A Blog In A Life: September 2005

Tuesday, September 06, 2005

I could just puke. I just finished writing this whole story and Joshua came in and played drums on the keyboard and it all disappeared. The first time I wrote it, I got to re-live it and I was enthused, now I must ask for your forgiveness because I don't want to write it again and therefore I'm sure it will be much less interesting. ARGH! Yes, I just checked; I am very grumpy right now. To my 'Myspace' friends--I don't know if endless pictures of Joshua are all that interesting to you, but I send my blog link to my family too, and they have to be interested.

Here goes again:
This, our latest journey of America's roads less traveled started yesterday afternoon. We always get too late a start but end up there regardless. We headed roughly 200 miles north of Las Vegas to an old silver mining town called Pioche, Nevada. (You know how I love old silver mining towns.) Along the way, near Caliente, Nevada, we were cited for speeding. ("But officer, we are a million miles from any living thing; It's a long straight road and a beautiful day. We were going THAT fast? HOW MUCH?! We can attend court where? Uh, yes, um, thank you for the great directions and local information. Sure, come visit us when you're in our neck-of-the-woods, anytime--you have our address. What? Oh, yes, you have a nice day and drive safely too.) Pioche had lots of big holes in the hills with lots of tailings, a few old buildings full of old things, one old hotel atop one old saloon with an old cafe across the street complete with 3 old cowboys. Joshua enjoyed the "cowboys". Kelsey and I thought they might have been 'hicks' or perhaps 'hillbillies' but Joshua was certain they were cowboys. Since it was 5pm when we arrived and it gets dark here now by 7:30pm we thought we'd hold up there for the night in that-there cowboy-mining town--maybe go sip us some saspirilla in the saloon. Our hotel room was quite interesting, but clean. Some of us slept well; well, one of us did. It wasn't me or Josh. We got up early (some of us as early as the night before) and enjoyed our favorite booth across the street at THE cafe. We were afterall regulars by now and Joshua was on a first-name basis with most of the 'cowboys' and big-haired old ladies in town. They honestly did comment on what a cute and delightful little boy he is. (Just keep him away from computers).

This map doesn't even show Pioche, but I'm pretty sure it was really there. On the map, it is where the word "start" is. The dirt 'Mt Wilson Loop Road' headed east from Pioche, then north following a creek, and finally west to Pony Springs. Why Pony Springs is on the map, I couldn't tell you. Probably just because it is a 'spring' and they are hard to come by in southern Nevada. This map doesn't give you and accurate description of the vastness of the area. The Mt Wilson Loop Rd took us 4 hours at a steady clip.

Cathedral Gorge State Park near Pioche, Nevada

From Pioche, we drove a 65 mile mostly dirt road around Mt Wilson. For this transplanted desert-dweller, it was spectacular! It had lots of green grass and green Pinon pines along with the sage brush that I am so accustomed. There were plentiful yellow flowers along the road that followed a stream. There were several state parks; one even had a lake! We drove nearly to the top of the mountain (over 9000 feet) and then through Lake Valley. (ancient lake, now dry) We came out on highway 93 again north of Pioche and then south to Panaca, NV. Cathedral Gorge State Park was adjacent to Panaca. It was full of petrified sand dunes that had eroded in to cool shapes much like a mini Bryce Canyon. We followed a slot canyon quite a ways back until only Josh could fit through.

Josh in slot canyon

At Panaca, we headed east towards Utah and then took another long dirt road southeast. We crossed in to Utah and found an LDS pionier cemetery from the Dixie Mission in 1862. (you know how I love old cemetaries) It was truly in the middle-of-nowhere. There were two families burried there--many were babies. That always breaks my heart. We finally hit pavement again near Enterprise, Utah. Just west of St. George, Utah, we came across lots of large volcanic cinder cones and then a massive red rock formation called Snow Canyon. I wish I'd taken more pictures of it. We arrived in St. George and went to the temple. Josh ran around the grass and we watched a really nice movie in the visitor's center. I think it's the oldest LDS temple. I'm pretty sure the Salt Lake Temple was finished a bit later. I have lots of family from that neck of the woods back in the olden days so feel a connection.
I love finding alternate ways to places and will add this to my list of great adventures.