Dedicated to the Open Road
Glen Lewis
This is for anyone who loves the open road
and just getting on it to see where it will take you. I hate the interstate
and totally relax once we get on some old two lane or old forgotten dirt
track. The roughest road we traveled on this trip in my 97 Honda Accord coup
was Egypt road. At the trailhead we were surrounded by unbelieving late
model 4wd SUVs. Sure if it had rained, we would have been hosed but we do
get better than 35 MPG on the road and it does carry our packs, cooler and
camp chairs just fine.
This was the view from our first camp up on Cottonwood Wash road west of
Page. It is a dirt road through some wildly beautiful country. Not another
soul around.
Next is a camp we made on the last day we spent in the Escalante area after
a long day of hiking in Harris wash and Tunnel slot canyon. It was a
peaceful meadow in cattle country.
We did hit rush hour on the way to this camp as this next photo shows. That
was the last stubborn cow of the whole herd that we and the one other
vehicle waited for. That cowboy has a whip in his hand that you can't see
and was patient but not happy with this bad cow.
He did crack that whip as he passed but my memory card was full and I missed
the best shot.
Next we do have a perfect motorcycle road through the wastelands and it was
a long gorgeous ride.
and through this where we soon crossed the Dirty Devil river and then the
Colorado near Hite. I was here for a good 15 minutes and one car and one
motorcycle passed, my kind of road.
The many miles of two land backroads were just nothing short of fantastic
driving experience through desert wastelands, vast grasslands and some big
pine forests. We even got into a snow storm for 25 miles in some high
country between Boulder and Capital Reef in the Dixie National Forest.
I love the open road. I wish they hadn't buried so much of Route 66 beneath
interstate. That is my kind of road as well.
©2004 Glen Lewis