May 6, 2007: Mojave Desert, California.

Our route home took us through the desert in southern California. We stopped in the town of Blythe and camped in a spot along the lower Colorado River.




We made the last stop of our trip in Joshua Tree National Park, where some of the last of the disappearing giant yuccas can still be found. It was a sad night for us, not because we were pondering the demise of the tree, but because our trip has come to an end...



In the morning we drove back to Los Angeles, our point of origin. We had driven about 18,000 miles in a giant loop through 36 states and 3 Canadian provinces (plus a quick plane ride to Nicaragua).

Our next great adventure will be the upcoming year in our new home: sunny Seattle. We'll let you know if it deserves a blog. Come visit us.

THE END.

May 3, 2007: Sedona, Arizona.


A few miles outside Sedona is Meteor Crater, the site of a 50,000 year old crater formed by the impact of a 150ft diameter meteor. Folks thought it was a volcano for a long time into the 20th century. Duh.

Sedona is a rather pretty little town, in a valley surrounded by red sandstone cliffs and spires. Sedonans like to say that their town looks like Mars.







The Chapel of the Holy Cross is the cool place to worship. It was built right into one of the spires.





The nature here is great and all, but the town is a little weird. Too many stores selling crystals, tarot cards and books on spirtuality, meditation and healing.

April 30, 2007: Grand Canyon Nat'l Park, AZ

Our route to the south rim of the Grand Canyon took us over the Glen Canyon Dam, which holds back the 15 trillion-gallon Lake Powell behind it. It's one of the most controversial dams in the country, as it flooded the scenic Glen Canyon, ridded the lower Colorado of several fish species, and introduced invasive non-native plant species to the Grand Canyon. But we in the southwest like our A/C and our 20-minute showers.

The Grand Canyon is aptly named. Rim to rim it is 10 miles across as the crow flies, 25 miles as the hiker treads, and over 220 miles as the Hummer drives.


Pollution from L.A. and Phoenix has reduced visibility considerably here, but a thunderstorm overnight gave us relatively clear views.

April 26, 2007: Zion Nat'l Park, Utah.

Zion was re-discovered by Mormon settlers in the 1800s who thought they had discovered the promised land. Brigham Young said that they were wrong, that it was not Zion, and the name stuck. It was called "not Zion" for a good long while, but eventually people relaxed and started calling it Zion again.

The porous Navajo sandstone cliffs here drip hundred-year-old water from underneath alcoves.



Like Yosemite, the park is particularly attractive to climbers, who come to scale some of the sheer peaks. We set out (or up) for a spot 2,000 feet above the Virgin River.

After a few miles of relatively tame switchbacks up the mountain, we reached a plateau. From there, we had to climb another half-mile up a ridge with steep cliffs on each side. There were fixed lines most of the way up to make it a little easier, but it was really really scary.



But worth it. The peak is called Angel's Landing, so named because it was thought inaccessible for a long time and that only angels could get to it.






We were tired when we got down. We headed down to Springdale and over to the Mormon-church-turned-pub for replenishment. The place is a sign of slow progress for Utah.

April 24, 2007: Bryce Canyon Nat'l Park, Utah.

We woke up to find Bryce Canyon dusted with snow and looking amazing. Pictures don't quite capture what an incredible morning it was.





The consensus opinion among rangers is that Bryce Canyon is the most scenic of all our national parks. Perhaps.





The park misnames this arch 'Natural Bridge.'


The next morning, the snow was gone. Check out Stace atop one of the hoodoos.

April 22, 2007: Southeastern Utah

The landscape in the Colorado Plateau region of the southwest is some of the most spectacular we have seen on our entire trip. Deep canyons, towering rock cliffs, arches, and natural bridges abound. In case you weren't aware, a bridge was created by and spans flowing water, whereas an arch is just an eroded hole in a wall of rock. At left is a bridge in Natural Bridges Nat'l Monument.
We camped overnight in Hite, an old mining boom town that was swallowed by Lake Powell after the construction of the Glen Canyon Dam. We had the campground completely to ourselves. We probably had the surrounding 30 square miles to ourselves too.


In the morning we drove up to Capitol Reef Nat'l Park. The park centers on the Waterpocket Fold, a 100-mile long monocline that has been eroded into canyons, spires and domes by the Fremont River. We camped in Fruita, an old Mormon village that the park service took over.
We headed south towards Bryce Canyon and encountered a storm. The road took us over an 11,000 ft pass and it was snowing pretty heavily up there. The plows hadn't reached the summit, and we had a good scare as we passed a few folks who got stuck.

April 20, 2007: Mesa Verde Nat'l Park, Colorado.

The cliff dwellings here date from about 1300 A.D. and were inhabited by Puebloans, the ancestors of most southwestern indian tribes. Puebloans had lived in this area on the mesa tops from about 750 A.D. before moving under the cliffs.



They only lived in these dwellings for 75 years and then disappeared completely from the region. At left, you can see our RV among the trees on the mesa top. We've lived in that dwelling for about 9 months now.


There are about 600 alcoves with well-preserved dwellings, the largest of which was home to hundreds of people. About 50,000 Puebloans lived in Mesa Verde - more than the population of the entire Four Corners region today.

April 18, 2007: Arches & Canyonlands Nat'l Parks, Utah.

This arch is the most popular in the park, probably because it stands alone on top of a canyon ridge and offers great views of La Sal Mtn. They call it Delicate Arch, but it is hardly the most fragile in the park.

Landscape Arch, however, is set to fall any minute. It is one of the longest in the world spanning the length of a football field and is less than 6 feet thick at its thinnest point.



The over 2000 arches here were formed by soft red sandstone deposited 150 million years ago. As underlying salt deposits dissolved, the sandstone collapsed and weathered into a maze of vertical rock slab walls. Wind, rain, and ice wore through the walls and left holes big enough to walk thru.

Meanwhile, the canyons here were formed by the confluence of the Green and Colorado rivers. The wind was gusting at 50-60 mph at the rim on this day, so we knelt down to avoid being blown over the 2000 ft. cliff to our deaths. Safety first.

April 15, 2007: Glenwood Springs, Colorado.

The coach made it over the Rockies without a problem. There was very little snow for April, which means a dry summer might be in store for SoCal.



We stopped here to seep in the famous mineral therapy pools, which are maintained at 104 degrees. The water smells a little sulphuric, but it beats chlorine.

April 13, 2007: Boulder, Colorado.
Only about 20 minutes from Denver in the foothills of the Rockies is this isolated hippy town. But Boulder is for well-to-do hippies, who make their livings as veterinarians or environmental lobbyists. Refreshingly, there were none of the other kinds, who tend to malinger on the street with a dirty bony dog on a leash and beg for change.

And they were out and about on this sunny day at the farmer's market in front of the Dushanbe Tea House, which was built in Tajikistan and shipped piece by piece here.

We hiked up to the Flatirons to get a view of the town from above. It's hard to hike uphill at 6000 feet.

April 12, 2007: Denver, Colorado.

We hadn't planned on coming this far north before heading home, but we couldn't resist when we saw that one of our favorite bands was playing here.






We hadn't planned on liking Denver so much either. But it's clean, sunny, cosmopolitan, and it's got a beautiful backdrop to its skyline.

Bender's Tavern attracted a few tattooed skinhead and rockabilly types on this particular night, but those folks quickly dissipated upon Corb Lund's yodeling. We can't say enough good things about this band. And remember: if you don't thaw the bit then your pony's tongue sticks to the frozen metal bridle when it's cold.

April 10, 2007: Taos, New Mexico.
The Rio Grande starts here at the foot of the Rocky Mountain range and it cuts an amazing gorge in the plains below. Taos is a quiet little ski town, but if you're ever in town there is a good scene at Eske's Brew Pub.

April 8, 2007: Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Further still up the Rio Grande is a whole city made of adobe. Even the IHOP. That might get a little old to the local or a little stifling to the homeowner, but it's rather attractive to the tourist.

Georgia O'Keefe lived at nearby Ghost Ranch and her museum is in town. She became famous after her noted husband-photographer showed nude photos of her. Her own work, which was then very abstract, became associated with the racy photos and she was invariably reviewed thru a sexual lens. She was bugged and switched to painting flowers. These later paintings, of course, would always bring similar interpretations.
There is lots of other art here too, and we were in town for the monthly Art Walk when the many galleries in town open their doors at night in kind of party atmosphere. Wearing our year-old stained and battered RV rags, I'm not sure we looked as though we were in the market for a $60,000 sculpture. In any case, they didn't sell us one.
Just outside the city is Bandelier National Monument, where cliff dwellings dating from about 1100 to 1500 are preserved by the walls of Frijoles Canyon. These folks did alright for themselves.

April 5, 2007: Albuquerque, New Mexico.

We have continued upriver along the Rio Grande into one of the oldest Spanish colonial cities in the country. Iglesia de San Felipe looks pretty good for being 300 years old, and has withstood a modern Meth problem, which has unfortunately uglied most of the rest of the city, including our less-than-lovely RV park.

The fertile valley here was settled for a good long time before Spaniards came. We hiked up in the hills beyond the city where there are native petroglyphs all over - the impressive stick figures to the left are examples of the relatively modern 'Rio Grande Style,' which developed just before Rembrandt and Vermeer did their thing.

April 3, 2007: Carlsbad Caverns, New Mexico.

We have been through a few caves on our trip, but nothing compares to this place. First of all, it's huge. It takes 3 hours just to walk down and around the main part of the cavern. But mainly it's the size of the speleothems that sets these caverns apart. There are several stalactites, stalagmites, and columns that are over 30 feet tall. They've been growing at a rate of about 1mm every 100 years.

April 1, 2007: Big Bend Nat'l Park, Texas.

Big Bend straddles the border in southwest Texas. It's one of the most remote regions of the country. Across the Rio Grande (left) it becomes an even more remote part of Mexico. Nonetheless, there are a couple of small villages across the river, and we saw lots of folks come over to sell nic nacks to campers. It's a team effort, with one guy climbing a hill with binoculars to keep watch for border guards while the other boats over to popular hiking trails and campgrounds.

During the world wars, the region was mined for mercury, and there are a couple of ghost towns with ruins of miners' homes.





We rafted down the river for about 20 miles through the Santa Elena Canyon, which rises 1500 ft. on both sides of the border. The nearest legal border crossings are 100 miles away in either direction, but we were able to stop and have a picnic lunch on a little beach on the south side. That was our big trip to Mexico.