DESPATCHES
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13.
Dawn Patrol out of Grand Junction.
June 20th
Up at 4.30 a.m. and away by 5.15 to avoid the heat
of the day. Along I. 70 we cross the border into
Utah, pass a sign saying Rabbit valley, and immediately
after a sign to the Dinosaur trail. Bugs bunny 1 - Dinosaurs
nil.
We are travelling through a lunar landscape, desert
to left and right with amazing rock formations in the
distance. another sign says 'eagles on the highway'
. Peter drives the first 100 miles in the awakening
dawn to Green River. There we pause for a light breakfast.
I take over and we branch off onto Rt 191 North.
Another long stretch of desert, no sign of life, either
human or animal. After a town called Price, the
drive becomes more interesting as scrub and then sparse
trees appear. We climb up to cross an escarpment, the
road wends through a ravine with trees now covering
the slopes. It is rather reminiscent of parts of Greece.
The temperature cools as we climb to reach 7,422 feet
at Soldiers Summit. The descent into the next valley
is like a Giant slalom course, lovely long sweeping
turns.
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Rocks
Julian re-united with his HEALEY
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We pause at Springville
on Lake Utah and Peter takes over again for the last
section. A short drive round Lake Utah past
Cedar Ford, new houses all with the horse in the back
yard. We arrive in Tooele in time to enjoy the day
as holiday -makers. First put the laundry on, we are
all running out of socks, then on into the swimming
pool.
This is a good time for some trivia.
The picture, brilliantly executed by Lawrence, is
of me driving past a truck. At this point there is
a State Trooper stopping someone on the hard shoulder
that you can't see. Well, neither did I and a few
minutes later I get flagged down by this gun-toting
sherriff who wants to know what I thought I was doing
passing while he was apprehending someone else. My
British driving licence slows his tirade and I humbly
apologise and say I was so sorry but was unsighted
by the truck. Meanwhile Peter is trying to kick me
for argueing ( that is a little bit difficult in a
HEALEY - I mean the kicking bit ) but my charm sways
the day and I get off with a warning. I think he really
wanted to see the car because after that, he mellowed
a lot and started asking us all about where we were
from and where were we going?
next
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CARTOON BY LAWRENCE
Ann passing truck and getting apprehended by the local
police.
Bug on grill on arrival at Tooele
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