On the Road Again

As you all know, I love to travel.  I had been hatching a plan to visit my dad in Wisconsin, and then on to Mexico with Eduardo, but wasn't sure how the logistics would play out.  And then suddenly, poof!  The answer revealed itself last Friday, when my wonderful friend and fellow artist Lizz Tucker asked me if I would like to join her on her last minute road trip to New York.  She would drop me in Milwaukee, with a few stops along the way.  Four days later, this past Tuesday, we hit the road, with our first destination Cedar City, Utah.  If you read my blog, you know I've done this first part of the route before.  Traveling the I-15 through California and heading for State Line, there's not much to see scenery wise.  But the clouds were gorgeous.  And the weather?  108 degrees and sunny!

We figured we were in for a long hot ride all the way to Utah, but suddenly those white puffy clouds with the interesting shapes started to look pretty dramatic, and a lot more serious.

We knew we were heading into a storm, and within minutes, Mother Nature let loose in all her fury, and it started to rain, which turned to hail.  The temperature outside the car dropped from 108 degrees to 68 degrees!  It was amazing.  We pulled over to the side of the freeway to wait out the storm. 

As you can see, visibility was practically zero, but of course there were still some cars zipping along the freeway at a pretty good clip, which made it scary to be parked on the side of the road, but it seemed the best alternative.  The desert plants became dotted with tiny ice balls,

and Mother Nature was even nice enough to leave us a raindrop on the windshield in the shape of a heart. 

I guess we did feel her love, because the storm sure did cool things down for a bit, and I'm sure the desert could use the rain and appreciated her gesture as well.  Just as quickly as it came on, the storm began to clear and we were back on the road crossing the state line into Nevada.

The weather continued to improve as we passed by Las Vegas, (with only our hello wave from the freeway), and headed for the Arizona border. The clouds still offered us dramatic views, but with the promise of blue sky above them.

 Crossing the northwestern corner of Arizona, we drove through the scenic Virgin River Gorge,

and then crossed the border into pristine, beautiful Utah.  Once again the weather turned hot and dry, and the temperatures soared back up over 105 degrees.

We arrived in Cedar City, near Zion National Park, and set up our camp for the night.  Yes, our CAMP.  I decided to go out on a limb and agree to some camping, and here is our nifty little set up the first night.

With my own cozy little tent, and a fabulous travel partner who likes to cook (not my specialty), I felt pretty blessed.  We sat down to a delicious dinner,

and then I settled into my tent complete with wi-fi.  My kids informed me that this was called "Glamping", not camping, but I felt proud to pitch a tent and spend a night in the outdoors.  The next morning would be an early one as we prepared to head over to Zion National Park.  And that is where I will leave the story until tomorrow.  Thanks so much for hitching a ride once again on my adventure wagon, and I wish you all a most wonderful sleep.

xoxo Linda