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Trip Day Two: In Which We Actually Encounter Roadside Attractions While Buckling A Swash In The Sky
Sunday, August 11th, 8:49 PM
We began our day by once again re-configuring the cab of the Bus. This time, it was turned into a airship, seemingly floating a couple hundred feet above the road. The road itself looked to be running through a a lush countryside dotted with fields, forests, streams, lakes and rivers. Very peaceful.
The sky, however, was a different story. Our steampunky airship was closing fast on a merchant ship that Captain Cupcake was sure had a full cargo of treasure. First Mate Grandpa and Helmsman Brownie agreed with her and Boatswain Luke was preparing a boarding party. Meanwhile, Gunner Misty was readying our steam cannons.
In reality, we were heading across the Nevada desert towards Utah. We were going to be taking a long and winding way across the state on our way to wherever the hell our next leg of this journey took us. I held out little hope of us encountering a roadside attraction, but you never can tell what will pop up way out on the backroads of America.
We had just finished raiding the airship “Lili Marlene”, when High Captain Grandma told us it was time to eat breakfast and get ready to see “something interesting”. Since Grace does not toss the word “interesting” around lightly vis a vis travel attractions in the middle of the desert, we decided to do as she said.
After a hearty breakfast, I got dressed and the NHT portion of the family got into human bodies. A few minutes later we pulled into the small town of Panaca, Nevada, to see “The World Famous Carved Rock”. I’m not sure how world famous it actually is, but that doesn’t really matter in the world of roadside attractions.
The rock in question is a hunk of red sandstone about 90 feet long and maybe 40 feet high and 50 feet thick. It’s just laying there at the edge of town and, brothers & sisters, that sucker truly has been carved. Like, 90% of it is covered in carvings ranging from a few square inches to a few square yards. It’s quite impressive.
According to the possibly 150 year old guy that took out $2.00 each, folks started carving on the rock with hammers and chisels back in 1967 when the local high school needed a project for art class. That has become an annual event, along with ordinary citizens and the random visitor feeling artistic and having a go at rock carving.
You’ll see western scenes, animals, psychedelia, faces, actors, monsters and more than a few Star Trek/Wars scenes. After about 45 minutes of checking it out, the old dude, whose name it turned out was Ed, informed us we could “do some carvin’” for a mere $20.00 per hour per person. Those of us utterly lacking skills in that aspect of the arts (Luke & I) declined, as did Grace and Misty. Sasha, however, dashed into the Bus and came out with a bag and $60.00 for her and the kids.
Ed took the money and wished them well before heading into his house and out of the 90 degree heat. Them Sasha took the laser chisels out of her bag and the three of them set to carving.
Brownie’s effort, a pirate, looked about like what you’d expect from an 8 year old human. Cupcake’s carving of a sunflower showed some real artistic talent. Sasha’s carving of “Fuck Trump With A Flaming Baseball Bat” will probably not win her friends in this little red town, but then, she doesn’t give a fuck.
Back on the Bus, we all headed to the cab and some more time on our airship, which we decided was named the “Sky Queen”. Amazingly, we were joined by High Captain Grandma, because “I’m kind of bored”, which was good enough for us.
I should note here that Sweetie was on the lookout for any sort of interesting stuff for us to see, so our airship adventures, which included running from HMS Dragon AND the USS Thunder, were paused twice to see the scenic beauty of the Utah desert. We also had lunch.
It was shortly after we had rescued a group of children from the clutches of the notorious Captain Hades, he of the steam powered left leg and arm, that we stopped not far outside Cedar City to see “The World Famous Superman of Utah”.
Now, to be honest, I expected it to be a big statue of Joseph Smith or Brigham Young, but no, it was a 60 foot tall statue of Clark Kent’s better half, hands on hips and cape flying in the wind. To be honest, it was an excellent mid-1950s version of Supes, and very well maintained. It’s free to look at, but you can’t go up inside it. You can buy all sorts of souvenirs, which we did. Not as good as a Giant Jesus, but pretty nice anyway.
From Cedar City, we headed south, then east toward our final stop of the day in Kanab, Utah. Except for a short stop to buy some Native American items from a roadside stand, we pretty much just flew the Sky Queen from those areas patrolled by the British and the Americans southward to areas patrolled by the French and Spanish, who were considerably less diligent about protecting merchant ships or, just before we all went to dinner, a floating casino.
Right now, we are all full of curry and playing some boardgames. I will tell you right now, my granddaughter is an absolute cutthroat at Catan.
Tomorrow, I am told that our route will be “surprising and very interesting”. We shall see.
More bloggage on the morrow!
Destination Sign When We Started: Shangri La
Destination Sign When We Stopped: Toontown
QM Radio Station: Girls Groups!
The Dociverse Blog 