Cedar Breaks National Monument

Aloha Everyone,

Cedar Breaks National Monument is located about an hour from Cedar City through a mountain pass.

The main attraction is the spectacular view, about 3 miles wide and a 2,000 ft deep natural amphitheater. The rock formations and colorations resembled nearby Bryce Canyon National Park. The parking lot was accessible, but the rim visitor center will remain closed until the first of June.

At 10,300 feet elevation, there were remnants of snow on both sides of the road.

Our lunch stop was at Honolulu Grill in Cedar City. J.J. and I enjoyed a rare treat of Laulau and saimin. For dinner, I prepared a healthy, tasty salad.

The two of us are spending our time catching up with email correspondence, reading and planning our route for the next 3 weeks.

Aloha -- Cathi

To Kanarraville, Utah

Aloha Everyone,

After 2 1/2 hours of professional wash and wax job, Honu was shiny and sparkling clean as we left Las Vegas. Of course with all the road construction on I-15 North, it did not take long to get Honu looking dusty.

Passing through the Virgin River Gorge between Arizona to Utah is always impressive and exciting. We must have crossed the gorge more than a dozen times, but I never get tired of it. However, the drive is challenging for J.J. Once we arrived at our destination, he needed a good nap.

I was looking for new places to visit in this corner of the state. Roy at the Visitor Center in Saint George was ready to offer assistance.

After comfortably settling in at Red Ledge RV Park, definitely one of our favorites, I went out for a walk around the block. Bordered on East and West by mountain ranges, this place is rural, beautiful and peaceful.

Aloha -- Cathi

Movie Dates

Aloha Everyone,

During our 3 nights stay at KOA Sam’s Town, J.J. and I watched two movies at the Century 18 Movie Theaters, conveniently located adjacent to the RV Park.

Overboard, basically follows the original version of a 1987 movie starring Goldie Hawn. This Mexican-American production was as enjoyable as the original.

Book Club stars 4 award winning seasoned actresses: Diane Keaton, Jane Fonda, Candice Bergen and Mary Steenburgen. Interesting concept of incorporating a current popular book series into the lives of four lifelong friends. They are all in their mid to late 60’s but still full of life and looking for change to their mundane lives. Mostly mature audience were seated in the theater.  Some jokes must have hit their funny bones as J.J. and I were being entertained watching audience howling with laughter. Easy comedy worth spending a couple of hours in an air conditioned theater while the outdoor temperature was above 90.

Aloha -- Cathi

Japanese Baby Names

Aloha Everyone,

There are many different ways the Japanese come up with names for their children. Traditionally, it was the child's grandfather who had the privilege of choosing the name. In other cases, a name might reflect the order of the child among sibling. This is especially prevalent for male offsprings: the first child, second child (as Ichiro for 1st son, Jiro for 2nd son.) In long-established Japanese family, the first son would inherit the household.

“Quite often the first born might inherit an element of their father's kanji (e.g. Yasunori, Taisuke and Taiga all start with the kanji 泰). In such a case, you already have a set kanji and you would look to see what sounds it can be read as and what other kanji you can combine it with to come up with a kanji combination that fits with the phonetic name that you might like.”

Yo, the third son on our dear friends, Yasu & Mayumi, and his wife, Yui recently welcomed their first child.  When I asked Yo the process which he and his wife went to settle on their son’s name, he explained that they first wanted to incorporate KAI 海 (means ocean)  “as we wanted him to be international and cross the seas.”  “Also, Yui and I love the sea - we both love scuba diving and went to Tonga to snorkel with humpback whales for our honeymoon...”.  Then they searched for the second kanji keeping in mind the acceptable meaning and sound and  chose TO "翔”.  “ It means to take flight/soar, and this added to our image of him being a global citizen.”

Calligraphy, KAITO, was produced by Yasu, the proud grandfather.
My sincere “thank you” with apologies to Yo for his explanations which I had to abbreviate for our blog.  Additional “thank you” to Yasu for allowing me to use his masterful calligraphy.

Aloha -- Cathi

The Trucking Industry

Aloha Everyone,

J.J. and I are back on the road.  It actually took us 65 miles or nearly 90 minutes to navigate the Los Angeles Tuesday morning traffic to reach Interstate-15. Roads were filled with long-haul trucks. It makes us ponder how much of our travel is impacted by short and long haul trucks.

Nearly 71% of all the freight tonnage moved in the US goes on trucks. It requires 3.5 million truck drivers to move 10.5 billion tons of freight annually.

Truck drivers (especially long-haul) are now facing several challenges:

• an image crisis due to the long working hours
• long periods of time away from home
• the dangerous nature of the work

Currently, the nationwide truck drivers shortage is 51,000. By 2022, the trucking industry projects a shortage of more than 100,000 drivers. This could result in rising price of nearly all commodities.

Something to think about the next time you drive along side a long-haul truck with a Costco or Walmart logo.

Aloha -- Cathi