Cross Country 2009

2009-08-23T13:14:00.000-07:00

A few more pics.

This was in Yosemite.

The road leading up to Yosemite.

This is in Monument Valley, Utah, but I didn't take it, I found it on my computer.

A petrified tree with a concrete reinforcement under it, the concrete was added in the early 1920's.

These rock "ovens" were in all the yards on the Zuni Indian Reservation. They use them to make bricks for their houses.

El Morro National Monument, NM.

This was the sunrise in Grants, NM.

I measured this straightaway, it was 12 miles long........ it was in either Texas or New Mexico.

Palo Dura Canyon, Tx.

Palo Dura Canyon.

2009-07-27T02:59:00.000-07:00

Here are a few random pictures from different places and some from our last couple days that I didn't get loaded earlier.

Monument Valley Az./Utah.

Also Monument Valley.

An elk posing with the kids for pictures at Grand Canyon.

Before he started posing.

There were these ground squirells all over the dersert, but dont feed them or.........

they will bite your finger off.

More Grand Canyon.

And more.....

The Eiffle Tower in Las Vegas.

The Statue of Liberty, LV.

This was the way out of the Balcony House at Mesa Verde NP. As you can see, the kids fit fine, it was a little snug for me but I made it.

Here's a cool way to carry your motorcycle with you.

Here we are inside the "capsule" the you ride in to get to the top of the St. Louis Arch, there are five seats.

This is me standing outside one of the capsules they have on display.

The Mammoth Cave Railroad used to carry folks to the entrance of the cave before there was a road.

Inside Mammoth Cave.

Watch your head!

If you go in the "New" entrance (opened in 1922) you start out going down 300 steps.

The best looking mountains I saw the whole trip, the Great Smokey Mountains, North Carolina.

2009-07-17T07:05:00.000-07:00

We went 7368 or so miles, and we are back home. We got home yesterday 7-16-09 at about 2pm. On the 15th we went to see Mamoth Cave, or part of it anyway, it has 367 MILES of charted passageways and still counting. I will put up some pictures of that stop when I find the camera card.

Last night we celebrated getting home with a trip to our favorite restaurant (San Felipe) and going to bed early in our own beds.

Now to unpack the RV and pack for Boy Scout Camp.

2009-07-14T19:57:00.000-07:00

We have been 6704 miles since we left home.

Yesterday we crossed 2/3's of Kansas and most of Missouri, the most intresting thing we saw was the gas prices, I even saw 2.219 at one place.

This morning we went to the St. Louis Arch, also known as the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial National Park.

It was a little overcast but it was still awsome to see.

This is looking straight down from inside the top of the arch.

To look out you lay on your belly, you are hanging in the air 600 ft up.

The St. Louis side of the arch, they rolled out the red carpet for our visit.

Beautiful at any elevation.

Then we drove accross Illinois.

And most of Indiana, Illinois looks a lot like Kansas, flat farms and oil rigs, Indiana looks and feels like home, hills and trees and humidity.

We are going to Mamoth Cave, Kentucky, tomorrow, and then headed for the house.

2009-07-13T13:31:00.000-07:00

We have been 6230 miles since we left home.

On July 10th we went to the Mesa Verde NP where we saw and went into the cliff dwellings. About 800 years ago the Hopi Indians built these houses in the cliffs.

They made the "bricks" from the local sandstone.

To get into the "Balcony House" you have to climb this 32 foot ladder.

Cliff Palace. The round pits are where they worshipped, they were covered with a roof when the Hopi's were here.

It started to rain, the girls were so excited to see rain that they danced in it.

This was the sunset view from our diner.

Grilled pork chops!

We traveled Saturday through Colorado, anyone thirsty for a Coors?

It rained Saturday too, we always remember our friend Neil when we see a rainbow.

Sunday morning we rode the Cog Railway to the top of Pikes Peak, the track pictured here is a 25% grade (steep!).

It was around 40 degrees and the wind chill was around 25 at the top.

Good thing we stopped when we did.

After Pike's Peak we went to Garden of the God's city park.

The balancing rock.

We left out headed east and a big rain storm chased us for the rest of the day. It was going about 55 mph and we were going 65. Every time we stopped it would catch up in about 15 minutes.

2009-07-10T08:06:00.000-07:00

Even though we are a bit road weary, this trip has been so much fun. The kids have been great, we have been blessed with great weather, and we are seeing things that we all will remember for a lifetime. I highly recommend driving around the country, there is so much to see. Thought I would add a few more pics from the last few days.

My beautiful girls and handsom boy watching the sunset at the Grand Canyon.

This was a hawk soaring overhead when we first got to the GC. At first he was lower and closer but I am no quickdraw with the camera.

This is a California Condor who was sitting on a rock about 300 yards down in the GC. Condors originally lived in this area when it was the coast, they moved with the shoreline to California as the ocean receeded (several million years ago they say). The Park Service has reintroduced them to the GC and they are doing well.

Here is a glimps of the Colorado River which was about 4600 ft. below and 5 miles away from where we were. You can see the bridge across the river that hikers use to cross to get to the North Rim, Its only 11 air miles, but 24 foot miles. Jean bought a book telling about all the people who don't make it, usually because they run out of water.

On out way from LV to GC the sun was setting as the moon rose. I hope I got a better picture than this, but you get the idea.

2009-07-09T21:23:00.000-07:00

We have been 5243 miles since we left home. For those who were wondering, Jean does drive the RV, and does a great job too.

On the way to Las Vegas we drove through a stretch of desert that was nothing but sand.
We rode down Las Vegas Blvd. and went to a really good buffett.

Lake Mead.

Because of the construction (they are building a bypass around the dam), you couldn't see the other side of the dam.

The next thing you know, we are at the Grand Canyon.

The South Rim is about 7000 ft in elevation, the Colorado River is at around 2400 ft. The North Rim is 11 miles away from where we are sitting here.

These are Navajo Indians dancing at the Grand Canyon.

This guy was grazing beside the road, he even sat down and posed for pictures.

Sunset from where the Grand View Hotel used to be.

Today we drove through Monument Valley, which starts in Arizona and runs into Utah, on the way to Mesa Verda, Colorado.

Somewhere around here Forrest Gump got tired of running and went home.

Mexican Hat Rock.

2009-07-06T20:49:00.000-07:00

We have been 4634 miles since we left home. We have been away from internet and cell service for several days. On July 2, we started the day with a tour of the Jelly Belly Factory just north of San Francisco, It was a very yummy tour.

We traveled all day and the next day we were at Yosemite NP. Again I have to say that words and pictures don't do the place justice.......

Normally the sky would be crystal clear this time of year, but a lightning fire was burning in the park.

Here we are cooling our toes in the pool below Yosemite Fall (not falls).

I think this is Brideveil Fall.

The view from Glacier Point, thats snow in the distance on mountains 12000 feet high.

You had to drive through the fire to get to and from Glacier Point.

That is Yosemite Valley 3200 feet below Glacier Point. It takes an hour to travel that 3200 feet by vehicle.

We took it easy on July 4th with a swim in the river and relaxing on the beach. This is the view from our beach spot.

There was not much shade so when another family asked if they could share ours we said sure, in return they loaned the kids their floats, they would walk way around the bend and float down.

On our way our of the park we stopped at a grove of Sequoia's, this is the roots of one that fell over 100 years ago.

This one was named for Gracie.......

July 5 we went to Kings Canyon/Sequoia NP's. Incredible is all I can say.

This is the Sherman Tree, the largest living thing on earth. It is 106 feet around at the base and 275 feet tall.

There's always time to fish. Hume Lake in the Sequoia NF.

On our way to Las Vegas we found 100's of windmills.

2009-07-01T07:47:00.000-07:00

We spent yesterday, June 30, in San Francisco.

The Golden Gate Bridge. We walked out to the first tower while we were there.

As you can see, the "June Gloom" was here too. This was the view from the parking lot of Fort Point, a military fort that was here before the bridge was built.

These are surfers catching the wave beside Fort Point.

Downtown SF and one of the many streets that go up and up and up.

A SF trolly. The metro also runs on the streets in places here and many of the city busses have arms reaching up to electric lines.

We rode all over town and saw many interesting sites. We stayed the night at a hotel in Berkely right on the bay (had a free night that expired today). The kids were able to swim for several hours and we had some delisious Italian food near the U of C campus.

2009-06-30T07:34:00.000-07:00

We have been 3274 miles since we left home.

After our Disney fun Friday night we headed north to the big citySaturdaymorning.

If you want graffiti, LA has it.

LA downtown.

I figured Hollywood on a Saturday morning should be pretty tame, but it was a zoo of Michael Jackson fans and other weirdos.

I also thought traffic would not be bad.........oh well.

Hollywood Boulevard.

We saw Edward Sissorhands, Elvis, Maylin Monroe, Jason (the guy in the mask), Indiana Jones, and Darth Vader.

The walk of fame was fun.

We rode down Sunset Blvd to Santa Monica Blvd. We drove through Bevery Hills (no Jed in sight) and Rodeo Drive and we ended up at the Pacific Ocean in Santa Monica.

This was later in the evening on the Santa Monica Pier.
Standing in the Pacific, it was cold!!!! Like going to a North Carolina beach in late November.

The next morning we drove up the Pacific Coast Hwy. and stopped for a swim, well it was so cold even the kids didn't get all the way in.

The locals call it the "June Gloom" when the inland heat draws the fog from offshore onto the beach. There was a mountain about a half mile off the beach but we didn't see it for an hour.
We continued up to Monterey Bay but it was so foggy that we could not see any scenery.

Monday morning was spent at the Monterey Aquiarium, it was awsome.

We had lunch at this place....delicious!

Then we drove back down the PCH to see some of the stuff we missed in the fog the day before.

Words and pictures can't convey how beautiful this area is.

Its hard to tell. but this was about a 400 foot drop from where we spent the night to the ocean.

We are now about 15 miles south of San Francisco waitting for rush hour to end.

I will post more on the last couple days, I have skipped over a lot.

2009-06-27T08:44:00.000-07:00

We have driven 2669 miles since we left home (but zero the last two days). Yesterday, June 26th, we walked about 10 miles @ Disneyland.

This is the Matterhorn, its a fun little rollercoaster that we rode twice first thing in the morning before the crowds arrived.

My beautiful girls at a "Kodak moment" spot.

Joey and I are blowing you a kiss on Slash Mountain.

We saw the fireworks from inside the park this time.

In front of Sleeping Beauty's castle at the end of a long day.

We started the day @ 7 am with breakfast and got back to the RV @ 1230 am, which is pretty late when you consider that 1230 am in California is 330 am on the east coast. We were so tired that we all collapsed when we got in, I took my shoes off outside and my feet quit on my, I had to crawl in.

I can see why all these people live here, it's almost July and it was 77 degrees yesterday for the high and no humidity. The only problem I see is that all these people live here.

2009-06-26T13:56:00.000-07:00

We are "livin it up at the Hotel California" This is the view from our RV park in Anaheim. We watched the Disneyland fireworks from our site last night.

Snow on top of the mountains about 45 miles from Los Angeles.

Somewhere on I-40, if you look close you can see just a little bit of a rainbow. We actually got rained on in Kingman Arizona, a rarity in the desert.

California has mountains right up to the coast.

We left Flagstaff Az. yesterday morning and drove to Anaheim Ca. We drove through the Mohave Desert, it was a vast expanse of absolutly nothing, well except for the beautiful landscape. We stopped at a rest area, it was 106 degrees in the shade (but its a dry heat).

This morning we walked over to Disneyland and enjoyed the morning before the big crowds came in, we came back to the RV park for lunch, the kids are swimming now. We will go back to Disneyland later on.

2009-06-25T08:17:00.000-07:00

We arrived before the volcano opened so we pulled over in this spot for breakfast. I was tempted to drive the road but was afraid we'd end up with no A/C's on top.

This is supposed to be the largest cross in the country.....it was very big. This was from the day before in Texas.

Inside of the volcano. The rim is 1400 feet across and 800 feet deep.

The Cadillac Ranch.

Its sunny in Texas.

It was hot in the Palo Dura Canyon, but its a dry heat.

The "Rig".

My first attempt at a panoramic view with the new camera, I almost got it.
This was from the top rim of the canyon.

Gracie named this one "Lizzie".

Jean didn't even freak out over the kids being close to the edge.

This was in the Ice Cave. The temp never gets over 31 degrees and the ice (the green stuff behind them) is approximately 20 feet thick.

I did better on this panarama of a small portion of the Painted Desert.

The Petrified Forest (I don't know why its so scared)

The Petrified Forest is 3500 feet above sea level (I think), but when it was a living forest, it was near sea level.

They said that 1 ton/month of material is stolen from the National Park. Joey tried to put this in his pocket but at 800 pounds/square foot, he couldn't pick it up.

It is hard to find wifi in the middle of nowhere.

We have been 2342 miles since we left home.

Tuesday, the 23rd, we went to Palo Dura Canyon, about 25 miles south of Amarillo. It is the second largest canyon in the US and it is breathtaking. Yesterday we went to the Bandera Volcano and Ice Cave in the Zuni Mountains of New Mexico and the Painted Desert and Petrified Forest in Arizona. The last two days have been incredible, words cant describe the beauty of this area of our country. Pictures don't do it justice either, but here's some to look at. Oh, we stopped at the Cadillac Ranch also.

2009-06-22T21:54:00.000-07:00

We have been 1450 mile since we left home.

We started out today with breakfast in Arkansas, had lunch half way through Oklahoma, and finished with diner in Texas. We are in Amarillo for the night.

The western half of Arkansas was not as flat as the eastern half, in fact, we drove through the Ozark Mountains (home of the Daredevils). The Ozarks are not quite as tall as the Uwharrie mountains (in otherworks they are hills).

The eastern half of Oklahoma is much like wester Arkansas believe it or not. We ran into our first real traffic in Oklahoma City, nothing major, just a little slowdown. I would have to vote I-40 through Ok City as the worst stretch of road I've traveled in some time, it was so rough that I had to repair one of the roof A/C covers that had broken during all the bumping around.

Once we left Ok City, we started through the plains, it was just awsome. Being able to look out and see for 15 or 20 miles is incredible. There are few trees to block the view and it looks just like in the movies.

We shadowed the old Route 66 for most of the afternoon, glad we are on the big road as parts of Rt. 66 are narrow.

When we crossed into Texas the landscape changed from some trees to no trees, just miles and miles of open field.

There were a lot of windmills in Oklahoma. Take that OPEC.

2009-06-22T05:13:00.000-07:00

The sunsetting in Carlisle Arkansas

We have been 851 miles so far. We are just west of Little Rock, Arkasas. I can tell you this about the eastern part of Arkansas, at least the part along I-40, it is FLAT! There were miles and miles of farms with fields that went as far as you could see.

We stopped and had Fathers Day diner at "Nicks BBQ and Catfish" in Carlisle, Arkansas. The food was awsome! We got pork BBQ that was shaved instead of chopped with a thick sauce on top.....mmmmm, and smoked pork ribs. There was a pile of wood out back and from the taste of the meat, thats all they use to cook it. Joey said the baked beans were the best he'd ever eatten and the catfish was the best I'd ever eatten. When I got Summer to taste a piece of it, I didn't get it back, and she doesn't eat fish.

I highly recommend stopping in if you are in the neighborhood.

2009-06-21T20:53:00.000-07:00

Pic 2: Joey and a rarely moved Memphis cop car.
Pic 3: Joey Summer and Grace in front of the Elvis car museum.
Pic 4: Elvis's plane the "Lisa Marie".
Pic 5: Joey, Brian, Summer and Grace at the gate to Graceland.
Pic 1: Thats Graceland behind those trees, it has 23 rooms and cost $100k when Elvis bought it.

"As Paul Simon said: "For reasons I can't explain, there's a part of me who wants to see Graceland".

So we stopped by there and looked at it through the trees and over the wall. We also peered over another wall at Elvis's airplanes. We would have gone on a tour but it was 330 pm (central) when we got there and they close at 4pm on Sunday.

But it was neat to see.

2009-06-21T13:47:00.000-07:00

We left Randleman Saturday afternoon around 5pm and traveled to Knoxville Tn where we pulled in to the Gander Mountain parkinglot around 1130. After a peaceful night sleep started driving at 8 am. We are now in Memphis near Graceland, where it is about 100 degrees.

This will be where you can follow our travels

2009-06-16T14:50:00.000-07:00

We will be sharing our experiences on the road right here.