On the Road: Crossing Southern Utah
We left Zion and drove toward Moab, Utah, about 350 miles northwest. It was a scenic drive along the Sevier River to Panguitch, just outside of Bryce Canyon, where we stopped for lunch with our friends Jim and Sharon from Tampa.
We’ve known Jim since our sons were in Rock School together, and in 2021 we hiked with him at Bryce Canyon, where he was a park ranger and the head engineer. Although Jim is no longer working at Bryce, he and Sharon love living in Panguitch. We lunched at Backroads Bistro, a little gem of a restaurant run by a “retired” and gifted chef named Bob Bryant. Delicious! When we noticed the quilts displayed along the streets, Sharon explained that these were for the annual Quilt Walk, and told us the story: During the bitter winter of 1864-5, the people of Panguitch were snowed under and ran out of food. Seven brave men used quilts to walk across the deep snow and saved the lives of the entire settlement. Jim and Sharon, thanks for the great visit - it was fun catching up with you!
After Panguitch, we stopped briefly in Circleville at Butch Cassidy’s childhood home, which has been preserved as a small museum. It seemed a bit odd to have a memorial to a famous outlaw of the Wild West. Still, it was fun to learn more about the iconic figure who robbed banks with the “Wild Bunch,” eluded Pinkerton detectives, and - according to some - might NOT have died (along with the Sundance Kid) in the shootout in Bolivia. The real Butch Cassidy didn’t really look much like Paul Newman, but that’s how I’ll continue to picture him.
As we continued on toward Moab, the landscape changed dramatically, becoming more desert-like. There were strange rock formations and layered cliffs at odd angles to the road. Finally, we saw snow-covered mountains in the distance. The UTVs and distinctive pink-orange rocks were signs that we had arrived in Moab.
