Into the Fire

Tuesday, 6 September 2022, Ely NV

This trip came together quickly once I returned from California. I established the timing by checking for a room at the Grand Canyon Lodge on the North Rim - from September 1 to October 15 (their annual closing date), the only two consecutive nights available were 9/14-15. Since the full moon would occur on 9/10 (so I could hike the hoodoos in Bryce under the silvery moon), that nailed down the schedule.

The success in setting up these five parks couldn't drown out the concerns I had over the future of this epic. For my first 13 parks, my blogs had averaged over 50 views each (my Grand Adventures Tour averaged 65 views). The Dakotas blogs averaged 35; the Cascades and Coastal parks got 25; central California has only hit 21 thus far. Can I keep my enthusiasm up, especially for spending so much on this travel while other bills start coming in. Coming up: the 100,000 mile service on Sue's car and a likely root canal for me.

The other main stressor weighing me down: should I commit to a Climate Action Ride in Death Valley in November? Four days of cycling in that park sounded sublime - a perfect experience for the challenge. But it requires me to raise over $2000 for climate-associated charities. Could I do that (with people getting tired of my shenanigans?) or commit to self-funding the difference? I found myself torn, unable to decide.

I left on this Western Parks trip still agonizing. When a runaway truck tire slammed into Sue's car as we approached the airport, smashing her quarter-panel, my mood sunk further. Even if I couldn't feel happy as I got underway, at least I could paste on a smile as I brightened airline workers' days by handing them roses.

LAX looked familiar to me, after having flown in a half-dozen time for work 2017-2018. The Las Vegas airport caught me by surprise - so much neon in the terminal!

My luggage showed up in Terminal Two, while Bill ('Iron Man')waited for me in Terminal Three. I had to take a shuttle over - no sidewalk would take me there, and at 115°, I wouldn't have walked it even if I could.

We took the shuttle to the car rental center, only to discover that my car was reserved from the downtown Budget location (a fact that the website had neglected to mention). Add a taxi fare to the expense. The ride over felt surreal, with the eclectic buildings, moving billboards, and whatnot. The city struck me as an animation fantasy, as if Pixar had designed the city.

We elected to take s short detour to see Valley of Fire State Park.

If the red rocks splayed about the landscape didn't earn it that moniker, then the 114° temperature did. We drove from pullout to overlook, gaping at the rocks.

At the popular trailheads, though, big signs screamed out, "Hiking is NOT recommended." Every time we stepped from the car, the heat assaulted us.

After an hour, we retreated to the air-conditioned car for the long drive to Ely (rhymes with 'freely'). The town was small, not big enough for a Walmart. (The nearest Walmart, one person told us, lay a 3-hour drive away.) The term 'retro' comes to mind - in a laudatory newspaper review posted next to the elevator in the Hotel Nevada (a 6-story building in a town where nothing else tops two stories), the reviewer mentioned that Ely "is about a four-hour drive northwest of Las Vegas - that's about one hour for each decade back in time you have traveled." I guess that accounts for the Radio Shack sign hanging on the building across the street.

The room at the Hotel Nevada was quaint. In our small room, the two of us had no room to even pass by each other at the foot of our beds. The bathroom sink was strictly a sink - no counter attached. A sign attached to the bathroom door stated, "CAUTION Due to the age of the hotel 1929, the shower fluctuates from hot to cold without warning." Of course, outside our fifth-floor window, the neon lights of the Jailhouse Saloon Restaurant Casino emitted their gassy glow.

The lobby followed the retro suit. The decorator installed a cigar-store Indian next to the rear doors, and mounted several animal heads among the bevy of slot machines that filled the room. Next to the front desk, an attached Denny's offered their signature dishes to anyone hungry enough to eat there. (The breakfast provided with our room was an Everyday Grand Slam for free, or $5.00 off anything we ordered from the menu. Hey - it got us through two nights in Nevada.)

NOTE to my readers: Please send me your feedback! What am I doing well, what doesn't really click? I hope to continue growing as a writer, but need to have a sounding board to do so: can't flourish in a vacuum. Feel free to email or message me, or attach comments to the blog. Thank you all in advance.

And please hang in there! This trip is not running as smoothly as my others, but I still hope for a memorable ending.