Lake Tahoe

Lake Tahoe is breathtaking. Snow on mountains in the summertime and Christmas trees around a blue Lake. I camped at Zephyr Cove (highly recommend) and Emerald Bay. On the way to Emerald Bay, I encountered the scariest piece of road I have ever been on. You climb uphill at about 10 mph and then all of a sudden you come to a landbridge maybe six hundred feet above the lake - one lane in each direction, with no guard rails on either side. They barely got the little white lines on the edge of the pavement. Speed dropped to 5mph, and I did not take any pictures of this road because I was gripping the wheel for all it was worth.

Utah and Nevada

Utah is a beautiful, beautiful state. Things tht surprised me about Salt Lake City - Most of the streets have numbers based on how far they are from the Great Mormon Temple. For example, 5600 West is five thousand six hundred yards west of the Temple, I believe. Makes you wonder about the separation of church ad state in Utah. I had assumed that Salt Lake City was a dry town. Nope. It may have more venues for imbibing than Raleigh does. It might even have more strip clubs than Raleigh does. Also, I assumed that the Great Salt Lake was completely flat and solid. Wrong again - although it is where most American table salt comes from. People boat on the part of the lake closest to Salt Lake City, and drive on the Bonneville Salt Flats, which is on the Nevada Border. The other mentionable from this leg of the trip was encountering an ugly weather system near Battle Mountain, Nevada - which I would consider to be the middle of nowhere. I drove fast, very fast, to get away from that thing.

Zion National Park

Showing Some Flexibility

I had originally planned on camping on both sides of the Grand Canyon, but with the forest fire in Flagstaff, I started mulling over plans for what to do if the roads were closed. Las Vegas started to look like a good option. As it turned out, I was able to go to the Grand Canyon. It did not have the same grip on me that Sedona did. Maybe I preferred Sedona because the rocks were above me, or because so much of it was individual discovery by myself in my car or on little trails. Like the Eagles song, Sedona gave me a "peaceful, easy feeling." :) So I decided to skip the two nights of camping at the Grand Canyon and head off to Vegas. Taking a break in Williams, Arizona, a man pointed to my license plate and asked if the black Honda was mine. Then he pointed to the NC State plate on his car. He was class of '78. We talked for a bit. Nice guy. Drove over the Hoover Dam. That took quite a while because of security and an accident. The desert and mountains around Las Vegas are beautiful. The first night there, I had Macy, so I walked her on the strip and drove around exploring. The next morning I took her to a kennel so I could properly experience Las Vegas. I picked $3.00 blackjack at Hooters. I had never been to a casino before or played blackjack with anyone for money. Luckily it was slow, and the dealer could explain everything to me. I made $50 last a while and then disappear. In the night gambling session I actually walked out with $25 in winnings. I went to Mandalay Bay to see the Lion King. That was my first musical. I thought it was very well-done. Everything was so precise - music, costumes, puppets and their mannerisms, and the kid who played Simba was amazing. I can't imagine being ten years old and acting so well in front of such a huge crowd. Maybe the best thing about going to Las Vegas was going to the pawn shop where the TV show Pawn Stars is filmed. I got to say hello to Chumlee. They had some interesting items in the store, and there must have been a hundred people milling around in there. I'm really glad I got to experience Las Vegas, and I feel like there is so much more that I could have gotten into there. I would love to go back sometime.
I

Sedona

Driving south from Flagstaff, Arizona to Sedona, Arizona is an amazing drive on a twisty road that drops 2000 feet in elevation and has evergreen trees and red rocks. Ariving in Sedona, you see the most breathtaking, relaxing scenery. It really does feel good to be here. I'm not looking forward to leaving.

Leaving New Mexico

I left Taos pretty early Friday morning and headed south along the River Road to Santa Fe. I could have bypassed Santa Fe, but I decided to stop in again at Counterculture on Baca Street - which so far is the best coffee I have ever tasted. West of Albuquerque I started getting into the type of desert that you see in a Roadrunner cartoon. I stopped to walk Macy in Gallup, New Mexico. There was a guy rolling down the sidewalk on a skateboard with a pitbull on a leash. As soon as his dog saw Macy, it changed speeds and directions - taking off after Macy. The guy was able to keep control of his dog, but not his skateboard. I ate my first fast food of the trip today. Arby's in Winslow, Arizona - home of the slowest fast food in America. I stopped because I had driven all day and I was starving. After ten minutes at the drive though, I paid and finally got my food. I then drove 56 miles to Flagstaff. Checking in at the motel, I discovered that my ATM card was still at Arby's back in Winslow. So now I have a good idea of what 56 miles looks like visually, because you can see the mountains at Flagstaff from near Winslow - and I got to see it twice. That said - I wanted to see the country, and Flagstaff is a cool town. lots of Evergreen trees and lots of people. Are they all going to the Grand Canyon? If so, its going to be crowded.

Taos, New Mexico

Taos, New Mexico is absolutely beautiful. The sign says population 3369 and elevation 6983 feet. Every direction you turn in you see the beautiful Sangre de Cristo mountains and you smell the sagebrush growing alongside the desert roads. The skyline is incredible. I stayed in a small desert community of earthships. An earthship is a house built out of tires, cans, bottles, adobe, etc. that produces its own electricity and water. There are no power lines in this community. Most all of the 65 homes here have solar panels and some have windmills. All of them have cisterns to catch and filter rainfall and snowmelt. Nothing here was built by a contractor, and the city did not put roads in for them. The people here did it all themselves.
While checking in to the earthship community, I met Kelsey, Skye, and Alison. Kelsey lives in Carborro, NC and I end up meeting him in the desert in New Mexico. They are on their way to California. I got to hang out with them for a little bit and they were all really nice people. Skye had her dog Garfunkle, who Macy really liked as well.
The Rio Grande Gorge is right down the street from my house. I went out there this morning and bumped into a seventy year old man named Roy from Dallas, Texas. He was travelling by himself too, in a camper that he built out of sheet metal. He was on his way to pickup a friend in California, and then they were headed to the east coast. He plans to be on the road for four months. He was pretty spry for seventy years old.
I also went to the Taos Pueblo, built by the Indians here around 1600. Everything was built out of mud, and that is where everyone else in the southwest got their style of architecture from.

Santa Fe

Route 285 into Santa Fe is straight uphill and through a forest to 7000 feet elevation. I could feel the pressure change and it did not feel good. Kind of felt sick in fact. There were very few cars, no lights, no buildings on this road. All of a sudden, you get to the top and see a few adobe houses and then boom - cars everywhere. Where'd they all come from? Santa Fe is a big, multicultural, multilingual city with a lot of tourists.
Its as if the town of Santa Fe has a building code and all structures have to be the same architectural style - and most are. I love the architecture. I love the open sky and the mountains at the end of the road. I love the fact that there is a breeze, strong sunshine, and no humidity. I love the Mexican food. I don't really like spicy food but I found the food here amazing. I highly recommend The Shed, Tomasinos, and Santa Luna. All are great restaurants. I hope to come back here sometime.

Cowtown

I drove 467 miles today, from Fort Smith Arkansas to Amarillo, Texas. It felt much longer than that. Oklahoma is surprisingly green until you get to Oklahoma City. Then it gets about how you would expect it to look - lots of brownish, yellow, open space. The wind really blows in western Oklahoma and at the top of Texas. It's good to see all of the wind farms here. In Oklahoma City I had a pretty good lunch at the Cattleman Steakhouse. Afterward I went to the National Stockyard and watched the cowboys unload trucks of beef cows. I got right up close to the action. Macy even tried to sit in some dried up cow shit - but I quickly snatched her up. The three second rule is in effect, right?

Outlaw Country

I met my first character of the trip today. His name is Earl - like on the TV show. Those were his words. Recently parolled after serving time for some undisclosed crime which he said he did not commit. Although Earl had a tattoo of a dagger on his shoulder, I at no time felt unsafe. He is currently living in a tent somewhere in or around Little Rock. He liked my dog Macy and I told him that I got her at the pound, and that they said she had been fixed - but really she wasn't - so I had to bring her back for the surgery. Earl feels that fixing an animal is cruel. I didn't ask, but I don't think he believes in leashes either. Earl was doing a good job chatting up the 20 year old girl who was working in the coffee shop. She was a sweetheart. Earl seemed pretty nice as well. I like 100% of the people I've met in Arkansas. I like the feel of Little Rock a lot. It seems like there are a lot of people in the city, but the roads are wide and empty. I stopped and took a picture of Central High School - the first integrated school in the south. It is really an impressive, huge building - even moreso than Broughton, if you you know it. I did not take the time to properly reflect on the history of the building I was looking at. I just snapped the picture and took off. Juan warned me about that. Also, I have to thank Travis for suggesting XM radio. My CD player is broken. I never would have guessed that Outlaw Country would be my favorite station. Speaking of Outlaw Country, I enjoyed lunch in Memphis. I had barbecue at Pig on Beale Street, and it was great. I regret that I got there in the day time. I bet it is a lot of fun at night. Continuing with my outlaw country theme, when I pulled into the parking lot of a hotel in Nashville last night,I looked at the car next to me and sawthat it contained an undercover cop in a bulletproof vest who was fixated on the door of the breakfast restaurant next door. My first stakeout. I did not stay at that motel.

A journey of ten thousand miles starts when you tell yourself, "I'm not going to work next summer," and you save up a couple bucks.

I came up with the idea for this trip when I was not completely satisfied with the pay schedule for my summer job last year (2009). Why should I work during the summer if the only paycheck doesn't come until August 31? No sir, I'm going to do something else next summer. Something fun. I think I'll go see the Redwoods, and Crater Lake, and San Francisco. Of course, I'll have to take my dog - Macy. I can't leave her for that long. I'll have to drive. I've got all the time in the world. I've got two months. "Oh, you can't do it, it's too much driving," one of my friends said. I have two months. Not only will I do it, I'm going to do it well.


At first, with only three destinations, I was thinking I would only drive four hours a day and then explore the rest of the day. That was before I bought an atlas and started seeing what was out there, and calculating distances. The itinerary is now a lot more complicated and a lot more exciting. Here it is:


Friday June 11 Raleigh to Nashville


Saturday June 12 Nashville to somewhere in Arkansas


Sunday June 13 Arkansas to Oklahoma City


Monday June 14 Ok City to Santa Fe


Tuesday June 15 explore Santa Fe


Wednesday June 16 Taos, New Mexico - stay in an Earthship

Thursday June 17 Taos Earthship


Friday June 18 long drive to Flagstaff, Arizona


Saturday June 19 Sedona


Sunday June 20 Sedona, Arizona


Monday June 21 South Rim of the Grand Canyon


Tuesday June 22 North Rim of the Grand Canyon


Wednesday June 23 Zion National Park


Thursday June 24 Salt Lake City, Utah


Friday June 25 Reno or Lake Tahoe


Saturday June 26 enjoy Lake Tahoe


Sunday June 27 Monterey Aquarium and Santa Cruz


Monday June 28 Santa Cruz


Tues June 29 Santa Cruz


Wednesday June 30 San Francisco. I want to go to the California Academy of Sciences

Thursday July 1 San Francisco. and see the murals in the Mission District


Friday July 2 San Francisco and Sausalito


Saturday July 3 northern California coast


Sunday July 4 Redwoods


Monday July 5 Redwoods


Tuesday July 6 Redwoods


Wednesday July 7 southern Oregon coast


Thursday July 8 Crater Lake National Park Lodge


Friday July 9 Oregon Country Fair


Saturday July 10 Oregon Country Fair


Sunday July 11 Oregon Country Fair / Eugene, Oregon


Monday July 12 drive east across Oregon


Tuesday July 13 Boise, Idaho / Birds of Prey National Wildlife Refuge


Wednesday July 14 arrive Jackson, Wyoming


Thursday July 15 drive north to Yellowstone National Park


Friday July 16 Yellowstone


Saturday July 17 Yellowstone


Sunday July 18 Grand Teton National Park Grand Teton National Park


Monday July 19 Grand Teton NP


Tuesday July 20 drive Wyoming


Wednesday July 21 Boulder, Colorado


Thursday July 22 Boulder


Friday July 23 Boulder


Saturday July 24 String Cheese Incident concert at Red Rocks Ampitheatre


Sunday July 25 Denver


Monday July 26 Albuquerque


August 2 arrive home Raleigh, North Carolina



Now it doesn't look so much like I've got all the time in the world. I even feel kind of rushed. So much to see and only 51 days to do it in. So I started by making a few reservations here and there. Putting a little money down, so that I had a committment to this idea. My friends Seth and Leigh agreed to fly out and meet me in different locations along the way - so I had to figure out when I would be there and if I could actually make it from point A to point B in a given amount of time. I did a load of research. It became my hobby. Now I have to drive. I can't believe the time is finally here.