Day Fourteen - return to Joshua Tree

I got up super early as I really just didn't like the Hotel St Michael in Prescott. Apparently it has a ghost that hangs out in the elevator or something. That makes sense, since the elevator seems to be about 100 years old - it's one of those where you have to open the door and then slide back one of those wire grills to get in. When I first pressed the button, I expected the door to open automatically and I stood there like an idiot for about 10 seconds before I realised it wasn't going to do it for me.

Anyway, I drove out of Prescott in the dark, which was a bit sad because it looked like the scenery was magnificent. The sun didn't get up until I dropped down onto the plains below Prescott.



As soon as I got onto I-10, I knew the driving would get annoying, and it did. Since I was ahead of schedule again, I decided to detour through Joshua Tree. I've already been through the park and camped there but I've never really looked around the southern part of the park which is part of the lower Colorado desert, as opposed to the higher Mohave desert in which the eponymous Joshua Tree is found. I was going to do a fairly long walk from the Cottonwood springs but when I started wandering around the springs/oasis area, it was so fascinating that I ended up just hanging out in the area for a couple of hours. In the usual US national park way, there were a couple of cars in the car park and a few people within 100 meters of their cars, but no one further afield.

As well as a whole host of birds (list coming, Suzi!), I saw a tarantula, lizards, antelope squirrels and a whole bunch of really weird cacti and other plants.




I drove north out of the park, passing the cholla garden



and stopping to let a couple of kit foxes cross the road. Once out of the park, I joined the LA rat race on the freeway. Luckily the traffic was pretty good going my way and I got in to Santa Monica in a decent time.

This is my last night in the US and my trip is pretty much over, apart from driving to the airport tomorrow. It's been an awesome experience and a real privilege to see the US from one side to the other. Two weeks ago I was shivering in Boston - now I'm walking round LA in my t-shirt and turning the a/c on in the car to avoid overheating.

It's been a fascinating time to be stuck in a car listening to satellite radio for two weeks. There is no doubt that this is a seriously troubled country. Take a random sample of the ads played on the radio to get a sense of what is going on: "turn your debt into wealth!", "re-finance your mortgage with us!", "start your new career working from home!", "buy my new book that explains the 10 secrets to not getting fired!". The shows telling you how to make a meal to feed your family of 4 for less than $10 are starting to convince me that the great depression really is coming back.

Of all the places I've been on this trip, it's been the south west (New Mexico, Colorado, Utah and Arizona) that have been by far the coolest. It's something to do with the lack of hideous over-development that plagues a lot of the rest of the country but also the incredible scenery and the amazing history that still seems very relevant (did you know that the Navajo nation has 250,000 inhabitants?).

Travel stats coming soon when I get my GPS out of the car.

Notes for hotels

Based on 12 hotels in 13 days:

1. Please have your cleaners turn off the radio alarm so that it doesn't awaken the next guest (i.e. me) at 5am.

2. Put real glasses in the room, not plastic cups shrink wrapped in plastic.

3. Check the freaking lights so that your guests don't have to hunt around in the dark swapping light globes.

4. Make sure that your keys only open one room so that guests aren't disturbed by drunken frat boys barging into their room trying to find an extra bed for their drunken friend in the middle of the night.

Day Thirteen - more fun in Monument Valley

I got up early because I really wanted to get down into the valley and walk around by myself. Here's what I saw from my hotel window at about 7am just before I left for my hike:



The two mesas on the left are called the Mittens, for obvious reasons. I think the other one is Castle rock.

It turns out that I needn't have bothered getting up early as there were only about 5 people staying in the hotel and none of them went on the walk anyway. But it was pretty cool being down in the valley as the sun rose and it was incredible being alone as I walked around the Mittens. It feels a bit like being on the moon. There's absolute silence and nothing in view but desert and these giant monuments looming all around you.



The floor of the desert is really fragile - there's a thin crust that is apparently biologically active, the occasional yucca, juniper or sagebrush and lots of sand and rocks. I would have liked to wander off the track and explore the desert a bit, but it is very easy to damage the desert environment even with footprints.



I did see quite a few animal tracks, mostly little rodents but probably some larger things as well - coyotes or even bobcats. I can't recommend this experience - walking by yourself through Monument Valley - highly enough. It's truly one of the most incredible places I've ever been.

But eventually I had to pick my jaw up and get back on the road. If I'd driven along the highway to the south on any other day, I would have been stopping every 5 minutes to take a picture. But after Monument Valley, you get a bit blase. I did stop just outside of Flagstaff to do a short walk up to the base of a cinder cone from a recent volcanic eruption.



Once again, I was the only person in the park and I bumped into the ranger on my way around the trail. He was a bit apologetic about the fact that you can't climb the cone anymore. It's basically just a big pile of ashes and pumice and hikers were seriously eroding it. I wasn't at all sad, as climbing a giant pile of hot sand isn't my idea of fun.

Flagstaff seemed really cool - a pretty laid back and hip town in an amazing setting, but I wanted to get a few more miles on the odometer so I continued on to Prescott. Lonely Planet recommended a historical hotel downtown where I am now. They've steered me pretty right with a bunch of other places, so I forgive them for this recommendation. The Hotel St Michael is on the historic drinking street and it feels a bit like a place you check into when you are too drunk to make it home for the night. Anyway, I'm not going to stay here long. I think I'm going to push on all the way to LA tomorrow so I can relax and not be under any pressure to drive on my last day.

Day Twelve - a day of superlatives

I left Durango early as I knew there would be a lot to see on the road to Monument Valley. Actually, that turned out to be a pretty huge understatement.

My first stop was Mesa Verde. It's an incredible place - a massive mesa with the largest and best preserved Anasazi/Pueblo cave dwellings around. I'm not normally into these highly structured and managed park experiences but the huge advantage of coming here in winter is that there is no one else around. I was entirely on my own as I did the drive through the park. It's an amazingly atmospheric place and I was glad that there weren't any tour buses or crowds to blow the atmosphere.

I even took the guided walk with the ranger, who takes you to the one "house" that is open. The highlight was climbing down into a "Kiva" or underground room. It was quite a relief from the chill outside. I can see why the Anasazi moved off the top of the mesa into the caves. I didn't take many pictures of the ruins themselves - I'm sure they've been photographed into oblivion by now. But here's what it looks like up on top of the mesa - not too hopitable at this time of year. Yucca seem to thrive though.



I didn't think I would top the Mesa Verde experience but I decided to pull over when I saw a trailhead a bit further down the road. This walk, picked at random, turned out to be one of the best hikes I've ever done.



Around every corner was another incredible vista: the ruins of an old cave house



or a bizarre rock formation.



Big lizards ran up vertical sandstone walls, eagles circled overhead and shy little birds hopped around in the sagebrush and yucca. As for people - I saw one other person out for a walk with her dogs. I could have spent a whole day exploring but I had to get back on the road after a couple of hours. I'm definitely going back though.

To one of the best walks I've ever done, Monument Valley added the most incredible scenery I've ever seen in my life and the scariest drive. It's impossible to photograph or explain the overwhelming nature of the valley. It's just one bizarre and incredible vista after another: the "Gooseneck" bends of the San Juan river; a rock balancing on a giant pillar straight out of Roadrunner cartoons; incredible colours and textures everywhere you look.



Everything is out of scale. It's disorienting and overwhelming, particularly when you are driving a little rental car by yourself. I can't imagine why there aren't more people here in winter. Getting the place to yourself is incredible.

The last thing I did today, on the advice of the ranger from Mesa Verde, was drive up out of the valley on the "Moki Dugway". This is a road that somehow ascends one of the cliffs above the San Juan goosenecks. As I drove towards it, I simply couldn't imagine or perceive how the road would get up this near vertical, crumbling mass of sandstone and shale. The answer is: by switchbacking across the cliff face and not being afraid of massive drop offs.



The signposted speed limit is 15mph and I think it's too high. I'm not ashamed to say that I was shitting myself, particularly on the way back down. One false move or a failed brake line and you are toast on this road. There's a nice car wreck sitting on one of the scree slopes to remind you of the consequence of failure.

Tonight I'm staying in a brand new Navajo hotel right in the middle of the valley. To complete a day of superlatives, it has the most outrageous views of any hotel I've ever seen or can imagine.

Day Eleven - A slow and muddy day in Durango

Just a short drive today, about four hours up to Durango. Since I've still got a bit of time to kill, I decided to detour up into Colorado and stay at a historic hotel that is highly recommended in Lonely Planet.

The drive was worth the detour in itself. The first hour I was all by myself on a road west of Taos. That was great until I got to Tres Piedres - a bunch of houses at a junction. The road I wanted to continue on was closed and there was no explanation of a possible detour and no one around in the "town". I flipped a coin and headed north. Luckily, it paid off and I managed to get back onto a road that was open heading west through ranch country.

The road climbed up through a pass (presumably the pass to the South was snowed in and shut for the season).



I got into Durango around mid-day and decided to go for a hike outside town. I found a walk on the internet that was easily accessible from the hotel. It was described as "steep in places" - turned out this was a bit of an understatement. The walk was probably pretty easy in summer. But at this time in winter there was plenty of snow which combined with the bright sun to create a real quagmire. I'd been trudging up through the snow, slush and mud for about half an hour when I turned a corner and saw the ridge to the summit.



The rest of the walk was along a knife edge ridge coated in a greasy mud. The occasional patches of slushy icy snow where a welcome relief. On one side of the ridge was a 45 degree shale slope dropping about 100 meters and on the other side a snow slope of the same dimensions. Being entirely by myself, I was quite keen not to slip off either side.

Here's the view from the top, showing the next peak along the ridge.



and here's the view back to Durango. You can just see my car at the end of one of the streets.



Here are my boots at the end of the walk. The yaktrax were useful but got pretty clogged up with mud and almost more of an impediment than a help.



Back at the hotel, watched the superbowl in the hotel bar being served by waitresses in "authentic" Western outfits (i.e. stockings and garters, the whole outfit). Great game.

(Blog post was delayed due to no internet access in Durango).

Day Ten - going nowhere

All my travel today was up and down the mountain. It's nice not to have to drive anywhere. I think I understand how to ski bumpy terrain now - just a matter of working on it some more.

Going to a wine tasting event after a day of energetic skiing is fun, but perhaps not the best technique for serious wine appreciation. Pretty much anything tastes good after a day on the slopes, with possible exceptions for Zinfandel and New Mexico wines. Sorry, NM, I love you but I'm not coming back here to drink the wine.

Tomorrow - off to Durango, CO. I'm trying to put off getting too close to LA, so I'll mess around in Colorado/New Mexico for another couple of days I think.

Day Nine - a day off

So I took the day off driving today to ski. Taos ski valley is about a 25 minute drive from Taos (a little further from the earthship where I stayed last night).

There's not much to say today other than Taos is pretty steep. Also, I think I've finally figured out how to ski bumps and I'm planning to practice that more tomorrow.

Day Eight - I love New Mexico!

This is what driving across the USA is supposed to be like. No more freezing rain, icy roads, crowded interstates, chain restaurants or 20 meter high billboards. Instead, blue skies, quiet country roads, incredible scenery, little stores and towns with a main street and not much else.

I ignored the GPS' advice, which was to keep going from Amarillo on the interstate, and instead took off on a little state road. Immediately the driving got more interesting. Yeah the roads were long and straight and the country was flat, but at least I felt like I was actually in Texas, not just driving down some generic interstate with periodic stops at Shoneys, Burger King or Hooters.





Once I crossed the New Mexico border, things started to get even more interesting. The Rockies made a welcome re-apperance on the horizon.



The road to Taos took me right up into these mountains, through a steep canyon and then across an alpine plateau before descending down onto the Taos plain.

Taos itself is a cute town, full of adobe houses, expensive art and, I've just found out, great little places to eat. It's also home to the earthship community and that's where I'm staying tonight.



Earthships are made of car tires, bottles and rammed earth and they are entirely self sufficient, collecting solar electricity and rainwater. They're also incredibly comfortable. The temperature in here, where I'm writing this blog is a very pleasant 70 degrees with absolutely no heating and the air is moist, presumably as a result of evaporation from all garden beds inside the house.





The contrast when you walk inside from the -10 degree, super dry high altitude desert outside is remarkable.

But the desert is beautiful too.





And just down the road from here is a huge bridge over the Rio Grande. Everything in New Mexico is astonishing. Just an incredible place.



Tomorrow I'm heading up to Taos Ski Valley for a couple of days and I'll hopefully attend the wine festival that's happening up there this weekend too.

Day Seven - going west

The land west of Dallas is what I expected Texas to look like: flat, scrubby plains with a few cows wandering around looking lost. I didn't expect snow or fields full of ice, but I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised after last night.


I spent the morning getting schooled by Rob at Dominion (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/36218) and waiting for the ice to melt sufficiently for me to open my car door. It was a good thing I had to wait as I think the roads were pretty bad this morning. I can't recall how many accidents I passed on my way out of town but the most spectacular was a semi-trailer that had overturned and scattered boxes of something across several hundred meters of the highway.

As usual with driving in bad conditions, half the drivers slow to a crawl and the other half speed up. Judging by the number of wrecks, I think those who slowed down were in the right. Anyway, I got through some pretty hairy sections and have ended up in Amarillo, near the New Mexico border. As far as I can see, it has nothing to recommend it other than the fact that I was driving through it as the sun was going down.

The plan is to head to Taos tomorrow, through the mountains if the roads are open and then, since I'm ahead of schedule, spend a few days skiing there. If the snow is bad, I'll head up to Telluride in Colorado instead.

Hot Springs Images

A couple of pictures from Hot Springs that I couldn't upload through the 56K modem they seemed to be running there.

Day Six - iced in in Dallas

So the ice storm hit for real on Monday. I wanted to leave Hot Springs via some back roads and stop in on the Ouchita National Forest and lake but every time I mentioned this plan to anyone in Hot Springs they looked at me like I was crazy. I took their advice and left town via the Interstate, which was pretty hairy anyway.

Made a quick stop at De Gray State Park for a nice walk in the freezing rain. Of course, I was the only person crazy enough to be there, let alone get out of my car. I did get to see a couple of Great Blue Herons close up as well as some Loons diving in the lake and what I think was a turtle.

Now at Rob's place in north Dallas. This morning my car is covered in a sheet of ice about 2mm thick and I can't even open the door. So much for warmer weather down south. I'm going to have to wait until late morning or mid-day to get out of here.


That's OK as Rob has an ample supply of games and was even good enough to let me win once last night.

Once I get out of here, I'm planning to have a long day on the road and try to reach Amarillo, near the western border of Texas so I can get into New Mexico tomorrow.

Day Five - Freezing rain and hot springs

Arkansas doesn't seem to be very well set up for tourism, to put it mildly. Everywhere I stop seems to mainly rely on some connection to Clinton as its main claim to fame. Little Rock has the Bill Clinton museum, Hot Springs is apparently where he grew up and Hope is where he was born. I suspect this stuff is going to decline in value to visitors as time goes on. The Clinton museum already has Obama shirts front and centre. Not sure if Bill & Hilary would approve.

Staying in the 1920s Arlington Hotel in Hot Springs. "Seen better times" should be the town motto if they were to be truthful. Once again there is almost no one in this giant hotel, not even in the Ronald Reagan suite down the corridor from me. The internet connection is from the 1980s (i.e. modem speed) so I won't be posting any pictures today.

I'm hoping to drive into Texas on some back roads through the mountains west of here, but the forecast is for freezing rain and snow tomorrow, so that may not be too wise.

If I don't slide off into a mountain stream, I'll be meeting Rob in Dallas and staying the night at his place.

Heard on the radio passing through Little Rock - a talk back show dedicated to helping people out with financial problems. The caller was a 28 year old with a wife, a kid and one on the way. He owed $6000 on his credit card, lives in a trailer and only just bought his first car for $600. He brings home $1100 a month...

The host, assuring him he meant no offence, described his situation as "below the poverty line, in fact at starvation level". The caller didn't disagree. Judging by the housing I've seen here and the cars on the road, I imagine this situation isn't atypical.

Heard on the radio down here

Apparently Obama is a failure as he hasn't fixed the economy yet.

It took Bush eight years to break it, but I guess it's easier to fix things than break them. Or is that the other way around?!?

Day Four: starting my country music career

Well, I stayed in a quiet, unostentatious little spot last night:


The manicured gardens on the Biltmore Estate were the first place I've seen a lot of birds so far on this trip. Not sure what they all were but I'll try to ID them tonight (sorry Suzi!).

I drove out of Carolina through the Great Smoky Mountains park, which was pretty amazing. But it lived up to its reputation as the most visited park in the US - there was a lot of traffic passing through. And getting into and out of the park is a pretty gross experience.

On the Carolina side, you first drive through a collection of ramshackle, dirt-poor roadside stalls selling boiled peanuts and tacky souvenirs. Some of them are literally falling into the eroded river valley below. Once you get past these, you are then forced to drive by another few miles of Cherokee-run tourist traps.


I didn't see the "Native American dance show - no pictures allowed" but I did go into one of the stores to try to pick up something memorable. Unfortunately, I couldn't find anything that wasn't made in China.

On the other side of the mountains, in Tennessee, it's even worse. There's literally 10 miles of the worst sort of strip-mall with restaurant chains, "Cherokee Trading Posts", tattoo joints, gun and biker supplies and "authentic" gold mining experiences. It took almost an hour to get through. But I did have this to contemplate as I drove by:


I'm pretty excited to be in Nashville. As well as an opportunity to jump-start my country music career, I am to try out some local BBQ and see if there's some bluegrass on at the Station Inn. The Union Station Hotel is a fabulous conversion of a 19th Century railway station. The main lobby is the old station concourse with a massive vaulted stained glass ceiling. My room has a 30' ceiling and looks directly out onto the lobby.



Birds seen today: 10+
Miles driven on Blue Ridge Parkway: 0 (it's closed by ice)
Hours gained by crossing into Central Time: +1
Tomorrows destination: unsure at this time, possible Memphis or Hot Springs, AK. Either that or somewhere on the road to New Orleans.

Day Three - North Carolina

I got off the Blue Ridge Parkway as it is a bit slow and you can actually get sick of endless vistas over the mountains and forests. Instead I took some back roads and got to see some authentic ramshackle houses, donkeys and fences.




Later in the afternoon, I hiked a couple of miles down into a valley, ostensibly to see a waterfall, but in reality to get some exercise. I neither saw nor heard any living creatures on the walk. It was pretty creepy.


Realised today that the South kind of has an image problem. Every time a pickup truck started following me on a rural road I thought of Mississippi Burning; every time I crossed a river, Deliverance and Blair Witch was never far from mind on my hike.

In contrast, everyone I've met has been super friendly.


Snuck into the dining room at the Biltmore Estate wearing jeans by standing very close to the high table the maitre-de was at. The guy in front of me was turned away.

Currently staying at: the Inn on Biltmore Estate.
Scariest sight today: camoflaged pickup trick with Confederate flag and gun locker.
Tomorrows destination: Nashville TN, country music capital of the world.

Google map

It's got places I've been as well as places I'm considering going. Many thanks to Briscoe for most of the suggestions in the South.


View Larger Map

Day Two - Into the South

I got up early to get out of PA as fast I could. It's a bit of a depressing place. I did get a pretty good coffee at the local farmer's market and got to sample a local delicacy - an apple and raisin donut, which was as sweet, tasty and calorific as you would expect it to be.

I regard Maryland as the South for the following reasons:

• No snow on the ground.
• First motorcyclist on the road.
• Sign propositioning motorists to support the US leaving the United Nations.
• Calvin pissing on Obama stickers on pickup trucks.

Stopped in at Gettysburg but didn't have time to really look around. Mostly amazed at the number of books that have been written about it. Imagine Barnes and Noble except that every book is about Gettysburg and you get a good picture of the bookstore at the visitors' centre.

Now I'm in the South proper. Picked up a bottle of Virginia wine and then drove down Skyline parkway.


Yeah, it's pretty scenic. Quite a bit of wildlife crossing the road as almost no one else was in the park. Wild turkeys:



Did a short hike up Bearface mountain. The terrain is pretty stark. I felt a bit like Frodo crossing over into Morder.


The complete lack of evergreen trees adds to the feeling of desolation.



Currently in: Holiday Inn, Waynesboro, VA
Cumulative miles driven: 630.5
Cumulative hours driven: 15.28
Next planned stop: Biltmore Estate, Asheville, NC

Boston is dark at 6am in January.

Joe & Nina's cat bit my toes, that why I got up so early.



I can't imagine why anyone would want to leave Boston at this time of year -





And drive past the most hated of all Connecticut cities:





Mother always said I was special.





Pennsylvania sunsets also seem to be pretty special:





Stats for today.

Total hours driving: 7.50
Average speed: 46.8 mph
Maximum speed: 79.5 mph
Number of wimples sighted in Lancaster, PA: 4
Number seen in hotel bar: 2
Items left behind on journey to date: 1
Current location: Lancaster Art Hotel, Lancaster, PA