Days Four and Five

Thursday morning we slept in a bit then headed into downtown Flagstaff to look around, well, I looked around while Jay nursed his altitude sickness with a cup of coffee.  Spending the night around 7,000 feet above sea level can require a bit of adjustment.  I, perhaps because I got used to skiing in Colorado this past winter, was unfazed by the thinness of air, and was excited to see a new town. Downtown Flagstaff was full character and it is definitely a town I'd like to come back and visit again one day. There was an interesting mix of people, seemingly from all walks of life.  There is no telling what number of them were tourists or locals, and I didn't have the time to start an impromptu poll.  After Jay finished his coffee and I finished speed-walking the entire historic downtown district, we were on our way to Vegas!

I-40 in Arizona is pretty empty.  I've never really had to worry about planning ahead for gasoline, partly because my hybrid gets stellar gas mileage, but mostly because I've never lived in a place where there were limited fuel stations.  However, on I-40 in Arizona, you better plan ahead.  I had no issues, but let me just say the "next service station 53 miles" sign could be posted perhaps 1000 feet or so before the exit, not under the exit sign itself, okay?  After a few hours on 40, we exited onto 93 towards Vegas. This road is flanked on both sides by empty dessert and the temperature on my car was pinging at 112 degrees (little did I know that I would hardly see temperatures below 100 until I got to Berkeley).  While the empty roads a few days prior was giving me opportunity to reflect, it was now beginning to drive me mad.  I was quite ready for civilization after seeing hundreds of miles of rock and sand.

Our first heavily populated experience occurred at the Hoover Dam.  As we approached the dam, we had to go through a security checkpoint, which I suspect is a new addition since 9/11.  The checkpoint wasn't particularly rigorous, in spite of having everything I own in the back of my car, covered by black blankets, we were just waved through. Jay's guess, and he is probably right, is that there is a bit of profiling going on, and they were not worried about two white guys from North Carolina.  But maybe we're wrong. The dam itself is amazing.  I love how the road snakes down the side of the mountain to curve across the top of the dam and then back up the other side.  It seems the builders, who built the dam in only 4 years, were so informed by nature.  They chose the past of least resistance, and the road looks really "natural" in its space.  However, using the road will not last much longer, currently a larger bridge is under construction.  While it is majestic in it's own right, spanning the gorge several hundred feet above the dam, it will be sad when people will no longer use the dam as the primary roadway.

Shortly after the Hoover Dam, we approached Las Vegas.  The city was pretty easy to navigate by car, and we were parked and checked into our hotel in a short amount of time.  I toured around the hotel a bit, and eventually Jay and I went down to one of the restaurants in the hotel for dinner.  I've been to casinos before, but never Las Vegas, and it is something else.  Our hotel has a huge sport betting room which looks like command central from NASA.  Jay made a good observation, most of the people look brainwashed, just sitting in hundreds of seats facing the TV screens, not talking to anyone. We didn't watch too long.

 Hoping it would be cooler, I hit the streets after the sun went down.  With a low of 91, the temperature didn't drop as much as I had hoped.  I ended up buying some water from a street vendor fearing I was going to go into heat stroke.  I walked the entire strip that night, going into several casinos and watching all of the hotel shows (water show at Bellagio, etc) and returned to the hotel later that night.  Not having any money to waste, I didn't get to any shows in Vegas or even gamble one penny.  My intention had been to spend my limited $20, but I decided I enjoy my money more than playing a game... :)  Vegas was a fun experience and one day, I'm sure I'll go back.

The next morning I took my car to one of the Toyota Dealerships in town and had it's regular service.  I wasn't planning to have it done until I got to Berkeley, but it was due and I figured after the long drive, a check-up was in order.  The appointment was quick and surprisingly only a few dollars more than what I was paying in North Carolina.  Jay and I grabbed breakfast, and we were back on the road for our final day of driving.    The route between Vegas and Berkeley was just as empty as I-40 in Arizona had been.  I was beginning to wonder where all the people lived!?!  The lonely road was still full of character, and the terrain and ground cover changed beautifully as we traveled north through California.  From the rocky desert, through the windy hills, we would finally find ourselves in the much cooler bay area and Berkeley, CA around 8:00 PM, Pacific.  After sitting for a few minutes, we unpacked the car, and settled in a little bit more.  After a week of traveling, it is nice to be, home.

Day Three

Our third day of driving was our first intentionally scenic day.  Our travel plan, as many of you know, was to expeditiously get through the "fruited plain" and then slow down once we arrived in the western states, where Jay and I have never visited.  So we will reduce our driving time, and try to spend more time seeing things over the next several days.  For those of you that know me well, this is a bit challenging.  I'm a very goal oriented person, and it's hard for me to be whimsical on the road, but Jay is helping me slow down and enjoy the sights.

Wednesday morning, we left Albuquerque, heading north on a large US Highway towards a vast area populated by more cattle than anything else (this would be a theme for most of our day).  The road snakes through large mountainous rocks striated with the most gorgeous colors.  It was awkward for me to see mountains that stood alone and not have any trees on them.  We assume the mountains were made of rock, but their years of being worn down gave them the shape of being old piles of sand that the rain had been playing with.  The colors and shapes were impressive.  As we drove along, a new set of colors would replace the old, moving from blacks and grays to reds and oranges.  Some of the mountains had gentle slopes with rolling hills while others had a uniform height and sheer cliffs.  The variation was pretty amazing.

Our destination at that point was Farmington, New Mexico.  We were meeting Allison for lunch.  We arrived a bit early, so we found a Wells Fargo so we could do some banking, filled up with gas, and returned to the restaurant.  Allison and child, McKenna, were right on time.  We visited for a while, and I held the baby for quite a while.  In fact, I developed a new method to rock McKenna, which seemed quite successful at ushering her on her way to sleep.  Figuring this was an important discovery - Allison made a video, and I'll try to get it uploaded soon.  Meanwhile, a photo.

After lunch, Jay and I were back on the road towards Four Corners, the place where four states touch at one point.  Longing to photo document my omnipresence, I was excited about this stop.  We stopped at a local Starbucks to borrow the WiFi (no, Tony, we did not buy any coffee...and the stop was convenient). and we were off.  The hour and a half journey to the Four Corners Monument would take us through a few towns and Native American Reservations.  Earlier that day, I had told Jay, that my life would be complete if we found ourselves in some sort of dust storm complete with tumble weed.  As we passed through Shiprock, NM, my day and perhaps life would be made... A large dust storm had brewed up, and while several cars pulled off the road, my tenacity pushed us forward.  As we approached an intersection, and stopped, Jay pointed out a small piece of brush flying across the road as the dust storm roared.  We both immediately whistled the theme from "The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly..." So excited, we missed our turn and headed in the wrong direction for the next several miles.  After figuring out our mistake (thank you GPS on the iPad), we turned around.  Once on the right road again, we continued in the dust storm and voila - a true tumbleweed flew across the road, oh, how wonderful.  Just a few minutes after that, another one flew across the road, and I hit it with my car, and it exploded... so I think I'm done with the tumbleweeds.    We finally arrived at Four Corners, along with several other tourists, only to find the monument was closed.  We all laughed about it, and took pictures of ourselves in front of the closed sign.

Soon after leaving the entrance of Four Corners, we bid farewell to New Mexico, and hello to Arizona.  The rocks continued to evolved and mountains continued to climb.  The road we were on was smaller than what we had been on, but there was even more traffic.  It appeared that in our attempt to take the "back road" we had found ourselves on one of the most frequented roads for tourists traveling between the sights "out west."  Ever few vehicles was an RV, and most of the license plates were from out of state (I will say, Jay and I have yet to see any other NC plates).  We drove for nearly two hours, still appreciating the sights, but ready to really be somewhere.  Hours of slightly changing landscape, while peaceful, can begin to drive one wild.  We passed by Monument Valley and saw some of the rocks in the distance, but decided at that point to press on.  Our initial plan had been to go to Flagstaff after Four Corners, then return to the Grand Canyon the next day.  However, because Four Corners had been a failure, and day light was still with us for some time, we decided to go on towards the Grand Canyon, since it was practically on the way.  

The Grand Canyon is pretty impressive.  We visited the South Rim, and stopped at nearly every overlook. It seemed like most of the people there were not speaking english, but french or german instead.  I wonder if europeans make better use of our national parks than Americans do?  At some of the overlooks, I jumped the guardrail and slid my way down to a better vantage point.  Crazy, I know, but if someone else did it and lived, why can't I?  :P  Most exciting of all, was seeing trees again.  For the past several hours we had been surrounded by rocks and sand, and now there were pine trees, other trees, and various forms of bushy ground cover.  I do love trees.

After the Grand Canyon, Jay and I were feeling pretty spent.  In spite of doing less driving then we had been doing in previous days, something about the empty dessert really makes the driving seem longer than it is.  As we approached Flagstaff, we were not only excited to be arriving at our hotel, we were also elated to see a pretty little college town filled with trees and surrounded by large mountains.   The towns we had stayed in to this point, haven't been very exciting.  On the morning of Day 4, I hope to explore the town a little bit, before we leave.  After checking in to the hotel, we went to Denny's for a late dinner.  During the trip, we've both been changing various clocks we have to keep up to the time zone we are currently in.  Well, now we have a clock on every time zone, so we never know what time it is.  To complicate it, Arizona, in the Mountain Time Zone, doesn't participate in Daylight Savings time, so at this point, it is on Pacific Time.  How confusing. I actually had to ask the front desk person what time it was, no matter what she said, it was time to go to bed.

Days One and Two on the Road

I've always performed beautifully under pressure and even after preparing for this move for months, I just couldn't bring myself to pack the car until the very last moment.  So while things were in piles in my room, with some relative sense of organization, they were not actually boxed and put into my car until Sunday night, which by some people's standards, is cutting it a bit close.  However, it did work out.  I was able to comfortably fit all of my remaining belongings into my car, with no need to ship anything, which was a nice surprise.  I was even able to pack it in such a way that the passenger seat could still recline, meaning whoever wasn't driving, could sleep more comfortably.

After finishing my packing around 12:30 Sunday night (technically Monday morning) I made the quick decision that it was senseless to go to bed for a few hours in order to leave at 5 AM.  I knew I would barely be able to sleep and would wake feeling incredibly drowsy... so instead, I sent a few texts messages to Jay to see if he was up for leaving immediately.  When he didn't answer, I called, and woke Jay up, and asked him... "hey, sense, you're awake, you want to go ahead and leave?"  He was game. So after running around town to give a few hugs and get a few kisses from very dear friends, I was on the road...

I drove for a few hours, through the rock slide area on I-40, as you enter Tennessee, and then traded off to Jay around 3:30 in the morning.  After Jay drove for a few hours, he decided (and I concurred by silence) to stop and sleep for a while at a rest area.  We slept for about an hour, and was back on the road by 6:30 AM.  After 30 minutes, we came upon one of the most important stops we would make - Hardees!  Deciding that we should try to spend some time outside of the car (and me not wanting the car to get too dirty on the inside) we dined inside at the yummy good biscuit fast food establishment.  It wasn't the same as the Hardees in NC, but fulfilling all the same.

Back in the car, Jay continued to drive, and as we were both pretty tired and unrested, we traded off driving every few hours... with the other person sleeping.  We listened to a variety of music selections, a David Sedaris Book on Tape, and began the Chelsea Handler book on tape, "My Horizontal Life."  Totally inappropriate for anyone under 18, but hilarious as you can imagine, it helped pass the time.

With the early departure and time change, we arrived at our destination, Fort Smith, Arkansas just after 3:00 PM.  It was nice to have the extra time to relax.  There weren't many people in the hotel (not many in Arkansas for that matter - I'm not sure why people live there... I wasn't impressed), so we had the run of the place.  While Jay napped, I took a dip in the pool, thinking that a little physical exercise would ensure that I slept well, like I needed any help sleeping with less that 4 hours of sleep accumulated that day, but still, I was preparing.

Dinner was served at the hotel at 5:00 PM.  Jay and I were there at 4:55... we are growing boys!  It was a simple vegetarian meal, but filling.  We thanked our server and returned to the room.  I had taken a shower before dinner (and after the pool) so I put a movie on, and decided to just relax for the rest of the evening.  I fell asleep just before the movie ended, at 8:30 PM.

The next morning, I woke up to a glimmer of daylight piercing through the curtains around 5:45 AM.  My alarm reinforced the wake up time just a few minutes later.  My alarm also woke Jay up, which he was fine with, apparently he had fallen asleep just a few minutes after the movie finished, and after I had.
Jay took a shower while I collected our belongings.  My dad called around 6:30 AM, and I used this phone call as my first opportunity to remind him that 7:30 AM phone call, which was a routine for him, would no longer be appropriate.  Our family has never had many friends or family members in other time zones, and adjusting to this change will surely be a bit difficult.  Regardless, I was up already, and Dad and I chatted for a while.  As Jay finished up the shower, we took our first load of things to the car (momma taught me how to pack!).  After loading the car, we ate breakfast and I returned to the room to retrieve my remaining belongings.  Because I was taking longer than expected (because my key had failed me, and I had to go to the front desk to have it reprogrammed) Jay met me at the room.  With one last sweep of the room, we hit the road.

Oklahoma was just over the river, and flat state was pretty boring.  I drove for the first 5.5 hours, well into Texas.  Things became a bit more scenic in Texas, but nothing serious.  It amazes me how much vast, empty spaces of land there is in the US.  The empty land, empty roads, and full night of sleep empowered my mind to wander a bit... I thought about this transition.  With all of my belongings in my car, I felt a bit like a vagabond.  It was just now starting to sync in that life is permanently transitioning away from Brevard.  The packing, the wonderful send-off, the empty room, none of this had done it.  For now, I still feel to be on vacation... taking a fun road trip seeing a part of the US I've never seen!  But I suspect it may start to set in soon... for now, at best, I just feel intentionally missing, and I like it.

Jay and I had a late lunch in Amarillo, and after putting my 4th tank of gas in the car, we were back on the road.  The car is performing well.  In spite of being fully loaded, acceleration seems fine.  The back springs are weighted down a bit, but I'm hoping it won't cause any long term issues.  After a few more hours of Texas, where anti-littering signs are constantly reminding you to "Not Mess with Texas," we were into New Mexico.  Now this state knew how to make a landscape.  The barren plains were speckled with large rocky mountains full of shape and color.  The bushy plans would fill specific areas, undoubtedly following trains of water that forged through the dessert.... it seemed so designed, but so incredibly simple.   In the distance, Jay pointed out a dark cloud with rain filling the space between it and the earth, it was so amazing to see so far in the distance, to practically anticipate the future with your own sight.

The landscape only improved as we entered Albuquerque.  The town itself is very clean, painted with colors of red, tan, and green.  Many of the buildings have painting schemes of bright red and blue accents on clay colored stucco, emulating perhaps Adobe dwellings.  Our hotel is no different.  We arrived around 5:30, and after checking in we settled into our room.  The most imposing part of New Mexico and Albuquerque is the incredibly bright sun.  It's rays shine down on you so hard, that you feel as if you are walking on it's surface.  I actually think I can feel the UV rays penetrating my skin and breaking the bonds within my DNA, so I quickly looked for the shade.  In the shade, the dry heat is actually quite tolerable.  As the evening approached, we even got a nice breeze.  I'm assuming that in the evening, it's going to get quite cool.

Jay and I wandered the nearby shopping center.  The hotel is pretty busy, so there was some competition for the complimentary dinner.  Jay, who wasn't horribly impressed with the free pizza, decided he'd just eat out.  (Always quick at reducing the space between me and a buffet, I was able to snag enough pizza before it ran out, so I wasn't hungry). We went to California Pizza Kitchen where Jay had an appetizer (and I had a few bites) and then we each had dessert.  We hit a few other stores, and then strolled back to the hotel.

Tomorrow we'll leave for Farmington, NM to have lunch with Allison Swan, then meander our way through Northern New Mexico and Arizona back down to Flagstaff for the night... till then, sweet dreams.