Homeward Bound

Day 49

          This day is probably the first day that we are actually headed East. Forty-nine days on the road, each one has been unique and storied in its own right, but this daily rootless lifestyle comes with some disadvantages.

          We miss everyone.

          Enough is enough. We may have found our limit as to how long we can say unattached to one of our bases and that is just fine with us.   And we still have a way to go.  

          When this East Coast-Roundabout-Go-West-Before-Going-East method of travel in order to get back to New Jersey and environs is complete, we will have been on the road for approximately sixty days.      Thankfully interspersed within these sixty days were a few stops along the way made with friends and family. These Home Visits really impacted us and allowed the trip to continue having had small slices of familial familiarity  along the way.  Travis and Lorelyn in Durango, Travis’s family, Linda, Dan, Erin, and Rob in California, Liz and Beth in Oregon, Greg and Kim in Spokane, and even our newly found friends, Sherry and Scott in Utah, have helped us, each in their own way, to keep those Homesick Blues at bay.

          We are currently back in one of our favorite Walmart’s and that is the one located in Page, Arizona. This is a mecca for outdoors recreation and that means that tons of RV’s converge here on a regular basis. It also means that these folks treat the Walmart here nicely. It is does not seem to be in their nature to trash the place or take advantage of its hospitality as we’ve witnessed too many times before at other locations. So, consequently the welcome mat is always out here which gives us a certain amount of assurance that someone will not be knocking on our door in the middle of the night asking us to move along.

          The trip yesterday from the Bryce Canyon area to here was taken with a certain amount of ease. We found ourselves retracing our route out this way, which made for being in familiar territory, which for all the right reasons, was just fine with us. The scenery was magnificent, the skies were that deep patented blue that seems to highlight most days in the West, and since we were traveling in the opposite direction, the view was a little different!

          We did manage to squeeze in one tiny side-trip on our way here.

          We made a one hundred twenty-mile diversion from our route and visited the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.

          The North Rim of the Canyon had just opened two days before, so our timing was perfect. The elevation here is a full 1000′ higher (at 8300′) than the South Rim, so Winter hangs in a lot longer! Apparently it was perfect for lots of other people too, because we found it rather full. But I believe that full here is a relative term when it comes to the Grand Canyon and the amount of visitors that it gets over the course of a year. The Grand Canyon receives an estimated six-million of its best friends annually, and only ten percent of these go to the North Rim. That means that even its shortened season (as compared to  the 365 of the South Rim) the North Rim averages only 4000 visitors a day. The South Rim’s numbers are  closer to 30,000 per day in the height of its season. Mind you, the North Rim does not have the expanse of facilities, nor is a shuttle required to get from point to point as down South, so “Crowded” up here is OK!

          The views are strikingly similar as those from down at the South Rim, which means that they are equally Glorious. I defy anyone to not be affected by the grandeur, and seeming unending vastness, of this magnificent natural wonder. The timing of the day for our impromptu visit was unavoidable, but still impactful. We arrived around mid-day which is the exact time of day that offers the least desirable viewing opportunities and that is strictly because the sun is overhead. This position does not allow for dramatic shadows or the blue-light filtering aspect of the atmosphere which gives us those great sunrise and sunset photos replete with all of the reds and oranges that we so want in our pictures.

          You will have to be satisfied with what we have to show you here as waiting an additional six or seven hours for the ideal photographic conditions was definitely not in the hand of cards dealt to us that morning!

          On our way out we took Route 89A to get back to Route 89, the main drag out here that links Arizona and Utah (and their National Parks) very nicely. As we drive around out here from place to place, the vistas laid out before us help make these drives incredibly rewarding in their own right.

          Thankfully the appropriate State DOTs know that people will pull over at the most inopportune times, and places, in order to snap a few pics of what is laid out before them. So, handy Viewpoints and Pull-Outs are strategically planted along these routes for our viewing pleasure (and safety!).

          By tonight we will be back in Durango , stopping for all the obvious reasons and also to pick up some required medication that we had shipped to a familiar destination. After that, it’s all eastward from there. We have some nifty stops planned over the last few weeks to keep both of us (You guys included!) entertained.

          Thanks for riding with us and not eating all of our Snacks!