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Day 22: Helper

I was fast asleep this morning when I heard the distinctive wail of an Amtrak horn echoing throughout Helper. Within a split second my brain decided that since it was getting lighter earlier these days I might have a chance to catch the Cal Zephyr during daylight; next thing I know I'm standing outside with my camera around my neck snapping away as a pair of P42DCs roar into Helper. My eyes hadn't even finished opening, so suffice to say the weren't great. Oh… and it was snowing!

I love waking up to fresh snow, especially when it is unexpected. Yesterday it had been sunny and the snow was melting, this morning there was an inch of fresh powder. Wow! I went back to bed but within minutes another train came roaring out of Helper; this time I got a decent shot.

The diesels had obviously only just woken up themselves as there were great clouds of snow cascading off the locos as they went through the crossing. Look closely ...

Day 21: Cedar City to Helper

What a day! Started off by washing the car. Fun fun, I love American DIY carwashes with their dozens of different modes, but dang it took a lot of blasting in the water blaster to get all the caked on mud off. Afterwards the car was nice and clean but somehow all that mud ended up on me. Hmm.

After that I went looking for a RadioShack to buy a replacement Peek (lost mine yesterday somewhere between Caliente and Cedar City, probably dead in the mud somewhere, poor thing). Checked out the spot where Google said it would be, and the spot where my GPS said it would be, and nothing. Oh well.

Hit the I15 and headed for Salt Lake City. Looooooong unexciting drive. Saw a military Hummer with two massive antenna on the back, looked like it was a trolley bus they were so huge. Inside it was bristling with radio gear, looked pretty neat.

Continued on, got some petrol, had a stretch, saw some mountains, saw some HV transmission li...

Day 20: Caliente to Cedar City

Woke early today, although fairly late by Caliente standards — they sure like their early nights and early mornings here. Then again I was never really sure what time it was there; my bedside clock and the microwave clock were in disagreement over what time zone they were in, so time was a very relative thing in Caliente. Nevertheless I was up and about very early this morning and even had a "short stack" of pancakes for breakfast with oodles of maple syrup. Not bad for $3.

Then I was on my way. I tried exploring out from Caliente into Clover Creek Canyon but didn't get very far before I hit private Union Pacific roads. So off on the highway and with the help of my GPS soon found the turn off for the Beaver Dam Road. Road was in good condition and after a while I was down at Barclay having a look around. This wasn't in the canyon any more which was a shame, indeed the most exciting view was around a curve. The track here was immaculate though, a lot of TLC has defini...

Day 19: Caliente Railfanning

Slept very heavily (why is holidaying to exhausting?) and woke up to a cool crisp morning in Caliente, NV. Looking around it had snowed overnight, but there was now very little to show for it in town. An interesting quirk of Caliente is that it is high enough (4500 ft) to catch the winter storms and cool temperatures, but is far enough south that the sun's heat is still extremely strong and will melt most snow within a few days.

I had a nibble and jumped in the car and headed south back down into Rainbow Canyon again. First few spots I tried were all private property with fences everywhere which I wasn't too impressed about. I headed further south towards an open valley near one of the tunnels. Along the way Rainbow Canyon was certainly living up to its name:

 

Nevada really is a geologists dream come true. So many different rock formations, each one at a different angle and a ...

Day 18: Las Vegas to Caliente

Slept really well and woke to an overcast day. For the curious, here is what $45/night buys you in Las Vegas:

Photo hardly does the room justice. The bathroom had a marble counter and the hot water was hot as soon as you turned on the tap. I don't know how they do that (and yes I had a look under the bench to see). The TV was about 50 inches, and came with a wireless keyboard, plus on demand Adult Entertainment; I guess I'd expect nothing less from Vegas.

So I packed up and hit the road. Next stop, Caliente, NV. Along the way I came across some amazing scenery; Nevada never disappoints in the scenery department. In some ways it is very similar to NZ scenery, but then you round a corner and hit something like this:

And then you remember you most certainly aren't in NZ any more!

And you know what I said about how in Nevada the roads r...