Spring in the Southwest, Part 1

Nine Mile Canyon Scenery

Did We Steal a Car?

This is the first time we’ve rented from Enterprise and the check-in for our car was quite easy. We even got upgraded to a nice Mitsubishi Outlander small SUV for free—nice car to drive even if it is a little less gas efficient. The clerk did the paperwork and I signed electronically. He then gave us our key with a slip that read Slot 20 and said, “Have a grand time.”

We went out to the garage and with only one wrong turn we found Slot 20 and our gray Outlander. It took a few minutes to load our luggage, adjust the seats and the mirrors, and check the map for our directions. We pulled out of Slot 20 and toward the exit. We never did see a check out station like we have with other companies. As we thought about it on the road, the only documentation we had was the email Costco receipt with the Enterprise reservation number. We began to wonder, did we just steal a car? Will the Utah State Police come after us or track us down? 

The Solen Car and Anne in La Plata Canyon

Enterprise has our cell number and email—we haven’t yet received any threatening calls or notices. I still can’t help wondering, did we steal an SUV from Enterprise? If you get a strange call from us from some county jail in Utah or Colorado, please answer.

Nine Mile Canyon

Nine Mile Canyon near Price, Utah, was one of our prime destinations for this trip to the Southwest. To get to the canyon we turned off UT6 about six miles south of Price and followed Soldier Creek Rd. to milepost 21 where we entered the canyon (same road, but now called Nine Mile Canyon National Byway). 

The canyon is actually over 25 miles long and Gate Canyon adds another 30 plus miles to Myton. The canyon probably got its name in 1869 when explorer John Wesley Powell’s cartographer used a “nine mile transect” for mapping the canyon. The name stuck. The canyon is a natural conduit through the Book Cliffs between the Price River and the Uintah Basin. It was the 9th Cavalry who build the road which has long been used by settlers and freighters hauling goods from Price to the Basin.

There wasn't much auto traffic on Nine Mile Canyon road, but cattle were always about.

There is much to see in the canyon, even without venturing down the Gates Canyon road which we didn’t have time for. In the canyon are several ranches, picnic areas, and even limited camping areas. The ghost town of Harper, with several sort of intact buildings, is about half way through the canyon. 

It’s a good spot for photography, but you can’t really explore the buildings. Several examples of Native American architecture can be expored in the canyon, but they can be difficult to find or get to. There are examples of storage granaries and a recreated pit house called the Freemont Village.

There isn’t an abundance of wildlife in the canyon—sheep, cougars, and bear have been reported. 

We did see deer, lizards, vultures, and tourists.

The canyon’s main feature is the Indian Rock Art (petroglyphs and pictographs) carved or painted on canyon walls. People have lived in the canyon for at least 8,000 years. Most of the art remaining is from the Freemont Culture (Ancient Puebloans known as Anasazi) which lived in the canyon from about 200AD to 1200AD. Some newer art was added by the Ute tribes who settled in the area in the 1600 and 1700s. The difference between the Freemont Art and the Ute is style and subject matter. For instance, if the subject includes a horse or a horse and rider it would be Ute because they brought horses to the area.

The main Indian Rock Art areas that we visited were First Site (first major art panel you come to in the canyon), 

the Daddy Canyon Complex, 

and the famous Great Hunt panel. 

Besides these specific area we explored several other unnamed art areas. 

Much more art can be found in Gate Canyon, but we didn’t have time for that section.

Balance Rock in Nine Mile Canyon

We spent half a day in the canyon and were not at all disappointed with Nine Mile Canyon.

Author, Shouted the Crowd!

In a tourist shop in downtown Moab, Anne shopped for earrings to replace ones she’d lost in Price. The clerk helping Anne was wearing a Clan Campbell t-shirt and so Anne started a conversation with her about Scotland. We found out Caryl Say is an author of fantasy novels about “Merlin in Moab.” Nice lady, fun conversation. Check out her books on Amazon.

Starbucks Sleeper

In Starbuck in downtown Durango, this person came in, slumped in a chair, and promptly went to sleep. 

The clerk tried to engage him once, but on he slept. About the time we packed up to leave, the guy woke up (he’d slept about twenty minutes), opened his computer case, and pulled out a new Mac Pro. Bizarre culture Starbucks has developed.

Rambling Adventures Coming from Starbucks

About the New Book:

The Rambling Adventures of a Traveler and Golfer is now available on amazon.com or amazon.co.uk, both in print and on Kindle.  The Rambling Adventures of a Traveler and Golfer is not a travel guide, although through the stories and vignettes you will get plenty of suggestions for what to see and do (or what not to see and do) on your own trips.  After reading about St Ives and St Michael’s Mount in Cornwall you may want to visit one or both.  Perhaps I’ll entice you to find more ghosts than we did in the English pubs or to hunt for different haunts.  I certainly hope that any readers who golf will make the long trek to Scotland’s northwest corner for the great small course there (Durness GC).  You’ll also read about Scottish, English, and Irish B&Bs—that’s where all the action is.

Rambling Adventures contains more than 170 stories about travel (land and air), attractions (the famous and the out-of-the-way), eateries and food, lodgings and lodgers, the people, the golf courses and the people who play golf, the culture, and even some good old family road trips. The stories are illustrated with more than 30 black and white photos.  Rambling Adventures is the companion volume to Ten Years of Travel in Scotland, Ireland, England, and Wales (also available from Amazon). 

All these small vignettes were gathered by two retired teachers who began traveling (the British Isles, the European continent, Canada, and throughout the US) and writing when they retired from teaching.  A three week retirement trip to Scotland for golf and whisky, and a two week train tour of Germany, Austria, and Hungary have turned into a love affair with self-guided travel.  The stories Rambling Adventures are the results of those travels.  

About Writing the New Book and my Other Books:

Canby Starbucks Crew

A long time ago in a world far removed from today, I developed the habit of doing my best writing (assuming any of it is good) in a diner or coffee shop.  Late night writing sessions in the Rocket Cafe in McMinnville just down the street from my fraternity house on the Linfield College campus were what got me through college.  Position papers, analyses, term papers, debate cases, oratory and expository speeches were all written while munching the famous Rocket Burger, drinking pots of coffee, and chain-smoking (cigarettes, of course).

After college, the habit stuck.  I would leave early for work and spend an hour in a coffee shop, whether I was teaching or working in the retail sporting goods industry (two years), writing poor poetry or writing magazine articles (sled dog racing, backpacking and hiking, or anything else I thought I could sell).  As I worked on my Masters degree at (then) OCE, hours were spent in Jay’s Restaurant in Monmouth writing papers for professors Baker, Walking-Bull, and Rossi preparing for that degree. While teaching at Canby High I frequented the Cottage Kitchen and then Denny’s to write five books on debate and public speaking for Championship Debate Enterprises.  Next came retirement and Starbucks.

I'm at work in my Starbucks office, my photos hanging on the wall for the month of March.

On our retirement trip to Scotland in the fall of 2000, Anne suggested we write about the  pubs, the B&Bs, the attractions, and the small golf courses in Scotland.  At that point the Canby Starbucks became my office.  I have now written, edited, proofed, and rewritten seven books almost entirely in that coffee shop.  I’ve been asked, “How can you write with all the distractions in a Starbucks—the noise of the coffee grinder, the called orders, the people, the sweeping and cleaning?”  For me it’s easy.  For one thing, I’ve been ignoring those kinds of distractions for years.  I‘ll let myself be distracted for a while if I want a break.  I find, also, that the distractions at Starbucks are much easier to ignore than the distractions at home—the phone, the cat who wants out (or in or out or in), 

Anne at work with me.

Anne (the one who should not be ignored) calling out to me, the door bell, and any number of other homey interruptions.     

Although the Canby Starbucks may not be as famous as The Elephant House in Edinburgh where Harry Potter was written,  let this post be my thanks (my book dedication) to the Starbucks’ culture that has given me the place to write in an office away from home. In fact, on my last visits to Starbucks I have already started my next major writing project, a complete rewrite and update of our Ireland golf guide. 

Canby Starbucks where all my latest books have been written.

Next Blog Post: Our road trip to Albuquerque and Santa Fe, New Mexico.