Hoover Dam

Woke up to another beautiful day, with sunshine and warm temps.  After a hardy breakfast, Cole and I were off to Hoover Dam.  Hoover Dam is such an amazing dam and even though I have seen it a few times before, it never gets old.

Cole and I enjoyed seeing the dam and taking the tour although a couple of things that we encountered sort of tarnished the visit, just a bit. These things were the vehicle checkpoint driving down to the dam, the airport style security checkpoint. After standing in line for 20 min, we get up to the checkpoint and I am informed that the little pocket knife I had, was not allowed. There was no mention of not allowing in pocket knives. Sure, they had the no weapons sign, with a picture of a gun in a circle with the line through it but seriously, how is it that we have become so scared or wimpy in this country that we consider a little pocket knife a weapon.  Its just sad to me that our nation has come to this. That we seem to be living scared. I really feel that we have taken this security thing too far and that we are becoming a nation of wimps.

Even with the annoyance of the security checkpoints, etc, Hoover Dam is still worth the visit and I highly recommend it to anyone who may be in Las Vegas for a few days or is passing through the area.

After the tour, we hit the road and made our way to Flagstaff where we are spending the night.  I neglected to check my fuel level before leaving Hoover dam and noticed we were quite low and the next closest town was going to be cutting it pretty close.  As we were driving, we came across Uranus gas so stopped to fill up. I really don't need to say anything about it. Just the word Uranus is funny.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving holiday and we will be driving to Tempe, AZ to have Thanksgiving day dinner with my Sister and her family, and my Dad and his wife.  I will not be posting tomorrow so I want to wish everyone celebrating Thanksgiving a Happy Thanksgiving.

Death Valley

  Monday night, when I went to bed in the crappy motel we were staying in, the plan for Tuesday was to drive to Las Vegas and maybe further but that all changed when I woke up at 3 AM. As I lay there trying to fall back asleep and not having any luck, partly because I could hear the person in the room next to ours snoring, yes, that's right, I could hear them snoring, I opened up the laptop and started looking at google maps to see what route we would take in the morning. Then I saw it, Death Valley National Park. I had never been to Death Valley, and while it took us out of our way, I made the decision, lying there in bed at around 3:45 AM, that Cole and I were going to go check out Death Valley.


After driving about 4 hours, we arrived at Death Valley National Park around 1:30 PM. I was so glad I decided to deviate from our original plan, and swing through Death Valley, the minute the valley came into view.  It was way cool. There is something about the desert that fascinates me and Death Valley was as fascinating as it gets.  I just wish we could have spent more time there. We even saw a grave that was from 1931.  I can't imagine what it must be like coming to Death Valley during the summer, when temperatures can reach 130 degrees F.  It was a perfect 64 degrees F today. If anyone is thinking of visiting Death Valley, the winter time is definitely the time to visit.

Here is the grave that we saw along the road.

At the lowest point, we were over 200' below sea level. Here we are 100' below sea level. Its really weird to think that we were actually that far below the level of the oceans

After we left Death Valley, we ran across this. They were right next to each other. So does this mean that Aliens are welcome at the brothel as well as humans, or is it a brothel run by Aliens?

One thing we saw today on our drive to Death Valley was this, a Naval undersea warfare center in the middle of the desert.

How the heck does one practice undersea warfare in the middle of the desert?

Tomorrow, Hoover Dam.

Road Trip resumed

After a very relaxing and enjoyable few days hanging in Chico, CA with my brother, his wife, and my two adorable nieces, Cole and I are back on the road.  Today was a perfect day to be traveling. It was clear, sunny, and relatively warm, well, warm for November at least.  The main attraction for today was Lake Tahoe, on the California/Nevada border.  We drove along the western and southern part of the lake and took a nice hike down to Vikingsholm Castle on Emerald Bay.  We found this little sign posted along the trail.

My medieval history is a little weak but didn't the plague kill millions and millions of people way back in the 1100 and 1200's or sometime around then? Isn't the plague supposed to be like, really bad?  So what the hell, if the plague killed millions during the dark ages, why is it that all they are doing to warn people is by posting a little piece of paper along some little trail telling us to not get bitten by fleas or play with the cute little chipmunks?  It would just be my luck to end up dying from the plague that I caught from some cute little chipmunk. I always had a sneaky suspicion that those cute little critters were evil and dangerous.


Something else that Cole noticed on our trip is it seems that in all these smaller towns we have traveled through, that there is an overwhelming majority of Mexican and Chinese or Thai restaurants. As an example, one of the little town we went through, I counted  5 Mexican, 3 Chinese, and 1 Thai restaurant. There was like 1 burger joint. I like Mexican food a lot and don't mind the occasional Chinese or Thai restaurant from time to time, but seriously, this is a bit ridiculous.

We are now stopped for the night in Yerington, NV. Tomorrow we are headed to Las Vegas. Not sure if we will spend the night there or not since we have to get to Tempe, AZ by Wed. night.

Weekend break

Thursday, Cole and I left Garberville, CA and had an uneventful drive to my brothers place in Chico, CA., where we will spend the weekend.  Today was spent doing laundry, relaxing, and doing some reading. I will take a break from posting to the blog during the next few days. The plan is to get back on the road either Sunday or Monday and begin our journey down to Tempe, AZ to spend Thanksgiving holiday with my Dad, sister and her family. Once back on the road, I will start posting again.  Till then, everyone have a great weekend.

Roads less traveled

The plan today was to get an earlier start but that got derailed due to having to deal with the Texas Workforce Commission and find out why, after a month, I still have not received a single unemployment check.  I won't go into the details but lets just say that the reason has to do with incompetence, bureaucratic bullshit, and just plain old disorganization. But this is government for you. Its just what you would expect. And there are people out there who want the government to run our health care. I do not have a whole lot of confidence that, that is going to work out so well.

Ok, enough with my rare political rant.  We finally got on the road and headed south on highway 101. Just south of Klamath, CA, we took the Coastal Drive loop.  This is a relatively short drive that goes through some redwoods and has some amazing views of the coast. It is not the best of roads but it is definitely worth taking. We stopped a couple of times and did a few short hikes into the redwoods. It is absolutely awe inspiring to walk among these massive trees. It was very quiet and beautiful.

After this short detour, we continued south. We took the Ferndale exit off of the 101. We didn't actually stop in Ferndale because we were running out of time, but from what I saw of the town, driving through, it looks like a really cool little town and I would love to come back again sometime to spend a little time looking around.  From Ferndale, we got onto the Mattole Rd. This was a real adventure. This road is a narrow two lane road, single lane in many locations, and is not in the best of conditions. Lots of pot holes, very winding, some areas unpaved, and very steep climbs in some areas.  If you tend to get car sick or have someone who gets car sick easily, then this road may not be for you. In fact, Cole even got a bit car sick but managed to suck it up and deal with it.

This road leads to what is known as the Lost Coast, and let me tell you, at times you feel like you have totally left civilization behind. There is no cell phone coverage, no services like gas stations, convenience stores, or anything, for miles and miles. There are cows, deer, an occasional farm, and the most amazing scenery I have seen yet on this trip.  We stopped a few times and walked around and it is so quiet.  The few ranchers and farmers who live out here are so lucky.  This area is so remote and off the beaten path that you really have gotten away from the rest of the world. To me it would be heaven. I am going to have to look into seeing if there is anything for sale.

The day so far had been amazing but things got even more exciting as it started getting later in the day. Out of nowhere, we ran into fog so thick that I was having a hard time seeing the road. It was the type of fog that you lose all sense of up,down, left, or right. It was making me dizzy trying to keep focused on the narrow, winding road, with steep drop offs into oblivion on one side and no guardrails. We drove like this for hours. We finally got out of the fog but now it was pitch dark and we were still miles from nowhere, on this pot hole covered, two lane road and in the middle of a forest of massive redwood trees. The redwoods are impressive during the day but being in the middle of them when it is completely dark out, with no light anywhere, is completely surreal. In fact it was downright eerie. We pulled off the road a few times and got out of the car and it felt like the trees were alive. You could feel their massive presence all around you and there wasn't a sound to be heard. Cole said that if he was there by himself, it would really freak him out.  I can't really explain the sensation I felt being in the middle of these very old, massive trees, in the dark. Even though this road is remote, rough, a bit sketchy in places, and takes up to 4 hours or so to drive, I can't recommend it enough. If you are ever driving through this part of the country, you really need to do yourself a favor and take this scenic route. The road is called Mattole Road. It is definitely worth the time and abuse your car will take.

We finally made it back to highway 101 and drove south until we reached Garberville, where we have stopped for the night.

It was an amazing day and I hope to come back to the redwoods, on my motorcycle, and do some camping among them.

Tomorrows destination is Chico, CA and my brothers place.