After driving our family about 1700 miles (2800 Km), we have finally arrived and have settled a bit in our new home in West Covina, in the San Gabriel Valley of California. We arrived in the LA area on June 1 and officially moved into our townhome on June 2. Things are beginning to settle a bit, but our kids are still adjusting to the new place.
We are mostly used to living in the flat plains, where plant farming is the predominant landscape feature. This is the case in both South Dakota and in Minnesota. As we approached western South Dakota, a dramatic change happened. Once crossing the Missouri River at Pierre, the landscape became very hilly instead of flat.
The Black Hills prepared us for mountains to come. We visited the Sitting Bull Crystal Cave, which is an amazing cave full of raw crystals in beautiful chambers. I really enjoyed it, as I always enjoy exploring caves (not that I have much experience). Kaisa had to face her fear of heights and trust that she would not fall down the stairs, which were extremely steep and numerous. Julian loved it. He became the tour guide’s best friend, walking with her to be as far ahead of everyone as he was allowed. He loved it so much in the cave that he screamed when it was time to leave. The kids were allowed to explore a mini-cave at the top with flashlights, which gave Julian an enormous (and possibly permanent) fascination with flashlights. Jasper just wanted to get out of our arms and explore the cave on his own, which, unfortunately, we did not allow. Willa wasn’t as interested in visiting, but ended up enjoying it after all.
Wyoming is very large and beautiful. It reminded me of the steppe of Mongolia, which we saw in 2005. Instead of the monotony of plant agriculture, I was amazed at the beauty of the hardy grasses which live on the semi-arid land. The energy there was fiercely individualistic, where no government or social net will save you from the relentless winds and harsh foothills. The nearest town was frequently more than 30 miles away, which made me always check my gas gauge before leaving town since the truck I drove averaged only about 8-9 miles/gallon.
Utah brought us the most adventure of the trip. The state greeted us with a steep mountain pass at the northeastern corner on I-80. The first test of our fully-loaded 17-foot U-Haul with car-in-tow was descending the 6% grade for 2 miles without losing control. It made me a bit nervous, but the transmission and brakes were able to handle it.
As we drove through Utah on I-15, we realized that the freeway seemed to only follow the Great Basin, but avoided all the mountains. As we drove by mountain after mountain, their beckon became louder. We saw the depths of the Earth and now we had a chance to visit its heights. To do this, we had to leave the freeway and it’s implicit safety. We got off the freeway and took US-89 and state highway 143 to visit Cedar Breaks National Monument, near Cedar City. We didn’t know what it was, but heard from the locals it was beautiful and not too far out of our way. The steepness of the drive strained the U-Haul in many places as we ascended to what turned out to be an altitude of 10,460 feet.
The view at the top was breathtaking. The monument is a miniature canyon characterized by tall spires, intense colors and a few arches. There are photographs, but these are nothing like visiting in person. The kids wanted to explore on their own. With a 2000 foot cliff being right next to the outlook, their movements were extremely limited. They did get to visit the actual outlook and see the spires, but they could only do so one at a time while holding either Willa’s or my hand. We also walked down a trail at the mountain peak to let the kids play in the mountain snow. Since we had recently experienced a second winter in South Dakota, the kids were not as impressed with the mountain snow as we were. Maybe they’ll appreciate mountain snow more after living in southern California a while.
After leaving the Chessman Outlook at Cedar Breaks, we learned that getting up the mountain on state highway 143 was the easy part. The drive down the mountain on state highway 148 was as white-knuckled a drive as I’ve experienced in any blizzard during our years in Minnesota. Our loaded U-Haul + Towed Car was like trying to control a locomotive down the 6-8% grades that were common during that short drive that felt like it would never end.
It was definitely the short way down the mountain and I’m glad we didn’t try to climb the mountain using that road. The U-Haul could not have driven up it. There was frequently no shoulder at all and the lanes seemed narrower than normal. I’m sure oncoming cars were nervous when they saw me barrel around a corner at them, testing the quality of the U-Haul transmission and brakes. The total descent was about 15 miles toward Cedar City, but much of the intensity was in the first 5-8 miles. Naturally, I recommend anyone else wishing to visit to leave the U-Haul in Cedar City and just take a smaller vehicle up the mountain. And don’t even attempt it by car in the winter, as the large signs clearly state in black-and-white that the road is not plowed.
I-15 took us through a corner of Arizona that I think of as the Valley of the Giants (though it is officially known as the Virgin River Gorge). It was an exhilarating drive around the serpentine curves with the immense foothills rising up next to the road. It is a “forgotten” interstate in Arizona, as there are no paved roads that lead to it within that state. It demonstrates the awesome power water has to carve earth, as the road follows the gorge cut by the Virgin River.
Nevada state line greeted us very suddenly with dry desert (though it appears that residents of Mesquite and Las Vegas don’t know it’s a desert). In one day, the temperature for us went from about 50 degrees Fahrenheit at the top of Cedar Breaks to about 95 degrees in Las Vegas. It was quite a change.
The people in Nevada don’t seem to want to accept the land as it is, but instead think they can irrigate their way into a tropical paradise. Unfortunately, I see the land winning this battle someday, as the desert will reclaim Las Vegas. Literally everything in Las Vegas and Mesquite relies on human irrigation in the extreme dryness of the desert. The land has millions of years to fight. The people have only scores. Though the people have the power of their technology to aid them, the desert has a power of its own that dwarfs the best technologies of man. If we were living in Nevada (or any other desert area), I would rather adapt my lifestyle to the way the land is, rather than attempt to change the local climate.
The Mojave Desert in southern California didn’t have such a conflict with the people living there as we saw in Nevada. It had a different sort of character. It almost felt like a surreal version of what we’re used to, like an alternate universe. For example, we stayed at a motel in Baker called Wills Fargo (yes, that is spelled as the sign said). Lunch at the Mad Greek restaurant (which was featured on Food Network’s Diners, Drive-ins and Dives) was a delicious and interesting comedy. The combination of their excellent food, strange and funny decor, and three kids who’ve traveled about 1500 miles made it into quite a lunch.
When we finally arrived at our new digs, we were more than ready to be done traveling. We now have electricity (which was turned off for a day due to a power company mix-up), internet access and are slowly adjusting to the new routines. We expect to start looking for a spiritual group soon as things finish settling.