It’s a one month mission: to explore strange new worlds…

Day 12 St George UT – Las Vegas, NV

Claire did not sleep well last night.  Ate breakfast and headed on a side trip to Snow Canyon where we think we found the Black Fire Desert. Trip through the canyon was beautiful – red, black and white rocks. Headed toward Vegas and the land looks like desert with only small shrubs – no grass. Crossed into Arizona through breathtaking Virgin River Gorge.  Continued to drop in elevation as we traveled down through the gorge to the river. Rode beside the river in the flatland at 2000 ft elevation.  Took 91 through Beaver Dam/Littlefield and into Nevada before getting into Mesquite.  Took 169 into Lawndale and Moapa Valley. Stopped at the Lost City Museum in Overton.  We were not able to see St. Thomas because of the recent flood.  Continued to Valley of Fire.  The rocks truly looked like flames jutting up out of the ground.  Checked into the hotel and went to get car serviced.  The temp was 113.  Ate at Table34LasVegas. Camped at Hyatt Place in Las Vegas.  Mileage -223.2

I had a restless sleep last night (what little I did get).  That started to worry me as Dandy’s journal had stated they had rough sleep and then multiple things going wrong during the day.  I’m glad the rest of our day went off well.

We had breakfast at the hotel, then took off early to try to beat the heat.  It started out in the mid 80s and we knew it was going to get much hotter.   We took a side trip up into the Snow Canyon and Red Cliffs area.    The location is only about 20 miles from where we stayed.  On the drive up, we weren’t sure if the canyon road we were driving to would be dirt or paved, but we figured we could turn around if needed once we saw it.  On the way up there, we saw some beautiful red mountains and rock formations, and near the turn off there were whitish rock formations to the left.  We were so happy when we turned into the park and the road was paved.  We paid our $6 to get into the park and drove thru it.   The sites were fantastic.  Intermixed with the red and white rock formations were black lava rocks from lava flows.  We now think Dandy might have come this way as this is the closest thing we’ve seen to the Black Fire Desert.  The black volcanic rock next to the red and white rock formations was breath taking.  The sand at the bottom was a very fine red sand and if you walked in it, it would seep into your shoes or sandals.  Someone started turning up the heat in the oven so we headed on.

Once we left the canyons, we entered more desert area.  Part of our route was on back roads but most was on I15 which is where Dandy’s original route passed.   We left Utah and entered Arizona.  We were only in Arizona for about 20 miles but we all agree, it was the most dramatic views we’ve seen so far on this trip.   We traveled down the Virgin River Gorge Canyon.  The views through the canyon were beyond belief, we kept going down, down, down, curvy road thru the sheer mountains on both sides, gusty winds (of course Susan was driving – she always gets the windy times).  Near the bottom of the canyon we saw the river and the road followed the river for the last several miles.  I know the pictures will not show all we saw, I just hope you can get a feel for it, BUT, if you are anywhere near the area, take I15 thru the 25 miles of north west Arizona.  You will not be disappointed.

Once we exited the canyon our view ahead was flat.  The change in scenery was dramatic in itself.    We then saw a triple Fed ex truck heading up into the canyon in the opposite direction.  I would hate to have to drive that route with a triple truck.

We stayed on I15 until Littlefield where we left I15 and the route switched back to back roads.  Somewhere along the line, we switched to Pacific Time.   The valleys are no longer green and we are definitely in the desert.  The temp was now about 101 and it was only 10am.   We followed the old road from Littleton to Mesquite, NV were we rejoined I15 because we could not take the old route.  It went from Mesquite to St Thomas, but a good portion of that area is now under Lake Mead. We drove to exit 93 then headed south to rejoin the route on the other side.

Along the way we stopped at the Lost City Museum which talked about the old Indian settlements in the area and about cities, such as St Thomas that no longer exist.  Susan and Pam did some shopping at the gift shop.  We also learned that even though you can see the foundations for St Thomas because of the California drought, the flooding rains they had last week did damage to the road to access and that area is closed while it is being repaired.  We were also told it was a long hike even if the road was open, and the temp was now more than 104 so we passed.   We picked up the route to head into the Valley of Fire.  On the way we had a road runner cross the road in front of us.  I guess they were smaller than I thought they would be.  We were passing thru a miniature version of what we passed in Arizona.  I’m sure we would have thought it was great but our expectations had changed by what we already had seen.

Then we entered the Valley of Fire.  Oh my, another wonderful set of views.   Susan had just been thru part of the valley back in March so she sat in the back seat and I drove.  It felt good to be driving again.  With all these backroads we’ve been taking, I’ve had to spend most of the time navigating and getting directions to things we want to see.   Pam was in charge of the camera, but I took it over when I could stop and get a good picture.   The initial portion of the road had red rocks jutting up and they truly looked like fire frozen into stone.  It was gorgeous. Then we hit a section of road that was really curvy and the pictures needed to be precise so we did a Chinese fire drill.   Susan drove, I sat shotgun with the camera and Pam moved to the back seat.  I’m hoping a lot of the shots are good.  We learned that one section of the area is where a lot of the star trek episodes were filmed, and I do say we felt like we were on another world.  I sure hope it was winter when they filmed as it is HOT out there.

We saw what looked like a ram crossing the road and a white lizard.  I just don’t understand how anything can live in this area.  I would die of heat stroke if I did.  Each time I got out of the car, I had to drink a bunch of water once I got back in.  The air just sucks all the water out of you. We decided that we are not hardy enough to have moved out here like the pioneers.

Next we headed into Vegas to the hotel.  We wanted an early day.  We called National car rental up and asked them if we should do an oil change since we have already put 3500 miles on the van.  They tried to get us scheduled and then just told us to go to Firestone as they have an account with them.  Susan and Pam took off there and I stayed and worked on the blog.  We got an oil change and got then to check the air filter and fluid levels.  We have at least 3500 more miles to go and in this heat we want the van to be in the best shape.  It’s now 113.

Susan and Pam returned.  They said they met the nicest man Vahan Aslarryan “Bear” from the Firestone in Vegas.  They enjoyed getting to know him and learning about his life and really appreciated his help in getting them on their way so quickly.  You made their day “Bear”.

Had dinner tonight with Lauren and Pete DiPrete.  I’ve not seen them in years and it was good to catch up with them.  I hope they can both get back east to visit soon.  We then drove down the Las Vegas strip to show Pam all the hotels.

Tonight we are staying at the Hyatt Place in Las Vegas.  It is 8000 Hyatt points but Hyatt just let me sign up for a promotion yesterday that I get 10% of my points back that I use before Oct 31, so the hotel was really only 7200.  Cool.

Into the Black Fire Canyon

Into the Black Fire Desert

This is really the Snow Canyon but we think dandy called it the Black Fire Desert

This is really the Snow Canyon but we think dandy called it the Black Fire Desert

more canyon

more canyon

look at the different colors

look at the different colors

now the white mountains

now the white mountains

Petrified sand dune

Petrified sand dune

Susan in front of the lava

Susan in front of the lava

More canyon

More canyon

more canyon

more canyon

on the road

on the road

on the riad

on the riad

more road

more road

going into the Arizona Virgin Canyon

going into the Arizona Virgin Canyon

see that yellow dot at the bottom of the giant granite. now zoom in and the red dot is a car. That gives you the size

see that yellow dot at the bottom of the giant granite. now zoom in and the red dot is a car. That gives you the size

thru the winding road

thru the winding road

alongthe winding road

along the winding road

more of the canyon

more of the canyon

the cliffs on both sides of the highway

the cliffs on both sides of the highway

The river thru the canyon

The river thru the canyon

the flat right after the hills

the flat right after the hills

the mini grand canyon

the mini grand canyon

a cut in the old road

a cut in the old road

cactus

cactus

the long flat road ahead

the long flat road ahead

cave in the red fire valley

cave in the red fire valley

the fire valley rocks

the fire valley rocks

into the fire valley

into the fire valley

yellow hills in the fire valley

yellow hills in the fire valley

black hills

black hills

the 7 sisters

the 7 sisters

thru the valley

thru the valley

yellow hills

yellow hills

look at the colors

look at the colors

more of the valley

more of the valley

again the different colors

again the different colors

The tall fingers

The tall fingers

flowing colors

flowing colors

the road out

the road out

Pam in a cave

Pam in a cave

113 degrees

113 degrees