Overton, Hurricane, Zion National Park
We left the camping space early in the morning (my definition of early is about 10: 7 am is still midnight!).
Packing is the morning is always a painful part for us. V does most of the packing (all right, all of the packing, while I stand clear of his way - that's my way of helping him). I do assist him by ensuring that he has a decent breakfast waiting for him, when he is 'almost' done with tearing the tent down and stuffing it in our bags.
The plan was to reach Zion National Park by day end. But we also knew that it never sticks to the plan, so we were OK with whatever the day had in store for us. That’s the way we had been traveling, looking at the map, and deciding where to head and where to stop. The best trips are when there is no plan.
Just as we were crossing overton, I saw a sign that said ‘Lost City museum’ and I dragged V to it out of curiosity. In my mind i thought of some old big ruins of a civilization that we could never have imagined existed in the times it did. The kind of men and women, what they looked like. The hostile enviromnet they lived in, the monsters they fought for survival. Ok, cut the drama, back to the museum. It was tiny little building shaped like a pueblo (we learnt this word later in the museum), built over the remains of an original pueblo made by the people who inhabited this place some 10,000-12,000 years ago. Now, THAT's what I call history, and it started to interest me now. Finally i guess, I got some perspective to the history of this region, this land.
I have always been fascinated by history, (No that doesn't mean I scored better grades in that subject when I was in school). I loved to dream about how their life styles would have been, what they did, how they did, what their average day looked like, how were women and children places in the society. You can always tell a lot about the society by knowing how the women are treated. It may sound a little feminist as I say it, but I truly do believe in this theory. The progress and survival of any society depends on how well they keep their women. It is strange how humans have evolved over thousands of years, but the basics have remained the same. Women are still the home makers (even if they go out and make their careers). I would love to know how we evolve in another 10,000 years, I doubt if anything will change. I guess it comes from the fact that men cannot multi-task (now don't ask me why, God just didn't give them the ability, he knew they couldn't handle it).
The riding was fun. I love moving my head around and looking at the sides. Sometimes I overdo it, and V has to remind me to sit straight. I pity him for doing all the riding, he misses all the fun :D
COWS, I spotted some cows. As Indians, we are used to seeing cows and dogs and horses amongst us. No, not in the house, I meant the roads. They are all over the roads. Its nice having company :D
Here in the US, you don't see people for say 120 miles at a stretch - no car in sight, no shade by the road, no one to look at, just plain endless road. SO the cows got me so excited that I HAD to click a picture. (Just babbling an explanation here, so that you don't think I am losing my mind posting pictures of random animals, phew!) It seemed that my excitement was fairly verbal, 'coz I heard V shouting through his helmet, telling me to stay still on the bike. I guess he feared I would jump off and go hugging one of the animals.
But then V and I are birds of the same feather. We can get excited an inane things, and get people to wonder what we are up to. Before I could understand what he was up to, he was screeching to a halt.
"What the F*&^ do you think you are doing stopping on the highway"
<Random hand actions>
"Stop playing dumb charades with me, will you. What do you want?"
<Moving lips through the helmet, and hand action clicking>
"You want me to click a picture? Of what?" I clearly didn't see anything around me that was picture worthy at the moment. The cows were far behind us.
V gave up by now. He pulled over on a road shoulder, removed his helmet, "Give me the camera"
And here is what he clicked - This was on the OTHER side of the road. Funny!
"But we are not entering Arizona, we are leaving Arizona to enter Utah"
"Yeah but we didn't click one when we entered" it seemed logical to him, though I seemed to miss the point. He made a face that said 'girls are weird, they never understand' and put the camera back, happy with what he had accomplished. "I want to click that board for every state we visit"
"Well, you missed California and Nevada"
He ignored the sarcasm in my voice and said, "we will make the full loop and go back, we will click it then"
"HUH"
After what seemed like endless riding (I am sure it wasn't that much, just that my bums were hurting), I was almost pleading V to stop for the day. We came across a beautiful town called Hurricane (what a lovely name!!), and it seemed to me like I couldn't miss the opportunity. We hadn't had a shower in two days (Lake Mead doesn't have even the paid showers), and therefore it was fitting that we stay in a motel today.
We were standing across the Motel 8 reception, bewildered at what we are supposed to say - greeted by a 8 year old at the reception chair, asking us in a perfect accent "How can I help you today".
"Well, we were looking for a room for tonight" I tried to stay calm
"Two beds or one bed"
"One is fine, we are a couple" This was getting a little awkward now
"And how would you like to pay for this"
"Credit card" I said, while I wanted to REALLY ask him - can we PLEASE talk to an adult, maybe... if you don't mind that is.
"That would be $50 plus tax"
I couldn't refrain myself by now. "Do you like, own this place?"
"My dad does" he was smooth like hell
"And do you run this"
"No, my dad is sleeping"
THANK YOU. I would have fainted if you hadn't said that.
After dumping the luggage and a quick shower we realized that we still had some time at hand for the day (<puppy face> it was only 230 in the afternoon). We stepped out to look at Zion.
V had been telling me all morning how his ADV friends said it was a beauty, even when less popular than the bigger ones. It was only 20 miles from Hurricane and I was visibly much less tired after the bath, so what the hell.
If the road from Hurricane to Zion was anything to go now, I could guess that the park would be beautiful.
We checked at the camp site to see if there was anything available for us. As we had suspected, no luck. But we did realize that if we wanted a place, we should be there the next morning.
This again was something that was in contrast to the pattern you would have in India. Back home, if we wanted to go anywhere, we would typically reach there in the evenings, when we had roamed around and it was time for us to relax. But here, we were learning the hard way that if you wanted a place to stay, you have to be there in the mornings, put up your camp and then head out for the day. It is always interesting to note the differences between two societies and how people behave/react. People-observing has always been my hobby, and I take pride in the fact that I read them very well. (My favorite pass-time is to sit by the camp site by the fire and look around at everyone who passes by and then try to imagine what (s)he would be like, but more on that later).
Zion was every bit as beautiful (and cold) as I had imagined. We parked the bike and took the shuttle to go around the park. This was the 1st park where I saw the shuttle (not that I had been to many.. but in my limited knowledge this was still the 1st). It was a much more convenient and less polluting way of getting people around the park. (+10 to the government for this one). We used the afternoon and evening getting on and off the shuttle bus.
"Lt's go for a trail" this was V's brilliant idea. Wonder why he thought that I would want to go walking. But he is a baby, he always comes up with these sweet ideas thinking I would like it. Muah :D
"OK, let's do it. Which one is the shortest?" I wanted to keep the exercise to the minimum :)
"The weeping rock" We choose the shorted one, which said 1.4 miles round trip, and started off.
contrary to what I had thought before we started, I actually liked this. Walking along the nature, with so much beauty around you. It was soothing.
The read signs that said, when the water is half gone, its time to return. LOL, really? All these warnings for a 1.4 miles round trip? Not bad!
We continued walking for a while, when I spotted a deer. WOW, never seen one in my life so close, and so fearless. It seemed oblivious to our existence, and even if he did see us, he didn't care.
We clicked a few good shots and were pleased with ourselves.
This trail thing was good, I was liking it. But 30 minutes down the trail, I was huffing and puffing.
"Isn't it a mile already" It seemed like we had been walking for ages.
"Don't know, guess not. It said this was an easy trail" V was his indifferent self.
"But I am sure we have walked much more than a mile"
"Maybe we are nearing the end of it" tried to keep me going.
"This is it. I quit. We have been walking for over an hour" I was exasperated by now.
"Just a little more, I am sure it's towards the end of it"
The trail was getting steeper and I felt like i was climbing a mountain.
"I refuse to go any further. I am dying, and this doesn't seem to end" I sat down.
"OK, I will go and check how much more is it" V was also getting restless.
Man, I was impressed. I couldn't finish the trail that was the easiest in the US. I didn't know what was I to derive out of it. Maybe the age was catching up with me, however much I denied the fact. <Sad face>
V went on to check while I stayed back looking at the world around me. It was beautiful and I loved to be here. It felt nice to be without my laptop and my blackberry and for once not worrying about a meeting or a presentation or a deadline. It just felt nice to look at something and not think about anything. Just nice, nothing else.
V came back and announced that he couldn't see the end of the trail, and without saying, I turned to go down.
"It's OK, we don't always have to finish the trail" he consoled me
"You won't tell anyone, will you?"
"No, I won't. You can always say you finished the trail."
We sprinted our way back. it's always easier coming down the hill, and I think the return is the best part of the trail.
Finally on the trail head, I went to the board to re-check if this was really only 1.4 miles. It sure felt much more than that. What I read put all the pieced together.
"Baby, do you know how much we walked?" I asked V as he came and stood next to me. "The trail we were on, was 12 miles, and it is listed as 'strenuous'"
"Really? how come? It said 'easy' on the guide"
"Well, the easy one is in the other direction" and we both giggled our hearts out. people gave us funny glances, I am sure no one else understood what was so funny, but we didn't have to tell anyone.
This was enough adventure for one day, and we had to head back now. Back to the motel and sleep like dead men!
The next day we reached the park with our luggage at 11, only to realize that the camp sites were sold out that morning by 10. Damn! What the hell. It's a Friday people, don't you have work to attend or what!
Let's go to the other campground and try our luck. I knew this was a crazy idea, but what the hell, it was worth a shot. A board greeted us at the entrance - "Pls do not enter without reservation, campground full".
THANK YOU.
But V wouldn't go back without talking to ranger. And I thank him for that! We did manage to get one last site, that had just become available due to a cancellation. <Wide Grin>
We set up our camp, and whiled away the morning lazily eating and relaxing. The trail from the previous day was still heavy on our legs.
By noon, I was so excited about the trail, that I wanted to do one again.
V claimed that he can never understand me, but then no one does, so why bother.
I wanted to do the 'river-side trail' which was listed as a moderate hike, and after the earlier one, it seemed easy.
we packed up our bag - a water bottle, some energy bars, some peanuts, an apple and one orange - and we were good to do. The river side trail lived up to its name, it was pretty and along with river. I would just leave that story telling to the pictures. Nothing better than that.
Slow ride, nothing eventful, till we reached the Sand Dunes. It wasn't much of a ride, 85 miles or so, and V wanted to move on after we have a look at the sand dunes. I, on the other hand, wanted to stop for the day, and was in no mood for the ride (the bad start of the day, remember?) It is amazing to know how much difference one (ok, two) cup of coffee can make. 
We were so out of place and people did give us funny glances. Everyone, I mean EVERYONE, was either riding an OHV or had one (or more) parked in their campsites. And here we were, in a Honda ST1300, with luggage mounted on the bike, camping at the Sand Dunes!!!! 
What the hell, might as well enjoy. We tried walking around, but it was too hot and very difficult to walk around in the sand. So we sat at the Pavilion, looking at others riding their OHVs and clicking some snaps for a while. For now, this was the best we could do. It was late afternoon and we hadn't had lunch, so it was only fair that we exit the sand dunes, and save ourselves some misery, at least for a while. 
So we ended up buying another camper's stove and a propane bottle, and some quick-fix meals that I could cook easily. The only problem now was to figure out how to pack up! 
