Some Utah pics

• Salt Lake City
• Sego Petroglyphs
• Arches National Park

You may notice I'm lacking hair in some of these pics. The plastic guide fell off the clippers while in use so I had to choose between having a divot and going all the way. By now it's almost back at normal buzz-cut length.

Austin, TX

Since three of the four recommendations for travel destinations were for Austin, TX, I couldn't help but stop by and check it out. I had actually been to Austin once before with Amy (no, not that Amy, the other one) for the South By Southwest music festival. I expected a few bittersweet memories but actually I haven't recognized a single landmark from the previous trip.

Today I went to the Barton Springs pool which is basically a stretch of spring fed river they dam up slightly. The 68 degree, crystal clear water felt wonderful on a hot day, if a bit shocking at first. Toward sunset I went to the Congress Avenue bridge to watch 1.5 million bats pour out from the rafters. It was amazing to see them keep coming and coming.

Tomorrow I plan on stopping at Big Thicket National Preserve at the eastern end of Texas before continuing on toward New Orleans. In New Orleans I'll be meeting up with a surprise third travel companion. Heather recently quit her job and decided a road trip sounded good to her too. She'll be driving separately from North Carolina and we're leaving it open how long we travel in the same direction. Welcome aboard, Heather.

Perhaps I need to come up with some kind of application form for women to fill out if they want to join me for a segment of my road trip. Who knew I had such game?

One last request - I know some of you out there are fascist about grammar but nobody has yet pointed out any problems in my writing. Sometimes I read an article a week later and notice something glaringly wrong. Please send me a note or leave a comment (which I can delete after reading) if you think something should be fixed. Thanks!

Eclipse at Burning Man

In the month leading up to Burning Man I was excited yet a bit concerned about getting everything we needed to survive comfortably for a week in the desert. I'd already been living out of my Saturn for over a month and there wasn't all that much extra space for Ju-Hui, her gear and a week's worth of food and water for both of us. I tried to find someone online who could haul in water and a pair of bikes for us but none of the leads panned out. Eventually I gave up on the idea of bikes and resigned myself to leaving Burning Man mid-week to restock on water.

We stopped at one of the recommended water sellers in Reno on the way to BM. We started stuffing gallon jugs into nooks and crannies until, much to my suprise we got up to 22 gallons. At 1.5 gallons per person per day, we had the water thing covered. The Saturn was working hard under the load of all our gear, but didn't let us down. We just had to save A/C for when we happened to be going downhill.

After Reno we drove another two hours North, passing only a few very small towns. Some residents in the last town (ten or so miles short of the event) had a trailer full of used bikes left over after last year. What a good idea! For $70 we picked up both Ed and Ju-Hui sized bikes...now how to get them inside? I scribbled out a homemade sign and held it up for the incoming parade of Burners but after fifteen minutes and scores of vehicles, no luck. Ju-Hui took the sign from me and in about a minute had landed a nice couple with a big trailer who agreed to haul in our bikes. And that's how we met Watermelon and Cherubic.

Travelling always takes longer than one expects and by the time we dealt with traffic and got our tickets at Will Call it was nighttime. We wanted to set up camp somewhat close to where Watermelon and Cherubic said they'd be so we could retrieve our bikes, yet far enough away so as to be in a relatively quite section of the newly minted Black Rock City. Between the darkness, chaos and people trying to reserve vast tracts of land with a single traffic pylon, it took us a while to find a place to call home. Soon enough, though, we had our rebar-staked tent pitched and ventured out into the world.

Black Rock City is organized in a circular grid with the Man in the center. (PDF map) Radial streets go from 2:00 to 10:00 at :30 increments and cross streets go up alphabetically the further from the Man you get. Our home was at 8:40 between G(rassland) and H(abitat). Between 10:00 and 2:00 is the open playa, home to various large and small art installations as well as touring art cars just about anything you can imagine.

On our way out to the playa we met a camp of Hari Krishnas who were laying out lumber for a huge human powered cart they were building. They told us about its religious significance to them and how much they really identify with the idea of Burning Man. We intended to come back and help them build it but never made it back there. Between the heat, chaos and occasional sandstorms, things fall through the cracks for everyone at BM.

Continuing on to the playa we just walked around and soaked in as much as we could, noting places to come back to during the daytime. Around 2 AM, thousands of people stopped what they were doing to applaud a total lunar eclipse of a full moon. Some even shot of fireworks. On our way back we stopped by W&C's place and got our bikes. Just as we're drifting off to sleep we hear some people exclaim, "The Man is Burning!" but we were too tired to take them seriously.

Carlsbad Caverns and the Burning Man pics

I woke by 7:30, broke camp and drive to Carslbad Caverns NP. Though I got there by 9:30 the hardcore cave exploration tour was already sold out. Turns out it sells out a week in advance. I was rather annoyed with the Parks Service until I learned they only take eight people a week down in that particular area for conservation reasons. Oh well.

I did the self-guided tour and the King's Palace guided tour which were both quite good. The cleverly named Big Room could hold an ice skating rink as well as a few basketball courts. I met Louise on the King's Palace tour. She has been on a road trip almost as long as me. Instead of National Parks, she's watching a ball game at every single Major League Baseball field. She's up to 24 with 6 more to go. She's going to eventually post it all and send me a link. So there's at least two nuts in this world...

I started with over 550 Burning Man pics and got it down to under 200. I probably should delete more (especially the some of the temple/rainbow) but it is so hard to pull the trigger on some and I'm tired of fussing with it. This Burning Man set of pics is not safe for work but all in good fun. I'll add some narrative in future posts. Enjoy!

Star light, star bright

From White Sands NM I went South to El Paso, TX. I reached El Paso at just 9 and figured I'd get a room and call it an early day. The first group of motels didn't have wifi so I continued on a bit to the East (toward Guadalupe Mountain And Carlsbad Caverns NPs) to keep looking. Very quickly El Paso was in my rear-view and no lodging in sight. Oh well, how long could it take? Seriously, how long?

Let me just tell you, there is nothing but a border control checkpoint for 150 miles East of El Paso. I finally made it to Guadalupe Mountains NP and was able to get in and pitch my tent. Then I noticed the upside to being hours from civilization...the sky was darker and the stars brighter than I have ever seen in my life.

That was last night. I went on a 5.5 hour hike today here in GMNP and am now back in my tent with the rain fly off and all the windows open. I'm snug in my sleeping bag with the crickets chirping and most of the night sky in view. Life is good.

For the hike I new I needed to turn around at a certain time to make it back before dark and was a bit bummed that I wouldn't make the crest of the canyon. Being bull-headed, I pressed on anyway. Just as I was about to turn around I reached a hidden pass into the neighboring canyon; it was really breathtaking. The above picture shows part of it. The only other inhabitant was an eagle soaring in lazy circles at about my elevation.

Tomorrow I'm going to Carlsbad Caverns NP. Apparently they only offer the really gritty cave tour once a week and, as luck would have it, that day is tomorrow. There should be a bunch of bats flying out at sunset, too.

On to Las Cruces

The past two days have been really Intersting. Yesterday I stuck around in Tuscon and went to the Pima Air and Space Museum as well as Saguaro National Park. Today an hour side trip turned into an all day affair at Chiricahua National Monument; such a beautiful place.

I learned of Pima accidentally the night before as I got misdirected looking for lodging. It was dark but I could sense the silhouette of dozens of planes off to my left. This turned out to be the Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group (AMARG) attached to at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base. Basically most military planes (from all branches) come here to either die, get fixed up or be scavenged for parts. Pima is a civilian outfit but they are able to offer tours in AMARG.

In addition, Pima has hundreds of military planes on site as well as lots of interesting displays. They have a whole building dedicated to the 390th Bombardment Group, a WWII bomber wing. The missions, crews and nose art are all lovingly catalogued. Though very successful, many in the 390th died in action and many more were shot down to become POWs. Reading the accounts got me a bit emotional, especially when I thought about what a mess of a war we are sending our young people into today.

I made it to Saguaro NP an hour or so before sunset. It was quite pretty. I came home with some good photos as well as a couple dozen hair-like cactus needles stuck in my leg. :)

Like Oregon Caves NM, I went to Chiricahua NM on a whim and was very pleasantly surprised. Within the first hour I had taken over 100 pictures (which I will go with the 1500 or so I still need to sort.) I saw several eagles soaring and lizards sunning. On the way out I ran over a snake (without it hitting my wheels.) I backed up to check it out and found a very angry rattlesnake coiled and shaking its tail.

Next up is the Las Cruces, New Mexico area with White Sands NM followed by Guadalupe Mountains NP and Carlsbad Caverns NP.

My Yosemite pics. Burning Man pics (and what stories I recall) will be next.

Bye, Ju-Hui!

For the second time this trip I've said goodbye to a friend and travel companion. Ju-Hui is back in Windsor, Ontario for the Fall semester. I'm really going to miss her.

I'm on the outskirts of Phoenix, heading South. I'll be going to Saguaro National Park before turning East towards home. Well, Raleigh. I'm not sure what home means to me at this point. I'm both tired and restless. Part of me wants to make it to the Mississippi River in a 24 hour binge of driving. But then what? An East Coast road trip? A Desperate Housewives marathon? All I know is I've had enough Phoenix traffic and stifling Southwest heat.

I'm thinking about checking out New Orleans and relaxing on the Gulf Coast. Other than that I'm not too inspired about places to visit in the southern, central part of the country. Please do send suggestions in the comments if you have any. And thanks to those of you who've added comments, in general.

Bay Area pics from two weeks ago.