What’s In Between

What’s In Between

“ The most important reason for going from one place to another is to see what’s in between…”. Horton Juster, The Phantom Tollbooth.

Why?

This is a question you may be asking. Why would I embark on a solo road trip between Cincinnati, New Mexico, Minnesota and back home? It’s not as if those destinations are close to each other. As a 61 year old women, is this really a good idea? Well, we are going to find out.

As a child, I spent a large portion of my life in the backseat of the family car on vacation. My father worked for Procter & Gamble and we moved from Seal Beach, California to St Louis to Chicago to Chesapeake, Virginia, to Lima, Ohio and then to Cincinnati. My parents loved to travel but with 3 children, and another to be born when we lived in Virginia, it would have been prohibitively expensive to fly everywhere. Plus flying was such a glamorous event back then, I don’t blame my parents for choosing a car trip over a flight where you needed to be dressed up and on your best behavior. So we drove and often camped while seeing parts of the United States. One summer it was New England, another out West, another the Midwest. Usually whatever was near by where we were living at the time. My mother was a history major so we spent one summer visiting Civil War battlefields (as an 11 year old, this was supremely boring as one field looked just like the next). Both sets of my grandparents lived in Arizona, and my cousins lived in California, so there were many road trips to visit them. I think I developed my love for reading during these trips in the back of the car. If I could get in the way back of the station wagon, that was the perfect spot. Old people will know what the way back was.

One of my favorite books in 4th grade (living in Chicago at the time), was The Phantom Tollbooth. For those unfamiliar, a young, bored boy named Milo is gifted a small tollbooth and he uses his little electric car to drive through it and to worlds beyond. The trip changes his outlook on life. As a child, I yearned to drive myself on a trip to unexplored places. Frankly, I was enamored with driving, hoping to become a bus driver when I grew up since I would be able to drive all day long.

I have traveled to many places here in the US and around the world, and each trip has changed my outlook. But I have never traveled by myself. So on March 1, 2025, I will get in my little car, drive through my little tollbooth, and see what is in between here and there. If you would like to see what it is, please follow along.

jgapfelbeck's avatar

jgapfelbeck

Utah, March 8, 2025

Today was a spectacular day. Cloudless, blue skies, lower winds, rising temperatures, a perfect day for exploring. And we were so close to the best exploring site – Arches National Park. For those who have not been – if you can get here, I highly recommend that you do.

We packed up the car and left the VRBO. This is the view from the driveway.

Arches National Park has over 2000 natural stone arches, hundreds of soaring pinnacles, massive rock fins, and giant balanced rocks. Rod and I spent four days here last summer were here -we could have spent a month. We knew we only had 3 1/2 hours so we needed to make every second count. We decided that instead of going on one long hike, it would be better to take the scenic drive and stop at some highlights.

Courtesy of nps.gov

Park Avenue trail is a hike through a soaring rock “skyline” of massive fins and curiously carved towers.

Often, formations are named for how they look. The Three Gossips are below

Sheep Rock

At this point, we had collectively said “Wow” more times than we could count.

Balanced rock is a show stopper. The rock atop this formation weighs an estimated 3,600 tons- as much as 20 blue whales. And it is slowly eroding to the point that it will eventually fall off of its pedestal. The sandstone is softer than granite or other material that makes up large boulders (I am not a geologist), so that when this rock falls, it will shatter upon impact. I would recommend not being around it when that happens. It had a side-kick, “Chip off the Block” which was made of even softer rock and crumbled into rubble in the winter of 1974.

Lisa and Becky helping the rock stay upright.

In the Windows section of the park, are a few fabulous arches that we hiked to see. Turret Arch,

North Window,

and Double Arch.

You are only able to hike into the Fiery Furnace, a labyrinth of narrow sandstone canyons, with a permit or a guide. But it is amazing to see from the lookout point.

At this point we knew we needed to head to Park City, so we reluctantly reversed course and headed out of the park. The “Wows” continued all the way back to the entrance.

The changing landscape on the 4 hour drive from Moab to Park City was remarkable to see.

Thank you Bridget, for taking all of these pictures from the car!

We arrived at Lisa’s condo in Park City where we will stay until Monday morning. What a beautiful location and beautiful home! We ate appetizers while Lisa and Bridget made dinner and then we ate and talked and shared stories we had never heard. Bridget is my sister-in-law and I have known her for over 33 years and I am still learning things about her. We finally remembered that tonight we “ Spring Forward” and thought we should turn in.

How lucky I was to spend International Women’s Day with this amazing group of women. And how lucky I am to know the women in our book group that are not on this trip – we miss you!

WOW!

, , , ,

Published by

jgapfelbeck

Leave a comment