The road less travelled… could be the story of my life
My directions above (LOL)
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. One of my best road trips ever was followed up by the one from hell. I wish I were kidding, but I’m not. The remarkable part is that they happened within four days of each other. Let me start by saying that I love traveling in my car and have done my share of road trips. Not one to shy away from life, adventures seem to find me wherever I land.
I’m still in recovery, however, from my recent trip home from the States. My winter home in Yuma, AZ, is as far south as you can get. Only fifteen minutes north of the Mexican border and five minutes east of the California border. The road from Yuma was uneventful to Laughlin, where I stayed the night on my way home.
Getting an early start from there to Lehi, Utah, it still took me over twelve hours (approx 500 miles). I know, but my phone’s GPS is screwed, or maybe it’s me. I’m directionally challenged, and maybe that’s the story of my life. Seems I was going in the wrong direction, and needless to say, I didn’t want to backtrack. I was also loath to go through Las Vegas. There’s that one turn-off that gets me every time!
I planned on staying with my good friend Nettie and her amazing family for a couple of days in Utah. Anyways I eventually made it there, and that roundabout stretch of highway took me through Bryce Canyon. This was one of the most amazing drives in my life. The scenery and small towns I passed through were so unique and interesting. I was transfixed and in awe. However, unbeknownst to me, it set a precedent for the rest of my trip home.
My visit with Nettie and family was like being with my own family; what a treat this was. They have a beautiful house with mountain views (including snow at the tops). A huge pool with a waterfall and slide, and no, I did not venture onto that. The pool temp was 91 degrees, which is 32 degrees Celsius. We ended up spending over two hours or more floating, swimming, visiting, and catching up with our lives.
We also squeezed in a podcast (YouTube video) for my recent new venture, @”asknana123″, we titled it ‘the way to a man’s heart, is through his stomach.’ We barbequed and dressed a Chicago Dog, which is delicious, btw. We used Nathan’s Famous wieners, which are my favorite hot dogs. The fixings included diced tomatoes, diced dill pickles, and grated onions, oh, and mustard.
My YouTube ‘nana-pod’ has ended up going viral, but that is for another blog to explain how that happened. Needless to say, I’m having fun with it and learning lots. Seems I’m a YouTuber now, yikes, sounds like a teenybopper thang!
We had a great visit and decided we should do one nana-pod a month, a ‘Too Lazy to Cook’ type one. A take on our Too Lazy to Cook-Book series. We had a lot of great ideas for this, and I’m looking forward to doing this via Zoom. Not sure on logistics yet, but we’ll figure it out.
Back to my trip… I was checking the weather network and saw I only had a two- or three-day window to get back home to Canada to miss heavy snowstorms. Cutting my visit short, I left Monday morning; road conditions are important to me. And so started my sojourn into two days of the hellish part of my road trip.
Thank God the bad stretch was on my last day, and I survived to write about it. The other outcome would have been titled “The good, the bad and the Ugly” and never been written…
My Utah family gave me written directions and also put them into my phone. They did everything to make my trip home virtually painless and stress-free. BUT you know what they say about the best laid plans, and yep, it happens. The instructions for this trip were to avoid all the mountain passes I usually take to get home to Saskatchewan, Canada.
All was well until I hit a couple of chain-up areas and thought, hmmmm … mountain passes? Ah, well, nothing I couldn’t handle. The summits were 6000 and 7000 ft (there was no snow anywhere), and my car handled it all fairly well. The GPS directions on my phone were giving me confusing directions, though. There were so many turns onto differing routes that confused the heck outta me, but I get confused easily.
Long story short, I finally decided enough is enough, and after 12 hours of driving (no naps even), I was beat and needed a hotel room. I was in Newcastle, Wyoming? Everywhere was either full or no one answered the number I had to call. I won’t even get into the logistics of finding these places. How do they even run a business this way? But it was late (after nine pm), and I needed to make a decision.
I was too tired to drive anymore, and that is probably the best decision I’ve made in my recent life. I holed up at a trucker’s stop service area, put up a blanket for privacy, and slept in the driver’s side of my front seat. My car was packed to the hilt with no room to stretch out at all, but I fell asleep right away.
Waking next morning early, I visited the service station’s restroom, picked up some coffee, a few snacks, and hit the road once more. Had I kept going the night before, I would probably be dead right now. The twisty, turny, narrow two-lane highway was incredibly dark and dangerous. The total local deer population was congregated all along this tiny, narrow road. Slowing to 20 mph was mandatory for most of these curves!
It was a historic regional park, mountainous with signs to watch out for (not deer) but people walking/hiking? OMG, it was crazy, and I was so lucky I stopped the night before; these deer blended in with the trees/scenery/everything. I didn’t even notice most of them until I looked them in the face on the side of the road as I was passing. I have never seen so many deer, and I’m from Canada!
It was fortuitous that I turned in when I did the night before. That I had to sleep in the car wasn’t so bad. I did, however, come to a major decision in my life from that very trip. I’m finally done with the long road trips! It took me another 12 hours to get home. I beat the storm, didn’t drive on any ice or through any snow.
The best part… I missed Vegas, the Salt Lake City traffic, and got to see Wyoming, and missed all the major traffic everywhere I ventured. I did get pulled over doing 90 mph after exiting an interstate, 25, I think. The sheriff didn’t give me a ticket, though he wondered why I would exit an interstate, where going 90 mph is okay. I told him my GPS on my phone was to blame, but I was wondering the same freaking thing!
Crossing the border back into Saskatchewan, Canada, was the best feeling ever! The border crossing guard was so welcoming and pleasant, his name was David, btw. I felt so good as he welcomed me back home. God… I love it here. I was going to have a nap once I crossed over, but I was so excited to be back in my own country. I was on a high and kept on driving. (which made it another 12-hour day)
This trip home will be my last road trip to the States (forty hours was my total driving time, which should only have been 27 hours on my regular route). I didn’t have to pass through Vegas, I missed the torturous drive through Salt Lake City AND missed the dangerous mountain passes that would have had ice and snow on them. I encountered very light traffic, or none… everywhere! WOW, and that’s a wrap!
Footnote: Oh… and I’m snowed in here at home. My daughter’s big blowout birthday bash at the lake this weekend had to be cancelled. The snowstorm here cancelled pretty much everything, go figure, eh?
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April 26 the 2026