Nov 9, 2008

After escaping the sketchy motel we stayed at, we got back on the road to see the first signs for Los Angeles.

We decided to take a small road through the desert since we had been on highways for most of the trip.

Route 66 seemed appropriate for this kind of journey.

We stopped at a little roadside station to look around and get a drink.

It happened to be feeding time for the roadrunner that lives in the area. They put meat up on the table and he just jumped up and got it before running off.

Next we happened upon Oatman, a "ghost town." It seemed legit besides all the people still living there...

Some places looked really cool though.

And we finally located a giant cactus that we'd been looking for!

We got back on the highway and entered our last state, California.

The whole drive didn't seem too long across the country but when we got close, it seemed like the last bit to Nate's new place would never end.

Pretty soon after we got to Nate's place, his roommate, Tommy, took us to Malibu in his Jeep.

We got there in time for a beautiful sunset.

It was chilly on the beach but I hardly noticed.

I could have stayed and watched the sunset forever.

We went back to the apartment to clean up and then went out to Father's Office for some beers and food.

We finished our trip today: 3,300 miles and 6 days.

California is beautiful and amazing. I've had a bad idea of what LA was really like but it's pretty great from what I've seen. I want to stay.

Nov 8, 2008

We got up early at the campsite, still freezing, and went down to watch the sunrise.

It's an awesome thing to see. It's so deep you can't even realize it by looking.

After locking the keys in the car and promptly getting them out with the help of a local mechanic, we went out to explore the area, finding lots of places to sit and just stare.

Some of the trails down the canyon were quite steep on the way back up.

We didn't go too far down, just far enough to feel it a little.

This is just one of many creatures we got close enough to watch.

We had talked about it before we even knew we were going on this trip, but the time had come to shoot a long drive.

I chose the Very long range driver.

I threw this one and the Rhyno, watching them soar off the edge and return a loud snap a few seconds after they hit something far below.

Nate had to get in on the action.

He threw the Tee Bird way off into the distance.

We found a good spot and parked there until sunset.

Sunset was decent but the really amazing thing was when the sun was down, the moon was out and all the people had gone home. The moon and stars lighting up the canyon was a breathtaking sight; better than any that I saw by the light of day.

Once I pulled myself away from the star filled canyon, we stopped at a restaurant that was recommended by our bus driver. It turned out to be a big tourist trap with 7 dollar "Rattlesnake Beer." We also tried a rattlesnake appetizer that was too much money for too little snake that tasted mostly like the batter it was fried in. It was nice to eat some real, warm food but it was overpriced and not the best food anyway.

After driving for a while longer, we stopped at the Ash Fork Inn.

The place was quite creepy, just look at the key. Also, the bathroom door was designed to not close and there were leopard print blankets on the bed.

Today's drive was the shortest of the trip, but we were pretty tired from all the walking around.

As bad as the place was, the worn out mattress beat sleeping on the ground in 20 degree temperatures.

Nov 7, 2008

We started the day in a very cold Grand Junction, CO playing disc golf at a local park.

It was just nine holes and some tees were hard to find, but the course was nice and used the natural land well. It was freezing though.

The back window appeared to be stuck down and we didn't know what to do besides stop at a few mechanics to see if they could fix it. After the third couldn't do it quickly, we headed out. After stopping at an overlook area and Nate taking apart the door, the window went back up. That is until I turned the car back on. It turned out that a sleeping bag was pressing up against the rear window button on the door the whole time. Amazing.

We got to Utah pretty early on in the morning.

I had a peanut butter and jelly pita for breakfast. Surprisingly really good.

We saw the final stretch of our long drive on I-70 as we got off onto a two lane local road. Local road means a different thing in Utah, the speed limit was 65.

We were driving by Arches National Park so we decided to stop since we had some extra time.

The views were instantly amazing once we got into the park.

We went to the Window Arches first and climbed up into them.

There were great things to see in all directions.

The Windows from afar.

We hiked out on a mildly long trail to find some of the cooler scenes. Here we are at the Landscape Arch. It looks like it could fall at any time.

The hike was pretty cool so we continued much farther to the Double O Arch. I'm glad we did, it was amazing.

I had to do some climbing but I made it up on top of the coolest arch we saw.

We spent a lot of time hanging out here, resting and taking pictures.

The paths were awesome, climbing up and over the giant rock ledges and arches.

Even on the way back we found more places to stop and take in the views. Unfortunately we had to get back on the road before sunset. It would have been crazy to see it there.

We took a long drive through the rest of Utah and made it to the Grand Canyon close to midnight. My first view of it was very dark, but already really cool.

We found the camp and set up our tent for the night.

I drove the whole distance today.

I bundled up in two hoodies, two pairs of pants, socks and a blanket inside my sleeping bag and it didn't really help the cold too much.