Route – Tehachapi – California City – Barstow – Las Vegas – Mesquite –Hurricane – Springdale – Zion
We made an early start as we realized that miles take a lot longer than km’s. The countryside along the route reminded us very much of Namibia, very dry, gravelly and mountainous scrub. We crossed the California-Nevada border and suddenly out of the desert sprung casino hotel complexes every few miles. Massive concrete billboards advertise rooms at $24-99 and prime rack of ribs at $4-99. Why anyone would want to drive all this way out here to gamble is beyond us. Fortunately, although the highway passes directly through the centre of Las Vegas, aside from the five lanes of traffic in each direction, we managed fine. Bright pink domed buildings and gold glassed hotels vied for our attention. On the outskirts vast tracts of featureless rows of small low slung houses looked out of place compared to the glitzy city centre.
After Mesquite the road leaves the flats of Nevada and heads up through a awesome pass that cuts through sheer mountains, and into Utah. We confidently head to Zion campground only to be turned away. Apparently if you want a site you need to be in the campground between 8 & 9 on the day. Fortunately 100m from the gate we found a campsite / RV car park. These massive rigs pulled by even bigger ute’s and their pronking owners have to be seen to be believed. These behemoths come equipped with dual AC’s and bathrooms towing an F250 sized vehicle loaded with bicycles, quad bikes, mopeds, dog trailers and every imaginable gizmo. We think the attraction for these testosterone yanks is showing off their chromed rigs. Each RV site has a hook up for power, water and sewer. On arrival portable sewerage pipes are laid out on plastic stands to allow a positive fall. We even saw a couple of Harleys with colour coded trailers which folded out into a mini caravan.
Nonetheless nothing could detract from the awe inspiring red and white rock monoliths of Zion.
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