2011 North West Adventure, Day 7



Day 7 July 9th 2011:


Good morning from Salt Lake City Utah…what a drive yesterday…7 hours to go 220 UNBELIEVABLY GORGEOUS miles, but an extremely tough drive…now with all that said, well worth the time…and sorry for the longer blog but there was a lot from yesterday.

The day started when Michael confirmed the route and charted our course for the day. He studied the maps inputted all the way points into the navigation system and we were off! Very cool he did this.. ;-) FYI…The day before is when he came across the bypass called Flaming Gorge, which is a mini Grand Canyon, Lake Powell and Hoover Dam all rolled into one as you will see in the images. The route placed us off course for only 45 miles so we all decided to do it.

Unbeknownst to us the road was in rough shape, narrow, undulating hills, and major switchbacks with 8-13% grades up and DOWN!..Thus the 7 hour drive! But before I get into that, I have to describe the scenery.

The landscape started off like a Badlands, very rocky with less color, but totally a Badlands look and feel. Then we started to climb 10,000 feet in some areas – the altitude is bothering all of us a little this trip…we are drinking water to fend it off like I am not sure what! Once in the mountains, the landscape turned to vast valleys covered in moss, with snow capped mountains in the back, very unique and majestic. Once we got near the Gorge, the look and feel was like Moab and Grand Canyon in a blender. Totally something we never saw, and was very breathtaking and in some regards, nicer than the Grand Canyon. I think because you could comprehend this, whereas the Grand Canyon is just too big to comprehend…beauty wise everything out here is awesome, and it’s like nothing you will ever see unless you are here. The difference’s I am noticing is it becomes what is the age of the formations which sets everything apart with color and texture. In the end…it is all simply memorizing how beautiful this country really is! At the actual Gorge, the visitor center is a must stop. Built at the highest point, almost jutting out over the water, really wicked cool! However, the COOLEST thing happened on the way out. We stumbled upon 7 Mountain Rams on the side of one of the mountains…WOW!!!!!

Once out of the park itself – another hard to comprehend fact, the National Parks are HUNDREDS of miles in all directions…not used to parks this big we started in Wyoming then to Utah then to Wyoming again, and then back to Utah – the landscape became more mountainous and Badlands style again, which rolled into traditional Utah grayish formations eroded from the WICKED winds. The winds are calm at 20mph…they get up to where my driver’s window is bowing so much it looks like it will pop! Thank GOD it never does…LOL!

After getting off the byway and back on the highway we thought we can now make up some time from the SLOW past 150 miles….NOT! This stretch of 80 heading into Park City and eventually into Salt Lake is like NOTHING we have ever driven. HUGE mountains, nothing is straight and you are up and down and side to side for 100 miles....like a high speed roller coaster. Up the curvy hills at best 60mph – nothing climbs like a CAT – then down the curvy hill at 80mph air brakes screaming and you are holding on for dear life….then back up. Sort of like the military, wet, lather, rinse, repeat! Nicholas and I looked at each other at one point and said are we there yet? The last hour dragged on FOREVER…but we finally made it to the campground 12 miles down the street from Temple Square, which we will visit today…

At the end of the day, yesterday will rate as one of the top 5 stressful, technically challenging drives, but one of the top 5 BEST scenery drives we have been on!

In closing, we are now 2,500 miles into the 7,500 mile adventure, we have been blessed with great health, weather, and scenery…the boys are still getting along and are not even near at each other’s throat, so that is a great sign…I haven’t left Patty on the side of the road, so that is even better…and none of them have left me on the side either – however I have an advantage…I am the only one that can drive! LOL…Seriously, we are blessed beyond words to do this, and are so fortunate we all can be in a bus 24x7 and not want to kill each other…not sure if that is normal, but we all feel like it is and enjoy every moment with each other every day!

On a side note…I want to thank Emma and her dad Dave for sending me the pictures of their RV made from Lego’s. I am glad our Blog and journey has inspired a young future adventurer…go EMMA!

Have a Very BLESSED day, and God willing I will speak to you tomorrow.