A Short Pre-Trip Report

Red Mountain on the way from Ouray to Durango, CO

We've been gone from home the last three weeks, but we’ve been visiting my sister, Kathy and Richard in Scottsdale and sightseeing in CA. 

We drove from Tom and Deb’ home in Prescott, AZ to Sequoia Nat’l Monument, Southern Unit.  There, we found not only beautiful large, tall sequoias, but a wonderful scent in the mountain air. 

 A snow storm, several days before, was a bonus of beauty.   And it was possibly the moisture of the melting snow in the sunlight that gave off the most intoxicating smell. . . I breathed deeply a smell that put a smile on my face for nearly an hour as we walked among the towering trees.

The road down out of there to Porterville was a horrendous number of tight curves that could be negotiated at no more than 15-20 miles an hour.  A full hour of  probably 15 curves a minute was just too much! 

The next morning Route 245 to Badger on the way to King’s canyon was equally bad (shown as a straight road on the map).  Because of these two roads, we went to King’s Canyon, but not Sequoia National Park whose roads looked even twistier for even longer.

King’s Canyon is a very long, very deep canyon with stunning Sequoias, as well.   We drove deep into the canyon and camped near the end of the road.  Perhaps not a spectacular place, but interesting and enjoyable, nevertheless.

We fly out tonight at midnight, land in  New York, then on to Cartagena, Colombia, South America where our pickup truck and camper should be waiting. . . . 

         And our South American adventure will begin.