Just after lunchtime we found ourselves in Ely, Nevada, Elevation 7500ft (the cities in the SW all seem to have their elevation written on the signs instead of their population as in Canada. In many cases their elevation is probably a higher number). We stopped for gas and to ask in a local saloon (where we were reliably informed by a friendly local that the building was at least 100 years older than either of us – I didn’t disbelieve him) whether there was a chiropractor in town. Rob’s old neck injuries have been bothering him since last week and the single chiropractor we found at Burning Man was a lot more interested in partying than she was in helping Rob. We found a place in East Ely and waited for a couple of hours until an appointment became available so that Rob could be adjusted. In the meantime, since we missed the local museum opening hours, we did ome grocery shopping (I was craving fruit) and also our laundry. We have dust free bed linen once again!!

It seems the chiropractor did some good and in the early afternoon we set off with clean clothes and a full cooler for Zion National Park in Utah, a place which has come highly recommended by many people. Just after entering Utah for the second time this trip, on the 319 (becoming the 56 as it crossed the Nevada-Utah state border) we decided to get enough gas to take us through to Zion. The first place on the map was Modena, and we turned of the highway to find it. What a place!! We found the general store at the end of a road lined with wooden houses that looked as though they had certainly seen better days. In some cases they were barely standing though obviously inhabited given the chickens and dogs that were wandering around in the yards, and in others it was more difficult to tell. The general store, right next to a disused railway track sold a small amount of pretty much anything from inside an old wooden house, heated by a cast iron pot bellied stove with a single gas pump outside and the original 100 year old US postal office tacked onto the side. The friendly owner told us we might want to buy our gas a little further up the road in Cedar City since it was cheaper and most people only bought from him in emergencies!! He also told us we only had two more hours to go before we got to outside of Zion and so we pushed on.