once i climbed out of the grand canyon, i was done. given my failure to find hotels in tusayan the previous night, i decided to begin my journey towards zion, back out the way i had originally arrived and all the way around the grand canyon towards utah.

but i had to stop at least once to watch the sun setting.

i left at 7pm and by 9pm it was totally dark—which bummed me out because now i was driving with nothing to see in this stunningly beautiful part of the country. while speeding along through the dark, i also finished the book on cd that had been my company since, gosh, i forget what state i was in when i started it, tennessee or arkansas i think. i was listening to the poisonwood bible, written by barbara kingsolver and read by a woman with a southern accent.

this book was not on my radar as something i wanted to read, but among the used books on cd at the store i got it from, it was the most eligible. i started it just after listening to a non-fiction book about pot, migrant labor, and porn, so at first i was like “blah, fiction. i prefer historical fiction.” turns out it was just that. a fictional story set in the very non-fictional historical context of the belgian congo during the 1960s. then i was like, “all these intricate details of life in a small congo village, how do i know what’s true and what’s invention?” well, turns out barbara kingsolver spent part of her life growing up in congo with two parents who were public health workers. my complaints were short-lived.

the story is about a family from georgia that travels to a small village in the belgian congo as missionaries in the early 1960s. the father is this fire and brimstones sort of preacher, and the rest of his family, a wife, three teenage daugthers and a 5 year old are along for a tragic ride. surprisingly this book turned out to be almost ayn randian in its progressive critique of marriage (circa 1960s), organized religion, colonialism, racism, africa, american foreign policy, consumerism, and capitalism. much of which i found complementary with my own thoughts and values.

so i popped in the arcade fire cd and listened to that a bunch of times.

around midnight on saturday i arrived in hurricane, utah and was again having trouble finding hotels with vacancy. so got on the interstate and headed down to st. george where i finally found a place, sadly without internet.

next leg: zion national park