Road Trip California to Utah Day 1 Episode 1 - We saw Bonnie & Clyde's Bullet-Riddled Car!

[robertpaulsen]

Last edited Fri Jun 30, 2017, 10:58 AM - Edit history (1)

All road trips have to begin somewhere, and our recent road trip, in which we drove over 3,000 miles, began at 5am in the morning in Los Angeles. Our first day ended in Utah. Check out all the sights we saw along the way!

[longship]

1. Utah, the state with the highest number of national parks.

I've been to two of them, Zion and Bryce Canyon. The latter is not really a canyon but a weathered and beautiful mountain summit with vistas nearly equal to Grand Canyon.

Both are extraordinary.

I have not visited the other national parks in Utah, but it is an extremely beautiful state.

[robertpaulsen]

2. We wish we spent more time there!

Thanks for the recommendations, longship! There are so many beautiful sights in Utah; we'll show some more that we filmed next week. I remember visiting Bryce Canyon as a child and being in awe. We're hoping in the future to take another road trip where we visit the national parks in Utah. But just driving through and taking some stops along the road sure impressed us!

[longship]

3. Crossing over into Utah from the west the interstate goes through a canyon.

When I drove through there, there were many long horn sheep clambering up the sides of the canyon. I only caught a glimpse because I was behind the wheel, but it was an awesome sight according to others in the car. It boded well for the week we spent there. We visited Zion, Bryce Canyon, and explored the desert around southern Utah looking for dinosaur footprints. We found the latter, but it took some adventurous driving and some missed landmarks.

[robertpaulsen]

4. Whoa, you found dinosaur footprints?

That's amazing! We really enjoyed driving through the beautiful mountain passes along Interstate 15 going in to Utah. I wish we could have seen some wildlife like long horn sheep. But we definitely enjoyed all the other natural beauty there was to see and took lots of pictures. Hope you got some pictures of those dinosaur footprints!

[longship]

5. The Dino footprints are well known in St. George.

Finding them is not easy because the directions are a bit confusing. But one can get there.

Unfortunately, assholes have tried to make plaster casts and fucked some of them up. Still, they are awesome. Well worth the effort.

[robertpaulsen]

6. We were in St. George!

We stopped there for gas, ironically at a Sinclair which features a dinosaur as their logo. I wish I had known about the footprints, but then again we were pressed for time.

[robertpaulsen]

7. Are the footprints in the town?

Or is it in the hills outside of St. George? It seemed like a nice place.

[longship]

8. Out in the desert.

My memory is a bit foggy now, but I think it was east and maybe south of town. We had instructions on how to get there, but they were poorly written and somewhat confusing.

We found the dirt road okay, but the distances were all wrong, so we wasted a bit of time bumbling around in the sandy dunes. Finally we continued down the road; it was farther than we expected, but patience won out.

The destination was clearly marked with a sign. There was even a little parking lot, enough for a few cars.

And there they were in their glory. Some biggens had passed through there some millions of years ago. Also, some smallens. Lots of footprints.

[robertpaulsen]

10. Remarkable!

We might be heading through there on a future road trip. If so, we will try to visit.

Thanks longship! We love anything of historical significance, especially ancient history.

[Brother Buzz]

9. Was a time, Bonnie & Clyde's car was displayed in Virgina City

It was a most peculiar roadside attraction off the beaten path, and I never learned how it ended up there, but I believed they made some serious jingle exhibiting it, as the movie had just splashed in the late sixties. For a time, I suspected an industrious entrepreneur hauled in a bullet-riddled wreck from the desert to display, and laughed all the way to the bank.

I LOVE road trips, lucky you

[robertpaulsen]

11. We will have a Virginia City video in the future!

We've visited there a couple times in the past and it is one of our favorite Old West towns. Always fun to explore the Washoe or have a drink at the Red Dog Saloon. Did you see any concerts at the Red Dog during the sixties? They've got so many great posters there of artists who performed there.

You might be right about the industrious entrepreneur laughing all the way to the bank. Supposedly there were at least a half-dozen fake Death Cars masquerading as the original. Then there is also the movie car which is currently in Tennessee.

I love that animation! Who is the artist? Really captures the frenetic spirit of a real road trip! We'll have more to share next week. Thanks for watching, Brother Buzz!

[Brother Buzz]

12. That's Mickey Rat, painted by his creator, Robert Armstrong

I kick myself in the butt for not purchasing the painting when Bob offered it to me decades ago; my wallet was just to thin at the time.

I missed all the doings at the Red Dog back in the day. Some pretty significant things happened in Virginia City in the summer of '65 (like the birth of the psychedelic poster and 'accidental' acid rock). One could make the argument San Francisco's 'Summer of love' was Beta tested in the Red Dog Saloon.

When you revisit the Red Dog, hoist one for me and toast the late great, Dan Hicks.

[robertpaulsen]

13. Ah, The Charlatans!

I've got the CD of The Amazing Charlatans. They were the pioneers (and as your photo attests, they dressed the part) of the San Francisco music scene of the sixties. Mike Wilhelm was a really fantastic guitarist and I love Dan Hicks' humor. "How Can I Miss You When You Won't Go Away" is a real gem Hicks wrote. Sorry to hear he's passed. He is definitely toast-worthy!

I didn't know about Robert Armstrong! That's cool that you know him, sorry to hear you didn't get the painting. Have you ever met Robert Crumb? I didn't realize the two of them were in a band; just read that on Wikipedia. I need to check out more of Armstrong's work.

[Brother Buzz]

14. Crumb used to live up the lane from me....

but he's an odd duck and it's next to impossible to really get to know him. For years, I thought he was standoffish, but I came to realized he's just an extremely private person. What you see in Terry Zwigoff's film, "Crumb", is exactly what you get. Oh, Zwigoff is a Cheap Suit Serenader, too.

Crumb left the band decades ago, but the Cheap Suit Serenaders still play one gig a year at the Berkeley Freight and Salvage. Just to get a glimpse of the musical instruments they play is worth the price of admission.

Did you see the film, The Diary of a Teenage Girl? Armstrong finally started moving the T-shirts that have been parked in his basement for the last forty-five years.

[robertpaulsen]

15. I love Zwigoff's films.

Crumb is a magnificent documentary (not surprised he comes across as standoffish in real life) and I'm a huge fan of Ghost World. If Zwigoff is still a Cheap Suit Serenader, I'll have to come see them in Berkeley when they play.

I haven't seen Diary of a Teenage Girl, but I've had a couple friends recommend it. So I'll have to check that out soon. Great shirt!

[Brother Buzz]

16. It was eclectic music that got Zwigoff into the film business in the first place

Specifically, a very rare '78 recording of Louie Bluie's State Street Rag, and it became an obsession. Terry put on his detective hat and discovered a true Renaissance Man, Howard Armstrong, and introduced him to the world with the film, Louie Bluie. The entire film, Louie Bluie, can be found at YouTube, but a link to the film is provided in the following interview with Zwigoff:

https://www.fretboardjournal.com/features/terry-zwigoff-revisits-louie-bluie/

I was extremely privileged to have the opportunity to read a bootleg copy of Howard Armstrong's, still, unpublished treasure, The ABC's of Pornography:

(Note: Howard is showing the book to banjo player, extraordinaire, Ikey Robinson; they had just met for the first time)

[robertpaulsen]

17. Great link! What an amazing story!

I didn't realize Criterion saved the Louie Bluie print in the nick of time. I'm looking forward to watching that; I used to work at a video store back in the 90s that had a worn-out copy. What a funny scene! My hats off to you for finding a bootleg copy of that book!