|
The trip
across the usa
We are driving
south through Maryland after a very difficult start to our quest. First,
getting everything packed up and taken care of took much longer than
anticipated. The hardest nut to crack was the Vanguard, our little
boat. It seems that the boat club is not going to have storage racks
available this year due to construction plans. So, we have put off
de-comissioning the boat until after our drive.
We arrived in Lexington at the home of Fred and Beth Stumpf just as the pizza delivery guy did. Perfect timing! The evening gave us a chance to catch up, spend a little time with John, and meet their latest addition; Isabel. It was a wonderful time, and saying goodbye was really not getting any easier. At least we got a nice late start on Sunday, only planning on getting to St. Louis MO. (Fred and Beth, we owe you one.) On the way out of town, we chose to go through the middle of Lexington, in an attempt to get a feel for the town. Not much happening midday on Sunday, but a nice place nonetheless.
Sunday night, we made it to St. Louis at about sunset, so we took 45 minutes to check out the St. Louis arch - gateway to the west. I had seen it once before, but never up close. With the clear skies and bright sun, it sparkled on the skyline. After seeing and photographing it from every angle, we headed over to Chris and Kiersten Leach's new house. They are working very hard to recreate a nice little brick house NW of the city center. It has a lot of charm, but no kitchen yet! Hang in there guys. Chris took us out to a pan-Asian place called Zoe: (where the dots belong over the E). The food was great, as was the company. We stayed up quite late exchanging stories, and did more of the same over breakfast as well. (C+K, we appreciate the time we spent and hope to do it again soon.) The longest day
was planned (KANSAS) to get all the way to Denver. We'll be there in
about 5 more hours. We have been driving for 10 ...
When we last left you we were in the middle of the daunting expanses of Kansas. I kid you not, we drove the entire day and barely made it across. Essentially, between Missouri, Kansas, and 1/2 of Colorado, we managed one third of the east-west distance in one day. But, we made the decision to get west in a hurry and enjoy it once we got here. My cousin Eric and his wife Ana gave us their guest room in Denver. We did not arrive until about 9 pm, so we didn't have that much time to talk. But, it was a pleasant evening followed by a restful night's sleep. We slept in some the next day, spending the morning trading stories with Eric and planning the next few days in the Mountains and South west.
We did not get out of Denver until about noon. First priority after a cup of coffee was getting a car wash for the poor Golf. The great plains are filled with great many insects, or were. After that and a few other small errands, it was up up up. Driving west out of Denver, we climbed almost immediately to about 12000 feet. Getting out of the car for a walk around surprised both of us because the air is so thin. What a view - the Rockies just went on and on. But having crossed the continental divide at this point, it was all downhill from here in a manner of speaking. We couldn't spend too much time enjoying, as we still had a lot of distance planned for the day. Our destination was Utah, Arches National Park to be exact. We got there just as the sun was setting. The information that the NP campsites were filled for the week was discouraging and we had to pitch the tent on a nearby Bureau of Land Management site by the light of the nearly full moon. As it turned out, our campsite was just 20 feet from the Colorado river, in nice humbling canyon; really quite nice. Food was the next order of business, so we went into Moab, Utah for dinner. This is the mountain bike capital of the US, and was a painful reminder of our having lost the bikes. But, our spirits were still high.
We woke up just after dawn and started on the move immediately. We broke camp and headed into the National Park before breakfast. It was totally worth missing a meal for. The many many visitors to Arches had not yet stirred from their RV's. The light was amazing, and the walking trails to each of the Arches were all but empty. It was a great start to the South west visit. We were soon on our way again, stopping in Moab once more for food, to stock up on supplies, and to fuel up. We took a meandering route to the entry of the North Rim of Grand Canyon NP. This took us through Navajo land and most notably Monument Valley. Before we reached this well known spot though, we stopped to swap driving at a spot called Valley of the Gods. It was so eerily silent there, after the many long hours on the highways. The landscape was like nothing either of us has ever seen. Unbelievable was the word of the day. Our adventures
upon arriving at Grand Canyon NP were different. We were again turned
away at the gate because the NP campsites were all spoken for. Instead,
we could camp pretty much anywhere we wanted in the adjacent Kaibab
National Forest. This is not as simple as it sounds, as the forest
goes on and on in every direction. There are huge open meadows, or
you can drive on dirt roads far into the adjacent wooded hills. We
tried the latter, but found no good place to pitch a tent before night
fell. So, we returned to the meadow and set up our tent in the middle
of an approx. 40 acre meadow under by moonshine. It was already getting
cold, as we were at 7000 plus feet and there was not a cloud in the
sky. After we got into the tent, the temperature fell and fell. I
woke at 2 am at checked my watch - 25 degrees F. The tent was completely
iced up, and we were at the limit of our sleeping bags. Brrrr. It
warmed to 33 F by 5 am, and believe it or not, I could tell the difference.
At about 6 am I said to Ivonne, "let's pack it in the car and go see
the sunrise at the rim." So we drove up to the North Rim and watched
the sun come up, warming us as it did. It was absolutely worth everything
we have been through. I cannot describe how beautiful.
We spent most of the morning enjoying the views at the North Rim and then headed out, having thawed and dried the tent and other gear. We drove out on back roads again, enjoying the Cedar and Aspen as we drove. On the way, we spent a few hours at Zion NP. Also wonderful, but we had reached National Park overload. The cure - VEGAS. Just 2 1/2 hours later we are in Sin City, staying at "Paris." Hey why not. Time to get some rest. Well we left Las
Vegas having won more than we wagered. That would be the exception
to the rule, so either we are lucky or we got out when the gettin' was
good. Vegas was unreal - but we knew that before seeing the astonishing
city lights on the ride in. We were so tired, we really only got a
brief taste of all the insanity that this town offers. We walked on
the $trip to a few of the casinos, but walking around on the street
is not a really pleasant experience. The most notable thing was that
all of the GIANT signs around town had some message for Roy of Siegfried
and Roy, who got attacked by one of his cats. Of course the sentimentality
is less than sincere when in the rotation with nickel slot and burlesque
revue ads. Inside the casinos are all different but in most ways actually
the same. And you have no idea, once inside, what time of day it is
or which way to the exit. All in all we had fun in Vegas, but the
most important parts were getting a shower and a warm bed.
Once we reached
Half Moon Bay we headed towards Menlo Park, where cousin Daniel and
his wife live. We took the skyline drive which follows a high ridge
near the San Andreas Fault. This drive was virtually empty, which made
it fun. We also got our first glimpses of the the city from the high
road. We found the apartment shorty after dark, after a few tries.
Daniel and Katarina were so kind to take us in, especially because I
neglected to make early arrangements. Thanks again you two. We shared
a late supper together, which always seems a social high point while
traveling. We swapped stories and showed some pictures of our trip
through Utah and Arizona. They had made quite a few of these trips
themselves, plus Dan works for the US Geologic Survey. He was able
to explain what we had looking at in a totally different way.
It
was very tempting to stay in San Francisco a second night. Instead,
we had a nice, if early dinner in the Italian section of town, the North
Beach, with Katarina and Daniel. The food and mood were both excellent.
Afterwards, we climbed the steep Union Street to the VW and took to
the highways. We headed east for the first time in a week, crossing
the Bay Bridge to Oakland and Berkeley. We stocked up on food for a
long drive at left the Bay area around 8 pm. We had plans to drive
through the night and not stop until Fort Collins CO. I took the first
shift, which is also the easiest, driving until about 1 am somewhere
high in Nevada. It was actually a really nice drive with the rising
but waning moon leading the way. Out past Reno Ivonne took over, on
the much more challenging second shift. She drove until well after
3, but pulled off in a rest area to get some shut eye. In the end we
made it through Wyoming to Colorado on the following evening, where
my cousin (you may have noticed, I have a large extended family) Paul
Schickler took us out for dinner at a great restaurant he manages and
let us crash in his place. So, Paul, you too have joined the club -
thanks again. Next stop The Black Hills and Badlands of South Dakota.
When
we first saw the black hills, we thought we understand where the name
came from. For the first time since crossing the Rockies heading west,
we saw a stable set of clouds casting dark shadows. Up until then,
we had almost freakishly perfect weather. These clouds must bring rain
(RAIN!) often enough, because there were distinctly different trees
- dark green pines - growing there. The combination of overcast skies
and deep dark needles made the hills seem virtually black in comparison
to the rolling grasslands around. After a wonderful drive through both
the national and state parks in the area, we were shot back out into
almost monochromatic prairie.
A few hours later,
having skipped Mt. Rushmore, we entered the Badlands of South Dakota.
We chose to cross the area on the secondary road, completely avoiding
Wall, SD of Wall Drug fame. The drive into the badlands was made even
better because the sun was setting behind us. The prarie floor seems
to have collapsed out from underneath the cows and grass. Water is
at work here like it was in the southwest, but here there was no sign
of it. Presumably, it is from rainwater not formed into powerful river,
because the canyons are nowhere near as deep as those we had seen. We
don't really know what kind of rock or soil remained at the base of
these canyons, but it looks much softer and more fragile than the rock
on the wall of the grand canyon. Looking at it, one would think it
was basically mud, but it isn't. The badlands moved from the windshield
to the rear view mirror, and we drove on in the dark headed due east.
Finally we arrived in Lake Villa IL, about 1 hour north of Chicago just in time to see game 7 of the ALCS. When I told them I wanted to see game 7, they both said it had been the previous night! That is when Cubs fans were once again disappointed. Well, Boston fans had to suffer the same fate in the end. On the following day, Ivonne and I took our first full day off from the road in about 2 weeks. We ran errands, did laundry, and got the car cleaned up for its eventual sale, but we slept in the same place two nights in a row - how novel. New
York
On
the next day, Sunday, there was a little going-away party attended by
my extended family. At the same time that we were feeling at the end
of this journey, it was clear that another, much longer trip was about
to begin. Both of us had mixed feelings about all of it. We thank you
all for wishing us well and we will make you proud. The drive to NYC
was uneventful on Monday, highlighted by the wonderful fall colors.
The route was through the southern tier of western NY, not the usual
path on the Thruway that both of us were used to. It was good to take
a different path - it IS good to take the road less traveled! We made
it back early enough to collect the bikes and add them to our shipment.
Ivonne's bike has been made whole, while my older Cannondale was not
repairable. We packed both away in shipping boxes, nonetheless. Maybe
I can find older parts to make something of the Cannondale frame over
in Holland. By days end we were in NYC, staying in David's apartment
on the upper west side. Dave and Martha, thank you for the place to
stay. That ends the tale from the American Highways! Website last updated September 16, 2004 |
