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NEW: (See the very bottom of this page for our mileage / altitude log)
My son and I are taking a road trip. It is a time for the two of us to bond. Why? He is going to be eleven years old next month... Anyone with a teenager can tell you why it is important to have a good relationship with their kids before they are too old...
I'll keep a detailed log below of our trip as best as possible but I won't tell you how long the trip is... You'll have to check back to see tomorrow if I added a new entry. Eventually, it will simply say "the end" or something creative like that...
Anyhow... Here are some of the details of our trip: (photos will be added as time allows... I have them on the HD for day one and two but they aren't ready to be thrown on the site yet.)
THE DAY BEFORE: Today, I have to finish setting up the laptop I bought for the trip. So far, I have Microsoft Streets and Trips, my Garmin GPS software, Microsoft Office and a few other essential programs for e-mail and communications loaded. Oh... And Dreamweaver... I've got to make this site and I don't have time to putz around with straight HTML.
DAY ONE: Today started off with a half day of work... Then a race home and an even bigger race to try and get the GPS working with this new Vista enabled machine. One bit of advice... Skip Vista if possible! Argh... Anyhow... We finally hit the road and made it to within four miles of Ohio. We are currently staying in a Quality Inn and will depart very early if at all possible. The next comments come from my son:
We set up all of our stuff, then said good-bye to everyone and drove off from our home. We called my grandpa to thank him twice to thank him for loaning us the SUV but he didn't answer. We then called grandma to thank her. We then found a mysterious card inside the sun visor. We opened the card wondering what was inside. We then called grandma again to thank her for the nice note and gift. A while later, we entered Pennsylvania. Our first official destination is Colorado. Before we head to Colorado, we will go through Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Nebraska, Wyoming and the finally Colorado. We entered the hotel around 11:50 PM and started to set up our next route. We then played checkers, and I won the game. We then went to bed - Or at least my dad did. I watched a movie.
DELAWARE WATER GAP, NJ/PA - NOT THE BEST PHOTO EVER, BUT STILL FUN.
DAY TWO: Traveled from the border of Ohio about halfway through Iowa... Nice straight, fast roads... Can't exactly say it was awesome, but it was relaxing...
NICE IOWA VIEW FROM THE HIGHWAY...
TAKEN THROUGH THE SUNROOF... WINDOWS TOO DIRTY WITH BUGS
DAY THREE: The rest of Iowa and Nebraska to Colorado... Must be the cruise control capitol of the world! Nebraska was pretty but once is enough... Colorado was extremely pretty and enjoyable except for the tumbleweed (?!?!?) as we entered the state... Not expected.... Thought it was a deer because it was twilight. :)
These are my son's comments: We woke up at a hotel that was not the best, but it did have a pool! My ear infections hurt so we had to get medicine. We entered Colorado later and saw tumbleweed, lightening far away, etc.
FINALLY! A SPEED LIMIT SIGN WORTHY OF APPLAUSE...
SO MUCH FOR GC RIDING THROUGH THIS STATE. <EVIL GRIN>
DAY FOUR: Spent lots of time in the Rocky Mountain National Park (is that the real name?) We went up to the top, ran around and got dizzy at 12,000+ feet in altitude, chased some elk, went above the tree line into the tundra area and even went above the remaining snow... AWESOME but I can't imagine making that trip on the bike without being very prepared... See photos at the link below in the new (easy for me to post) format.
NEW FORMAT - Click here for photos
DAY FIVE: Made lots of miles to Tucson, AZ. Spent the night with an old friend from High School... Working on an itinerary to the Grand Canyon... But will spend the day here and have a blast until sometime later today... Will post pictures soon... Note to self... Figure out why the only place we have hit rain is in the desert...
SECOND SUMMARY: Spent the entire day traveling from the very top of NM to Tucson, AZ... Some very nice, VERY desolate roads. Quite fun the first time, but I'll skip doing them again and I'm not sure I'd ever want to travel them on the bike.
NEW FORMAT - Click here for photos
DAY SIX: Spent the entire day with an old High School friend, Bruce... Great guy. So generous that I'm sure he simply likes to give stuff away for extra credit or something. THANK YOU BRUCE! Went up to the first overlook at Mt. Lemon just outside of Tucson. Awesome. Learned not to EVER touch a Choya (jumping) Cactus today... Wish I had those in NJ to plant below my kid's bedroom windows for security... :)
Ate lots of great Mexican food (and nothing else!) and then went back to the house to watch some movies, play with a giant firefly thing, hook up my son's USB Wii thing and relax...
NEW FORMAT - Click here for photos
DAY SEVEN: Woke up early to get a good jump on the trip to the staging area (Williams, AZ) for the south rim of the Grand Canyon on day eight... But our alternator on the vehicle was dead... Thank God our host works for the largest chain of repair shops in the area... He has shops from Nebraska to California and at least 5 or 6 in Tucson alone... A few hundred dollars later (discount too - Thank GOD!) were off for Williams, AZ.
Stupidly took a VERY SMALL exit off the highway looking for some local culture, food, sights, etc. Because it is the Monsoon season in the desert and the road was not paved, I soiled the vehicle pretty good... Got gasoline and jumped back on the highway having learned my lesson.
NEW FORMAT - Click here for photos
DAY EIGHT: Took it nice and easy today.. We woke up sometime around 8:00 AM (11 AM for you NE folks!) and made the 60 mile drive to the south rim of the Grand Canyon. Perfect weather.
Came back to Williams, AZ and checked back into the same hotel. Don't want to really rush around right now as the long days of driving add up fast. Tomorrow, we head to Las Vegas and Hoover Dam. My Internet connnection has been horrible at best here at this hotel. I had to drive down the main street an look for a strong connection to upload the earlier pictures. I got a few from today to upload, but I'll have to shoot the rest up later.
NEW FORMAT - Click here for photos
DAY NINE: Woke up this morning to another problem with the vehicle... This time, it was diagnosed as the battery... Maybe the bad alternator fried the battery? Who knows... Anyhow... We now have a brand new alternator and a brand new battery... And some tires while we were at it because while the vehicle was there, I noticed a good cut in the rear tire that actually cut a belt but not all the way to air... Two bald rear tires were a must to replace and the fronts only had a 16th left so.. Oy...
Nice ride from Williams, AZ to Hoover Dam. Took the tour and then off to Las Vegas, NV. Resting up for a good day of Las Vegas travels tomorrow - all on foot if I can help it!
NEW FORMAT - Click here for photos
DAY TEN: Woke up late today... Sort of... Thanks Gilbey! Went out and tried to see the strip in Las Vegas. However when the temperatures got too 100+ we decided to head back to the hotel, cool off and regroup for tonight. Later tonight, we go out and take photos of the hotels in the dark (AKA the light shows!) Until then, check out the Bellagio water show. If you ever see this in person, see it twice... Every half hour, it changes slightly and the second time around was MUCH better than the first one. These water cannons are so powerful that they sound like fireworks!
POST DINNER:
Had dinner at a buffet in LV. Asked a few folks where to go and as soon as two people agreed, we headed off. It was decent. Expensive, but decent. We then drove around LV looking at the lights and sounds at night. Very bright and colorful and quite dangerous in some areas... Felt as if e should at least close the windows and stop flashing our GPS and digital camera at the folks thinking about jumping us. <grin>
NEW FORMAT - Click here for photos
DAY ELEVEN: Drove from HOT Las Vegas to our hotel in Porterville, CA today. Coming through the desert, we got off at the exit for Death Valley even though we had no desire to go there today... The giant 75' tall thermometer read 103 when we pulled in to the Burger King drive through... And 107 as we pulled out... At 11:40 AM. Oy... Not sure I'd want to ride through those areas on a bike unless I could intravenously out water into my veins...
One awesome thing was that the The GPS rerouted me on some back road highway that was amazing in CA... Orange grove after pecan grove after scenic farm land and all at 65 MPH+ Very relaxing and nice. What surprised me most were the oil wells. See photos... The windmills on the highway were awesome too but the roads were too skinny to stop and take a good photo of those so you will have to deal with what we have posted for now... Off to dinner. More details later if anything interesting comes up.
POST DINNER: Well, we found this little Mexican restaurant in town that was authentic in every way this white bread and mayonnaise guy knows how to judge them. They didn't speak much English, the menu and everything else (including TV) were all in Spanish and the salsa that came with the pre-meal chips was hotter than the Habanero stuff I eat at home. I consider myself somewhat cultured being from a metro-NY area... But this was way out of the ball park compared to any Mexican meal I've had in NJ... It even rivaled the ones my buddy Bruce took us to in Tucson... Certainly hotter!
The attached photos show the supernaturally hot salsa (which I did indeed finish), the Chili Relleno meal I chose (to compare it to my favorite dish in NJ) and some murals from the town including a 9-11 memorial mural which caught me by surprise and was quite good... All these photos are from my cell phone as my camera was left back at the hotel...
One thing not pictured are the freshly made corn tortilla wrap things (what is the real name?) they gave me with my meal... Oh..... Awesome....
NEW FORMAT - Click here for photos
DAY TWELVE: We drove into the Sequoia trees today - well, not literally into, but under at least one. Sherman is HUGE and photos will be posted. Quite amazing actually. We then had plans to go to Yosemite but would up skipping it for the sake of making good time northward where it will hopefully be a bit cooler. Landed for the night in some small town just NE of Sacramento... Right off Route 80 East. It occurred to me that I am literally nine turns from home if I head east on Route 80 alone... Quite comforting except for the fact that the highway just a few miles back had SEVEN lanes... It was empty and felt like a landing strip but must be horrible when congested.
NEW FORMAT - Click here for photos
DAY THIRTEEN: Started out around 10:00 AM with the goal to reach UT by the end of the driving day... Wound up stopping less than 1/2 mile from the UT border just for the heck of it.
The Bonneville salt flats smell like the NJ shore... Just FYI.
We had a good, uneventful drive. We saw an incredibly small and useless rest stop, drove right past Beverly Hills, NV, took some photos of what I believe are bird's nest under a bridge, witnessed the "Sherm" tunnels going Eastbound - whereas his photo is going westbound, found out where trucks and at least two Star Wars movies came from. <grin>
Oh... Reached the Border of NV and UT at round 6:15 PM if it matters...
NEW FORMAT - Click here for photos
DAY FOURTEEN: Well, had a major set back today as far as creating this web page... Dropped the camera last night and it seemed to survive... But it is only taking decent pictures about one out of every ten we shoot... So only the best quality are included in today's line up.
First photo shows an empty road... We turned off Route 80 and headed up 287 North which is an awesome, but straight road... And empty.
The second photo shows a Gazelle, Deer or Antelope or whatever... On route 287. We took a dozen photos or so... But this is the only one that barely came out okay.
The road sign was interesting so I took a photo of it...
The hill had five or six colors...
The final photo was of a nice hill I'd like to retire on some day... :)
NEW FORMAT - Click here for photos
DAY FIFTEEN: We had a great day today - even though the camera was still giving us problems. One shot would come out perfect and the next would be totally blank... We got a few good shots (and some mediocre ones too) and they have been posted.
Cosmos is a place that supposedly has a gravity problem... I won't tell you how it's done, but the photos of people standing on level platforms makes quite a good show.
The Crazy Horse monument is quite a good stop! MUCH larger than Rushmore, it has quite a welcome center and show for a decent price. A must see if you are in the area. Notice the size of the large earth moving bull dozers in the photo...
Devils tower was interesting... But only a drive by...
Off to Minnesota! Mostly just driving.... The rain was so hard in South Dakota and Minnesota that we were doing 35 MPH in 75 MPH zones.... And we literally saw thousands of frogs (or maybe toads) on the highway... Was blown half-way into the lane next to me at times... How do those Sturgis riders keep going in weather like that?!? Stayed in Iowa just because all the hotels were booked along 80 due to the Sturgis folks trying to make it westward...
NEW FORMAT - Click here for photos
DAY SIXTEEN: No photos today. Mostly just driving again... Made Ohio... Rushing home to surprise the wife (posting this after the arrival). She thinks we are in Minnesota still.
DAY SEVENTEEN: No photos today. Mostly just driving once again.... More rain, but not bad. Made it home by 10:45 PM. Had the mother-in-law, brother-in-laws (2) sister-in-law, and two kids waiting for us but they thought they were there for a birthday party for the younger BIL. Was fun to drive up and surprise them.
Road trip over! :(
Thanks for reading!
Altitude Log
(Mileage is wrong as I forgot to record the first few thousand miles)
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Some useful links: http://www.multispindle-drill-heads.com/
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