For the drive home we opted to skip the freeway and take an alternative route that promised nearly the same driving time (22 hours). We were a little nervous about dealing with mostly two-lane roads on an already long drive but the traffic turned out not to be a problem. I think it's still too early in the season for the camper crowd. The bonus was lots of never-before-seen scenery for us and a lot less tedious drive than the highway. We took a northwesterly route up Arizona, shimmied along the western edge of Nevada, clipped the northeastern corner of California, and popped into Oregon at the southern border at just about in the middle of the state.
I found Nevada the most interesting because other than occasional forays to Death Valley and a side trip one time to Red Rock Canyon Conservation Area (near Las Vegas) I've never spent much time there. Highlights included: Shady Lady Ranch Brothel; the far-as-the-eye-can-see 2,427 army depot reserve ammunition storage bunkers "to be used after the first 30 days of a major conflict"; Walker Lake, the second largest lake in Nevada (20 miles long), now mostly devoid of fish after years of upstream irrigation has reduced water flow into the lake leaving too much mineral concentration for fish to survive. It's practically a dead lake (you can see large concentrations of salt along its edges) but there's always a sucker: "Premium Lakefront Homesite...Rare dockable lakefront land from only $69,000...40% discount.... perfect for all water sports and fishing"; and, saving the best for last, amazing colors on the hills of the Paiute Indian Reservation at sunset.
Now that we're back in Portland it's time to look to the future and forget about the past. Except there are a few more pictures to post. I'll make it quick:
Gila Monster:
I spent three months hoping to see a Gila but leave it to Chris to come across one while he was mountain biking. The Gila is the only venomous lizard in the U.S. It hibernates underground most of the year, coming out to snack on eggs of ground nesting birds when the weather warms up in spring. I read that Gila Monsters rarely bite humans but, when they do, they tend not to let go. Now that would make for an interesting visit to the emergency room.
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| Chris spies a Gila Monster |
Big Horned Owl
Ok, it's no Gila, but I thought this was kind of cool. I was making dinner and heard a bird-like racket outside. I looked around and saw that in a tree there was a lot of commotion and what appeared to be a gargantuan bird; I could only see massive black wings flapping under the branches and heard what sounded like some birds have a really heated discussion. I went over to the tree and saw this owl sitting on a branch, pretty much ignoring two of the biggest damn Ravens (aka Crows) that I have ever seen. The two Ravens were extremely unhappy with the owl, for no particular reason that I could discern. They flew in and out of the tree, dive bombing him and trying to chase him off. The funny thing was, the owl completely ignored them except to sometimes open it's mouth at them in what I guess was sort of a defensive move. Still flustered, the ravens eventually left. That owl was Stoic.
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| Cool Hand Luke Owl |
Sedona
A few weeks before leaving Tucson Chris went to Sedona for a weekend of mountain biking. Since we don't have a ready-made cat sitter in Tucson, I agreed to stay in Tucson with Smudge while Chris enjoyed red rock country. Next year, I find a cat sitter!
And that's it for another year. Hope to see you again next year, Tucson!
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