Home and a final post

Hello

So I've decided to not make a regular post about the trip from New Orleans to Minneapolis. Really, it wasn't that interesting and was mostly a bunch of driving. I did however stop in Little Rock, AR overnight and visited the Clinton Library, pictures can be found in the Photobucket.

Above are the unwrapped shot glasses and assorted knicknacks I collected along the trip. All told I have 27 souvenirs:
Death Valley, California.
Columbia River Maritime Museum
Stone Dinosaur, Wyoming Dinosaur Museum, Thermopolis, Wyoming.
Pacific Coast Rock, found along the beach in Washington State.
Tillamook Cheese Company, Tillamook, Oregon.
Mount Rushmore NM, Black Hills South Dakota.
Obsidian shard (for the) Big Obsidian Flow, Newberry National Volcanic Monument, Oregon.
William J. Clinton Presidential Library. Little Rock, Arkansas.
Spam Museum, Austin, Minnesota.
Seattle, WA.
Grand Teton NP, Wyoming.
Badlands NP, South Dakota.
Mount St. Helens Historic Site, Washington.
Sea Lions Cave, Oregon Coast.
Eruption flipbook, Mount Saint Helens, Washington.
Crater Lake NP, Oregon.
Monterey Bay Aquarium, Monterey, California.
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.
Crazy Horse Memorial, Black Hills, South Dakota.
Bourbon St, New Orleans, Louisiana.
August Schell Brewery, New Ulm, MN.
Petrified Wood (for the) Petrified Forest NP, Arizona.
Carved California Redwood shotglass, Redwoods NP, California.
Corn Palace, Mitchell, South Dakota.
Grand Canyon NP, Arizona.
Glacier NP, Montana.
Wall Drug, Wall, South Dakota
Olive wood vase, from Crater Lake NP store.

Now for some numbers (9/10-10/10/08):

Total Miles Driven : 8899 miles.
Gallons of Gasoline: 253.43 gallons.
Total fuel cost: $903.43
Miles Per Gallon: 35.11 mpg
Average price per gallon: $3.56

Nights stayed in a tent: 6
Nights stayed in a hotel: 24

Trips to McDonalds (breakfast specifically): 16 (12)

Times I used my National Parks Pass: 15
Amount of park fees (approx) $280
Cost of a parks pass: $80

Total Trip Cost (including new laptop PC): $4302 (give or take).

I would like to thank everyone who has read and commented on my blog. This concludes the Blanketing the West blog. Thanks!

New Orleans and the South.

New Orleans

Day 28:

I left Kinder in the morning after making a one night reservation at the Ambassador Hotel in downtown New Orleans. After driving across miles and miles of elevated highway that crossed vast expanses of marshland I passed Baton Rouge and headed south to New Orleans. I arrived and had my first experience with valets on the trip. The room itself was only $50 for the night and included a breakfast and free parking; I understand that these prices would have been unheard of before Katrina. Anyways, after parting with my keys I wheeled my cart of Tupperware up to the room.

I must say, even for a converted warehouse the Ambassador is a nice place; probably the nicest place I stayed all trip.



The room had the original hardwood floors, roughly refinished. It also has a window with a great view of the brick wall 2 feet away, but still, it was a nice place, and for so little cash in downtown New Orleans. I relaxed for a while, watching the news and blogging, before venturing out into the humidity of the New Orleans evening.

Bourbon Street is northwest of the Ambassador Hotel's location on Tchoupitoulas St (choopitoolas), centered here, about 1 mile. Bourbon street is the main drag in the district, but there are many clubs, restaurants and tourist traps in the French Quarter surrounding Bourbon Street. The street itself was barricaded off from vehicles by the time I got there, and I suspect that they would make it a pedestrian walk for about 8 blocks but for some unknown reason.

I didn't take my camera, as, suspecting a situation similar to that of Amsterdam, that it would be more trouble than it's worth ('accidentally' or not, taking a pic of a prostitute's stall in Amsterdam will get your camera smashed, at least went the legend).

Now, this is pretty cool: I found a place to eat at a restaraunt called the Chartes Inn (or something, Place maybe?). While looking for the restaraunt's names and such I came across the Google Street View software system, and found this shot. Assuming it loads correctly this is a street view of the place I ate, and I can tell I ate there because the wall colors and door were very distinct. Technology is wonderful. Anyways, feel free to mess around with the street view thing for awhile, and get a feel for the atmosphere and such of New Orleans. Dinner consisted of an appetizer of a baked crawdad cakes, and an entree of a true tourist feast: the New Orleans Sampler consisting of bowls of jambalaya, red beans and gumbo. mmmmm. It was amazing. And it cost $40 (with white wine). But it was worth it. Best Food in America, in my new opinion. After I was fat and happy I backtracked to a cigar shop I had passed earlier and picked up a nice Macanudo which accompanied me as I sauntered toward Bourbon Street proper.

"Bourbon Street" is about 8 blocks long. The southwest end meets Canal Street and is mostly strip clubs while the northeast end is mostly jazz and music clubs. Again, using the Google Mapview thing I found the Jazz Club I visited: the Maison Bourbon, dedicated to the preservation of Jazz. Now, I don't pretend to have a deep appreciation of jazz. It is a form of music that doesn't really speak to me, but my friend and Jazz musician Mike Cain has educated me enough in the art of jazz to know good jazz when I hear it. And this club had good jazz. After the purchase of an $8 Guiness I listened to two sets by Louis Ford and his New Orleans Flairs. Again, jazz doesn't speak to me as it does some, but I could appreciate the extemporaneous nature of their music, and ended up (after a second Guiness) purchasing a CD of the group's works. I listened to it on the way home and I like it, but alas, I fear jazz will never be my thing. But I know that patronizing the things you appreciate is important, and I hope that my drinks and CD will help keep jazz alive in it's birthplace.

With a couple pints and a white wine in me I proceeded down Bourbon street south, past the skin and celebrations. Many tempting offers were directed my way by the eye candy, but an empty wallet and my better angels prevailed. If you're interested in the sites the Google View thing shows the entire street (strip?) and you can view to your heart's desire.

I made my way back to the hotel to sleep off the fun. Of the places I've visited this trip Bourbon Street's culture and proclivities were one of the most memorable, putting for example Vegas to shame and I am trying to figure out ways of getting back there again. Of all the places in America I suspect this one reminds me the most of 'Europe' and of course Amsterdam in particular. The combination of colorful people, places and relatively subdued commercial nature of New Orleans has retained it's appeal thru hurricane and strife, and I for one hope it never dies.

The trip north later.

Texas

So remember when I was amazed at theinterstate sign in California that listed exit 830 or something, and thought that was big. Well I drove the entire length of I-10 from El Paso to Orange, and exited the state at mile 825 or so.

Day 26, 10-5-08:
Leaving my room in El Paso I surveyed the map and locked my destination into the GPS. It happily told me to drive for 8 hours or so. I sighed. Texas is a big state, and contrary to some memes is not actually flat. It's just mostly flat. And dry, and a bit like cornfields, only replace 'uggh corn' with 'uggh sagebrush'.

It is also a very fast state. I enjoy moving quickly between destinations, and typically consider 75 mph to be the top of my comfortable driving speed. My car's transmission gearing was not meant to go much more than 70, so my tachometer starts creeping above 3000 rpm when I hit 72ish. The speed limit on I-10 from El Paso to Kerrville is 80. 80 freaking miles an hour. Thankfully there isn't much traffic along the route on a weekday, but man, it gets disconcerting when fully loaded semis travel around you at those speeds; the inertia they carry is downright nauseating to think about and what it would do to you. So, I gritted my teeth and barreled down the road at Ludicrous Speed.

---

Before moving to Minnesota with the parents when I was 12 we lived in Williamston, MI. Our neighbors there were the Bonds, and I was friends with their daughter of my age, Amie, when we were small. Like, 3-4 small. They movved away then and ended up in the suburbs of Houston, before moving to Kerrville a few years ago. I contacted the Bonds and they agreed to put me up for the night. I arrived around 6pm at their 80 acre ranch, and was greeted by Mr. Bond at the front gate.

I dont really remember the Bonds. I've met them after they moved away but in reality I didn't know what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised, and kept having these half-remembered memories pop into my head as we were talking that great. First Mr. Bond let me ride a four wheeler as we rammed around the ranch to feed the deer. See, Texas gives a tax credit for properties that are used as farms or ranches (both) and the Bonds have a deer herd. In addition to domestic white tailed deer they have populations of Indian deer and something else, and the only species name I can remember (forgot to write them down) is the Black Buck, from India. They sell the animals to game farms that operate throughout this part of Texas, as well as hosting their own shoots.

We went to a nice Mexican restauraunt for dinner, Mark, Linda and their youngest daughter Adrianne. Aftre returning to their ranch I discovered with delight that Mr. Bond had a beer keg on tap, and we spent the the next few hours talking about life, family and good things.

Day 27, 10-6-08:
I awoke the next morning, late, to note that Mr. Bond had already left for a long trip around the country for his busines, and Adrianne was at school. Mrs. Bond and I talked for a awhile, and having made contact with Amie who lived in Austin now, I bid her farewell. It was a great time on their ranch and I really appreciated the Bond's hospitality and memories.

I drove from Kerrville to Austin, and along the way stumbled on the Lyndon Johnson State Park and museum(s).



I drove through the town of Johnson City, which evidently was founded by LBJ's family. I arrived at Amie's apartment complex, and after soem awkward moments owing to the fact that for most intents and purposes, we were strangers, we set off for lunch at a place nearby.

We had a pleasant conversation, where I learned that she had only recently returned to Texas after living in New York City for the past 7 years, working recently in music licnesing for NBC. She nows does her job from Austin, where she got to keep her NYC-size salary. I admit, I am a bit envious, and we parted amicably, and she gave me some cool places to see in downtown Austin. I stopped there for an hour, visiting the famous Bat Bridge and some of the music scene of Austin, which during the day is unsurprisingly pretty dead.

Next I drove Southeast to Houston. Not wanting to stop in Houston proper I decided to drive out to Galveston to look at the aftermath of Hurricane Ike. Originally this sounded like a good idea, but it quickly became obvious that it was a bad and not very honorable one, what with gawking at people's misfortune. I then decided that my intended trips around the lower ninth ward and similar areas in New Orleans were a similar no-go.

I tried to find a place to stay along the gulf coast, anywhere along the gulf coast, but was continually out of luck. Every hotel from Galveston to well into Louisiana was booked solid with repair teams cleaning up after the season's hurricane damage. I finally found a room in Kinder, LA, after searching until 10 at night, and 25 miles north of the I-10 corridor. But even that place was $80 for a Days Inn.

And with that, I'll leave New Orleans until tomorrow. Bye!

The Grand Canyon and Petrified Forest National Parks

The desert is big, it's hot and it has cool stuff in it.

Day 24, 10-3-08.

I left Las Vegas early, or at least tried to, as I needed to carry 3 loads of stuff back across the casino floor to my car. I considered sticking around for another breakfast, but decided to get a move on instead, as I didn't have a good conception of time to and from the Grand Canyon.

First notable thing along the way was of course Hoover Dam. Not wanting to spend the time or get hit by all the cars like my own I didn't stop fro the dam tour. Or at least not of my own volition, owing to the security present. I suspect that someone post-9/11 wised up to the idea that it would be pretty easy to disrupt alot of people's lives if they did something to the dam while traversing it along route 93 from Vegas to Kingman, AZ so they put in checkpoints. They are also building a big huge bridge that will span the canyon downstream of the dam proper. While I'm sure the idea of additional lanes along the road was proposed to reduce congestion (the dam is 2 lanes wide) I bet, and hope it's also due to security concerns. The Google Earth pic of the area shows the construction project;the spans are almost linked in the middle as of my trip through them.

Anyways, the desert is big, and yet, it's not really that boring (or at least not cornfield boring). There are lots of vistas, colorful buttes and relief that kept my eye interested throughout the drive through Kingman and onto I-40, then the turn north towards the south Canyon road and the Grand Canyon Village visitor center. I had thought about going to the Indian overlook thing, but it was kinda pricey, and I have national parks pass, after all.



This overhead view of the Grand Canyon region by Grand Canyon Village looks visually impressive by itself, but gives no real information as to the scale of the thing. There is a big huge drop off.



Again, my pictures do not really do justice to the scope of the canyon. I was, really, impressed. It exceeded my expectations, but alot, and I am glad that I decided to go.






One of the nice things about crowded parks is that there are often people around to take your picture.

After picking up my jaw I returned to the visitor's center and bought souvenirs, and while again looking for postcard stamps (I never did find any, along the whole trip) I saw four bluebirds carrying on in a tree near the center.




The two males were palling around while the females flitted about another tree. Reminded me of a middle school dance.

I departed the canyon area around 6 at night, and the sun by this time of year is setting ever earlier, making my trip harder to make; if it's not light out I need to spend more days to see things instead of 2 or 3 things on one day. I drove south towards Flagstaff through a Navajo reservation, where all the day-traders had already packed up there wares for the day.

I approached Flagstaff around 7:30, and decided to continue on awhile to get closer to tomorrow's destination: Petrified Forest NP.

I ended up in Winslow, Nevada, and the Worst Hotel Of the Trip. Granted, what do you expect for $30 a night? Well, not much, but what I think I can expect is the absence of cockroaches.

Ah yes, cockroaches. Perhaps living in the north has coddled me, but this was the first time I had seen a live, wild cockroach. The first one crawled up the wall behind my television. The second crawled across the end of my bed. Then I called the manager. I got a new room, but suffice to say my night's sleep was fitful, and spent inside my sleeping bag on top of the bed.

Day 25, 10-4-08:

I left my creep-infested hotel room and traveled a few miles down I-40 to Holbrook, Nevada and took state route 180 to the southern end of The Petrified Forest National Park. Note that alot of the route here near I-40 is the historic route 66, and there was much fanfare and tourist-trap related to this fact. I stopped at a rock shop along the way and picked up a souvenir chunk of pertrified wood (a tree branch sized-piece it looks like) as I read you cannot pick up the petrified rocks. Which is all good.



In many cases, from a distance you would not be able to tell that the tree pieces were fossils or just downed timber. But up close the difference is clear, and the detail is often striking. Rings, injuries, insect damage, bark impressions are all starkly visible on the surfaces of the trees.




60 million years old? Some could have fallen last week.

Petrified Forest is more than a preserve for the trees though, and encompasses many scenic overlooks and natural formations like the Blue Mesa.



Then I found a welcome dose of humor: A tumbleweed!



This one as parked in an overlook, and rattled and rolled when kicked, punted and thrown. My first tumbleweed of the trip and an amusing one at that!

The Bonds, a family I knew from Williamston live in Kerrville, TX and invited me to stay with them tomorrow night. But first I had to get there. The park has a convenient onramp for I-40, so I began the long drive east to Albuquerque. At Albuquerque my gps told me to take a shortcut along AZ 6 to get onto I-25 south to El Paso.

So, I drove some more. Then, I kept driving. Did I mention the driving?

I arrived in El Paso around 8 at night, and as the Cockroach Inn didn't have wireless, I had to wing a place for the night. That was a chore, as El Paso seems to be laid out very strangely. I finally found a Motel 6 and rewarded their clever prominent price display with my business for the night. I settled in and prepared for another long drive tomorrow to Kerrville, far away in central TX.

Las Vegas and the desert southwest.

I've had a cold. It hasn't been fun. But now I'm felling better, finally, so here's an update!

Day 23 and 24, 10-2/3-08: Las Vegas Nevada.

So, Las Vegas. City of Sin, Gangsters and hit CBS TV shows.

Honestly, I wasn't all that impressed. I made a hotel reservation online at the Vegas Club Casino Hotel, which is on Fremont street. I finally arrived around 6 in the afternoon and right off the bat, things were going poorly. My clutch made an ominous and sharp squeak whenever I pressed it, and my car smelled like brake pads, all a legacy of Death Valley. Anyways, after driving in circles trying to find the specific hotel and more importantly its parking deck I managed to go the wrong way on a one way street just long enough to duck into the parking area.

I made my way to the Club Casino check in area to learn that in fact my reservation is not at the Club Casino, but at the Plaza Hotel and Casino, which (of course in Vegas) is owned by the same company. So I lug my armful of bags to the check-in at the Plaza, across the street, and find my room. It was spartan but inexpensive and served my needs. Mostly. I went back to my car still at the Vegas Club parking deck and move it to the Plaza deck. But, I'm in the north tower, which, as opposed to the south tower does not have it's own parking deck. Did I mention it was Biker Week?

Note that on this trip I packed for camping more than hoteling and all my stuff is in Rubbermaid totes, as opposed to suitcases. This is logical for camping, as well as stuffing are car full with, but not for walking through the casino floor from south to north tower. Three times. Yes, I could have used a valet, but they are expensive, and really, that would ruin the rugged individualist thing I'm working on.

I finally get to my room and decide to watch TV. Alas, there are 3 channels. Noting that in Vegas they want you to leave your room, I understood this clever ploy and pulled out my laptop to blog thereby defeating the evil capitalists. Lo and behold, the $20 fee for internet for my stay presented itself, and I began to understand why Vegas is said to run on money and little else. I blog, I eat and I relax under the din of the loud and not very effective AC for a few hours, before braving the desert heat for a walk around Fremont Street.

Fremont street is old Las Vegas. Where the original casinos stood. Thus, it is more run down that other parts of the city, and they needed a shtick to make people to want to continue gambling there, as opposed to the shiny new places down the strip a few miles. So, they built the Fremont Street Experience. Basically an awning that covers the street, it provides protection from the desert and entertainment through it's ability to light up and 'play' shows. Also the street vendors, musical acts and other kitsch set the mood; I was reminded heavily of the Red Light District of Amsterdam, especially when passing the solitary gentlemen's club defiantly displaying its flesh for the masses.

I ambled about taking in the sites and sounds, and deciding whether any of this was a good idea. It really made me feel lonely, in this crowd of people, unlike anything I had ever experienced before. At least in other big American and European cities the people were there to do touristy stuff or otherwise live. Here it was full of retired folks in their go-cart like scooters, zipping around from one buffet to the other. The multitude of gamblers, casino employees and miscellaneous inhabitants all seemed to be waiting for the other shoe to drop. Eerie, and depressing. I've been to casinos in Minnesota and Atlantic city, and they never had the sort of garish 'waiting for the endtimes' vibe I got from Fremont street. Maybe it's different at the nice places down the strip, but here, I really wasn't that comfortable.

Then there's the alcohol, and the casinos themselves. You can buy and consume beverages anywhere on the street, it's like an open beer garden with motorcycle daredevils racing around in their ball standing in for the background music. And people often gambled while blitzed, and while I can understand the benefits of this from the casino's standpoint I really marveled at how people so blindly let themselves be fleeced. And none of the casinos had doors; just wide open expanses where people could amble in and out at will. Admittedly, the psychological impact of this much glitz and guilt was impressive, and I came to understand, on some level, what people find so appealing about Vegas.

And then I found my vice, or maybe more appropriately, the level of vice I could afford: $3 blackjack! I played for 3 hours, losing about $20 an hour, which is a respectable rate.

By now it was 11pm, and not wanting to test the 24-hour nature of the place too much I retired to my room. I discovered that the mattress is lumpy.

Day 24:

I awoke nice and late, ready to do some sight seeing. I found one of the famous buffets, and ate the cafeteria quality bacon, eggs and fixings til I was set for most of the day.

I then discovered that, really, there isn't all that much to see in Vegas that I cared to experience. So I walked down the strip to the famous water fountain (a la Ocean's 11). This took most of the day and I concluded that it wasn't a very good idea to walk about Las Vegas.

I arrived back at my lumpy mattress containing room and took a nap and blogged some more. Then I planned tomorrow's trip past the Grand Canyon, went and found some more $3 blackjack tables, and proceeded to gamble away another $60. Next I watched a Queen montage and tribute on the Fremont street awning, noting the irony of all the bikers miling about googling at the Queen Experience. I bought myself a nice, big, ~30oz beer in a container shaped as a football (after the gambling was done :) ). Then I headed for bed.

All in all, I don't really like Las Vegas. Or maybe, what I should say is that I don't like Vegas on a shoe-string budget. "Duh" may be the appropriate sentiment when you consider the context and purpose of Las Vegas, but still, I didn't go away from the city feeling like I had added anything to my trip.

And no, I didn't take any pictures in Vegas. I didn't want the hassle when moving through casinos (and their potential security). Sorry!

Grand Canyon and environs next!