Today's route: San Diego, CA to Mount Carmel Junction, UT
Already I am late! I left home 45 minutes past my scheduled departure because I was cruising the Internet, checking out college football scores from Saturday. Probably it’s a good thing I’m leaving the net behind. But wait, I’m bringing along a laptop to log notes for these blogs, so maybe I’m doomed yet, as several of my night’s lodgings have free WiFi connections. I’ll just have to take a vacation from the net, too. Possible? We shall see.
Today is mainly a travel day, geared towards positioning me near the first of the Utah National Parks: Zion. My route (see below) takes me from San Diego, through Las Vegas and across Nevada to the northwest corner of Arizona. I will spend only a short while in AZ before I cross the border into Utah.
It’s 108° in Riverside as I head north out of San Diego. I hope it’s not an omen of things to come. But the temperature varies from 96° to 111° as I cross the desert. I sure hope there’s a cool spell coming! In Vegas, where it’s 106°, I stop to fill up. Two commandments of driving across the desert are “Pay attention to the fuel gauge” and “Carry lots of water”. Two gallon jugs of water in the trunk will carry me through several days until I make Grand Junction and find a grocery store for refills.
At the gas stop, I have to go inside to pay. I notice the slot machines as I walk in, and since I have a few $1 bills, I decide to try my luck. I put the first two bills in the poker machine, it shows my credits and I place a $1 bet. After I pre-select the “Deuces Wild” game, I push the “deal” button, and the electronic cards display left to right: Ace of spades, 2 of diamonds, 10 of spades, King of spades, 2 of clubs. I was looking at a royal flush first time out. I select the “hold” button for each card and press “deal” again. I’ve won $5! I AM A WINNER! I cash out, take my $3 winnings and hit the road ahead of the game!
"Thanks to the Interstate Highway System, it is now possible to travel coast to coast without seeing anything." ~ Charles Kuralt
There is not much to Nevada once out of Las Vegas, until you reach Mesquite, which is on the AZ border. Fortunately the speed limit beyond Vegas is 75 mph until you reach St. George, UT.
Mesquite, NV is building up to become another mini-Vegas – there are now 4 or 5 casinos, and they offer concerts by well-known stars like LeAnn Rimes and Kellie Pickler. OK, maybe they’re not all well-known, unless you happen to be an American Idol fan.
After Mesquite you cross into that small section of AZ. You can tell when you enter Utah, as just beyond the AZ border the terrain changes from the drab beige that characterizes the deserts in Nevada and Arizona and the earth turns deep red. St. George, my departure point from the Interstate to the Utah NPs, is a paltry 98°.
The day’s trip lasts about 8 hours, an hour and 20 minutes longer than I’d planned. Coupled with my late start, I’m two hours late getting into Mount Carmel Junction, my stop for the night. Part of the reason is that I have a motel room on the east side of Zion, and it turns out that UT Hwy 9 to get to Mount Carmel Junction goes directly through the park. I stop at Zion’s south gate and purchase an annual national park pass for $80. It will come in handy for the rest of my NP visits, as well as my return into Zion in the morning.
The road through Zion contains a number of switchbacks, elevation gains and two tunnels, so that 18 miles takes 45 minutes. I also stop to take a few photos on the east end of the park, including Checkerboard Mesa (below), one of the parks more famous landmarks.
The navigation system (or “navi” as Acura likes to call it) has mostly behaved all day. There have been times past when it knew where I was going and where I was, but not the route in between because of limited landmarks. There is not much out in the desert to go by a lot of times, and when the routing is unavailable, the “miles/time to go” read-out takes a vacation.
I like to zoom out to the 15 mile scale so I can follow the route as I drive. I watch the distant towns come into view, and monitor the “miles/time to go” read-out to get a rough idea of how much driving is left until the destination.
I finally arrive at the Best Western East Zion Thunderbird Zion around 6:45pm MT. It’s 104°. After unpacking, I wander into the restaurant and order the spicy chicken salad, which turns out to be quite tasty. Back in the room I go over tomorrow’s route and plans, then call it a night. After all, I have to get back on schedule.
Today’s drive:
San Diego to Mount Carmel Junction, UT
520 miles, a little over 8 hours
Tomorrow:
Zion National Park and
Cedar Breaks National Monument
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