Tag Archives: driving

Same Place, Different Face

For almost twenty years I’ve been flying to the Phoenix area in April or May to drive Mom’s car back to Michigan while she takes the quick way home by plane. I like driving and this is convenient way to retrieve her car and to spend few days sightseeing.

My wife Kris and I have quite a few grandkids. We thought it would be a treat for one of them to ride along and visit some of the “wonders of the West” on a road trip back to Michigan. This was also a great opportunity for Grandpa (me) to spend a few days together one-on-one. One of the grandkids and I would fly to Phoenix for a day or two to visit and then we’d be ready to hop in Mom’s car for the return trip.

For six different years you can see that I stopped to show them one of the most scenic places in America. Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park is part of the Navajo Nation in the northeast corner of Arizona near the town of Kayenta. In the valley is a 17-mile drive along which you’ll gaze at dozens of jaw dropping sandstone cliffs and buttes. I tried to stop in the same general area to record each grandkid with Merrick Butte or West Mitten in the background.



Ezra 2011


Eden 2014

Ezra and Eden 2014


Logan 2015


Ezra 2015


Lyon 2018


Izora 2019


Adeline 2022

I treasure these pictures so that I have made 20″ x 30″ poster size enlargements of each of them.

They represent great memories for me and hopefully for each of these grandkids as well.

Just Up Ahead

I love to travel and my favorite means of travel is by car.

I’ve driven cross country dozens of times from the east coast to the west coast and from the north to the south. I never seem to tire of being on the road.

One of my driving “hobbies” is to record some of the scenery along the way.

As I travel I’m excited to see and learn about how our county operates. These pictures are examples of how the hardworking men and women keep our economy moving.

So when I’m behind the wheel and see all of these semis and trailers ahead of me, I know that they’re all on the way to deliver equipment, goods and supplies to all of the industries which keep out economy running strong.

Argenta, NV

Places that you may have never heard of

Friends know that I’m a big fan of traveling and do so frequently by car. Whether I’m visiting relatives who live far away or I’m vacationing at distant places, it’s usually a cross country trek.

Anyone who has traveled on our extensive road system has driven past signs denoting names of places of which they’ve never heard. Those places that especially stick out to me are ones that have colorful names. One of my “hobbies” is to note these names and later (sometimes weeks, sometimes months later) find out more about these places.

One of these places is Argenta, Nevada and this is what I learned.

Argenta is a ghost down in central Nevada. In the mid 1860’s prospectors discovered silver in the area. The town was planning to develop as a shipping center for the nearby mines and in Austin to the south. However, the town of Battle Mountain had stronger ties to the silver industry and by 1871 the entire town moved to Battle Mountain making Argenta effectively a mining ghost town.

Argenta remained vacant until 1930 when barite was discovered nearby. This mine in Argenta Mountain was operated by the Baker Hughes Company until it closed in 2015.


One of the Baker Hughes operations alongside a railroad siding and Interstate 80

Well, that’s the short story about Argenta, NV.

Yet curiosity remains high and I hope to report on other interesting names of places that are part of my hobby.

More of my places that you may never have heard of are

Wamsutter, Wyoming
Aragonite, Utah
Dunphy, Nevada