THE LESSER ROAD TO LAS VEGAS

We stayed the night in Kanab, Utah, because it had more services than nearby Freedonia, Arizona, which was the direction we were headed. However, this morning we got up too late for the complimentary "hot breakfast" at the motel and could find no restaurant open in town. Coffee-less, we headed south for Freedonia but had to do a U-Turn to take a closer look at this:

Yes, that dot on the photo is me and my camera getting caught by the rain bird. That's what happens when one is so focused on the perfect photo. (Jim was laughing his head off).

This was the only thing we found in Freedonia:


We headed on out of town toward Pipe Springs National Monument and in spite of being under caffeinated we still had great scenery to enjoy.



We thought about stopping at Pipe Springs but without coffee it seemed too daunting so we kept going to the next town, Colorado City. As we got into the outskirts of town we were surprised to see a sign that said, "established 1985." It seemed to be a sizable community so we were hopeful and turned off toward town. We saw lots of really large houses, many with unfinished exteriors. There was no visible means of industry, no motels, no restaurants and one "Cooperative Mercantile Corporation," which I thought was an odd name. Right about then Jim spotted some women with their kids at school. All the women were wearing the same plain dress and had their hair done in the same way. We had stumbled into an orthodox (if that is the correct word) Mormon community. As we exited the other end of town, low and behold, a DRIVE THROUGH ESPRESSO. The place was extremely popular with cars three deep on both sides. The young women making the drinks were also dressed in the "uniform" and had their hair done up the same way. This was one of the espresso choices:

We were too afraid to try it, though I did have the Midnight Oil.

I was happy to be driving away from this town. (Later I looked it up on the Internet. It's far worse than I thought. You can check it out here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado_City,_Arizona)

There is really not much more on this road except this

and this:

So today we cross from Utah into Arizona then back into Utah then Arizona then Nevada. I never could figure out what time it was. After navigating Las Vegas Boulevard, aka "The Strip," we managed to find a non-strip hotel near the airport were we are crashing and re-packing for our flight tomorrow. It's been a grand trip but I am tired of being in the car and eating inferior food. It will be good to be home. And isn't that why we travel anyway?

Audrey