in their shop I not only came to trust them with my van, but also to consider them my friends. I spend most of my time on the road drifting in and out of towns across the country, playing the familiar-to-me role of The Stranger. This week was different because it’s hard to stay a stranger in a town of a thousand people for very long. When I finally got off and running again I drove up into the mountains and straight back into winter. I had to break out all of my winter clothes again and find places to hang out and avoid the snow. When the clouds finally lifted, the Sawtooth Mountains showed themselves and they are spectacular and were well worth the wait. And now I’m finishing off my week here in Twin Falls in the rain. I’ve only gone about 200 miles this week which has definitely saved me on gas, but I’m hoping that now I can keep moving for a while as I get back into my more regular routine.
As I’ve just mentioned, my week got off to a rough start. When I pulled into Challis to finish up this post last week, I turned down my radio and heard a terrible sound coming from my rear wheels. I decided to park and get my work done and give it a while to fix itself, which would have been amazing if it had worked. It, of course, did not. Challis is a small town and the closest thing I could find to a mechanic on my phone was a tire place just on the edge of town. I went and talked to them and they said they didn’t really do much beyond tires and oil changes and pointed me to another garage behind the Napa Auto Parts up the road. This was definitely a garage, but with no sign, no online presence or reviews, no nothing. I went in and talked to Scott and he said he would take a look at it in the morning. I didn’t really love the situation, but I was stuck and grateful he would have a look and see what he could do. Worst case scenario, I could call AAA and get a tow up to Salmon which has a couple of mechanics. I found a parking spot nearby and then took a nice, long walk around Challis. It’s clearly in the midst of an old mining region with mining still being the main industry today. Challis was founded way back in 1876 as a supply center for the different mining districts in the area, including the Lucky Boy, Custer, Sunbeam and Charles Dickens mines, and continues to be the main town and county seat for the region. After having a good look around, I stopped into Bux’s Place, a classic, old-school, taxidermy-and-pool-tables kind of bar on the main street. It was smoky, but nice enough for a beer. Then I went across the street to Shyla’s Hideaway which had less atmosphere, but also less smoke and they served food. Shyla’s would be my go-to spot for the rest of the week. I had a tasty sandwich and chatted with the bartender who told me that Scott was a good mechanic and a decent person which left me feeling a little better about the whole situation.
Hello Everyone!
I’m back in the mountains and it is wonderful to be here. I know I was in the mountains in northern Utah, but the Idaho mountains feel different somehow. Or maybe Idaho towns feel more like mountain towns and that’s what’s different. I don’t know, but it’s nice to be here and to be enjoying cool, sunny days and incredible views. My first full week in Idaho has been a good one. I really enjoyed my time in Pocatello and have made my way north and then west from there and I am writing to you today from the little town of Challis, the largest town in Custer County with a population of just over a thousand people. The Salmon River is nearby and the town is surrounded by mountains. I’ll bet it’s cold and very isolated here in the winter, but it sure is nice to be here in the spring.
It was late when I finished up this post last week and I am always grateful for the libraries that stay open until 9pm. It was cold and raining out so I grabbed a quick beer up the road and then tucked into my van for the night. The rain wasn’t too bad, but the wind really picked up overnight and blew through all of the next day with gusts up over 50mph on a regular basis. According to the locals, the wind is quite common around here and we were lucky the rain kept the dust down.
Hello Everyone!
Greetings from Pocatello, Idaho and Happy April to you all. I crossed the border into The Gem State yesterday morning and it is nice to be here. Leaving a state always feels bittersweet to me. After 5-6 weeks I feel as though I have a pretty good understanding of the people, places, history and culture of a state which is, of course, the whole point of this adventure. And then when I reach that point, it is time to move on and start fresh but it’s always a little sad to leave the familiar for the unknown. I can’t say enough good things about Utah and the last six weeks I spent in The Beehive. From tracing the trails of The Ancients to old cliff dwellings and petroglyph panels to following the Mormon pioneers as they spread out to create their New Zion to exploring truly incredible natural landscapes, Utah has really given me so much to be thankful for. I have loved almost every minute of my time in Utah and certainly look forward to returning in the future. That said, I’m also looking forward to the next few weeks here in Idaho and to seeing everything it has to offer. I hope you’ll come along for the ride.
Hello Everyone. It’s been a pleasant and reasonably slow week here in Utah. The temperatures have definitely gone up significantly and it feels like we are jumping right from winter to summer out here. I’ve spent plenty of time in Utah in summer in my life, so I know that’s not exactly true, but going from 40°F to 85°F is still a significant jump in a week. I’ve spent most of the week in the Greater Salt Lake City area, an area I’ve spent a decent amount of time in in the past but have never really had an opportunity to explore. I went to an amazing American Indian Powwow, learned more about the Mormon faith and history and generally enjoyed my time out in the Salt Lake Valley. This may have been my last full week here in Utah, and closing out my time in a state is always bittersweet. I’ve really enjoyed these last 5 weeks in the Beehive State, and I’ve certainly learned a lot about what makes it tick. That being said, the warmer temperatures are going to push me north and into the mountains, which is what I’ve been looking forward to all winter. Anyways, I don’t want to get too far ahead of myself, so let’s get right into how I spent my week here in north-central Utah.
After finishing up this post last week I used the rest of the daylight to cruise on up the road to Delta. Along the way I was excited to visit the town of Harding (my last name), but it turned out to only be a crossroads – no sign, no buildings, no nothing. That was disappointing, but the sun was already down when I got there, so I continued on and had a quiet night when I got to Delta. On Thursday morning I started my day with a visit to the Topaz Museum in the heart of downtown Delta. I got there right when the museum was opening and the docent who was there was a former Delta schoolteacher who spent a nice bit of time introducing me to museum.
Hello Everyone. A belated Happy St. Patrick’s Day to you all from here in Fillmore, Utah. I’ve spent this last week cutting across the central part of the state, checking out petroglyphs and dinosaur fossils in the east, cruising down the beautiful agricultural region of the Sanpete Valley and finishing up here in Utah’s first territorial capital. It’s been windy out here this week, but the temperatures have been pleasant and the rain and snow have stayed away, which was a good thing as some of these high mountain passes have taken me up above 9000’. Central Utah is definitely a less-visited part of the state, but it has a lot of cute towns, friendly people and plenty to keep me busy. I’ve been moving fast this week because there’s a powwow I want to get to in Salt Lake City this coming weekend and these are all places I wanted to hit before heading in that direction.
When I left you last week, I was out in Grand Junction, Colorado after a quick visit to Colorado National Monument. After I wrapped up my newsletter, I made a beeline back to the Beehive State and headed straight to Green River. I wanted to get there with enough time to see the John Wesley Powell River History Museum. If you don’t know of him, Powell led the first expedition to float the length of Grand Canyon. A retired U.S. Army Major, he had lost his right arm due to a gunshot through the wrist he received during the Battle of Shiloh, one of the bloodiest and most fascinating battles of the Civil War. After the war, he went on to become the curator of a small natural history museum in Illinois and went west to gather some samples for the museum. While there, he became fixated on the idea of exploring Grand Canyon and collected a rag-tag crew of mountain men and explorers to come with him. It was quite the adventure and this museum does a good job of documenting their trip and providing some great information on Powell himself. There are also displays on the geologic and human history of the Green River (which joins the Colorado River in what is now Canyonlands National Park and which Powell floated to get to the Colorado on his journey). In addition to the permanent gallery…
Hello Everyone! Greetings to you all from Grand Junction, Colorado. As I mentioned last week, I have just dipped over the border for the day because I wanted to pay a quick visit to Colorado National Monument. While I’m here I got some groceries and now I’m going to hole up in the library and get this week’s newsletter done before returning to Utah later today. Crossing into another state is fascinating when you’ve really dug in somewhere for a few weeks and have been paying close attention to the culture of a place. Crossing from Nevada into Utah or Utah into Colorado is very much like crossing into a different country. Not like going from Sweden to Uganda, but more like going between England and Wales or between Cambodia and Laos – there are plenty of similarities, but they’re also remarkably different. I’ve really been enjoying my time in Utah and this feels like I’m cheating on it, but I’m sure Utah will get over it and I’m really looking forward to the rest of my time in The Beehive State. I’ve spent more of this last week on the trail than on the road, and that’s been an excellent use of my time. It’s been another soul-stirring week out here, so let’s get right into what I’ve been up to since last I wrote.
After I finished this post last week, I ended up spending another morning there in Blanding, a town I grew quite fond of during my three night stay. I started off my day with a quick visit to the Four Corners Cultural Park (the “four corners” refers to the shared border of Utah, Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado, the only place in the country where four states come together in a squared off fashion). I thought this cultural park was really cool because you could walk between examples of the “houses” of the different cultures that came together in Blanding. There were Ute teepees, Navajo hogans, a Mexican hacienda and Mormon pioneer cabins all within a short walk of each other and I thought it was just a neat place to check out. From there I went to the museum at Edge of the Cedars State Park which displays cultural artifacts found around the area and interprets the cultures which came before the modern inhabitants of the region. The museum’s pottery collection is remarkable and it’s amazing to see the artistic expression of the people who made these items. These bowls and jugs were not simply utilitarian, they were beautifully crafted and then painted with precise geometric designs and were all very impressive. The museum also had a beautiful macaw shawl which has kept its bright coloration for over a thousand years. I always find the macaw feathers found here fascinating because they are evidence of the vast trade networks of these earlier cultures which stretched deep down into what’s now Mexico (where macaws were commonly found). I’m sure this one cost someone a few beautifully crafted pottery items in trade. The museum was fabulous, and the ruins out back were okay but not nearly as good as so many others I have visited in the last few weeks.
Hello Everyone! It’s been an amazing week out here on the road in southern Utah. I’ve seen some absolutely beautiful country, driven some spectacular roads and visited some amazing archaeological sites. I did have a bit of a stomach bug midweek which wiped me out for a couple of days, but it seems to have passed. The weather has been amazing, the photography opportunities plentiful and it’s just generally been a good week all around.
I left off last week in Panguitch, a cute little town about half an hour west of Bryce Canyon National Park. When I finished up last week’s post, I wandered around town for a bit and then made my way on into the park. I’ve been to Bryce at least 50 times in my life and it never ceases to amaze me. The view from one of the many overlooks on a sunny day will rival any view, anywhere in the world for natural splendor and beauty. It truly is nature’s little fairyland. The sandstone spires of Bryce, called “hoodoos”, are mostly the result of the extreme temperature fluctuations Bryce sees during the year. Located above 8000’, it’s not unusual to have freezing temperatures any day of the year, but it can be sunny and warm and beautiful any day as well. It’s the cycle of freezing and thawing which has helped shape the landscape more than wind or flowing water. Bryce Canyon is named after Ebenezer Bryce, who you may remember built the Pine Valley Chapel which I wrote about two weeks ago. He and his wife homesteaded in the area in the 1870s and he spent many months digging a canal to funnel the water to the valley below. When asked about the canyon which would forever bear his name, Bryce was once quoted as saying “it’s a hell of a place to lose a cow”. It most certainly would be. It was quite icy out on the trails this time through, so I settled for a few nice views from the rim. After the sun went down I enjoyed a warm seat by the fire out at Ruby’s Inn, just outside the entrance to the park, where I read my book for a while before calling it a night.
It’s been a cold week out here in southern Utah and the snow which came down on Thursday and Friday has decided to stick around for a while. Despite the cold and wind, the skies have been sunny most of the week and it’s really hard to complain about that. I hung around St. George, avoiding the worst of the snow and then made my way out to Kanab for the Balloons and Tunes Festival. From there I cruised out to Coral Pink Sands State Park and then north to the cute little historic town of Panguitch, where I am writing this post from today. I know it’s only Monday, but I don’t think there’s going to be much opportunity to jump on the internet for the next few days so I thought I would just finish this up today and then next week will just pick up where I leave off.
When I left you last week, I was in the library in St. George. After I finished up with my newsletter for the week, I headed up the road to the old opera house to catch a local performance of the musical Kiss Me Kate. I love the fact that St. George is supporting local theater and even though there were probably only 30 people there on a Wednesday night, the show did go on. There were some parts of this show that are particularly dated, but it was a great performance and all of the actors seemed as though they were really having fun out there. The building itself dates back to the early days of St. George, having been built in 1864 as a wine cellar. It was sold in the 1870s and became a social hall and performance center, and later an opera house in 1886. During the Great Depression the building was used to process sugar beets and wouldn’t be restored to its earlier function as an opera house until 1988. It’s a cool building and I was happy to see the inside of it and I also really enjoyed the performance.
Hello Everyone! It’s been a lovely week here in the greater Lake Tahoe region. The weather has been cold, but also clear and sunny and hard to beat for the middle of January. I’ve spent most of the week catching up with old friends and taking it slow which has been really nice. I did get out for a day on the slopes in South Lake Tahoe while I was here which was awesome and a real treat. It’s about time for me to hit the road again and head out across Nevada, but it’s been a nice break here in the mountains among friends…
Hello Everyone! It’s been a cold week out here on the road with nighttime temperatures dipping into the single digits. While I’m always prepared for the cold and have plenty of warm clothes and blankets, it’s no fun getting out of bed in the morning. Thankfully it’s also been a week of catching up with old friends and tagging along with them on their adventures so my spirits have been high all week. I started my week in Winnemucca, made my way across the top of the state on Interstate 80 and am finishing my week here in Reno, “The Biggest Little City in the World”.
Well, it’s been a pretty quiet week out here on the road. I spent the first part of the week in Boise before heading west back into Oregon on Monday and then south into Nevada yesterday. Today I find myself in Winnemucca, an interesting little town in the north central part of the state. I’ve been traveling through a sparsely populated area so there hasn’t been a lot to see or get into, but I finished my book (The Wide, Wide Sea by Hampton Sides about the last journey of Captain Cook which I highly recommend), got a few walks in and stumbled into some cool little towns. I’ve enjoyed the solitude, the mountainous desert terrain and the peace and quiet…
Happy New Year Y’all and greetings from Boise. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, Hanukkah or whatever other holiday you may have been celebrating this month. I had a nice time in New Hampshire with my family over the last couple of weeks, with a fantastic Christmas at my brother’s house. The last two days included a long drive back to Washington DC and then an equally long flight back to the West Coast yesterday, so I’m pretty beat. I’ll tell you - it is one thing to gently ease into winter temperatures over the months while living in my van and another thing entirely to have central heat for a month and then glide back into Idaho winter at the end of December. But I’m very happy to be back with my van and with you fine people.
