Three Tall One Small – Page 5

Moab Trip July 30, 2020

Our first full day here in Moab, early morning 6.00am wake up, got to Dead Horse Point at 7.15 or so, headed for the Intrepid, Great Pyramid and Raven Roll trails, about 4.1 miles in total and so much fun. Exhausting yes and adrenaline inducing, but no one fell off; we just dismounted with extreme prejudice. The viewpoints along the trail were wonderful. This pretty much duplicated the experience we had at the very same spot in 2014, but this time we were all somehow more confident and accomplished.

After storing the bikes back in the trailer we headed for town. We had an early 11.00am lunch at Milts – the best burger ever. But this time the fries were the best! Jeri, Beth and I had malts and shakes.

After a trip to the grocery store we collapsed at home and had baths and showers. A quiet afternoon of jigsaw and some sleep. This evening we cooked sausages accompanied by kale salad and bagels and Josh Cabernet.

Moab Trip July 29, 2020

Breakfast was coffee and cold pizza. We abandoned plans for a bike ride around Navajo Lake. Drive to Moab was beautiful along highways 89 and 62. Lunch at Otter Creek State Park reservoir; turkey breast sandwiches. At Capitol Reef national park, stopped to walk along the wooden path and view the petroglyphs. We continued to listen to Artemis Fowl…

Matt drove most of the way on highway 24 to I-70, then down the 191 to Moab. Condo was great, garage huge, we soon unloaded and then went off to pick up our Mexican takeaway from Miguel’s Baja Grill – the burritos, chicken enchiladas with mole and pork tacos were great, accompanied by Moab Brewery IPA.

Moab Trip July 28, 2020

4.00am alarm, left at 5.00am after making sandwiches and finishing our final loading. A full Subaru Outback with the trailer loaded with four bikes, dry food, equipment box, Coleman stove, bike box, spare tire, two Dutch ovens, two air beds and a bunch of other stuff. Destination was Navajo Lake campground Utah. First stop was a Starbucks at Victorville.

Subaru comfortable and quite roomy in the back. At Cedar City we got pizzas from Centro and ate them in the park, then took the highway to Cedar Breaks to do a short 2 mile hike on a paved path and admire the fantastic views.

We were keen to get to the campsite so we drove on down to Navajo Lake campground; beautiful site amongst the aspen trees. Erected the Autana and spent too much time getting the annex erected; the painful bit was zipping the floor to the annex itself, something that should not be troublesome in future if we can leave the floor zipped to the sidewalls. We had to have the tent fold out over the parking space, so there was no chance to stake the annex out fully; we used rocks, the spare tire and a few stakes and it worked out OK, but on grass it will be much better.

Jeri cooked enchiladas in the Dutch oven, with chicken pre-cooked earlier in the week.

With both the upstairs and the annex lit with LED string lights it was very cozy looking. It was cold by the morning!

Day 10 Newark to DC

Beth’s second year dorm in the Christiana towers

We drop Beth’s stuff off at the University of Delaware this morning early and head to Target to stock up on supplies. Beth is sharing a suite with three others and her second year dorm is great. Tim goes to Barnes & Noble to work. After lunch we say our goodbyes and the remaining three of us set off for DC.

Beth seems OK to not be in the minivan.

The Tabard Inn in DC is great; old, eccentric, and different. We get the attic suite. After 4191 miles we bid goodbye to the Toyota. What a trip!

Next day we signed up for Lime and Bird electric scooters and go scootering.

Day 9 New York to Newark, DE

Left NYC at 8.30am and headed out west via the Lincoln Tunnel to Gettysburg. It was a surprisingly long way. Landscape flatish with rolling countryside and lots of trees. Gettysburg was quiet, sombre and well maintained.

Day 8 New York

A lot of walking today. Met Keith and Jeanne and walked over to the 9/11 pools then over to the Hudson River north to Greenwich Village where we had a drink and a bite to eat at an open air cafe. Matt and Beth then departed for the Nintendo store and freedom and we continued on to the Guggenheim. We’d been there in 2013 but at that time the central atrium had been obscured by an installation. This time it was quite open and so we got to enjoy the building itself as much as the art within. From the Guggenheim we took the subway to Hudson Yards and walked the High Line. This is a disused rail line running on an elevated platform south towards Greenwich Village. The restoration work has involved leaving the rails in place but careful placement of seating and plants has made it a very enjoyable walkway. After about a mile we took the stairs down to the Half King where we sunk two very nice pints of beer, after which we headed into the Village for a nice Italian meal.

We felt a bit sorry for the NYPD officer who had to drive this

Day 7 Niagara Falls to New York

What can we say about Niagara Falls? Well, it is very impressive that’s for sure. We visited early in the morning and the crowds were quite thin. A fifteen minute walk put us at the Horseshoe Falls overlook which was spectacular and below us we saw a boat full of passengers wearing red ponchos.

The drive through upstate New York took quite a bit of time as it is easy to forget just how large the state is. Rolling farmland and small towns and villages. For our drive into the city itself we adopted our standard operating procedure; Jeri drove and Tim navigated. It’s best that way.

NYC

We stayed at the YMCA in a four person room with metal bunk-beds, reminiscent (one imagines) of a prison cell. But the Clacketts are nothing if not adaptable and we were only sleeping there anyway. We took a stroll in the direction of a pizza restaurant selected by Matt to perform our third and final test. Yes, New York pizza was pretty good, very good actually, but the thin crust from Centro in Cedar City wins. Chicago deep dish is not really pizza at all, but jolly nice all the same.

Day 6 Toledo to Niagara Falls

A slower day today as we took time off to visit the Henry Ford museum in Dearborn and the Hudson museum in Yipsilanti. Highlight of the morning was a tour of the Ford F-150 assembly lines; we were able to walk around a catwalk overseeing the body assembly area below; fascinating stuff, but no pictures allowed.

Hudson Hornet Ypsilanti Automotive Heritage Museum

After Detroit we headed into Canada because this was the shortest route to Niagara. The border agent asked us how long we intended to stay and seemed nonplussed when we said four hours. We had dinner at a nice family restaurant near London, where despite Tim’s best efforts, we could not persuade the waitress to say ‘about’.

Day 5 Rochester to Toledo

Besides being the first time we have driven coast to coast, this trip has also been an experiment in Airbnb. The teepee was stage one and two nights ago we stayed in a place which was billed as a sort of condo but turned out to be a suite motel (comfortable nonetheless). But last night was the real thing; a small house in Rochester, near to the Mayo Clinic which was almost perfect; a downstairs apartment with two bedrooms, a kitchen, a lounge and a dining area. Almost but not quite perfect because Matt had to sleep on the couch, but close enough. At least some of us caught up on episodes of The Office…

Today we stayed on I-90 almost all the way, 590 miles through Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio. Miffed about missing the Deke Slayton museum in Sparta, Wisconsin (got there too early). Continued to enjoy our audio book. The land is getting softer – far less open range and many more trees scattered across the farmland. High point was having genuine Chicago deep dish pizza, but note that a medium size, labeled as being fit for 3/4 people, actually can feed 10. Got to hotel in Toledo at 9.15pm, now in EST.

Jeri actually puts her fingers in the Mississippi!

Chicago deep dish pizza; one slice is enough!

Day 4 Rapid City to Rochester

Our first destination was Wall Drug. Obviously, because how can one ignore all those signs?

I-90 going east. Very green, lots of cows and corn. Not entirely unexpected.

Difficult to resist doing this at the Corn Palace

Corn, naturally

Today was spent driving on I-90 east and nothing else. Crossed the Missouri, one of the great rivers of America. Had a picnic lunch in a public park in Mitchell, to get away from drive throughs. Started listening to our second audiobook, Agent of Change. The landscape changed slowly from grassland and prairie to the more controlled and segmented farmland of corn and soybeans. No bison were spotted, which was a disappointment, mainly to Tim.