Home again, home again....

So, this adventure is coming to an end. Starting to develop a little horse to the barn syndrome. Not that I'm really ready to end this sojourn, I could easily make a full time life style of this, but the reality of reality and resumption of life pre is raising it's insistent head. Back to the land of routine, schedules, bills, responsibility (not that there isn't enough of that on the road), stress, work (funny how those two words naturally find themselves next to each other), and social mores. And, of course, there is the anticipation of routine, schedules, lodging bigger than 6 x 12, consistent source of water and electricity, indoor plumbing, indoor kitchen, resumption of relationships with missed friends and prospect of a positive cash flow. 

We are on night 2 at Pismo State Beach. It's Monday and the place is near empty. Was quite busy over the weekend, I 'm told. Spent the day hanging out in San Luis Obispo. Looking for lunch (our day typically starts late!) we went to one of the 3 brew pubs in town. Central Coast Brewing Co. is the only one open. The manager stays if he has to be there working anyway he might as well try to sell some beer. A really cool operation. A large eclectic assortment of brews with summer emphasis on Belgian style. I settled on a brown ale that was produced by a homebrewer who had won a recent competition with first prize to be brewer for a day and make his beer at their brewery in large capacity. While we were there the manager maintained a continuous dialog about beer, the brewing business, local competition, changing public tastes and  knowledge. And as he talked he kept giving us tastes of different brews. They also do a cool thing by allowing individuals, for a price of course, to brew their own small batch. Popular with frat boys, brides maids for batchlorette parties and CEOs for team building. On his recommendation we went downtown for lunch. I had a salmon bisque, Sarah, lamb patty salad. Both quite satisfying. 

Herman has had his morning constitutional walk, fed and watered. Coffee made. Sarah preparing our usual sandwiches for lunch. We'll shortly move everything to the floor, fold down the trailer and blow out of San Francisco. Parked last 2 nights at Golden Gate RV Park just north of Sausalito which is convenient to visit our friends Bill and Shirley. Spent the day touring the ex-military base at the foot of the Golden Gate Bridge and watched the vip debate last night (the first TV we've watched since this trip started). Will plan to stay a few nights with friends on the Rogue River then home. 

California dreaming.....

In San Luis Obispo at Central Coast Brewing Co. Only one of 3 breweries open on Monday. Manager friendly and putting chairs down to open as we we walk in. No food but local eateries will deliver if desired. Long chat about beer and brewing. Recently sponsored home brew fest with first prize to brew own beer in their brewery.

Staying at Oceana St. Park. Initially tried to camp on the beach but came close to getting stuck in sand. Had to rev it up like going thru snow. Sand in every crevice! Now a nice wooded park with families enjoying Columbus day holiday and gearing up to tear up the sand with dune buggies. One more night here then on to S.F. to visit friends.

Yea, though I walk thru the shadow of the valley...

It's been an exciting 48 hrs. After leaving Vegas early we went to where it can actually get worse....Death Valley! Wanted to see it. Wanted to say I've been there. Wanted to sleep under the largest clearest night sky possible. We drive into the park along with tour buses and Germans. We visit the visitor center and book store. We check out the campground. On a bluff overlooking a vast expanse of nothing there is only one other vehicle there and it's 103 deg. We go to the Inn near by to have a beer, sit on their porch with misters dropping the temperature to an acceptable level and discuss there rationality of camping out. By 3pm it's 113! We figure it's pretty crazy to attempt to camp waiting for darkness and a not guarentee drop in temperature. So we drive west assuming we'll get out of this valley and find a nice camp someplace not so inhospitable. Going from 127 ft below sea level to 4500 ft in second gear at 25 mph had me concerned that my transmission would blow. Then discovering this is not out but just a mountain range within, we had to stop 3 times going back down to sea level to cool breaks. White knuckled and sweating from stress in addition to heat we limp in to Panamint Springs gas/restaurant/motel/RV camp. We take a campsite with a view of a flat shimmering plain surrounded by blue mountains. Our life saved, with sun setting we stare in awe from the veranda savoring a cold beer and the best pizza ever. At first light, Sarah is up, trailer is packed, breakfast is declined (coffee at the gas station) and we are out of there..........

More later but as an update........we are now on the beach about 20 miles north of L.A. and Island Brewing Company is with in walking distance of the state park where we are camped.........

Towers for towers....

Las Vegas........we have traded the spectacular imposing sandstone monoliths in Zion for just as imposing yet oppressive and obscene towers of Las Vegas. Our serene tree lined campground inhabited by mule deer is now a huge asphalt parking lot behind Circus Circus populated by tourists in rented RVs. The sun coming up over the Sahara (casino not desert!) is spectacular but we will get out of this town as soon as I get off this computer. I don't gamble, can't afford the shows and don't have "proper attire" for the good restaurants....there isn't much for me in Vegas. Sarah and I walked the strip for an hour yesterday afternoon and partook in the culinary wonderment of the all-you-can eat buffet along with bus loads of French and Asian tourists. Altho night is when the strip supposedly comes alive, we went to bed in the heat counting the hours until we could leave this hell hole!

Zion: Time & Space

Zion........the full moon has just crested the Wachman to the east. The cliffs in that direction remain black walls while the cliffs over my shoulder to the west are a pale gray. The trees now display shadows and flashlights are not needed. Water for tea has been boiled on the coleman stove (we have yet to use the trailer stove), Herman has gone to bed. He has had a busy day. After arriving at South Campground around 11am, we scored one of the last spots of about 120 sites. Not your usual RV park here. Camp sites scattered in a grove of trees surrounded by 2000 ft cliffs on two sides, the valley extending north and south. The town of Springdale is close enough to hike to but a shuttle bus will take you there for free. Mostly tents and small campers. Don't miss the huge motorhomes. After the obligatory visit to the visitor center and book store we hiked the Pa'rus trail along the Virgin River that flows the length of this valley and that, besides the fault line that runs thru here, is at least partially responsible for the formation of this truly remarkable landscape. By the end of this 1 1/2 mile wheelchair acceptable trail with Sarah on her little Burning Man bike and Herman pulling excitedly on the leash, we were all ready for a break from the noon sun with a rest in the shade and a dip in the cool green waters of the river. Herman, usually actively cautious of any water, willingly and enthusiastically entered and would have promptly floated down stream if it wasn't for the leash securely connected to his collar. 

After naps all around we head in to town for the Zion Music and Art Festival. Acceptable blues band playing on stage and the usual pop-up shade structures protecting vendors of pottery, jewelry, jams, and clothing (even tie-die). Bought Sarah some miniature basket earrings from a young Indian gal and when we inquired about the pinon nuts she had for sale she poured each of us a generous hand full. Popping them into our mouths and chewing she laughed and instructed us that they are to be eaten "like sunflower seeds". Somewhat embarrassed we advised her that the extra fiber of the shells will probably not hurt! But what made this event so remarkable is it's location. Nestled in a natural amphitheater of rock rising 1000 feet over head it is surrounded by the red cliffs that make up this area. Truly one of the most spectacular locations for an outdoor festival I have ever been to.

Plan to get up at dawn to hike up the Watchman trail............

Up at 6:15am and on the Watchman trail in the dark. As dawn breaks I can see the worn path snaking up 2.7 miles thru gully. After about 45 min. and 400 feet elevation I reach the vista of sandstone above a layer of something much harder. Across the valley the sun is slowly dropping a brilliant curtain of light down the sides of Mt. Kinesava nd The West Temple. In the still dark valley I can see the entire campsite, the visitors center, employee's residents and the bus barn with the shuttle buses getting fueled for their day. To the south is the town of Springdale and Hurricane Mesa in the distance. To the north the valley with it's red park road disappears between The Sentinel and The East Temple. Two things has impressed me on this trip: size and time. Gazing below it is all too obvious that we insignificant beings can have very little impact or influence on this rock we call Earth. It is clear to me that all we know and have can be so easily erased with just a flick of a cosmic finger. And with time, all our existence, all our presence will be erased. In the past 260 million years this land has been flooded multiple times, compacted by pressures, shifted by quakes, rearranged by continental drift. And the Earth is still here. And will be still here long after we are gone. There is something reassuring about that.....

View Road tirp 2012 in a larger map

Kanab and out of touch

Sitting in the deepening darkness at Crazy Horse RV Campark in Kanab, UT. Watched the golden sunset illuminate the clouds as the red cliffs glowed crimson. Near full moon shining brightly thru the trees. We have marked time by it's change from a sliver crescent. Every night the sky has been brilliant with stars. Altho we have been going to bed early I can certainly see why primitive people took such an interest in the night heavens and composed so many stories and fables in an attempt to explain what they saw. The Native Americans here have done the same with distant monuments of rock and geology as they incorporate these unusual landmarks into their own legends of genesis.

We may need to develop our own legends of the world around us as well. We have not seen a TV (other than thru windows of some large RVs), read a newspaper, or listened to a radio news program since we left Eugene. Today, at a visitor center I joked with the volunteer about this, asking if we still have a country out there. She grinned and replied, "Barely!" I told her she was scaring me. Looking briefly on-line it appears the world has not ended but if any of you want to email me with the highlights, (international, national, or local) I would appreciate it. When Sarah and I floated the Colorado River in 95 we discovered upon coming out of the canyon after 18 days that Super Man (Christopher Reeves) had broken his neck!

The Grand Canyon.......Sarah has seen it from the bottom up but not the top down. I was there 40 years ago. Altho the canyon has changed little, the visitor center and tourist circuit has changed a bunch. Paved and wheelchair acceptable, the South Rim area is busy with tourist. Absent of all the kids (they are back in school) the shuttle buses are standing room only with gray hairs (us?) and foreign visitors. But despite all the people, the scenery and the landscape is no less awesome or impressive. Photos will not do justice. Even in person it is difficult to comprehend the scale. When the first white explorers came to this region they were not impressed believing the river in the distant at the bottom of this canyon was on six feet wide! Today, before leaving Page, we drove 30 miles to Lee's Ferry. This was a nostalgic trip for me and Sarah as it is the put in for Colorado River floats. A commercial trip was rigging rafts to begin their 18 day 270 mile journey into the beginning of time. Mr Lee, after apparently being a participant in an earlier massacare, had established a small town there and ferried pioneers and Mormons who were on the Honeymoon Trail as they traveled to Salt Lake to have their recent marriages sanctified in the Temple. Building this community with the 17th of 19 wives he was eventually found and executed for his prior crime. Rock ruins of the post office and fort is all that remains today.

Taranturala at last campsite--Sarah not thrilled!

Condors in the Canyon

The Colorado River

Sunset across the parking lot

Tomorrow we plan to get up early and go to Zion. Hopefully we will find a comfortable camp and maybe hang out for a day or two. Would consider doing that here but there really isn't much in Knab but this camp site is pretty comfy. Not the usual busy over light RV park with rows of huge motorhomes and yappie little dogs. Folks here are sitting around campfires collectively battling mesquitoes and telling stories and, I suspect, lies. Laughter floats across the area like a soft wind as newly arrived bike travelers set up camp by head light chattering in a language I can't identify.

Creation...

"you shall top a rise and behold creation but you will need the voices of angels to tell you what you see....."