A collection of summaries about road trips enjoyed or endured.
As the beginning of December rolled around, I was reluctant to commit to attending this year’s Red Rock Balloon Rally after several prior visits resulted in scratched weekends of flights. Those Gallup weekends were not bad adventures, but I just didn’t feel like shelling out for lodging this year. Still, I decided at the...
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Two weekends ago was supposed to be about watching balloons flying among red rocks, but the weather decided to change that. The 24th Red Rock Rally in Gallup was scheduled to occur at the same time slot it has held each year since the event kicked off- during the first weekend in December. By...
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On Friday, August 4th, I was able to take off from work for my birthday, and I used the day to casually drive north to visit my friend Steve up in Westcliffe. The trip would be a lot of driving, but I was up for it. Turning 55 this year, it was a suitable...
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This weekend I needed to get out for a bit, and earlier in the week, someone in the Facebook “American Southwest” group gave me my excuse. Curiously enough, they had posted an image of a page from an old NM travel guide (1969’s “101 Trips in the Land of Enchantment ” by Betty Woods)...
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About 8:30 last Sunday evening, I was weaving my way through other walkers on Wacker Drive- which, as a riverfront path, is arguably one of the busiest pedestrian routes in Chicago on a summer weekend evening- when a long-haired and bearded young man in a canvas jacket and blue jeans strode passed me, speaking...
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Earlier this year I decided I wanted to return to Chicago and, once a resident long ago, spend some time in the city strictly as a tourist. I was grateful that I could take time off last week to do it (note to self: planning ahead is a good thing). I ended up flying...
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Traditionally, each July 4th, I’ve found myself yearning to get out and find somewhere to visit or a trail to hike. This year was no different, except I am not sure of the mental state of this docile midlifer on Independence Day when, on Monday morning, I arose fairly early, wavered a while about...
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If you take Utah Route 95 from Hanksville southwest to Blanding, you get to take in a lot of sights- which explains its designation as a Scenic Byway. For 125 miles, you pass through no towns, and wander from elevated plain to desert wilderness as you enter the Glen Canyon/Lake Powell region. Towards Blanding,...
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Last Sunday, the Trinity Site in White Sands Missile Range had one of its two semi-annual open houses, and I had a desire to visit it for some time, so I left in the morning to spend a few hours there. Not certain what I would experience there, once I got to there, I...
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When the Latter-Day Saints settled in this valley in southern central Utah, the nearby Fremont River provided irrigation for one of their first agricultural ventures- fruit trees. This field is a living remnant of those orchards around the once small community of Fruita, which was established in the 1880’s.
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