The Journey I'll NEVER Take Alone Again

Two years ago, I drove 27 hours from Columbus, OH to Provo Utah all by myself, and vowed "never again." Once again, a lesson on "never say never" because I had to eat my words two weeks ago, when I made the same drive again. This is the 4th time on this route, but the second time alone. I think this time I'm serious when I say "never again" though. I'm getting up there in years, and can't take it!

I drove a respectable 11 hours the first day, and it would not stop raining the first half the journey from Ohio through Indiana and Illinois.

Goodbye Ohio...

...hello Indiana!

 And Illinois... or at least I think it is. They all kind of blurred after a while.

Missouri... I was pleasantly surprised that I didn't get caught in St. Louis, MO peak hour traffic. My GPS rerouted me to a smaller highway further away from the city-- sometimes my GPS does know what it's doing.

Also, Missouri doesn't have much to see (except for St. Louis) but my oh my, it is a lush green state. Probably because of all the rain. This is the first time I drove through Missouri  where I did not get caught in a storm.

See how gorgeously green it is?!

I stayed overnight with a family friend in Kansas, just across the MO border, and set off the next day bright and early. Now, this second day... I have to brag a little here because I drove a freaking 14 HOURS almost non-stop that day. I wanted to put in as many miles as I could so that I could get to Utah early, so I drove and drove and drove and drove...

 Notice how the landscape is significantly flatter, but it is still green. Kansas and eastern Colorado in the summer is pretty, just nothing much to see. At least it made for a smooth journey.

Got caught in Denver peak hour traffic for a short period of time.

Notice the vehicle lineup on the other side... yup, definitely peak hour!

Then I crossed the massive Colorado mountain pass, which took forever! I wished I could have taken more pictures but a) I needed to concentrate on getting my loyal, trusty small car up the massive inclines, and b) the lighting was terrible.

There is still snow on the mountains...

I stopped in Grand Junction, completely exhausted. Thank goodness my hotel, Holiday Inn, was awesome! Had a good night's rest, before setting off again early the next day. As you can see from the picture below, CO (and UT) bugs have a high tendency of smashing into windshields. I took a few more pictures of the journey, but my camera kept coming into focus on the dead bugs instead of the landscape.

 FINALLY!!! 

You know you are entering the desert of Utah when you see brown...

So I normally take I-70, and then US-191 which cuts through Price, Utah to Provo. However, since I was going to visit a friend in Ephraim, Utah, I had to stay on I-70 longer and holy moly, I am AWED by how beautiful Southern Utah is. The rock formations are truly one of a kind. I appreciate Utah's beauty more each time I return. For example, as I drove along, I saw a sign for "Ghost Rock Viewing Pt" and wondered what that was. I decided to stop, and saw that others had done the same. We were treated to this view:

My phone camera doesn't do the scenery justice; neither can it capture the gigantic cavern at the bottom. How these rock formations came to be will be something I will only learn in the life to come. The desert really has its own kind of beauty.

Anyway, I arrived in Ephraim, visited my friend who kindly cooked a delicious lunch, and then drove the remaining 1.5 hours to Provo. I was soooo tired when I finally checked in my hotel, and relieved that I had made it in one piece. No doubt God had sent angels to watch over me.