Road Trip

Maine-ly Done

2011-08-26T23:15:00.003-05:00

So that's it.

I've been home for more than a week now, and I don't regret quitting early on the trip. I will be starting the ACE (Accelerated Career Entry) nursing program at Drexel on Sept. 19th, and in less than a year I expect to be an RN with a BSN. Here's what I will look like when I am doing my clinicals at area hospitals. (picture to be added later)

The Drexel program will be very intense. For 11 months I will be deeply involved with learning the ins and outs of being an actual nurse. Then I'll be a nurse, or murse (male nurse).

This might be my last post for another long time. If, no, really when, I do something interesting again, I will probably blog it. But for now, this is again the end of my mental hurricane describing some pretty cool expeditions. I will certainly miss them until I get the opportunity to experience something worth writing about again.

See you then,

Cheers,

RT

P.S. I have uploaded the photos for the whole Maine trip and they can be found in the "Photos" - "Maine" list to the right, or at this link: Photos of Maine. I will be inserting some of the best photos into the blog at appropriate places, otherwise, I'm done, spent, exhausted, done.

Maine Called on Account of Rain

2011-08-26T23:13:00.002-05:00

There was no escaping the system, and with a couple days of bad weather ahead, I think the smart decision was to give up the road trip, and just be comfortable for the rest of the week.

The decision to go home was difficult for me because there were some very exciting opportunities to see some things that I might not get to see again. The top two missed opportunities were the "Knife's Edge" hike up Katahdin in Baxter State Park and a visit to Mount Washington in New Hampshire where I haven't even completed researching the opportunities that seem plentiful.

With bad weather encompassing us, we got on Rte 95 south early, and headed for home. Around lunch time, JayMe awoke and started criticizing my driving. The very same driving that he had slept through for 3 hours. We approached Portsmouth, NH, the first small city since Maine's outback, and I actually had to take the cruise control off and navigate. I consider myself a perfect highway driver, but my co-pilot didn't agree. I threatened, "Either you drive, or you can't criticize my driving!" JayMe said tentatively, "Maybe I don't want to drive." I drove the remaining ten hours home without any verbal comment, though the passenger side dashboard had fingernail indentations and the passenger floor well has multiple shoe prints of a phantom break pedal. Perhaps I tailgate a little?

With hurricane Irene approaching, perhaps it seems a bit silly that I ran away from a (relatively) smaller system. But the expansive system that we had to drive through was clearly going to sap the enjoyment out of the rest of the trip.

Out of the North Woods of Maine

2011-08-21T10:57:00.002-05:00

We awoke in the morning, after a simply simple and beautiful night. We had thought of staying another day, but pretty quickly agreed to pack up camp and head for a hotel. People who camp for a week or more amaze me. I have now camped out, twice and also for the first time, two nights in a row. While things get better the second night out because camp is already made, it's still camping. The luxuries of a hot shower, air conditioning, an ice machine, the internet, a power outlet, food cooked by others, and most of all a TV lured us inexorably toward a hotel for the night. We went just a couple of hours to the south and got a room in Millinocket, ME where we are practically walking distance from the entrance to Baxter State Park, the home of Katahdin mountain and some very exciting possible hikes.

The travels of the Maine North Woods were a trip from nowhere, to nowhere, then out of nowhere, to nowhere again. It was great! I loved it!

In Millinocket, we stayed at a hotel with a lot of rooms, far more plentiful than the area needed. It is high season, and we were some of the few customers this nice hotel had staying at it. And it was time to make a decision.

The internet hinted at it. The Weather Channel projected it. But Mom and Dad scared me about it. In NJ it had been raining for a day and a half. And it was moving north. On a normal road trip, I would see this coming and head for clear skies. Out west, this is easy to do. Just drive a couple hundred miles north, east, west, or south, and completely clear skies would be available. With this northeast storm, there was no escape. North to Canada was not an option as passports were not at hand, east meant driving into the ocean, west was still covered by the bad weather, and south meant heading home straight into the heart of the storm system. We went south.

Into the North Woods of Maine

2011-08-14T17:05:00.000-05:00

After a very restful stay outside of Calais (pronounced Kalas, like the late great Phillies brodcaster), we were headed to a little know area known as the Maine North Woods. If you've heard of them, you probably own fishing gear, a rifle, a boat, and a really big knife...and you probably live in Maine. And you certainly don't drive a Prius.

We continued leisurely north on Route 1 to an almost city called Presque (Presk) Isle. Route 1 goes due north with New Brunswick, Canada just a mile or so east. It's a bit odd to be driving in America with Canada to the east. JayMe was interested in a race track in town, but we were never able to find it and we drove the whole town. But this city did have both a Wal-Mart and a supermarket and we took advantage of both to stock up on supplies for the camping ahead. On the way out of town, we met Ben, of Ben's Outdoor Shop and he gave us plenty of advice about what we were heading out for...most of the advice wasn't even cautionary, more about where to go, what to look out for (moose) and what to fish for. And then we headed into the woods.

After the first 5 miles on a dirt logging road, we came to the entrance station. It costs $10 a day, and another $10 a night in the park, so for $40 each we were set for two days and nights in the woods. The attendant directed us to a campground (fortunately there were real campgrounds and we didn't have to just pick a spot on our own) that was accessible by small cars, and over the next hour we drove 22 miles on dirt roads primarily used to transport logs out of the woods. The logging truck have complete right-of-way at all times and if you see one coming you are supposed to pull way over to allow them to pass, hoping not to get stuck in the mud or ditches. Fortunately we never were passed by a logging truck, and though there were moments when I thought we might get stuck in the road, JayMe never had to get out and push.

Because of a bit of dallying earlier in the day, and the unexpectedly long drive into camp, we arrived later than I hoped at nearly 6:30 PM. The sun was still out and the scant remaining daylight left was needed to take care of the most important setup items - tent and fire. The tent went up fast as the practice of the last couple of days made it a breeze. But as we were completing setting up house, clouds moved in fast and a drizzle ensued. When the full and sudden down poor started moments later, there was nothing left to do but jump back in the car to stay dry. Wet in cold weather and without a fire is a recipe for disaster. Some items that would have been best kept dry, like wood, were sacrificed.

Ten minutes later, as the storm passed, a mad dash was made to make best use of daylight and accumulate as much fuel for a fire as we could find while trying to simultaneously coax a moist pile of kindling into catching fire. I wish I could say we were triumphant, and sat peacefully by the fire staring at the stars all night, but that would not happen until the next evening. The night became a constant battle of adding enough fuel, big and small and sustaining fire at all costs...at one desperate time I had to part with half a roll of TP to get it going again.

It was far from a miserable night. In fact it was quite a rewarding challenging night, and before the fire went out, nearly all the wood we could find was consumed. I never had to change out of my shorts and T-shirt. I slept a little and the next day simply consisted of a drive to pick up a trunk of wood, a hike to check out the little lake we were staying at, and a good amount of staring at the scenery that surrounded us.

The second night in the woods was a breeze with somewhat dry wood and tons of it. I still did not get to see the Milky Way, but it wasn't because the night sky wasn't clear. It was a beautiful full moon last night and in its brightness, the campground was lit bright enough that we could get around without flashlights for the most part. Exhaustion set in early and I was asleep by midnight.

I saw a shooting star! It's the Perseids meteor shower and even with a full moon it was a clear piercing streak through the sky. I saw one more not as distinct and that was it. I wish I saw more, but when you live on the east coast just seeing one meteorite is pretty good.

I almost forgot. I saw my first wild moose ever! We crossed it on the dirt road on the way in. I was in a rush to get to the camp, so I just stopped briefly as it move on toward whatever nocturnal camp a moose has. I hope I see more moose on this trip! (But since I am writing this retroactively, I'm sad to say it was my only sighting.)

Off the Maine

2011-08-14T15:56:00.002-05:00

A guidebook I have tells me that the large majority of Maine's visitors never go north of Elsworth, ME, and they miss out on the beauty Maine has to offer. JayMe and I are north of Ellsworth and I agree. It's beautiful in the rural "towns", beautiful in the coastline, and has picturesque scenery everywhere else.

But after we broke camp, and before we would get north of Ellsworth, there was a start to the day, the guaranteed highlight of the day: hiking the "Precipice Cliff" trail. Since I started really looking at visiting Acadia, the Precipice hike has been one of the critical must do items on my list. And we did it. We stood at the top of the cliff and yahoo-ed. And then we hiked the rest of the trail and yahoo-ed again. We were yahooers and for good reason. We just covered a less than a mile trail, known as the Precipice trail. The best hike I have ever done relegating to second place the hike I did with Beana in Bryce Canyon.

The Precipice hike starts at the base of a cliff that you can look straight up to the top. We'd have seen the top if it weren't for the cloud 2/3 of the way up. The hike ends when you have climbed this cliff face and a little more. The pictures I will eventually add will show the incredible hike, that is as long as my hand wasn't shaking too much when taking pictures.

When I was researching it, the descriptions said things like, "You will need to use railings and hand bars to lift yourself up the trail." But until I actually was presented with my first obstacle, I couldn't picture what they meant. On the first obstacle, where there was a traffic jam, we watched as other hikers first took a very high step onto and bent iron bar that was drilled into the cliff. With the foot in place and using the momentum of the lunge it took to get it there, you extend your arm and reach for another iron bar, where you can pause and reassess your ability to complete the rest of the hike. Once you have decided to move forward, to complete the obstacle, you have to put your right forearm on top of the landing, and start to move your left foot to the handhold bar just as you remove your left hand from it. Then it is simply a matter of getting that left arm up to the landing and heaving yourself over without tipping backward to a small 10 foot plunge. After JayMe and I completed this, and felt the small surges of exhilaration and adrenaline, and perhaps even machismo, we had to go to the top.

As the hike continued, we would skirt around on narrow trails, switchback a time or two, and then come to another obstacle. There were about 15 or so obstacles (made up of about 100 rungs, railing, ladders, hand holds, etc) on the trail and none were configured alike. Some were as simple as climbing a ladder, while others were as difficult and scary as lying at a 45 degree incline with your feet resting on a small crevice in the rock and working your way 20 feet further along with a probable plunge to the death if you happen to misstep. I am pretty amazed that they let people do things like this without signing a waiver of responsibility or something. It's sort of like when at the Grand Canyon, you are able to wonder around on the rocks to your delight, but there are no guard rails to keep you from plunging 7000 feet. Or at Acadia where just this week, and while I was at the park, a woman from New Jersey rode her bike off a cliff...she lived.

And it was wonderful. Even with no wildlife (save falcons), and no waterfalls, and no unexpected stunning views, this is now the best hike I have ever done and recommend it to anyone not too afraid of heights looking for a huge, huge thrill.

After calming down at the top, we, like most all the other hikers, decided not to hike back down the cliff but rather take a much gentler stroll down the crest of the mountain leaving us just a mile hike back up the road to our car. And that was the end of Acadia for me. It's a great park that I hope to get a chance to explore again.

We headed north out of the park, past Elsworth, ME and our next destination was Lubec, where we hoped to stop for the night. Lubec is the Easternmost point of the continental U.S. and thus is the first town in America to see the sunrise every day. Unfortunately, all 3 hotels in town were full, and after 2 nights of camping a hotel was required, so we moved on and stayed the night in a roadside hotel just shy of Calais. We're heading into the Maine North Woods tomorrow, and a good night's sleep is required.

Rain on Maine

2011-08-12T01:15:00.000-05:00

I did not hear a woodpecker this morning. I heard, "Splink", or "Blatt", or "Dwoink, dwoink dwonk". Consistent but changing forms of rain. It was inconsistent and not an issue last night with the fire, but in the morning the weather was more intense and penetrating to the point that the original plans for the day were scrap.

The rain convinced me that hiking was impossible, so just taking a look at things in the rain was the way to go. JayMe and I did the 27 Mile loop road. I introduced him to many of the drooling picture sites and I really enjoyed that because of the weather the park was not crowded and I could park at popular sites and see them less populated. After the trip, including the run to the peak of Cadillac Mountain, we headed back to camp earlyish.

In the afternoon, I walked the hike that JayMe did yesterday. It was great. Not Yosemite great, but great without being really great. It walked along a harbour and had many stunning viewpoints as well as rock hopping. But what made the hike into an eternal memory was the confrontational deer.

I was a mere football field distance away from the end of the hike. The path was so wide that 3 people could walk side-by-side. Just a long slow double-ess curve remained to the parking lot. I turned the first bend of the long ess and there was the confrontational deer.

Upon first sighting, Hi Aunt Sue, I froze. The stag froze also. Thirty yards down the path if front of me was a deer. We were about eye height equal, but his ears had me by a half foot. And his baby antlers only added another foot. So yes, he have me by about a foot and a half.

After unfreezing, I smoothly pulled out my camera. Yoga like, I positioned myself and by extension the camera into a picture that I hoped to capture the front half of the animal while he grazed. I aimed, I saw through the viewfinder a great picture. I clicked the button, and the camera audibly whirred to auto focus. And this young, beautiful deer, from now on to be called The Enemy, twitched his ears.

The enemy had heard me, and now that the auto-focus focused, the picture was snapped. The camera clicked, loudly. The flashbulb unexpectedly went off in the dim light. The enemy now turned and had all foor of its hoofs on the path I needed to proceed past. I took two steps back.

The enemy held his position, but eyed me nervously. An then he ate and ate and ate. I took a lot of pictures. (to be displayed later) And when the enemy continued eating, I sort of got bored. And I wanted to get by. So I broke by silence and whistled. The enemy heard it, and assumed a stance of running away. I yelled, "Shoo!!". The enemy cranked his long neck and looked directly at me. I waved my arms and yelled "Get the &*^% out of here!" And to my surprise, the enemy advanced taking a few steps toward me.

I retreated a bunch of steps. The enemy went back to eating. After repeated attempts I was able to flush the enemy just a bit off the trail...we had to parry and strike before I got him to move. I think this was a teenage deer who I ran across and had little experience dealing with me, and we both learned a lot about the exchange.

I had an excellent seafood bisque at the local restaurant and headed back to camp. After JayMe rescued my attempt at starting the fire, we spent the night happily enduring the inconsistent rain and the brief sky views that were provided. I did see by far the best Moon show I have ever seen...the moon was nearly full and was sporadically and just partially masked by racing clouds. The best I ever saw from the moon, but I still haven't seen the Milky Way.

RT

Maine Stay

2011-08-11T23:57:00.000-05:00

We woke early enough. We packed and repacked the car. We left early enough from the motel just shy of 7:30 AM. At the Acadia National Park visitor center yesterday they told us that if we arrived by 9 AM, and waited in line, we should be able to get a spot at their first-come, first-served campsite. So we headed onto Desert Island, and sped for the camping ground in order to get there by 9AM. We crossed over to the Island and through some decision making fumbles, we ended up on the 27 Mile Loop Road that possesses the best that Acadia has to offer. I'll come back to that loop road 3 full times before I will leave Acadia.

But the loop road was not where we wanted to be. The bad assumption that JayMe and I made was that the loop road is where everyone goes, thus that is where the campsite must be. The campsite was on the other side of Desert Island, and before we knew it we were backtracking and running late.

Nonetheless, arriving at 9:15 was good and shouldn't be a problem. I told JayMe, "We'll get a site." We did not get a site. Neither did the car that arrived 90 minutes before us, because they also checked in to the campground two miles down the road where we spent the next two nights.

Technically, we're not camping in Acadia NP. We're camping on Desert Island, where most of Acadia is, but Acadia is not all of Desert Island. Rockefeller like moneys slowly and secretly purchased all of the most beautiful parts of Desert Island, then donated them to us dumb taxpayers. (And now I get to go visit them and experience them and be exalted.) The rest is still privately owned and surrounds the parts of Desert Island that are Acadia.

Camp at the campground at Bass Harbor, ME was a little spot just footsteps from a part the island that is Acadia's. We were very efficient at setting up camp and by noon, we were fully encamped. We could relax. Around 2 PM I decided it was time to really do the 27 Mile Loop road, and JayMe was up for a hike to the Natural Seawall.

We parted ways, and I was off to see Acadia's biggest attractions on the 27 Mile Loop road. If I had a Camera-to-computer connector, you would now be looking at a series of Acadia pictures that would make you drool with envy. (Pictures to be added later.) If I had a Camera-to-computer connector I would be able to floridly describe how awe inspiring the sites I saw were. (Florid description to be added later.) Suffice it to say that choosing to highlight a trip to Maine by focusing on Acadia was the right choice. The beauty and awe factors are there.

Returning to camp, JayMe had also enjoyed his hike, but it is clear that he should have joined me for the loop road to more fully experience the park. After a clear and comfortable night at the campfire, where we vigorously talked (argued) about fire maintenance, the expectations for the morning were high. On my tour of the loop road, I picked up hitchhikers who had just completed a long hike and needed a ride to their car. After quick niceties, I asked these experienced Acadia hikers what is the best hike to do. They agreed that the Sargeant Mountain-Ponobscot hike, at 3 hours, is the one. So that hike is the plan for tomorrow.

In this perfect wonderland of light depravity, we watched the stars and saw a gazillion of meteors. That's what I'd like to be able to say. Unfortunately, totally un-fun clouds were everywhere; no stars could be seen.

I am writing the blog of this day with backward looking knowledge of what actually happened the next morning. But going to sleep that night, I was really excited and had expectations of a hike that could rank near the top of my all time favorite. Little did I know that when I awoke the next morning, the hike would be soaked, the campsite would be soaked, and emotions were underwater. (Hint, it rained all night!)

Cheers,

RT

P.S. From now on, I will be referring to the guy with me on the trip as JayMe. When reading this, it may be easier for you to just read it as the boy name Jaime. As for why I picked this monicker, it is a bit of a pun...his first name starts with the letter J (Jay) and his last name is my first name. So, J. Scott is now JayMe. I asked JayMe to pick out his own monicker, but he gave me nothing.

Low Maine

2011-08-09T00:06:00.002-05:00

Leaving the vicinity of Concord, NH, and heading along a non-interstate path, we were able to breach the southern tip of Maine around 10:30 AM. Earlier, I awoke early and just after dawn, to the rhythmic pecking of a woodpecker. If you haven't heard a woodpecker, it is like an echoing, poignant, dull throb. "Poink, Poink, Poink, Poink, Poink, Poink, Poink!" Seven in a row, and then surprising silence for just enough time to reconsider the defeathering, and then another few batches of Poinks and I wished the hard nosed bird was dead.

Wrap up of the campsite was a bit slow, but possessing the flattering combination of no required destination and no required timeline, how could it matter? At 10:30 AM, sitting on a Visitor Center bench at the southernmost point of Maine, I saw visions of grandeur and made the call that we'd be camping in Acadia, watching the Peresids meteor shower, on the shores of the Atlantic, in a magical national park, as the last embers of our fire died out this night.

Unfortunately, it doesn't always work out the way you think. We were a bit late getting to Acadia, arriving around 4 PM, and apparently the first-come, first-served camping spots are usually filled around 9 AM. This is the first time I wanted to camp in a National Park and have been rejected...Oh, NPS You're so good, I can't be mad at you; I forgive you.

Tomorrow morning, 9AM, I'll be in line for a camping slot. Tomorrow night, and probably the night after that I will be lying on my back, looking straight up, and if the sky is clear, and if the moon is shy, I could see meterorites. And I'll probably do something during the day too worth writing about.

RT
(why no pictures? Because I either can't find or worse forgot to bring my camera to computer transfer line. I'm taking pictures, though only a handull so far. I'll look again for the connector, but I may have to insert the photos later.)

Towards Maine

2011-08-09T00:03:00.002-05:00

295 to NJTPK to blah, blah, blah, and at long last we get past Hartford, CT, and the road gradually begins to follow the contours of the land it inherited, and it's beginning to feel like a Road Trip. Getting of the interstates to avoid Boston took us on a path through Vermont, and toward Concord NH. A pretty good first day, we escaped the east coast, and travelled on some not-so-well beaten paths, to end up in or near to Henniker, New Hampshire.

The town of Henniker is famous for being the only town in the world known as Henniker. It's a fact! I know it is because I read it off the placemat at the "Country Diner" we had for dinner.

After seeing a promo for the "Mile Away Campground" in Henniker, NH, we drove a mile and arrived at a sanitized version of a campground. Even our tent site had plug-in electricity and fresh water. An opportunity to test camping skills was required.

I succeeded at tent assembly...perhaps even excelled. Inflatable mattress skills were rated as proficient, but needing attention. Ice and drink procurement were again exceptional. Fire starting was pass fail. Then pass fail pass fail pass; I think the drizzling rain was conspiring against me. Actually, with the leaf coverage that we had, the intermittent rains were really refreshing.

Camping out again confirms how much I miss that time when I was RoadTripping for the first time.

Off to Maine

2011-08-09T00:03:00.000-05:00

Hello. Do you remember me?

I am embarking on another road trip. A small one. Really just heading up to Maine for a go see. Perhaps it's not a road trip. But it has the feel of it.

The goal of this little two week excursion is pleasure. Which makes it the same as all the other things I wrote about on this blog. Simply, I'm going yo have as much fun as I can. Which means I am seeking out beauty, savoring foods, and enjoying whatever comes along. I've looked back on my previous blog posts, and I can't discern anything other than that was the purpose of the trips.

I just wrote there was no other purpose, but I do have a purpose in this state. So for this trip, I'm heading to Maine. I will be able to tick off my 49th state that I have visited. Only Alaska remains.

So, I guess I'm back blogging for a week or two. However, this trip is a bit different. I may be camping out a bit more than usual. This increased camping is because I am travelling with another enthusiast who owns actual camping gear like pots and pans, utensiles, coffee pot, and fishing equipment. For the first time I will have most of the stuff needed for a multi-night camping trip. We may even be able to hike to a camping ground and stay over night there. And we might even catch, clean and cook our own supper.

We will perhaps be off the grid a lot, I may not be able to blog often, But I'll try to get a posting out, every so often.

Cheers,

RT

Bali - Day 6 - Spare Ribs, Martini, Suckling Pig...The Food Issue

2009-12-19T06:44:00.017-05:00

Most of the stuff I did today I have already described, so I will now catch up with a topic dear to us all...FOOD!

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Nearly all the meals we have eaten here in Bali have either been at our Villa, or in the local town of Ubud. Ubud is renowned for it's very fine cuisine, and besides the local Indonesian offerings, nearly all the great cuisines of the world can be found here not just as a token option, but in some of it's best forms. If you want French, Italian, Chinese, Mediterranian, American, California, even a Philly Cheese steak, you can find it here and it will more than please your pallate. I haven't seen a Bratwurst on the menu yet, but then again, I don't really consider German food to rank highly in the world of foodies. I personally don't care too much about deserts, and nothing sweet here has wowed anyone so much that I need to write home about it, so I will limit my discussion to the big 3 meals.

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Breakfast:

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I can't comment on breakfast in Ubud because breakfast was included as part of our stay at the Villa Agung Khalia and we never ate it anywhere else. The meal always was started with a bowl of fresh mixed fruit that varied slightly day to day. The fruit could be topped by yogurt if desired, but after the first day I chose to enjoy it plain as it need no company. The options included a few of the standard American options like 2 eggs any style with bacon, or cereal, or a cheese omelet (or w/ veggies) and were about what you'd expect. A few of the American options came with a certain flair like the French toast which had a sliver of strawberry jam in the middle of it and was topped not with syrup, but rather a smattering of honey and was quite enjoyable.

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On certain days the Balinese breakfast was available and it consisted of an upside down dish full of rice semi-circled with fried tofu and an unknown relative of tofu as well as a side plate of delicious water spinach. The spinach was available at almost all meals we had in Bali and was always delicious. To be honest, I stuck with the other breakfasts, though it it is available tomorrow, I will order it. Coffee, tea, milk and water were the only liquids, but for us adults it was all we wanted anyway. Yet it was surprising that OJ or papaya juice or some other juice was not offered because it is so prevalent at every meal we had elsewhere.

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Lunch:

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While dinners would normally be my favorite meal of the day, lunch offered an abundant variety and never fell below 9 stars out of 10. Oddly, it seemed that the cheaper a meal was the better it tasted. When we splurged and payed about $12 US per person the meal was only 9 stars, but if we dipped below the $5 mark, it was 10 stars. Yesterday's pig was a prime example.

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We went to Ibu Oka where the only thing on the menu was the suckling pig. The restaurant opens around 11AM and serves plates of either Special for $2.60 or Different for $4.oo until they run out of pig which is usually around 3PM. From what we could tell, the only difference between special and different was that different the rice on a separate plate, and special came as a glorious mess piled high. We all went cheap and ordered the pile of Special which had pork from various parts of the pig, some savory blood sausage, spinach and another spicy vegetable, a slab of the delectable skin and of course some rice. (Nearly every meal here comes with rice...hey, we're surrounded by infinite rice paddies.) The slab of skin was the star of the meal. For $3.00 you can order just a plate of the skin, and we tried to order it, but it was sold out. The skin shatters like glass under the fork and is a hedonistic pleasure I hope to enjoy again and as often as possible.

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Another example of superb lunch came today when we supped at Naughty Nuri's. Since it was a Saturday, the 9 or so table were full and we had to stand out front by the sidewalk grill where they were making slabs of BBQ ribs and chicken that wafted smoke on us during the wait for a table. When we saw a table near finishing we hovered around until we could usurp their table before they even finished eating or paying. Most all of us ordered the famous ribs and we added a couple of orders of garlic bread that came quickly and were devoured.

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The ribs took a while longer because some Frenchies at the table next to the grill distracted our server and procured our slabs of ribs. We didn't mind because this gave us a chance to order a couple of martinis. A sign near our table noted that this hole-in-the-wall eatery had won the award for the best martini in Indonesia, and a T-shirt they were proudly selling with the slogan, "Eat, Pay, Leave," had a subtext that referred to a NY Times article about the best martinis in the world of which this was one. I must say it was superb, and the shaken not stirred flair of the server added to the quality. On my second martini, the fall off the bone ribs were at last delivered and I would have to say they rank as some of the best I have ever had...BTW, the ribs cost $6.50.

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Other lunches included a Mediterranean small plate at Cafe Luna, extraordinary beef and chicken sate with peanut sauce at a place whose name I can't remember, and at another place some perfectly cooked tempura vegetable. My only regret is that I did not get to try something from one of the street cart vendors that the locals eat at.

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Dinner:

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Thrice we ate at the Villa, and the first meal everyone ordered something different and all the meals were good, but one was great. The second time we ate at the Villa, the sweet and sour whole red snapper meal was ordered by most all as it was perfectly cooked and covered in a sauce that I could have spooned into my mouth unaccompanied.

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Outside of the Villa, we ate at restaurants like the Dirty Duck and Terazzo, where we filled the table with a variety of entrees and appetizers with hardly a single dish failing to please and some that we forced everyone to try because the could not be missed.

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Our final night here in Bali, tonight, we ate for the third time here at the Villa and we splurged. For $100 US ($12.50 per person), we got ourselves a pig. A suckling pig that perhaps came from the same restaurant we had lunch at the prior day. Accompanied by vegetables, rice, sausage and more, we probably ate less than a 10th of the suckling pig, and it was as succulent as can be. We took home a bit of the leftovers, but I think we supplied many a meal to our gracious hosts for days to come.

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Tomorrow we fly back to Hong Kong and the following morning back to the snowed in east coast of the good old USA. Food here has been nothing short of superb, we've eaten like kings and queens, and if that were all that Bali had to offer it would be enough. But couple that with adventures of a lifetime, and this has been unquestionably my greatest road trip ever!

Bali - Day 5 - Paddy Walk, Ubud Market and Suckling Pig

2009-12-18T06:16:00.007-05:00

Perhaps I am getting a bit lazier, or as buz calls it, "going native"; thus, this will be another post on the shorter side. My enthusiasm for Bali isn't waning, just my desire or need to do intensive blogging.

The day started (as it has every day here) with breakfast at the Villa. Actually we go down past the other 3 villas and have it at their dining area which consists of 3 large teak picnic tables outdoors on a covered veranda. There are a few other things we have done repeatedly and they include: massages, swimming for pleasure, playing cards, happy hour, swimming to cool off, being driven into central Ubud and sweating.

After the breakfast, massages and swimming, sis, dad, max and I went on a hike through the local rice paddies with max leading the way most of the time. It's still pretty awesome to be able to just go out in the paddies and follow the paths the farmers use to get around their plots. But the heat was a bit much and we had to return for a cool down swim.

For lunch it was into Ubud to go to a famous stall for suckling pig, the only thing on the menu. (I'm really going to need to get to the food blog before I start mish-mashing in my mind all these restaurants.) It was superb, but at $2.50 for a couple of pounds of perfectly cooked pork, I would say this might be the best Road Food I have ever had. (Tomorrow night, our final night in Ubud, we have ordered the Villa hosts to get our clan an entire suckling pig...you should all be jealous.)

Lunch was followed by shopping at the big market in Ubud where I picked up a few presents for my nieces back in the states and a Bintang beer T-shirt for myself ($2). Since arriving in Bali, Bintang is the only beer we've had, and it is cheap enough and tasty enough that we won't need to try another.

Then it was back to the Villa for more swimming and whiling away the rest of the day. BTW, for the first night here it was mostly cloud free, and the stars were brilliant. I'll be sleeping out on the porch for the 4th straight night.

Bali - Day 4 - Monkey Forest

2009-12-17T08:17:00.006-05:00

Today's main adventure was to see the monkeys. Monkey Forest, not far from the center of Ubud was quite a surprise. Even as we were driving up, a few stray monkeys were wandering the road. And once we payed the $1.50 entrance fee, we were all but swarmed by them. The preserve is home to 3 types of long tail monkeys, though they all looked about the same to me. Just a few paces into the park we had to drop all our bananas because we were being hounded by the aggressive monkeys...they could smell the bananas and they could smell the fear on us.

Even after giving up the food, Max got into a couple of teasing matches with the monkeys and Buz had a water bottle swiped from his hand. But for the most part, we just wandered among the thousands of monkeys amazed by their playfulness, closeness and quantity. If you're ever in Ubud, this should be a must see experience.

Another interesting thing happened while we were at the preserve when meme was swarmed not by monkeys, but by a class of 14 year old students who were wanted to practice their English with her. With their teacher's prodding, the shy students began asking questions in English like, "Where are you from?" or "What is you favorite Bali souvenir?" Meme was glad to oblige and spoke with them for 20 minutes and seemed to get a kick out of it, though the smiles on the students faces seemed to show that they probably got even more pleasure out of it.

Besides two more excellent meals in Ubud, most of the rest of the day was spent back at the Villa, swimming, reading and relaxing. However we were interrupted by planned rolling blackouts and spent a short time in the peaceful dark listening to the frogs in the rice paddies with their noisy, nightly cacophony.

Bali - Day 3 - Trekking

2009-12-16T07:48:00.013-05:00

Today was a shopping day. In the center of Ubud, in a multi-leveled shopping "mall", sarongs were bought, spices were haggled for, precocious small baskets were accrued. But I am only relaying what I was told, because I went trekking.
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After breakfast, I decided I had to have another massage so I again broke my frugal ways and forfeited the 100,000 Rupiah for the hour long massage. Fortunately, 100K Rupiah is only 10 bucks US. I'd say the Balinese massage is just a bit lighter than a deep tissue massage one would get in Las Vegas or Hot Springs NP. Apparently this massage is what the rice paddy toilers get after a hard day of turning the soil, or planting or reaping the crop. And it is worth every Rupiah and then some.

After that, we had a new driver/guide for the day, but we were leaving our paddies just for a short trip and drop off at the market place of Ubud. While 5 of the clan were heading for shopping, I was following the advice of one of our Bali travel books and taking a trek off the beaten path.

The trek started out from Cafe Lotus in the center of the city. It was diagrammed as a 4 or 5 mile hike North on one side of the river and returning south on the other side. I wasn't exactly able to follow it as planned, but it was thrilling none the less.

The "trail" started out on a small street probably only used by the locals. After a few football fields in distance, the road bent left and disappeared. I wove through a few "back yards" and eventually found a semi-well trod path that actually turned out to be the trail. For a long stretch the trail followed a narrow tree line that divided the rice paddies. Constantly sloping upward, I dipped in and out of the large paddies and the jungle that surrounded the river and water source that nourished them.

Blazing humidity caused sweat to drench the upper portion of my T-shirt and wiping the sweat out of my eyes with the lower portion quickly turned me into a puddle. While I had passed many farmers toiling along the way, about a mile into the hike I was startled to have one of them propose retrieving and opening a coconut for me. Perhaps he saw me excreting so much liquid from my pores that he wanted to help or save me, or perhaps he was hoping for a tip...I can't be sure because I declined. I should have accepted, and told myself if I got another coconut offer I would accept.

The trail was not clear. I followed a few aqueducts, I walked along some farms, I crossed a "bridge". I popped back out of the jungle and for a while I was on a path that skirted the connection of the paddies and the jungle. I wasn't sure if I was lost. There certainly weren't any other trekkers, but there were plenty of friendly locals. Nearly every interaction with these locals (farmers) went the same way. I would startle them with both my white face and dripping sweat; they would burst forth with an ear to ear grin and a hearty "Hallo!"; I would replicate the grin and respond with "Hello!"; we'd pass each other and I'd continue on, chewing up the beautiful scenery that makes up their every day lives.

And then, on this path that could only be walked or perhaps biked, I came to a gallery. And then another and another. And at the next gallery, I could take it no more and had to connect with the owner/artist who I awoke as I passed his shop. "Hallo!" And I responded, "Hello!". My conversations at the 3 previous galleries had proceeded as follows:

The owner, or the owner and his wife, said, "My name is undecipherable, what is yours?"

I would respond, "Hi! (smiling broadly) I am Scott."

They would say, "Where are you from?"

This question has been puzzling me since I got here. I don't know if in their broken English they want to know what country I am from or where I had come from today. Invariably I reply either with either America, New Jersey or to make it simpler I say New York City. The reason I don't know if this is the reply they are looking for is that after some pleasantries about America, they ask more specifically the following questions:

1. Your first trip to Bali?

2. How long you here?

3. Where you staying?

My responses are: "Yes, it is beautiful here.", "I am here 8 days. Today is day 3.", and "Villa You won't understand what I say (Villa Agung Khali)."

These rural artists are soft sellers and I found it easy to say that I was just trekking through and move on. Though until I produced one of my water bottles, I think they wanted to save me from withering away and offered me shade.

At the 4th gallery I met Wayeng, who I had woken up from behind his "counter" in his shack/gallery. Wayeng popped to life and while I was downing another bottle of water, we went into detail about his process for creating the art. He showed me the charcoal he burnt. He scraped some of it into a little dish, he added some water and pulled out his sketching tool which was a sharp metal point at the end of some wood. Before entering his "gallery", I pulled out my camera to take a picture of this desk and his implements, and he pulled out an unfinished sketch he had been working on and posed for a picture pretending to be at work.

I then entered his gallery. I took one step to the left and looked at his pictures there. Then I retraced that step and took one to the right to complete the tour. In the process I saw about 50 pieces of art he had produced and was really tempted to shell out the $11 for one of them, but I had no way of carrying it with me without either damaging it or sweating on it. (The picture of the white shack to the right I took after exiting the "gallery" and walking a few paces down the trail...the pic should make you understand why I have used the quotes around gallery each time.)

Following that, and being reassured by Wayleng that I was on the trekker's trail, I rounded the bend at the northern most point of the trail and got totally lost. I thought I was on the right path until the trail went from somewhat paved to dirt to grass to dead end. I heard cars for the first time since entering rice paddies, and made my way to the road. I tried again after a half mile on the road to cross paddies and find the elusive trail but was stymied at every turn. I gave up and popped out of the paddies to return to the road. A local saw me sloppily come out of jungle and into his paddy. I was embarrassed as he directed me toward the larger paths that would take me back to the road. From across the paddy he yelled "Coconut?! You want?!". Though my face could get no redder than what the sun had already done, I blushed and stupidly declined. This time I believe the offer was to save my life. I followed his kind signals to the road, finished what water I had left, and made my way back to my starting point of Cafe Lotus.

Cascading off my body were all the rivulets of liquid sweat that remained in my body; I entered Cafe Lotus and requested a large Bintang. Bintang is the local beer we have been drinking since we arrived in Bali. It is a pretty tasty beer that I would compare to a heavy Miller Lite or a light Sam Adams. It went excellent with the lunch I ordered and in little over an hour I had stopped sweating. I hired a cab back to the Villa and after an intentionally icy cold shower I felt a full 25% better.

We had an excellent early dinner at the Dirty Duck restaurant, but again, I really need to go into detail about the food here and I have written far too much already. I can't wait to see what day 4 here in Bali brings!

Bali - Day 2

2009-12-15T07:20:00.012-05:00

Perhaps I was a bit overly enthralled yesterday in my blog. Perhaps not...I still love it here.
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We decided to hire a guide for the day who would take us wherever we wanted to go and also recommend some sights to experience around Bali. Our guide, Made (pronounce ma-day) picked us up after breakfast and first took us into Ubud to see a short program/play of Balinesian dancing that told one of the two Hindu epic religious stories. Even with a sheet of paper that described what was going on, we still had to use our imagination to guess at what was happening. The show featured perhaps 25 actors/dancers and was accompanied by a fantastic 22 piece orchestra. It was quite entertaining, and the performers seemed to do a lot of detailed hand wriggling and finger splaying while decked out in highly ornate costumes and face paints. But I still had no idea what the story was all about. Afterwards, Made told us what it was about, but I still didn't get it.

Following the show we set out on a road trip to the volcano. Normally, I'd say the name of the volcano, I'd say the city it was near, I might mention the road we travelled and perhaps use a bunch of other proper nouns. But the sparse road signage, the unusual combination of letters, and the somewhat cryptic "English" that Made used made it difficult to pinpoint where we were. So I can only say stuff like: we went on a two lane road through a bunch of villages toward a volcano near a big lake.

Yesterday, From the airport in Denpasar we came North to Ubud, and the entire terrain was predominantly flat. But as we struck out further North after the show, we began a 2 hour journey that had us rising in elevation nearly the whole way. About half way to the volcano, we pulled to the side of the road to view some of the beautiful tiered rice paddies that are seen in many of the postcards of Bali. They were quite striking, but it is difficult to conceive of the hard lifestyle the farmers have to raise their crops and eek out a living.

During this stop, we encountered for the first time the small crowds of villagers that surround you trying desperately to sell tourists their handmade wares. As soon as we stepped out of the car, small boys to elderly women confront you with items the most common of which were sarongs (delicate woven dyed fabrics), wooden teak baskets that could hold fruits, carved teak masks of their gods, and brilliant white carved things that we weren't sure what they were, but perhaps they were supposed to be made of elephant tusks. The sellers only words were the prices in dollars or rupiahs they wanted for them. We were in need of some sarongs for our next destination at a temple, so we picked up 8 of them for an average price around $5 (50,000 rupiah) each. After enjoying the scenery, and as we were opening the car doors to resume the trip, the prices plummeted and the vendors were offering the same objects for about 90% less than their first stated price. We would run into many of these hordes for the rest of the day and it becomes quickly tiresome to repeatedly turn them down...though I might pick up a teak fruit basket for a buck or two next time we are approached, and just before closing the car door.

Before we got to the temple, we stopped for a buffet lunch where the food was good, but the view was what we were paying for. The tourist trap eatery was perched on a mountain rim with an inspiring view of the volcano. The volcano is an active volcano (any volcano is deemed active if it erupted withing the last 15,000 years) and it had large eruption in 1918 and 1923, and most recently blew off steam in 1997. While I've spent some time around volcano calderas like Yellowstone and the one in Big Bend, this volcano has the shape that most would imagine a volcano to look like such as the one in Joe Verses the Volcano. In fact, we were told that Julia Roberts was recently here filming for an upcoming movie release.

The next stop was the aforementioned temple, the volcano's temple, which is the second largest temple in Bali. After donning our sarongs, pushing through the vendors, and paying our donation fee, we entered the temple. It was ok. A temple here consists of 3 concentric courtyards, separated by low walls with some worshiping altars in the innermost courtyard. It's primarily an outdoor place and we never had a roof over our heads. We took our photos, strolled around the grounds and exited into the same throng of vendors we had repeatedly rejected on the way in.

Then we drove down to the base of the volcano. An hour and a half uphill hike would have had us peering into the volcano, and I surely would have done this if I were alone. But the younguns (ReMax) were a bit testy and we decided to begin the return journey back to Ubud.

Besides enjoying the scenery, and it is all enjoyable because it is so different than anything in the U.S., we made only one stop at a Bali coffee plantation and shop. After sampling various strongly caffeinated beverages, the tastiest of which was the ginseng coffee, Dix pick up a stash of the Bali coffee that is now prized by the celebs in L.A. What makes this coffee unique and expensive is that the coffee beans have been ingested by a ferocious ferret like animal and pooped out whole. They are then washed and packaged for sale. I really can't think of another consumable product that has been pooped...though I'm not sure how the honey from bees is created.

The day's road trip ended around 4PM, we sent our hosts at the Villa into town to pick us up some to go food and we all lazily swam around in the pool for a while to counter the heat and humidity of the afternoon.

A surreal day of pleasure, though I am not sure whether we will be venturing out for another road trip. There seems to be quite enough around the Ubud area to entertain us. Tomorrow I may venture out for a hike, they call it a trek here, though as yet none in our entourage has signaled an interest in accompanying me. They want to go shopping, so I may be trekking solo again.

Agung Villa, Ubud, Bali, Indonesia - Has It Only Been One Day

2009-12-14T08:37:00.008-05:00

5 hours due South of Hong Kong as the plane flies is Indonesia. It is a country of many islands, and the massive island we are on is Bali. We landed in the city of Denpasar, and even as the plane was descending, it was clear to me that I was entering a realm of only-in-the-movies or fairytale land or detached reality...words can not describe it. I couldn't have wished for anything more.

After debarking the plane, I began to sweat. The sign that said "Smuggling illegal drugs into the country carries a penalty of death!" was not the reason, it was the humidity. 120 degrees of Phoenix summer heat is a breath of fresh air compared to the overbearing dense tropical moisture. I love it!

Exiting the terminal, after buz let slip and broke 1/3 of our duty free liquor allotment, we were greeted by our driver/house assistant and began the drive north to the city of Ubud. I've jumped out of an airplane. I've stood inches from a 6,000 foot drop into the Grand Canyon. I was less than 30 feet from a 300 pound wild black bear. I would try near any adrenaline rising adventure I could think of, but I know I would never try to drive from Denpasar to Ubud. The drive took a little over an hour, and probably only covered 40 miles into the center of the island, but it seemed an act of magic that we made it with no accident or fatality. The straight narrow roads had our car driving on all sides of the lane markers as swarms of small motorcycles passed us and were surpassed by us. The rhythm of the road and traffic was hard to comprehend yet our driver deftly maneuvered around all obstacles. Well, not all, on the final dirt "road" to out villa, he was out maneuvered by a duck herder and his ducks. For nearly the final mile, we had to go at a ducks pace as the 40 or so ducks in the roadway had no intention to let us pass. It was frustrating to be so close and have to move at a web footed pace. Let's just say that I was feeling quite smug when I had crispy duck for dinner last night.

We arrived at Agung Villa, a few kilometers outside of Ubud, around 5PM and my euphoria had me often sying things like, "This is awesome." And, "I love it here." And, "I can't believe how great this is." And, "Look at that, look at this, hey there's a frog on the sofa." I even proffered that I don't want to leave and perhaps I'll find a wife and live here forever. And this after just being in Bali for 2 hours. It is a day later, and I am tempering my words to others, but the euphoria has not abated. This is awesome!

In a future post I will probably go on at length about the Balinese cuisine, so I'll save the details for then, but we went out to dinner around 7PM and had a meal that tantalized. After returning to the Villa, I was impatient to get out last nights Hong Kong blog to clear the slate for this. So on to today...

The cock crowed. The frogs roared. And a multitude of animals I don't know yet pounded a steady beat in my ear drums til the sun came up. The villa served a standard fine breakfast, and the rice paddies beckoned. Villa Agung isn't much. A rich ex-pat came here and built 4 "luxurious houses" in the middle of a landscape of rice paddies. 5 feet from my bedroom window a farmer toiled over his paddy with rudimentary tools for his family's subsistence. I'm theoretically homeless and jobless right now, but a bit of guilt of our wealth creeps into my conscience with all we encounter. I could slip a twenty dollar bill to a farmer and it may be more than he earns all month. I wish I could give them all a twenty. Buz and I encounter many of them as we trod through their paddys.

We headed out of the villa, leapt over the first of many aqueducts we would encounter and proceeded along the extremely narrow paths the farmers use to access their plots. To us it was a puzzle, more a maze, where we had to determine whether we could proceed or needed to backtrack to find a solid footing around the waterlogged paddys. We passed many shanties where the farmers rest and their wives trudge to bring them their meals, simple wooden covered two person huts of existence. Perhaps we walked a mile, and all along we encountered the locals who smiled at us blatantly obvious tourists and gave us a hearty happy "Hello!". Oddly wonderful it was.

After returning to the villa, the masseuses had arrived and after they finished with sis and dix, we passed by our pool and for $10 we had an onsite hour long massage that was worth every penny and even a few thousand more pennies. Labor is cheap here and perhaps the best advantage of visiting a place like this. Yet it is a guilty pleasure, which we shall repeat every chance we can.

After some swimming in our pool and leisurely reading, our driver took us to the center of Ubud where we had another dining extravaganza before sampling the dense shopping district and checking out the wares of this artistic enclave that makes it such a popular vacation destination.

My words can only scrape at the bountiful experience that this amazing adventure. It's a gotta be here experience. And I am here! I find it hard to comprehend, and I find it amazing that I have only been here one day. And I have 7 more days of this mind blowing journey to come! I'm almost jealous of myself.

BTW, for the first time in my life I am south of the equator, and yes the toilets swirl counter clockwise.

Hong Kong - Road Trip on Steroids

2009-12-13T09:52:00.009-05:00

So much to say. So little rest.

Today I arrived in the town of Ubud, on the island state of Bali, in the country of Indonesia. I've been here 6 hours, and I could probably write a half dozen posts on Bali already. But I need to catch up with the first part of this grand adventure, so I am self-imposing a limit of this post to Hong Kong.

Hong Kong! China. One of the only 4 remaining communist countries in the world (5 if you count Laos - thx for the info buz). To get to Hong Kong from JFK in New York, the shortest distance was right over the North Pole on a 15 hour flight. I left on Tuesday and arrived on Thursday. Out of my plane window I saw a sunset, a sunrise, a sunset and another sunrise before landing just before sunset. Wednesday evaporated without notice. I dreaded the thought of a 15 hour flight, and was really quite surprised that it didn't suck. I watched 3 movies, had two good meals, read a couple hundred pages of a very good book, and caught about 4 hours of sleep. I arrived half way around the world feeling pretty good.

After connecting with meme and buz (mom and dad), we took a half hour cab from the airport to our hotel in Hong Kong and as a group we customized ourselves to frenetic pace of the city by pointing out all the differences we initially saw from our everyday American lives, and there were many. But the differences were fewer than I expected.

To me, Hong Kong seemed a lot like New York City. Towering sky scrapers dwarfing a multitude of the masses of people scuttling block to block shopping and doing business. And there's great Chinese food!

On our first day we went to see the Big Budda on one of the neighboring islands. This entailed taking the subway to the ferry to a bus ride that was so wild that half my entourage nearly became motion sick. Unfortunately fog rolled in that was so dense that after walking up 243 steps to the base of lotus leaves, looking up we could not even see Budda's head. Even so, it was all still an exhilarating trip. But the highlight was how we got back to Hong Kong.

From the top of the Budda mountain, engulfed in fog, we opted to take to the sky for a half hour plunge back to the city. We all (by we all I mean mom, dad, sis, Dix, ReMax and me) boarded a ski gondola like contraption and floated down the hills. Had it been a clear day, I am sure that this would have provided the most wonderful panarama of views that could not be matched. Even with the fog (or was it smog), it was a mesmerizing ride. I would recommend this as a must do trip to anyone coming to Hong Kong, and if the next few days were clearer, I might have been tempted to do it again.

Day 2 centered around the trip to Victoria Peak. After a half mile stroll, meme, buz, ReMax and I boarded the cable car up to the Peak. The ride up had us all facing forward on what felt like a near vertical escalation straight up to the highest points above Hong Kong. Even at this extreme altitude, the massive city below was still impressive. A mile and a half hike around the peak nearly sapped the strength of our contingent, but it enthused me to no end and was more similar to my road tripping hikes than anything else HK had to offer.

On our final full day in HK, most of the morning was spent in Hong Kong Park, a compact and multi-leveled park featuring picturesque little lakes, an aviary, a playground, a tea museum, a sky tower, and one of those places where people move slowly around striking poses, waving their arms and looking funny if it were not for the fact that they took it so seriously. The afternoon consisted of a trip to a classic marketplace where haggling with the dealers helped cut down on the already cheap prices for their wares. Heady stuff all around.

As entertaining as all the above was, perhaps the food was the best part of Hong Kong. We had meals of dim sum, hot pot, and noodles that I would go on at length about had I not already exhausted my writing skills. Each was authentic and excellent. However, I must say that authentic Chinese food is an adventure not to be missed, but the version we get in the states is Americanized for a reason...it tastes better to us.

Hong Kong wow! It was great. But I am newly arrived in Bali, and I can tell that my adventure here will be much more to my style of wonderment. I'm not really a city kind of guy, and I am so not in the city now.

Racing for the Holiday

2009-11-22T21:09:00.006-05:00

After Kings Canyon, I found out that my possible Thanksgiving in Phoenix was not possible. So the Road Trip has become a cannonball race home. It is more important to be with family for the holiday than to be meandering across the country. The end of the road trip is approaching.

Thursday night was in Las Vegas (no comment), Friday night I slept in Kingman, AZ, and by last night, I had made it to Gallup, NM. While in AZ, I sped in and out of my former home town of Phoenix stopping only long enough to cram Pre to the max with stuff from my storage space, and to drop by TreasonPal's for a brief hello.

Tonight I have made it as far as El Reno, OK having driven I 40 for nearly 10 hours, and close to 700 miles. It wasn't awful, just a bit monotonous. I expect much of the same for the remaining 1,500 miles. But this will get me home by Thanksgiving and also give me a bit of prep time before heading out on my next adventure. Unless plans change, I will be joining family and going abroad to Honk Kong, China and Bali, Indonesia.

(BTW, I stopped here in El Reno because it is the home of the Onion Burger. Of the 3 onion burger joints here described in the Road Food book, I chose Johnie's. The cook took a handful of burger meat, not a ball or patty, but a handful, and threw it on the grill. After a quick tap from the spatula, an equal sized handful of onions were dropped on top. With a few squishes of the spatula, the sliced onions were half combined with and half hanging out of the burger. When nearly cooked through, the burger was flipped in order to brown the other side and caramelize the dangling onions. As an onion fanatic, I was thrilled to experience them in an original and delicious new way...I'm going to try to do this at home.)

I may blog again before going, but if I get the chance I will blog from overseas also. Bon Voyage!

Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Park(s)

2009-11-18T22:05:00.008-05:00

Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks were made national parks separately in 1890 and 1940 respectively, but sharing a large common border, they began being jointly administered in 1943. I don't know whether I was in one or two national parks today, but it doesn't matter because either way it (or they) was (or were) so much better than expected.

Sequoia was the second National Park ever after Yellowstone, but it's remoteness and the fact that it is close to amazing Yosemite have perhaps left it a bit unknown. And Kings Canyon is pretty cool, but compared to Bryce or Grand Canyons, it just doesn't compare. Add to that, 99% of the two parks are not accessible without overnight hiking and camping, , heck, a backpacker can hike to a spot that is farther from a road than any other place in the lower 48. I really didn't think I would be amazed. Especially after Yosemite.

But turn after turn on the General's Highway was stunning, and multiple short hikes provided spectacular treats. Perhaps the best treat of the day was hiking up Moro Rock. The hike was only about a quarter mile, but included steep inclines and over 400 steps. It was straight up - not a rock, but a mini-mountain. The whole hike was precarious and provided above-the-clouds views of the valley before summiting with an endless panorama.

After Redwoods and Yosemite, with their immense groves of giant trees, I didn't think I could still be awed by more trees, but I was wrong. In these parks are some of the worlds largest and oldest living things. At 2,200 years old, a birth date around 110 BC, the General Sherman tree is the world largest and, depending on the way you measure, the worlds most massive living organism. (There are arguments about the great coral reef, as well as some mushroom in Oregon, but Sherman stands as an individual specimen.) Likewise, the stroll to Grant's Tree, America's Christmas Tree, proved perhaps more impressive. It's a more aesthetically pleasing tree.

Add to that a few other stunning treks and scenic viewpoints, a fair amount of deer and millions of non-human fearing squirrels, and it was a complete day of wonderful National Park excursions. Were it not for the expected sub-freezing nightly temperature, I would be camping out. Alas, I am in a Motel 6 in Portersville, CA. Having started out this morning in Fresno, I only covered 60 miles as the crow flies, but more than 200 miles were covered most of it switchbacking along beautiful mountain sides.

Yosemite!

2009-11-17T22:27:00.014-05:00

Here's the new Top 5 list of my favorite National Parks:

5. Carlsbad Caverns

4. Big Bend

3. Bryce Canyon

2. Yosemite

1. Yellowstone

Yosemite has bumped the Grand Canyon off the list and jumped to number 2. From the moment I entered Yosemite Valley it was immediately a place of wonder. Like Yellowstone, it is plentiful in variety, curiosity and stunning views.

The immense El Capitan and Half Dome tower over the valley, majestic waterfalls storm out of the glacier carved mountains, hikes into the wilderness are filled with ever changing dramatic scenery, and in the end, just as I was heading for the southern exit, they threw in a dizzying grove of Giant Sequoias.

I camped out last night in the Upper Pines campground with Glacier Point as my backdrop. The stars came out early and brilliantly. The milky way was clearly visible all night. And the night was capped by watching the meteors of the Leonid shower burn up on entry into the atmosphere. I'd been hoping for a night of star watching since I began this trip, and I can't imagine I will ever beat this night. Really it was a stellar evening of camping.

I could write so much more, but I am exhausted and will let the pictures do the talking.

Redwoods and SF

2009-11-15T02:34:00.008-05:00

During this second road trip, I've averaged around 7 hours of sleep a day. But since I've arrived here in San Francisco, I have been down for 11 hours a day. I'd love to blame it on the endless energy of niece and nephew RiMax, but I think I may be a bit under the weather, and catching up on Z's while warm and cozy in the cave suite in the basement. I've even decided to stay a day more than planned, and play a bit more soccer with Max, and read a few more princess stories to Ries before heading on the slow route to Phoenix.

Getting here to this rambunctious oasis, I did pass thorough another majestic Park, Redwoods National. As far north and west as you can be in California lies a coastal redwood forest that is well deserving of National Park status. Driving along the park routes is dizzying as I nearly brushed my side mirrors from the towering monoliths of coastal redwoods. If I had a convertible, I could have seen the treetops, but even craning forward I could see just the bases of the massive trunks. But when you park and take just a few steps into the groves of redwoods you begin to swirl while looking straight up.

"THIS is the forest primeval," said both Longfellow and Looney Tunes. And Redwoods NP is a pristine example of old growth forests, and easily gives you the feeling of walking into another era, which in fact you are as some of these trees were here when that guy Jesus walked the earth. And the environs of this park may be no different from when dinosaurs roamed through them.

Besides the groves of giant redwoods, this park is also on the Pacific Ocean, providing completely separate astounding views. You get two-for-the-price-of-one stunning and solitary beauty. I wouldn't include this in my top 5 parks of all time, but it is in the top ten, and I'd love to revisit it during different seasons of the year. Just walking through the towering redwood groves and scanning the immense Pacific is both humbling and exhilarating.

Anyway, tomorrow I will be getting on the road again after a wonderful family visit, and if the weather is good, I should be camping out tomorrow night in what many consider the second best National Park in the lower 48 - Yosemite!

Crater Lake Redux

2009-11-11T01:44:00.010-05:00

This day consisted of non-stop scenic driving. From start to finish I was following the little green dots on the map that indicate beauty and more beauty followed by beauty. But today's main event was a return to Crater Lake NP.

During Road Trip part 1, I wrote the following: "In my ranking of greatest sites I've visited based mainly on their aesthetic beauty, this (Crater Lake) is now number 2, behind only the Grand Canyon Southern Rim, and moving in front of Monument Valley." While Monument Valley has been bumped by the caldera at Big Bend, the Big Room at Carlsbad Caverns and multiple sites at Yellowstone, the top two remain as is. Besides the first breathtaking views of the Grand Canyon, nothing compares to the first peeks over the volcanic rim and into Crater Lake.

The first time I was here it was summer, and the big change to this visit is the added tranquility of the winter setting. First I was subdued by the snow capped fir trees on the approach, but the idyllic nature of the snow encircled lake nearly brought me to my knees. Sure, the Grand Canyon is better...I doubt it can be beat...but Crater Lake has a majestic halo that must be seen to be appreciated. The rim road that circuits the volcano was closed by snow, and the campground was also closed, this left me with just a short stroll around the entrance area. None the less, experiencing the tranquility in winter of this special place was well worth the diversion. Make an effort to get here...it's worth it.

Continuing my National Park-a-day routine of late, tomorrow I will be seeing some big trees. In dark I drove through a route I am sure to retrace. Following that, I'll be visiting with the Sis and family for a few days.

Click on the following links for my RT part 1 descriptions of the amazing Crater Lake:

Crater Lake Part 1
Crater Lake Part 2

Seattle Rain and Rainier

2009-11-09T22:02:00.008-05:00

The road into Seattle, I 90, felt less like an interstate and more like a precarious drive through a mountainous rain forest. Actually, it felt a lot like what I expected the Grand Tetons to feel like. I was dwarfed by the immense Cascade Mountains, one after the other, for many miles as I wove through mountain passes. This stretch is perhaps the most entertaining and white knuckled drive on any of the major cross country interstates, made all the more difficult by the weather changing from drizzle to rain to thunderstorm to snow to sleet and back again, ending in a steady drizzle that would linger for the next 3 days. Hey, it's Seattle.

Mr. and Mrs. Battlestar swore that this much rain was uncharacteristic, but why would there be so many jokes about Seattle's rainy weather? I arrived at the BS's early enough on Friday to enjoy dinner. We ordered superb Thai food, and it wouldn't be until Sunday morning before I had a full meal of anything but Asian cuisines. It was delicious and I probably haven't had better since I was last in San Francisco a year ago. Thanks to the Battlestars' for being superb hosts and I wish them the best on their upcoming adventures...before weeks end, they will be in Australia, and BS himself will have turned 41 (happy b-day!).

This morning, I exited rainy Seattle with weather forecasts at all possible destinations calling for constant precipitation again in the drizzle to snow range. The best places to explore were also at the highest elevations, so snow and closed roads were on the agenda, and the forecasters were remarkably accurate. After combating Seattle's rush hour traffic that was as hectic as Philadelphia's is, I wound my way to the only entrance still open at Mount Rainier National Park.

Mt. Rainier was the fifth National Park ever established and encompasses all of the 14,410 foot eponymous peak. Unlike the Tetons, the base of this behemoth starts near sea level, and pyramids upward. I wish I could describe its majesty, but I could see no further up the slope than perhaps 100 feet. Fog and rain and eventually snow obscured the heights. Yet its' presence was easy to perceive by the switchback turns, tumbling waterfalls and old growth forests. A couple of short hikes into the forests yielded a shadowy spongy existence that declared that this place was unique and special.

If I could have ventured further into the park, I am sure each change in elevation would have provided more unique adventures, but the road to scenic Paradise was closed and I had to turn back. And just an hour later I ran into similar road blocks as I tried to scale Mount St. Helens. This time the much shorter peak (8,365 feet) halted me just 8 miles from the drives summit as the underside of Pre was sheering off the grooves of snow accumulated between the tire tracks. The road wasn't closed and I was tempted to push onward, but a sportsman applying his tire chains informed me, "There's 3 feet of snow up there, you're not going to make it, you gotta turn back or they'll be pulling you off the side of the volcano."

Still, each of the aborted mountain climbs were well worth the journeys and having to come back the same road just provided double the scenic driving. Following another fearsome drive at high altitudes as I passed south of Mount Hood, I at last arrived at Madras, OR where I am calming my nerves. I hope the forecasters remain accurate as I am expecting 50 degrees and partly sunny for a repeat visit to one of my favorite National Parks.

Wy Id Or Wa

2009-11-05T22:40:00.011-05:00

It's been a couple of days since a post. That's because when I finally get to be with family or friends, it is much more important to be with them. And I just spent a fantastic, rejuvenating couple of nights with my cousins Bill and Lisa and family in Eagle, ID, just outside of Boise. I got to have two home cooked meals, fun and play with the kids, and I took scenic tour of the surrounding area. I felt totally welcomed and comforted and even got to help out nephew-once-removed Ian as he was working on a project that needed a picture of a sunset. It was great to be with family again after 10 days on the road....if the Phillies hadn't lost, it would have been a perfect layover.

In order to get to Eagle, I exited Jackson, WY (BTW, the title of this post refers to the 4 states I have traversed). I headed out for a couple of scenic drives in making my way across Idaho. Besides seeing the back side of the Grand Tetons (which are equally beautiful, yet too far away to be awesome), the highlight of the trips were the Upper and Lower Mesa waterfalls. For the Upper Mesa Falls, the short trek took me to within spitting distance of pour over, and it was great. Perhaps it's always there, but in the early morning when I was there, a constant rainbow was wafting in the mist.

I then cruised across Idaho off the main highways in order to see the Craters of the Moon National Monument. The monument is a 25 mile stretch of the Oregon Trail made up of the remnants of earlier volcanic activity. Early travelers across this stretch of the trail were lucky if their wagons survived the landscape. It was the last great scenery before arriving at Eagle, ID for the aforementioned couple of nights with family.

Today I left the Boise area and quickly entered Oregon. My route across eastern OR was leisurely and scenic taking me through both the Umatilla and Wallowa-Whitman National Forests before straddling the Blue Mountains, again along the Oregon Trail. Nearly every mile of the drive presented new and changing scenery and was thoroughly enjoyable.

I entered the state of Washington, passing through Hermiston, OR where cousin Bill and I had gone fishing on my first road trip. From there, I just followed the highway into Washington's large wine country, and followed Bill's recommendation...I sampled the wine. Then I sampled more. Before I was done, I had gone to 5 wineries, and decided that it might not be a good idea to drive anymore.

So I checked into the nearest hotel, and am now chilling in Prosser, WA. I bought 6 bottles of wine. (I expect they'll all be opened at my next couple of stops in Seattle, Portland and San Fran.) Every winery I was at recommended the same place for dinner, Picazo, and two of them said the Paella was the meal to order. They were right, and the baby clams, muscles, fish and perfect shrimp added to the complex flavors.

As my next few stops will likely be with family and friends, posting blogs may to be sporadic over the next week or so, but I do hope to fit in at least one more National Park before I hit San Francisco next week.

Not so Grand Tetons

2009-11-02T23:12:00.008-05:00

The drive across Wyoming incrementally built up the excitement as I approached the Grand Tetons National Park. It started on flat farm land filled with cattle. The Rockie Mountains were visible as specs in the distance. After Casper, WY, the road was still straight, but the landscape became spotted with irregularities - some caverns, some rolling hills, and occasional eye-catching ridges and crevices. Eventually, the road began to meander as it followed the Wind River, all the while the Rockies were growing. Finally, at the cowboy town of Dubois, it was up and away climbing 3000 feet in elevation in short order.
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At the crest, and around a few curves, the Grand Tetons only 40 miles away presented themselves for the first time. And I was underwhelmed. I kept expecting as I got closer that their colossal 13,770 feet of elevation would be breathtaking. But it just never happened for me. I think part of the problem was that the base of the mountains was already 7,000 feet up, so only 6,000 feet were above the high plateau they rested on.

Many other National Park aficionados have ranked this park as one of the best, and sometime it has been their favorite. But Grand Tetons doesn't even crack my personal top 10. I should add that I was deprived of some of the best views because the most exciting road in the park was (prematurely in my opinion) closed for winter.

Essentially, the park centers around 3 mountains, Grand, Middle and South Teton. And they really are stunning. But from a distance, once you appreciate them a few times, they don't get any better. In order for me to have had a more dramatic experience, I should have: come 2 days earlier while the best road was still open, then gone directly to Jenny Lake and caught a ferry across it to the base of the mountains, then hiked up Grand Teton until the altitude and beauty made me dizzy. That might have put it in my top 10, but it would never break into my top 5. I even ended up driving through the park at dusk, and didn't encounter a single animal, which extended my lack of enthusiasm. I suppose this could all just be a case of hyped up expectations not being met.

After completing my tour of the park, I intended to head north, and re-enter my number one park, Yellowstone. But again I was stymied as the only road between the parks was closed for repairs, and I quickly went from 5 to 300 miles away from a Yellowstone entrance.

So I am holed up in Jackson Hole, WY, a pretty ski resort town just south of the Tetons. Perhaps my biggest expectation beater for the day is that I am staying at a Motel 6, and this is by far the best I ever stayed at...they even gave me slippers upon registering.

Teddy and the Wind Cave

2009-11-01T21:19:00.018-05:00

I won't bore you with any details about the drive across North Dakota, because for the most part it bored me. But at least it was mostly sunny and warming up. It even got so warm that as I was nearing the end of the day, I felt I could comfortably (and at long last) camp out. There's not much in ND, but I ended up at the best of it...the Teddy Roosevelt National Park...it's a return trip for me, but really, I had no other options.

Road Food note: In the book I use that guides me to some of the great meals I have had (Road Food by the Stearn's), the only state with no entries in the lower 48 is North Dakota.

After setting up camp, I figured I had enough daylight to drive into the park just a bit and visit a prairie dog town (they're so darned funny). But as I went along the entry road, I was confronted by a herd of bison (American buffalo). They were littered across the road, so I came to a halt. As they were grazing on their dinner, they were moving toward me. I backed up a bit, but they kept coming. After backing up some more, a pickup truck approached and I hailed the driver.

I informed her of the approaching herd, and she said she had been here in a car as small as mine, and had turned around in a similar situation. But in her truck, she could honk them away, and I could follow. But as she moved slowly through them, they immediately closed the wake behind her and I was stifled again. LOL, I sheepishly returned to camp.

I spent the night completely alone as I was the only camper in the park that night. In a small cottonwood forest, with the babble of the Missouri river, and a few far too close snorts and heavy foot falls of bison, I sat and watched the sky waiting for the clouds to break. This would have been how Teddy experienced the region, other than he probably sought out the bison rather that wishing them away (his purpose in coming here in the first place was to "bag a buffalo").

I awoke with the intention of quickly doing the 36 mile driving loop, and heading for my next destination. It was up at daylight and still before sunrise, as I started the loop. I quickly realised I would be spending a bit more time as the wildlife was out in force. Around turn after turn I stopped to appreciate multiple sightings of (from small to large) rabbits, pronghorn elk, mule deer, wild horses and bison. They were practically posing for me, if not outright obstructing me. The only animals that seemed to sleep in were the prairie dogs. Combine that with the stunning badlands scenery, and I was quickly behind "schedule" by a full hour. But my plan still had a nice margin of error.

The goal was to get to Wind Cave national park by 1PM at the latest. The only way to see Wind Cave is by a guided tour, and during this off season they only have tours at 10AM, 1PM and 4PM. All I had to do was drive due south 200 miles in 4 hours. Knowing there was nothing to see along the route, I had 40 minutes to play with averaging 60 MPH. The first mildly pleasant 75% of the distance put me well ahead of schedule, so I decided to take the more scenic route for the remainder. And that is where the schedule became tight.

While the majority of the final stretch was on roads of 65MPH, the delays and the distractions quickly ate up my advantage. First I surprisingly came to the Geographic Center of America. I had to stop for that, didn't I? Then there was a long slow stretch through Deadwood. The frequent 20 MPH hairpin turns were no help, and I had to stop for a long distance view of the slowly progressing Geronimo-on-horse monster sculpture. Tediously slow drivers, a few pulling trailers, seemed often to pull out in front of me from nowhere. Shockingly, a ram, an actual ram, brought me to a halt as he meandered across the road (I stopped for 5 minutes for him because I'd been hoping to see one since my first trip). He waited near my car for the rest of his family to catch up.

But it was at the very end where I made the mistake that would get me to the 1PM tour too late. With 20 minutes to go, I passed the sign that read "Wind Cave National Park". I then passed the sign that read "blah blah Bison blah blah" or something like that, and as I rounded the corner, there they were in the road, staring me down again. I inched forward. They inched toward me. I inched and honked. And they froze. So I inched and held the horn. And, to my amazement they relinquished the road to me!

I was so thrilled by my victory over the massive beasts that when I passed the sign that said "Wind Cave Visitor Center," with an arrow pointing in the direction, I didn't see it. Five slow miles later I realized my error when I saw the sign announcing my departure from Wind Cave NP. I sped back, but I was too late by 10 minutes. It was the best mistake I could have made.

I entered the Visitor Center, which is also the start of the tours, and the ranger was as disappointed as me that I had barely missed out. I gave her a briefing of my day's tale, as well as my longer journey. I also told her that I was on my way to Yellowstone, and wanted to get a good start on the trip there, and I (honestly) wasn't sure whether I would wait til the next tour. I had expected that I might head out and see the grounds above the caves, which are supposed to be almost as impressive, but after my diatribe, Mary proffered if I were there at 2PM (when the current tour let out) she'd be free to give me a quicker version of the hour long tour of the cave if I would keep pace. I enthusiastically accepted!

I decided to go back to the bison who made this possible to thank them and get a couple of pictures and in the 20 minutes I was out, I saw the bison as well as a herd of pronghorn elk, a plethora of mule deer and even a photogenic and funny prairie dog.

Back at the VC at 1:50, the other tour was done early, and my personal park ranger tour guide Mary and I were taking the elevator down into Wind Cave. Having done Carlsbad Caverns a month ago, I knew I would enjoy it, but didn't expect Wind Cave to match up. And it didn't match up, only because it was such a drastically different kind of cave system. While Carlsbad was about enormous rooms with infinite decorations, Wind Cave was constricting passageways and boxwork. And it was awesome.

Flashlight in hand, frequently crouching and bending to avoid the low ceilings and jutting formations, Mary led me through what she described as "a three dimensional maze." We dallied at all the highlights of popcorn and frostwork, and lingered at the boxwork. Boxwork is a very rare cave formation and Wind Cave has the best in the world. It is a calcite formation sometimes resembling honeycombs...spectacular is what it really is. Mary gave me the full explanation of how it forms (it's the precursor to the caves themselves) but this blog is getting long enough as is. So go see it for yourself.

Upon exiting, and after my many thanks, Mary said, "I'd have made you wait and go on the next tour, but you're exactly the type of guest we like to entertain." I hope to get the opportunity to pass on that service (when) if I become a park ranger.

I sit here tonight in Douglas, Wyoming still thrilled by all I saw today. From TR to Wind Cave, a neighbor to the wildlife, and a special guest of the park it was a wonderful day. Doing this blog, I try not tell too much about what is really coming next. My path does have some randomness, but in general I have a route's big picture and I do a lot of nightly planning for the next and future days. For example, I never mentioned Banff, until Canada turned me away, yet that was really the whole purpose of going to Canada. Now that Banff's out, and I've already mentioned Yellowstone, from where I am, there is only one good way to get there - through the Grand Tetons NP. So that is the goal for tomorrow. It's a grand goal, but perhaps a bit premature. I am not close enough to enjoy it properly, and the weather looks to be incompatible with camping there to permit a full day of exploration. So, I'll probably zoom in close, and play off the cuff for where I end up. Does anyone have any suggestions for what to do between Douglas, WY and the Grand Tetons?

Canadian Reject

2009-10-30T20:20:00.003-05:00

I was worried about it the first two times I went into Canada, but this time it got me. My car is currently unregistered. The Phoenix registration expired earlier this month and when I went to get my NJ driver license, they said I needed the title to the car to get it registered. I figured I would pick it up when I got back to AZ and it shouldn't be too long before I get back to NJ.

So today, while crossing the border, I got a particularly questioning border agent. After asking where I lived I answered NJ, and when he saw my AZ license plate he inquired where my car was registered. I said AZ, and he wanted to see the registration. If I really wanted to, I could have gone through, but he "recommended" that I return to the states. I think there was a decent chance a ticket was coming my way had I not turned around.

Thus, I am in Great Forks, ND tonight after another rained out day, only this one had no attractions. I guess for now, my Canadian adventure is on hold. It's really not a great loss. As a comment from a Canadian indicated, Manitoba and Saskatchewan are wastelands. However, I will miss out on my main reason for going to Canada. Banff National Park, the 3rd NP ever established in the world would have been a treat. I guess I'll just have to pass through Yellowstone again. That's a park worth repeating.

Water, Water Everywhere - Voyageurs, NP

2009-10-29T19:47:00.031-05:00

After completing my circuit of the East, North and West of Lake Superior, I was ready to head inland and get away from all the water. But today was not a day that I could do that. I am now completely waterlogged. Not once today was I driving when it wasn't raining. It was never hard rain, and frequently only the intermittent wipers were needed, but it was constant. So I decided to pass most of the day following somewhat scenic routes that surely would have been better with a touch of priceless, golden sunshine. Moreover, my primary destination for the day was a park whose main attraction is water.

Voyageurs National Park, established in 1975, sits on the Canadian border in Minnesota. The park is named after the French Canadian voyageurs who paddled canoes filled with valuable beaver pelts from NW Canada to Montreal. Fortunately, the park was open; unfortunately, 99 percent of the park, the best parts, were inaccessible to me. But I knew this going in, so at least I wasn't disappointed. In fact, I had quite a nice time.

If I had a boat, canoe or kayak, I could have lifted anchor and started winding in and out of the the interesting nooks of the island that makes up the better 99% of the park. I could have hiked trails and gone to beaver dams. I probably would have even seen beavers as they are "curious animals around visitors" (the 10 minute film at the visitor center told me).

I arrived at the Rainy Lake Visitor Center, which is, not surprisingly, on Rainy Lake. As I've written in the past, a lot of places are named after their surroundings. Yellowstone has large yellow rock; Big Bend is at a large curve in a river; Hot Springs, Crater Lake, Smoky Mountains, Badlands, on and on are all named for their surroundings. Apparently here at Rainy Lake, it rains...and I can certainly confirm it. Anyway, I arrived at the visitor center.

There were 2 other cars in the parking lot, which is infinitely more than were at the Pukaskwa National Park in Canada yesterday. But then again, this park wasn't closed for the season. And as expected, the Oldsmobiles belonged to two sets of octogenarian sightseers. I am almost always the youngest sight seer at remote places like this. More people of all ages should get to do this kind of excursion. Anyway, I entered the visitor center.

I was immediately greeted by the enthusiastic park ranger. Heck, every park ranger is enthusiastic. And why shouldn't they be. They are selling a superb product, "Americas Best Idea." And every customer leaves happy (or eaten by coyotes). What a great job! I wish I could be a park ranger.

It must be a rainy day when I write five full paragraphs just about arriving at the Visitor Center. I guess I could have summarized it all as: "Anyway, I arrived at the Rainy Lake Visitor Center, watched the 10 minute introductory film with four other sight seers, inquired about short trails and headed out on a hike."

Umbrella in hand, I took the introductory visitor center hike. This 1.7 mile stroll was certainly not in the good parts of the park. Slippery when wet, the trail skirted past the lake and tucked inland to what felt like a rain forest. At its best, the trail provided a couple of glacial erratics and a couple of scenic overlooks. I did get lucky to encounter an R.O.U.S. - Rodent Of Unknown Species, who looped around me and vocalized an alarm. Cool. But mostly basic stuff for a National Park. Yet as always, well worth the visit.

I returned to the enthusiastic park ranger to compliment the park and determine just what the species was. Shortly we were leafing through her book of animals checking out the local species. We believe it was a Least Chipmunk, though I am not certain, a few of the chipmunks and even one squirrel looked like possible matches. Then we swapped black bear stories: my recent "Big Bend encounter" with her recent "heading for the dumpster sighting."

By my count, there are 46 National Parks in the 48 contiguous states in the US. Voyageurs is now the 23rd I've visited in my two road trips. I'm half way there. Perhaps knowing this fact, I finally asked the much pondered question, "Could I become a park ranger?"

Ranger Mary Jo responded with a wealth of information. She let me know just how to apply for a park ranger job. She informed me that jobs are frequently available. She's a seasonal worker, so she can travel to various parks with each season. She talked about the application process. She thinks that I have plenty of valuable qualifications, like a college degree and having visited 23 NP's. She told me she had not been a ranger for long, and she had no real education in that direction. And she told me she really thinks of herself as a writer. By the way, here is a poem she had published in the book "Patagonia" by Dick Lutz: Patagonia By Mary Jo Eisenach. (Message to Mary Jo - if you read this and don't like something, or you want the pretty picture gone, or you have a correction, or just want to say hi, either send me an email or post a comment.)

After the park, there was still a bit of soggy daylight left, so I headed out from the park in search of a few more miles and a cozy dive motel. I went 60 miles west before seeing a single hotel. In the next 10 miles I saw 4 more motels in the sleepy town of Baudette, but none seemed as appealing as the first. Usually, my first and only rule of choosing where to stay is that if there is more than one option, select the hotel that has the most cars. Uniquely, in this case I had no point of reference. None of the hotels had a single car parked in their lot. Yet the most appealing option was the one that was secluded and right on the river. So I guess the second rule of hotel choosing is to opt for the best view. I got my choice of any of the 10 rooms and I selected the one with what should be the perfect sunrise view of the river. Sadly, the waterway is named Rainy River.

After checking in, the motelier informed me that no keys were needed. "The doors unlocked," he said, "Not much goes on 'round here, so we jes leave them open."

I blurted, "Really?!?"

And he replied with the most colloquial, "You bet." I think this guy was in the movie "Fargo." Is it even possible in the year 2009 to think of a hotel that not only "Leaves a light on" but also leaves it's drive-up rooms unlocked. Inconceivable.

As far as rainy days go, I had a really good one.

Pukaskwa NP, Canada - Not Eaten by Wolves

2009-10-28T19:32:00.009-05:00

I was at the Park entrance at 9 AM, and this morning the park management center was open. I wandered in and the two park officials looked at me funny. Apparently they were thinking, "What's an outsider doing here when Pukaskwa National Park (Canada) is closed for the season?" After announcing my intention to hike a few trails, they checked with the janitor who said that the route to the Visitor Center and trailheads was passable and I could walk there if I really wanted.
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When I got to the park entry area, the barrier that had blocked me last night was only half-way gated covering the entrance lane. I drove into the exit lane and entered. There was no difficulty driving to the trailheads, so I drove right up to them, parked in whatever spot I wanted because I was the only car there, and set out on the first hike.
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Within paces, I was secluded on my private beach on the northern shore of Lake Superior. Even with the unending clouds that would shoroud me for the remainder of the day, the setting was unique and all mine. From the beach, I hiked up some stairs, boulders, and other rugged coastline stuff and was into the park. The trail I took led me out onto a small peninsula with views of all the surrounding terrain. Truly picturesque as you can see in the pictures. (BTW, I have been uploading all my picture into my Picasa web album. I haven't added the links to each day on the site, but if you are familiar with Picasa, you can click on any of the Photos links and navigate to my Public photos directory.)
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I didn't see another soul the full length of the rest of the trail until I was returning to the Visitor Center and ran into Ray, the maintenance man. Ray was so Canadian that during the 10 minutes I was talking with him, he said "eh'? " no less than twice per sentence. He started and ended each sentence with it, and sometimes slipped one or two in the middle. I said, "Hi." Ray said, "Eh'? Hi, eh'?" After he removed his work gloves to offer his hand, he wowed me with the following phraseology: "Eh', I don't mean to sound, eh', ignorant but, eh'...(pause)...eh', I think the park is closed. Eh'?" I stifled a laugh; I wished I'd had a tape recorder going. I thought he used eh's where I would use er's or um's, only much more frequently, but according to Wikipedia, it is used to confirm that I am understanding. Perhaps his primary language was French. Either way, Ray was entertaining, informative and above all a down to the dirt Canadian. What a pleasure, eh'?
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I may not have been the only tourist in the entire park. It certainly felt like it. Unfortunately, besides some birds and bugs, I didn't see any wildlife. No black bear, no moose, no lynx, and no killer coyotes. Apparently a young rising star musician was killed yesterday in another Canadian National Park by a pack of coyotes as she was solo hiking. Here's a link for the sad story: Canada Coyote Attack.
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The remainder of the day was again spent swivel-heading the northwestern side of Lake Superior. I traversed endless rugged, spectacular, scenery while passing through small to non-existent towns with populations averaging in the hundreds. It'd be a bummer to be a high school athlete in the area when your nearest rival is no less than an hour away. The away curling matches must be hell (yes, curling. Last night my hotel was situated next to the only arena in town, a curling arena. Curling is the Olympic sport you may have seen where they slide blocks of concrete across ice in a boccie like game.)
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From Wawa to Thunder Bay, Ont, exactly 300 miles, I didn't see a single stop light. When I got to Thnder Bay and hit a red light, I was so taken by surprise that I took a picture of it. After crossing back into America, no interesting end point was available so I continued to hug the highly scenic coastline (odd to be saying coastline about an interior state) while going 60 miles out of my way to simply fill in the checkmark on my 48th state (only Maine and Alaska left).
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I barely crossed the border into Wisconsin, and have shacked up in Superior, WI. I found a tavern with a completely packed parking lot and had a great dinner. I sat at the bar, it was the only immediate seating, and after my neighbors found out I was from Phoenix/Haddonfield, they told me I had found the best spot in town. I ordered the rib and fish combo plate and was treated to some tender meaty slathered in BBQ sauce baby backs, and some local walleye fish and chips. The home made fries were a bit on the soggy side, but there was so much of the good stuff I didn't mind at all. The ribs were great, but the walleye was the star...it was coated in a thin browned batter and was perfectly deep fried and the fresh homemade tartar sauce was a great match.
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I wish I could catch a break with the weather and get a reasonable night to camp out, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen. It should be a bit warmer tomorrow night, but the 90% chance of rain is disheartening. Once I finish this northern swing, I will not again venture above I80, which draws a dividing line from New York to San Francisco, and if possible I will stay south of any cold fronts.

Lakes to the Left of Me

2009-10-27T19:56:00.011-05:00

After two days of pleasant, but uninspiring driving, I finally had a day of wonder. Unfortunately I am able to post this entry tonight, which means I am not camping out. But that didn't detract from today's varied and constant natural beauty of the landscape along the Great Lakes.

I started out from Traverse City, MI, a lake front vacation city in the North Western portion of the Lower Peninsula on the East side of Lake Michigan at the bottom of Grand Traverse Bay in the middle of nowhere in the state of Michigan. The only reason I think anyone would be here is either they live in the state of Michigan and only take vacations in MI or you're travelling aimlessly around the country and have never been to Michigan before.

Traverse city is a bit like the smaller Jersey shore cities with putt putt golf, ice cream stands and a great view of a large body of water. The difference comes when you venture north along the contours of the Lake Michigan coast on the Cherry Orchard Scenic Byway.

Immediately upon leaving town I was surrounded by field after field of out-of-season cherry tree farms. Even though the trees only bloom briefly in the spring, these well manicured plots remind me of the grown up version of the Napa Valley vineyards. Precise rows of symmetrical trees make for a stunning front yard to the backdrop of the great lake.

The first half of the drive gently follows the coast line with ever changing scenic panoramas. But the final half approaching Cross Village, MI is better. While occasionally meandering to the lake, the better parts are the pastoral jukes into the birch and cedar trees still showing off their fall colors. The pleasure came part from the scenery and part from the way the road seemed to be designed to keep you appreciating every turn into a new setting. The money makers from the auto industry must have appreciated it too, as they built some extravagant vacation homes along this stretch.

At the end of the drive it was time to set in motion my plan to get to Canada's Pukaskwa National Park. I crossed to Michigan's Upper Peninsula (just 100 miles from Wisconsin) and headed for the Sault Ste. Marie's, sister cities of the same name on opposite sides of the international border. (Crossworder Puzzler Note: A very common crossword puzzle clue is: Sault __ Marie to which STE is the fill-in-the-blank answer. The Ste. in the cities name is short for Saint or in French Saint. I don't know where the e comes from, perhaps the word Sainte. Either way, it is kind of lame. They are abbreviating a 5 letter word to 3 letters and a period. Not much of a savings in my opinion. Yet it is almost always an Ste. in all signage. Additionally, I have always heard the first word, Sault, phonetically in my head as Salt. But it is really pronounced Soo or Sue. So from now on, I will be reading the clue as: Sue ___ Marie. The answer will still be Ste...without the period.)

And into Canada I went. After following a few confusing detours out of Soo City, Ont, I was on Canadian Highway 17 with Lake Superior on my left. All along Lake Michigan, I also had a Great Lake on my left, but while hugged the Superior lake's coast I found the most interesting glimpses to the right. For the first 50 km, I was sharply hitting the breaks to slow or stop in front of a pond, lake, river or waterfall. It almost got frustrating having so many bodies of water with nooks and shadows, bends and shorelines, specks of islands with just 3 trees...yet not a speck of unnatural intrusion. How could these stunning settings not have attracted humanity?

The answer is that as I relaxed to the constant beauty, I realized that this was to be the prevalent topography for the next 4 hours. Almost every mile (2.2 km) there was another brake worthy overlook. So few people live here...I passed only 2 real towns with a combined population of 4,700...that they leave great expanses relatively deserted while living near the most stunning spots within easy driving distance of a gas station. Going at 104 km/h (65 mph) I was swivel-headed as I cruised Lake Superior's coast and passed a limitless number of picturesque water holes. Now that was inspiring.

The only irritant along the way was that I passed provincial park after provincial park (same as a US state park, only Canada has provinces) and bar none they were all closed for the season. I suppose seeing snow as I got further north wasn't exactly a joy either.

Perhaps the only other annoying thing about Canada so far is how expensive everything is. I don't mind all the metric conversions, it's kind of endearing. And hearing a foreign language on the radio is more melodic now that it's French and not Spanish. But the fact that nearly everything seems to cost double the dollars is quite tedious. Traveller Note: when visiting Canada bring as much stuff purchased in the States as possible, which includes but is not limited to gas, food, alcohol and beef jerky (my only reference points so far).

I must be awful at math because I completely mis-estimated the time it would take me to get to the Pukaskwa National Park. By the time I got there at 6PM the administration office was closed. So I retraced my entrance route and am now staying in Marathon, Ont, Canada. But at least the sky is overcast, so I'm not missing the star show. Perhaps I'll camp out soon if anything is open.

Now that I am close to the park, I re-read their official website (at my very expensive dive hotel) and see that it is open and I should have just gone forward past the Authorized Vehicles Only sign. Tomorrow I will go back and try to intrude on this private expanse.

Part of going as many miles as I have so far was to possibly get to Seattle by the weekend. After a great day like today, I am going to slow down a bit if things continue as beautifully. I can still make Seattle by Saturday if I rush, but I don't think that will happen. It may be a long road trip this week acquainting myself with Canada.

Michigan - 3 To Go

2009-10-26T20:15:00.004-05:00

Sleeping in after the long drive yesterday, I awoke and peeked out my hotel window and was pleased to see a Tim Hortons. Just a week ago I first heard of these doughnut joints. Tim Horton was a Canadian hockey player in the NHL from 1949 til his death in a car crash in 1973. He opened his first doughnut shop in 1964 and now there are almost 3,500 of them throughout Canada, and spreading into America. One is even coming to New York soon.

Piping hot coffee and a fluffy Boston Cream doughnut were a great start to an otherwise boring day. I'd say these Tim Hortons are a step up from Dunkin Doughnuts but not quite as posh as Starbucks filling in the much needed mid-range doughnut and coffee joint niche. Canadians are big fans of doughnuts, 'eh, as this chain accounts for 23% of all fast food revenues in Canada.

From London, Ontario I headed for the US border and the first venture of my life into the state of Michigan. This brings my list of States I never been to down to 3 - Alaska, Maine, and Michigan's neighbor Wisconsin. And after a drab day of mostly highway driving I am just 300 miles from the Wisconsin border in Traverse City, MI.

But I am opting to skip Wisconsin in favor of a more interesting adventure. If things go well, I should be camping out tomorrow night in a Canadian National Park. It's going to be like 2 Degrees Celsius (36F) so I will be putting the sleeping bag's lower temperature rating to the test. There aren't many big cities in the area, so I am hoping to get a clear sky. And while I've been to parks that have black bears, I haven't been to one that has a moose, caribou or Canadian lynx. I hope I see a Moose!

Niagara - No Excursions, Hard Conversions

2009-10-25T23:19:00.014-05:00

Sadly, I left my family today. Mom, Dad, and the 6M's. Goodbyes are only made easier when you know you will be back soon. And after being away for 2 years, I will be back soon.

After spending the weekend being enchanted by my nieces, I took off from Greenwich, CT feeling buoyant and ready to enter my road tripper paradigm of seeing what I've never seen before and doing things I might never get a chance to do again. But as I sped through the state of New York, I only glimpsed the beauty of the surroundings.

The meandering drive through Northwestern New York had me looking through the windshield and watching the change of seasons as the northern direction passed from early to late Autumn. I saw the changing colors of the leaves in full bloom turn to barren branches. I paced myself by the faster drivers, and I made great time. I figured I would be staying in the Buffalo, NY area for the night, but I arrived too early.

Of the 3 paragraphs in the Road Food book describing the Anchor Bar in Buffalo, the only relevant fact is that it is the birth place of Buffalo Wings. My first steps into the parlor attacked my nostrils with the epitome of spicy wing sauce. I sat at the bar and ordered a pint of Labatts Blue Lite and 10 wings.

My idea of the perfect wing was exactly what the Anchor Bar served up...the wings were cooked through and through and just a bit more; they were juicy and crispy; they were spicy hot. And the celery and blue cheese were fresh. I would affirm these wings as the holy land of wings were it not for the price. The bill showed that my 10 piece of wings cost 11 dollars. A worthless scrap of chicken should cost no more than 2 bits.

10 miles north of my 10 wings and I was at Niagara Falls. I am experienced at entering interesting topography, but I messed up, and before I knew it, I was in the entrance lane for Canada. During the drive across the bridge to Canada, and along the Falls river drive I saw incredible views of the river tumbling and the mist rising. I wish I had gotten out and felt the power of the falls, but about ten miles after passing the Falls, I realized I missed it and didn't feel like doubling back.

I began careening through southern Ontario with no real direction. Having no direction is what I am good at, but with the GPS going blank for Canada I was frequently heading in the wrong direction.

Canada (of course) seems not much different than the States. But while driving past houses you know that its' occupants are foreigners and they might even speak French. Canadians seem to be a bit more patriotic than Americans as they are more apt to be displaying their red maple leaf flags.

I guess one of the biggest differences driving here is the metric system. When a sign says a city is 120 away it is Kilometers, not miles. When the radio reports that the temperature is 11 degrees, it is in Celsius. When it is 96.9 cents for gas and the speed limit is 100 it sound goods, but it is for just a liter of gas and it is kilometers per hour. I had to keep doing faulty calculations to try to determine how long it would take to get somewhere. The only easy conversion is that the US Dollar and the Canadian Dollar are about equal so if something costs $10, I can pay it in either currency.

After a couple hours I decided I would check into the next hotel that crossed my path. But after 100 miles of non-highway driving I hadn't seen a single one. Exhausted, I pointed due north to intersect with the one major highway and ended up in a hotel in London, Ontario, Canada. The Road Trip finally went international.

Had I stopped at Niagara Falls, I could have taken a picture like this:

And if I had been here 98 years ago when it froze, it would have looked like this:

Home and Away

2009-10-21T23:28:00.001-05:00

It has been so great to be home with my parents and friends for the last 10 days! After 12 days, it was my longest stretch of road tripping ever. I hadn't seen a face I knew in a long time and seeing Mom and Dad was a great reward.

It had been nearly two years since I last spent any real time on the east coast. (I did come home for a very brief weekend earlier this year to catch a Phillies game with Dad, Bro and Bewick. Go Phillies!) Everything...the roads, the people, the food...elicited de ja vu moments and homecoming feelings. As I said, it's been great!

There were, however, two things that weren't great. First, I was stunned by just how densely packed the area is with people and wild northeast drivers. I felt stressed just getting on the NJ Turnpike and even going 10 miles over the speed limit I was tailgated, beeped at and drivers were swerving at me from all sides. I think I need an Aggressive Northeast Driving refresher course. Second, the weather has generally sucked. Until yesterday, I hadn't seen the sun at all since crossing the Mason Dixon line. It has been cold and rainy nearly every day. Sure, it is a bit of a weather aberration for this area, but the weather would never aberate like this in Phoenix.

I had a blast reuniting with my Hoboken family last weekend, and tomorrow I will be heading to Connecticut for a much needed reunion with the 6Ms. I've missed my nieces so much and can't wait to get caught up on all the growing up they've been doing without me.

On Sunday, I will be hitting the road again. Hopefully, by the end of the day I will be in the vicinity of one of the natural wonders of the world. After that I may try to take the Road Trip international for a while as I head for the left coast.

Shenandoah NP or Home - Day 11

2009-10-11T22:47:00.009-05:00

While it was a pleasant drive yesterday, the whole purpose of the day was to get within striking distance of the Shenandoah National Park. The plan was to get an early start on the day, get to the park by noon, cruise through most of the park hiking a short trail or two, and get most of the way to the other side of the park before picking a campground and settling in for the night. This would give me the opportunity to get in a long hike in the morning before heading for my first prolonged layover of the Road Trip.
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The plan was shot down after step two. I did get an early start. I did get to the park before noon. But at the entrance station, a large sign with each of the 5 campgrounds declared that they were all full. I queried the the park ranger at the station, and she confirmed they were all full. I said I just had a tent. All full. Really? Yes, really.

This is new. I've never been to a NP where no camping was available. I didn't completely believe it. And I wasn't going to skip the park completely now that I was here. I headed in while contemplating putting Plan B into action.

Shenandoah NP is centered around a 105 mile drive, Skyline Drive, that skirts across the tops of part of the Appalachian Mountains and closely follows part of the Appalachian Trail. On the Skyline there are frequent pullovers for panoramic views of the valley below as well as pullovers for many interesting hiking trails that either lead off from the drive or along the Appalachian Trail.

I pulled off for all the scenic views, but skipped the two hikes that I had been considering. It was still overcast and a bit chilly, so I kept Plan B in play. The campgrounds are probably fuller than most any other time of the year because fall is the time to see this park. The park and the surrounding valleys are chocked full of trees going through the change of seasons and showing off their beautiful fall colors. Also, it is the people packed Northeast, and there aren't many more beautiful places to appreciate the season and its splendor. But when I came to the first campground and confirmed that it really was completely full Plan B was in action.

Plan B was to head straight to Mom and Dad. So after just 40 miles of the 105, and at around 2PM, I found myself exiting the park and taking the fastest route Sake could find to get me home. It's a bit of a bummer not to have taken in this park the way it was supposed to be seen (hiking and camping), but not so much that it took away from sitting down at 6:30 to a home cooked steak dinner with my parents...the first familiar faces I've seen in a dozen days. It's great to be home with family!

Over the next couple weeks, I will be reuniting. Reuniting with my parents, my Hoboken centered friends, and all 6 of the Connecticut M's. I doubt I'll have much desire to blog for a while, so check back in later when I undertake stage 2 of road trip 2.

Just a Long Pleasant Drive - Day 10

2009-10-09T20:02:00.004-05:00

Not much to report today. I spent the whole morning zipping east on I40. By noon, I was bored of it and instructed Sake (my GPS name Sacajawea by Battlestar) to not use the freeways. So I spent the afternoon winding across northern TN, into southeast KY, and across the Virgina border to Abingdon where I am holed up for the evening. A lot of driving miles for one day, but there wasn't much to see or do and the gloomy weather made for a low experience day.

The drive did take me through parts of the Daniel Boone (KY) and Jefferson National Forests (VA). I suppose the highlight of the day was enjoying the fall colors. Since I hit New Mexico a week ago, I have been noticing the sporadic changing of the leaves, but in these forests, it is becoming much more prevalent.

That bodes well for the day I'll have tomorrow. I'll be heading to the Shenandoah National Park, and if I can get a bit of sunlight, I expect the trees will give me a good show. If there is no post tomorrow, it means that I decided camping out was a reasonable idea.

So, here are some things I've noticed along my trip so far:

1. Weather is very important. So after a trip to the Northwest, I may focus in the more temperate climates.
2. The cheaper hotels must be feeling the pinch. In 3 (half) of the dives I've stayed in they didn't even provide soap or shampoo. On my first trip, never was this the case...it must be the economy.
3. Also economy related, I have noticed many more Dollar General and Family Dollar stores, and they always seem to have more cars in the parking lot than any other store in town.
4. The west has much nicer and more scenic highway rest areas than the east. I guess they have the space to do it right.
5. Perhaps I am more frugal now, but I have noticed taxes seem to be higher...have a lot of states raised their tax rates in the last few years?
6. While in Phoenix, Pre averaged 46.4 MPG; on this trip Pre is currently at 50.4 MPG. This is sort of counter intuitive because this hybrid was designed to use the battery more and get better mileage in the city.
7. I don't remember having to slow down to 15 MPH so often to pass by a school. Perhaps there's been a nationwide trend to set up these slow zones.
8. I've seen quite a few solar panels used to power warning signs, lights, advertisements, etc. I like it.
9. It amazes me how virile the elderly are. On every hike I consider to be strenuous, I have passed what must be octogenarians or older, small stepping slowly along the way at the furthest points.
10. People are really nice and helpful...but then again, I haven't gotten to the Northeast yet.

Two days from home...cheers!

Mistakes Were Made - Days 8-9

2009-10-08T18:38:00.014-05:00

Perhaps it was because I never had an issue with weather on my first trip. Or maybe I should not have set my tent under a tree. I could have planned the route the night before and used the internet to make a more informed decision. I was getting radio weather forecasts from Dallas, TX, Tulsa, OK and Little Rock, AR, which were the 3 large cities surrounding my camping location, and all said to expect late afternoon thunderstorms the next day. They said nothing about either rain overnight or weather at the top of the Ouachita Forest. Whatever the reason, I made the mistake of camping out last night, and I was miserable.
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I started out yesterday and headed for a short scenic through the Wichita Mountains in OK. Even though it was overcast, it was quite a pleasant drive, with nice scenery and quite a few buffalo and longhorns. The highlight was the top of Mount Scott (me?) and panoramic views on all sides.
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After that, I started zig-zagging across the Oklahoma countryside for another scenic drive, the Talimena Scenic Byway connecting Talihina, OK and Mena, AR. The only reason this road was built was for the scenery, and every half mile or so there was a pullover with a lofty viewpoint of the Ouachita National Forest. And with the leaves just starting to turn it is certainly the right time of year to be passing through.
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About 2/3 of the way through, and just across the Arkansas border, lies the Queen Wilhelmina Lodge and campground, my bunk for the night. I could have stayed in the lodge, but it was only barely drizzling. Plus there were about 10 other campsites already occupied, so I went for it and mistakenly decided to camp. I should have noticed that all the other campers were in RV's or 5th wheels.
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Having bought 2 bundles of wood at the lodge, I popped the tent open and set up camp before returning to the comfy lodge for an awful buffet dinner whose only highlight was that I didn't throw up.
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Returning to camp, there was no precipitation; however, there was quite a bit of moisture around the campsite and a bit in my tent. The ever present cloud cover had dropped down and seemed like I could jump up and touch it. Worse was the fact that the wind had picked up and felt gale force flowing across the top of the mountains.
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It was around 7PM and the last bit of daylight was slipping away. I had to get a fire started fast. I started with a crumpled up trail book under a pyramid of wood. I went through half a lighters worth of fluid trying to get the trail book to flame up, but it would only smolder. I went to thinner paper, and when I could get the paper to catch, the wind would put it out in seconds. Next I was inside my car lighting a torch of paper that also was no match for the wind. After setting up a wind barrier of luggage around the fire pit I was able to keep the flame going for a half minute or so by burning any spare paper I could find in the car, but the wood was no where near catching. Finally an hour and a half later, and using half a box of thin highly flammable tissue paper, I built a sustainable fire. A couple of hours later, I finished off the second bundle of wood, and wearing thermals and a couple extra layers, I snuggled in for bed.
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I woke first around 4AM...I think it was the sound of water that made me have to pee. I unzipped the tent, stood in the small puddle that had accumulated inside the tent, and poked my head out into a fog so dense I couldn't see my car 15 feet away. Though it wasn't raining, the fog was soaking the tree above and forming large droplets that were plunking on the top of the tent. An hour later this drum like sound would wake me for good. On very little restful sleep, and reeking of campfire smoke, I packed up camp using a camper headlight (thanks Beana!) to show the way step-by-step.
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At 6AM, in complete darkness and dense fog cover, I decided I had to get off the mountain stat. I backed the car out of the campsite, and turned to go forward and couldn't see the road through the glare of the lights on the fog. I stopped and opened the car user manuel to figure out how to turn on the fog lights for the first time and the book shows me a picture of the headlight column with the (not available on all models) fog light setting that was missing from my Pre.
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Going at a top speed of 8 MPH, I patiently followed the yellow center line down from the most miserable night I have had on all my travels. In my Top 5 list of worst nights, this is the first and only on the list.
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With the un-restful night, I pulled over for a catnap around 7AM and decided to re-evaluate the plan for the day. I awoke with the answer, and immediately called Buz. Within 5 minutes, Buz had gone to weather.com and informed me that the only reasonable direction to go was due East along a path I have taken twice before, straight across Arkansas and into Tennessee.

The silver lining on this cloudy day was that this route took me straight past Hot Springs NP.
This smallest of parks was created around a three block row of bath houses used even by presidents for the rejuvenating powers of the natural, pure spring waters that flow from the ground. A bath, spritz, sauna, hot towel wrap and superb massage later, and I was floating out of the Buckstaff spa totally relaxed. (Interestingly, I had the same "bath attendant", Walter, as I had 3 years ago. He said he's been there since '74 and I assume if I go back again 10 years from now, he'll be my bath attendant again.) I would describe the whole process again, but I already did last time I went to Hot Springs...see this link for that post if you want more details. http://myroadtrip07.blogspot.com/2007/08/arkansas-well-blow-me-down-its-awesome.html
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I guess the bath house cancels out the prior night's misery and that makes me about even. But I then had a really pleasant drive on the back roads of the AR and into Tennessee. I am half way through a sunny (thanks Buz) scenic drive and am comfortably holed away in a hotel in beautiful Henderson, TN. And I got to watch Survivor tonight!
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I think I might be completely stifled as far as weather tomorrow (there may be tornadoes in the area), but at least I'll be sure to check before heading out. If by chance the weather is descent, I might try the camping out thing one more time before hitting Jersey. But I certainly won't be camping out in cold, windy, rainy, foggy, miserable weather again!
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"Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice...won't get fooled again." - GWB

Recouping from Texas to Oklahoma - Day 7

2009-10-06T18:13:00.008-05:00

It's the end of the first full week and I am finally feeling refreshed after a casual driving day that put miles behind me and rested my fatigued muscles.

I went North out of Odessa heading toward a scenic drive recommended by the National Geographic Scenic Highways and Byways book. The route to the drive brought me past active oil fields, cotton crops and many Texas Longhorn cattle. Since leaving Phoenix, I had not encountered such extensive use of the fields. It is also the first time I have been surrounded by so much flat land that I could see to the horizon in every direction unimpeded by any hills or mountains. Which means that after about of a half hour of all of it, it gets boring.

Fortunately, I had the scenic drive to break up the monotony. Often these drives have hikes or attractions and can take quite a while, but this was truly just a scenic drive. I sped 60 miles across varied agriculture, then down one side of a small colorful canyon and up the other side. And there was a pretty lake in the middle too. And that was about it for the driving excitement.

I ended up in Clinton, OK for the night at the cheapest hotel in town, but hey they have free WiFi which is my only requirement. But the reason I am in Clinton is because it is home to Jiggs Smokehouse. I went into this little shack of a restaurant and ordered the house favorite brisket sandwich. To be honest, I've had better. The brisket was a bit dry, but the sauce was superb, making it a pretty good meal (2 meals because it was so big.) I did not order the "Kitchen Sink". The Road Food authors described it as, "a somewhat ridiculous combo of beef, sausage and ham sandwiched between-are you ready?-a pair of sirloin steaks." Atkins heaven.

The real reason for going to Jiggs', wasn't for a meal anyway. It was for their famous beef jerky. For $17 I bought a pound of it. They only have one flavor and don't need more. It is like eating a shoe. If you are successful enough to separate a bite from the slab, you then need to soak it in your mouth for a little while to get it soft enough to chew. This is exactly my opinion of what the perfect jerky should be.

I haven't figured out what comes next, but it looks like the weather is going to get sloppy here in OK, so the option of finding a place to camp out in tomorrow will be determined by the weather.

Big Bend - Days 5 - 6

2009-10-05T19:08:00.018-05:00

Big Bend National Park is remote. In a Southwest corner of Texas along the Rio Grande, anyone going to this park is not just passing through, but is really committed to seeing what this park has to offer. And it has a lot to offer.

Leaving from just two towns away, it took me nearly 3 hours to get to the entrance to the park. Once there, I took the recommendation of the entry ranger and started with the Max Ross Scenic drive. This out and back drive presented spectacular and diverse panoramas of the

various landscapes. I also saw many roadrunners, a desert rat, some deer and a fox. But the highlight of the drive came at it's furthest point the Santa Elena Canyon.

A 2 mile hike up and down into the canyon on the US side was strenuous yet beautiful as massive rock carved by the Rio towered above on both sides. A mile in you reach the endpoint where there was an almost beach like area right at river level that a dozen or so people sat sunning and admiring the remote location. After returning back out of the canyon, I lingered at the narrowest point of the river and threw some rocks over to Mexico. I'm exporting America; this country is just a little bit smaller today than it was yesterday.

I asked a ranger, a tourist and a camper where I should set up camp for the night and the responses were unanimous - The Basin. Chisos Basin campground turned out to be at the center of the volcano that long ago helped form some of the more dramatic features of this park. The drive into the volcano was dramatic, but once I set up camp and had a chance to appreciate my surroundings, I went around in circles just marveling at the massive geologic structures forming a rim around bed for the night.

Have you ever seen a sunset from the bottom of a volcano? I have. Actually it wasn't that great of a sunset. It seems for a sunset to be great, you have to be able to see for a long distance in order to get the sky colors that make it special.

Following the sunset and a bite to eat, I went for a stroll with the intention of striking up a conversation with the guys who were luxuriously camped caddy corner to my spot. Oddly, it worked, and I spent the rest of the night with Tom and Dooley. They were in from Austin for an 8 day vacation, continuing a tradition they've had for the last 27 years. We spent the hours with them generously offering me beer and wine and me accepting. They gave me advice about what to see the next day and regaled me with stories of their adventures at Big Ben. I asked if I should be worried about the bears and mountain lions in the Basin and the park, and they said in all their 27 years they had never seen either. I couldn't thank them enough for their hospitality and entertainment.

Up and packed in time to see the sun come over the rim of the volcano, I started out on the Window Trail. This 4.4 mile (round trip) trail started from the camp and went all they way to a crack in the volcano that ran down to the Basin level. I didn't see anyone on the trail the whole way out, so I think I was the first to the window that day.

As I approached the Window and the wind roared in at me, two monoliths stood in the frame, and took center stage to the backdrop of the expansive desert below. My adrenaline rose with each baby step I took toward the edge. The edge dropped off slowly and tempted me to inch along as close as I could. Eventually, I was on my butt, inching forward. I was hoping to see to the bottom , but as I put my foot into a precarious spot, my fear of height overtook me and I could go no farther. After carefully backing away, I sat for a spell just enjoying the experience. I ran into the campground hosts on the way back on the trail and asked if I might have been able to go further and they said no...had I gone much further, I could have plummeted to my death - not the way I wanted to see the bottom.

But when I met the camp hosts, that was not the death prospect that they first alerted me to. They froze me in my steps, hushed me, pointed and said, "Bear." I turned to follow their directional signal, and no more than 30 feet away from me was a 300 pound black bear foraging for berries. His (or her) back was to us and never seemed to notice or care that we were there as he slowly moved further away from the trail continuing his snacking. I wish I could be posting a picture of this, but the only picture I had the courage to take shows just a blurred black spot in the underbrush...my hands were shaking. I'd seen bears at Yellowstone before, but none so dangerously close.

This park covers 800,000 acres. It's huge. And in all of this space there are at most 30 bears. 27 years Tom and Dooley have been coming without seeing a single bear, and I saw one on my first morning hike in the park. I was sure they'd be jealous, so before driving out of the Basin, I left them a note letting them know.

Before heading out of the park, I did a couple more miles of hiking along the Lost Mine trail that was straight up to an overlook on the rim of the Basin. After being enclosed in the Basin for so long, getting to this view was well worth the struggle.

The one thing that I think I should have added to the Big Bend visit would have been lazily rafting down Rio Grande. But that would have meant another day of camping out, and I really needed a shower. So tonight I am in Odessa , TX. That should be the last National Park for a while, and I am glad to be putting my hiking shoes away for a while. I don't have much of a plan for the next couple of days, so I will be seeing what I can see, eating what sounds good, and putting in some miles heading to the east coast.

Caves and Mountains - Day 4

2009-10-03T22:18:00.005-05:00

Is it only Day 4? I feel like I’ve been doing this for 2 weeks already.

Wow, was I tired. I think I got 10 hours of quality sleep. The air mattress was superior to the cheap motel beds I had been in the previous two nights. And the rest was important because of all that I did today including nearly a third of a marathon of hiking.

I woke to an overcast dreary day, and was not at all disappointed because I was going underground for the day. Brantley Lake left me just 40 minutes from Carlsbad Caverns National Park and I was in the Visitor’s Center by 9:30 AM. The Visitors Center sits on top of a small mountain and overlooks an enormous expanse of lowlands. Millennia ago this expanse had been an ocean, and the Visitors Center sits on what was once the landfall of the ocean, the beachs. And below the Visitor Center, the Caverns, were once the coral reef on the oceans edge. When the ocean receded into the desert, the reef slowly became the amazing caverns.
I chose to do the two hikes that came free with the National Parks Pass I had bought for $80 at Saguaro NP.

The first hike was called the Natural Entrance hike, because we were entering through the same entrance that was first discovered in 1903. The 1.2 mile long hike would take my down 750 feet (75 stories) into the caves.

Very shortly after the entrance, I crossed what they call the “twilight zone” and I would last see natural light again for 3 hours. I was spelunking in what is considered by most to be the most beautiful caves in the world. I was immediately immersed in stalactites, stalagmites, columns, popcorn, water pools, draperies and a bunch of other cave features I can’t remember. It was jaw dropping.

The audio tour that I purchased talked of how most visitors walk around with a dumb-struck look on their face, and it was certainly true for me. Going down into the caves, every other step brought about something new and spectacular. And each new cave I entered seemed more unbelievably spectacular than the previous. Not cool or beautiful or even amazing, but none were less than spectacular.

I took a ton of pictures, but half the pictures didn’t come out because the caves were so big and dark that the flash was ineffective. Only some of the close-ups came out ok, but not nearly as good as they might have. This is a place that must be visited in person, and any description I could give won’t compare to the experience.

After the 75 story hike down, I was at the entrance to the Big Room, the second hike on my tour. This Big Room isn’t the biggest cave room in the world, it’s in Borneo, but this may be 3rd. I did another mile+ hike around just a portion of the Big Room. Unless I heard or remember wrong, the size of just this one cave was like 700 football fields. Not a single second in this “room” was anything but awesome. I spoke in hushed whispers with my fellow spelunkers in terms of stunned reverence, and even though I am an atheist, I was quite often using the word God.

The hike ended at the elevators, and I was whisked up the 750 feet to the surface. Nearly 3 miles of hiking and with every turn of the head I was seeing something different. In my ranking of best National Parks, this definitely makes the top 5. It’s not better than Yellowstone or Bryce, but it is certainly in the top 5.

I thought of hanging around til 6PM to see the exodous of more than 100,000 bats through the Natural Entrance as they set out for their nightly insect slaughter. But with the early start, I figured I could get on my way and perhaps have another scenic drive on my way to Big Bend Texas.

Here’s something I didn’t know before yesterday. Just 30 miles south of Carlsbad Caverns NP, and just over the Texas border, there is another National Park. Has anyone heard of Guadalupe Mountains NP? Neither had I.

I was told of it by the Ranger at Brantley Lake, and only briefly read up on it before nightfall. I saw there was an hour long scenic drive, and that was the plan that the Ranger and Guadalupe Mtns NP talked me out of. Cute as a button she was, when she told me, “The only real way to see the Park is to get out of your car and hike. And the best hike you can do in a half day is the McKittrick Canyon hike.” So under an overcast sky, I found myself at the start of a 5 mile (2.5 out, 2.5 back) hike to Pratt’s Lodge.

I might have been jaded by the spectacle of Carlsbad Caverns, or perhaps it was the lack of sunshine, it may have been the rain that started falling during the return trip, but this hike just didn’t do it for me. Sure it was beautiful, and had all the scenery, flora and fauna (see the deer photo) that I could hope for, but it wasn’t up to par with other hikes of this length I’ve done at National Parks. I think part of the problem was that it was a somewhat strenuous hike done over mostly rocky terrain that had me staring at my footing instead of taking in the scenery. I should have done the shorter scenic drive. My body would ache less right now.

I’m holed up in Van Horn, TX in another cheap hotel, and I expect to get another 10 hours of sleep tonight. I plan just a leisurely drive to Big Bend tomorrow. I will probably be driving a scenic route that I blogged about on the first Road Trip, so no need to discuss it again. It’ll be a day off, but hopefully not a rain out. Depending on the weather I may be camping out before exploring the park on Monday.

When the Embers Go Cold - Day 3

2009-10-03T19:58:00.007-05:00

Out by 8, or was it 9AM, my first stop of the day was Wal Mart. I needed a case of water, and a fold-up canvas sitting chair. If things went right, I would be camping by nights end. And things went well.

The next stop was the White Sands National Monument, after a picturesque two hour drive. I had gone to the Sand Dunes NP in Colorado on the first trip, and this proved to be the junior version of that spectacle. There were no dunes that were too difficult for a fit person to ascend, but the beauty of the rippled sand and it’s uniqueness, made it no less worth a visit.

It sits in the middle of a missile bombing range and sometimes they have to close it so the government can take some big gun practice shooting. It’s not far from alien sighting Roswell. An atom bomb had been tested near by. I’m all aglow.

From there, I decided I was too close not to go to Roswell, and hope to find a tourist trap with an extremely cheesy T-shirt with a green head and some pithy yet cryptic words. Alas, it was not to be. I was half way to Roswell when I saw a sign for Apache Frybread. That is a “must pull over” signal to my tastebuds. Before I could get off the road, I was caught up to and moved to the side of the road by a copper. He swerved to continue past me to whatever stupid emergency he was so pushy about.

So I continued on to the frybread. I’ve written about it before. It’s fantastic and like a flat bread version of funnel cake. This was the real deal stuff as I was on an Apache reservation. The dozen cars in the parking lot in such a desolate area was additional proof that it would be great, and it was.

I got mine to go, headed back on the road to Roswell, and a few miles later ran into a lane of parked cars. People were walking forward, figuring out what was going on and word was passed back that a bus had flipped over. Multiple ambulances had passed (while I was getting frybread). And there were bodies in the road. I believed them, so I made a U-turn and forged a new route through the Apache Reservation land that made me miss Roswell all together.

Because of the detour I ended up at Brantley Lake NM State Park where I selected the “Primitive” camping location meant for those without an RV. The site I ended up at didn’t provide a thing besides a flat like tent area and a bunch of rocks in a circle for a fire pit. They didn’t sell fire wood, so I had to gather what I could from the nearby trees.

I sat a couple of feet from the lake’s edge, ate my Subway hoagie, and watched a superb sunset over the lake and distant mountains. The streaky cloud cover greatly improved the susnset, but unfortunately covered up most of the starry night I had hoped to enjoy. It being a day shy of the harvest full moon, didn’t help either. I was exhausted and on my blowup bed by 9PM.

It’s time to go to bed when you’ve run out of firewood, and even the embers have gone cold.

Erasing Arizona - Day 2

2009-10-01T23:12:00.006-05:00

By noon, I was out. Three hours across the desert on the I10, and I am now a former Phonecian and former Zoner. New Mexico couldn't come fast enough.

(Actually, New Mexico did come faster. I was once again tripped up by the crossing of a time line. I had most of what I wanted to do time out pretty well so that I could complete dinner and be back in my hotel room with plenty of time to get comfortable for Survivor. By the time I turned on the TV, they were already voting for the evictee. Damn time zone lines!!)

Shortly after entering New Mexico, I left the interstate and headed for Silver City, and the start of a scenic drive that had me criss-crossing the continental divide. I passed a town called Pinos Altos, or "tall pines" for you gringos, and that is exactly what appeared as I entered the Gila National Forest.

I guess I shouldn't be surprised that I really had a great day. I am on vacation (or is it retirement or unemployment) and doing whatever I want, so it should be great. But once on the scenic drive, all stresses evaporate, and the beauty of the scenery takes over.

The road narrowed, and the center line disappeared, as the drive ran up, down and along the crest of small 6,500 foot elevation mountains. Tons of hair pin turns, striking panoramas, and ever changing flora; I even had a little skid producing run in with a deer that was eyeballing me like he wanted to make a suicidal run across the road. It was GREAT to get out of the desert.

Two hours deep in the middle of the journey, I came to the main attraction. The Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument. There, a mile long loop trail led me past ancient "condos" built into a cave about half way up a cliff. Why people intelligent enough to build these "rooms" would choose to build them half way up a cliff is beyond me. Apparently they figured out there was easier living elsewhere, because they only lasted on generation before checking out. However, I give them some credit for picking a room with a view.

Though just a mile, the steepness of the hike taught me that my Snack Master legs need to be retrained to hiking again. There were also a few ledges along the way that kicked in my fear of heights adrenaline...an added bonus.

Back across the mountains, and down past a few scenic lakes, and finally into Dening, NM. Dening is like many of the towns and cities I passed through today. The best days are behind this town, and it seems like more than half the businesses are closed down, and it appears many were abandoned. Windows are boarded, and there isn't even a "For Rent" sign to be seen. Sad.

Tomorrow if all goes well, I will be camping out (thus no blog) not far from Carlsbad Caverns National Park with the goal of seeing as much as I can of the park on Saturday. This will be the first National Park I've visited that has elevators.

I'm Road Tripping Again!!! - Day 1 (Trip 2)

2009-09-30T19:50:00.010-05:00

By noon I had the South Mountains of Phoenix in the rear view mirror, and I am once again Road Tripping. I only made it as far as Tuscon, AZ, but I did get to a National Park and eat at a Road Food recommendation. So while I am still working out the kinks of being on the road again, I had a pretty successful first day.

About an hour and a half outside of Phoenix, I took the turn off for Saguaro National Park (NP). And 30 minutes later I was a the visitor for the western portion of the park. I don't know why I have never been here before. It would have been a simple day trip or camping weekend.

This desert park is not much different from the Phoenix surroundings. Lots of cacti, including the namesake Saguaro (pronounced Swarro). The saguaro is the cactus most people think of when they think of cacti. The cactus grows straight up for 75 years before it ever starts growing the arms that make it iconic. They live to be about 200 years, before rotting out.

With such a late start, I took the scenic drive, and did a short hike to see some 800 year old petroglyphs. It's great to be back in a place that is so removed from civilization that you can hear nothing but nature. All and all, Saguaro NP was pretty cool, but I wouldn't go planning a vacation around it...go to the Grand Canyon instead.

I followed that up with a stop for dinner a Pico De Gallo taqueria in South Tuscon. Signs indicate they make the best pico de gallo in America. I didn't really know what p d g was, but in their version there were huge chunks of watermelon, papaya, pineapple coconut and jicama sprinkled generously with a unique chilly powder. Loved the first 3, but I could have done without the coconut and I disliked the jicama. I followed that with two carne asada tacos, and the star was the homemade corn tortillas.

So that's it. Day 1 is in the books and I am excited about travelling for another long vacation.

I Think It's Tomorrow

2009-09-29T22:09:00.003-05:00

Both of these statements are true: So much to do, so little time. So little to do, so much time.

I am really hoping that sometime tomorrow morning I will be finished with storing my stuff and be out roadtripping. But there is still a handful of tasks, mostly manual labor, that may take a few hours, and not give me enough time to hit the road. However, there are not so many things to do, that if I get an early start, I can make it. Just a lot to accomplish, and I need to get it done.

The opposite is also true. I'm not exactly in a rush. It'd be fun to speed out tomorrow, but there is no pressing deadline. Whenever I am done with the storage, I will have nothing on the schedule. Nothing. Well, I suppose SixPack is getting married in May. (Congrats Jack!) But I can't really think of another mandatory scheduling requirement before then. I've got time.

And space. I probably will transverse the country a couple times in the next couple of months. Pre is primed, though still could use a complete cleaning. I still have all the accoutrement's from the last trip, so I am well equipped. I bought the latest edition of the Road Food book (200 new entries...in NJ, they are up to 10 entries and only 8 of them are hot dog stands).

After posting this, I will be disconnecting my computer to move to storage. One of the handful of tasks. I have to disconnect the TV and Tivo (how do I love thee Tivo!) Do some final vacuuming and cleaning. Connect with the Treasons one last time to pass off my unfinished jars of mayo, pickles, soy sauce and a half a box of otter pops. Put the last items into storage. Pack Pre with the pile of roadtripping materials. Lock the door. And go.

Oh, and plan a route. Since I don't have any real plans for the first couple of days, I'll let you know what I decided after I've done it.

This should be fun!

RT

10 Days and Counting

2009-09-19T21:44:00.010-05:00

I held a yard sale this weekend. I'd never held a yard sale before. I spent the last week filtering through each room and closet moving all my potentially sellable items to the garage. It was an empty garage finally because I got all the stagnant vending machines moved to new Snack Master Phil's garage. So I have been able to focus on the tasks remaining before I can resume the road trip.

The yard sale was successful and brought in nearly $500; more important, it cleared away more than half the volume of my stuff. As I go through the rest of my accumulated goods, I need to figure out what to do with the stuff I want to keep. Storage worked for the first trip, but as I may not be residing in Phoenix after this go around, it'd be best if I could get it to a place I am sure to return...Mom's.

BTW, Happy Birthday Mom!

I have a To Do list, hand written, with check boxes and all. It gets longer and shorter each day as I complete some tasks and think of more. But with the yard sale completed, I feel the biggest task is complete, and now it is just a lot of little finishing touches to get through. Then I am on the road again.

Where to go? I haven't given it too much specific thought yet, but it has been a long time since I was last on the east coast, so I am heading home first. I think I'll take a southern route home, and plan to hit the Big Bend National Park in Texas along the way. Other than that, I am open to chance and suggestion. I'd estimate it will take between 5 and 10 days to get to Jersey, which will probably depend on how much I am enjoying being on the road again.

I assume I will love the travel as much as I did two years ago, but that is yet to be determined. Given the assumption, I would like to connect with friend and family in NJ and CT, and then perhaps head a bit quickly toward the west coast and meet up with Bro in Portland to see the Willamette wineries. I'd also connect in Portland with bCollins. Following that, I'd make sure to see the family in SF and Battlestar in Seattle. At least that's my current speculation...it's all up to interpretation.

So, in at most 10 days, I should be back Road Tripping. Care to join me?

On The Road Again

2009-09-07T23:30:00.002-05:00

Goin' places that I've never been.
Seein' things that I may never see again.
And I can't wait to get on the road again.

I ended the blog before. I am re-starting it now.

Sorry for the long delay, but I had a job to do. I was Snack Master.

Today, I am not Snack Master. This week, I initialed and signed and dated the documents that made me the late great Snack Master. Removing that title leaves me simply as the Road Tripper, whom once again I shall be.

Thusly, I blog again.

Catching up, I bought the business, ran it for a year and a half, and have now sold it. I sold it for about 55% of what I bought it for. Quite a big loss indeed; however, had I kept my stock and condo two years ago, it probably would have been at least as big of a loss. And considering a lot of my stock was Citigroup, I probably made out better owning the Snack Master business rather than the stock.

I liked the job and being my own boss, but I felt I wasn't making as much money as I wanted, and was also feeling the tug of going out on the road again. Even if it is just for couple of months. I really have no idea what I'll do after this trip, but I'll try to figure that out on the road.

I am moving out of my rental house here in Phoenix at the end of September. I will be training the new owner for the next week, but after that I will focus on all the tasks I need to do to be able to drive out of Phoenix and start seeing the country again. And the tasks are many.

My 'To Do' list currently has 29 items. Most are mundane like submitting a change of address form or changing all my bills to be online bills. But some of the tasks are going to be more time consuming, like running a yard sale or moving all my accumulated keepables into storage.

Anyway, I just wanted to re-establish the blog, and let anyone who checks in every now and then that at the end of September, I will be Road Tripping and posting again,

Cheers,

Road Tripper

End of the Blog

2008-04-14T03:06:00.012-05:00

It's been more than a month now, and my life has come full circle. I have ended my recluse life. I own and operate the Snack Master vending route, a profitable and varied career choice that I can't be more pleased with. I am self employed. I am living in a house, with a front yard and even a back yard. I have a garage packed with my business equipment and a house far too big for the furniture I currently own. I need to make enough money in the next few months to make this house into a home, because even though I'm renting it, I feel that I am truly settled here in Phoenix Arizona. (Check out all the photos of my new house in the photo section.)

So, I've been doing this Snack Master vending route thing now for a month and a half. It's been a life changer. It's hard work. It's a grind. I get up every morning Tuesday through Friday, and go out and put the product in the machines. Occasionally, I need to go on a run and fix a machine that has either a malfunctioning bill or coin machanism, or has some other odd thing wrong. But for the most part, I do the route.

Shopping has been an adventure. I shope at Vend Source (a vending supplier) and Costco. It's a weekly expedition. If it exists at Costco, I buy it. Otherwise I need to get my stuff at Vend Source which is a fraction more expensive, but has the products that are right for the machines. It's sodas and candies at Costco, and chips and pastries at Vend Source.

I have been getting a lot better at this. It's amazing when you do repetitive tasks long enough, you find an infinite number of little time savers that shorten and ease each task. For example, when I need to load a 32 pack of coke into a machine, I now rip the plastic wrap off with a quick tug, grab hold of the 8-pack plastic bird killers and yank them off. Then, I have no impediments to quickly scuttling the 32 cans into their slots. Time saving breakthroughs like this still happen every day, and I am totally getting this job under control.

It's so under control that I have sort of cut down the work week to a 4 day schedule. I have Mondays off. Woo Hoo!!! Actually, I don't really have Mondays off, I now use Mondays as my shopping day. But I could certainly do the shopping on Friday if I want to work past noon. But who who would be fool enough to want to do that? I have created detailed product lists and google maps directions for each day that. Thus, I don't really need to think about what I need to do each day, it's all perfectly planned out. I guess my goal is to make this job monotonous and in a month or two, it will be.

Yet this job/business is everything I hoped it would be. I am disappointed that I have to work all the time. It will be hard for me to take a week long vacation. I have to keep the route going. But by working overtime during the week, I should be able to manage 4 day breaks at times. Travis (the former owners son, also said he would be willing to pick up the route at times if I need a longer leave of absence.) I also had concerns that the decrease in salary from Citigroup to this would be too much a decrease in lifestyle that I would regret it. Well, I must say that even though I don't make as much at this business, the decrease and the move from Hoboken, NJ to the Midwest, coupled with the lifestyle changes of not having a $400 sushi outing in Manhattan, it appears that I should be able to start saving for a future house purchase. So those issues are negated, and that leaves only the good stuff.

Good Stuff: First, I had wanted a totally different type of job. I had been in Information Technology since I left college, and I was sick of it. This job ain't that. Also, I wanted to be self-employed. I am so my own boss. I am so in control of the success of this venture. I am so my own boss.

I wanted a job outside. I had always thought of a construction job, building highways, but this fits the bill. About half my time is out driving around Phoenix, hopping in and out of the cab, strolling to and from the machines, and trolling in the back of the truck readying the product for the machines. It's a lot of out-dooredness, and in the dead heat of the summer will be a battle, but I love it.

I was really looking for a job that would get me into better shape. This job is it. I have been working so hard. I have practically never eaten lunch (not a good thing but relevant.) When I started this, I lugged each case of soda, torturing my legs, arms and back. Now I gingerly fling each case to where I want it. I heave multiple cases with little effort. I have so strengthened the muscles needed to do this job. I can beat you at an arm wrestling match. I am in better shape than I was when I was 29. I have lost 16 pounds...so far. Probably time to start finding time for lunch and/or breakfast, but this is a "diet regimen" that certainly works.

By the way, it's hot here. Really hot! My hair was dripping by 10 AM each work day. So I decided to solve that problem. I removed my hair. Rather, I had ex-Marine TP Hubby Nasty remove my hair. Clippers cut me down to a number 4. I like it. I look good. But the current heat really makes me concerned about the 110 degree days ahead.

Finally, I am more me. More confidant and outgoing. Happier and less self loathing. I am where I should be. I approach my 40th birthday next month, and it, not surprisingly, brings on deep thoughts. I spent my first 20 years learning. From child birth through college I was acclimating to the world. I had spent most of the last 20 years just following the path the first 20 had set. But this last year, I decided to strike out and change the path. I decided to take things into my own hands and I did. I quit the job, sold the condo and went tribal. I was fortunate in many ways to be able to do this, and in the end, it worked. It really, really worked.

So I think this is sort of the end to the blog. I mean, if business is good and the housing market continues to collapse, I might buy a house. Or if I tire of this business in a couple of years, I may try to sell the business and hit the road again. But essentially, I have said everything I have done and I am done with everything I want to say. Except perhaps, next winterm, I expect a string of you voyers to become visitors. From the North East, San Fran, Seattle, Ohio, Portland, South Africa and beyond...just drop by and enjoy the golf, the lifestyle, the perfect climate, the beautiful sunsets, the accessible adventures and me.

I've got to say, I am a quite impressed with myself. I didn't know over a year ago how this whole adventure, expedition, mid-life crisis would work out. But it did work out. I am in a home, profitably employed, in much better shape and in a city where a sunny day is every day.

I am my own boss and I do have weekends off.

Cheers,

Snack Master Scott

Feeling Quite Content

2008-03-10T20:35:00.006-05:00

I'm feeling quite content tonight. I've just come in from watching a beautiful sunset. I'd headed out onto the balcony just as the sun touched the western mountains and was snuggled by the 80 degree perfect temperature. I let the tensions of the new job slide away and enjoyed the beautiful scenery. Pretty awesome.

I'm now a week and a day into owning the Snack Master vending route. Let me tell you, it's a job. The day-to-day manual work of loading the machines is a bit tougher than I expected. The first day, my back, legs, and arms were sore from all the lifting. But as the week wore on and the patterns grew similar I have determined that the soreness was just the beginnings of long dormant muscles. Today I feel only minor aches and also can feel some muscles growing in my arms. I had hoped that this job would also help get me into better shape, and I now know it will. Not a bad side bonus.

I've been going around mostly with the son (Travis) of the former owner. He's a 23 year old kid, but is of the same stock as his father - honest, caring and real down to earth. I can tell I am lucky to have bought a business from such good people.

I have had to wake up at the ungodly hour of 4AM. I drive 45 minutes to Travis's and we head out at 5:15AM. This is certainly not my choice, and when I am done with the two weeks training, I will certainly move it back to a reasonable hour...say, whenever I wake up. We then go to all the locations on the days schedule. At each location, we hop out of the truck and head to the machines to take an inventory of what each machine has in it. With this, we can go back to the truck and pull out all the product that is needed to load the machines. We then go back in and load the machines. Oh yeah, and we also collect all the money that has accumulated into its own little bag.

The money. Here's something that is fantastic about this job. Every day you come home with a bunch of little bags of money. Presents. In this job you really do get an honest days pay for an honest days work. I get to flip through the bags, estimate the total, and know how much more money I have today than I had yesterday. I love it. As part of the purchase I have acquired a coin counter, and when I move into my new place, I will finally get to count up all the proceeds thus far. But just from this first week, I can tell that the numbers from the business are going to be at least what I expected.

Another nice thing about this job is that though I've gotten up early every day, I've been done early. The latest it's been is noon before I was heading home for the day, and one day we started at 5:15 and were done by 9:15 AM. And I'm still very slow at it because I'm learning. Travis said some days he's done by 8 AM. When I get a good bit better at this job, I believe I could cut a whole extra day off each week.

Unfortunately, when I've been done with the day with Travis, I have been busy late into the night with other work related crap. I have been inundated with tons of business info. I spent hours organizing and eventually filing all of it. Besides getting business cards and an address stamp made, I've also been working with Mom and Dad to pull together some work clothing. Bewick's embroidery business will be expertly producing some golf shirts with the Snack Master logo, and I may order up a few baseball caps because the sun out here can be brutal and I don't want to turn into a prune. But the most time consuming thing I've been doing is an eternal amount of data entry. Because Travis' computer broke, I have had to manually enter all the information into the MS Vending Management software. This has been a huge task. I've probably spent about 75 hours inputting each and every location, product, machine and individual slot in every machine. It's been a beast. But as dad said "Do the work upfront, so you don't have to do double later." Now that most of it has been entered, I know it will make the work much easier in the future.

I decided I needed to get this blogged now because I will continue to be swamped for the next few weeks. I will have a new address next week, the fourth one in a year. Next weekend I'm moving the business into it, and during the following two week, I will need to move all my personal stuff out of the rental. I certainly feel that I have overloaded the schedule with all that is going on.

But soon enough, I will be at home in my new rental house. The first house I've lived in since living with my parents. Running my own business, driving my own box truck, on my own schedule, bringing home little presents of money. With my two car garage filled to the brim with all snacks, sodas and candy you can dream of. As a kid, I had always wanted to get locked up in a candy store for the night. Well, now I will have that store in my garage. Pretty cool!

Snack Master Scott

The New Beginning

2008-03-02T20:31:00.005-05:00

Tomorrow I start my new job. I don't think of it as a new career, because I don't see myself doing this for the long haul. But for now, I am an entrepreneur having officially bought the Snack Master vending business. Escrow went smoothly, and no real issues came up. I handed over the biggest check I have ever written, and the deal is done.

I will be doing two weeks of training with the former owners, and I am excited and nervous. Because I don't have a place to run the business out of yet, I will be travelling for the next two weeks down to Tempe early each day. I have a lot to learn, but I don't think there will be anything too complex about what I need to know. The majority of the job will be a matter of going to the machines, filling up what needs to be filled and walking away with the money that has accumulated. Learning where all the machines are should be pretty easy, but I would have a heck of a time trying to find them without the previous owners showing me. It's not like you just show up to a place and the machines are at the front door. In one school I will be servicing, I have to walk in a certain door, wind my way through the halls and find the teachers lounge.

One of the tasks that will be important to get right is the purchasing of product. I will be buying the sodas from Costco or Sam's Club and the snacks from Vendco (which services most of the venders in the area). If I buy too much, it can expire and have product loss. Or if I buy too little, I can lose sales because of not having the right product in the machines. It's important to get it close to right. But then again, this isn't rocket science (or computer programming), so there is a good bit of leeway with respect to mistakes.

Right now, I'm a little bit nervous and a little bit excited. The last time I started a new job was about 15 years ago and I'm chomping at the bit. It's sort of like the day before I set off on the Road Trip, but then I was a lot nervous and a lot excited.

I also have an update on where I am going to be running the business out of. This morning I signed a lease on a 2 Bed Room, 2 Full Bath, 2 Car Garage house that should work out nicely for me. I am disappointed that I will be losing the spectacular views and sunsets that I currently relish. The house is in a more residential area than my current place, but it is central to the route I will be working. The last time I had a house for a residence was when I lived with my parents. It's been all apartments and condos since then. I move in on the 15th.

CuzJoe's visit was great and we ended up doing a nice hike up Pinnacle Peak before he headed back to the cold northeast. I think he really appreciated Phoenix, particularly the weather, and I expect hi to return often. Now that I'll have two bedrooms, I will easily be able to have guests, so start making your plans.

Wish me luck!

Snack Master Scott

Going to Escrow and Joshua Tree

2008-02-25T18:55:00.011-05:00

CuzJoe is back! He arrived last Wednesday, and we have taken a couple of good little road trips, but I'll get to that later. First an update on the Snack Master.

I close on escrow on Friday. That means that today is the last Monday of my unemployment. My hiatus comes to an end. By sundown on Friday, I will be the owner of the Snack Master Vending Company (vending route). I will own 87 vending machines at 44 locations throughout Phoenix. We ran into a few snags going through the due diligence. Perhaps I have over indulged in the accounting side, but I was able to uncover a few numbers that didn't add up, and have thus been able to further reduce some of the cost of the business.

I have been blessed by the current owner of the business. The current Snack Master is Alan, and he has been as good a seller as one could ever hope for. For example, this morning I was told by my business broker that one of the pistons in the truck I am buying went bad. He could have just replaced the one piston and left me to deal with any future problems, but he is supposedly sinking 4 to 6 thousand out of his pocket to replace the whole thingy. A very magnanimous gesture. (However, as you can tell from my writing, I know very little about auto mechanics, and I don't really know what pistons do, so I am just assuming this is a nice benefit from doing business with a good man.)

The big issue I am currently dealing with is finding a place to run the business out of. Originally, I assumed and was told that I could just rent a mini-storage facility for about 80 bucks a month. But then I also need a place to keep the truck - 70 a month. And I need to have electricity to run the fridge and freezer to keep the chocolate and pastries from melting - 50 a month. And I really need about 250 sq. ft. of space. All this brings the total price close to $300 extra per month. Since I am currently renting my apartment for $900 a month, I have determined that I am best served by ditching my apartment and finding a house with a garage to rent and run the business out of.

I've looked at 7 places so far, and a couple of them would be ideal for the business and for my comfort. I have a real estate agent currently working on one particular place that is a bit far out of town, but otherwise is ideal. It'd be $1195 per month, and if the current occupants would be able to get out withing the week, it could be my new home (and the 4th new home address for me in a year.) I wish I had time to test the buying market, but I just need to be settled fast. Perhaps if I can get a 6 month lease, towards the end of the summer, the prices might be even lower still and I can find that 3 BR with a pool that sis is looking for.

CuzJoe has ambled off to my complex's pool and perhaps can catch a nap after a spell in the jacuzzi. On Friday, we left by 8 AM and headed south through Phoenix, past Mesa, past Tuscon, past Benson and on to Tombstone, AZ. This touristy cold spot was the sight of the Shootout at the OK Corral where Wyatt and his Earp brothers were sheriffs, and accompanied by Doc Holliday, they gunned down 4 of the Clantons clan. It was worth stopping at if you are passing through, but also worth passing through quickly.

We then made our way to Bisbee, AZ where we walked the streets of this quaint old mining town that has had a bit of resurgence. The town is tucked into the foothills of the mine, and is a pretty good place for antiquing or just window shopping the main drag. It would be a beautiful place to live and they claim it is the most temperate place to be year round in Arizona. Sounds like the temperature is between 60 and 80 degrees all year. We decided to just make a day trip out of it, and headed back home.

Saturday was awesome. We left early and sprinted across the desert to Joshua Tree National Park in CA. UncLarry has a house in Yucca Valley, and Joe and I spent almost 5 hours passing through Joshua Tree to get there. Because it was a day trip, we skipped the multi-mile long hikes and focused on the shorter ones and were well rewarded. The highlights included the cholla cactus garden, the jumbo rocks, the arch, and Keys view. But really everything was amazing. But really everything was amazing, I repeat.

Just being in a national park again invigorates me. I think everyone should explore a NP every year. Even with just a day trip like this, it evokes so many questions and stimulates all the senses (well, besides taste, unless you do something wrong), that it is easy to understand why they selected such a location for a national park. Just go visit them, you won't be disappointed.

After our sojurn through the park, we got to UncLarry's where he had been brewing a vassal of half stew/half soup. The replenishment it provided was immense. the surprise was that the soup was all veggies - which belied it's hearty savor. But really, this was just to tide us over until the excellent meal we had at Patti and Harriets. CuzJoe and I shared out entrees of ribs and porterhouse that were grilled outside at the pit. Both were cooked perfectly. The place is well known and host local as well as well known bands on a nightly basis. Anyone who goes to visit Joshua Tree should consider this place as the whipped cream on their adventure.

UncLarry was a perfect host. We had fire, we had wine. We had a sumptuous meal and stimulating conversation. We argued whether Hillary or Barack was the next great hope and we trashed the republicants. (BTW, the answer is Barack). We sipped the wines, we drank the beers, and we gulped in the fresh air. UncLarry - Thanks! Thanks again, and Thanks for the untold future trips to Yucca Valley I shall take. I'll make sure to bring my "wild" mother along for the ride one day when she visits (and I'll tell her all the things you told me about her in her youth). But again, thanks UncLarry.

Anyway, I continue to look at places to rent. CuzJoe will have a full day of relaxing before heading back to the bitter winter of the north east, and I will try to post another entry just after I become Snack Master Scott.

Snack Master

2008-02-12T13:05:00.000-05:00

As usual, things couldn't have gone much better than they did. After submitting my low bid for the vending company, I sweated it out for two days, before getting a counter offer. I had previously hoped that we would come to an agreement about half way between my bid and the asking price. Because my bid was so low, I was half afraid that the seller would be insulted and just walk away. To my great surprise, the seller came back with a counter offer just $8,000 more than my bid, and below the midpoint of bid and ask. I felt it would be petty of me to try to eek out a few more thousand from the deal...so I accepted.

We are now in escrow and I am expected to become the Snack Master on February 29th. Leap Day. By picking this date, I think I'll only have to pay taxes once every four years.

Accepting the offer has set off a series of tasks that I am now working through in order to take over the business. I spent many hours Friday, Saturday and today at my new bank branch. I have set up personal checking and savings, business checking and saving, as well as transferring my Smith Barney, Mellon, and Citi pension portfolios over. I also opened up personal and business debit and credit cards.

Because I will be acquiring a 1995 Isuzu Box Truck with the business, as well as 7 vending machines that are not on-location, I am looking to rent space at a storage facility. Ideally, I would buy or rent a house with a garage to run the business out of, and I have met with a couple of realtors, but I don't think I am ready for another move just yet. Things are complicated enough already.

Later today, I will be meeting the seller where we will be going over many of the specifics about the business that I have not been permitted to see yet. We will also be setting up a schedule for the seller and I to drive around to all 44 of the locations to assess the machines and perform all the due diligence tasks that are needed to make sure I am not getting rooked.

Otherwise, I am thoroughly enjoying the change in climate here in Phoenix. It seems like it has been cold and rainy since I moved in, and only last week did the temperatures start to creep back up. Today's high is expected to be 78 degrees, and there isn't a cloud in the sky.

I'm sure CuzJoe is checking the forecasts as he will be taking a trip out here next week and we're hoping for some balmy temperatures. CuzJoe said he'd be interested in going out on a mini road trip, so I am looking into some of the possibilities. I think we could do a 3 or 4 day trip from Phoenix to Tombstone, AZ to Bisbee, AZ to Nogales, Mexico, then perhaps end up on a beach South of the Border before heading back. Unlike the first time CuzJoe and I set out, it should be pretty easy to get some sunshine for this trip.

Cheers, Snack Master Scott (BTW, it wasn't easy to find a business that had the same initials as me.)

Nickle and Dime Business

2008-02-07T11:46:00.000-05:00

I've put a bid in. It's a low-ball bid, and I don't think it will be accepted. But it sounds like the current owner of the vending machine route is having cash troubles because he dabbled in real estate and it's not working out for him. So we'll see.

After reviewing all the financials, and comparing the business to other vending routes for sale around the country, I decided to go all in and try to buy a little business called Snack Master. The business consists of a route with 87 machines at 44 locations around the Phoenix area. There's also a beat up old 1995 Isuzu box truck. And that's about it.

I like this vending business for a few reasons. First, it appears to make enough money for me to live on. I'll never become rich with the business as it stands right now, but perhaps once I get comfortable running the route, I would be able to expand or take over other routes. Also, it is a cash business, and I'll get all the little benefits that go a long with cash businesses. I like the idea of being my own boss, setting my own hours, and being solely responsible for all decisions. Finally, I like this because it will be a job where I get to go out every day in shorts and a T-shirt and be out in the sun and physically active. I just can't take the idea of sitting behind a desk all day, staring at a computer screen, getting fatter. I will have to avoid eating and drinking away the product and the profits.

Within the next couple of days, I should get a response from the seller. I'd be thrilled if he just accepted it, but I suspect he will come back with a counter offer. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Crap - It Might Be Out

2008-01-29T14:24:00.000-05:00

The pooper-scooper business is not out, but it isn't moving forward just yet either. The owner has received a bid from another buyer, and until that gets resolved, I am not going to get involved. I'm not interested in a bidding war for a business as basic as this. Should the deal fall through, I will again consider it.

But I have all but convinced myself that I want to own my own business...be my own boss.

So I am looking at a slew of other businesses to buy, while waiting to see if the doggie doo business is viable. In addition to the list from the previous post, I am also looking at:

Small Grocery Store
Sign Fabrication, Manufacturing and Install
Vending Route With 42 Locations
Carpet Cleaning for Management Companies
Party Store Including Balloons and Helium Rentals
Pest Control
Billiards/Pool Hall

Right now, the Vending Route is leading the pack. It is very well priced, and would provide income similar to the poop business, however it would be longer hours and more physical work. It is also different in that a lot of the price would be related to buying the assets - 85 vending machines. I will probably be setting up a day to go out on the route with the current owner to see what it is like.

Every business will have negatives. But I am trying to avoid those that are obviously a problem. For example, the carpet cleaning business sounds good in a lot of ways, however, it would mainly require night or weekend work for the cleaners. And new laws in AZ have made it illegal to employ illegal immigrants, which had been the main workers in this industry.

Another important factor is to avoid industries that could be hurt by the presumably upcoming recession. There are a lot of pool cleaning businesses for sale here in AZ, but a recession will likely hurt this luxury industry, and many like it.

So the search continues, but I am beginning to narrow down the types of business that I would get into. And if the doggie business does fall through, I'll be bummed about all the missed joke opportunities like: Q - "How's business?" A - "Picking up!"

Holy Doggie Doo

2008-01-24T02:04:00.000-05:00

When I was a lad, I used to have a job mowing lawns around the neighborhood. It was my first job. I would go to about 5 neighbors houses every week or two during the summer and cut and bag their grass. I made between 5 and 20 dollars per yard depending on size. Big bucks!

One day I went to cut my neighbor Mr. Bender's yard. He was in the yard with a shovel and trash bag swooping up his dog's poo. He said, "I just wanted to get this up before you shredded it all over the place....kid, if you could figure out a way to make money from picking up dog crap, you could be a very rich man."

Well, I don't expect to be a very rich man, but I'm about to check it out.

Let me get you up to date...

I started this blog when I first decided that I should quit my job and take some sort of adventure. I have blogged about all the steps I took from that point on: quitting my job, detailing my plans, selling my condo, storing my belongings, embarking from NJ (with CuzJoe), seeing as much of everything I could see for 20 weeks, landing in Phoenix, retrieving my stored belongings, renting an apartment, and summing everything up.

To come full circle, I need to talk about getting a job. So let me get you more up to date...

I spent the first full month in Phoenix recuperating from the adventure, and generally feeling quite content and proud. By October, and the second rent check, I slowly came around to the idea that I had better start thinking about earning a buck. By November, I had actually convinced myself that I should act on October's thought, and I posted my resume on Monster.com. Within a week, I had 4 head hunters contact me, and my Citigroup experience seemed to be a sought after quantity. I went to two interviews and had one good phone interview. I was being seduced back into the corporate mindset. Fortunately the holidays intruded.

I holidayed in San Fran for Thanksgiving and Haddonfield for Christmas and had the best of times for both. I've said it many times before; holidays are best when they're spent with family. The time in between was really a dead time, so I got re-addicted to reality TV and seeking out good places to eat.

During the holidays, and through to now, I have been changing my career perspective. I finally had an epiphany moment when I had a call from one of the headhunters. She described in perfect detail most all of the specifics of the the Citigroup job I quit last year. In other words, I was a perfect fit. But with every de-ja-vu detail, I felt more and more irritated and tense. Same old, same old - NO, not the same old for me. I must do something different!

I came to the conclusion that I want to start my own business. Yep, be an entrepreneur. My first thought was a collaboration between me and Mr. T. We'd open an auto parts store - "Murphy Auto". I suggested it to him, and he seemed into it. "Pierce Parts" is a nastier name, he decided. I've been in contact with NAPA Auto Parts and some other franchises, and I've been extremely underwhelmed with their responses.

I decided to search the web, and check out other business opportunities. When I mentioned this to SixPack, he suggested that I check out the "business brokers" in phoenix. Business broker?? So I googled it and came up with a googillion to choose from. All with web sites listing all the businesses that are for sale in the world. I paged through hundreds of them and came up with 3 business brokers in the Phoenix area that seemed real. I contacted them.

Dan was the first to respond. And he ended up being the only to respond. Dan's a "buyer broker", which means he represents the buyers in a business purchase. 99% of the brokers in this are "seller brokers". Dan says he is the only buyer broker in Arizona. I checked it out; I think he's right. Though he's a bit too verbose, I think I actually trust him (even though he's a republican).

The gist of what I've done with Dan so far is we both look on-line for businesses to buy and we try to narrow down what type of business would be right for me to run. I've gone through thousands, and he's suggested a hundred, and we set our sights on a first pass list of the following:

Dry Cleaners
Coin-Op Laundry
Limousine Service
PostNet Mail and Shipping Business Services
Pet Waste Removal
Wine Shop and Wine Tasting
Sandblasting Business
Smoke Shop
Water and Ice Store
Parking Lot Striping Company
Home Inspection Service
Golf Cart Dealership and Service
Ed McK's indoor Rock Climbing Structure Building Thingy (this is separate because mom put me in touch with Ed, and we have just emailed each other and will be discussing whether there is any fit to be found.)

While I am still pursuing the Limo Service, Smoke Shop, Parking Lot Striping Company, Golf Cart Dealership and Ed, one of them stuck out as a first to pursue. Yes, the Pet Waste Removal company.

All I'd have to do is walk around, in beautiful Phoenix weather, in shorts and a T-shirt, and pick up dog poop. Pooper Scooper. Doo Duffer. Turd Herder. [post your own pun here]. And for that, it sounds like I could make close to the same hourly wage I made when I quit Citi. I guess it's all the same when shoveling s**t.

Tomorrow I will be going to my first meeting with the seller of business. I think it will be a good experience to learn from. However, I actually like the idea of this poopy business. It's was written up as one of the best new businesses in America. Perhaps it is for me.

Either way, I think I will be a business owner of some kind in the next few months. I'll post whenever anything interesting happens. This will bring my blog full circle from quitting my career to starting a career. Then I can print off this whole blog, bind it in leather, and put it in the far corner of my closet.

Oh, The Places You'll Go...And What It'll Cost

2007-10-15T16:37:00.000-05:00

I'm still enjoying the sunsets here in Phoenix and finding my way around my new hometown. I started mapping out my 140 day odyssey, and tweaked my back from sitting on the floor in an awkward position for too long. I was finally able to finish it so I thought I'd post a picture of it.

Also, I have spent some time accumulating all of my credit card bills and banking expenses. I compiled a detailed spreadsheet, and have finally determined (with an accuracy of around +/- 5%) that the trip was terribly expensive. From what I can tell, the whole trip cost me: $25,481.11. Before starting the trip I had guessed that it would cost somewhere between 20K and 30K, which turned out to be a pretty good guesstimate.

I summarised the expenses into some broad categories, and here's where the money went:

Cash - $9,251.82
Flights - $1,183.80
Food - $2,406.12
Gas and Auto - $1,787.19
Hotel - $3,880.19
Insurance - $1,728.52
Other - $3,172.44
Sightseeing - $1,242.92
Technology - $828.11
Total - $25,481.11

So that about wraps it all up. Sure, I still need to find a job or career, and also will probably buy a house eventually, but for the most part, I am now done with the Road Trip...well, at least this Road Trip.

I really did have the time of my life, and I'm sure I'll take the things I learned and get out and see much more of the world.

Cheers,

Scott

Grand Finale - Bryce and Zion

2007-09-26T11:10:00.000-05:00

The final Road Trip is finished. I'm now done with the Road Trip after taking an awesome 5 day, 4 night adventure with TP, Mr.T and Beana as well as the Treason dogs Scully and Bronson. We all piled into an RV (Clyde), relegated Pre to a tow dolly, and headed North to Utah to experience both Bryce Canyon and Zion National Parks. What a grand finale to Road Trip 07!

We borrowed the RV from TP's boss and picked it up on Tuesday. It was a 36 foot long Land Yacht behemoth, and TP quickly took to loading it with a quantity of food that could easily have fed a small country (perhaps 90 percent was brought back with us). And on Wednesday morning, we attached Pre to the rear, and embarked on a scenic 9 hour trek from Phoenix through the desert, past the Grand Canyon, across the Lake Powell dam and on to Utah and a KOA just outside of Bryce Canyon NP.

Along the Road Trip, I had frequently passed by KOA's, without ever taking advantage of them. These are (k)campgrounds that are somewhat standardized - the Walmart of camping. My mistake, because the ease of use, stocked camp store, washer and dryer, and clean bathrooms and showers were quite impressive and would have made for some easy camping.

Of course having an RV to live out of also makes for easy camping. With stocked refrigerator, freezer and cupboards, combined with the KOA facilities, it was like being at home. I can now see how the RV "full timers" can live for years on the road. Just pull in, hook up to the water, electric and sewage, expand the slideouts, perhaps set up your satellite dish, and spend a few weeks at a stunning location with all the comforts. Outside of gas (and of course the RV purchase), it's a pretty cheap and interesting lifestyle. (Here's a link to one of many sites about Full Timers.)

We arrived after dark at the KOA and performed the basics of setting up our campground. Mr.T steadied the RV, I started a fire, and TP and Beana tended to the dogs, unpacked, set up chairs, etc. We then sat around the campfire snacking for dinner, cooking smores for dessert, and drinking the rest of the night away. It was a relief after such a long drive to be settled in and ready for the next few days. (BTW, thanks to Mr.T for doing 100% of the driving.)

The next morning, with TP tending to the pups and Mr.T actually working!, Beana and I headed into Bryce for our first look and a stunning and strenuous 5 mile hike. The first look is literally breathtaking. At Sunset Point we looked out over the Amphitheater, which contains some of the most striking Hoodoos (strange spires and pilings of limestone shaped by wind and water). Sunset Point was also the start of the combined Navajo and Peekaboo trails we had chosen for the day.

The hike started out with a series of steep downhill switchbacks that led straight down to Wall Street, a half mile long slot canyon with steep walls on each side towering straight up. This beginning was just a first glimpse of the many stunning sights along our hike.

The combined Navajo Loop and Peekaboo Loop trails formed a meandering figure-eight through the Cathedral. It was a series of treks up and down ridges of hoodoos. Because of the vast depth and diversity, coupled with the dramatic elevation changes, every few dozen paces provided new and exciting vistas and I couldn't keep my camera in my pocket. I took 130 pictures during the nearly 4 hour hike, more than at any other complete day. (Check more of them out in the photos section, some are pretty awesome.)

Many thanks to Beana, without whom I would not have pushed through the long, strenuous and wondrous hike of Bryce Canyon. It was unforgettable and "bad ass". If you visit Bryce, it is magical to look at, but to fully be appreciated, you need to hike down into the hoodoos.

Returning to the KOA, we found it inundated by about a hundred cyclists who were on a week long trip through southern Utah and its parks. TP had already befriended all of them and we spent hours listening to their travels and stories before firing up the grill for burgers and dogs. As has been standard when camping, nearly everyone else at the campsite was asleep shortly after sundown. I'm not sure why there isn't as much appreciation for the night sky. This remote part of Utah provides some of the clearest skies with the Milky Way easily visible and passing satellites can be spied if you are looking in the right direction.

The next day, with TP still tending to Scully and Bronson, and Mr.T finishing up his work week, Beana and I took the advice of a fellow RVer and headed to the slot canyon that is part of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument (a part of Bryce makes up the top step of the Staircase). After 6 miles on a dirt road, we stopped at a secluded creek and proceeded to follow it out and back more than 2 miles as it wound through a long series of slot canyons that it created.

We walked right along the creek bottom, stepping over or into it as we wound through the canyons. At first, the canyons were no more than 8 feet or so, but as we went downhill with the stream the narrow canyon towered up probably more than 100 feet. The walls were washed smooth, and prodded out with bulbous noses and chins. With very few others in the canyon, it was a beautiful and peaceful trek. Scully and Bronson would have loved it, and had we known what awaited us, we would have dragged them and TP along.

Returning to camp, it was time to pack up and make the move into Bryce Canyon's campsite. Beana and TP took Pre in to scout out a site, and Mr.T and I went to drop the tow dolly off at the local U-haul. We reunited and set up at the Sunset campground, just outside of Sunset Point. So we went there to see the sunset. The prior night Mr.T and I had gone to see the shadows as dusk approaches, and this time, Beana and TP joined me for the beautiful display. It's an impressive display as the sun falls and the moon rises and the depth and beauty of the canyon is displayed as the shadows grow across the Amphitheater.

The night ended with clouds creeping in and a BBQ of salmon, shrimp and veggies. I wrapped the salmon in aluminum foil, but in a stick of butter, and placed it on the grill. Beana prepared the skewers of shrimp and veggies. Surprisingly, all turned out superb, though so much was cooked we could only finish half of it.

The next morning, we jumped into Pre for the 18 mile driving tour which presented stunning panoramic vistas along the rim of the canyon. We returned back to camp just before the rain started; the rain followed us all the way to Zion National Park.

While I liked Bryce Canyon the best, TP, Mr.T and Beana seemed to like Zion better. Zion was BIG. Huge rocky mountains, boulders of enormous size, provided an overwhelming and dramatic contrast to the intricacies of Bryce. The continuing rain kept hidden and misted some of the larger panoramas that were probably there, but this was made up for by the waterfalls and powerful rivers the downfall produced. At the entrance, the ranger was almost giddy at the dramatic changes water causes at the park and urged us to continue on.

Unfortunately, the rain coupled with my exhaustion, dissuaded me from venturing in for a hike. I regret that I did not see more. Mr.T and Beana caught the shuttle (the only way into a part of the park) and were able to do a little hike. They said it was great. On their way back, a part of the canyon collapsed and stopped traffic. Apparently, Mr.T and a half dozen other tourists hopped off the shuttle, cleared the road way, and Mr.T absconded a rock the canyon had spit out.

One night at Zion's camp (spent mostly in the RV due to rain), a long beautiful ride home and it was over. The best trip yet, I'd say.

Sunrise Sunset - Home in Phoenix

2007-09-15T10:00:00.000-05:00

One week ago today I moved into my new home. My new home! It feels so fantastic and I'm ecstatic about it.

I am situated in North Central Phoenix close to the intersection of the Carefree Highway and I 17. Unfortunately, I can just barely hear the traffic on 17. But it is somewhat drowned out by the light sounds coming from the Ben Avery Shooting Range, which sounds like dull firecrackers off in the distance or the sound of popcorn popping. Neither the traffic nor the guns distracts from the beautiful sunsets from my balcony.

The view is why I chose this place, and it was a great choice. Every single night since being here, I amble out on the balcony for the last dozen minutes as the sun slips behind the distant mountains and then for the next 10 minutes as it colors the sky and any clouds that may be present with yellows, oranges and reds. I'm paying $28.09 per day ($871 per month) and the sunset alone is worth every penny. (Here's a link to the final 3 minutes of one of my Sunsets.)

Besides the sunsets, I am also loving this apartment complex living. Everything is so easy. I have my own washer and dryer, a garbage disposal and an ice maker - I never had these before, and I don't think I ever want to live without them again. The complex also has a beautiful pool that is rejuvenating when the temperatures soar over 100, which had been every day other than today when it peaked at 98. If anything goes wrong, even if a light bulb goes out, I just stop by the concierge and they send someone to repair it. My sink had a slow drip, so they had a guy come over and totally replace the faucet fixtures. It's the simple life, and it's great.

Craigslist - what a great website. On Tuesday, I was the first to reply to the offer of a free, little used, pillowtop queen size bed, box spring and frame. I then found a cool, pine corner table and benches ($126) that are pretty unique and fit well into the dining nook. I have moved my single bed into the living room until I can find a loveseat or sofa.

But more than anything, it is great to have my stuff back. I spent the first half of the week moving all my boxes and furniture up to the apartment, and then sifting and sorting, and finding the right place for each item that I deemed important enough not to discard. I like my stuff, and I like having it back again. It's been a long road between then and now, and it's good to be making a home again.

I'm keeping my cell phone number and email address, but my new home and mailing address is:

removed because swza said it was wrong to put my address on the web for fear of identity theft

Feel free to drop by anytime.

Like a Bat Out of Hell

2007-09-13T09:47:00.000-05:00

I could add 2,400 more driving miles to the Road Trip, but they aren't the kind of miles worthy of the now defunct adventure. The trip was more expedition than adventure.

At 6:50 PM Friday night, Mr.T and I left Haddonfield, NJ and made a beeline for Phoenix. Exactly, and I mean exactly, 36 hours later, at 3:50 AM PST on Sunday morning, we arrived. We travelled the whole way on just four highways (76 W to 70 W to 44 SW to 40 W), rarely exceeded the speed of traffic, and rarely stopped. Our longest break was 30 minutes for breakfast at Bob Evans on Saturday morning. Otherwise, we only stopped to get gas and relieve our highly caffeinated bladders.

Mr.T and I were driving machines. After the first 6 hours through Pennsylvania, we got into a routine of driving and napping; the twin bed we were transporting became an oasis so comfortable that we decided to motor straight through. First, Mr.T would drive 200 miles. Then I would drive 200 miles, fill up the tank and repeat the process. After each driving stint we'd climb into the back, nap for as long as possible and then slap ourselves awake to prepare

for the next stint.

Conversation, as is the Tao of Mr.T, was kept to a minimum, primarily focused on speed, mileage, the status of LWV, and our repeated desire to just be "home". A normal exchange would go something like this:

ME: Wow, I can't believe what great time we're making. We're getting 17.8 MPG, averaging 71 MPH and Sake says we should arrive around 5AM if we drive straight through. It'll be great to be back and have all of Sunday to rest up.

Mr.T: Right on.

We had each brought bags of snacks and sweets to accompany the Red Bulls, Monsters, Dr. Peppers and water. We noshed on Doritos, bananas, Cheeze Its, melting chocolate snaps and a whole tray of mom's Rice Krispie Treats. Just the kind of fuel needed to push on and on as well as to cause sugar high headaches and wreak havoc with our digestive tracks.

Because of the lack of air conditioning, we had been concerned about the blistering that daylight would bring. But on Saturday, the sun never rose. At dawn, and through most of the day, the skies were overcast with intermittent drizzles. The weather couldn't have been more accommodating. Just another in a long list of things that have worked out perfectly during my travels.

The LWV was also a driving machine. We bought it for $6,300 and hope to sell it here for as much as possible. If we lose less than $1,500 on the deal, it will have been more cost effective than either renting a U-Haul or paying for shipping. Perhaps we'll even make money on the deal. If the future buyer of LWV understood just how efficient and dependable it is, they'd know they were getting a great deal.

And then we were home. A real bed and a real sleep awaited us. TreasonPal did not await us. She had assumed we would be getting back during the day on Sunday and had skipped out to Scottsdale with the pups for an overnight with TreasonBikerBro. Thanks for the homecoming TP!

After the respite, I straggled over to my apartment complex and found out I could move in a day early...but that's a story for another post.

It's great to be home.

So Much and So Little

2007-09-12T00:23:00.000-05:00

I have so much to write about and so little time.

Trip home great. Arrived earlier than thought possible. Found out I could move into new apartment early. Did so. Been moving stuff in since then.

Details to follow.

Mission Improbable

2007-09-06T21:02:00.000-05:00

Cue theme music: Dat da da da, dat da da da. Dat da da da, dat da da da. Dah-da-da. Dah-da-da. Dah-da-da. Dah-dumb!

The mission, should you care to follow it, was to fly from Phoenix to New Jersey, secure a suitable vehicle and transport all of RoadTrippers life possessions back to Phoenix. Tomorrow night at precisely nineteen-hundred hours (7PM, EST), Mr. T and I shall venture out on the most boring Road Trip mission yet. Expect no future verse or pictures on this languid journey.

Let me get you up to date: The intrepid Mr. T and I arrived separately in the leafy Garden State during the holiday weekend and have been preparing for the horrific mission. Mr. T's preparation pretty much consisted of swimming and sunning on the beaches of Ocean City, NJ to achieve a zen like state that will allow him to drive 42 straight hours. He should be well rested by now.

As the technician and navigator, my preparation has been more meticulous. Upon arrival I went through the obligatory 36 hours of decompression and the mandatory 36 hours of mapaandme time; I saved time by completing them concurrently.

The next task was to secure the vehicle. Last week, Mr. T landed a whale of a vehicle using his well honed EBay skills, and on Tuesday, I was sent to make the final acquisition. The EBay ad had indicated that the vehicle was a large white air conditioned van. I have code named the vehicle, "Large White Van". It would have been a longer code name, but the AC doesn't work.

My preparation sweatily continued with me single-handedly gorging Large White Van (LWV)with the complete contents of the storage facility I had established prior to the sale of my condo. LWV is now decked out with about a ton of my possessions and with my single twin bed well situated and easily accessible for trade-off sleep breaks. This should come in handy as we expect to travel the 2,500 miles in about 42 hours with at most one night in a hotel. A tedious mission, whose greatest difficulty will likely be not falling asleep at the wheel; alas, the whole journey will be on the major interstates...not a single national park or scenic byway is anticipated during the mission. Seriously, never attempt this yourself.

Should all go as planned, I will be moving into my new hometown of Phoenix first thing Monday morning. Should things not go as planned, first I'll be pissed, and second, it should make for a funny story some time in the future. I'm hoping for no funny stories.

This blog post self-destructed six paragraphs ago.

The Numbers

2007-09-01T12:26:00.000-05:00

Some Stats and Figures. This list is by no means comprehensive and I may have others to add later. But this is what I thought up and was able to calculate or estimate for now.

MILES

First of all, the mileage. From the odometers, you’ve see that I put 24,207 miles on Pre. But that’s not the total miles I have accumulated as other modes of transportation were used. Limiting it to the major modes of transportation, here is the full list of my non-exact travel miles:

Pre – 24,207 Miles
Round Trip Flight between San Francisco and Philadelphia – 5,014 Miles
Round Trip Drive from Haddonfield to BS Wedding in Saybrook, CT – 399 Miles
Sceinc Drive with M&D to Delaware – 109 Miles
Round Trip Drive from Haddonfield to Hoboken – 174 Miles
Round Trip Drive from Phoenix to L. A. w/ Mr.T - 745 Miles
Flight from Seattle to Minneapolis – 1,382 Miles
Drive with BS in B-girl’s Car from Minneapolis to Seattle – 1,995 Miles

I think that’s it.

So, if you care to calculate the Road Trip based on miles travelled by car, the total would be: 27,629. That would be the equivalent of driving coast to coast 9 times.

Or if you want to include the flying miles, it would be: 34,025.

TIME

I was on the Road Trip from April 9th through August 25th. Call it 4½ months, or 140 days, or as I prefer, 20 weeks.

On an average day where I was truly on the road (meaning waking up on the road and going to sleep that same night on the road), I estimate that I averaged:
5.5 hours sleeping;
10.5 hours Road Tripping;
3.5 hours blogging and emailing;
1.5 hours plotting and planning
2.0 hours either fueling myself (food) or fueling the Pre (gas)
0.9 hours watching TV – if anything it would be less
0.1 hours talking to Mom;
0.0 hours of naps.

I gained 3 hours by moving to the Arizona time zone…I don’t know what I did with them.

EXPENSES

This is a big topic, and will require a lot more information, such as final credit card bills and bank statements. But let’s just say a lot!! I will break this down in the future, but I’m going to need a printer, spreadsheets, and a super computer that can perform high speed calculations, as well as a full week of time off – good thing I’m still unemployed.

SOME OTHER STUFF

Highest Elevation: Rocky Mountains National Park, CO off of Rte 34 near Lava Cliffs at 12,183 feet (above sea level).

Lowest Elevation: 9th Ward, New Orleans, LA at -8 feet (below sea level).

I took 2,634 pictures during the trip - WOW. (If I were to print them all out, it would cost me $237.06 using the .09 cents per print when ordering more than 1000 prints from Photoworks. If anyone knows of a cheaper service, please let me know.)

The most pictures on any one day was 98 at Yellowstone on Day 104. The fewest was 0 on multiple days.

Surprisingly, I gained 3 pounds. I started the Road Trip weighing 182 and finished weighing 185. I know I was eating a lot of decadent foods, but my activity level (compared to none) was way up. I’m actually a bit surprised I gained anything…it’s probably because of the change from fat to muscle.

I think I crossed the Continental Divide a hundred times. So many of the great drives criss-cross the divide and it is not a straight or singular line.

Bugs killed – judging from one square inch of Pre’s windshield, and calculating for wind shear, angle of impact, and time on the road, I come to 17,486,157 plus or minus 5. Gophers killed – 1.

I’d say that on a true day on the road (previously defined), I would meet about 25 people. Of those, I would have a conversation that lasted more than 5 minutes with about 6 of them. About 1 of them would walk away with my website address…but mostly, I tried to hear what they had to say.

I wrote a whopping 111 blog posts, and received 309 comments (including my own). I’m a bit surprised I got so few comments on the post indicating the end of the Road Trip...no congratulations? I would estimate that for every comment I got on the site, I received 2 emails from people directly (the shy people). All this was very time consuming, but also very motivating.

My number one fan was TreasonPal. This would have been followed by a tight knit group including Buz, YoungAunt, Battlestar and 6Pack. From what I can tell by the limited website diagnostics available, there were about 40 people checking out the site on a daily basis (at the end of the trip)…but I think this number is inflated because TP was checking in 38 times a day.

One question I asked people a lot was: “So, do you love your job?” The only people who really answered yes were 5 park rangers, 3 glider pilots, and one small town cop way down in Texas.

Gimme Shelter - From the Sun

2007-08-29T15:52:00.000-05:00

The best selling novel of all time says that it took God six days to create the world, and on the seventh day he rested. Well, perhaps if he had spent a little more time and done a better job, it wouldn't be so very, very hot here in Phoenix. And if he spent 140 days working on doing it right, he probably would have needed about four days rest, because that's what I needed after such a long trip.

I spent those first four days here at the Treason's, sleeping, drinking, basking and baking, and drinking. Did I mention the drinking - water to hydrate, beer to dehydrate, water to hydrate...it's a vicious cycle.

But by Monday, I had decided it was time to start life again. Nice and slow. I spent the day leafing through books and magazines as well as surfing the net for any available apartments. I found a house just a few miles from the Treason's and went up to check it out. It was nice and remote, with great views, but it looked like it would take a lot of work, and was much more house than I need. It was also pretty far off the beaten path, which is a good thing.

The place was a bit more than I wanted to pay ($1,095 per month). So, in order to test the renters market here, I put in a low ball offer of ($900). I am actually a bit surprised that they haven't gotten back to me. The place has been vacant for a couple of months, and it doesn't seem like there would be much of a market for a rental place this remote.

After thinking about it some more and with some sage advice from the Treason's, I decided it would be easiest to find a schmaltzy rental community to use as my base. These places have all the amenities - cable, high speed Internet, well maintained pool, central AC, business center, gym, the works. Plus they are reasonably priced. I want to save as much as I can for a future purchase, once the market crashes some more and I get a better feel for where I really want to set up house.

So yesterday I set out an all day home seeking trek that took me to one realtor and five of these communities. The first stop was at IronHorse. It is located right on the North Central edge of Phoenix's city limits. I was greeted by a young, beautiful, elegant sales agent. I say this because the quality and style of each and every place I went was pretty much represented by the agent that assisted me. Thus, IronHorse was also young, beautiful and elegant.

The next place I went was CrossRoads; the agent was nice enough, but busy as well as showing wear and tear from the passing of time - perhaps 10 years past her prime. This was a cheap place, and it showed. No view and a crowded section of the city. I sped East on The 101 to Mydale where there is a conglomerate of housing complexes. I tested two of them. Each one was represented by young, sassy, classy, attractive in their own special way agents. Great places, a bit on the pricey side, but well worth the money. Yet they were still in highly populated busy sections, near interstates and 8 lane highways and fast food restaurants and gas stations.

The crowds of cars and people really irked me. It felt like being back in NJ, driving along Route 80 (out here they would call it "The 80") through the northern portion of Jersey. In other words, exactly like my old daily commute, except with sand instead of grass. And I didn't drive 24,207 miles just to end up in the same old, same old for these dog days of summer.

I quickly retreated north and went to my final destination for the day. I was greeted by the agent who said, "Hi, I'm Scott." To which I replied, "Yep, me too." It was a nearly identical place to the IronHorse, so I decided to go with the young, beautiful, elegant sales agent. Actually the real selling point became the view - I will be on the third floor with my balcony facing west across the desert to the mountains at the horizon, and any day it doesn't rain I should be treated to a pretty awesome sunset - based on the forecast that should be every day.

I move into IronHorse on Sept. 10th. (See my western view right.) That should be one day after returning from my trip to NJ. Mr. T and I have purchased a large cargo van that I will be picking up in NJ. I'll be driving up to Hoboken for the fantasy football draft and to load up all my storage stuff. Then Mr. T and I will be driving across the country, as fast as the law will allow.

Since I had signed my 6 month lease this morning, I had the afternoon free, so I took a cruise around my new neighborhood. I headed over to Mydale again, taking only the back roads and really enjoyed the scenery. The more remote areas of Scottsdale are fantastic, and I will surely be exploring it more when I get around to buying a home. I got sidetracked by the Frank Lloyd Wright Blvd, and a trip to Taliesin West. Unfortunately it was closed for an event, so I will have to go back for a tour another day. But I did meet a couple of broads that were on their own Road Trip from Florida. One of them is looking to move to Sedona with her husband and were on their way up there to scout for a house. With my vast experience, I told them to check out Jerome first as it might be more to their liking.

Did I say it's hot here. I could only loiter outsided Taliesin for a few minutes before needing to retreat to the comfort of Pre and her AC. The thermometer on the Treason's porch reads 118 - two more degrees and it will be pegged. Yet, I don't mind. The whole "dry heat" thing you always hear about really matters, and it just isn't that bad. You sweat, but it evaporates before leaving any wet spots on your shirt. And even a slight breeze, makes it quite bearable - I just wish we had a slight breeze.

----------------

By the way, do any of you remember Battlestar and B-girl? Well, they have moved into Seattle and are doing great. I know this because he has started a blog of his own, and says just that. Because I will not be posting any where near as frequent as before, and since some of you seem to need your daily "stories", check out his blog: Battlestar's Blog. I have also added him to the links section on the right.

Road Trip 2007 Ends

2007-08-25T10:31:00.001-05:00

End of Road Trip ( 7:05 AM, Arizona Time - 08/23/07 )

I started thinking about it on my drive in. It just sort of hit me. Whether I like it or not, the Summer of Scott, Road Trip 2007 is over. This drive into Phoenix would be the last time I am entering the city from the road, and henceforth, any trips I take will be away from here, for this is my new hometown.

The Road Trip sub-title was “Quitting work, selling my place, and going on the road for an extended journey with a final destination yet to be determined”. With the final destination now determined, it’s time to acquire a place and find work. I am now going to start thinking about the rest of my new life. It’s time to stop living in the moment and start planning for the future…things that until now I had eschewed. The issues of the real world are upon me again…Aaaaargh!

That's not to say I am done with my travels or adventures (or the blog). I have a few more things planned, including a sort of “grand finale” trip to Bryce Canyon. A few weeks from now, TP, Mr. T and Beana will be tripping with me, and we will all be piling into a borrowed RV for the adventure. We’ll probably drag Pre along for some twisty day trips that the RV can’t handle. It’ll be about a 5 day trip, camping out and is scheduled around the weekend of Sept. 22.

Between now and then, I will be flying back to NJ to sort through my storage space, acquire some form of spacious transportation, and possibly with Mr. T’s help, do a sprint home to Arizona. (Hey, I’m now a Zoner!) Then, in early November, the Murphy men (me, bro and buz) are going to the Murphy birthplace - Ireland. My crew’s annual golf outing is scheduled for the middle of October in Myrtle Beach. I began checking out some flights, but with so much already scheduled and a whole new life to start, I am feeling overwhelmed. I’m gonna need to make a decision soon as to whether this trip is the right thing for me now, but after a few more days of relaxation, I suspect I’ll come to my senses and book the flights. I’ll add blog entries of these trips.

I started the blog with entries about quitting work, selling my condo, and all the thoughts and tasks that went into making the actual Road Trip a reality. I’ll end the blog similarly, with sporadic entries over the next few months on topics like renting an apartment, becoming useful to society again, and perhaps the purchase of a new house in the future (sis has put in an order for a vacation friendly place with 3 bedrooms and a pool – if the housing market continues to crumble, I may be able to accommodate).

I will also be adding some Road Trip blog addendii. There are a lot of numbers, stats and lists that I need to accumulate and calculate such as total miles hiked, weight gained, just how much money this lark cost me and where it was spent, and any other curiosities I come up with. I am going to spend some time getting the actual trip map pulled together, perhaps in a couple of forms. I have recorded it on MS Maps and Trips in 4 parts...hopefully I can find a way to unify it and post it. I also need to get one big freaking map of the US, plot it out, and perhaps frame it for some future garage wall. Unfortunately, I should also do some puff pieces on things like lessons learned, how I’ve changed and what this has meant to me; for these I think it best to take advantage of the perspective only time can provide.

So while the Road Trip itself may have come to an end, I still need to wrap up the loose ends. One of the loose ends was my trip from Santa Fe into Phoenix. Here’s the Blogwithinablog:

___________________________

The Trip Home – Days 137 - 140

I started thinking about it on my drive in. It just sort of hit me. “I’m on my final drive of “Road Trip - 2007”. I left Santa Fe, NM early on Wednesday with a long 500+ miles through the desert to my day end destination: the Treasons. 12 days straight on the road with not a familiar face the whole way. It was time to be done with this leg and a straight shot on the interstates was planned. But, when the “final drive” realization set in half way, I had to pull over.

It just wouldn’t be right to have spent all trip long avoiding interstates as much as possible, only to spend the final leg wrong. I pulled out the maps and got off highway to take a more scenic route in. Fortunately, I was close to a drive I’d done before, and was pleased to do again (you can only enter Phoenix so many ways without repeating). And the familiar drive would give me time to relish the last leg.

Quickly, I was back in the groove, and I spent the next four hours experiencing the changing scenery through hard to pronounce places like Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest, Sierra Ancha, Mazatzal Mountains and Fort McDowell Mohave-Apache Indian Reservation. I first put “The Who” on the IPod, and later selected the playlist of “Most Played Songs”. I was totally reminiscing. I even called mom, a near daily ritual during the trip, for one last call (alas, I only got the answering machine). It was a great drive and fitting end to the trip!

And then I arrived at the Treason’s. Wow! Such a disorienting mix of feelings of relief, arrival, friendship, completion, anticipation, exhaustion and much more. It’s a lot to comprehend, and I have spent the past few days catching up with the Treason’s as well as myself. It’s good, nay great, to be home.
______________

So there you have it.

I am done counting the days! It was 4 and a half months; 140 days; a nice round 20 weeks. As you can tell from the odometers, I put on 24,207 miles on Pre since I started this trip. That's not the total mileage, as there were other vehicles and modes of transportation involved, but that's another stat that will be in an upcoming page.

I’m finally going to get a chance to read this blog thing I created. I figure it’ll be pretty good bathroom reading over the next few weeks. I hope I like it; but, like many of you, I'll probably be mad at myself for writing such long boring posts. The pictures will be good. I need to go through all the pictures and see what I want to print off and perhaps some to blow up and/or frame (again for the future garage).

A few questions and answers: So is this the end? In a sense yes it is. And here's the (sorry!) cliché: it’s also the beginning. Did I achieve what I set out to achieve? YES. Heck, I would have been fine if I just quit my job. But what an adventure. I know I will look back on this trip not just as a major transition period of my life, but also as one of the happiest times of my life.

Thanks to all of you who have aided and abetted in the journey, or simply lived vicariously through me, which helped keep me motivated. I hope you’ve enjoyed the Road Trip. I know I did! - RT

Playing In The Big Sand Box - Day 136

2007-08-21T20:56:00.000-05:00

I dragged into Santa Fe, NM tonight. I have a throbbing heat headache caused by far too much sun. When you're in the Great Sand Dunes National Park (another NP name for exactly what it is) there isn't much shade.

This NP consists of 30 square miles of sand, and little else. As you approach the dunes from a distance, they are dwarfed by the surrounding mountains and don’t look like much. But when you are at the base and looking up, it’s pretty daunting. And once you spend a half hour slipping up the dunes, distances become a trick of the eye.

You may wonder why all the sand doesn’t just blow away, and that’s just it. It did all blow away and it blew to here. From river banks and mountain tops, sand is blown east and is caught by the baseball mitt shaped mountains that trap it. Some of it does blow down to the shoestring rivers that also encircle it and these wash the sand back out to the west, deposit it on the banks to dry out and then slowly roll it back into the pile again by the winds.

This park is just a playground and the game is to see how far you can go. Since it was a walk in the sands, I took the beach bag Mom gave me to carry water, keys and camera. The first hill teaches you just how hard it is to go up. Every step forward is reduced by slippage and the going is slow. After the first little hill about half the hikers decide that’s enough. I continued on and the next stretch was a tiring slight uphill route. You have to learn quickly how to choose a route so as to minimize the steepness. You can take any route you want, and everybody does it a bit different. But we all arrived at the steep incline...it was the only sane way up to the next plateau.

It is here that almost everybody else turns back. Probably only 5% still feel like they can make it at this point. It is only about a tenth of a mile of incline, but it is a killer. When I started, there was a woman in pink (we’ll call her Pinky) and a man in red (Red) already about half way up the hill, seated and resting. These two became my points of reference for the rest of the hike. Red took off and within about 20 minutes was at not just the top of the incline, but also streaked on to the peak. Red was my end of trek reference and Pinky was my competition.

About thirty paces up, I had to stop and sit down. Just starting below me were a couple of fit Finns that had maintained a pretty good pace, and plunged right into the slope. They made it about 10 paces past me and had to stop also. We then spent the next half hour jockeying up the hill in bursts.

Both the Finns (I have no idea their nationality, so I’m guessing) were wearing sandals and Finn1 busted his sandal during the walk so that it was unusable. The sand reaches about 140 degrees and it would be unbearable to do it in bare feet. Yet he was determined, and spent his energy doing Dudley Moore in “10” types of sprints across the sand until it got too hot and he’d slam down on his butt to get the feet off the ground. If it didn’t look so painful it would have been comical. Pinky, me and the Finns all gruelingly reached the top of the steep incline.

The whole trek up, the only reference you have as to how far away things are is the size that people look in the distance. Check out the photos of the dunes…in almost everyone there are people, it’s just that sometimes they are really teeny. Sort of a where’s waldo.

The National Parks book I consult instructed me to use hiking boots or sneakers, so I was in my New Balances. Pinky eventually congratulated me for my Good Samaritan deed that I did, giving my sweaty, stinky, sandy socks to Finn1. He thanked me considerably in some language I couldn’t understand. I just couldn’t bare to watch the pain, and he was determined to continue. Oddly, he and Finn2 eventually went all the way to the very highest point in the park. So a part of me (my socks) made it to the very top.

After the incline it was still a trek to get to Red who was waiting for Pinky and the peak, the place where the three of us decided was far enough. Pinky, Red, I and the Finns all took pictures of each other swapping cameras. I was pretty proud of myself; this was definitely the hardest 1.5 miles I will ever hike in my life.

Going up was just a slow, mesmerizing venture into as much desert as you can handle. Going down was the reward!

Red tried a head first slide down the hill and then a long roll. I opted for the 15 foot long stride leaps. At a running pace, going down the steepest parts that could not be walked up, you can cover distances in 10 seconds that would take an hour to go the other way. Having taken a different route down, I could hear Pinky and Red laughing with glee over the ridge at their fast trip down. I was giggling myself, it was like being a kid let loose on the beach for the first time. Heady stuff.

I should mention that back at the bottom I ran into a couple from Hamilton Township, NJ who were out on their own road trip. They were 3 weeks in and on this was their last big hurrah before heading home. It was fun hearing someone besides me exclaim “Wow, I haven’t seen a New Jersey license plate in 3 weeks!”

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Addendum: I uploaded two videos to the end of the Picassa web album for Day 136. The last one of Pinky and Red running down the dunes is worth a look.

A Pleasing Road Through Nowhere - Day 135

2007-08-20T20:45:00.000-05:00

I had to go deep in my list for todays route.

Besides Road Tripping and blogging, the thing that takes the next most amount of my time is planning. The whole process is one of going from the big picture to the small picture. At the end of the Jersey Shore family visit, the next big picture was Cape May to Phoenix.

For a trip as immense as that, I started by referring only to two resources and only had a three step process.

How to choose an immense route:

1. First I analyse the map of the entire US. I know where I have never been, so I focus on those areas and look for big adventures. In the case of this trip, I haven't done the south east of the country, so I figured I should get down there and see what's interesting.
2. I check the National Geographic National Park's book to see if there are any biggies along the way.
3. I also see if there are any friends or family along the way.

That's how I ended up in the Smokies and Hot Springs. There aren't many NP's accessible in the SE U.S without going far out of the path to Phoenix. It also helped determine that I should head down the coast first. And lately it helped guide me from Hot Springs to here. The Great Sand Dunes NP is not far from here in south central CO, and it was a big picture kind of area. AuntieR was in Arlington, and the Ingles were in NC, so I kept the options open. But bad timing (too close) and driving the coast overrode Arlington. And food and new states overrode Asheville.

After the big picture, I do a cursory scan of the medium picture (the next 2 or 3 days of travel). I do a bit of this every night of the trip. It usually includes any must sees that can be fit in (Mount Rushmore or Corn Palace), plus any cities (like Oklahoma City) or side lights (like Chapel Hill). Otherwise, I play it day to day...which leaves us with:

How to choose a single days route:

1. The first thing I do is check the National Parks that are within striking distance. If I can get to an NP with enough time to find a camp site, set up camp, and acquire ice, beer, and bear repellent then take any route that will allow for that. I've come to the definitive conclusion that National Parks are AWESOME. If I get a chance to spend any time in a National Park, I must do so. You might have another fetish to substitute for this, but from what I've seen, National Parks are the way to go.

2. After NP's, I take a look at the Road Food book and see if there are any restaurants appropriately spaced for lunch or dinner. If there is something interesting, I then pull out both the Scenic Highways and Byways as well as the National Parks books to confirm if the place is worth shooting for. This would be combining multiple textures to the day and it usually can't be found. But when it plots out well, a great day is virtually guaranteed.

3. I next zero in on the scenic drives that are between me and my final destination (which in this case is Phoenix). I go as deep as reading the summary for each drive that can possibly be en route. I determine whether it must be included and fold the corner of the page if I must make sure to include it (I unfold once I drive it or skip it). Because I have driven in and out of Phoenix 8 times, 8 different ways during this trip so far, I've exhausted most everything the book has to offer. There's some interesting stuff in Utah, so I'm keeping that in mind for later options, but there was nothing remotely worth doing for this leg.

4. I then might go back to the Food Book and see if there is at least a meal anywhere nearby worth going for even if it means taking some interstates for a while. I still found nothing. I had steak for dinner last night at Cattlemans Steak House from the book. Every place in my current path was another steak house and couldn't repeat so soon...this is moo cow country. (Sorry url, I didn't go to "Eat At Joe's" Joe's Restaurant while in OKC...the Cattleman's entry sounded too good, but it didn't live up to the billing. I should have taken your advice.)

5. I reluctantly check out the pamphlets that I pick up in the hotel lobby with all the touristy things to do in the expanded region. I could find caves to spelunk , horseback riding, glider rides, and if something fits with my day well enough I set a route to it. Unfortunately, no luck for today.

6. At last I am down to: Find a place that is within striking distance of Route Option 1 above and isn't too boring. This is when I start looking for any green dots on the map. And this is the option that I had to choose for today's travels.

I spent the entire day on small two lane highways winding through OK, KA and here south central CO, a town called Walsenburg. The drive was quite pleasant, and offered a pretty good variety of scenery, history, negligible traffic and high speeds. And with the Rocky Mountains encroaching on the horizon, there was a beautiful sunset here at the Best Western.

This leaves me within striking distance of the Great Sand Dunes National Park, which I may be able to get a good taste of and still get back on the road to Phoenix before tomorrow runs out. TP - it's looking like a late Wednesday or early Thursday arrival...have my bed turned down either way.

Option 6 only barely beat out the final item on the list:

7. Take an interstate as fast as possible through the area because there is absolutely nothing redeeming.

Week 19 Ends

2007-08-19T16:22:00.000-05:00

End of Week 19. ( 6:30 AM, CST - 08/19/07)

Otherwise, today's game has been called on account of rain.

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Addendum: I was watching the local news here in OK, and apparently 6 people were killed by the rains today. Flooding was everywhere, and I drove through some of the worst of it. Roads got destroyed and whole towns are flooded. The storm was the remains of the Tropical Storm Erin that soaked Texas. It was dying out late yesterday. To quote the meterologist tonight, "I've never seen anything like this. The storm while crossing land regained strength. It actually formed an eye over parts of Bumpkin County." Weird weather...I plan to continue to avoid Dean.

Arkansas: Well Blow Me Down, It's Awesome! - Day 133

2007-08-18T21:41:00.000-05:00

No pictures inserted in this post because of upload slowness to Google. I did upload them all to my web album (as Day 133), and linked to them in the photos section...if you only look at the pictures (which is most of you) just go there...I added more subtitles than usual and you can avoid reading the following blog entry:

The first time I passed through Arkansas, I went to Little Rock and visited the Clinton Library and followed that with a layover in his birthplace of Hope, AR. A million years ago (on Day 15) I quote myself having written about the drive through AR as, “Nothing of particular interest”. And yesterday I spent the better part of the day driving along the back highways of AR, only to write, "I drove all day through (sic) Arkansas with nothing really worthwhile to write about." By last night, I had all but given up on AR, and was looking forward to putting some miles on the odometer and perhaps getting to Oklahoma City before the end of the day.

I'd decided it wasn’t a great idea to mess with Mother Nature and Hurricane Dean (it became a Category 4), and there was a Scenic Byway in the book heading North from Hot Springs, AR. So upon awakening, my plan for the day was:

1. Start with a morning spa treatment
2. Then cover the little 160 mile scenic drive
3. And make for Oklahoma, perhaps getting as far as Oklahoma City if I take some of the interstates.

I got off to a great start. I woke up at day break, packed up my camping gear, and headed around the bend to Hot Springs NP's bath houses, arriving at 7AM on the steps of the Buckstaff Bath House as they opened their doors. I walked out an hour and a half later floating a few inches off the ground. The old fashion treatment ritual, the ancient equipment and fantastic architecture, and, most of all, the water, truly seem to have restorative powers. Maybe the powers are not scientifical (as GWB would say) or statistical, but you can’t go through the process and not come out the other end feeling better. The more you sip the water, the more you buy into this odd place being a National Park.

By 8:45, after buying the obligatory NP tee-shirt, I was off on the short scenic drive…at only 160 miles, I could fit it all in by lunch. Driving out of town, I hit a couple of the minor landmarks, skipped the digging for diamonds side trip, and was actually not hating this short scenic.

But then I saw a slightly faded sign that said “Auto Route Scenic Drive”. I stopped, reversed 20 yards, and made the suggested turn. It started out mundane, and I expected I would be back on the main road in a mile or two.

5 miles I drove on a paved route, before the sign that read "One lane road ahead" – good. 5 more miles I drove on before the road, without prompting, turned to gravel – better.

In my now vast experience with scenic routes, when the gravel appears, it means you are very close to the end and usually it will have been worth the drive. 10 more miles I drove on the mostly upward and increasingly twisty gravel road. My expectations were rising…how could they make a road like this up such a twisting winding hillside and it not be spectacular finale. Finally a sign up a head. Just a little one that read “Auto Route” and had a little caricature of a 1970’s style sedan. At least I knew I hadn’t made a wrong turn. I began hoping this was some sort of loop road because I didn't want to return the miles of gravel I had traversed.

Three hours later I finally left the gravel road. I was a changed person who now knows that Arkansas is a beautiful state and this drive was one of the best I have taken.

I could describe at length this amazing journey. It was a solitary trek which took me into the heart of a practically uninhabited forest and showed me many treasures along the way. I have uploaded the pictures from this trek and subtitled more than usual. They are great, but as always don’t live up to the experience of being there. This ranks as one of the best days I have had. (Perhaps it isn't in the top 5, but certainly in the top 10. When I am done with the trip, I will have to give this topic more thought. But the Number 1 of the list of "Best Full Day on Road Trip" is probably the first Yellowstone day with BS.)

I am lodged tonight at the Cliff House Inn perched atop what they call “The Grand Canyon of Arkansas”. Pretty cool place to spend the night...I tried to upload a video, but I have bad connection problems in this aerie and couldn't get it to upload in one shot. So just check out the pictures in the Photo section on the right for Day 133. Enjoy...I did!

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Addendum, here is a link to the video I was trying to upload: "Hotel Room Video". I had spoken during it, but couldn't hear it on my laptop...if anyone hears it let me know. - RT

Hot Springs National Park - Day 132

2007-08-17T21:31:00.000-05:00

I should have another title for this post. But I drove all day through Tennessee and Arkansas with nothing really worthwhile to write about. I avoided the interstates nicely and spent all day looking for a sign (not from God), but there was nothing that caught my interest. So I kept on keeping on and eventually ended up here at the Hot Springs National Park.

I'm camping out again. I am have a river for my front yard again. However, there are not many campers here at the only park campsite. I have a feeling that people don't camp much here because the primary attraction at this NP is four city blocks that are historic bath houses. For those coming here, being pampered is the objective, and the many hotels offer greater comfort, though not as much beauty. But just to be safe (in case I cramp up during the night, or develop some unthinkable stress) my bath, warm towel wrap and massage are scheduled for 9:30 tomorrow morning.

This is easily the oddest NP. I accidentally drove most of the park while looking for the Visitor Center. The hike listed as the top priority is to walk the 4 blocks of bath houses; Estimated Time: 2 Hours...or 5 minutes if you don't stop in for a spa treatment.

The park is only 55K acres, smallest of any NP. And those acres form a doughnut around the city of Hot Springs. The "park" has a rich history of patrons that came to drink the "healing" waters including American Indians, De Soto, La Salle, Jesse James, Al Capone and FDR, as well as being the proud childhood and high school home of the country's third greatest president (Lincoln, Washington, Clinton).

I've nothing else to add, except that this is surely the only NP campground that is within (literally) short walking distance of a gentleman's club. Good night all, I'm going for a stroll.

Dean, Spelunking, Pigging Out and Luck - Day 131

2007-08-16T22:04:00.000-05:00

To Dean, or not to Dean--that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune
Or to take wheels against a sea of troubles
And by avoiding, end them. - BS and me

It's an interesting question, and one that I am not sure which path I should choose. As Dean strengthens and approaches the Caribbean, should I drive toward it, track it to the north, and aim for landfall. Or should I just be aware of it's area of arrival, and make sure I keep the sun above me by heading more toward the north and inland. Both are options right now, and I don't know whether to try to get a peak at some serious global warming, or just keep having the kind of wonderful adventures like today provided...once you check out the weather channel for a few minutes, any comments or updates would be welcome. But right now I am itching for a glimpse...I'll be keeping up with the weather reports as I can. If I had to guess, Corpus Christie, TX could be a soft spot for the storm to land, and since Al Gore is not yet president, it is almost likely. Gonna have to check out if there are any scenic drives still above water in that area.

Today, with no National Parks in sight, and no drives being suggested by the Scenic Byways book, I had to go to option 3 and use the Road Food book as my traffic director. Within striking distance and appropriately spaced, I selected Jackson's Family Restaurant in Madison, AL for lunch and the Pickwick Catfish Farm Restaurant in Counce, TN as my destinations for the day, and anything else that seemed interesting along the way.

Instructing Sake to: Take me to my lunch, but without using a highway, I was guided the way I hoped she would. I had seen some green dotted lines on the map (indicating scenic) and her path led me directly along it. Unbeknownst to me, her path would take me spelunking twice before lunch (she also took me from TN to GA to TN, to AL to MS to TN before the day was out - 6 states with one repeated 3 times).

While driving the route, I saw a brown sign (meaning something neat to see) that said "Russell Cave Nat'l Monument". So I turned. It still surprises me when I see something that says Russell Cave turns out to be an actual cave. The only other cave I've seen is the ice cave in Idaho, and this was completely different. The huge cave openings had been home to many generations of beings dating back to the prehistoric. Many artifacts have been excavated and it has greatly contributed to the sciences that look into these things. I could say more, but I am already boring myself. Let's just say, it was cool.

But my next accidental (or lucky) cave find was completely awesome. Again, driving along and having passed another dozen brown signs, the one that read "Cathedral Cavern's State Park" caught my eye. Cavern...perhaps a cave? So I turned. I never research state parks...just too low a level for the trip I am doing. But I have occasionally taken in a few of them and they are usually either fishing or hiking things, and sometimes single item things. This was a single item thing and it was another cave. Only this cave was a big deal. Cathedral Cavern holds 4 world records including highest cave opening and widest span for a cave opening.

As always, I arrived just 5 minutes before the next tour was beginning. So I had to do it. 5 minutes later and I would have had to wait an hour, and I wouldn't have done it. But it was going to push lunch back to 2 PM (little did I know that I'd already passed a time zone and had gained an hour.) The tour was a 1.3 mile trek into the cave and the same back out. It was incredible, and I can't put into words the bizarre structures and features that I saw, but it elicited many "Wow's" from me and the others on the tour. Stunning. I took a ton of pictures, but not many came out well. I don't know the proper camera settings for caves.

We were a group of 16 on the tour, and I hung out with a family of three and their niece. During the opening talk by the ranger, he asked us where we all were from. When it was my turn, I didn't answer my standard, "NJ". Instead I said, "I used to be from NJ, but now-a-days I am from nowhere, just driving around the country for a while." After we started the spelunking, the 23 year old daughter said over her shoulder to me, "So, you're just driving around...that's cool". I was immediately smitten. I spent the next hour tagging along with her and her family. Just lucky to meet nice people.

For lunch, I did eat at the Jackson Family restaurant and for 7 bucks, I had the "Meat and 3" meal. The meat was country fried steak with white gravy, and the 3 were corn, cole slaw and deviled eggs. For dinner, I went to the Catfish Farm, and found it was only open on Fri, Sat and Sun...what a disappointment. I used Sake to direct me to a hotel, and the nearest medium sized city was Savannah, TN where I am sleeping tonight.

As I completed my room transaction for the night, I (as always) asked for a dinner recommendation. Again, drool formed. Again, there was only one place to eat, and it was the Fish Hut. "Just a shack a couple miles away, but it is the only place to eat." I passed about 40 other dining establishments before arriving at the Fish Hut, but the slobbering concierge was right, it was the Only place to eat.

Everybody was there. I joined a grandmother and her son at a small vinyl table and chairs, and was lucky I was a single or I'd have had to wait. This place was only open Thurs thru Sun, so I got lucky (on this trip, isn't it always the case). The far too religious granny told me that she had visited all the places in the area that were said to have great catfish, and she swears this is the best of the lot. I have nothing to compare it against, but I agree I would be hard pressed to get a better catfish. Just lucky...or is it?

While I was driving and contemplating just how odd it was that everything works out so well, time and again, I started thinking of bro. Bro's best friends (bewick I know you're out there) would agree that everything Mark does works out great. "He's just lucky.", we all say.

I've had a bunch of talks with bro about this and he still says, "Yeah, I'm lucky I guess, but it's more than that. I work hard to put myself in a position to be lucky." Or something of that nature. But what I'm getting at is this: I think I get it now...it might be less about luck, and more about putting yourself in places where serendipity is allowed to take you along for the ride. You just need to be ready to take an off ramp and enjoy that ride. Then again, Mark is just plain lucky.

A Day In the Smokies - Day 130

2007-08-15T21:40:00.000-05:00

I arose early, how can you not when camping out. The peaches form two days ago have ripened a bit, so it was nice to have a fresh breakfast. Cade's Cove was just a twenty mile drive, but the road was so twisty that the average speed was about 20 MPH.

In many places, the morning sun penetrates the forrest with dramatic views. Places are named after real things, and I assume the Smoky Mountains were so named either because of their haziness when seen in panorama off in the distance or because of the many times that the hazes and mist make it look like they are smokefilled. Perhaps both.

Cade's Cove, well, Cade was just some guy who used to live here. They seemed to have a lot of religious people, and the "highlights" of the 5 mile drive around the cove were 3 old bland churches. The residences and the grist mill were nothing special either, but these people certainly picked a beautiful place to set up shop. Apparently the rangers had to shoo some black bears away from the visitor center, but I didn't see them. Others were spotting deer in various places, but none for me. The best wildlife I saw was a butterfly that was either very patient for photographers, or dead.

The next stop was Laurel's waterfall and a 1.3 mile hike straight up to get there. Good hike through the steep forest. I've seen a lot better waterfalls, so a bit of a let down for that length of hike. I think it normally would have been more powerful but for the dryness of the summer. Still, good to get out and see the Smokies from the inside, and the 1.3 miles back down hill were a breeze.

From there it was a scenic drive out of the park, and a scenic drive through the foothills in Tennessee ending up here in Sweetwater, TN for some much needed rest.

Smoky Mountains NP and Cooking Out - Day 129

2007-08-15T17:59:00.000-05:00

This is what I always imagined camping to be. Sitting by the fireside, listening to the murmuring river which is my front yard, and gazing up through the giant trees at a myriad of stars.

For the very first time, bar none, since this road trip began and with great fanfare - da da dahhh - tonight I cooked myself dinner. Over the campfire I built, and on the skewers I loaded up, I fired up some steak. I got the stir fry ready sliced steak from Krogers, and I had earlier purchased some bamboo spits. I cooked 3 skewers for varying times. The medium rare was good, the medium better and well done was the way to go. If I had A1 Sauce, perhaps the reverse, but the wood BBQ added the most flavor to the meat. My next camping purchase will be salt and pepper shakers...or I'll just steal them from a restaurant.

It has passed into complete darkness now and I revel in the day I had.

I left Murphy around 9:30 and worked my way to the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. The route I chose through the Smokies was to cut across it diagonally, catch the good stuff, and set up camp early. The good stuff was plentiful, and it took me til 6:30 to set up camp. I did a couple of mile long hikes, but they felt longer because of the steep inclines. The best was to Clingman's Dome with a panoramic view of the layered Smokies. That hike was straight up, and it embarrasses me to see the four year olds, super fatties and great grandfathers that pace their way to the top. I'm surprised more people don't keel over on these things.

I met one interesting gentleman, his wife and daughter that were from South Africa and were taking it all in. They've recently moved to Florida but continue their import-export business and have the following website (http://www.agclogisticsinc.com) if anyone is interested in wine barrel furniture...I just might be myself in the near future.

Before camping, I went for provisions (Jiffy Pop that didn't work so well and the aforementioned dinner meat) and passed through Gatlinberg, TN. This is the city to which TP and Mr. T eloped. I just gotta say, what a cheesy, tourist trap, we got a Ripley's and Wax museum, throw your money away city. No offense TP :)

My thumbs are tiring and I want to do some star gazing before enjoying the comforts of the air mattress. It's pitch black now as all the campfires are out. I have a plethora of options for tomorrow, but I think I will just hike to a waterfall, do a historic scenic drive and move on and check out some more of Tennessee...perhaps Dollywood can take the cheesy taste out of my mouth that Gatlinberg inspired.

Classic - Day 128

2007-08-13T20:17:00.000-05:00

What a delightful day. As a microcosm, this day held a lot of what I have really enjoyed during this trip - a classic "Road Trip" day.
.

I started out early from Charlotte, NC and headed to Gaffney, SC to start the Cherokee Foothills scenic drive. I haven't had a great scenic drive in a while, and I didn't hold out hopes for this one. The book described it to be more historic than scenic as it was a path travelled by the namesake Indians and was subsequently followed by armies, traders and bootleggers.

But I was wrong, the drive was great. It was supposed to take about 3 hours, and I usually beat the estimated time. It took me 5 hours. I was thrown off schedule early when I met John A. Robertson at my first stop. He is a ranger at the Cowpens National Battlefield, site of a Historic victory for the American Patriots; his real passion is the Revolutionary War. He's a buff. This is a long post, and the next long paragraph is about him and his passion, so skip it if you have no interest in the Rev. War.

Mr. Robertson spent many years working on genealogy, but a few years ago, feeling his work was complete, he moved his attentions to the Revolutionary War. An early adopter of technology, he has designed a series of web pages to organize, share and request information about the war. He has an online page (http://gaz.jrshelby.com/) that shows all the sites of the war that he knows about. Many of them have a comment of "incomplete". These are sites where he is looking for more information, and he provides a simple sheet to fill out that describes the basic information he is looking for. One city marked as incomplete is Haddonfield. Perhaps someone (buz) can help out and send in the answers he is looking for. And he welcomes any other support anyone has to offer. The fill-out sheet exists somewhere, but I couldn't quickly find it, so John, if you use the card created by my sister and get to this blog page, feel free to add the link to the sheet in a comment. BTW, his other main pages are (http://lib.jrshelby.com/ and http://jrshelby.com/). Needless to say an interesting guy and a wealth of knowledge. The actual park was fine, but not as interesting as John. He dared me that I wouldn't find a more interesting spot to visit during the day, and I believed him at the time, but we were both wrong.

I continued along the byway, SC Route 11, enjoying the scenery as it headed into the foothills of the Blue Ridge mountains. After skipping a few possibilities, I took the detour to Caesar's Head, a mountaintop overlook. The actual head looked more like Bart's Grandpa Simpson than Caesar, but it was a twisty drive that ended with a beautiful overlook.

Back on Route 11, I took advantage of the local crops. Perhaps I should have waited for Georgia, but I bought a satchel of fresh peaches and a bag of boiled peanuts. The peaches were just picked and aren't ripe yet, so I will enjoy them in the future. And the peanuts were great at first, but once they cooled down, they seemed a bit soggy to me. I prefer roasted and crunch to boiled and mushy, but it was a unique experience.

After that, it was just an enjoyable drive to Lake Hartwell - pretty, but not worth writing home about. I was then going to head for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, but when I looked it up on the map, I noticed a little town called Murphy, NC. It showed it had camping, so I figured I might spend another night under the stars.

Sake (my GPS) said Murphy was only 95 miles away, but said it would take 3 hours. Sake was right this time. The winding roads that lead to Murphy were slow and twisty. I didn't see the camping, so I am stashed tonight at the Murphy Best Western. Nice place.

Murphy, NC is beautiful. It's a bit head turning to see my name on the town, schools, restaurants, hardware stores, and dump. But when not rubbernecking, I enjoyed getting lost in my namesake town set in the Blue Ridge foothills.

I asked the clerk at the hotel for a good place to eat, an act that has become second nature to me. But her breathless, drooling yet emphatic response of "Doyle's!" caught me by surprise. Usually the clerks ask, "What are you in the mood for" or "We have a Bennigan's". But there was something about this response that was different. I stammered, "Really? It's good?". She could only nod and suck back the saliva creeping down her lower lip.

I parked in the gravel lot, and sauntered in. I could get a table if I waited, but I could sit at the wine bar alone if I wanted to sit right away. Mondayfreakingnight, and a line...I sat at the wine bar, and was lucky for it. The line grew longer as I perused the wine list and selected a glass of Gewurztraminer from Germany, but the hostess said it was a bit on the sweet side and pointed me to a Sauvignon Blanc that was crisp and delicious.

Only when the bread arrived did I begin to understand that I had fallen into an exquisite fine dining experience, one of the best I've had on the entire Road Trip. The bread came with freshly whipped homemade butter and a hummus thingy. I ripped off a piece of the (I'd guess just baked) bread and buttered it and it was great...but the butter wasn't needed. The next piece was just the bread and it tasted as good. The third nugget of bread was dipped into the hummus thingy, as well as every piece thereafter. It was a curry hummus, very freshly made, with chunks of garlic, and a few other tangy spices.

.
My eyes opened, the National Parks book closed, and I began to take the menu seriously. Because I had recently had beef, I went with the Seafood Linguine plate at the recommendation of the hostess, who still tried to convince me to have the steak...perhaps I should have heeded her, but the pasta worked. The garden salad came first and by now, I knew to take the house dressing which was a curry ginger sauce that I had to lick off the plate. The garden part of the salad consisted of mushrooms, tomatoes and carrots grown by the chef. I even tasted the tomato, and have a new found appreciation.

The seafood pasta arrived and it was decadent. The abundant muscles and shrimp were perfectly cooked. My only disappointment was that there were only 3 giant scallops that were better than perfect. Scallops are so easy to ruin, and so hard to get right; when they are perfect, it is a treasure. The sauce must have been half butter or more. It separated from the garlic cream sauce in the same way as when you put a pat of butter into hot clam chowder. It was a dipping sauce for the seafood as well as an excellent sop for more of the homemade bread.
.

(BTW the service was excellent also, and because the wine bar was also a station for the staff, I constantly was chatting with the employees passing through.)

I was full. I asked for the check. Jean sat down.

Jean escaped New Orleans just one day before Katrina and has made a home of Murphy. She's now in charge of the homeless shelter here, the only one in a hundred miles. She convinced me to re-open the check and order the creme brulee for desert, to which I added a snifter of Warre's port. I'm not much of a desert person, but it was as good as the rest of the meal. What a great restaurant...if anyone is ever within striking distance of Murphy, NC come to Doyle's and enjoy this for yourself.

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If I hadn't already decided on the Phoenix area, Murphy, NC could win me over. Tomorrow I hope to do the camp-out thing, so we'll see about another blog post, hope this one leaves you as full as me.

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Addendum: I received this message from John Robertson after he checked out the comments, so I figured I'd add it to the main message:

Scott.

I tried to post this as a comment to your blog, but it hasn't appeared, so I must have done something wrong.

Anyway, I was able to expand the Haddonfield page extensively. It was a very busy spot during the RW.

See

http://gaz.jrshelby.com/whatsnew.htm (it won't be at the top of the list for long).

http://gaz.jrshelby.com/haddonfield.htm

http://gaz.jrshelby.com/m.htm#mantuacreek (I can't understand why anyone would say that any part of Mantua Creek was "near Haddonfield".

I have been adding these "Incomplete" pages as quickly as I can, because when I have them all up, I want to make yet another serious effort to recruit someone with interests similar to mine but focusing on New Jersey and New York. It those states were covered along with SC, it could be as much as half or more of the total.

Only a week or so, I gave an informal refutation to someone emailing the park that NJ had more actions than did any other state. I have no interest in bragging rights, but my work has turned up noticeably more for SC than any other colony, followed by NY then by NJ. Working with Haddonfield, I could see that someone (or several) in NJ have done the detailed searching there that some of us have done for the Carolinas. I think that I initially had 2 actions mentioning Haddonfield, and these expanded into 8. When we have had an opportunity to research all the NJ sites, the whole question of "bragging rights" may require revisiting (at least, on my part).

John

Week 18 Ends

2007-08-12T20:15:00.000-05:00

End of Week 18. ( 12:30 PM, EST - 08/12/07)

I took a pleasant drive through NC on the blue highways. Wikipedia has the following definition for "Blue Highways" with my own notations in red:

Blue Highways is an autobiographical book by William Least Heat-Moon, born William Trogdon.
In 1978, after a divorce and losing his job (no divorce, I quit my job), Heat-Moon, 38 at the time (38 when I started, 39 now), decides to take an extended road trip around the United States, sticking to only the "Blue Highways," (unless driving through Iowa, then you need to get out as fast as possible) a term he coins to refer to small, forgotten, out of the way roads connecting rural America (which were drawn in blue on the old style Rand McNally road atlas) (I have the 2007 Rand McNally road atlas and it is reversed now...interstates are blue and the smaller highways are red). He outfits a white van (a red Prius) with a bunk (a tent), a camping stove (a bag of what bCollins calls salty snacks), a portable toilet (an as yet unuesd roll of Scott's TP) and a copy of Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass (The Stearn's "Road Food) and John Neihardt's Black Elk Speaks (National Geographic's "Scenic Highways and Byways). Referring to the Native American resurrection ritual (the cars model), he christens the van (car) "Ghost Dancing," ("Pre,") and embarks on a 3 (5)-month soul-searching tour of the United States, wandering from small town to small town, often just because they have interesting names (like Murfreesboro, Intercourse, Climax - oh, I could go on!). The book chronicles the 13,000 (so far 21,000) mile journey and the people he meets along the way, as he steers clear of cities and interstates, avoiding fast food and exploring local American culture. (yep, that's right.)

Exiting NJ through 5 States - Day 126

2007-08-11T20:07:00.000-05:00

I exited New Jersey today. The Cape May - Lewes ferry was completely booked, so I had to take the long route around. And with shore traffic, it was extra long. But once I escaped, I started catching the driving bug, and entered four more states before I was through. 5 states in just 400 direct miles...it can only happen in the north east.

My exit out of NJ was over the Delaware Memorial bridge. I assume this will be the last time I

drive Pre out of her birth state.

I headed straight south through Delaware. Until now, DE had just been a "cut-through state"...sort of like a "fly-over state", except you're on wheels and they vote for the good guys. But this time I didn't make the right turn into MD, and instead headed down the Delmarva Peninsula.

I found Delaware quite pleasant, except for the nuclear power plant which made me feel a bit uneasy while observing the people swimming and fishing near by (oddly, I support nuclear power). Otherwise the birds, farms and little towns were entertaining scenery.

I don't remember Maryland at all, I think I turned left once.

Virgina gave me the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel, which at 17 miles is the longest in the world. It's a pretty amazing feat of architecture. Reading about it was better than driving it, as it was just a series of connected bridges and tunnels covered with some large egrets (now I have a visual for the common crossword puzzle shore bird) .

By the time I exited I was only a hundred miles from Murfreesboro, NC. So I pushed on. Arriving in my misspelled namesake town, I am disappointed to say I didn't fit in. So I pushed on. I am now chilling out in Roanoke Rapids, NC.

I put nearly 450 miles on today, a pretty big chunk for me, but it felt good to get back on the road again, especially with a glimpse of the end in sight. I think I'll slow it down a bit tomorrow, and take a closer look at the scenery.

Cape May Endings - Day 125

2007-08-10T20:03:00.000-05:00

Here's the head of Max and a couple of the kids that have made this week at Cape May so enjoyable.

The shore week is wrapping up and I will be embarking on the next leg of the Road Trip. Perhaps it is the penultimate trip. I'm pretty sure what the final trip is, but it is still about 3000 miles away. So for now, I am focusing on this trip. Phoenix here I come. Are you ready for me TP?

If possible, I will be catching a morning ferry out of Cape May and into Delaware. I think I will head down the coast for a while, getting into the hotter climates. I will be turning right eventually and heading out west, probably when the shore crowds start to drive me nuts.

In the title section of my blog, I wrote that this Road Trip had a “final destination yet to be determined”. That’s not really true anymore. While it may not, and probably will not be my final destination, the Road Trip’s final destination is going to be the Phoenix metro area…perhaps a Dale named after me.

I’m thinking that I will be renting a place for a few months while I scour the area perhaps to buy a place. When I will arrive there in the next few weeks, there is still another big trip being scouted out right now and as TP has already alluded to in a comment, there will be an RV involved. Should be an interesting new adventure.

After that, I think I will be flying back to NJ, renting a U-Haul, unloading all my stored stuff and driving back to AZ. So, that about sums it up. You can all stop reading now. Sure, I’ll be finishing up the blog with the next month and a half or so of stuff, but I just gave away the ending…sort of like knowing that Harry Potter dies at the end of the 7th book. (For you kids who haven’t read the book, neither have I, so I made that up…maybe.)

Homecomings - Day 121 - 123

2007-08-08T21:44:00.000-05:00

Thank you Maitlyn for the previous blog!! Great job. Let me know when you want to post another one.

It's been a long time since I have been back to my old home territories, and I have had a whirlwind tour in the past few days. After arriving here at Cape May on Sunday, and revisiting with all of my immediate family, I took a two day sojourn to Hoboken where I had spent my previous 15 years.

I think Maitlyn sufficiently described the goings on during the "Day at the Beach". And the goings on during my sojourn to Hoboken were nothing remarkable...same as it always was, I was glad to see. What's different about these days is me.

I know I have been a changed man since I started this trip. I'm happy. That's the most obvious thing I notice, as well as what most others say they see in me. A few decades ago when he met me, MFox used to call me "Mr. Happy". I feel like I could earn that title back again someday. But the changes are a lot more than just being happy, and being back in my former habitat has made me more aware of some of the changes that have taken place.

Seeing the whole family again at once, perhaps for the first time since our Disney cruise, was a bit overwhelming. (Then again, spending time with a ton of kids is usually overwhelming to me since it is not a normal occurrence in this single guy's life - I would be in much better shape if I were a parent.) The nieces and nephew grow so fast, learn so many new things, and are endlessly entertaining. And draining. And that was in less than one full day.

I then spent two nights with the former and current Hobokenites. I say two nights, because during the day they all seem to be working. Their loss.

During the day, I was able to catch up on a few local tasks that needed to be done. I went to the dentist for a correction to a previously botched cavity replacement and I did some banking at my local Citi branch to deposit some funds. Most surprising to my prior self was that, I took the opportunity to drop off my clubs at my Hoboken storage unit. Yes, that's right, I have removed the golf clubs from the car. If I need to golf, I will be renting clubs. It became a space issue and camping gear has forced the golfing gear out of the Prius. I'm not giving up golfing, but my newest hobby offers much more rewarding immediate dividends.

As for the two nights, they were spent doing what I perhaps love most. Eating. Ted and Joes for bar food and Maxwells in the city for steak. Both, great meals. The best thing I've eaten in a long while was the slab of bacon appetizer at Maxwells. It was about a half inch thick, with tons of perfect fat. It could have been a meal in itself. (see picture.)

Though the eating was great, the de ja vue effect Hoboken and NYC had on me was surprising. It was like watching a rerun of first season Seinfeld episode. Same cast and crew, same jokes, same stories, but new laughs all over again. I found myself talking too much...I think it was the gin.

It's lonely on the road at times, especially in the I states (Iowa, Illinois, Indiana). And I have picked up a greeting common in most of this country that doesn't exist in the northeast. Hugs: while I was west, I picked up the habit of hugging people. At first I didn't take to it at all - it weirded me out, but it's happened so often during the trip, it's become natural to me. MFox always did this (charlies influence I'm sure), but me and most of the crew had always been just hand-shakers. I noticed that some of my friends were a bit stiff when I hugged...bFranc, Franc and url - stiff boards...loosen up guys.

Thanks 6pack for the lodgings...I'll be back in a month or so when I am wrapping up this trip.

A Day at the Beach - Day 120 - 121

2007-08-05T19:59:00.000-05:00

Hi, this is Road Tripper's (Uncle Scott's) niece, Maitlyn and I am going to create his blog page for him today. He needs to sleep because he has been driving too much. He got here yesterday afternoon. Here's what we did:

Yesterday we went to the beach and jumped waves with Mary and Megan (my cousins) and my sister Melanie.We also played in the sand, looked for seashells and rocks, and buried Mia (my little sister). I actually have three sisters Melanie, Megan and Mia. They are all younger than me (8,5,3).

The cool thing about my family is that my family's names all start with an M, Maria (my mom), Mark (my dad), me, Melanie, Megan and Mia. There are a lot of people with M names who are with me in Cape May. Maritza (Uncle Joe’s girlfriend), Mary ,Megan(my cousins), Meme(my grandmother), Mare-mare(my dads aunt),and Max(my cousin). Now for the people without M names. Uncle Joe, Buz (my grandfather), Aunt Terri, Uncle David, Ries (my cousin), Aunt Kristin, Cousin Tina, Uncle Dickson, Adam(a friend who is here), Abby(Adam’s girlfriend), Bruce(My dads uncle) and Beana. Now if you want we could go through my moms side of the family! I’d rather not because that is a lot of people!

Last night we had dinner(tacos) and a birthday party for Melanie, Mary and Aunt Terri(the august birthday girls). Mare-mare was driving the cake home, and she turned the steering wheel left and the cake fell on her because it was a sharp turn. Luckily it was in a box so the car didn’t get messy. But the cake got smooshed on one side and the icing got stuck on the top of the box. So the cake needed surgery. First we cut out the clear top of the box that had the “Happy Birthday” writing on it. Then we pressed the plastic on the cake so it still said “Happy Birthday” (we put candles in the cake except for the plastic part). Luckily it worked. The icing was really sugary…Yummmmmmm! We stayed up til 10 PM because of all the sugar.

Today we woke up and it was raining! We went to breakfast at the Pancake House and I had strawberry pancakes with whipped cream on top...Yummmmmm again! Then the rain cloud went away and we decided to go to the beach. The waves were really big and we got pushed over a lot. It was rough, really rough. But we all made it through.

For the next blog, I'm gonna leave it for Uncle Scott to do. Bye everyone!