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

The plan

Boston to LA by rental car.

Googlemaps says 3692 miles, about 2 days 11 hours. That's continuous driving of course, which probably isn't a good idea by myself.

I've got two weeks.

Here's a rough outline of a route I'm considering:


View Larger Map

The route goes south to avoid the snow and ice. Only a few destinations in mind so far but will be adding more soon.

I leave tomorrow (the 22nd).