Month: October 2025

As I type this those of you on the East Coast are experiencing the deluge and quasi-tropical storm that I just drove through for the last three days. I find myself this evening not down South in Asheville, NC as I had planned, but in the little town of Milton, West Virginia, about 30 miles east of Lexington, Kentucky.

“Why”, you may ask. Well, let me put it this way. There are many ways to experience stress in one’s life but one of the prime ways, as I’ve discovered, is driving along Interstates in a pounding rain with gusts of wind coming out of nowhere up to 30 miles per hour. Oh, and of course the fog is so thick one can barely see the red lights of the cars in front of you, and the oncoming headlights suddenly appearing on the other side of the road are something Hollywood could put in a horror movie. The problem with all this is that one has to be “on” 100% of the time. You can’t relax for even an instant. I did at one point, and an 18 wheeler came by me about 10 mph faster than I was going and I found myself blown off onto the right shoulder with my wheels screaming on the warning pavement. It was everything I could do to keep from overcompensating to get back on the road.

In short, it has been an exhausting three days. So much so that day before yesterday I came to the conclusion that I “just want to get home.” Not a cop out mind you…I said before I left that this trip would either take ten years off my life or put on five. I think the latter is true…perhaps maybe even 7 or 8! So, I decided I would have plenty of time to drive down south to visit my folks in Asheville (you may recall, not my folks per se, but their gravesite) and fit the bypass to Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg along the way. Doing that in a regular car will be a LOT easier too!

I do have a couple of minor memories of the last three days that I can share. The first is driving through St. Louis. Yes, it was pouring, but in a crazy moment I reached for my phone and snapped the following picture. If you look closely, you’ll see the famous St. Louis Arch in the distance. That’s as close as I got. I know it’s a magnificent piece of art (I’ve been to St. Louis before on a business trip and seen it up close), but I could only catch this glimpse this time around.

The other anecdote was from today, driving across Kentucky. I-64 is also known as the Bourbon Trail. Indeed, I passed signs marking many of the famous distilleries including: Four Seasons, Bulleit and Buffalo Trace. The latter is known not only for its own label, which is very very good, expensive and hard to find up in the Northeast, but because it is also the distillery where Pappy Van Winkle bourbon is made. For those of you not familiar with PVW…it is perhaps the most sought after Kentucky bourbon in the world; it’s now almost unobtainable and if you were to be able to find some, it’d be outrageously expensive.

Anyhow, as I passed the Buffalo Trace sign I recalled this fun fact.

Next thing I know, I’m at a gas station and attached to the gas station (this is Kentucky after all) is a liquor store. I stroll in and see names of whiskeys I’ve never heard of (my son-in-law, who collects whiskeys, would be hard-pressed to get back on the road after entering this place).

Just for grins and giggles I ask the shopkeeper if she has any Buffalo Trace. “Sure,” she says and goes over to a separate cabinet and pulls out a bottle. “I’m afraid to ask how much you get for that,” I toss out.

“Let’s see,” she says, and when she walks over to the register she looks it up and announces, “$24.99”.

I say to myself, “the last time I saw a bottle of Buffalo Trace back home it was something like $80.00!”

“I’ll take a bottle,” thank you and walked out of the shop a happy camper.

As I continued my drive towards West Virginia I thought to myself, “You idiot, why didn’t you buy more?”

So at the last town before crossing the Ohio River, Ashland, I pull off the Interstate, find another liquor store, and buy another bottle. This one I’ll take home to the family…the other I’m gonna add to MY collection!

Tomorrow I’m going to head back to the same KOA campsite I spent the very first night of this trip at, in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania. With that I will have made the full circle.

As my wife would say, “Two more sleeps” and I’ll be home.

Now it’s all driving driving driving…With the National Parks in my rear view mirror, there’s not much to report on. Even coming through Wolf Creek Pass (at 10,857 feet (3,309 meters) was anticlimactic as I did it before dawn. Later that day, however, I passed San Luis Peak, one of the 14’ers, (there are between 53 AND 58 over 14,000 ft in Colorado depending on how they’re defined).

Today, the 27th, was REALLY boring. Driving several hundred miles through a cloud (i.e. FOG) was tedious and mind-numbing, but I made it to WaKeeney, Kansas. What I WILL say is that the second I crossed into Kansas from Colorado the roads immediately became smooth (much to Hudson’s and my delight) and the PEOPLE became SO friendly. Could it have anything to do with Colorado being a blue state versus Kansas, a Red state? The truck drivers I listened to on my CB radio sure seemed to think so, and I’d have to agree.

Here’s what I looked at all day long…

Onward to Kansas City tomorrow.

Today we toured the South Rim Trail. We walked from Trailer Village to the main Village where the famous hotels are located: (El Tovar and Yavapai Lodge to name a couple). It’s also where the Bright Angel Trail that leads to the bottom of the Canyon begins (or ends depending on which way you’re going!) Not for the faint hearted or those out of shape like me.

From there we took the “Red Bus” all the way from Canyon Village to Hermit’s Rest, the furthwest point West, stopping at multiple viewpoints along the way: Maricopa Point, Powell Point (we walked from Powell Point to Hopi Point, to “The Abyss” and on to Hermits Rest. Here’s a sampler of the photos:

On our walk to the Rim Trail.

Rising sun on Maricopa Point.

Sunrise on the Canyon.

Hudson liked the view.

The Bright Angel Trail (note the brave people heading down through the tunnel!)

The Abyss

Hermit’s Rest placard.

Sunset on the Canyon from Hermit’s Rest.

Sigh…on to Monument Valley tomorrow!

A very full day. Exhausted after visiting THREE (count ’em) THREE national parks! Capitol Reef so far my favorite. Had the park to myself, got to see all the major sites including the Petroglyphs, Capitol Dome, Grand Wash and Capitol Gorge. All spectacular!

From there headed to Bryce Canyon by way of Rt 12 (Scenic Byway, All American Road) and Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument. Wow, totally unexpected!

Finally, got to Ruby’s RV Park early so decided to go ahead and tour Bryce. With the sun setting it was particularly beautiful…

Some pics:

(RATS! The internet here at Ruby’s is insufficient to post photos and it’s too late to set up Starlink! Sorry…will try again tomorrow!

Ok, here are the pics I wanted to share of Escalante, Capitol Reef and Bryce Canyon…enjoy! And because photos are inadequate…put it on your bucket list(s) to BE HERE in person!

On the way to Capitol Reef…

The Grand Wash…always subject to flash floods..

The petroglyphs…

Capitol Gorge

Grand Staircase Escalante – it goes on for miles and miles! Stairs and deep gorges…

Climbing out of Escalante towards Bryce Canyon…

Just one image of hundreds! It’s everything it’s reported to be…

Onward to Zion next!

So, the government shutdown meant that my 7AM reservation to enter Arches was superfluous. There were no park rangers or attendants anywhere. That said, I arrived at the entrance at 7AM just before sunrise, and was treated to a largely empty park, a perfectly cloudless dawn, and more wonders:

Delicate Arch from the closest vantage point I could get to with Hudson.

The Devil’s Garden

Balanced Rock

And again, the words and photos simply can’t capture the magnificence of these National Parks.

Onward to Capitol Reef tomorrow!

Dropped son off at Provo (International) airport in the morning and then headed south towards Canyonland, Arches and Moab, Utah.

I’m out of adjectives to describe how magnificent these national parks are. Have a 7 AM reservation to get into Arches National Park tomorrow morning so am going to truncate this post and just share a few photos:

Mesa Arch – packed with people, this is the best I could do.

Dogs not allowed so this is just off the road.

One of the many, MANY, vistas in the Park!