A Night in the Arizona Desert - What Not to do When Travelling
Have you ever found yourself experiencing a day so crazy that you begin to doubt whether it is actually happening to you? Today was that day for me…its currently 2:30am and Im sat in a car in the middle of the Arizona desert contemplating whether to sleep or breakdown.
So how did this all begin…well the day started in a dodgy motel in a small town call Panguitch - a quaint place in Utah where colour TV is still advertised as a selling point for the motels. After a fairly decent nights sleep and with high spirits we piled into our trusty red Chevrolets and began our search for breakfast. In my mind I had conjured up the most perfect image of what breakfast would be…french toast with a heavy helping of fruit and maple syrup….mm I was practically drooling! After not eating the evening before I was ready for some good American stodge. However as we drove through the peculiar town of Panguitch, we were greeted only with closed doors and empty bellies until we reached a small red gas station with what looked like a diner attached to the side. The twelve of us piled in optimistically searching for the breakfast menu, we were greeted by a chinese man who told us “no breakfast…only chinese” after repeating this phrase several times we all accepted that the delicious American breakfast we had all been craving was far out of our reach and so we settled for a breakfast fit for kings….orange chicken and rice! After a generous helping of chinese food we got back on the road and headed for Zion National Park.
The drive into Zion was absolutely breathtaking, with scenery that looked like it belonged on a postcard. Mountain ranges that spread as far as the eye can see and rock formations that looked as though they belonged in Jurassic Park. On arrival we ditched the cars and decided to do a trek up to the emerald pools followed by the group splitting off into smaller excursions for the rest of the afternoon.
After an exhausting day of exploring we regrouped and all piled back into the cars to head toward our digs for the night. The two hour drive went relatively quickly with only one stop for gas and a rather exciting moment in the car when we crossed the state line into Arizona and gained an hour. Tired and very ready for bed we finally pulled into Marble Canyon Lodge, a rustic motel in a remote part of the Arizona Desert. As the drivers headed for the late arrivals desk the rest of the group stood and gazed in amazement at the stars that hung above us, so many clusters of new stars that we had never seen before all dancing in the sky like tiny pockets of glitter.
On arrival back to the group the guys did not have good news…there were two envelopes left in the late arrivals box, one with the name Jane scrawled on the front and the other belonging to a Mr Lebandowski. After a long day of exploring and travelling to our final destination we were exhausted, but the idea of crashing down into bed for the night now seemed very out of reach. With the bad news came a decision…do we take these random peoples rooms or do we sleep in the car? Tiredness swayed our decision drastically and so we left our morals in the cars and into the rooms we went. With 3 people crammed into each bed we settled in and our eyes began to drift until we heard a knock on the door! After several minutes of panicking we answered the door to find that the other half of the group had decided that they would rather sleep in the cars than steal other peoples rooms, so out of the rooms we went, staggering back into our trusty red Chevrolets .
Our next option was to drive 3 miles to the next motel to see if by chance our room keys were in the box, with no luck we continued on through the desert to the next motel which was a further 6 miles away, again we were faced with empty boxes. The night grew on and it was now 3am and we had 4 options….option one, sleep in the cars in the middle of the desert, option two drive 60 miles to the Grand Canyon and sleep in the cars there, option three, steal the hotel rooms and dash before 5am or option four, drive 76 miles back to the nearest town. After a stressful 20 minute argument about morals and a rather silly suggestion that we sleep outside in the middle of the desert, we started up the engines and headed 76 miles back to Kanab, the last town on the border of Utah...and the nearest point of civilisation.
The car journey was long and we seemed to cross the Arizona state line about 6 times and lost and gained around 3 hours. 4:35am we finally pulled in at a Holiday Inn in the small town of Kanab. After pleading desperately with the guy on the reception desk and retelling our story several times, we by some miracle managed to get a room for 12 for $142. We all sluggishly crammed into the room (meant for 6 but holding 12) ready to grasp those last few hours of sleep.
After a rather restless night, with a certain member of our party decorating the room with his bellowing snores, we swiftly got ready for the day ahead and drove to the nearest McDonalds. Still trying to comprehend the events from the night before, we sat around the table getting ready to phone up our booking agency and unleash hell on whoever answered for leaving us stranded in the middle of the desert with nowhere to stay.
My hands were hovering over the call button, ready to place the call and solve the mystery of why our room keys were not there. I flicked my eyes over to the booking confirmation just to make sure I had all the facts and my attention was drawn to the date on the form. WE HAD BOOKED IT FOR THE WRONG MONTH!!!
Moral of the story...when travelling through the desert in the middle of the night, make sure you have booked your hotel for the correct dates! No but seriously check your travel itinerary and then check it again just to make sure!
