Thanks for everyone who was concerned about me and Siena on the trip after our extended stay in Vegas. I have updated the posts from my trip with some photos including as a bonus for those schadenfreude types pictures of Corolla post accident. Scroll down and enjoy. To get you started, here is Siena pointing at a hole at 10,000 ft.
Do they have gophers at 10,000 ft?
Another long haul day brought me to my parent’s door at 7:00 pm.
Finally arriving in the Land of Lincoln
They came out of the house when they heard me trying to get Siena to come. I let her out of the car but then she took off and started exploring the neighborhood. Today was a more interesting day than yesterday. I apparently was on the “Childhood home” tour of America. It seemed that every small town I passed in Kansas and Missouri was the “Childhood home” of someone who is either famous or trying to be famous. I passed the childhood home of random astronauts (Apollo I assume), the childhood home of Bob Dole AND Arlen Spector, the childhood home of Walt Disney, and the homes of DDE and HST, and an assortment of high school state champions and Arby’s franchise owners. The “Childhood home” tour of America also seems to parallel the anti-abortion freeway judging by the number of signs and billboards along the way. Surprisingly I saw nary a one presidential sign.
I thought my trip would end quietly and uneventful, but, alas, it was not to be. This time, it was Topeka. Just before the city I saw a police officer in the interstate median. No problem, I was only going 74 in a 70 and was in the process of getting passed by a big black pickup traveling at least 78. We both passed the cop without incident. I check my rearview mirror and see another pickup with one headlight out (or is it on?) pass the cop and the cop pull out into the interstate. I feel bad for that guy since I expect him/her to get pulled over. To my surprise, I don’t see the disco lights. No problem, I will go 64 in the, now, 65 mph zone. By now the cop is gaining on me but I have not done/am not doing anything illegal so I am not sweating anything. Now, let me set the scene. I am in the right lane, the cop is coming up in the left lane and a feeder interstate is merging into my lane. I signal then merge in front of the cop so those from the other interstate can take my lane. Still, so far, so good. Since I am going 64 (in a 65) and the cop is obviously going faster than that, I speed up slightly and back to the lane I was in. I signal and merge, no problem. Another 15 seconds go by and then the cop flashes his lights and pulls me over. Normally, I would be aware of what traffic rule I violated, but I am completely clueless here. I know 100% that I wasn’t speeding. Anyway, he pulls up to my window and doesn’t give the “Do you know why I am pulling you over…” but says, get this, “I think you did this to get out of my way, but you when you changed lanes back there you merged a little quick for me.” I am thinking, “Really!? You pull me over for that? Not the guy who was speeding? Not the guy with one headlight out? You pull me over because you were a little uncomfortable with how much space I allowed between my car and another?” After he returned my license and car rental contract, he proceeds to ask me about rain in Central Kansas after noticing my wet car. I was simply given a warning with the advice, “You can just get rid of that if you want.” Is this the time where I say “Typical”? Thank goodness I am home.
Tonight, I put the pedal down and traveled over 600 miles to get to WaKeeney, KS, and, yes, there really is a capital K in the name. I didn’t really stop and see anything as I am just now focused on getting home and trying to get over my sickness. I was tempted to take a quick drive through Arches National Park but decided, like the rest of the Utah parks, that it was going to have to wait until next time. I did parallel the Colorado river for about 150 miles in Western Colorado. I also drove through some pretty scenic canyons along I-70. The most remarkable sight was the final few miles on 70 before coming to Denver. There is a small rise on the road that you crest and can look out far on to the front range. The are no more mountains, literally, for the rest of the trip. It marked a change in the road trip from mountain west to the great plains of the center part of the country. It also helped that Denver is almost the half way point on the drive from Vegas to Springfield. I decided to push the drive today and decided to stay in a hotel to get more driving done. I also used the hotel as an opportunity to shower and, get ready, shave! Yes, my almost week (or is it weak) growth is now gone and only after the fact do I realize that I should have taken a picture for posterity. Sorry loyal craidd readers.
The other thing that I saw on my trip is the National Renewable Energy Lab outside of Denver. I don’t know much about it other than it reminded me of the Rocky Mountain Institute and one Amory Lovins (cue the inside joke).
Today is the day that I get my trip back on track. I actually slept through most of the night last night which is more than I can say for the previous nights. I took the guilty pleasure of having Siena sleep on the bed with me. I needed some close comfort after the days events. After checking into my hotel last night (Super 8 on Koval Ln) and getting various administrative details straightened out (calling everyone that needed to be called, renting a car for the remainder of the trip, writing various emails) I cruised on over to yelp to check out a close place that served good food for not much money. I found this place called Ellis Island Brewery that was supposed to serve some pretty good steak for dirt cheap. So I strode all the way over there (it was next door and connected by an overhang) and put my name down. Table for 1. They told me 45 minutes to an hour. While I was pretty hungry then I didn’t mind and went back to my room (a two minute walk) to spend some time with Siena. I went back over there about 35-40 minutes later to find that half the tables are empty and my number had been called long before. Oh well, I got seated right away. When I asked about steak they said that that was only served in the restaurant, this was the BBQ. Great, just what I needed. I went along with it and got a half chicken, half rack of ribs, ear of corn, a side of beans and a side of slaw for something like $9. Gotta love Vegas. Realizing that I didn’t really want to eat any of the food, I managed to eat about half the things on my plate (the ribs, 1/4 chicken, and half the corn) before giving up. After the waiter was subjected to my sad story, he comped my second drink (root beer). That was nice of him.
Today involved finishing up my Vegas details and getting back on my way. My car was to be picked up at the Venetian. So it was a nice contrast to go from camping and not showering in days to standing in line at one of the top casinos in Vegas to get my car. Oh, the side note is that my razor was left in the damaged car and not in my hotel room, still haven’t shaved since I left SF. I got the car, picked up Siena and my things at the hotel (leaving my video camera behind), heading over to the Maximum Auto Body to clean out the Corolla and then back to pick up my camera. The people at the auto body shop were really nice and accommodating. I got squared away with SafeCo and then took the dreaded I-15 north out of Vegas.
I pretty much drove straight through to Green River, UT where I pitched my tent at Green River State Park. It is a manacured lawn for the tent so I am looking forward to not sleeping on hard dirt. We continue heading east tomorrow hopefully to or past Denver. I am progressively getting worse with this sickness.
The second day of the Great Western Road Trip was a great deal of fun and a day of extremes. Siena and I explored the Devil’s Postpile (pictures will be coming soon are here) and enjoyed a nice 3.5 mile hike through the valley/canyon from the Postpile to Rainbow Falls and back to the bus stop.
60-ft wall of hexagonal basalt, aka the Devil's Postpile
The Postpile was really cool to see all of the hexagon rocks, the falls were nothing too special. Walking to the falls was worthwhile to give Siena some time to run around as well as walk through a forest in regeneration. There was a forest fire in the area in 1992, just long enough to see life return, but still recent enough to appreciate the magnitude of the fire.
We left Mammoth Lakes and headed south toward Death Valley. The drive was very scenic as we drove through a series of valleys (actually, just one long valley) with the Eastern Sierras rising to the west. The vegatation was markedly different from the wetter western slopes we saw on the approach to Yosemite. I missed the turn off for the Owen Valley Radio Observatory so I missed out on one of my nerdy things to do. I am not crying a river though. The next side trip we took was an auto tour through Manazanar National Historic Site.
Two of the four remaining buildings at Manzanar
Unfortunately there isn’t much there except some signs identifying what was there sixty years ago. I couldn’t really get out of the car and walk around too much but it was good to actually be in the place where all of this un-American activity happened.
The day concluded with dinner and a pitched tent in Furnace Creek, Death Valley, CA. Fortunately it was only September when we arrived, not July. Also, it was 5 pm and not noon. We only experienced 105 degree weather. I did get some greens in my diet though. The campground was almost completely vacant (who says, “I want to camp in Death Valley in Summer!”?). I was really looking forward to the night as we were out in the middle of nowhere. The night sky didn’t disappoint. I have my small telescope in the car with me so I broke it out and managed to get a really sharp look at Jupiter and a few of its moons. I saw a number of shooting stars and the bright Milky Way that stretched directly overhead. I was surprised, however, by the general quietness of night and the following morning. There was hardly any noise that wasn’t man made. It made the experience have a small eerie feeling to it.
Random notes about the day.
Thermometer at Furnace Creek
This was the second night in a row where there was a massive amount of wind in the evening. In the morning I was at 10,000 ft., in the evening I was at -190 ft. The previous night was below 40 degrees, the afternoon temperature was 105.
My ears never adjusted to the change in elevation, that could be, though, because I have been progressively more sick as this trip goes on.
Siena and I got up early today and got on the road by 7:15 to check out the rest of Death Valley. We took the Artist Loop, not really worth it at 8 in the morning, maybe toward dusk the colors would jump out more, and stopped at Badwater, the lowest point in the Western Hemisphere. Since Wales is still in the Western Hemisphere I can still pay attention to those things.
The low point of my trip
The drive through the rest of Death Valley was a fun driving experience, two lane road, sun at an angle, no one else on the road, you can see for miles. I was truly enjoying not only the scenery but the act of driving. We left Death Valley and headed over in to Nevada and into Las Vegas. I was planning to stop for gas on the far side of Sin City until the Great Western Road Trip took a sudden detour. Around 11 am as I was traveling on I-15, a car in front of me stopped short and, try as I might, I could not stop/veer in time to avoid a collision. Despite the fact that the front left end of my car bent in a thousand different ways and that my left front tire is oriented 90 degrees from where it should be, my airbags didn’t deploy and all of the passengers involved were not hurt (the two in the other car, me and Siena). Pictures will be coming soon have arrived.
Front end of the crunch
I had the weird experience of being in my non-moving car in the middle lane of a five lane freeway with traffic going around me on all sides. I should have taken a video of that! Needless to say, I spent the rest of my day outside the place where my car got towed first or inside the place where my car got towed second. Thanks SafeCo for letting me know where to tow my car before it needs to get off the interstate. I mean really, I was just in a car accident on the interstate that totals my car, I am in a town that I don’t live in, and the woman on the phone gives me flack for not knowing the zipcode? I tell her I am looking at the Mirage and the Luxor, is there any doubt where I am? Don’t get me started on the place where my first tow was too (SST Towing), slowest business ever. The estimate for repairs comes to $6700, several thousand more than the car is worth. So my Great Western Road Trip is now going to be a dash back to Illinois in a rental car. At least I got to meet up with a former classmate from grad school. Thanks JH for the ride!
Side view of the crunch
When you are sick, tired, and your car is totaled, going through a casino to grab some dinner just doesn’t have the same buzz to it. Maybe I should try to win some money for a new car while I am here? Did I mention I am losing my voice?
I am not sure how much I will be able to post about my journey east, but I managed to acquire an internet connection outside the lodge at Mammoth Lakes. Yesterday’s journey took me from my apartment in SF to Mammoth Lakes. Unfortunately I can’t post any pictures yet. Siena did well yesterday in the car. She got a little run outside of Yosemite in the Stanislaus NF and then a big run near our campsite in the Inyo NF. She also got to see Half Dome in Yosemite but she didn’t seem much interested in that. Oh yeah, she also ripped a hole in the tent door. Extra ventilation? She also survived sub-40 degree temperatures last night. What a first day! Our plan this morning is to check out Devil’s Postpile National Monument before heading south on US 395 toward Death Valley. Maybe she won’t complain about the cold after that.
