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Sarah Turner from Hingham left the UK on Thursday
5 February, destined to drive 10,000 miles from Alaska to Arizona,
raising money for Marie Curie Cancer Care. Here she tells her story.
Thursday 11 March
Well I've arrived in Houston, after a very long
but easy Cruise, 855 miles. All that remains for me to do is try
and get a flight home.
I hand the Cruiser over to P&O Nedlloyd who I am
sure will take as much care of it as it has of me. So I guess it
is time to say a great big thank you to all those without whom what
I have just done would not have been possible.
To all my sponsors for their support, whether it
be pledged money for charity or equipment to make my life easier
and safer, even if it wasn't needed it is always good to know you
had the fall backs.
Sarah's favourite moment, driving on the Dempster
Highway. |
Special thanks to Tim and Claridon Shipping, who
never complains when I dream up these drives, Volkswagen UK for
kicking off the sponsorship money and to all the new friends I have
met along the way for their assistance, hospitality and kindness.
Overall I have had a great run, the Cruiser has
served me as well as I expected, despite some bad fuel and the windscreen
is covered by the insurance. Apart from the wheel saga not a single
thing has let me down along the way.
I have had a temperature range of -38C to +25C
and crossed all types of terrain, I was told that everything would
freeze, the car wouldn't run, the tyres would burst… but none of
it has happened. It has all be a great experience, the single lasting
image remain the Dempster Highway at -30C with blazing sunshine,
deep snow and blue skies.
My thanks too to Martin at ´óÏó´«Ã½ Norfolk for putting
all my words and pictures together on the website and to the lovely
people at Applied Satellite Technology in Great Yarmouth for giving
us the satlink. Norwich, here I come.
Tuesday 9 March
 Hear Sarah speaking
on ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio Norfolk
To listen to the audio you will need
RealPlayer. Use the to downloading this plug-in.
Sediment layers colour the rocks in the Painted
Desert. |
I started the day at the Painted Desert and Petrified
Forest which is where I spoke to ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio Norfolk's Chris Goreham
on his show Drivelive.
The Painted desert is a mixture of stone shapes
rising from the desert floor. The colours are due to deposits of
carbon, iron oxide and siltstone amidst the clay or sandstone areas.
The result are eroded shapes of striped colours giving the area
its name.
The Petrified Forest resembles more an untidy timber
yard than what I thought of as a forest. All over the land are strewn
pieces of tree trunks like discarded off cuts. They look like wood,
the bark, layer and rings clear, but they are hard crystallised
formations dating back to the Triassic period.
In some areas they have beautiful colouring from
the crystal formations and the deposits of minerals such as carbon,
manganese, cobalt and iron. A truly fascinating place, pieces that
are commercially collected have to be cut with diamond blades and
weigh as heavy as rock.
This is likely to be my last scenic stop, from
here I head to Houston in interstate. Chosen purely for speed, they
are fast highways and an endless line of trucks hurtle past at what
must be up to 90mph.
The warmer climate also brings the RV's onto the
road, long trailers behind pickups or full coaches drawing the 4x4
behind make our motor homes look tiny by comparison.
There is also an endless supply of shredded tyres
along the shoulder, I am glad to know mine are in good condition
despite all they have endured and are at the correct pressures for
the load I am carrying.
The outside temperature is around 20C and it is
a very pleasant day, I think of home and that I am sure to be returning
to not such good weather.
I shall report again from Houston, the point I
must say farewell to my Cruiser and entrust it to P&O Nedlloyd and
my colleagues at Claridon Shipping to deliver it safely home.
Monday 8 March - arrival in Arizona
Moon sits above the canyons. |
The only problem in camping up in the evening sun
is that you're in the shadow the following morning… but it did mean
I awoke to a view of the moon over the canyons, lit by the morning
sun.
I'd had an email from Charla in Calgary to say
'drive Elephant Hill for great views'. I had avoided it yesterday
as the trail guide marked it as hard core and very rocky but I set
off to investigate.
It's a steep and twisting rock climb and descent
with several switchbacks that require shunts. It looked OK so I
set off up the first section, but a combination of a fully laden
truck and hard narrow tyres are not ideally suited for rock climbing.
Add to this what always seems to be a very long bonnet so I can't
see where I'm placing the wheels and I decided this was not the
place to be.
Call it chickening out if you wish, but I turned
around and returned to the base before I damaged something. If I'd
had a co-driver to guide me up I might have continued but I wasn't
happy, there was no room for error, going backwards meant dropping
over the edge! Sorry Charla.
Heading out of the park I took the mountain pass
about 20 miles south east, only to find it blocked with wet slushy
snow, too slippery to drive through - half an hour earlier I'd been
rock crawling in the desert! Rejoining the main road I headed south,
towards Arizona.
Passing through the first of many Indian territories
it seemed sad that all there was were a few portacabins and the
nearest you'll get to a mustang or bronco is one wearing a Ford
badge on the grille. The landscape continued to change, at one point
I was surrounded by red sandstone 'dunes' before the land opened
out into scrub and desert.
It must have been around three when I crossed the
Arizona state line. Heading south across the desert I took to the
back roads only to find a complete coal mining industry, a huge
mound of black coal seemed most out of place in the middle of the
scrub.
I pulled into a campsite just as the sun set, made
dinner and had a welcome shower, the day had only been around 20C
but the inside of the car was much warmer with the sun beating down.
So officially this is the end of the line, I should
pass through Albuquerque tomorrow which officially marks the bottom
of the Rockies and Houston is around 1200 miles way on Route 66.
I should be there in around three days.
Sunday 7 March
Heading south out of Moab for about 60 miles I
arrived at Canyonlands National Park. Very
different from Arches, it is a mix of desert and canyon with the
Green and Colorado rivers dividing it into three areas.
As I checked in to the visitor centre I heard a
familiar accent taking to the group who had just arrived ahead of
me.
Volunteer Park Ranger, Paul Rogers, is from Lutterworth,
Leicestershire and is a 'migrant'. He escapes the damp UK winter
to work in the park and heads back home for the cricket season and
has done so ever since his first trip 10 years ago.
I got my permit and headed out on the trails. The
first of which took me along a creek bed to several outlooks. It
first spur followed the creek which was quite wet, and ended up
at Peek-a-bo canyon, a short climb on foot revealed why, a hole
through the rock revealed another entire canyon beyond.
Back-tracking a mile or so I picked up the main
track once more which wound its way along an old river bed of soft
deep sand. Finally I passed under a shelf, this bore the scars of
those who had got a little too close to the overhang on the exit
where you had to put a wheel up over a rock to miss the roof of
the overhang.
Returning the way I came I then picked up the
trail to the canyon rim. A complete contrast to the first, it started
off as a sand track but became a crawl over rocky ledges and slick
rock faces.
The Cruiser was good as gold, the only noise was
the drivers door creaking, it never was fixed properly after it
was hit by another vehicle. Not a rattle or creak was heard anywhere
else except the fuel and water in the back.
Colorado River viewed from canyon rim. |
The tyres coped well, finding ample grip on the
rock and not digging me in in the soft sand, pretty good for a tyre
that is 80% mud biased! They are strong too, so I had no worries
about the sharp rock edges.
The drive was worth the effort, standing on the
rim (not too close I hasten to add) the view down the canyon to
the river was spectacular.
Heading back and out of the park I pulled into
a camp on the boundary, What a great place to stay. I have it entirely
to myself, nestling around a rocky outcrop in open country it is
great, I have a rock ledge for shelter, my own Juniper tree and
even a piece of tumbleweed that has rolled by for the evening… oh
and a satellite signal too!
I've had a wonderful time here, so much so I am
still debating whether I should drive straight out in the morning
or do a few more trails first.
Saturday 6 March
It was like I awoke in a different season, in just
a couple of days I seem to have skipped spring and jumped straight
into summer.
After breakfast I headed into Moab, just a short
drive down the canyon.
A completely new experience for me, a town dedicated
to playing outdoors, and what an outdoors they have. Whether it
be a mountain bike, boat or Jeep you can hire it an take off into
what is one huge adventure playground.
After picking up a guide book to the local 4wd
trails I headed for the Arches National Park. Lying on a natural
salt bed the parks sandstone outcrops have been carved into all
sorts of shapes.
Through the middle is an area of petrified sand
dunes and as its name suggests there are many arches and pillars
of stone. I took to the trails, a mixture of rocky climbs and soft
sand takes you to some more remote outcrops away from the masses.
I sat in the shadow of Tower Arch and ate my lunch,
all around was total silence apart from the breeze stirring the
air. The trail had several areas of slick rock, one descent would
have made a nice picture but gear and brakes would not hold the
Cruiser long enough for me to get out, the drop was so steep.
Other parts were shelves of rock, making steps
up or down. At one point I was deep in red sand dunes, yet all the
time there was a distant backdrop of the snow covered Rockies stretching
across the horizon.
Having driven nearly 100 miles, but having gone
nowhere, I dropped back into Moab, fuelled up and refilled my water
container before dropping just out of town to another camp site
further down the Colorado River.
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