On Friday, April 25th we packed, or should I say jammed packed, the Subaru for our trip to California to pick up the new Lazy Daze Motorhome. We could open the side doors with only an item or two falling out, but there was no way the back door would get opened until we were ready to unload it into the motorhome. After everything was packed we decided to leave Saturday instead of Sunday. As Dinah Shore used to sing, we are going to “see the USA in a “Subaru?”. Oh how times have changed.
We left for California at 7:15 AM. The winds were horrific, but at least the wind was to our back which helped us average 30.6 MPG on the first day of driving. I normally get 29 driving on the highway. Our stop for the night was 470 miles later in Alliance, NE.
Our drive on Sunday took us from Alliance, NE to Green River, UT. The big decision of the day was when we got to Denver if we wanted to go on I-70 west or take I-25 south and catch I-40 to go through Flagstaff. Our concerns were based on very bad weather reports along I-70 at Vail Pass. After further review of a couple of weather apps we decided to take a chance on I-70 and ended up glad that we had. We ran into some snow, but nothing a Minnesotan couldn’t handle. We probably saw a 50 degree temp along the way today. We had eaten a late lunch so we were not hungry for dinner so instead went to a place called Ray’s for a couple beers and an order of fries. Although we did not have a burger it looked like their specialty was hamburgers. A rafting group that came in had preordered 26 bacon cheese burgers with fries and it seemed that they and everyone else was happy with the food. I know that beer was good. I had a couple different local pale ales.
The next few pictures are on I-70 west of Denver.
This was taken just after the Vail Pass high point at 10,666 elevation.
This is for Jane. That’s snow on top of those kayaks. Perhaps they are used as bobsleds in the winter!!!
The weather got better as we got past Vail and temps were in the low 60’s when we got to Green River, UT.
Monday, our third day had us leaving Green River and heading to Capital Reef NP. We are taking the back roads today to get in some of the scenery. Unlike our last trip through here, we did not take time to drive back into the park.
After following the scenic state highway 12 we drove into Bryce Canyon NP and stopped at most of the scenic overlooks. This is still high on our list of national parks.
There was still a little snow at the higher elevations. The temperature was 40 degrees with high winds so we didn’t stay out of the car more than a few minutes. It seems that one of us “Dave” did not bring sweatshirts or a heavy jacket. My excuse is that we are going to California and Arizona.
After leaving the park we drove to Kanab, UT where we spent the night. We grabbed a couple brochures at the motel to plan a trip here in the future as it looks like an interesting place to spend a few days. Many western “cowboy for you youngsters” movies were filmed in the area.
We left Kanab the morning of the 29th heading to Zion National Park then over to St. George, UT where we picked up I-15 that would take us thru Las Vegas and then to LA. We finally got to the Aryes Hotel in Ontario, CA around 5:30 PM. The trip was 2060 miles. Unfortunately, there are no pictures of todays journey, as I "Dave" accidentally erased them much to Sandy's disapproval.
Until next time
Dave and Sandy
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