8,000 miles

Chicago to Niagara Falls is a 9 hour drive.  500 miles.  Then another the next day to Woods Hole, MA and I'll be at the Atlantic.  However, I crossed the 3000 mile point just after Galena.  So this is shaping up to be at least an 8000 mile trip.

Tech

So the tech is interesting.  When I'm on the road, I actually can listen to San Francisco's local classical station KDFC.  My setup is as follows:

• 12 volt DC -> 110 volt AC converter
• powers the cradlepoint WAP
• into which is plugged the Sprint mobile 3G broadband
• This creates Dona Nobis Pacets, my travelling wireless hotspot.  It works wherever Sprint has a 3G tower.
• The iTouch gets on the Dona Nobis Pacets network.
• It has the KDFC app, which streams KDFC
• That goes into the USB connector in my car stereo.

The wireless hotspot also allows the iPad's Maps app to show me where I am.  The iPad's recharger plugs into the other plug on the DC->AC converter, and I've got the total paperless travel setup.

Doesn't everyone have this?

Illinois

After Sioux Falls I kept going down Interstate 90, turned south at Interstate 35 and then East again at US 20.  This gets you to Dubuque, IA, which is where my Dad was born.  I managed to locate the house we was born in and got a picture of it (for later upload).


View Devil's Tower to Chicago, IL in a larger map

South Dakota: grasslands

Minnesota: keep the grass, add 10,000 lakes

Iowa: reduce lakes, change grass to corn

Cross Mississippi.

Illinois: change half the corn to soy

Illinois has this town called Galena which is a hidden enclave of foodies.  At the Galena Cellars Vinyard and Winery they have this wine they grow and produce there called Chambourcin which is this amazing wine for BBQ oriented foods.  I also picked up some cherry wine, and blood orange vinegar and pomegranite balsamic vinegar.  They have this shirt at the winery that says "Life it too short to drink just California wine."

It is so on.  (But I think I'm ordering the shirt, because I support irony in all its forms.)

Illinois is also home to Cousin Jane and Gino, who treated me like king.  However, I am now three visits up on Jane.  So we started planning her California trip.  Here's where you put your suggestions in the comments!

Wall Drug and the Badlands

Besides attracting bug juice, here's what I've been up to:

After Devil's Tower was the drive to Sioux Falls, SD.

Between Devil's Tower and Sioux Falls there are two items of interest: Mt Rushmore and Badlands National Park.  I chose the latter, since I kind of had to chose.  I stopped off in a place called Wall where the going concern is Wall Drug, which you might think would be a drug store in a town called Wall.

10% right.

I found out about Wall Drug from its signage, starting 100 miles before Wall.  Clever little sayings like "Bring the Kids" and "Home of the 5c Coffee" (which was true) and "See the New Tyrannosaurus in the Backyard".  After 100 miles of this I gave in and checked it out.

Turns out Wall Drug is a block long supermall, but in old western style.  They pretty much have everything there.  They have little storelets that all connect in the front, back, middle and sides so you never really know which store you're in or where you are.  Turns out old Mr Hustead moved his family there, and started with a drug store. Business was poor for 5 years (because no one stopped).  Finally Mrs. Hustead got the bright idea to put signs on the road saying "Free Ice Water" and the rest is history.  People flocked in droves and drove there in flocks.  So they still have the free ice water and the 5c coffee and the rest is reasonable enough.

Wall is an entrance to the Badlands, which are this area of erosion where there is more erosion than buildup; the soil is really soft so the floods keep washing it away.  It makes beautiful formations and I will be uploading some pictures Real Soon Now.  If you think "sandcastle meets desert" you're most of the way there.

Hemolymph

From Wikipedia:  Insects and some molluscs use a fluid called hemolymph instead of blood, the difference being that hemolymph is not contained in a closed circulatory system. 


You know it as bug juice.  I know it as that which coats my car.

Devil's Tower, Wyoming

I'm in Wyoming.  That's where Devil's Tower, tomorrow's destination, is, so I find me here tonight. It turns out that Wyoming is mostly grasslands.  For my friends in the California SF Bay Area, think of the central valley, except the size of  an entire state, and only grass.

Every so often along the way (see yesterday's post for the route), there'd be an untriggered barricade, which can be lowered when they decide to close that road.  Interstate 90 had them; country roads had them.  I guess it snows pretty hard up here.

Devil's Tower was the first national monument.  Teddy Roosevelt did the declaring.  The top of this formation can *only* be reached by climbing its parallel cracks.  It's sort of famous for that particular kind of climbing.

The Indian folk around here, however, consider it sacred and they consider climbing it disrespectful.  To understand that viewpoint, suppose someone went and did something disrespectful at the Dome of the Rock. Both the Dome of the Rock and Devil's Tower were here long before Christians, Muslims, Jews, Indians (of any kind). So I think it's not the places that are sacred, but the stories we tell ourselves about who we are, that are.

C Lazy U Ranch and Granby

Kate and Wolfie
I've had a lovely day with Kate!  We went out on a ride in the morning which lasted a couple hours.  My horse knew the way and was a gentleman the entire time.  With the vertigo, some of the trails were a bit scary: up, down, etc.  But Wolfie - that's my horse! - wants to live too, so he doesn't do anything stupid.  In return I let him graze on delicious lupins he finds along the way.  I'm not a cowboy but I now have a glimmer of understanding about the bond between person and horse. In my mind I was trusting Wolfie with my life, and he came through.

C Lazy U Ranch
The C Lazy U Ranch is a dude ranch of the highest quality.  The have two excellent chefs, a pool, beautifully appointed visitor lodging, sundry activities and skilled wranglers who take you out on rides around the Rockies!  It's a couple thou minimum for a week's stay, but it's full service and freaking gorgeous.

Pix
I have lots more pictures to process and post - still have to do Arches and now I have a bunch from the ranch and various other points of interest, like the Continental Divide.  The Colorado River starts around here, too.

Folks in Granby
Folks here opened their home to me - we had delicious steaks prepared by one of the chefs of the C Lazy U, and the home where it was served is an almost-Pony-Express stop - it was built for that, but never used as such.  It was a stagecoach stop however. Granby resident Bruce Janssen has his studio there, and you should definately check out his amazing photography.  He's got a lot of stuff of the C Lazy U because he works there has the head maintenance man; I'm told he is a true Renaissance man.

Folks here are less densely packed than back home, so they're a lot more relaxed.  We sat around a nice fire right there in their front yard and chatted about the stuff of life.  It's a way of living that just doesn't happen in Oakland.

Tomorrow
I've found a route to Devils Tower that seems Vertigo Free.  This is it:


View Granby, CO to Devil's Tower in a larger map

So tonight will be my last night at the Westerner Motel in Granby, and tomorrow it's on the Moorcroft, WY!

Vertigo: Managed

I made it!

This morning before I left  I did a little research and found vertigo is caused, perhaps, by the balance organ in the ear taking a holiday for whatever reason. The brain then tries to determine balance from the sensation of gravity (the seat of you pants, quite literally) and the visual sense - things looking near, far, approaching, etc.  It does a fair job but in case of sudden input, e.g. shifting one's focus, or the sensation of rising or falling (e.g. dip in road or curve), then it takes a lot longer to determine which way is up, quite literally.

So, instead of basically instantaneous correction, there's about a half second time lag, at least in my case. That's pretty scary when driving at freeway speeds.

Solution: move smart.

1. Drive the speed limit.  For me that provides the extra reaction time now required.
2. Manage the field of view.  Don't let it shift too rapidly, causing disorientation.  So I didn't get to look at the pretty scenery all day, just focussed on the road.
3. Note impending bumps and mitigate for expected disorientation.  Usually meant slowing down further, refocusing on the road.
4. Keep consuming Vertigoheel, which mitigates the effects somehow.
5. Rest and eat.  This much concentration is exhausting, so I stopped often at rest stops to replenish.  (Normally I just drive 6 hours straight and it's fine.)
6. My route planning paid off.  Turns out Interstate 70 was the nastiest bit or road, with high speed swoops and turns.  Once I got to Colorado State Route 9, it was like any country road.  Reminded me of Alhambra Valley Road in Martinez.  And US 40 was just the same.

Kowledge is power.

Thus it is that I am arrived in Granby, Colorado, safe and sound, and rather a bit tired.  Of course it was 7.5 hours of driving, including some flagman action - one lane closed - which delayed the escape from Moab, UT, but safe, tired and late is way better than the alternative.

Vertigo

Ok, Tomorrow I'm driving to Granby, CO.  This is on the Continental Divide, that is to say, probably the highest point in the Continental US.

I'm having spells of vertigo as I drive.  This is not good.  It seems to happen when there are dropoffs to the side. Not having guardrails makes the issue larger.  There is a strange absence of my usual total connection to the road, and it's quite distressing.

So you see the issue.

I've been using Google Maps to plot my route, and it chooses the shortest route.  Tomorrow's route will not do, and I've spent an hour and a half finding a better one.  I've come up with this.


View Arches to Kate, Minimal Vertigo in a larger map

I've spent that hour and a half in Google Maps dropping the little man representing Street View onto various portions of the route, and I think I've found a route that'll work.  That, plus the Vertigoheel supplement I'm taking ought to do the trick.  There's a two mile section that can't be avoided, but in 6 hours of driving, I can manage one two mile section by slowing way the heck down and repeating my mantra: The Honda S2000 is a supreme driving machine affording precision control.

Here goes.

Tomorrow: Arches

View Day 5: to Arches National Park in a larger map

O Thou That Tellest Good Tidings to Zion

I've realized I need to do a separate Facebook album for each area of this vacation.  So today's album is Zion National Park.

Zion is a place that just needs more than a day.  Three would be about right.  Two at a minimum.  One day?  That was just cruel.

About the hike.  I woke up an hour late because it's mountain time here, as I found out.  So by the time I got out onto the canyon it was close to 11 am.  I decided I'd like to try Angel's Landing, even though I'd heard it was strenuous.  I watered up, got snacks, binoculars and of course camera and hopped the shuttle to the Grotto stop where the trailhead starts.

At 11 am the Sun is high and hot, so I made it a point to sip water constantly and stop every single time shade presented itself, and wait for my heart to stop pounding.  In that manner I slowly made my way up.  Some of those switchbacks activated my vertigo or fear of heights, which is the only bad thing about being over 40.  (I used to be part mountain goat, but apparently that DNA has expired.)

Halfway up there is Refrigerator Canyon, between Angel's Landing and the massif "behind" it.  Cool air flows through this and the traveller is given relief.

After that is the Wiggles, which are a switchback leading up to Scout Lookout.  They remind me of Lombard Street, without the cars or flowers.

A half mile from the top is Scout's Lookout, and that's as far as I got.  I decided I wasn't going to risk the next    section, which was not a trail, but chains keeping you from falling 800 feet, or 1200 feet (depending on from which side of the land bridge you slip).  So I hung out up there and took pictures of chipmunks and of the Road Less Traveled, Chains Required, and called it a day.

Tomorrow: Arches!

Southern Utah

After Nevada there was a brief flirtation with Arizona as I followed I 15 towards St George and Hurricane alone the Virgin river.  This is an excellent drive but there was nowhere to pull over in I15 and grab a photo, so you'll just have to do it yourself or see it it in Google Maps / Street View.

I notice the many Morman names of things.  Zion National Park.  Brigham Road.  Virgin river.  

The Southern Utonians are nice folk. I've already been bantered at twice.  This is in contrast to the ZZ Top dude who rented me my room in Nevada. He wasn't not nice, he wasn't nice; he was courteous and respectful.  And exceedingly fuzzy.

The scenery is of strata of rock tilted at off angles.  Imagine a mountain painted red, sawn off, and then turned on its side.  Common around here.  Skies to match, especially at sunset when the everything is red: earth, sky, clouds.

Google Street View: Sort of like being there

I've passed a number of way points that I checked out in Google Maps / Street View.  Among these are the gas station at the end of CA 120 in Benton, the road that leads to Area 51.  It's odd to pass them in real life.  There ought to be a FourSquare checkin button.  Or it's the ultimate scavenger hunt, with 6000 miles of trophies.

Gallivanting around the continent is a game for the young.

Wow.  Day 1 complete.  I thought I'd never make it.  But I am in a motel in Tonopah, NV.  I did it.

Today's route included California State highway 120 from end to end.  If you look in Google Maps and the Benton end of 120, you'll see a gas station.  I used that gas station.

Today's max altitude was Tioga pass coming in at almost 10,000 feet.  I discovered that I don't do well at altitudes like that and had to pull over a few times to recover.  But the views are excellent.  Coming upon the desert was like discovering art for the first time.

I can't wait to see what's next.  This is a drastic departure from this morning. I was stressed to the point of tears over leaving.  I think the drive through the desert helped a lot.

Tomorrow's goal: Southern Utah, somewhere in the vicinity of Zion National Park, where I'll spend a whole day.  Expect a lot of pictures.

I am somewhere on the blue line

As I write this I am still in Oakland, CA.  Today's goal is Tonopah, NV. I'm running late of course, but I should still be in Tonopah in plenty of time.

It really feels like I am leaving my life behind.  Kathryn has baked spelt chocolate chip cookies for the road.

I spent some time printing maps from Google, even though I have plenty of AAA maps.  The old ways die hard. But I have confirmed there is 3G in Tonopah, a place to stay, and gas stations appropriately placed.  So in theory this should work.

350 miles.  6.5 hours.  JoeBob says check it out.