Archive for Uncategorized
November 9, 2005 at 8:06 am · Filed under Uncategorized
We’ve got a fun little thing here to share. A friend of ours made up a bunch of these cool “Keep the shiny side up!” silicone bracelets and we bought the entire bag of them. So, whenever we see any of you at one of our stops, we’ll give you the silver bracelet.
Tomorrow we have to drive north, so our next stop will be in Eugene Oregon at George M Sutton RV. If you live in the area, come over to say hi this weekend, and we’ll give you a copy of the new Fall issue of Airstream Life plus a silicone bracelet and spend some time chatting. We’d love to see you.
November 5, 2005 at 6:02 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
The cave tour this morning was fine ““ Lehman Cave is exceptionally well decorated, with wonderful examples of columns, soda straws, and “shields,” which are rarely found. It was also a nice warm up to enter the 50 degree cave, since at 7000 feet the temperature hovered in the mid-30s all morning.
And then we embarked on America’s Loneliest Highway again. Next stop, 85 miles to Ely. We got fuel, propane, dumped the tanks and ate lunch all at the Silver Sage Travel Center ““ a typical “eat food get gas” operation in the center of that very small town in the middle of nowhere.
Eleanor says I am not giving the lunch stop enough credit. A sandwich bar inside the travel center called Boondoggles made us sandwiches. Eleanor got the Atomic Toaster sandwich, which she says is great.
Next stop, 67 miles to Eureka. Then 80 miles to Austin. And so on “¦ long stretches of near-nothingness interspersed with tiny western towns and speed traps. (They are serious about the 25 MPH limit in Eureka, as a trucker we spotted can testify. It’s a hard adjustment from 75 MPH.)
The scenery, however, remains wonderful. There’s always something uniquely western to see, a Pony Express station, a salt flat, a dust devil, a canyon begging for exploration. I never got bored driving. And occasionally there are interesting little roadside sites to check out, like the Petroglyphs Recreation Area we stopped at. Here’s Eleanor pointing out a petroglyph to Emma. Home schooling in action!
At Great Basin National Park I bought a book of natural hot springs in Nevada and California. We identified one in central Nevada, for which the directions go something like this: “Twelve miles east of Austin, turn south off US 50 to Rt 387. After one hundred yards, turn left onto an unmarked dirt road and proceed about 5.5 miles to a left. Turn here and continue about 3 miles to a fork, then bear right for another 1.6 miles.”
These directions brought us out into a place that is so far from ANYTHING that calling it the middle of nowhere would be a compliment. We are parked on a slight hill so that we can see clearly that there is hardly any sign of civilization for miles around. About 300 feet from our spot are three pools fed by a natural hot spring which bubbles from the earth at about 110 degrees. In other words, it’s perfect.
We arrived at sunset and I got these pictures. Of course the first thing we did after snapping a few shots was to throw on our swimsuits and drop into the second pool, which is lined with stones and runs about 100 degrees, or fifty degrees warmer than the air temperature. Ahhhhhhh”¦
We do have two neighbors. About ¼ mile to the north there is a large white “toy hauler” RV, and we’ve seen the occupants come by on their four-wheeler. They gave a friendly wave and disappeared. And a family showed up just after sunset with a couple of young kids to go swimming as well.
Tomorrow morning I plan to go for another swim in the mineral waters. And then, sadly, we’ll debark.
Misc note: a bag of potato chips exploded sometime while we were at high altitude. It might have been while at 11,000 ft on I-70. We had potato chips with dinner tonight.
November 5, 2005 at 8:33 am · Filed under Uncategorized
Here we are in Great Basin National Park and we have no idea what we are doing here. The sun is rising over my left shoulder (I’m sitting on the bed) as I write, illuminating the edge of a far-off mountain range like the great nuclear blast that it is. Emma and Eleanor are still sleeping. Just fifty feet from the bedroom window, Lehman Creek rushes noisily down the rocky slope on its way down from the small glacier above us on Wheeler Peak, 13,000 feet in altitude.
We are sitting in a lonely campground at 7,000 feet, in a lonely off-season (and little-known) National Park, off “America’s Loneliest Highway.” If you subscribe to Airstream Life you may recall the article by Bert Gildart, which appeared in our Fall 2004 issue. State Highway 50 across Nevada is our route for the next two days, through the most desolate and unpopular portions of the state ““ a place where signs saying “No Services Next 100 Miles” are a common sight.
We came to Great Basin in a dark moonless night. The tiny sliver of moon had set during our mad dash across the Utah salt flats last night, leaving us with only stars and the rare oncoming headlights. Imagine 80 miles with hardly a bend, no houses, no farms, no powerlines or cattle, or anything except the occasional dirt turnout, some scrub brush and off in the great distance a ridgeline that never seems to get closer. That was our evening. So watching the moon set was high entertainment during the drive. (At least we didn’t have to play “I Spy” for the two-millionth time.)
Arriving was a similar non-event. The park was dark, even though we had crossed into Pacific Time and locally it was only 6:30 pm. No ranger station, water turned off at all the campgrounds, visitor center dark, few signs (replaced with an ironic “signs down for maintenance” sign). We bumbled our way to Lower Lehman Creek campground and paid our $6 registration fee to the self-service kiosk, and picked the first site that seemed level. There’s no one else here.
Great Basin is notable for two things: Wheeler Peak, which we can climb, but probably won’t; and Lehman Cave. We may take the cave tour this morning before heading out. Not a long visit, but really Great Basin is only a stopover for us this time. Unfortunately we need to get to Nevada City by Sunday night, so I can catch up on some work projects.
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My laptop battery died just then “¦ so I took a walk outside to see the area. Surprise! Three tent campers are here with us, hardy souls indeed to have braved the clear night chill at 7,000 feet in November. Turning around, I was surprised to see a large male mule deer with a tremendous rack standing in my path. He gave me a look, and bounded off into the woods. They are not as tame as in Cherry Creek, I see. We’re not in suburbia anymore.
The surroundings are so different from where we woke up yesterday. Here, it looks more like New England. The mountains are covered in evergreens and, at the peak, snow. The air smells fragrant (odd for this time of year), and birds are chirping. A naked stand of white birch is across the cold creek. Quite a change from the red desert of Arches.
I plugged in the Honda generator and waited for 7 a.m. (generator hours) to fire it up and finish this blog entry. Eleanor and Emma are awake now, and Emma is being a slug in her bed, asking for someone to get with her and snuggle. As tempting as that is, we’re up now and I’m going to fire up some hot oatmeal and get ready to take the cave tour at 9 a.m. We’ll post this from the road later.
November 2, 2005 at 3:35 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
Quick entry: we’re at a lonely rest area off I-70 near Thompson UT, just taking a quick break. Amazingly Sprint has coverage here so our Internet in Motion box works and I’m taking the 5 minute opportunity to post a quick update.
We spent the morning at Colorado National Monument and took some AMAZING pictures, which I will post soon. What a beautiful place! Huge towering cliffs and red canyons, tunnels, and views that just blow your mind. We loved it.
But now we in Wiley Coyote country, heading into Arches NP (not Dead Horse SP, change of plans), and I don’t know if we can get online in the next two days. If you don’t hear from us for a bit, that’s why.
November 1, 2005 at 8:55 am · Filed under Uncategorized
We’ve been running around so much it’s hard to keep up with the blog. Sunday we drove down to Colorado Springs on I-25, past hundred-car coal trains and the rugged foothills to our right. Eleanor’s brother hosted us for a terrific Italian lunch of proscuitto, sopresada (sp?), four different cheeses, two different breads, spiced oil, canteloupe & grapes, etc. Fantastic!
Emma stayed overnight with her cousin Hannah (4 yrs old) and we retired to Denver for an evening of Rich & Eleanor, rather than “Mom & Dad” … a valued moment indeed.
I wanted to take Monday off but it was impossible. Phone ringing all morning, dozens of emails, paperwork to catch up on. I finally broke free at 1:30 and we took the scenic route down to Colorado Springs, this time up into the foothills along CR-67.
It was a worthwhile detour. First the road winds up through a valley, and before you know it you are up around 6500 feet looking over a precipice from a dirt road with snow scattered in the shadows.
Then you re-join the pavement alongside the Platte River, a flat shimmering stream of water in a north-south valley. The pavement is pink from the local granite crushed into it. Quiet little towns pass by, with proud signs “Elevation 6635, Population 36”. And then the towering bulk of Pike’s Peak, white with snow, looms into view, and the road winds down again, into Colorado Springs.
Halloween was fantastic. Emma The Ghost joined her cousins on a typically chilly Colorado night, avidly collecting goodies despite the mid-30’s temperature. An entire neighborhood was terrified by the sight of the pint-sized ghost. (Her costume was made by Eleanor, in the Airstream, without a sewing machine.) We joined a neighborhood pizza party and got a chance to chat with the residents, some of whom were fascinated by our Tour of America.
Today we are pulling out. I’m finalizing some work because we may be out of touch for a few days. We’ll be heading to Grand Junction CO tonight, and hopefully Dead Horse State Park (near Moab, UT) tomorrow. I’ll update the blog when we can get online, and add more pictures.
October 28, 2005 at 9:17 am · Filed under Uncategorized
Thursday was one of those off-schedule days where I end up working early in the morning and late at night to make up for doing other things all day. Fred Coldwell called to say the Fall 05 issues of Airstream Life had arrived FedEx at his house, and after we finally got Emma out of bed at about 11 (!) we headed over.
Fred is a collector of Jeep, Airstream and related memorabilia and historical items, so the tour of his house and garages took a couple of hours. He’s got an incredible collection of stuff, including a ’48 Wee Wind, a 62? Globetrotter, a ’51 Clipper, and several rare wartime Jeeps. He also collects a certain type of wool blanket with national park emblems on them. Meanwhile, Eleanor and Emma headed off to a nearby laundromat to catch up on that chore, and later Fred and I showed up with lunch. So we all had lunch at the laundromat to the background of 70’s disco blasting out of the loudspeakers.
With various other errands (post office, hardware store) we ended up getting back home around 6 pm, and that’s when my working day started again — until about 11 pm. It was one of those unconventional but full days that we seem to have frequently when on the road.
October 27, 2005 at 10:48 am · Filed under Uncategorized
Another mostly sunny day in dry Denver. The humidity continues to linger below 30%, sometimes as low as 17%, so we are sucking up water at a tremendous rate, despite the cool air. I went for a bike ride the other day (and was reminded about how the altitude makes little hills into big ones), and wiped out 16 oz of water in a short 10-mile ride around the Cherry Creek Dam.
My advance copies of the Airstream Life Fall 2005 issue have arrived, so yours should be in the mail now. I hope you like the new 80-page format and “perfect bound” spine! I’m heading over to Fred Coldwell’s house today to pick mine up. They came in FedEx and I couldn’t receive a FedEx shipment here at the campground.
Another bit of good news for vintage Airstream nuts: The VAP, Episode 4 is now available for download at www.thevap.com. I’m not on this episode but go ahead and listen to it anyway! 😉
Something’s up with Emma. She was clearing her throat all last night and she’s still sleeping now — 13 hours after she went to bed. I’m holding out hope that she’ll fight it off. But she might have picked up a bug at the Aquarium on Tuesday.
We’ve made our plans for the next week. Check the Schedule page to see where we are planning to be. If you live along our route, let me know so we can meet up. If you can meet us in Eugene OR that would be great, because we’ll have free stuff to give away there, including some cool Airstream stickers, free samples of Airstream Life magazine, and other goodies. Plus, Eleanor and I want to meet you!
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