Back on the west coast

Wildfires

The trip from Las Vegas to Los Angeles should have taken a little under four hours. It took eight hours, including three and a half hours in standstill traffic as I-15 and I-215 at San Bernadino was intermittently closed due to a huge wildfire burning in the area which had already destroyed several homes.

This is the first view we had of the fire, just a smoke plume in the distance.

Before long traffic ground to a halt. Turned on the radio to hear the announcer bellowing out a string of road closures and fire reports. This is one of 12 wildfires burning across seven counties in southern California, and it is still burning tonight.

In the picture above you can see the median strip on fire, with even the wooden posts holding up the crash barrier going up in flames.




















Finally made it to Los Angeles with no problems, city is a bit smoke logged though!

Hoover Dam and Las Vegas

This is the Hoover Dam. We drove right over to top of it, which people are only going to be able to do until next year. In the background you can see the pilons for the new road they are building to take traffic off the dam and supposedly make it safer from terrorist attacks.

San Antonio to El Paso to Arizona

The road from San Antonio was long, and had few stops of interest. It was however along I-10 on this stretch when the speed limit reached the highest yet on this trip, at 80mph (130kph). I killed so many bugs and butterflies with that windshield that it ceased being funny. I concluded the speed limit must be a Texas pest control policy.

On arrival in El Paso I could hardly wait to get across the border into Juarez. It was a hot day and there really was nothing for it but to have another beer in Mexico. At a cantina just off Juarez Ave, about a mile from the international bridge we came in on, we met a waiter who spoke perfect english with an accent from north of the border. His name was Caesar. On account of his accent I asked him where he grew up, and he hesitated a moment before saying "well, I don't have to lie about it anymore because I'm over here now." He told us that he was born in Mexico and when he was two his parents took him to the United States. They bought false I.D. papers, birth certificates etc. Caesar got all the way through school and at 17 he joined the US Navy with the hope of eventually going to college. He served in the 1st Gulf War. In 2002 he left the military and signed up for college. In 2005 he had only one year left before he gained his degree and he applied for a student loan. They caught him out with his false birth certificate and he was deported to Mexico after serving a six month jail term, which is how he came to be waiting tables in Juarez.

The following day in the morning we went to a few stores on the US side of the border, before crossing into Mexico again. This time we went to a resturant first and enjoyed some awesome dirt-cheap Mexican food. After that we went on a bit of a south-of-the-border pub crawl visitng cantina of all variety. I tried four new beers that day - Indio, Carta Blanca, Dos Equis and Bohemia.

One of the bars we went to was about the worst bar I've ever been to I think. It was one of those basement bars, you know when you have to walk down the steps from street level. This may be fine in an ordinary modern western city, but Juarez smells like crap at the best of times, and it gets even worse underground. To imagine the restroom at this bar is easy. Picture the dirtiest public restroom you've ever been into, then add an offensive smell of overflowing city sewers, then smash the toilet bowls and take away the running water.

The next bar we went to was completely different, i mean it must have been a cantina fit for a king in Juarez. And at US$2 a beer, you'd expect nothing less. It was so classy in fact that we met a guy visiting from El Paso for the day who is running for the US congress in the 16th congressional district of Texas. His name was Leeland White and he was a very interesting guy. Probably a bit of a radical, from what I learnt from talking to him, and possibly a serial cantitate who has very little chance of winning the seat, but a very interesting guy all the same. Juarez is a really cool city and it is really bizzare to make the quick transition across worlds simply by walking across a bridge over the Rio Grande, and paying 35 cents to the authorities as you do that.

From El Paso we had another long drive up to Holbrook Arizona, crossing the state of New Mexico on the way. In New Mexico, about 50 miles west of Socorro, we visited the 'Very Large Array', the largest radio astronomy observatory in the world, consising of 27 radio telescopes (which loook like satellite dishes) each roughly the size of a baseball triangle. It is best known from its appearence in the 1997 movie 'Contact' and I tried to find it last time I was in New Mexico but never quite got there. It was an impressive site and amazing to think of all the money being spent on such far out scientific research. However, no matter what the movie portrayed in real life the observatory is much less about reaching out to aliens than Jodie Foster might have led you to beleive.

In the afternoon we visited the Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona, an environment completely unique from anything I have ever seen before. Trees and wood from millions of years ago which has become solid rock while and even grown semi-precious jewells.

Then finally, we arrived in Holbrook Arizona where we stayed in the Wigwam Motel, a relic from the 1950s on the old Route 66.

From the road

Hey guys, sorry for the long wait since the last post, have been a bit out of reach of the internet for the last few days, in Mexico and the Arizona desert. There are lots of stories and photos to come from Juarez, El Paso, Petrified Forest National Park, the Very Large Array, Hoover Dam, and everything in between, but we've just arrived in Las Vegas and I left my camera in the car... That I don't just go get it makes me sound lazy, but we are staying at the Stratosphere Hotel and Casino.. the room is in World Tower II, and the car is way over in West Parking Garage Blue Level 5E. I'm thinking I might be able to fit in a more decent blogpost between going for a swim in the 67,000 square foot pool and my buffet dinner tonight so watch this space.

In the meantime, I leave you with the following photograph. Yes it is exactly what it looks like.

San Antonio

They call it the Venice of the Americas, and it is one of the finest places I've ever visited. Today we made the short trip from Austin to San Antonio and on arrival immediately set out for the riverwalk.

The riverwalk is lined by bars and resturants and stretches out for miles. The resturants serve the nicest Texan and Mexican food ever. Ever.

Also today: we remembered the Alamo. Site of a desisive battle in the fight for Texas Independence in 1836. The building itself was constructed from 1718-1724 as a mission. A garrison of 900 Texans retreated to the Alamo in February 1836 as the forces of Santa Anna advanced. Outnumbered three to one the Alamo fell and Santa Anna advanced to San Jacinto, where he ultimately lost and Texas decleared its independence.

Tomorrow we make the long drive from San Antonio to El Paso and Juarez across the border in Mexico. A distance of 552 miles, the trip will take at least 8 hours. It's still hot hot hot here so I'm going to go have a swim. For your information and in the interests of providing an acurate record I have included a photo of the motel pool. The temperature here reached 92-f (33c)

In the oval office...

Not the real Oval Office, but an exact replica at the Lyndon B. Johnson presidential library in Austin.

Also in Austin:

The State Capitol building.

We then went out to the 6th Street entertainment district in the evening. Austin has a really cool collection of bars down 6th Street.

Short drive through to San Antonio this morning, going to see the Alamo and enjoy the best Texan and Mexican food in the world!

Lone Star City

Brazos Bend state park yesterday.

Cruising down the freeway in my fast fast car. The buildings in the background is the Galleria district of Houston, where we went to a big mall. Said mall contained ice-skating rink and 500+ shops.

At Galveston Island this morning, the farthest east point of this trip.

Oil tankers lining up to get into the Houston Ship Channel. This is the busiest port in the United States for international freight.

Me with the Saturn 5 rocket which blasted the Apollo 11 mission to the moon, now stored at Rocket Park, part of the Johnson Space Center.

The flight deck of a space shuttle.

The San Jacinto Monument, at the site of the San Jacinto battleground where Texas won its independence from Mexico in 1836. The monument is 177.7m tall, a full 8m taller than the Washington monument. Go Texas!

Tomorrow we're off to Austin to see the capitol of Texas.

In other news, Dairy Queen has just released their best blizzard ever. It contains vanilla ice cream and reece's peanut butter cups. Does it get any better than this?

Dallas to Houston

Zig-zagged down from Dallas to Houston, visiting the Dr Pepper Musuem in Waco, and then going east on US-84 to Anderson County so that Daniel could get a photo in front of the sign, and then south on I-45 into Houston.

Hit a bit of a hickup leaving Dallas when an 18 wheeler flipped over about half a mile ahead of us, forcing us to do a u-turn on the freeway and drive across the median strip (with police approval!!)

On the way down I-45 we stopped in Huntsville and went to the Texas State Prisons Musuem.

"Ol' Sparkey", the electric chair of Texas, where 361 men were executed between the 1920s and the 1970s.

Last day in Dallas

The JFK Memorial

Me at Dealey Plaza. The X in the center lane marks the exact spot where the first shot hit JFK as the motorcade drove through on Nov 22 1963.

Looking up at the Texas Schoolbook Depository. The sixth floor, second from the top is where Lee Harvey Oswald fired the shots from.

Amarillo to Dallas

This was a long boring drive, uniformly flat scenery and a ride road the barely turned a corner. Boring until we got to Dallas. Dallas has the most complex roading system I have ever seen. So many freeways and loop roads and highways all intersecting with one another. We were swept into this whirlpool of interchanges ages before the signature high rises of downtown Dallas emerged from the horizon, the city is so huge.

After finding the motel and getting my bearings and confidence back we set off to go the Texas State Fair. This is one of the highlights of the trip so far. It was such an awesome atmosphere, and there was so much going on. Sometimes its hard to find the true soul of a place when you are staying in hotels and driving everywhere you need to go, but this really helped us see the real Texas. At the fair there was a huge auto show, and I found a vehicle that gets 12 miles per gallon (see picture). By comparison the rental car is getting about 31mpg.

Other photos from the fair:

The state fair was just awesome. The largest event of its type in the world, a sprawling complex of just about everything Texan you can think of. And deep fried lattes. When we got back to the motel Jay Leno was covering the Texas state fair on The Tonight Show.

Update at 1600hrs Friday - I'm in a mall in Dallas using a wifi hotspot that keeps cutting out. Been at Dealey Plaza, the JFK memorial and the Sixth Floor Musuem this morning - photos and more from this to follow next post.

Then and Now

Nov 12 2005

Oct 8 2007

Ely - Denver

Monday we left Ely at 4am, rolling east on the US-50. We entered Utah at dawn and had some spectacular scenery as we crossed Panoramaland before connecting with the I-70 and crossing the continental divide. Including numerous photo and leg-stretching stops it took us about 13 hours to get to Denver, a good 3 hours over-schedule.

On arrival in Denver, I dragged Anderson down to East Colfax Ave, the wickedest street in America, to follow in Kerouac's footsteps and see some of my old stomping grounds. We attracted a following of coke-riddled bums as we walked east, apparently they thought we were going to start dropping dollars. On the way back we had dinner at the Rock Bottom Brewery outside on the 16th street mall. I ate buffalo for the first time ever, in the form of buffalo fajitas. Anderson thought he would eat light and order a salad... the resulting huge plate that arrived loaded down with greens and chicken, croutons and bread rolls was the proof that if you are eating out in this country, you are not eating light. One to one and a half meals is calorie sufficient to last an entire day. On that note, high fructose corn syrup appears to be the magic ingredient which is in almost every food and drink I have consumed in the last 8 days.

Tuesday went down to Littleton to visit some more old stomping grounds, go to a mall and do boring stuff like washing at the laundromat I used to frequent called 'All My Suds'. Got a bit lost getting back downtown after taking a wrong turn, and ended up skirting around south Denver and getting on 3 freeways before finally figuring out where we were. Then just when it was all good and we were pointing in the right direction the freeway split and we were dragged east again because I was in the wrong lane! Visited the obligatory downtown sites, the state capitol, civic center and US Mint, then met Cindy for dinner at Chilli's on 16th Street.

Quick update...

Hi guys,

I'm just using wi-fi at a highway rest stop about 130 miles northwest of Fort Worth on US-287. We left Amarillo at about 7.30am and are heading down to Dallas. Have a lot to say but no time right now - sorry for the long wait for the post have been away from the internet for a few days. Huge thunderstorm as we drove into Amarillo last night, were lucky to escape with no damage to the car from dime-sized hail stones.

Will post the story and pics for everything east of Ely next time i get online. Meanwhile, i'll leave you with one photo....

Dawn on US-50 in Western Utah, near the Nevada border on Monday morning during the trip from Ely to Denver.

It's a long road to Denver...

...and we're only half way there.

Today we covered 573 miles, crossed 12 distinct mountain ranges and once we got to Nevada only went through about 3 or 4 towns. They call it the lonliest road in America.

Here are some of today's pics:


















No shit, this is our car man! Its a Pontiac G5 Sporthatch, classed as a 'compact economy' model by the rental company.

Me at South Lake Tahoe.

Ok, this is the coolest thing in the world. We randomly came across this while driving the Lonliest Road, its literally more remote than the middle of nowhere. Its called 'Sand Mountain' and its a giant mountain of sand. People come here from all over to ride their dune buggys on it. It was just really random to hardly see any traffic for hours and then to arrive here with all these RVs parked up and crazed dune riders speeding up and down this pile of sand in the desert.

The town of Ely, Nevada. Pictured is its traffic light, and some the several casinos that line its main street.

In the morning, its eastward to Denver... a journey of 673mi.