Update on Road Trip

As of 7/24/1999:

• We left late from San Jose, almost 1 pm, 6/22.
• Got into Sequoia National Park. Merrianne had a headache. Other than that, things went well.
• 2nd day in Sequoia, we saw Crystal Caves and Moro Rock. Gas gauge on car read empty. Scary, as there was no gas in the park, and a long drive out.
• Saw a bear in the campground. Our food was stashed.
• Left Sequoia. Long, twisty road going out. Barely made it to a gas station. Did not need to resort to Coleman fuel for the car.
• Stopped in Visalia. Elliot got out and threw up. Carsick.
• Ate at Marie Calendar's. Suddenly, everyone started coughing. A woman had discharged her pepper spray. Evacuation, fire department called. Elliot felt better after that.
• Camped at California Hot Springs. Tons of grasshoppers; totally clogged the radiator and air filter. Swam in the warm pool at a nearby resort.
• Got into Death Valley 9 pm, already dark. 98 degrees with very strong wind at Furnace Creek campground. Decided to stay at the Inn for $96.
• Next day, visited Badwater, Death Valley, elevation -282 ft. Probably about 115 degrees. Kids got cranky, had to jump back in the car.
• Took Artist Drive in Death Valley in the afternoon. 8 miles, steep, winding. For the first time, the car temperature gauge went above nominal. We were going slow up the hills. Turned off the A/C. We got hot, started using spray bottles. Needle still climbed to the top of the scale. Fortunately, we crested the hill a minute later, and the engine cooled within seconds.
• Went to Las Vegas. My butt started aching, so Merrianne drove the last 60 miles.
• No reservations, hard to get a room on Saturday night. Only smoking rooms available, $66 for a single king bed at the Super 8 fleabag; $89 for the same at the Gold Coast. Started calling places from the Gold Coast lobby. Luxor wanted $179! Found the last room at Key Largo, non-smoking, 1 king bed, $59. Took it. Thank you, Jesus!
• Ate at Maxim's buffet. All you can eat, including prime rib. I didn't get any, too much rich food lately. $8.95 for adults. We discovered too late that there was a 2 for 1 coupon in the visitor's guide.
• A black Mercedes was in front of us at a stop light in Las Vegas. A drop-dead gorgeous girl in a little black dress opened the back door and put her head out. She threw up. Five times.
• Visited the Clarke County Library. Best place in Las Vegas.
• Stayed in Kingman, AZ, where the high was 107. We got there in the evening, so it had cooled to 85. Choice of KOA Kampground or Motel - we took the motel. It had central air conditioning -- which was broken. In-room temperature was 88 degrees! In retrospect, sleeping under the stars at KOA would have been better. Hard time sleeping. On the bright side, we got a very early start. Also learned that sometimes, motels aren't worth it.
• Grand Canyon - We lost 3 hats in 3 separate incidents. Got separated in recovering them, and wasted more than half a day.
• Grand Canyon Mather Campground -- after a long day of looking for hats, we got back to the campground, to find that Ravens had ransacked our picnic table. No food, they just like to peck things.
• On our last day, saw the sunset at Yavapai observatory, Grand Canyon. Actually, I was taking the kids to the bathroom as the sun set. Hope Merrianne got a good picture.
• Saw lightning strike the highway ahead in Arizona. Later passed by the spot and saw the brush fire on the median strip.
• Mesa (Phoenix), Arizona was not as hot as usual (105 F). Dry heat, quite bearable. We went to Sunsplash Water Park. At first, we thought the big water slide might be too scary for the kids, but once they tried it, they SQUEALED with delight every time, and kept sliding all the way until closing time.
• We finally saw Star Wars: The Phantom Menace in Mesa. $3.50, good seats.
• Got into Santa Fe, NM, late. All restaurants were closed except JB coffee house and Denny's. Actually had a decent dinner at JB's. A panhandler tried to hustle a few dollars from me inside. I was going to give him a buck, but the manager threw him out. We stayed at an overpriced fleabag motel.
• Next morning, we had a great breakfast buffet at JB's for $3.99, $2.49 for kids.
• Spent a few hours in Santa Fe looking at some of the 50 art galleries on Canyon Road.
• Found an awesome public library in Pueblo, CO. About 20 internet stations, fast, and no waiting in line!
• Accidentally left our swimsuits in the motel at Pueblo. Got exact replacement (even the pattern) for Kendra's suit in Wyoming for $9.
• Rocky Mountain NP - We had to prepare dinner, eat, and clean up in the rain. It stopped as soon as we finished the dishes.
• We hiked to Alberta Falls and Bear Lake.
• The children were playing in an open field while I was resting in the tent. Suddenly, both of them started yelling. A log had rolled onto Kendra's leg and pinned her. Fortunately, it wasn't too big for me to lift. She was frightened, but physically all right. No broken skin.
• Stayed at Ellen and Phil's place in Ft. Collins, CO. They have two wonderful children - Erin, 6, and Jacob, 5 - almost exactly the same age as ours. The children played well together. We visited their lake, Laku Landing . Erin got a leech on her. A man nearby helped to remove it by salting it first until it curled up.
• Grand Teton NP - Stayed at Signal Mountain campground. Campgrounds filled up fast, and we had no reservation. We got the last available space. It was probably passed over by others because it looked like it had no place to pitch a tent. Upon closer inspection, we realized that the picnic table was on the tent pad. Merrianne and I alone couldn't lift it, but with Kendra and Elliot's help, we were able to move it. At the campground, we saw bunnies and bats.
• Yellowstone NP - Again, we had no reservations. We stayed at Norris Geyser Basin campground, again, getting one of the last spots. The next day, we moved to a nicer spot early in the morning.
• Roads were slow in Yellowstone, because cars would stop right in the road, just to look at a single Elk or Bison.
• We saw many of the geothermal features. My favorite was Excelsior Geyser, which actually hasn't erupted for years. It's now a limpid sapphire pool, with patches of fog rising from it. The whole Midway Geyser basin is a mystical area, with its rapidly shifting fogs. Looks like something right out of Xena, Warrior Princess.
• The poor guy nearby us in the campground left his tent open in the rain, and all his stuff got wet.
• The water in the bathrooms is left running in Yellowstone, as there's danger of freezing, even in summer. We woke up and it was 37 degrees F in the tent, with frost coating the outside. Our children, however, were fine in their sleeping bags.
• Stopped in Ashton, ID - found a great deal on rechargeable batteries there - $1 for any pack! Stocked up.
• Stopped in Twin Falls, ID. $3 for 15 minutes of Internet use at the public library. Motels were expensive in Twin Falls. Why?? It's supposed to be Idaho! Thank goodness for Motel 6.
• We found a delicious Mongolian BBQ / Buffet in Twin Falls. They even had king crab legs. Merrianne had to go to the bathroom after the first dish, and ended up going over and over again. I had rampant gas all night. However, the food was tasty.
• Passed through Bend, Oregon. I remember it as being just a few buildings when I last visited, 18 years ago. Now, it's really built up, with shopping malls, warehouse stores, and movie muliplexes.
• We had tentatively planned to stop at Juntura, Oregon, but weren't sure whether it had accomodations. Fortunately, the Oasis motel was still open. Merrianne said she saw someone else staying there that night, but I never did. Very nice staff. The mosquitoes were ravenous, but only sweet Merrianne got bitten.
• Stayed in Sisters, OR. Eleven years ago, Merrianne and I had camped there on our transcontinental bike tour. The town had really exploded since then. We remembered a cute little country produce store, but it went out of business years ago. Stayed at the KOA, in a Kabin. There was a free movie that night, The Waterboy. Fair. Glad I didn't pay to see it. The couple next to us in camp had a VCR outside their RV, and was watching There's Something About Mary, which was much better.
• Visited friends Bill and Liba at the huge house they built in Albany, OR. Liba made some stuffed chicken rolls, and we had a pleasant dinner (with a view) on the shady deck. Bill was my roommate in college, and my closest friend when we worked at HP Corvallis 18 years ago. The children enjoyed playing Nintendo, and visiting with their 14-year-old son, Tom. They have dogs at their house, so for allergy reasons, we stayed at the Motel Orleans in Corvallis. We got a very nice room for $52, nearly a suite.
• In Corvallis, I found the place where I used to live. It's now called the Travel Motel (Bicyclists welcome). Probably would have been much cheaper than Motel Orleans, but not as nice.
• We visited a place near Salem, OR, called the Enchanted Forest. Just right for young children. Kendra was afraid in the haunted house and log ride, but Elliot was fearless. Kendra did the log ride a second time, and was fine.
• We thought our friends Marybeth and Jack lived near Salem, but actually, they lived in Aloha (ah-LO-ah), which is near Portland. Their house was full of interesting collectibles. The kids broke a vase. Blueberries thrive in that area, and the children picked two colanders from the extensive garden in the back. Jack grilled a salmon for dinner. Marybeth had a class to teach the next morning, so we only got to visit a little. Hopefully, we can talk more, next time.
• Cousin Wendy (Elona) was our next visit. She lives in Days Creek, OR, in a rural area. Wendy keeps Angora goats, dogs, cats, chickens, and some other household pets (hamster, etc). On account of allergies, Elliot and I stayed at a Motel in nearby Canyonville, while Merrianne and Kendra stayed at the farm. Merrianne and Wendy stayed up until the wee hours talking. Kendra gathered 7 fresh eggs for breakfast.
• We picnicked at the river near Days Creek. The children had fun catching newts in the water, and also caught a crayfish. Wendy had inflatable Kayaks, so we paddled around a little. The river was wide and calm where we were.
• In Redding, CA, we took a wrong turn, but ended up finding the area with cheaper motels. Merrianne was tired, so I took the kids to a nearby water park. Elliot is not a swimmer, but went down the long slide. I went first, hoping to catch him when he came down, but the lifeguard told me I couldn't stay in the water. The pool was 4 feet deep. Elliot is not yet 4 feet tall, so he was just walking around on the bottom when he went in. The lifeguard helped to pull him out. In spite of this, Elliot still went down the big inner tube slide after that. Kendra did the tubeless slide with no trouble, and just swam to the edge after she plunged in.
• We left Redding early in the morning, and got back to San Jose about noon, Saturday. The house was in good order, and the garden had really grown well while we were away. Tomatoes, Armenian Cucumbers, and Butternut Squash did particularly well.