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| Executive Summary: We drove this in about 3 months. You can click on the map for regional zoom in. |
[ WARNING: This is the original text from our journal that was written in the car as we were driving or in a tent at night. There is a goal of using this log as a foundation of a real story/book about the trip, with much more detail fleshed out and as well as a bit of grammatical updating. For now, all we have is this original log, so please don't send me a note so I know that I have a dangling participle somewhere. ]
July 1 - Duke (And so it began.....)
Today we began our adventure into the great unknown. To my surprise, and not Dave's, the Golf was able to fully accept our inventory of equipment. We left Rochester at about 9:30 AM, made a hesitation in Buffalo, then headed directly for Greenwich, Ohio via I-90 W to 271 S to 71 S to 224 W. A rest stop was needed at a Welcome Center in PA in order to properly mark our territory. Today's fun fact, I-90 is boring. Avoid this road at all costs. I realize that it passes directly through some pretty huge places, but this path is not that of a vagabond of true spirit. I'm not sure where we go tomorrow. Michigan somewhere I suppose. Or maybe it was Utah???
July 2 - Duke
Dave and Fitz experienced true small town USA by visiting the Greenwich fair and watching the truck and tractor pulls. Quite the experience for us city folks. People really get into the power of their vehicles, although to me it seems kind of asinine to pull a weight with no destination. I guess its a tribute to their driving and engine manipulating abilities. We left my house about noon today after servicing the car and re-organizing. We headed west on 250 into Norwalk. From there we got on 20/6 west. Then we stopped at a little ice cream place in Monroville that has a huge selection of shakes and flurries. The shakes were huge and delicious, and made a very refreshing lunch. We also recommend the Harley place just outside of Monroeville on 20. Cool stuff. From there we hit Michigan. We adopted our trip mascot at a garage sale outside of Tecumseh for $.25, well known as the refrigeration capital of the world. The mascots name is Faresh Mohammed Fahrvegnuven the camel, and he is a 4 inch wooden camel napkin holder with a whole in the middle.
After crossing the southern part of the state on route 12 we got into the Indiana Dunes about 9:30. The National Park was full, but a local tipped us to the State Park down the road. Cost us $12 ($5 for an out of state car to park) but it was not too bad (Or so we thought at the time). After a scrumptious RamenŽ feast, we retired into our cavernous tent. A few tips for the day. First, use common sense when punctuating a road sign. For example, SLOW MEN WORKING should be read differently than SLOW MOVING VEHICLES. Take a second to think about that. Secondly, Michigan seems to have a high density of people who mow their lawns in over-alls on lawn tractors. We hope to collect data throughout the country on this and other demographic anomalies for future study. What makes a person, or group of persons exhibit this behavior??? Nutrition? Upbringing? Above average intake of Frosted Flakes? With the help of national research, opinion polls, grocery inventory sheets, and electric shock therapy, we might just solve this age old mystery. By the way Happy Birthday Duke!!!!!!
July 3 - Fitz
Whoops new time zone. After checking the map we realized that we actually had crossed into a new time zone and had lost an hour, possibly why Dave slept in until 8:15 CST. The tent got dewed last night so we must dry it before we go to far, a major pain. Todays plans could include a tour of the Indiana Dunes and possibly a Lunch in Chicago, but more on that later.
The dunes or at least the part we saw were not all that impressive. Especially since just around the bank there was a huge power plant. I don't think we were in the correct place for the majestic sand dune view. Next we found ourselves at the University of Chicago. We happened by a real neat looking house which turned out to be, the Robie House a very nice Frank Lloyd Wright creation. We attempted to say hello to fellow Rochester Alumnus Hugo Sonenschein, President of the University of Chicago but he was not home. Not surprising since it is a holiday weekend. Unfortunately, we could not leave a message. (Always bring a writing implement and pad of paper when leaving the car). After failing to contact President Sonenschein we began a quest for a phone book to look up some of Dave's friends. Surprisingly, there were no phone books to be found on the entire campus, except a 1989 in the library and a 1990 in the medical center. Dave had no luck finding one friend and not enough money to call another friend outside of Chicago. So we were off in search of a sausage place. After circling the Sears tower we went through a Greek area, Spanish area, a huge hubcap and tire flea market and finally ended up in a very Polish area, which we decided would be a great place to eat polish sausage. We wandered the streets trying to read signs written in Polish (we think) until we came upon a restaurant called the Home Bakery and Restaurant. Fitz had white Borscht which was extremely good and enjoyed by everyone (it seemed to be a ham and potato soup). The waitress was funny - she didn't know how to explain what was in the different menu choices, but she was very nice. She kept saying "I don't know its very good." Duke was also eyeing a very attractive woman who was behind a counter stuffing sausage. Although this line sets up about a thousand raunchy jokes, we will not stoop to that level. All in all it was a great meal and a fun experience. Duke summed it up by saying "America takes great food and makes it to go".
We stopped and got some fruit, powdered milk, and cereal outside of Chicago. Looking at the spreadsheet you would think we spent a lot of money today, you would be right. Stops in the big city are going to be an expensive fact of life. After Chicago we headed north into Lake Geneva Wisconsin. Although the place was packed, we found a site at the Big Foot Beach State Park (I'm very curious about the name). This place was much more spacious than the Dunes but the cost was a killer. As if the $11 camping fee wasn't bad enough, they also tacked on a $6 entrance fee. We would never have come if we had known it was that much, but we didn't have much of a choice by the time we got in. Hopefully this will be the only night we pay that much. Tips for the day; EAT CHEESE! As it was stated by Dr. Fitzgerald earlier today, "Where there is good cheese, there are good looking women". We are also attributing the surprising cultural diversity in the area to the dairy product. There are people here of many backgrounds, Latino, Indian, middle eastern, Japanese, and french, as well as your run-of-the- mill white folk. We can only theorize that a chemical substance found in cheese stimulates the release of enzymes in the brain that generate a state of multi-cultural harmony and continued state of happiness.
July 4 - Duke/Fitz
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| OshKosh Factory |
After a brief tour of the city we headed west in search of authentic Wisconsin cheese and the world's largest six pack. We stopped for a fabulous P-B&J at Lake Butte Des Morts (Butt of the dead???). We sat on some rocks and watched the boaters while Dave shared a traumatic childhood boating experience. The cheese was found at the Colonial Cheese House in Omro, on the Fox River. It should be noted that this store had a SnappleŽ machine out front, very cool. Anyway, the cheese was excellent for the most part. The salami cheese was incredibly expensive, and incredibly good. The pepper and sharp were also superb and the cheddar was outstanding. But we needed a fourth cheese so we could get a 1/4 pound of each. Hey how about beer cheese? Beer is good and so is cheese, this could be the best invention since the Reese Peanut butter cup! We asked two of the female employees how this cheese tasted, and they both said it was horrible. But what do women know of beer, they are the whole reason that wine coolers and Zima were invented. So we purchased a quarter pound of beer cheese to finish off our set. Now the other cheeses were fantastic, but beer cheese is a different matter altogether. I'm not sure if any human has tried this stuff twice. Listen to locals and don't be chauvinistic, that's the lesson for the day kids. We will never know how, but it smelled remarkably similar to the finger of a man who went to sleep with an itchy butt. When Duke opened the cheese Dave and I thought we were driving by a farm with a different kind of manure. Dave touched a piece and had to drive with his finger out the window so that he could try to eliminate the odor. We eventually ditched the cheese in a dumpster in Angelo Wisconsin in a dumpster. Our apologies to the person who found it after it had been rotting in the sun for two days. We found out later that beer cheese is a special type of Limburger that has been aged longer.
Mother Nature gave us a small adventure in the Red Granite - Berlin area. Multiple tornados arose all around us. Although we did not actually seen a funnel, the news man told us we should have. As we drove onward through the storm, all he kept saying was "get to shelter, what ever you do don't get in a car". Crazy kids.
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| Random Fiberglass stuff, just out in a yard near Angelo. |
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| Behold!!! The world's largest six pack!!! |
We followed a huge River south through the west of Wisconsin which had an incredible view with Mountains in the background. Later we crossed the river on an iron grid bridge to find out that it was the Mississippi and it had a wonderful view. Welcome to Lansing IOWA. In Iowa we confirmed our plan of driving late into the night and sleeping (Don't want to use the word crash in this situation) in the car on the side of the road. First, we purchase in Iowa a much overdue Ness for David, a Kwik Star with a serial number extension of 1. About 1:30 AM we decided to take advantage of the fact that Iowa allows road side over night parking. We pulled over beside a field of black Angus cows just west of Allison. It was the clearest night I have seen in a very long time. The milky way was very visible. After watching about nine shooting stars we went to bed, or more correctly, we went to Golf. We have several tips for the day. Don't assume anything, ask for prices before purchasing especially cheese, and double check group request before purchases. Trust the natives, we asked about beer cheese and they said it smelled funny and tasted gross, but our male egos chose to try it. What could be bad with a name like beer?? THIS CHEESE thats what! Warning do not buy beer cheese it is so gross that I (Fitz) almost hurled, it sincerely smelled like butt. And tasted (one would imagine) that way too. Lesson learned. And another one, travel at right angles when dealing with a tornado.
Don't prejudge states, the Media tend to use stereotypical images that do not correspond to much of the state. Wisconsin was better than any of us imagined and had quite beautiful scenery and what seemed like a progressive attitude. In contrast Duke had large expectations for Osh Kosh B'Gosh factory and it was blah, no tours, no nothing barely a sign to be photographed with. Expectations of any kind are not the best way to experience new things. Keep an open mind.
Question to answer in route to America: So far on our trip one thing has been ever present, cows. Is there a state in the union in which no cows have destroyed the natural vegetation and caused erosion which has eliminated many of the endemic species of flora and fauna that were there before them? Surely there are no cows in Alaska or Hawaii. Arizona, it's a dessert for christ's sake. All hopes are that this environmental cancer has not spread to all parts of our continent. At the same time, I really love beef.
Final tip of the day, get lost. It is a great way to see neat stuff and scenery; a corollary to this tip is to let Fitz navigate when you want to get lost. Remember "Lawn mowers cut more than grass. This message provided by the Prosthetic Institute". (Actual Sign in La Crosse).
July 5 - Duke
Sleeping in a small foreign vehicle on the side of a road is an unusual experience. About every five minutes a semi would pass by about ten feet from the car. This and the limited space available in the drivers seat combined to give me little or no sleep. Both Fitz and Dave got about four hours, if you add all of us together we got a good night sleep. Throughout the trip, the term "cavernous" has been used to describe the interior of the Golf. Although this is true, it does not provide the optimal sleeping conditions for three men and gear. Consequently, we got on the road about six AM. After a scenic drive down some county roads, we stumbled across Pikes Creek camp grounds near lake Camillia. We used the facilities to wash up, and we even changed our underwear.
We had an entire day to kill, so we decided to head back east a bit to go through the city of Rochester Minnesota. We passed through Madison Wisconsin. A nice little town. Another Frank Lloyd Wright was spotted there, which we promptly visited. The name of the house was the Stockwell House. Not nearly as exciting as the Robie House. The town was full of neat houses, as there was a local architectural school.
On the way we found Nora Springs Iowa. The town had a water tower bearing it's name, so we figured we would get a photo for Fitz's girlfriend Nora. Now you would not think that something as large as a water tower could be elusive and difficult to find. You would think incorrectly in Nora Springs. In order to get a good view of "the NORA", we had to venture off road in a way that looked like a direct route. We traveled on this little mud road about two miles and could not even see the tower when we came out the other side of the woods. After some work, we did locate the beast. A little hint, when hunting water towers always remember one thing. They can hide, but they can't run!
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| Dave walks across the headwaters of the Mighty Mississippi. |
Rochester Minnesota was the next stop. We made the trip just for the fact of being in Rochester Minnesota and that we were coming from Rochester New York. Other than that, Rochester was not very exciting. The exception was the corn ear water tower at the Libby Foods factory. A picture was taken, and we also drove by the famous Mayo Clinic. Heading north on 52 into Minneapolis, we got off for a visit to the Mall of America. This is an interesting product of our society. A massive structure with a small amusement park in the middle, which is completely dedicated to spending money. This is the largest mall in the world. We cruised through it in about three hours stopping momentarily to try out hot sauces at Lotta Hotta, and checking out the Wisconsin cheese store to restock. To add to this attraction, the airport next door offers one day flights from all over the world for incredibly cheep prices. People actually fly from Tokyo to this Mall and back in one day. Amazing.
After some creative maneuvering through the city of Minneapolis, we arrived at the Felsted's at about 10:15. It was actually quite a streak of luck that we found the house. Fitz just happened to glance at an adjacent street sign that happened to be the one we were looking for. Great people. They fed us some sandwiches, fruit, and ice cream. We ate more than we have altogether on our trip. They talked for some time about themselves and about our trip, very interesting. The house also provided a bed which will be much appreciated after last night. Another feature of a house that should not be taken for granted is the shower. Marvalous little invention.
July 6 - Duke/Fitz
Well we needed our sleep a little more than we thought. I got up at ten and then awoke the rest of the troops. I felt a little bad because I told Mrs. Felsted that I would be up at eight. We got a full breakfast; bacon, eggs, OJ, coffee, the works. A large shipment of food was also prepared to go with us. Some cold meat, bread, pineapple juice, and cookies. We did not complain. Consequently, we left about one. The Felsted bed and breakfast gets a four star review. We highly recommend this stop for any traveler.
We cruised throughout the rest of Minnesota heading North to the headwaters of the Mississippi, at Itasca State Park. Following the National Scenic Trail along the Mississippi. Along the way, just outside of Cross Lake, we stopped for a Ness of cold lemonade from a young entrepreneur saving up to buy indian artifacts. He was very friendly but didn't know how to give change, thus he received a fair tip. Actually we were swinging a deal for two nesses and some cookies but the kid was still well compensated. We had a very nice conversation with his mother and were offered their friendly dog, the young entrepreneur was willing to give the dog up for a mere $40, while his mother was going to give us $40 to take the dog with us. At the park we met some friendly travelers who gave us a two day parking pass to the park which saved us four bucks (bonus). We decided to utilize a hike in campsite instead of the touristy drive in sites. Not only did this save us some $$$, but it also gave us a chance to get away from touristy America, (remember we are not tourist we are VAGABONDS). After gathering up what we thought we would need for the overnight, we clumsily carried it up and over the terrain to our site, about a mile away. Throughout the hike we were being kamikazed by slews of mosquitoes and other insects. It was pretty ugly at times. We finally reached our site, which was very nice. It was located on Deer Park Lake and was very peaceful. So far this was the best site we had. The only drawback was the bugs, but a fire kept them away pretty well. After turning in for the night we kept hearing something, much like the sound of a rock hitting the water of our neighboring lake. We also thought we heard someone approaching our site. Our theory was that people were throwing rocks into the water and that someone had come up to our site and realized that it was occupied. We found out later that the splashing noise was most likely beavers that slap their tails before they dive, as for our hearing a person we may never know the truth. That night it began to drizzle constantly, but we were fairly well protected by foliage so we stayed dry. The one problem we had that night was that a package of peanut butter crackers were left in the tent. This was a problem because we were in a raccoon and bear area. So Fitz took one for the team and had a midnight snack, and then Duke slept on top of the wrapper.
Tip: Act friendly and bewildered and people will give you free things.
July 7 - Fitz
We slept through the night until all three of us woke up only to hear pawsteps rushing towards the tent concurrently with a clicking chirp. Dave woke up quick and started hitting his side of the tent, the side that was being bum-rushed. The animal that was charging called off its attack (raccoon or squirrel theories) and Dave and Fitz went back to sleep, while Duke got up and straightened up camp. By the time Dave and Fitz got up it was starting to thunder a little, but soon enough it was pouring. We decided to pack up the tent and see if the storm would pass, we probably should have just hung out in the tent for the morning but we were committed. We put everything that needed to keep dry under the ponchos that Dave and I had put on, but it didn't help much. By the time we hiked back to the visitors station most thing were at least a little bit wet. We hung out at the visitors center and Duke and I changed into dry clothes and we packed the car in a way that kept the wet stuff isolated from the dry. We then proceeded to the actual headwaters of the Mississippi. We walked across the Mississippi headwaters and then Duke and I walked through them, (we were already wet) pretty strong current for a 10 ft. wide headwater. Before leaving the park we stopped at some indian burial mounds and a pioneer cemetery. Then we were off in search of the largest concrete buffalo in the world, I think?
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| I bet you did not even know that the world had a Largest Concrete Buffalo. |
Domestic tip: Be careful when drying fleece in a dryer. If for instance you just throw a fleece in with the rest of your soaked cloths on high for 40 minutes or so you may find that you now own a unique fleece short-sleeved tube-top. Any questions, ask Fitz. Next theory there are no States in which the State capitol is the largest city. For Example Minneapolis is larger than the capitol St. Paul Etc. we hope to prove or disprove this theory before our trip ends.
July 8 - Fitz
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| North Dakota, moving dirt from here to there for generations! |
We got up that morning and spent some time sending the first wave of postcards from Velva. Duke also cashed the first of the travelers cheques at the bank. From there we drove to Teddy Roosevelt National Park North, but before we got there we had a mini adventure. When route 1806 ended on the map it continued on the road so we took it. The conditions were OK at first and then gradually declined to a grassy one lane dirt road that seemed to be someone's driveway or field. We continued on, not knowing if it was going to become a dead end or not, or if we would be shot at by an angry farmer. We came to a section with an enclosed fence and we had to decide whether to go through the fence or turn around. We were too far to turn back and the fence was probably just to keep the cows contained, or so we hoped. So we opened the fence drove through and then closed the fence. We thought for sure we would be shot at any time now so we put a white shirt of surrender in the window. After climbing a dirt hill we saw a stop sign and became relieved, the road conditions started to improve and soon enough we were on the main roads again. Just so you catch all that, this dirt lane with a fence across the road had a stop sign at both ends. In most places that is indicative of a road. Quite the adventure.
We arrived at the park and were amazed to see huge mountains that had been carved by glaciers and eroded by the little Mississippi. They were colorfully striated and craftily carved to form some neat structures as far as the eye could see. We decided to buy an Eagle pass for $25, which gains us entry to all National Parks for a year. We drove through the park and saw a continuation of the Mountains. and we also got to see lots of Buffalo and Buffalo Scat which by the way is huge. The view was incredible and the park was better than I could imagine. We also saw an oxbow lake that the little Missouri created. We thoroughly videoed and still photographed this park. On the way out we met an elderly lady that was from Philly she was crossing to Butte and was way into nature and the Audubon society and actually told us about goats beard, a dandelion on steroids, we also saw sweet clover a yellow weed that is hayed. We drove from the park into Montana and grabbed some peanut butter and jelly in a park in Fairview. We had just missed the free burgers, (every Friday at 5:00 for all travelers who come in the future). We then proceeded to Glendive where we set up the tent in Jaycees West a small local free park from which this entry is being completed.
Theory: Earlier today I mentioned that we have noticed a lot of senseless dirt moving. We figure it must be a state funded job to keep people off unemployment. North Dakota has plenty of dirt and not much else. If you pay people to move it from place to place then you have an unexhaustable economic stimulus. It all makes sense. What else would you do for work in North Dakota??
July 8 - Duke
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| None of us East Coast boys had seen the western Pilot Truck until this day... |
Wyoming can best be described as sparse. The things they consider major roads are back roads by most standards, and the things they call normal roads are pasture paths. Not only was the map grossly incorrect, it did not have most of the roads. There was added difficulty in the fact that there was no difference between someone's driveway and the road, and most driveways looked several miles long. At one point the "road" we were on went directly through someones farm, house on one side, barn on the other, sheep in between. This brings up another interesting fact. Most of the roads we were on ran through immense pasture for the beef and sheep. They were free to cross the road, and did on several occasions. Very bizarre. How do these people find there herds when some fields were literally twenty miles by twenty miles. Many other wild life were also spotted including two fox, an owl, several 13 striped ground squirrels (dead), two porcupines, prairie dogs, a hawk, falcon ?, and hundreds of pronghorn. There was also some confusion in that we expected to be able to notice the towns on the map. Wrong. As far as we can tell, they must name a town whenever there is a house within sight of the road, although they would never post a sign. State moto, "We know where we are going, why should we tell you?".
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| Devil's Tower, freaky weird, but very cool. |
Quote for the day:
"Travel is not just moving over the earth from one place to another in some kind of
conveyance. It's not about where you're going or how your getting there. It is not
about getting away from it all. In fact, more the opposite...a way of getting to it all. Travel is
a metaphor for life. By that I mean that travel is a dramatization of life and a way to
experience it more intensely self consciously. Traveling is not so much an action as an
enlightened state of consciousness, opening you to fresh experiences; to a fresh look at the
world and yourself in it."
Ed Buryn: Vagabonding in America
July 10 - Duke
After a good nights sleep at DT, we headed out towards Jewel Cave South Dakota. Although the trip only needed to be about 80 miles on good roads, we used some strategic planning to fall off the map again. If possible, I think we were even less aware of our actual location today. The atlas had an enlarged section on the black hills so we thought we had all the roads. What we ended up on was not a road but a logging trail. Our road was moderately poor so we were moving right along, when over a hill the road deteriorated rapidly. We were already in the road so had no method of turning back. I seem to think that our mission in life is to redefine what a VW Golf can and can't do everyday. So far we have not tried anything it could not do. This was close. Fitz had to get out of the car and run along side to clear large rocks that the car could not start. With the help of "rock boy" and several hours of maneuvering, we reached civilization (in this part of the world, a house is civilization). Eventually we happened across a gas station and got out to stretch. While in the store, we saw a brochure for the Cosmos, a place where gravity is different. (We had some limited information about a place called the wonder spot which gravity was weird, and this sounded like the place) It sounded like a complete fake, but we figured with our lucke we would get lost and end up there anyway so we did not fight it's power. Although this was a tourist trap and it cost five dollars, we went for it anyway, it is only money. Believe it or not there is something strange there. They have a crooked house with lots of props which magnify the effect. It was worth the five dollars because it was entertaining. Just realize that what you see is about 60% illusion and 40% weird gravity.
Next we drove by Mt. Rushmore. None of us were particularly excited about this but it was on the way. Another TT (that's tourist trap for future reference). People everywhere. We saw it, got a picture, and left after about 10 minutes. On to Jewel Cave. We forked out another $4 a piece to take a scenic tour. A real spelunking tout would have been nice but we did not have reservations. This tour was pretty neat as well. After dropping to 250 ft below the surface, we saw calcite crystals, flow rock, draperies, ribbons, stalactites, stalagmites, and some other formations I can't remember. This tour had forty people on it, including many kids. Tomorrow will be better, no kids. We stayed at Camanchee National Park in the Black Hills National Forest. Very nice campground. Self pay, large sites, and when we were there it was not crowded. As an aside, this park was not named after the indian tribe, but rather a horse. Captain Eo captured a horse in a battle against the Camanchee indians and named it after the tribe. This is the horse he rode in Custer's attach at Little Big Horn, and the only member of the calvary to survive. Anyway, we had our first official Mac &Phil session tonight. Dave brings another dimension to this time honored tradition. Usually the phil is more of a social commentary on current events or age old debates. Dave got out his notes from his Practical Philosophy and we got deep. "Any one who has common sense will remember that the bewilderment of the eyes are of two kinds, and arise from two causes, either from coming out of the light or from going into the light, which is true of the mind's eye, quite as much as of the bodily eye; and he who remembers this when he sees any one whose vision is perplexed and weak, will not be too ready to laugh; he will first ask whether that soul of man has come out of the brighter life, and is unable to see because unaccustomed to the dark, or having turned from darkness to the day is dazzled by excess of light. And he will count the one happy in his condition and state of being, and he will pity the other; or, if he have a mind to laugh at the soul which comes from below into the light, there will be more reason in this than in the laugh which greets him who returns from above out of the light into the den." Plato, The Republic
July 11 - Duke
Today we left the Park about 11:00 and drove purposefully towards Windcave. We found the park without incident and even had extra time to look around at the exhibits. Here is a snipit of information. There are no Buffalo in North America, only Bison. The Europeans named the indigenous animals Buffalo because of their close relation to the European and Asian animal. I did not know that.
Our guide's name was Stacey, and a man. We keep getting guides with androgynous names, Stacey, Kelly; very curious. After a small shake down on proper safety precautions and a suiting up of the helmets, knee pads, and other assorted goodies, we entered the cave. By the way, when caving always have three independent light sources per person and never go with less than three people.
We were in the cave for about four hours in total. The course we went on was a little less than 1/2 mile long. Although this does not sound impressive, there was a large variety of terrain to cover. We did several climbs through very narrow passage, some up some down. There was also a good amount of straddling large pits and crevasses. All in all, more challenging than I had expected. I was not very difficult but I did not think they would allow us to do some of the things we did.
Along the way we also passed several formations on the celling, walls, and floor. Among these being, frostwork, popcorn, gypsym, gypsym fibers, and tons of box works. Although this formation is very rare throughout the world, box works is every where in this cave. All in all a great day, well worth the money. One of the guys on the caving tour with us also recommended a place called Flat Mountain in the Rocky Mountain National Park. With the rangers permission, you can slide down a glacier. Neat. After roaming around for quite a while. We found some dinner, chicken from a grocery store, and a place to stay. The Rifle Pit National Forest, absolutely free. No water but very nice people host the park. I think we are going to get their picture when we leave.
July 12 - Duke
After some debate, we decided to stay at the same camp again tonight. We did relocate the tent due to the hill we were on for the evening prior. It made it slightly difficult to stay in place as you slept. Hopefully tonight will be better. We headed into Custer, on the way to the Badlands National Park. We happened upon the all you can eat breakfast buffet and decided to partake. We did some damage, they were happy to see us leave.
Next we headed into Custer State Park on route 16A. This is a great drive on some of the most interesting highway we had ever seen. This road had "pigtail" bridges. They curley- cued all over the place. There were also several one lane tunnels carved through the mountains such that you could see Mt. Rushmore through the other side. Very neat view, although somewhat disturbing how they mowed down all the trees just to clear the view. God bless America for it's practical domination of mother earth. After some work, we entered the Park from the south and stopped at the White River station. While there, another tornado warning was sounded. Curious how these things seem to be following us wherever we go. I also broke the toilet flusher, after an abusive test of it's endurance. Later I hear it had survived when Fitz removed a three day old block of hot pepper cheese from his system.
The badlands were quite beautiful. I can't justly describe them in words so I will not attempt. I say see them for yourself. We did run into a Ranger who was a U of R alum. Both Fitz and Dave knew him from several years ago. His name was Mike Marion(Suzanne White, Lia Vella), class of 90-91 (take five). He lead us on to some information on working for the Parks system and we all got applications. Very long applications. Aside from recommending several places to visit, many of the questions we had developed are now answered. Let me run through them all.
First, there are no Buffalo in North America. Early French explorers name the Bison of the new world after the similar, but entirely unrelated, mammals of Asia and Africa. This name had been accepted as a colloquial and is now much more prevalent than the correct name. Although colloquials such as this are very common in American culture and completely acceptable, it disturbs us that even the National Parks System reinforces this misnomer by using both terms interchangeably. As a point of interest, the Bison are generally larger than the Buffalo, who are more closely related to the Bovine family. Another interesting point lies in the fact that Buffalo NY was not named after the beast of the Prairie (see below) but after a river. The river was named by the native indians to the land and this name sounded phonetically similar to the European word Buffalo. So this city way named after a indian river which was anglo- sised into a name for a mammal who did not even exist on this continent except in the narrow, imperialistic minds of European explorers. Interesting.
Secondly, a butte is not a hill or a mountain. Mountains form when tectonic activity forces the earth upward into massive walls of rock. In contrast, a butte is formed when an area is eroded away by wind and water and all that remain are what appear to be hills, usually exposing stratifications. The buttes in the badlands began to erode just half a million years ago. Red tint is introduced into the hills in the form of Iron Oxide, while some green from copper. Plains, prairie, and range. What is the difference? A plain is any area which is generally flat. This is a topological feature of a region. A prairie in a region which has grasses as the principal vegetation. Two completely different criteria for a plot of land. A range is a term which holds no real reason except perhaps a place where cattle are left to graze. A little hot rod chipmunk we have been seeing throughout the area is indeed a chipmunk. It is similar to any other chipmunk in the country except it is lighter colored in the Badlands region. It adapted to the surroundings and is now happily camouflage against the earthy buttes.
The debate between brook, stream, river, creek and others still exists. These terms are far to vague, what is what. I do know that no one in the west uses the word brook. As you are probably thinking the same thing I was, I will tell you the answer. What body of water babbles? You can not have a babbling stream, or creek. Brook has exclusive right to the adjective babbling. A stream can however gurgle. This is the western equivalent. We are all from the same country, yet are so different.
On a historic note, the Souix indian tribe which are the prevalent tribe in the Dakota region are not the Souix at all. They are actually known as the Lakota. Early french explorers coined the phrase Souix as an insult to the natives. The name is apparently derived from the french word for snake, which is what the French thought of these evil primitives. I you could kindly eliminate the word Souix from your vocabulary, I would appreciate it. It has also been determined that X marks the spot signs in South Dakota indicate locations of fatal car accidents. Vivid form of social awareness. South Dakota women appear to be more attractive than the average state. Go figure. A preface for the book, as taken from a English teacher at fitz's high school named Todd Evans: On witting a paper (or book) "Your report should be like a mini-skirt; short enough to keep it interesting, but long enough to cover the subject" Well stated Mr. Evans.
July 13 - Duke
It rained last night so we had to wait for the tent to dry this morning. At about 11:00 we headed out. We stopped by the trailer of Billy and Ruben Lesser, the caretakers of the park. They were very friendly so we got a picture of Billy with Fahrvignugen, and one with all of us. She also took several pictures of us. She said that she will draw sketches of us later on. Ok then. We stopped at Windcave again so that Dave could call the doctor and a friend from Denver. Dave got an appointment with a doctor in Hot Springs at 2:30 because he thought he might have an ear infection. We still could not get a hold of the guy in Denver. We will try latter.
Having some time to kill in Hot Springs, we cashed some travelers cheques and bought a socket for the car belt. Dave occupied his time by constructing a cardboard cover for the atlas. The most massive cover ever beheld by any man. Come to find out, there was nothing wrong with Dave. Damn, no drugs. Anyway, we left town about 3:00. In order to keep our record strong, we got lost in Nebraska. Tried to find the Agate Fossils National Monument by some backroads. We ought to know better. The map is a gross approximation of what the back roads really look like. We did eventually find it but it was closed. Fitz left a stamped envelope with a note asking for them to send us three stamps from the park. Let's see what happens.
We stopped in the wildcat state recreation area in Gering Nebraska. For future reference, the AAA book says this place has 50 sites, that is a typo. There are only 5. It is free and right next to a wildlife refuge. We heard the sound of Bison (not Buffalo) talking to each other all night. That is we heard them when the hurricane gusts die down. Once again, tornado like whether is following us wherever we go. We slept in the tent in the most intense electrical storm any of us had seen. Sort of frightening. We had to hold the tent down in the corners. After some time, it calmed down slightly and we went to sleep. Tomorrow we will be drying our things all morning.
July 14 - Duke
Quite a storm last night. We survived unscathed, just a tad moist. While we waited around for the stuff to dry, a couple who was also camping there gave us some advise on what to do in Colorado. They recommended a place called Seven Falls, Royal Gorge, and The Cave Dwellings, all of which where near Colorado Springs. Once the stuff dried, this is where we headed.
The day ended up being primarily a travel day. We covered 410 miles by the end, and most of those miles were on route 71. Although it did grow slightly bland, Colorado has some beautiful countryside. They also have many different license plates. A point of interest; we passed through Last Chance Colorado on our way to Colorado Springs. Not much to it other than a gas station. After stopping for gas in Colorado Springs, we wandered around for a while trying to find The Seven Falls. We did find it and realized that it was another TT. It also cost $5.75 per person, so we passed. After a great deal longer without a clue where we were, we found the Cliff Dwelling. This was $4.50 per person but we were sick on driving around and not seeing anything so we went in.
We learned the following. The Anasazi indians were a people who lived in small family structures which were made from skillfully crafted rock and mortar. These dwellings were set into the side of the cliffs. Their diet consisted primarily of corn. This was used in every meal in addition to several other fruits, vegetables, and meat. One problem with their diet was that the corn was ground into a powder using rocks called matate and mono. This process left small grains of rock in the corn meal. Consequently, most middle aged Anasazi suffered from sever tooth decay. In 1275 there was a great drought of 24 years. Although the indians developed dams to try to contain any available water, by 1300 all of them were forced to abandon their dwellings and move south. It is believed that these people in combination with other tribes eventually became the indians known as the Pueblo. By the time we left here it was time to seek some lodging. There were several free sites in the area, most of which we could not locate. After some time, we found the Craigs National Forest Service Campgrounds outside of Divide. This site was located at a record breaking 10,100 feet. None of us had ever been anywhere near this high before. After we arrived at the site we realized that there was a $7.00 fee. This had change since our book was written. We decided to forgo the payment since it was pretty late. If the ranger comes around and asks for the money then we will give him some. Let it be noted that within 10 minutes of our arrival, the beautiful night sky had turned to dark looming clouds. As we went to bed it was raining pretty hard.
As a point of interest, we are starting an experiment today. All of us took off our watches and Dave hid them somewhere. Time is not supposed to be important on this trip. We will see how long it takes for me to go crazy.
July 15 - Duke
We spent this morning drying again. The ranger never came around to collect any money, so last night was free. I am not willing to discuss the moral implications of not paying at this time. It is sort of a touchy subject, but we are very poor. We passed by the Mennonite Camp on the way back down. These were some very progressive Mennonites. Nothing like those in good old Ohio.
Our first stop was the Florissant Fossil Beds National Park. We learned of the petrification process which was common with the ancient sequoias of a million years ago. I now also know my conifers. For instance, the Ponderosa Pine, which is common through out the southwest, is easily identified by it's three needles clusters and a distinctive vanilla scent. The Douglas Fur has flat soft needles, much shorter than the Ponderosa Pine. While we were there the storms moved in again. People will soon pay us not to come to their area of the state. Our next occupation is going to be weather for hire. From Florissant we attempted to find the Phantom Highway, a small dirt road which the folks in Nebraska recommended against. This fact alone was reason enough for us to seek it out. The name says it all. We could not find this road. Eventually we went around a 40 mile circle and ended up at the campgrounds we started the day at. Oh well. If there is a God, he is laughing.
We admitted defeat and took a more straight forward route to the Royal Gorge. On the way, Dave passed five cars at the same time on a curve and we nearly died. Some times you gotta take chances. The Gorge was another TT. The Nebraska folk were diffidently into a different scene. To cross this bridge and enter the ground cost a mere $10 per person. NOT!! We parked at the top of a dirt road and observed the view for free from the canon city park.. Moving on toward the Great Sand Dunes, we decided to take a shortcut. We were currently traveling around the San De Cristo mountain range and could not cross on any road which was on the map. This had not stopped us in the past and certainly would not stop us now. We found a sign which said Medano Pass. Wow a pass, none of us had ever taken a real western pass before. As we entered we passed a four wheel drive truck coming the other way. The driver and passenger were laughing. At the time we did not know if they were laughing at us driving a Golf on this road, our taking a picture of a poaching sign, or just conversation between friends. I think I know now.
The road traveled at a moderate grade over a roughness which we had been able to deal with before. After about 6 miles of 20 mph travel it began to deteriorate. The ruts became genuinely dangerous and navigation became a slow methodical process. Eventually we reached a hair-pin curve up a very steep grade. The road was about as rough as the roughest road we had been on. It was the grade which was the problem. With both myself and Fitz pushing, and Dave traveling at ramming speed, we were able to reach the top with minimal damages. After this the road leveled off briefly. The next turn was steeper and rougher. Our scouts reported that it looked as though it got worse even further up. It was time to admit defeat. The Golf had performed much above the standard of every car in it's class. It can play with the big boys, but only to a point. The navigation down was slow but not as difficult. We returned to the road and pressed onward.
It is often said that Texas is obsessed with the large. This may be true, I have never been there, but Texas is not the only state in the Union. We have noticed that Montana, Wyoming, and now Colorado are all very much into words like huge, vast, immense, and the like. As an example, take the Colorado driveway. In an attempt to cross yet another pass through the mountains, we were faced with a fork in the road. We thought it wise to follow the path which more closely resembled a road (they were close). As it turns out this is not a very accurate method of distinguishing road from driveway. Neither is the length. Again we assumed that since we had been driving about 7 miles that this must be a road. Wrong. Eventually this just turned out to be a network of driveways which had no apparent exit to the "road" except the way we had come. It is very disturbing to travel on a road for 1/2 hour and then have it dead end into someone's barn. As a warning for future travelers of the west, it is very difficult to navigate these roads for two reasons. First, these roads are not on the map. It is roads like this which will most likely result in the most fun. Secondly, the indistinguishable driveway phenomena already mentioned. It am not recommending against this form of travel, quite the opposite. I merely suggest that you are in no hurry to get somewhere. By this time it became obvious that we were not making the Dunes today. Fitz found a place outside of Del Norte. In town we stopped a Pizza Hut and got some pizza. Two mediums for $7.99, we could not pass it up. The campgrounds, called Cathedral Campgrounds, was definitely set off the main drag. About 12 miles of dirt roads and we were there. Elevation 9,500 feet and very woodsy. It was after dark again, probably about 10:30 so we found the best site we could. Oh by the was it was free. If you are near Denver at all, try to pick up 96.5 FM, "Denver's rock alternative". Pretty cool format.
July 16 - Duke
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| Our faithful mascott, in his native habitat... |
We took a couple of hours and hiked to the top of some dunes. It was quite warm. There was a remarkable contrast. In front of you was a vast sea of sand which look liked any desert you would see in the movies. If you turn around 180° then you see green plush mountains as far as the eye can see. A very disturbing sight. If anyone cares, I highly recommend this Monument.
At this point I would like to reemphasize the importance of the Golden Eagle Passport. We purchased this pass back at the Teddy Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota. With the visit to the Great Dunes this pass has officially paid for it's $25 fee. Any park we visit from now on will be free. It you plan to visit more than six parks in a year, get this pass. We ended up bedding down at Buffalo Pass National Campgrounds in Saugwash. This time we got in with enough time to roast some weenies we had picked up at the grocery store. This was arguably one of the best meals we had eaten and also one of the cheapest. There was a $5 fee sign at the entrance. We had expected free. Fortunately there were no envelopes so we could not put our money anywhere. I am not sure why, but this campsite has an enormous amount of moths. They are everywhere. There are about six or seven walking on you at any one time. Why do they like it here so much? Tomorrow we are heading north and to either the Colorado National Monument or The Rocky Mountain National Park, we are not sure which.
I would like to add one more corollary to the don't assume anything rule in life. Never roll up a tent until you are sure there is nothing you left in it. An example would be leaving the bag in which the tent goes in the tent and then rolling up the tent. Just off the top of my head.
July 17 - Duke
The line of free campsites seemed to be pulling us towards the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Monument and then the Colorado National Monument. Before I go any further, let me explain what exactly differentiates a National Monument from a National Park. In order to have Park status it must have renewable resources and is passed by an act of Congress. The monument can be a single feature which is declared a monument with the President's signature. Because of the difficulty involved in getting congress to approve a park, there are many National Monuments. Quite a few of the Monuments should be Parks (better funding). Monuments usually put the bill into congress and wait and see. On with the story. The Black Canyon of the Gunnison, named after the first explorer to chart the area, was quite spectacular (Note the definitive euro-sentric statement just made). This canyon was forged by the Gunnison River millions of years ago. It posed quite an obstacle for early explorers. Even today, it requires 80 miles of roadway to travel from the south to the north rim, a distance of less than a mile. These roads did like to wind. Fitz got his ear talked off by a logger from Idaho who spontaneously gave him the loggers perspective on current day logging. We also identified the Black Billed Magpie as the black, white, and blue bird we have see occasionally.
Before we moved on to the Colorado Monument, we got gas. This was a triumphant day, as we went over 500 miles on one tank. Our mileage per gallon was 39.91, almost breaking that illusive 40 barrier. This was our best yet. The attendant also let us fill our Ness' with pop for free. Bonus!
The Colorado Monument was very large. We drove into the park about 20 miles on very windy roads just to get to the visitors center. This park is the location of the Independence Monument, Balancing rock, Window Rock, and Kissing Couple Rocks, all of which you have probably seen somewhere before. The Gunnison is again responsible. I recommend both of these monuments and perhaps more time to possibly do some hiking. We decided to do some serious driving and get close to the Rocky Mountain National Park for tomorrow. Although it is somewhat against code, we took I-70 which is a major 4- lane road in order to make some time. For this type of road, it had some very interesting sections. North of Grand Junction we did some very nice canyon driving. The highway follows the Colorado through it's winding course. There are several tunnels and also some interesting two leveled highway weaving (when you see it you'll understand). From an engineering standpoint, this road was a challenge.
We made it to Kremling, which is just southwest of the Park. The campsite was called the Pumphouse Recreation Area. Not very woodsy but very roomy. You can hear the Colorado in the very near distance. It was dark so I could not tell how far. Before I leave you, allow me to babble on the topic of scale. By scale, I mean the importance of our surrounding stimuli and how we perceive. Let me site and example. Devil's Tower is about 900 feet tall from base to peak. Pretty impressive given the surrounding area which is mostly flat. Now take the Sand Dunes. They are almost 700 feet tall. A pile of sand nearly as tall as the Tower. The backdrop for the Dunes however consists of the San De Cristo mountain range for as far as the eye can see. Several of the peaks reach over 14,000 feet, probably 5,000 feet above the surroundings. If you could pluck Devil's Tower and place it next to this mountain range it would go almost unnoticed. Place it in a rolling little hillside, boom, a National Monument. It's all got to do with perspective, it's all got to do with your point of view.
July 18 - Duke
Well last night was slightly interesting. Twice during the night a large thunder shook the darkness in a way which was very disturbing. A continuous rumble which was vaguely familiar, yet quite strange. After some time of low budget reasoning in my semi-conscious state, I came to realize that a train was passing, and passing extremely close at that. After I was awoken for good at 6:30 by swarms of the aforementioned Magpie's (reference July 17; paragraph 2), I realized that I could have thrown a rock at the train from the tent. Of course I would have under thrown the train, as the tracks were about 200 yards away. However, I would have hit the Colorado River. It was a nice morning, very cold, very early. I sat in the car and typed some of this log while the Magpies attacked the vicious red monster (i.e. VW Golf) which had invaded their territory.
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| We three at the top of Flat Top Mountain |
It was clear that even if we had time we would not be able to make the rest of the climb. In order to get to andrew's glacier you need to walk along the continental divide. This means walking along the peaks of the mountains on no trails. I recommend starting very early if you plan to try this. Once you reach the top you can take a long break before you attempt to get to the glacier. be sure to ask the rangers if the glacier is ok to slide on before you go. And also, don't try this when the whether is bad. In addition to the fact that the you are in the clouds and white outs are common, you do not want to straddle the continental divide when there is a lightning storm. You are the highest thing for quite a while and make an easy target. The return trip was much easier. I think the round trip took us somewhere around five or six hours. At the bottom we needed to find a place to crash and fast. After some driving around towards Tom Bennett national campsite. We were tired so we checked some of the sites along rt. 14. Most cost money, until we finally lucked out. The Narrows site (possibly Narrows Access) was what we finally checked into to. It was within 15 feet of the Cache La Poudre River. The site was located between Rustic and LaPorte on route 14. Although the water was very loud, we all died instantly.
Note for the day, It is very interesting that different national parks have different policies. In the badlands they would not give out bags for purchases to save trees and energy. But in other parks they barely have recycling programs. It seems that these additional programs are often spearheaded by certain rangers and it is these rangers that we salute.
July 19 - Duke
The river supplied a much needed bathing spot. Today makes an official two weeks since we showered at the Felsted's. Quick baths in streams alow us to remain at least tolerable to other humans. Dave perched on a rock in the river and wrote his journal while Fitz became obsessed with the little flakes of gold he found while bathing. We also interacted with another camper named Fred, a nice guy who drove a Subaru and thought capitol punishment should be used on tourists, especially littering tourists. A fairly random statement to get out of a man you only speak to for five minutes.
Our first course of action was to stop at the first all-you-can eat joint that we saw. We had been living on PB&J for a few days and after yesterday's hike we were extremely hungry. Steamboat Springs provided a Pizza Hut which served nicely. For a chain, this is a good deal. $3.99 for all you can eat pizza. We did all right. Another tip is the Pizza Hut free refills on drinks. Get a small and make the waitron (PC) work for the tip. We nearly died at that bar due to over stuffing. There were a few restroom facilities which took some hard hits as well. Leaving this touristy town well nourished, we departed for the Dinosaur National Monument which lies on the boarder between Colorado and Utah. When we arrived it was too late. We had spent too much time at Pizza Hut. Oh well. We made productive use of our time by going to a laundry mat in Vernal, Utah, as this is the town we had decided to stay at. Dave and Fitz asked Cliff, a worker at the local Wal Mart, how to get to the local Laundry Mat. Cliff had a real Utah Accent kinda like a Bill Cosby impersonation of Ross Perot, and he told them that the Mat was down two Semaphores (Signals we think) across from the BJ's chain restaurant on 5th West. Dave and Fitz looked at each other to see if either really understood Cliff, but both were fairly perplexed and were holding back chortles. They figured out the directions and found the Laundry mat with no problem.
We ended up settling down in one hell of a site. The name was Pelican Lake Campgrounds and it was an interesting place. It was dark when we arrived so it was hard to see, but some creature had been digging huge holes everywhere. We had no idea what it was and had no intension of finding out. Of course the entire campgrounds was deserted and overgrown. There really were no sites to speak of. For lack of a better plan and fear that we may be eaten by the monster in the holes, we slept in the car. Not the most comfortable of options but definitely the safest.
July 20 - Duke
We survived the night unscathed. With the benefit of sunlight the grounds did not look quite as bad, but they were still pretty far from good. We left pretty early. Our mission was the retry the Dinosaur National Monument. This time we went to the Quarry section in Utah. It was rather interesting, although it was definitely set up for touristy folks. The majority of the remains which were found there were removed at the beginning of the century and sent to various museums. What remained was inclosed by a building and left for display. This was relatively interesting, although the park did have more to offer which we did not take advantage of. Our next plan was to go to Salt Lake City. Diana had told us that the Great Lake was fun to walk in because it was so shallow. You can walk out about a mile and still be ankle deep. Once we arrived we had no idea how to get to a place you could do this. In an effort to alleviate this condition, we followed the beacon of knowledge which towered over the city. We headed toward the capital building. Of course the information section at the capital closed about five minutes before we arrived. Oh well.
We headed toward Farmington to the Sunset Campgrounds. It was a no fee site and a relatively close suburb of the city. There is an interesting drive to the site. A five mile winding, one-lane road which could mean certain death if two vehicles meet at the right spot. The campground themselves were very nice. The sites were set into the woods and relatively private. Unfortunately, several other campers were near us. Between the screaming kids, the Honda generator, and the AC/DC being blasted all around us, it was not particularly serene. We are hypothesizing that this is a local hangout spot for the high school crowd. Several loud and rowdy (apparently drunk) youngsters just arrived looking like they are ready to party. They need this time away from their parents so I'm happy to be the person they get to annoy tonight. Se La Vi.
Before I leave I would like to take note of several good things national parks do and which ones. Rocky Mountain had all types of recycling and also a return box for brochures and flyers. The Badlands had a policy of not giving out any bags in the gift store. This is an excellent way to conserve resources and the people can carry their postcards to the car un- bagged. These elements should be combined into standard policy for all National Parks. In my opinion. By the way, the AC/DC guy just switched to Comfortably Numb. At least it is more peaceful.
In an unrelated story, I inform you of the current status of a research project we are working on. The theory that the largest city in any state is not the state capital has a few holes. Namely Colorado with Denver and Utah with Salt Lake City. Of course with any scientific law, there are exceptions. We plan to continue our research and develop regional relations. Stay tuned.
July 21 - Duke
The wonderful kids next to us were sure to keep us from oversleeping. They make an awful lot of noise. When we did get up, there was a ton of garbage to clean up all around our site before we left. We had no idea what was up with this whole Lake thing. Are there beaches, boat docks, or what? We headed west and figured we would hit it eventually. We did find a man made bay which was surrounded by salt flats. This whole salt flats thing is very odd to me. The land is just covered in salt and completely white. There were some birds who seem to like it. After we realized that the road around this bay was not made for Golf travel, we turned around and wandered to our next stop. Through blind luck, we happened across the Antelope Island State Park. Of course there was a $5 admission fee which we had no intension of paying. We were informed that there were free beaches to the south of the lake off of I-80 west. Although this was half-way around the lake from where we were, we headed out. The sign on the highway said free pepsi, beaches, games, etc.. The name of the place was Saltair (get it Salt air). There was supposed to be a $2 per car fee but there was no one at the both when we came in. This was basically a TT. It was a rebuilt version of the original which was started in the early 1900's. In it's day it was a happening place. Very large dance hall and the whole place built on stilts right on the lake. Of course in the 1930's the lake receded drastically and the place was not very close to the water any more. Dumb luck that. It had to shut down.
Now let's talk about the lake itself. There was an overwhelming oder from something rotting that could be smelled from the highway. It was bad. The lake itself was very mucky and 25% salt. You can't have any recreation in this lake. There is also the fly feature. Billions of tiny flies covered the shoreline. If you walked to the shoreline then you were covered with flies. We later found out that the smell was from rotting brine shrimp. It seems that the lake recedes often and leaves brine shrimp on the shore to rot in the hot summer sun. Lovely Industry has found some uses for this pit. There are copper strip mines, crude oil rigs, salt mining, other mineral mining, as well as the harvesting of brine shrimp as food for tropical fish. All your favorite things together in one place.
From my experience, I am happy to say that I have been to the Great Salt Lake. I am even happier to say that I will never go back. The salt flats in the Bonneville area were sort of cool, although I don't know who would live there. The local teens do seem to have a unique regional method of entertainment. The beautiful white salt flats provide a perfect cavans for rock graffiti. That's right folks. If you gather the dark rocks which surround the road, you can spell out pretty much anything you want in the sand. Tony loves Jenny, Central High Rules, This Lake Sucks, whatever.
As we were on the southern side of the lake, we headed for Nevada. Within seconds of crossing the border, there were six casinos within sight. Liquor stores everywhere, casinos, legal prostitution, god bless Nevada. We only had a brief visit because we were headed to Idaho. This was not because we were opposed to the state of Nevada, there was just no place to stay. Idaho on the other hand was a bounty of free sites. In Rogerson, just off route 93, we stopped at the Salmon Dam Saloon. A friendly cowboy who was deeply involved with his beer scribbled some directions on a paper coaster. We figured there was no way we could follow his drunken bantering, so we pushed further on into Idaho. We found Cougar Campgrounds which is a place in the Sawtooth National Recreation Area, just north of Ketchum. It was a nice place and we were pretty alone.
July 22 - Duke
We headed to the headquarters that we had seen the night before on the way in. This was a pretty fancy place, especially for a National Recreation Area NRA. Facts which were learned are as follows; the dominant male wolf in a pack is known as the "alpha male". The long tailed weasel can capture and kill prey which is 10 times it's weight. That is all I can remember. We took the scenic drive on route 75 through the area. It was very nice country, and in a round about way got us too our next stop.
That stop was the Craters of the Moon National Monument. This is basically a volcanic basin with several cones and igneous rock. As you know, there are two types of cones; cinder cons which form when gas charged magma is sprayed into the air and falls down in a fine shower of cinders, and the spatter cone which forms when the magma is not as gaseous and it cools into larger pieces. As you also probably knew, there are many types of flow from the volcano once the cone is formed. The Paehoehoe flow is very hot and thin. It looks like a river flowing over the landscape. In contrast, the Aa' flow starts further down once the discharge slowes and most of the gas has been expelled. This flow is very thick and carries large chunks of solid detries.
Anyway, that was pretty neat. I recommend you see it within the next few hundred years. There have been regular eruptions over the last 10,000 years, and they are due. Moving east toward the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone, we headed for Aspine, Wyoming. This was quite a haul so we stopped in Idaho Falls to eat. If you have never eaten from a shopping cart in the parking lot of a Waremart Shopping Center, don't. Between Duke and Fitz, we had a gallon of milk and half a two litter of Barq's root beer. Dave and Fitz split a three pound bag of salad. Each of us had a PB&J and we finished a box of bugles. Fitz almost died and Duke was not doing well either. All this was done out of a shopping cart. We had quite a crowd gathering to watch the weirdos from New York. Anything we can do to bring a little excitement to this town is our pleasure.
Eventually we made it to Lynx Creek Campgrounds near Aspine. We took the only available site and had to sleep in the driveway, as it was the only level site. On the way into the campgrounds we saw two porcupines and two deer.
July 23 - Duke
As it turned out, we had chosen a spot right next to the Brady bunch. I don't know where they all slept, but there must have been 15 people at the sight right next door. The reason this was bad is that about eight of them we young kids. They were up early, so we were up early. Amazing how they were roughing it. They had more food than I would ever have at home. Big grill, sausage, eggs, bacon, whole sides of beef. We were not very far from the Grand Tetons so it did not take long at all. We passed through Jackson Hole. TT nightmare from hell. People everywhere and little shops as far as the eye could see. This type of thing might be somewhat enjoyable if you had the money to spent on all of the overpriced goods. We don't. Our current average is about $27.50 a day and I would like to keep it that way.
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| Yellowstone, as beautiful as we had imagined!!! |
Besides all the crowds, it was beautiful. We saw Old Faithful spout off at 3:33. It was difficult to mix with the tourists without looking like one. We tried to keep our perspective and moved on to the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone (not THE grand canyon). A cool canyon none the less. Finally we made it to the park headquarters on the north end. Keep in mind that there are 7 visitor centers at the park. Actually there are 7 villages in the park with hotels, gas stations, restaurants, post offices, hospitals, and visitor centers. The park is 2.2 million acres, as big as Delaware and Rhode Island combined. Add the size in with immense traffic, and you have a all day drive to go 100 miles.
At the head quarters were the Mammoth Hot Springs. A very large wedding cake looking thing which is best understood when seen. The formation occurs when hot mineral water bubbles out of the ground and deposits the minerals. Mostly silica I believe. There are over 10,000 thermal features within the park. More than any where else in the world. A little FYI here. When trying to distinguish between a Grizzly and a Black Bear, keep this in mind. The Grizzly is much larger, 3 1/2 feet at the shoulders and up to 500 pounds. The Black bear is about 2 1/2 - 3 feet at the shoulders and up to 300 pounds. The color is similar for both, ranging from black to blond. The Grizzly has a large hump in the middle of his shoulders, the black bear does not.
When we were through with this adventure, we headed to Gardener Montana at the North Gate of the park. There was a free place there but it looked like a yuppie camp so we moved on. Much more north we found Grasshopper Campground near White Hot Springs. There was only one site left that did not resemble level, but we took it anyway. In reference to past questions, here are some answers. The critters we encountered on Flat Top Mountain have been identified. The wild gerible is a pika and the groundhog looking thing is a yellow-bellied marmot.
July 25 - Duke
It was not too bad of a night's sleep. We got going a little late and moved toward Glacier. We stopped in Helena, Montana's state capital. There was a sale at a sporting goods store that we passed so we stopped in. Dave went crazy. He bought a new sleeping bag and a new fleece. (Do not overdry fleece) After quite a while at this stop we moved on. It was getting late in the evening when we got near Glacier and we were feeling friskie. under Fitz's strong advice, we went to Canada.
Now there is going to be a whole chapter on this experience if I ever do write a book. The customs system is definitely worth that much entertainment. Three scruffy looking young men from New York should not try to get across the border to Alberta. We had all been across the border at the Falls tons of times. We never had any problems, except maybe a few more questions than usual. On this occasion however we had plenty of problems. The gentlemen at the gate asked us to kindly take this yellow sheet of paper in to the desk. We parked the car in a garage and went upstairs. We were asked questions one at a time in the office of Immigration agent. They were not rough questions just "who are you, where are you from, what do you do" that sort of thing. We then moved down stairs and an officer shortly thereafter joined us at the car. He then asked us to empty our pockets. Of course I had a butterfly knife which I had just purchased. I guess this is an illegal weapon in Canada. Opps! Before he was done with any of this another officer had joined him to help search the car. They looked in every nook and cranny of our things. They read Dave's diary! Drug references you understand. Another problem arose in the fact that we still had some firecrackers with us that were from the fourth. Also illegal. We had peanut butter there, they checked it for a false bottom. After about two hours of them unpacking the car and us repacking the car we were through. That easy. I had to 'abandon' my knife.
Now we were looking for a drink. This whole incident had pissed us off. After finding no action in Cardston, we went to Lethbridge. There turned out to be no action there either. The problem was that it was midnight on a Sunday. After a futile search we ended up at Deney's. Go to Canada and end up at an American restaurant. The only one that was open. We did have a very needed meal. I had my first hamburger since we started the trip. It was heavenly.
About three AM we finally settled down in a place just outside of Waterford Lakes National Park in Canada. There is supposed to be a fee but we will wait till the guy comes around to ask.
July 26 - Duke
The guy did come around. We gave him $8 in Canadian and he was on his way. Fitz hypothesized that he smelled yesterday and that is why they stopped us. To prevent problems in the future, he washed up. We headed back down into the US on route 6. You would figure we could not be stopped twice. Wrong! This time was not nearly as bad, but he searched the car. We were only there about half and hour. There is a curse that comes with being a twenty- something male from NY.
Now this whole customs system is bogus and a waste of money. It was obvious in both cases that they were searching for drugs. They found none of course and would not have found any if we had any. They do not check any of the places that a real drug smuggler would hide anything. If I wanted to get a kilo of coke across the border, I would not put it in the glove box. The only drug offenders this method of search would find is the casual user with some micro- amount of illegal substance. Why is so much money being spent on stopping these people. They pose no threat to either country and it seems as though the border is just an excuse to violate peoples rights. In order to justify their jobs and keep their funding, they search X amount of cars a day and usually find nothing. Bullshit. If they want to find drugs, then find them. Have a trained dog at each station. Let him sniff the car and you can be on your way. This would take a fraction of the time and you would not strip every person who went through of their rights. It conclusion this system is doing nothing in it's current state. It either needs more dogs at each station to be effective, or make it an open boarder. Maybe these customs people know that their job is bogus. This fact is very depressing to them. As a result, they are the most un-personable people on earth. As they tear through your personal belonging, they only grunt when you try to make conversation. A word of advise, don't. They are not human, only robots. Their life is miserable and their purpose is to make your life the same. I would be interested in seeing a psychological profile of this demographic section.
With Canada behind us, we went to Glacier National Park. Another very busy park. Tourists everywhere. It was also the most beautiful park, or place, I had ever seen. There are huge mountains covered with green and waterfalls and glaciers, all jutting out of deep green lakes. I would love to spend some time there when no one else is there. I realize this won't happen, so I will settle for going back when I can spend more time. Their was still plenty of daylight left so we made a move south. We ended up at Dalles Campground near Clinton in the Lolo National Forest. their was actually enough time to choose a site and set up camp in the light. A fabulous RamenŽ feast was prepared over a raging campfire. Life is good.
July 26 - Duke
Another beautiful morning in Montana. We took our time getting around, allowing for everyone to catch up on postcards and journals and the like. Fitz and myself explored Rock Creek, and for the first time in the trip we went swimming. we had waded in streams before, but none had been deep enough. The current was slightly strong but we managed. It was freezing cold, but there was a strong sun to dry you off. We hung out on a rock bar in the middle. By the time we got done and everything cleaned up, it was 2:30. The plan for the day was to go to Idaho on route 12, also known as Lolo pass. We called the Larkins party and secured free lodging, although we were out of reach for the day. To bring all you in TV land there up to speed let me explain the Larkin connection. The month prior to this trip, Fitz and myself worked for a guy in Rochester painting and refurnishing a house. The whole operation was completely under the table, and if we had fallen off the roof I'm sure we would have been rolled into the street and would have denied ever seeing us before. Also working for this wacko was a man named Chris Larkin, a carpenter and jack of all trades whose wife was attending grad school at the U of R. Chris was a great guy who had recently moved east from Idaho where is family calls home. He was quick to offer his parents number in Donnelly Idaho as a possible tent site if we should happen by. The tales that were to arise out of this one random connection shall live on as folklore with my children for generations. Another interesting thing to note about the trip is the wedding factor. You see Fitz has a girlfriend of several years, namely Nora Gelperin. Nora's sister Sarah will be taking her betrothed Read in holy matrimony on August 5th in the year of our lord 1994. If he were to miss this event, he need not go home. So listen to this; from Portland Fitz will be flying to Newark, NJ on a Friday and returning Monday. During this period, Dave and myself will find a good campsite and chill. This means we need to be near Portland in 9 days. That should not be a problem.
Route 12 was a pretty neat drive. Most of the state of Idaho is National Forest. If I had to name one word that reminded me of Idaho, it would be potatoes. If I could name another, it would be trees. There are huge trees everywhere. We saw a helicopter that had a large water bucket which had either just filled or just emptied. We were never able to confirm. There were no free places listed within range for today because of our late start. We did pass tons of campgrounds on route 12, none of which were listed in AAA. We found a free site at Johnson's Bar along the Serway River. It is located in the Nezpeirce National Forest. This was my favorite site as of yet. We got in early enough to look around and scout for a good place. There was only one other family there and they were on the other side of the campgrounds. Our site was nested in some large Cedars right on the river. We started a fire and had a fabulous Mac and Cheese dinner. I never bothered to spice Mac when I made it at home. It was always a substitute for a real meal because I was short on time or energy. On this trip it has been the main dish and you are motivated to spice it up. Mac and Cheese with garlic, oregano, and Tabasco is magnificent.
The highlight of the evening was another swim. This time we had a beach. The river had formed cut and bar points all along and there was sand deposited near the water. The floor of the river was mad of small rocks, but it was deep enough to swim in and the current was not to strong. As it was dark and there was no one else around, we did our swimming in native apparel. Dr. Broners came with us and we all took a much needed bath. It was wonderful. Dipping in a mountain stream, under a clear night sky. Our fire was nearly out when we got back, but Fitz got it going long enough to boil some water for coco. It doesn't get any better than this.
July 27 - Duke
After a wonderful nights sleep, we started down route 12 towards Kooskia. There was some construction before we got there and we ran into our old friend the pilot car. The sign flipping girl was very eager to talk to someone and gladly volunteered that she was working 12 1/2 hour days for $18 and hour. That is nearly $50,000 a year if the work were not seasonal. In the off season she can collect unemployment based on those huge earnings. Who knows what the pilot car driver makes. Both jobs are non-essential and could easily be replaced by automation. I guess they are just combating unemployment. To top off this theory there was the road they were working on. When we finally caught up to the road work, you could see the original road that they were spraying with oil and covering with gravel. The road looked wonderful.
We stopped in Paul's grocery store in Riggins to get something to drink. A friendly lady they gave us quite a scoop on Idaho in her area. She was originally from Idaho, moved to Alaska, then back to Idaho. Among other things, she confirmed the presence of cows in Alaska and Hawaii. All hope is lost, but maybe there are no cows in Arizona. She also told us how to get to Seven Devil's Overlook at the end of forest road 517. Under her advisement we went up.
It was about a 17 mile drive to the top. The road had some challenging parts, but no problems. We passed through several herds of mountain cows. They were on cliffs where no cow should be. We believe there are government experiment underway to breed this type of specially adaptive bovine. They plan to completely maximize the land available for grazing. Soon we will see the cows with repelling gear. We also met a friendly herd of horses and mules. One horse had a rock in his rear hoof so I removed it. The horse seemed pleased. The top was called the Heaven's Gate Overlook. It provides a great view of the seven devils. This is a group of seven tall mountains which are very close together. It was hard to see very far due to the haze in all directions. After talking to the watchman who lived in the tower at the top, we learned that the haze was actually smoke. The forest had been on fire for weeks and the whole area was filled with smoke. It is very depressing. We were planning on making it to Donnelly tonight to stay with Chris' parents. We chose a scenic back road that we had no idea the name of. This road was about 43 miles to a town called Burgdorf. It was interesting from the start. We drove right beside a burning mountain. We could see flames. The road ran beside a river and on the other side was the mountain. This was interesting. Then it got more interesting when three double prop helicopters started coming down right beside us to fill with water from the river. We got it all on Eye Witness Video. After this part the road deteriorated to earth and began to switchback. We weaved back and forth up a mountain for what seemed like an eternity. They was no point turning back, although we were sure that we were lost. We were wrong. After quite some time, we emerged in Burgdorf, amazed. It might be good to add the information we learned later that night here even though it lacks chronology. The road we had conquered was called French Creek Pass and climbed out of the second deepest gorge in North America. On the way back to the highway, we saw quite a bit of clear cutting. They leave a few trees right at the road for a curtain and then chop everything else. Disturbing. An a high note, we also saw a bobcat in the road.
We had told the Larkins that we would be there by nine or so and were under the impression that they went to bed at 10. It was a little after ten when we got there due to the Burgdorf experience, and we were worried that we would be waking them. On the contrary. There was a note on the mailbox to indicate the correct house. All the lights were on so we hoped that they did not wait up for us. On the door there was a note. It read something like this: Mike et al Down town at restaurant eating dinner Feel free to join us if you want if not, house is open, beers in fridge, and here is how to use the washing machine. These people are the parents of someone I worked with for a month. I spoke to the Mr. twice on the phone. They leave the house open for us. That is what I can western hospitality. The house had been built over the course of several summers by Joe and his six sons. He was a school teacher to military children so he lived overseas most of the year. It was beautiful and located right on the beach. We were amazed. They got home about ten minutes after we arrived. I had already finished my beer. It was a Weinhart. A microbrewery that is from the area that is pretty good. They came to the door and we invited them in. they were very nice and we talked for quite some time. They allowed us to sleep in beds which was beautiful. I had another beer. Thank you for not breeding, voluntary extinction program. a bumper sticker from Utah.
July 28 - Duke
There was a marvelous breakfast ready for us in the morning. Pancakes, fresh squeezed juice, and most of all sausage. After that, Fitz and myself took the motor boat out on the lake. We got a quick training on the boat's operation and then we cruised the lake for a half hour or so. Pretty neat that he just let us take his boat. Now our rent was due. We all road over to Roseberry which is a deserted town a mile to the west which is being restored. A couple of folks in the area are moving houses that were taken from the town to McCall and Donnelly back to their original spots. Although Roseberry was a thriving town way back when, the railroad did not pass through town but a few miles away. Because of this, Roseberry died and Donnelly was formed where the railroad went. The Larkins have a family house which was originally in Roseberry. It was moved to Donnelly but they recently had it moved back. They had been working on restoring it. Their current project was scrapping the exterior. Our mission was to move some heavy furniture into the barn. It was slightly laborsome but well worth what we got out of it.
After our labor was done, we looked through the museums that were in the town. This consisted of a schoolroom and store which had been restored. Pretty interesting and great people working on it. We were given the name of another Larkin son, John and his wife Melisa, in Moscow Idaho up north. If we got to town, give em a call. We did not leave until about 2:00. Our plan was to head over to Joseph in Oregon. The road was very winding but also very paved. No challenge. On the way to Joseph, it was appropriate to read about the Nez Pierce Indian Wars. Our source was a book entitled "Idaho for the curious". It was a gift from the larkins and just packed with info. The Nez Pierce War ended up costing the America government $2 million. That is a lot of money in 1877. basically the story is the same is many others. The Nez Pierce were being forced into a treaty in which their lands were more than cut in half and they were just supposed to deal. Chief Joseph said fuck off and refused to move to a new reservation. There were several battles, most of which Joseph kicked ass. He was finally defeated when he was trapped and severely outnumbered. We decided to move for Moscow because it was not that late. When we arrived it became obvious that Larkins are generally cool. We set up the tent while it was still light and then had some beers. This time it was Wheat Hook. Excellent beer. They were very cool people. John was very goofy. That is not much of a word but it seems to fit.
July 29 - Duke
John and Mellisa's daughter wanted pancakes for breakfast, much to our delight. There were plenty of extras for us. Two days in a row with a real breakfast and beer. What a life. We hung out with those guys for a while and Me and Fitz even used the shower. They need a postcard from Arkansas. Then they called Tom and Merryl, John and Chris' brother and sister-in-law in Seattle. Just in case.
We told them as we were leaving that we were going to run out of gas today, just as a joke. Our plan was to make it to Colfax Washington. We failed. About three miles outside of Moscow the car quit. This was alright because we knew that we needed to do it sometime in the trip and it might as well be now. There was the small problem of pushing the car uphill back to town. Most exciting. Eventually we got to the city limits and the breakdown lane disappeared. There was no place to push the car except in the middle of the road. A trooper stopped and found out the problem. He drove me up the road to get a can and our problems were soon over.
We stopped at a mall after we were refueled because we were having camera problems. A shop in the mall saved the film but there is something wrong with the gears. We will have to deal with that later. We went up to Spokane (pronounced spocan) and then went west on route 2. This took us right near the Grand Coulee Dam. This is a big dam, 12 million cubic yards. It's primary purpose is for providing irrigation for over 1 million acres of potential farmland in the area. We also established contact with the Seattle crew at this point and we decided we were coming in.
There was a slight delay in our plan. Route 2 was closed due to the largest fire in the country. We got to where we were miles from the actual fire and the sky was full of smoke. You could not see a mile and my eyes began to water. I don't know how people live there. We did eventually arrive, after some delays. It was wonderful to see the old crew again, or at least some of it. We stayed up for quite a while sharing stories. There is a "situation" with the other members of the apartment. We are going to stay here tonight and then call Tom for tomorrow.
July 30 - Duke
Today we slept late. Wonderful. One of pam's annoying roomates recommended that we go to Whidbey Island. There is a microbrewery there that supposable has great beer. We decided to do this today because pam had to work. Tomorrow we would go explore the city after she got off at three.
The drive to Whidbey was long and only slightly exciting. The brewery was even less exciting. It was very micro. For a tour she pointed through a window. They beer was good though so we bought a bottle for dinner the following night. We paid four bucks to ride a ferry back to the mainland. All of the food on the island were well overpriced so we decided to retreat.
I did find out that Seattle has a large number of micrbrewerys. It is good to know what kind of situation that you are getting yourself into. Dinner consisted of cooking some pre-made burritos from Safeway back at the apartment. They we delicious, but we had to eat fast. We needed to get to the third larkins by ten. We arrived a little late but they did not seem to care. This was definitely the smallest house of those we had visited. Tom was asleep when we got there, we think he was a little impared due to his birthday. merryl was very nice and even hooked us up with some left over cake. It was not long before we went to bed.
July 31 - Duke
And again there was breakfast. This time eggs and hashbrowns. We got to see Tom. I'm not sure if was just a generally quite guy or just hung-over. We have determined that Merryl is a witch, or at least practices the occult. Kind of neat. She did not come out and say anything but there were lots of cues around the house. Stuff with stars and moons and meetings and books and she looks like a witch. Nicest one I ever meet. They recommended that we go to the locks and see salmon jumping. They also said that we should check out a store called the Erotic Bakery on 45th. This is a great store which has more than just baked goods. I got a bumber sticker which stabs fun at christian fundamentalists. I love it! We met Noah at U W and got a brief tour. It is a pretty big campus of about 40,000 so we did not see it all. We did see a wonderful view of Mt. Ranier through the fountain in the center of campus. The four of us looked around the whole 45th street area which is like Monroe ave on streoids.
Next we went to the locks and watched Salmon. They wait outside the locks until they open to let some boats out to sea from the inland lakes. It was interesting to see them all jump out of the water all the time. Why do they do that? Pam got off work at three so we rushed home to meet her. She had mad sauce the night before and it was the main ingredient in dinner. We have had way too much food lately. Then we went to Pike's Market under the advisement of about everone we meet. This place was like the vilage gate after years of steroid use. And that does not come close. It was huge. There are several building each with multiple floors. All the stores are unique and multicultural. They also have a large fish market which is supposed to fun to watch, but it was closed because it was Sunday. We did not stay long because we were going to a Pike Theater to see an amature area movie making show. There were about ten short movies which were made by people in the Seatle area. Noah was loving it. There we a few which were really good. Most were really too artsy for me. It was well worth the five bucks to get in. When we were on the way out of the cinima, we passed a combonation coffie shop-used car dealership. Whacked. Our evening after that was beautiful. Just like old times. We did nothing. WE talked about doing lots of things but as usual, never decided and it got too late to start anything. We ended up just sitting around on the couch.
August 1 - Duke
Pam has to work again today was we are going to have to do something else. The plan was made to go to Olimpic National Park with Noah and camp overnight. Their is a short way to get there with a ferrry that costs about $21 or a much longer way which has no ferry. We chose the long way. The park is known for it's temperate rainforests so that was what we wanted to see. Unfortunately all of the good examples were on the coast and out of reach for today. We ended up settling down at Dosewallips Campground inside the national park. This was the first time we had camped in a national park, it was the first time it was free. The site was nice and located right beside a river. There were plenty of kids around though. We did a short hike and then cooked ramen.
August 2 - Duke
Although we haad intensions of doing another hike today, further consideration eleminated this possibility. We wanted to drop Noah off in Seatle and then go to Mt. Ranier all today. This was going to be a long day so we could not screw around with a hike. I figure that I will be back so it is no big deal. We decided to take the ferry back because it is much cheaper going to the mainland for some reason. It was a nice half hour ride and we were home in about one hour total. That included tons of traffic. The ride there was about three hours. The package from Nora had arrived when we got back so we all had christmas. What a gal. I got a splended overall tie (You have to see it). We said our final goodbyes to Pam and Noah and headed south.
We were forced to take the long way to the park on the west side due to fires near the east side. It was about three hours to get there. What an impressive mountain. It is 14,410 feet tall and the remnaints of a volcano. This height is admirable in any range but is particularly odd to see here. In Colorodo they have plenty of 14+ mountains, but the base of the mountain is at 8,000 or higher. The base of Ranier is at about 1500 or 2000 feet. It towers over anything else for miles. As far a mountains go it is very young, only 1 million years old. In contrast, most mountain ranges are on the order of 12 million years old. The whole place was closing when we got there so we did not spend much time. We ended up at Dog Lake Campgrounds on route 12 near white pass. Not the best site in the world, but not the worst. We had yet another ramen feast and tried out the new hot sause that Nora had given the group. Nicely done Nora.
August 3 - Duke
It was not long before we were at Mt St Helens. Incredible!! Mass destruction everywhere. This is a reletively new monument with few roads. Much of the park is not accesible by car in order to preserve the delicate new ecosystem. I have never seen that many dead trees in my life. We drove through the park and did most of our observing through a car window. We were trying to get Fitz to Portland by 6:30 so we had no time to dawdle. Once we entered oregon, our speed was completely legal. Noah had warned us of their fines. For going 71 in a 55 the "bail" was $350. Ouch. When they say no speeding they mean it. We were early so we found Gretta's house, a friend of Fitz's from high school who we will be mooching off of, for reference and then looked for a camera shop. After some time of city confussion, we found Camera Works on the Beaverton Hillsdale Highway. They guarenteed that the camera would be done by Saturday.
We got to Fitz's friend Gretta's house and she had just gotten home from work. She has an internship with Intel and makes crazy money for a student. She also gets a new Mustang to use for the summer. She is obviously a mental monster. We hopped in her car and she took us on a tour of Portland. Sort of. She got lost. But it was fun and we eventually ended up down town. We tried to get into Nike Village but it was closed. It looks neat from the outside. Downtown Portland is pretty cool. Clean, organized, and happening. Tons of youth just doing stuff. The parking is a little pricey, but if you buy something from a downtown store you can get your parking validated for two hours free. Not too bad a deal.
Next we learned that Gretta has a strong infatuation with beer. How wonderful. She took a class in Cornnell on wine tasting and Michael Jackson gave a guest lecture on beer. How cool. Although we assured her that we did not have the financial resources to fund a trip to a brewpub, she insisted we not leave her city until we had tried some beer. She offered to treat, and with little hesitation we agreed. We went to McMenman's Roadside Brewpub. I highly recommend this on any visit. There was wonderful outdoor seating and several varieties of their own beer. The Terminator Stout was excellent, as were most of the others. They also made the best Cider any of us had ever had. We got nachos and breadsticks, the whole nine yards. And it was free. Come to find out, this is the Intel hang out. Gretta comes here all the time after work. Rough life. Maybe I will just sell out and get a real engineering job. Gretta's housemate was having her family over so there was not much room for me and Dave. We headed out to Estacatta (the second a is long), and found Ripplebrook. It was about an hour and a half drive but a nice place. We did find Ramen for 8 for $1 at a grocery in Estacatta. This hold the record for lowest priced ramen ever recorded by any human.
August 4 & 5 - Duke
I am putting both days uder the same heading because they are exactly the same. We got up late, walked to a ranger station just up the road and made some calls. I played in the creek and Dave wrote in his journal. around dinner time we made a fire and made, you guessed it, Ramen noodles. The only difference between the 4th and 5th is that on the 4th we put tuna in the ramen and on the 5th we did not. You gotta keep the variety you know.
August 6 - Duke
Today we went into Portland to pick up the camera and stop at Powell's City of Books, the largest bookstore this side of the Mississippi. We found the camera shop no problem and then began to wander towards an REI we saw in the phone book. This took quite a while as we had only a primitive map and a street address. Eventually we asked some Kiwanas selling hot dogs which way to go. They got us on the right track and we were there in no time. Dave spent more than a hour in there, spending more money. He is a madman. Finding Powell books was even more exciting. It was not, as we were told, on Powell street. It was also on the opposite side of the river than we were told. With these compounding factors, we saw a great deal of Portland trying to find this place. We did eventually get there at 1005 W. Burnside. This was indeed the largest bookstore I had ever seen. We spent four and a half hours there and went pretty fast. We each ended up buying two books.
It was late when we got out, like 10:00. Although it hurt us to think of it, we did not feel like cooking ramen when we got home. So we stopped at Denny's and got the Super Slam. We got home about midnight and went right to bed.
August 7 - Duke
Before I say anything about today, I need to comment on a few general things about the west so far. Most importantly are VW bugs, leaded gas, bumpy things in the road, and of course Expresso shops. First the VW thing. There is an astronomical number of VWs roaming the roads of the west. You call a truce to any slug bug match that may be going on or you will soon become a huge bruse. In the east this game is fun because a bug is a novelty that you feel you must recognize by inflicting pain on one of your friends. The west does not play this game or there would be no friends. I have no real explaination for this except that perhaps the whether is better on the cars so they stay around longer. Someone should get a grant to study this. The next important thing to mention is leaded gas. This may be related to the old car theory mentioned previously. All the gas stations have regular leaded, unleaded regular, and diesel. This is very confusing. "Fill 'er up with regular". "You mean regular leaded?" "No, unleaded regular!" "ok then". You see, the whole thing sucks. You really need to think at the pumps. This does not do the enviroment or people any good either. I thought this was illegal. Make them buy additives for their old toxic machines. Having the gas everwhere only incourages them to keep the thing on the road. Very disturbing. I think I tend to overuse the word "disturbing". Have you noticed?? What was next? Oh, bumpy things. Between every lane are these round little bumps painted white. They serve the purpose of rumble strips only much more imposing. You need to go out of your way to encounter a rumble strip. These bumbs are everywhere you want to be. They tell you when you do anything other than go strait ahead. They also like to lock you into a decision. When you say you are turning left, you better not be fucking around. They put these huge baracades between the lanes going strait and those turning left. Once you are in them, you need a truck to get out.
And most importantly are the expresso shops. They are litteraly everywhere. I believe they are designed with the blue light emergency phone in mind. If you are standing at an expresso shop and that shop runs out. You should be able to see another shop in either direction. This assures that you will alway be able to get your expresso, and now. In the east you can get expresso as long as you look for it. Out here you can not hide. What would possess a region to let their culture be so controled be the latte industry. This is mystery that deserves some looking into. I hope to look into the history of this phenomena and try to understand why. Now back to your regularly scheduled program. We spent the morning eating lunch and tearing down camp. It was sad to leave the camp that was begining to feel sort of homey. We left to pick up fitz at the portland airport with no clue how to get there. As par, we arrived somewhat late but we did arrive. We got there just as fitz was getting his luggage. Much to our delight, fitz had secured gretta's house as a place to crash for the night. We got in and talked for quite a while. Most of the talk was fitz and gretta talking about which buffalo people were married or pregnent or dead or whatever. We watched the movie called "the program". If you only remember one thing from reading this, let it be that this movie sucks. You should watch it just so you can define how bad a movie can get. Finally fell asleeep watching the three musketeers. Decent movie.
August 8 - Duke
After a fabulous evenings sleep on the living room floor we awoke to some wonderful conversation. Gretta's housemate John was having two friends visiting. There was a guy named Sam who was from Iran, but went to school in London. He met Sam when John went on exchange to London. We got some excellent insight into the whole culture. We also got some stories of strip searches at the airports. It is hard to be irani and travel internationally. You are automaticlly a terrorist. Sam seemed to have a good sense of humor about the whole thing.
The other visitor was Marabelle (what a cool name). She was from Puerto Rico and was going to school with John and Gretta at Cornell. Her insight was even more interesting because the US and Puerto Rico are so closely related. It seems to be an unusual mix between a very americanized culture with strong spanish traditions. It also sounds like a happening place. They celebrate all the spanish holidays as well as US holidays. They also have holidays which are important to them alone. They take off work any time they can find an excuse and party. What a country. We departed their company and headed toward Crater Lake National Lake. There were no free sights to be found when we were ready to settle. We ended up at something like a sight off of 138 near Diamond Lake Resort. It was a flat spot with a pit toilet nearby. We called it home.
August 9 - Duke
We were very close to crater lake so it did not take long to arrive the next day. This is a beautiful park. The lake was formed about 7,000 years ago when Mt Mazama, a volcanic mountain, colapsed under it's own weight. There had been a large eruption with as much ash as 48 mt. St. Helen's. Some huge area was cover with 50 feet of pumice. After the core dumped out everything it had, the mountain was hollow. That's when it collapsed. The crater, or calledara, was then sealed by slow oozing magma and began to fill with water. The lake is 1,932 feet deep at it deepest point. The average depth is 1,500 feet. It is quite magnificant to behold. There is a small magma island in the lake which is know as Wizard Island. I was not able to determine where the name came from.
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| Larkin Road, the only way to mooch your way across the US. |
August 10 - Duke
Jerry had a splendid breakfast of fruit, cereal, and begals ready for us when we were up. Jo had already left for a ladies day at the golf course. We chatted for a while then we bid our adues.
Under order from the Rockwoods, we headed north on I-5 and then took 42 west until we hit the coast in Bandon. Bandon was supposed to be wonderful, it was nothing special. Maybe we should get off the highway and spend some time and money. Naaa! We proceeded down the coast on route 101 for the rest of the day. The oregon coast does have some pretty nice scenery. On the way down we happened across a National Shoreline (a new one to us) just south of Orick. There was a long beach that you could set up a tent on, free. There was a large pull off where hundreds of RVs parked as well. We could not pass up this golden opertunity so we set up camp. There were a couple of perky young females we strategically placed our tent close to. They were from Mass and also driving a VW. It must be fate. We ate Ramen as the sun set over the ocean. Probable one of the best sun sets I have ever seen. In the twilight we played foxtail on the beach. All in all, a kickin sight. I need to coment on this breifly before I forget. Oregon does not let you pump your own gas. by state law, gas stations must have full serve only. It seems to be a ploy to create jobs. Desperate and silly.
August 12 - Duke
The weather turned to shit last night. It did not rain but this morning it was very overcast. We tore down pretty quick because of the empending doom. Our course was clear, head south on 101 until it becomes 1. This was how most of the day was spent. The stretch of 1 along the Northern Cali coast is great. It is quite possible the windiest road I have ever been on. we drove on the Avenue of the Giants senic drive. this is a 30 mile stretch of road that runs parallel to 101. It is a state park thing that gets you up close and personal with the family of Redwoods. As we now know, there are three genus in the family of Redwoods. Each of these genus have one species. There are the North Coast Redwoods which grow along the length of the california coast. Then there are the giant sequois, which grow along the sieria nevadas. The third type is the Dawn Redwood which is located in a small section of China. The coastal redwoods are the tallest, reaching as high as 367 feet. The sequoia is not as tall but much larger in diameter. china's version is much smaller than the others. They got bigger everything else, let them deal with small redwoods. The trees are so large because they are bad asses. They have bark which reaches 30 inches thick. It is a great insulator and does not burn very well at all. this allows the trees to resist fires and flooding. We are talking about trees that can get to 3000 years old.
We looked all over for a camp site. There was no luck. quite a few of them were full and the ones that were not were crazy expensive. We ended up at the Point Reyes National Seashore. It was too late to get a camping permit and they were a four mile hike away anyway. It was late and there were no prospects in the future. We said fuck it and set up the ten in a pull over. It was completely illegal but sometimes you need to live on the edge.
August 13 - Duke
Well, we are not in jail. Besides the cows we slept next to, nobody even noticed. We got going pretty early though so that we did not temp fate. We decided to head to the Napa Valley. It was actually very close to where we were so it did not take long. Our first stop was the Robert Mondovi winery. It was really neat. We got some info on the growing process of the grapes as well as the bottleing. A few interesting facts about this sort of thing. First, all the vines used for wine in the world are north american root systems graphted onto the european vines. The european fruit produces the fine wines, but the roots are vulnerable to a grub which only likes european roots. The north american roots are not affected. The grub was spread to europe when the continent was just being explored by white folk. Now all vines in the world are screwed up. Another thing is the barrels. I did not know that they were important in the process. Come to find out, they use special wood from europe and use certain wood for different wines. The barrels are made from special wood that takes years to make. You need 15 years of experience to make the barrels to be sold. It is a very respected field. The barrels cost about $600 a piece and you can only use them for about two batches. The bonus of the tour of course is the tasting. We got about five glasses of great wine for nothing. There was a pretty good cheese thing that was good too. I like beer burps better. We also stopped at Beringer's winery as well. It was packed and we were not there long. We decided to make our way down through Oakland to get to the house that fitz had aquired. You see, Fitz went a wedding in Florida about two weeks before we started the trip. There, he met the former wife of a second cousin for the first time. They talked for about an hour and Fitz mentioned the impending trip. Come to find out, her parents had recently passed away. She was left their house in the Bay area and had not yet sold it. They hardly knew us but were leaving a key under the mat for us. We can stay as long as we like. More western hospitality. Back east your mother would not let you stay at an extra house if she was not there. It took a while but we found it. It was not a mansion but was much better than a tent. We made spagetti and me and fitz watched tv until the wee morning hours. Dave read in the other room and only briefly got sucked into Magnum PI.
August 13 - Duke
We bumed around the house for most of the afternoon. I got to see an X-Men episode that I had not seen before. Me and Fitz also watched several hours of a Charles Manson movie. We are the TV generation. We left for muir woods at about two. Our route was 101 north so that we could see some of the city. Welcome to San Francisco, I hope you are not in a hurry. That should be on billboards. Great town it just seems very disorganized with traffic. People going everywhere. We got to see some of the famous hills, but did not travel on anything speial. After about an hour just to get to the city, we were in line to go over the golden gate bridge. Hey, you gotta do it. It is also just about the only way to get to Muir woods that does not mean an extra 150 miles. This is a large bridge. It did not seem that way from a distance, but once you were on it your perspective changed. Tons of people were crossing this thing. The speed limit was about 45 but I have no idea how you could get going that fast with this traffic. Once we got across, Muir woods was only a few miles away.
This place was unbelievable. As a refresher, John Muir was a big man in the environmental sceen. Fitz's favorite story is the battle between John Muir and Gifford Pinchoe. Muir was advocating prestine use of the wilderness areas which were begining to gain protection with the parks service. gifford was more into 'wise' use. Use the land but do not screw it up to bad. In this great debate, Gifford won. A national park in Muirs plan would make no money. Big problem with the government. Pinchoe's plan on the other hand could charge the public and support itself. You can also sell mining right, logging rights, and generally exploit the earth if you do it in a manner which some washington guy determines to be "wise". The almighty dollar speaketh.
These facts in mind, one has a hard time not gaging on the irony of this monument. The park is centered around a small stretch of coastal redwoods which lie in a rugid area. This is the only reason that it still exists. The loggers could not get to this part of the forest. Everything else was clearcut. There were more people at this place than many of the larger parks we went to. As far as population density goes, this place blows yellowstone away. All the parking lots were full and people were parked for miles around on the road side. After several sweeps, we found a spot in the lot just as someone was leaving. The visitor center was small and uneventful. Most of the accesible park was a paved path carved through the woods. The path led to the cafateria and gift shop. John Muir is rolling in his grave. This is definently not his idea of preserving natural resources. In contrast, the Gifford Pinchott National Forest in Idaho was one of the most rugged, prestine areas we had seen.
We did not stay long, the crowds were emense. We figured we would go back to the city and explore, probably china town. Here we were looking for millions of people so it was all right. We found china town and were amazed. Traffic barely moved and parking was non- existant. We also got to full appreciate the hills of San Francisco. These things are crazy. Look a verticle cliff!!!, lets build a city. We actually saw a street that had stairs instead of sidewalks. This was easily a 45° angle. After about an hour we did find a spot a few blocks away.
This was a happening place. Broadway in Chinatown is most interesting. There are several strip clubs with scantly clad girls outside trying to bait you in. $5 cover, but they go all the way. Their were also a large density of adult toy stores. Cool stuff, if your into that sort of thing. We walked around for about an hour and then stopped at this palce that said it only had a $1 cover. You get a girl in a private booth for a dollar. What a bargain! We bought the lure and me and fitz forked over the dollar. you get in the booth and there is a glass wall, A scantly clad woman is on the other side and you talk through a phone on either side of the wall. Here is the catch, give me $5 and I will take off my cloths. It seems the dollar was just to get into the room to negotiate with her. Pretty sly huh. I informed her that I was not up for paying another five for this so she sent me on my way. Come to find out fitz got to see some titian before he was asked for more money. Lucky guy. My female, Star was her name, did inform me of my other options as I was leaving. Let me quote, "Give me $60 and I will take you in the back and do whatever you want, I will make you cum!" All righty then. I will be going. Me and fitz both left our booths after about a minute and headed out the door. Dave was waiting for his turn but we explained the situation to him. Fitz was also propositioned, only in a more suttle way. She simply said that for $60 they could go in back. I'm sure she meant to play parcheesee. At least they have consistant prices. Disillusioned by this con, we went home. I would like to note that we are not usually into the strip club objectification of women thing. It was, in this case, the local scene which we are sworn to partake in. It was also just one hell of an experience and no women had been within 15 feet of us for the last two months because of our unpleasant looks and oder.
Dave made something out of cusecuse, beans, tomato sause, and ham. Quite scrumptious. I watched TV until 4:30 am then went to bed. This is called TV withdrawl, I have a problem.
August 14 -Duke
We spent the morning doing some laundry. Since we had the facilities, we hung the cloths outside to dry. There was also a search for a depository for used motor oil, as we were planning to service the car soon. This search was in vain. It was sunday so not too many places were open, and the ones that were open had no idea. Not only did they not accept used motor oil, they did not know who did. This is very disturbing. It all goes into the California mentality. They have never had this problem before because no one ever considered changing their own oil. Disillusioned, we decided to go visit the Berkley campus just because. On the way, we stopped at both a North Face and an REI. We spent a little time and dave spent some money. From here we wandered through Fremont until we got to the Bay Bridge. It was interesting to relate the pictures you see from the earthquake a few years ago to an actual place. The bay bridge is a massively long bridge that is double decker. East bound cars travel the bottom and west bound cars on top. I remember seeing footage of many cars on the bottom that were crushed when the bridge collapsed. Not a very happy thought for crossing this bridge. Across the bridge is Oakland. Wander slightly north of Oakland and you hit Berkley. The campus itself was very nice, although there was no free parking. They did have a pretty happening college town. We did not stay long because it was getting rather late. We headed home to eat some burittos and take down the laundry. I think we leave tomorrow sometime, maybe.
August 15 - Duke
I was wrong, we don't leave today. It was in the intended plan but dave kinda got lost. He left on a quest to get a haircut and donate blood at about 1:00. He had many troubles finding either place so he did not return until after 6:00. By this time it was too late to start our departure. Tis no matter. We did decide that we were not going to San Diego and Tiauana. It would have been neat but I can not get a hold of my friend T. I don't necessarily want to go to Tiauana without a guide. It has the good side of really shortening our trip, which was begining to be a problem. We only have about 23 days left in our ten week time frame. a few weeks ago I would have been psyched to stretch it out longer than ten. Things change slightly when you realize that fitz and myself are already paying rent in Seatle. I do not have the money to survive out there if I pay more rent without using it. for this reason, both fitz and myself would like to see the trip stick pretty close to the ten week mark. A few days is no big deal, a few weeks is. After dave returned, we all headed out to get some motor oil and a filter. We also needed some sause for dinner tonight. We had a fabulous pasta feast and watched cheesey TV sitcoms.
Tomorrow we definently head out sometime. We need to service the car and return the oil so we may leave late, but we are leaving.
August 16 - Duke
We serviced the car today and packed up everything. It was wierd leaving, as I had gotten kinda attached to the place. On the way out of town we hit a recycling center and turned in tons of stuff. Great center but nobody knows about it. We got the strangest looks when we would ask people where they recycle their oil. Nobody does anything for themselves. Not even the service stations would take it and had no idea where to go. Very strange. A few auto parts stores did take it but the recycling center was our one stop hero. We made our way over to route 1 and headed south. This was not the route 1 I had come to know and love. It was a major highway and not a windey little road. It did get very windey in places but the traffic was horrible. Bumper to bumper. I was not impressed with this stretch of road. Their was also the added complication with the fact that the fires in San Luis Obispo had grown. It had shut off route 101 and several of the east-west roads runing between 1 and 101. With this in mind we abandoned ship just after we entered the Los Padres National Forest. We figured that if we got off the coast we could find some peacefull and free camping. We were right. We stopped and Necimientos campgrounds and set up.
It was just getting dark and the bugs were bad. Our neighbor was a retired hippie named Pete, and very friendly. He gave us several smoke sticks and told us to light them around camp to ward off the bugs. We did, but I don't know if it helped. After we told him our saga, he informed us that he had done the same thing many years ago, by thumb. He hitchiked through every state. Of course it took him seven years. He seemed to be a little more hard core in this vagabonding than we are. Or ever care to be for that matter. He then asked us for some weed and, after we said we had none, he left us. Great guy though.
August 17 - Duke
We bid Pete a fond adue today and were under way. Route 198 took us all the way to Sequoia/Kings Canyon National Park. In sequoia I saw the sequois, thus the name. Among them was the General Sherman tree, the largest living thing on earth. They figure this out by volume. It is a big mother. One of it's branches is 6.8 feet in diameter. The base of the tree is about 36 feet in diameter. Although it is not the oldest sequoia, it is pretty fucking old at about 2,500 years. I hope I look that good when I am that old.
From here we drove through kings canyon and into Fresno. our new plan was to include Yosemitte in our tour. This was not necessarily by choice, but no roads cross the sierras except way north or way south of where we are now. We plan to take a day to get to the other side of Yosemitte and in as close as we can get to the Valley and still be on the mountains. Hopefully this will allow us to get to death valley in the morning before the heat sets in too much. We should get to vegas early enough to have some fun that night. We ended up at Keltey Meadows campgrounds in the Sierra National Forest. It was quite a few miles off the main stretch, route 41, but it is free.
August 18 - Fitz
After a nourishing breakfast of graham crackers and water we were off to Yosemite, a mere 15 miles from camp. Duke spent most of the morning drooling over the neighbors pancake and bacon breakfast. These were the same neighbors that had been screaming all night "Somebody schtop me". We almost did. Although there were warnings of a neighborhood bear we didn't see any. Yosemite was very nice, a mix of giant redwoods (Sequoias), valleys, and Mtns. It was artfully decorated with glacial arrangements and had some cool tunnels. We stopped at a visitor center and saw some John Muir quotes on the wall (John Muir trail is at least partially in Yosemite). One disheartening quote dealt with the forest as a place for timber, irrigation and the birth of everything. This was surprising because Muir was known to be the epitome of Conservation. We rationalized this as a statement for the then wilderness full U.S. in which Muir would still want parks completely preserved. After figuring out wether we could make it on the tank of gas, we risked it and didn't pay 1.47 in the park we fueled up in Bishop Ca and saved almost .25 A GALLON. Bishop is a small tourist town that must have good fishing cuz the hotels offered fish cleaning areas. We found the closest free camp to Death Valley, which was our original destination so that we could hit the desert early and with water and gas. The camp, Tuttle Creek was a BLM (Buraue of land managment) camp and was at 5,187ft or so. It was directly in the path of Mt. Whitney although we could'nt tell which Mtn Whitney was. In my personal opinion Mt. Ranier should be the largest US mtn. That baby is something to be proud of. As an aside it was still really hot when we pulled in even at 5,000 ft. and it had rained just about 30 minutes before we came in and we would have never guessed it. Hopefully we can survive death valley in the middle of August. It is forecasted to be around 115 F in the Mojave desert. We'll just have to avoid rattlesnakes before we call it a night and turn in early so that we can hit Death Valley early because it is still 100 miles away. It is a very nice night here though. The almost full moon is bright enough to almost read by and there is a cool breeze that comes by occasionally . All that can be heard aside from my keyboard clacking is the roar of a decent sized creek and air force fighter planes taking off over the Mtns. Thats all fo now, the battery is dying.
August 19 - Duke
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| Bad Water, Death Valley. Fuck it is hot. |
After visiting the lowest point in the western hemisphere at 292 ft below sea level, we went to vegas. It was only a couple hours drive from the valley, so we got in about 2:00. We were all amazed. Take a piece of forsaken dessert and start building on it and people will come. It is the pinnicle of americana. After an initial cruise of Las Vegas Blv., the strip, we found Fitzgeralds. Now every resturant in town was sold out for the weekend. Some rooms were available, but not cheep. Fitzgeralds did have a $4.99 lunch buffet so we attached. Every other place in town had similar deals but we liked the name. The food was excellent and we stuffed up. We tried our first spin at the slots downstairs in the casino. Suprisingly, we acually won a few bucks.
our next stop in our tour of the biggies was cesar's palace. This is the biggest of them all. The place is like 6 blocks long. Inside their is a full mall besides the massive casino. We wandered aimlessly for a few hours mesmerized by the lights. We also hit the Excalibur, Luxor, Maxima, and a few small places. They were all the same but different. A different theme, same thing. Due to a lucky streek by dave we actually brove even playing nickle stots at the Luxor. This is by far the best way to spend your time. It hardly costs anything but it is just as fun. Did you know that most of the big casinos are owned by the same people. They are loaded. Their is also a wonderful variety of smut in vegas. People practicaly force it down your throat. If you walk the strip with a bag, as we did, you can collect dozens of different sex ad mags. Legal prostitution, sort of. It is not legal in the county that vegas is in. you need to go to Nye county to the north for the legal brothels. In town they advertise private nude room dances. Prostitution is just as prominent, just under the table. We actually tried ot get into a club, but they were all a little to pricey for us. Although for the future, the prices were not that bad. All in all, a good city to get drunk, get laid, and go home broke. We did none of those things, but if I wanted to, vegas is where I would go.
About midnight we headed out of town. We found a place that was about 50 miles across the hoover dam. It was called Windy Point Recreation Site, about 10 miles off of route 15, just outside of Chloride, Arizona. What a day. Up at six, see death valley, vegas, the hover dam, and enter ariozona, go to bed at two am.
August 20 - Duke
We got up far too early today, due to the bakeing sun. We were in a microwave in the tent so we needed to escape. In order to get to the north rim of the grand canyon, we needed to backtrack to the hoover dam and continue on 15 north. We stopped at willow beach on Lake Mojave. This is actually just a swelled spot in the Colorodo river, but they call it a lake. The water was freezing but we needed a bath. We had all been counting on having an air conditioned bed room with a shower after death valley. We were wrong and we stunk for it. The river bath was excellent, although we were already sweating again before we got back in the car. We talked to a local who said it was very nice today, it only got up to 100°. Damn crazy people.
We gasped and sweated our way up route 15 until we came to St. George Utah. Our campsite was called Baker Dam and located about 23 miles north of town on route 18. Nice place, but nothing special. Me and fitz attempted to swim in the reservoir that was located neara by but it was a mud hole. We settled for a washing in a nearby stream. We are now just outside of Zion and plan to hit that tomorrow. Then the grand canyon the day after. Bryce and arches will happen when they happen.
August 21 - Duke
We got a fairly early start today and moved towards zion. When we arrived it was barely noon. After a stroll through the senic visitor center. We decided to take a hike. it was fairly hot so we did not try anything really exerting. The emerald pool trail was about 2 miles long and took about 1 1/2 hours. It climed a moderate grade and ended up seeing two different pool where water collects from several small waterfalls. Very nice hike. Their were way too many people though. We were passing someone every two minutes. Their was also the proplem of stupid people which seems to be everwhere. About every 100 yards on this trail are clearly marked signs which say please don't swim in pools or leave trail. Would you believe that a group of five or six foreigners were taking a shower in one of the waterfalls. The reason I point out that they were foreigners is to show myself that stupidity tranverses all religious and ethnic boundaries. This is the reason they are begining to restrict access to this park. In five years I may not be able to hike this trail because the human impact will have been too great. They will shut it down for it's own good.
After Zion we settled at the Ponderosa campgrounds just north of Kanab, Utah. We are still about 80 miles from the grand canyon, but we fear if we go any closer we will not find a free spot.
August 22 -Duke
We got up very early today in order to tackel the full agenda. By eight AM we were at the grand canyon. Appropriately named, that canyon. The visitors center left something to be desired. We were at the north rim, only 10% of the canyon's visitors come here. We went on a couple mile hike along the rim on the Ken Patrick trail. Named after a ranger who was "slain" in the line of duty. How the hell a ranger gets slain is beyond me. Anyways, it was a nice hike. Our time was limited so we did not stay for too long. We also hiked the Bright angle Point trail. only about 1/2 mile from the lodge, it provides a great view of everything.
The most important matter of the day was food. We had the Navajo taco recommended to us by dave's friend so we dicided to splurge. This put us a nearly double the daily budget, but they sounded good. They were actually great. I highly recommend these things on any canyon visit. We also ran into a tour group of older folks who were from rochester. This herd of grey haired people with name tags follow us right in. We told our saga and were underway.
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| Beware, Thor's Hammer. (Bryce Canyon) |
Our next mission was to find a campsite. Their was one free one over by Capital Reef. It took some time to get there, but we wanted to be in good position for tomorrow. Unfortunately, the site we were looking for no longer existed. They had changed the name and raised the price to $8. We were at the Fish Lake NRA, and all the sites were pricey. It was about one in the morning and we were tired. We also had no other options in the book. We dicided that they owed us a site. We will camp at Doctor Creek and leave before the host comes around to check.
August 23 - Duke
Well we did it. Up with the sun and gone before anyone knew the difference, It is a good thing we were out so early, today was more intense than yesterday. We started with Capital Reef. Very nice but not nearly as spectacuar as Bryce. all of the canyons in the area are part of the same huge formation, the Great Staircase. This is a series of canyon ranging from arches all the way to the grand canyon.
After Capital Reef was Arches. A very neat place as well. It is the larges concentration of arches in the world. This is due to the Estata Sandstone which remains when the underlying stone is eroded away. Their are hundreds of arches in the park. They have a wimpy criteria for and arch. it only needs to be about two inches and conected at both ends. If you find one, you get to name it, but not after yourself. Who makes these rules up. Finally we came to Canyonlands. By this time we were burnt out. their was a free campgrounds in the park, of course it was full. fortunatly the park is surrounded by BLM territority. They call it "dispersed" camping. Basically you find a dirt road and drive down it to a nice site, then camp. Preferably in a site where someone else has been. Basically, canyonlands got the shaft. We power breezed through it and then camped. It was a nice site, and definently private. nobody around for ever. If you go to canyonlands, this is the way to go. And hey, it's free.
August 24 - Duke
This was about to be one of best days of the trip. A friend of a friend of Dave's was said to be living on the Luka Chucai Indian reservation at the Northeast corner of Arizona. He is a white man who has choosen live a traditional lifestyle and act as a school teacher on the reservation. We do not think he has a phone, but a letter was sent to him at the begining of the summer to expect us. We shall see.
We found the town in the form of a small group of houses and a grocery store along a long baren stretch of dessert highway. We had no address so we began our hunt, at the grocery. Suprisingly enough, his name, Tom Thomas, and occupation were all that were needed to get us headed in the right direction. We found the street that he was to live on but now had no idea which house. We began at the begining and asked everyone we saw if they knew where Tom lived. They kept guiding us on, one house at a time towardthe end of the street. As luck would have it, Tom was outside raking the yard with his dog. He invited us into his trailer. This was a surprise, as were under ther impression that he lived in a dirt floor dwelling. He explained that he used to live in a Hogon for several years in order to better understand the people to which he must try to give a white man's education. Aparently a few year of a dirt floor, no electricity, no water etc was enough to get him in touch so he moved back into a house. Acutally very few of the natives still stay in the Hogons, they are fadding into the past. A word on Hogons.
The traditional Hogon is an eight sided dirt floor dwelling with a hole in the center of the ceiling for the fire. The door way always faces due east to see the morning sun. Each side of the Hogon is dedicated to specific functions. One side is for preparing food, another for the man to sleep, another for the woman, and so on. The house is deeply symbolic of all that is precious to the people who live in them.
Tom made us the most increcible Hamburger Helper that I have ever had and gave us cheap beer. I may have been my lack of food to campare to of late that made the feast so scrumptious, I need not know the answer. After dinner we took a little trip to Nirvanna. One of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. About 15 miles away was the Canyon of Deuchete. On the way there there was a cooling summer rain that just wet everything enough to glisten. The sun was setting just as we arrived at the Canyon. To our delight there was a double rainbow stattling the canyon. The intire length of both rainbows was vividly bright and visible on both ends. The sun was also setting behind the rainbow. We all felt touched by nature at that point.
Aside from the stunning beauty of the rainbows, we had a great electical storm. Just after it got dark a fantastic show of electicity was set in motion for our viewing. As the show went on, Tom explained that this canyon was the site of a brutal indian masacare led by the great Kit Carson. The details are only different in names and places from hundreds of other incidents. US tells a people they need to leave the land they have lived on for generations, to avoid conflict they oblidge and a relocated to a smaller area of lesser value which does not conceal the bones their ancestors. A few years later someone finds value in the land they were moved to and they are again asked to move, and agian they say ok. This repeats several times until the indians finally decline to move. Now it is time to show these barbarians that they are not being reasonable. I fell the shame of this country's history. After some reflection, we returned to americana and went back to Tom's and watched a movie.
August 25 - Duke
Under recomendation of Tom, we stopped by the Navajo College on our way out of town. The campus is set up as if it were a giant hogan. There are eight "sides" to campus with each side representing an area of study similar to the hogan's design. The student union in the center of campus shaped like a giant 5 story hogon. There is actually a tradition style area in the center for cerimonies and festivals. Naturally, this area was not available for us to look at. We did get a chance to look at an art museum on Navajo art and jewery, as well as history. A brief lesson.
As with the Souix, the name Navajo is a misnomer. The first whites to come out this way were told by another tribe that they would be reaching the Navajo eventually. The original Navajo are actually a smaller tribe that lived further west than what is now know as the Navajo. The correct name for this tribe is the Dinea, and I shall refer to them as such from now on. The Dinea Nation, as it is called, is the largest reservation in the US. Contained with in the Dinea Nation is the Hopi reservation. As a result of the insulation that the Dinea provide, the Hopi are much closer to the traditional native people. The Dinea on the other hand, are finding it harder and harder to retain their heritage and still find a place in the America that they have been made a part of de facto.
After a few hours of education we headed out to New Mexico. Now we were under the imperssion that New Mexico was supposed to be dessert. No one told of plush green mountians and forests. There go those expectations getting in the way again. After we crossed some beautiful country we arrived in an area dominated by the Pueblo. We visited a small house which was selling potery and clothing. As if this were not enough for a normal day, we continued on. Our intention was to head across Texas on route 40 until we passed out and hit the ditch. If you look on a map, you will see that 40 runs accross the panhandle of Texas and probably some small fraction of the total area. Given all this you would not expect it to take so long to get across texas. What a big state. It was dark so we could not see the beauty of the area, but you got the feeling that you wern't missing much.
At a fuel up we noticed a postcard for the Cadillac Ranch, something all of us had heard about but forgoten to add to our must see list. Come to find out it was just ahead, visable from the highway by daylight. We gotta stop. Onward we pressed, until we got to the exit marked on the card. You definately could not see it from the road at night but we got on an access road that ran allong the highway and eventually found our icon of Texas. If we parked the car perpindicular in the road and shined the headlights into a field you could just make out the silloette of about ten big caddies sticking up out of the ground as if they were planted to grow. Something you don't see every day. I guess if you lived around here you might see it every day but this is definitely a small percentage of the world's population. Our day ended about 2:00 am at a rest stop in the massive state (I estimate it would take 23 hours to drive across the state at 60 mph at a diagonal). It was another car night, as we were way to tired to set up the tent.
August 26 - Duke
After a splendid night's sleep in the rest stop, we were up and rearing to go. We were on the road for most of the day once again. We only had about 100 miles left in Texas before we hit Oklahoma. Come to find out, the rest stop we stayed at wasin Shamrock. I did not get the story behind this one, just a little FYI. Texas was not much more exciting in the day than at night. We stopped at a grocery store to check out some authentic Texan hot sauce and/or barbeque sauce, although we only found one babeque sauce in the store and it was made in Jersey. Their were several hot sauces, most of which was made in Lousianna. I guess you don't get that unless you go deep in the heart of texas.
Now came the state from hell. Oklahoma. I should not single it out, Kansas was just as bad. The west is very hot and dry, the East is sort of hot and humid. The center is very hot and very humid. The bank signs were all reading about 110° F. The air was wet to the touch. Anything you came near, you stuck to. All of my cloths were soaked, partly from sweat, mostly from the air. this made for a generally miserable car ride with no air conditioning. Much worse than death valley. At least there, as you sweat it was being evaporated. Here you sweat and it sat there. we stopped at a walmart in Oklahoma to get a break in the air conditioning. But it was short lived. Eventually we made it across the state of kansas. We stopped at Noosha State Fishing Lake outside of Parsons Kansas. It was about 30 miles away from Big Brutus, a very big crane. that was on tomorrow's agenda. Tonight we attempted to sleep. As the sun went down it cooled down all the way to about 75 or 80. The humidity climed to near saturation. We made a feble attempt to sleep while wallowing in our own sweat.
August 27 - Duke
Well last night was miserable. It was the worst sleeping conditions I have ever attempted to sleep in. We got going a little late and then headed to big brutus. It was pretty big, but not as big as the other one we had seen. Their was a free museum their that was pretty interesting. A self guided tour through the beast was $3 a piece. in order to avoid this fate, we tried our angle. "is Janet around, we are Kirt Montanya's cousins". Kirt Montanya is a roommate of Tom Thomas and knows someone named Janet that works here. He is where our info on the subject of Brutus comes from. Unfortunatly, Janet was pretty busy. We waited around for her to answer our page, but to no avail. We figured that she had too much to do to bother with some moochers like us. so we moved on.
Basically the rest of the day was driving. We were attempting to cover the entire state of Missouri and Kentucky, into Tennesse and then to south of Nashville. Their we had made contact with Fitz's aunt Mary. We covered almost as many miles as the other day, 694. Missouri was nice and green, a nice change. Kentucky stunk. We were only in the state for about 30 miles so we probably can't judge. we crossed over the Mississippi into what was either Illinois or Kentucky, and then imediatly crossed the Ohio river into what was definently Kentucky. It was neat to see these two massive forces meet. By the time we got to Tennesse, it was dark. It was also foggy. Their were quite a few miles that were spent going through fog a 10 mph. Eventually, we showed up about midnight. aunt Mary was still up working on a syllabus for her school class. We ate all kinds of random food that was wonderful. we had a frozen Pizza, Microwaved chicken fingers, a salad, cold cut sandwiches, and several pepsis. And best of all, we got to rest in a nice cool bed.
August 28 - Duke
We got up a little late and ended up eating a very long breakfast. in fact, when we finally got done talking and whatnot, it was 3:30. We actually had some very interesting and deep philosophical conversations. Dave and Mary really hit it off in terms of intellectual discussion. Hardly enough time to get to nashville and Memphis. This left us no choice but to stay another night. It was also helpful in that we wanted to visit the Aladdin factory and it would be closed today because of Sunday. So we ate more food and watched more TV and slept more sleep. Tomorrow is another day.
August 29 - Duke
When we woke up Mary was already gone to school. Unfortuneatly, we had not taken her picture yet. So we took a photo of a picture of her not ideal but it will have to do. (by the way it turned out crappy and was just a blurry mess the picture that is). We noticed that the huge spider web in the front of her house was gone today, it was a beautiful big web. We were off to see the home of the NESS. Mary gave us some food for the road, very random stuff, chicken salad in a can or something. It would have been eaten had we been travelling westward but since we were in the salad says now and just visiting friends it made it all the way home and may still be in Fitz' kitchen. Mary also gave us a tip of a Alladin employee. We found the factory and pulled in. Security gave us a hard time and wondered what we were doing there. Mary's tip had retired and they offered no public tours, so we got a picture of the sign and down heartedly moved onward to memphis. Once in memphis we headed for mudd island which was reccommended by tom thomas from luka chukai. We found it but it seemed expensive and there wasn't enough time to do it. There was a cool auditorium in the shape of a pyramid, we checked it out but were unable to come to any real conclusions as to its name or function. We then decided to check out Beale street to see the birth place of Blues. We wandered up and down the street and checked out some of the shops. There were a bunch of bars and clubs that had blues or other music including bb kings bar. We also toured a police museum that had some neat stuff and stories. For instance Elvis' volunteer police officer paperwork which said he was Presbyterian by the way. This museum also had a live camera from the street so the cops could see what was going on. We saw the stautue of the founder of blues and also learned alot about the blues and the civil rights struggles from signs and placards throughout the street. We also came close to where MLK was shot. As Paul Simon Says...we're going to Graceland, Graceland, Memphis Tennesee. In a cheesy part of town with lots of pay by the hour motels we found the promised land of Elvis Aaron Presley. Luckily it was closed so we checked out the front and saw the kings airplanes and then took a picture by the sign. After paying our respects for about 15-20 minutes we were off to knock off a couple more states in order to conquer all 48. It was getting late and we were getting tired. We were planning on sleeping in Mississippi that night. We were all so out of it we almost missed Arkansas and you know what that would have meant ( Yeah we hit 47 states on our trip, you came that close ,..well we missed Ark. etc) so we detoured through Arkansas for about 30 miles and saw lovely Eudora. Unfortuneatly it was too late so we were unable to obtain a postcard for the Larkins. Although we did try, there were no postcards to be found. Instead we got soft drinks. We then cut back to M-I-S-S-I-S-S-I-P-P-I through Louisiana and ended up in the Natchez Trace parkway Natl area. It was nice there. The Natchez Perce was the original trade route between the north and the south early in American history.
August 30 - Duke
We got up at a decent time, considering what time we got in. Our goal for the day was to get to New Orleans. This was a city all of us had been waiting for. On our trip down we headed through Baton Rouge and got stuck in some nasty traffic. The reason for the traffic is what makes this particular story worth telling. It seems that some locals had decided to move a house through the middle of town. This would be interesting enough if the people moving it were of average intelligance. Apparently, they were slightly below the national average. They made no attempt to measure the streets through which they moved and found that they were too tall and too wide. Several guys were on top of the house lifting street lights and at one point the house got wedged in between two telephone poles. We finally got around the problem and left with great hast. They may still be stuck for all I know.
After the house moving story was concluded, we made good time to the mississippi delta. Oh what glorious rapture. First on our agenda was to find the love our life, Ms. Melinda H. Sauce. We searced for several hours before we discovered that the Melinda's factory had relocated to some other part of the state. While in this quest, we were informed by a man on the street that Melinda's was not the real Mc Coy, and we needed to try Na NA NANA. That of course is not exactly what he said, but we could not understand his drunken southern english. Now for the world renouned French Quarter. Wow. Wewandered around in awe and took in the scene. There was more energy than we had ever felt from a city. There were many street preformers, including a large man in a trench coat and chuck taylors playing a homemade washtub base. We also got swindled by a street guy who promised to take us to the best place in the area for cheap,yet authentic, creole food. He took us most of the way to where it was supposed to be and then told us it was just around the corner and left. The resturant was not there but I did not mind loosing the two dollars to him. He was fun to talk to and earned his money by lying. Eventually we ate a great meal at a medium priced resturant. Fitz payed as a token of his appreciation for abandoning us in Oregon while he went to Jersey for the wedding. Definately a great city, but too expensive to stay in. For this reason we needed to leave and find lodging.
We drove into Alabama on route 10 and tried to get a place near Buloxi at a national forest. We looked for a place to camp for ever and failed. The east coast sucks for free camping. After we got back onto 10, we made tracks. It was about five AM before we arrived a camp site in the Apalaciacola natioal forest near Orange Florida. The camp site was near a lake and we set up the tent on sand, we were exhasted. What a long day. Oey Vey.
August 31 - Duke
We got up late but not late enough. The easy-bake- oven tent was in full effect. We promptly headed for Spring Hill, just outside of Tampa, to visit Dave's friend from high school. It took about all day, but we got into the Mcdonalds where Judy works at about five. Much to our delight, we had complimentary extra value meals upon arrival. After chatting for a bit at McDonalds, we headed back to her house. Her husband was not home, so we watched movies until our eyes burned. About ten, her husband Bob and Daughter Kayla came home. We all had someone to play with and we were happy. Sleep in a house is a wonderful thing.
You may notice that the last few days have covered an emense number of miles. You see, Fitz and Duke were still paying rent at this point and growing poorer every day. All of us had already done the east coast thing before and the spirit of adventure and exploration had left. We were just trying to hit all the states now and visit any friends along the way.
September 1 - Duke
Judy got off work for the morning and did not have to work until four. We hung out for a while to let Dave and Judy catch up. And once again, we decided to stay longer than usual. We are now planning to leave bright and early tomorrow and drive the seven hundred miles to North Carolina in one day. Other than that, we are looking at another day of TV. Not bad though. We watched Seaseme Street and Mr. Rogers Neighborhood and were happy.
September 2 - Duke
Today we made the long haul. After a brief stay in the morning, we went over to visit Dave's great Uncle who lived in town. We had a cold cut feast and listened to stories. I believe this man has done just about everything. He has several patents from his years with a little company in it's formative years. Prehaps you have heard of, Xerox. Also on his resume are about ten other cool jobs including the EPA. This guy just oozed with life experiences. Eventually we headed out and had a pretty long haul in the car. We covered Georgia, South Carolina, and ended up in North Carolina. Our POM, Point of Mooching, was Debbie Staut, Duke's foster sister. We are in some serious redneck land here, even for an Ohio boy. Fitz and Dave are awestruck by the wonderment of it all. We got to Debbie's, just outside of Charolette, at about 11:30 in the PM. Both debbie and her hubby were more than just a little intoxicated. It was Friday night and it became apparent that we had not gotten intoxicated on the trip as of yet. This realization soon brought us to "Your Place", a textbook example of a honkey tonk bar. I honestly believe that we would have been instantly spotted as Yankees, taken out back, beaten to a pulp, then fed to Cousin Cooter's coon dogs. You could see the fear in all our faces, we did not belong here. Fortunately for us, Debbie was a bartender here and beloved by all the regulars. I was introduced as her foster brother, and Fitz and Dave as my friends. They all actually looked relieved that they did not have to quit the pool game to kill us. We were now party of the family.
Interesting job that bartender has, reach in the fridge, grap a can of beer and pull the tab for ya. No draft, definently no imports or bottels. Tonight is the night we were to get piss drunk on bud in a can. And oh what a night. At first I resisted because I am inherently against drinking beer for the sole purpose to get drunk. Drink good beer because you like it, and a pleasent side affect might just be intoxication, tha's my motto. This was a time in which drinking for the sake of inhebriation was the only option. There were about ten guys in the bar aside from us. A few playing pool, the rest just talking about trucks, all were way ahead of us on the beer scene. It was not long before the dancing began. They had both kinds of music on the juke, country and western. We danced and hollered to both. Fitz kept getting stuck in conversation with this odd and intoxicated old guy in a big orange hunting cap. You could not quite make out the language he was speaking. None of us were very fluent in slured southeren draw. What a hoot!!!
I'm not sure when we got home but I do know that Tico, debbie's 14 year old son, did the driving as the only sober one amoung us. Apparently he is often taken to bar for just this reason. I don't think he got carded. I think a four year old could have gotten a beer there if he looked like he just returned from gutting a deer. After we got back to the house we had a few more beers and had a heart to heart with Tico. He isn't liking school very much and wants to drow out. Bad grades, detention, your standard rebel youth stuff. Dave took on the task of trying to get him to stick with it. Fitz and myself could not formulate sentences. I think Dave did some good, he will probably be a doctor now.
September 3 - Duke
People started to recover about 11:00 from the adventures of the night before. It was interesting to introduce everyone with all parties sober. Twill be some time before I intake copious amounts of Bud, although the experience is not to be forgotten, except for the parts that I can't remember. It was the worst beer, yet one of the best times I have ever had intoxicted (or sober). We all felt like hicks that day, it was a surprisingly good feeling. Our breakfast was in accord with all expectations; sausage, bacon, and eggs. More lard than you can shake an angeoplast at. But oh so good.
At 1:30 we headed off to D.C. to meet Joe and Prince. It was another hard drive, eight hours staight. We got into Joe's apartment at about 9:30 and yet another bounty awaited us. A hearfelt reunion was had over toco's and beer, but not Bud. It was very good to see our old friends after so long apart. Stories of our Western adventures carried us into the early morning.
September 4 - Duke
Today was the typical DC tourist thing. All of us had been here before, although not for some time. Most of the day was spent hanging out at the mall and popping into a few museums. Not a very thourgh tour of our nations capital, but a great day. We did not spent too much time actually down town. A late wake only allowed us about four hours in town. This was not a problem.
After our turbo tour of DC we moved onto more important things. Sega. Oh how we played. Pizza beer and technology was all we needed now. Good company also helps Note: I learned no insightful facts or realizations today. Prehaps the fact that I would rather be a unic than live in Herndon is a meaningful realization, but I think I knew that prior to today.
September 5 - Duke
After a reletively early start we were off to Princeton, NJ to visit our good friend Nora. As luck would have it, we arrived just in time for the memorial day picnic. This was a great score. Lots of food prepared over the open fire, just like the pilgrams. I do not mean any offense by this, but it seemed like a Princeton picnic. The table setting at the picnic table was nicer than most I would have ever had in a house. By far the most formal, casual holiday picnic I had attended. I'm not saying it is a bad thing, just different. We walked, and/or drove all over the town and the campus. As one would expect, both were beautiful. A brief aside; I find the "jughandle" thing somewhat odd. If you have not spent too much time on the east coast, as with myself, you may not be familiar with this. In the situation where there is an intersection where it would be bad for you to try to turn left, blocking all traffic behind you, a jughandle is put in place. First you make a right, loop around so you are facing the original direction you wanted to go, and then cross traffic straight accross. This definitely makes sense, just a new one on me.
Anyhow, continuing on. I would like to add that we did see Einstien's house. It was nice to be in his aura. The day ended with a fabulous little Ice Cream Parlor with great blizzard/flurry/swirl things.
September 6 - Duke
On to the Big Apple on our whirlwind eastcoast tour. Our POM for the night was the Reverend and Mrs Matson, Noah's ma and pa. They live in brooklyn, just over the bridge. We got to park the car in the church's cage. Gotta love NY. In exchange for a fabulous dinner and lodging, we moved some heavy and awkward furnature about the house. Hard work, but I think we got the good end of the deal. It was then time to experience Manhatten. Not let me preface what follows with my personal background, as it is pertinant to my perspective. I have never been here before. I never thought I wanted to come becouse it sounded just too huge and crowded. My prespective on this has change greatly on this trip, as I now like to be open to just about anything. It has been said to many times to document to I will say it only once but mean it 1000 times. This place is fucking HUGE. I never understood how Noah would not recognize Rochester as a city because it was too small to notice. I see where he is coming from now and I know.
Our first order of business was to go to the Village and find Dave's former girlfriend, and still close friend, Elen. When we got to her apartment we decided to get a bite and stopped at the Kiev on 2nd and St Mark's. If there are any King Missle fans out there, this is mentioned in several songs. Probably no big deal to most, but i'm not most. We caught up at the dinner and then went back to Ellens apartment. Nice place, not $1300/month nice, but nice. Eventually we headed for Brooklyn on the Subway at 1:00 am. I may only know from movies and the like, but to me this sounded like a bad idea. There were no problems.
September 7 - Duke
Today I drove through midtown Manhatten to help ellen move a new desk from the store to her apartment. It was only about 5 blocks but took some time. I shall now digress on New York driving from a country mouse standpoint. For the first half and hour I was not going anywhere. I was obeying all the laws and was probably causing more accidents than anyone else. You see, there is this free expressionist thing going on in the city. You need to let go of your traditional values and logic which you have used to stay alive on the road elsewhere. Just because you are in the far left lane, you need not limit youself to turning left. Straight or even right are perfectly acceptable. If you need to stop but there are no spots, don't fall into the trap of thinking you must drive around until one opens up. Wherever you are, simply put it in park and get out. If everyone is driving with no reguard for human life and as if they had no higher brain function, you must do the same to survive. To do otherwise is to resist the natural order. After this realization, I was crusing. It is actually quite an adrenaline rush. One more thing, a turn signal is required but for different reasons than one would think. Here the signal is purely to inform other drivers what you are DOING, not what you WANT to do. This sounds like a suttle difference but it is actually quite profound. When I usually signal I think "hello fellow drivers, I would like to change lanes now if that is ok with you?" In the city a driver is thinking "Hey shithead, I'm changing lanes. Move or I will hit you ya stupid bastard. What do you think I got insurance for???? UP YOURS!!!!" You see the difference?
Moving went fine and we were soon off to Cumberland, RI, POM Matt Ross. Another triumphant reunion with beer and pizza. I believe we have eaten more this week than the entire rest of the trip. I weighed myself back in Princeton and found that I lost about fourty pound, from 245 to 205. I think we may make a Ramen malnutrishion weight loss video, we could make a fortune. The highlight of the evening was seeing a video on some cable access show for a song called "CC Rider". The corras goes as follows: "Hair ball or Puke?? I don't know, do you??". Inspiring words for our generation.
September 8 - Duke
We spent some time in the morning with Matt and the rents. Fitz and Matt played some ball and we had a big old lunch. Today we are going to dave's dad's house in Cambridge, MA. We got to hang out with pop and dave's sister. Soon after, Fitz and myself met up with Jeff Marcus in Harvard square and ate at the Greenhouse. By now the telling of our trip tales is a well refined art. There should be a major in travel folklore. All was well with Mr. Marcus and he joined us on our grand tour of the square. Very cool scene.
September 9 - Duke
Today was a big old day of rest. We spent a good part of the day playing Yoshie on Dave's sister's Nientendo. She whipped our butts. Kind of a Tetris on acid thing. There was a grand cookout that night with lots of Dave's friends and reletives. That night, many an animal died for our nourishment, I would thank them all personally if I could. Who ever thought of stuffing ground up meat crap into the casing of a pig's intestine was probably ridiculed as a twisted man by his peers. Only in hindsight can we appreciate his geneus.
September 10 - Duke
After more than 20,000 miles of hard core driving, the Golf is ready to get a little TLC. Dave and his friend from long ago are going to spend the day tuning it up, doing the brakes, and changing a bad belt. This will take a good portion of the day so Fitz and myself shall entertaine ourselves in this grand city. Of course you can't start a day without a few hours of Yoshie. Like acid, this game is addictive.
Here is an interesting observation we have seen in the VW Golf. Prior to us beating the hell out of it on this trip, Dave recorded an aveage of 25 - 30 mpg on the highway. His best ever was 33 on I-90 heading to Mass from Rochester. We average about 37 with a high above 40. This is with three large men, tons of gear, adverse terrain, multiple driving styles, and 85 octane shit gas as opposed to 89 back east. Why does this car do better the worse you treat it. We have determined that this particlar car, aside from being of solid design and construction, is possesed by the spirit of a sodomasicist slut. If you treat her like crap and make her work under inhumane conditions, doing unthinkable things, she just grunts a little and does exactly what you ask. On the other hand, when we put in supreame gas to "clean it out", the VW got 24 mpg. As if to say, "No don't stop, that was just gettin good!" Sick little car. Eventually we escaped the technological monster of Mr Nientendo's creating and found our way to the T. Our destination, the Museum of Science. Quite a nice educational experience. Our demunote for the day was the Telsa coil exhibit. For those who don't know, the Tesla coil is a device which is capable of producing thousands of volts of electricity and discharging it to the air or some other medium. A show of elecrical wonder was put on for our amusement. Educational tips for the day. If you are caught in a lightening storm, do not run under a tree. True that the lightening will probable hit the tree and not you, but the electricity disipating into the ground will surely give you quite a jolt. The propper thing to do is to squat down on your toes and sit on the back of you heals ( I hope you can picture that, maybe I will include a figure). Clasp your hands around the back of your neck and rest your elbows on your knees. This will protect your rib cage, namely your electriclly sensitive heart, from the shock should you get hit. Electricity has the effect of traveling on the surface of what it runs through. Those thousands of volts will char the outside of your shell, but hopefully stear clear of the old ticker. It is this surface effect that makes a car a safe place in a storm, not the rubber tires as commonly thought. Rubber is not as good an insulator as air. The lightening has just traveled through thousands of feet of air to get to the ground, 1/2 inch of rubber is not going to even get noticed. Be safe kids.
September 11 - Duke
We had nothing better to do today so we went to Maine, via New Hampshire. At the Lohorn Estuarry in Sanford, we met up with Dave's mom. You see, his mom is a big volunteer for the estarry and is organizing the anual craft show which happens to be today. From what we gather, it is a greatly anticipated even in the community and quite the deal. There was plenty for us to help out with for setting up everthing. After the day at the show, our work grew even more. Time for cleanup is a busy time. We did manage to earn some money by tearing down and loadin the tents for some of the vendors. We did not ask for money, but they offered. Who could argue? After quite a long day, we retired to Dave's mom's house. We all sat around and shared our hours of saga and everyone at least acted very interested. They also have two cats, cats are nice.
September 12 - Duke
 |
| The proud VW Golf is returned to it's driveway of
origin 20,980 miles more experienced than when it left. |
Our backroad creado was continued all the way home along route 31. At 23:00, EST the greatest traveling adventure since that of Lewis and Clark came to an end. Dianna was waiting for Dave with open arms and we were all happy to be back on familiar ground. The often spoke saying that "where ever you go, there you are" may be cliche, but it is terribly appropos I feel. All in all I would have to say a it is a nice little loop trail. Been there, done that......