Sharing photos, videos, vintage images I've discovered, and -- occasionally -- commentary and thoughts from retired life and travels.

on the road

Cabins imitating the Indian teepee

“Cabins imitating the Indian teepee for tourists along highway south of Bardstown, Kentucky.”  Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division

Photographed by Farm Security Administration staff photographer Marion Post Wolcott in July 1940.  The photo is of Wigwam City #2, Cave City, Kentucky.

“The Wigwam Motels, also known as the “Wigwam Villages”, is a motel chain in the United States in which the rooms are built in the form of teepees, hence the name “wigwam”. It originally had seven different locations: two locations in Kentucky, a location in Alabama, another location in Florida, one in Arizona, one in Louisiana, and another one in California. They are very distinctive historic landmarks. Two of the three surviving motels are located on historic U.S. Route 66, in Holbrook, Arizona and on the city boundary between Rialto and San Bernardino, California. Wigwam Motel #2, in Cave City, Kentucky was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on March 16, 1988 under the official designation of Wigwam Village #2.

image“Wigwam village #2 was built in 1937 a few miles south of the original wigwam village #1, but on US-31W in Cave City. It was built consisting of 15 wigwams used as guest rooms and a much bigger concrete and steel central structure that originally served as a restaurant. The 15 wigwams are arranged in a semi circle around a common area with playground and recreation area. Each wigwam has a paved pad to accommodate one car.

The diameter at the base of each teepee is 14 feet (4.3 m), they are 32 feet (9.8 m) in height. Behind the main room of each unit is a small bathroom with sink, toilet, and shower. In 2008, the rooms contain the original restored hickory furniture, cable TV and a window mounted air conditioner. There are no telephones to maintain the original atmosphere of the motel, though there is internet access. The restaurant is no longer in operation, but the motel is still open and welcoming guests.

“Wigwam village #2 is close to Mammoth Cave National Park … The motel is located on 601 North Dixie Hwy, Cave City, Kentucky. ” –   Wikipedia

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An afternoon drive.

April 26, 2012

The Moki Dugway  is a series of steep switchbacks down a greval road from the top of Cedar Mesa over less than 3 miles.After the Sipapu Natural Bridge hike, we took a drive south on Utah 261 towards Mexican Hat.  A sign not to far from our campground warned “10 % grades – switchbacks – narrow gravel road 23 miles ahead.”  I learned later that part of the route is called the Moki Dugway.

It was actually the shortest route to our next destination when we resumed our drive the next day, so, besides an afternoon excursion, we were also checking the route out to see if we should go the longer route.  The Moki Dugway  is a series of steep switchbacks down a gravel road from the top of Cedar Mesa over less than 3 miles.  It was built in the late ‘50s to for transporting uranium ore from a mine to a processing mill in Mexican Hat.

The Moki Dugway  is a series of steep switchbacks down a greval road from the top of Cedar Mesa over less than 3 miles.

“The State of Utah recommends that only vehicles less than 28 feet in length and 10,00 pounds in weight attempt to negotiate this steep (10% grade), narrow, and winding road.”

That eliminates us, then, since towing our small car sends us way over that length.  We went the long way round the next day.

We also visited Goosenecks State Park and drove through Mexican Hat that afternoon.

Goosenecks State Park, Utah

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The Colorado and Green Rivers divide Canyonlands National Park into three districts – the Island in the Sky, the Needles, and the Maze, with the rivers themselves listed by the National Park Service as a fourth “district.”  Island in the Sky  is the easiest to visit and, thus, the most popular.  The Maze is more remote and the least accessible of the park’s districts.  The Needles is a 75 mile drive from Moab.  Most of the district’s features are found on its extensive trail system and four-wheel-drive roads.

The road to the Needles district passes through Newspaper Rock Recreational Site, location of a large collection of prehistoric petroglyph rock art.

Most of our September 26, 2011 exploration of the Needles was on the relatively short scenic drive and the 2.4 mile Slickrock Trail (a loop).


Selected Information Resources:

Canyonlands National Park

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Leaving Colorado…

February 8, 2012

After 2 weeks in Colorado, we left Grand Junction on a short drive to our next destination, Arches National Park.  007It was 131 miles (211 km), mostly on Interstate 70, though the actual straight line distance was 60 miles (96.5 km).

As we traveled west in Colorado several days earlier, the landscape had gradually changed from high mountain forest and tundra to high desert country, with quite a bit of farming in the Grand Valley of the Colorado River (once called the Grand River).  Driving west into Utah, the landscape became more and more desolate with a stark and fascinating beauty.

This was our third visit to Arches National Park.  The previous two were brief, but this time we had three nights reserved in the park at Devils Garden Campground.

Arches National Park is in eastern Utah.  It has over 2000 natural sandstone arches and many other 2011 09 20 b 023 for bloginteresting geological formations, such as spires, balanced rocks and sandstone fins.  It was designated a national monument in 1929 and became a national park in 1970.


Selected Information Resources:

Arches National Park.

2011_trip_map_6th_leg

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Leaving Rocky Mountain National Park on September 16, 2011, our next destination was several thousand feet lower and on the western side of the state – Grand Junction, Colorado.

St. Catherine of Siena Chapel at St. Milo Retreat, Allenspark, Colorado; Chapel on the RockAbout nine miles south of Estes Park on Colorado 7, we stopped to take pictures of the Chapel on the Rock – officially St. Catherine of Siena Chapel – on the grounds of Saint Malo Retreat Center.   The chapel  is built on an large piece of granite that the Colorado highway department once planned to dynamite to widen and straighten the adjacent highway.  Dedicated in 1936, the chapel was built from local stone hauled in by mule carts.

In November 2011, a fire heavily damaged portions of the St. Malo Retreat Center.  The chapel, several hundred feet away was not damaged.

2011_trip_map_5th_leg

Our drive for the day was about 300 miles.  The first part was on mountain 2-lane highways down to Interstate 70.  Traffic was quite light, certainly less than it would have been if we had gone through Boulder and along the foothills of the Front Range as we did in 2009.

I70 meanders up, down, around and through the Colorado mountains between Denver and and Grand Junction.  Our little motorhome did pretty good duty traveling over this road once again, though the CRV it was towing was 6 model years newer than the last time.

“The Eisenhower Tunnel, with a maximum elevation of 11,158 feet (3,401 m) and length of 1.7 miles (2.7 km), is the longest mountain tunnel and highest point along the Interstate Highway System.” (Wikipedia.)

We stopped in Vail for lunch and a stretch break.  Often, when there isn’t a rest area handy, we’ll take a break after an hour or two of driving by stopping at a “big box” store.  Most of them are large enough that we can loosen up by taking a couple of laps walking around inside the store.  In Vail, we stopped at WalMart and, once we were loosened up, went back out to the camper and had lunch in our camper.

Navion IQ, Honda CRV in Glenwood Canyon Colorado.Our next stop was a  rest area in Glenwood Canyon, a rugged and scenic canyon on the Colorado River. This area is one of the most scenic natural features along the U.S. Interstate Highway System.  Foot access is available for hiking a four rest areas in the canyon.  The highway through the canyon was one of the final pieces of the system to open to traffic and was one of the most expensive per mile constructed in the United States.  In its 12.5 mile length, there are three tunnels, 40 bridges and viaducts, and miles of retaining walls.  “Through a significant portion of the canyon, the eastbound lanes extend cantilevered over the Colorado River and the westbound lanes are suspended on a viaduct several feet above the canyon floor.” (Wikipedia)

The trip along I 70 was a gradual transition from high mountain forests and tundra west of Denver to the high desert of western Colorado and Utah.

We would be camping in the Grand Junction, 4,593 ft (1,397 m), area for the next 4 nights and would be in desert country for a good portion of the rest of the trip.

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Hot cars.

December 10, 2011

2011 09 12 027carvedWe spotted this “cute” car in a parking lot for some popular trails in Rocky Mountain National Park.  It’s a Lotus Elise, certainly a nice looking and sporty car and, at around $50,000, is more than we would want to spend on a car.

There was one other “sporty” car that I caught sight of last summer on the 4th of July weekend.  As we were coming out of the parking lot of the Lake Village Tourist Information Center in Southern Arkansas, I saw an orange car that was shaped much different than most of the other cars on the road, but didn’t have a chance to get a picture of it.  Now, I’m by no means an expert on automobiles and can seldom identify one without the help of the internet.  For some reason, though, Lamborghini came to mind, even though I didn’t get a very good look at it.

lamborghiniA couple of hours later, after crossing a small corner, I spotted the same orange color on a car in a rear view mirror.  We were on I20 east of Vicksburg, Mississippi, heading for Biloxi.  I don’t know if it was the same 350px-Lamborghini_Logomake and model of the picture on the right (from Wikipedia), but the color was very close to this, if not identical – and, as it passed us, I spotted the logo on the back.

Like I said, I’m no expert on automobiles, but these sure seemed like a couple of hot cars.

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