What's Up with Michael

Total Trax

2012-02-11T21:47:00.001-07:00

Today we (Randy and I) rode the Trax train for our Saturday entertainment. We started at 5200 South and rode to the end of the line at Herriman and Day Break. Then back to the other end in Salt Lake at the Intermodal Hub. Then out to the end in West Valley. Then back to 5200 South. The only leg we didn't do was to the University of Utah. And the leg to the airport isn't finished yet. Here are some pictures.

A bus waiting at the Murray Central Trax station.

The end of the line in Day Break has just a hospital and a 7-Eleven. Oh, thank heaven for the 7-Eleven. This is looking into the windows of the hospital. Which prompted the security guard to come out and ask what we were doing. She decided we were okay taking pictures as long as we didn't go inside. Then she invited us inside to try the Beans and Brews cafe. We said, "Thanks," and left.

The Trax train waiting for passengers at Day Break.

If the pole were longer, the train would have more rules.

Oh, it does have more rules.

Even rhyming rules.

And more rules.

And if you forget a rule, you can call the driver for a reminder.

This is the driver. He may be a tad askew, but I think he's awake.

The doors don't open automatically at stops. You have to press this button to get on or get off.

And be sure to look both ways. People forget that trains come from both directions.

We got off at the Gardner Historic stop in Midvale. This is the West Jordan Pioneer Chapel next to a cemetery next to the stop.

This is someone's daughter.

If you get off at the Murray Central station, and walk over the Cottonwood Street-300 West bridge, you can see some wonderful equipment, like this Pepsi motorcycle.

And a bunch of trucks and heavy equipment.

They're all below this beautiful Murray landmark.

You shouldn't cross the road to take this picture from the bridge. And if you climb up on the cement barrier and stand next to a light pole and wait for a train to come down the track, a UTA Policeman might drive by, make a U-turn, stop, and tell you to get off, even though he can see you're only taking pictures, because every Trax driver will call him to tell him someone is about to jump in front of the train.

Several of the stops display artwork.

This one has glass faces set in steel.

The train stops at the Intermodal Hub in Salt Lake. This is where you can transfer to Front Runner, which goes to Odgen (for an additional $9.50 round trip). Much of the tracks are also in place for Front Runner to go south to Provo.

The Hub has several of these suitcases in stone.

I don't know where this Union Pacific 2002 Winter Olympics train engine normally lives, but right now it's in Salt Lake for the 10th anniversary of the Salt Lake Winter Olympics Games.

Maybe you can't tell, but I am hovering and levitating in this lane.

We ate lunch at Tony Caputo's at about 265 West 300 South. For dessert we had a vanilla waffle with whipped cream at Bruges on the sidewalk in front of Caputo's.

These pigs are in front of the old Firestone tire warehouse, now a restaurant and condos, on the corner of 300 South and 200 West.

We saw this guy near the Rio Grande train station. Later he was replacing the wheels on his chair on the Trax platform at 2100 South. He asked Randy to lift the 400-pound chair while he moved a couple of 2x4 pieces so he could work on the other side. He said he drives this thing 1,000 miles a year. He appears homeless (he carries a Help A Vet donation box) and apparently recharges his chair at the Trax stations. He has three sons, who are studying business and masters of business and something else at the U and in Provo. He said.

I think the Rio Grande Hotel is currently serving as low-income housing.

The new City Creek Center isn't finished yet, but some parts are open, including Deseret Book and this plaza.

Every single person who comes through here has to stick his or her finger in these fountain bubbles.

These chairs sit inside a yet-to-be-occupied building waiting for their tenants.

The day's over. It's time to fly home. These are part of the Trax station artwork at a stop on the way to Day Break (with a little help from Photoshop—these "people" are actually mounted on poles).

Tanner's Birthday

2012-02-08T16:43:00.000-07:00

Number Six
Tuesday, February 7, was Tanner's number six birthday. We celebrated at Carl's Jr in Centerville.

This is a gnarly red pirate cake, aaargghhh. It is not a pink princess cupcake.

This present is awesome, dude! Do you know all this stuff glows in the dark?

Yes, ma'am, we would like chicken nuggets, please, if that doesn't inconvenience you too much.

Annie and Wells were born one day apart two years ago in January. Misa and Wells came for Misa's grandmother's funeral. We got to see them the day after Tanner's birthday (and at the viewing on Monday).

Annie's Birthday

2012-01-07T00:47:00.000-07:00

Friday was Annie's second birthday. Here are some pictures. Thursday was Wells's second birthday, but we don't have pictures 'cause he's on the other side of the continent.

Oh, yea, I love Elmo. I can even say, "Elmo."

Help! Elmo's on fire.

Never mind. I blew it out.

Yum. Red frosting.

Hooray! Presents!

Happy Birthday Annie and Wells.

Christmas 2011

2011-12-25T21:23:00.003-07:00

This Christmas started when Chieko taught Tanners kindergarten class about what children do for the Christmas and New Year holidays in Japan. She also taught them how to fold an origami cup. I was surprised by two things: Twenty-five students were in this class, and they were very well behaved and were eager to answer and ask questions (even if they couldn't remember what question they wanted to ask when they were called on). I admire Ms. Guest for doing such a great job with them.

Next was our ward Christmas party. We had soup bowls, salads and desserts. Then the Primary reenacted the Nativity. Stanton was a shepherd.

On Christmas eve eve we went to Paul and Cindy's for Tiffany's Christmas Eve Party. We had appetizers and desserts. Then we reenacted the Nativity with Dad narrating and everyone sort of singing. Annie was the angel that appeared to the shepherds.

On Christmas morning we attended Sara and Jared's one-hour sacrament meeting (because Christmas was on Sunday, sacrament meeting was the only meeting held churchwide). Then Sara and Jared cooked gingerbread waffles, scrambled eggs, and sausage. They also had real maple syrup and a homemade syrup that was really good on waffles, but I forgot what they made it out of.

Then we went downstairs to see if Santa came last night.

Jared is assembling a water bottle holder for a bike.

Jackson got this cool Frank Sinatra hat that he loves.

He also got a bicycle.

In the living room.

On the road.

If you could see the backs of Tanner's bicycle gloves, you'd see that they have a glow-in-the-dark skeleton design.

Oh, yeah, like this.

Tanner got a three wheeler with free-turning rear roller-blade-like wheels for spinning 360s.

Here he is on the street. Still pictures don't do the 360s justice, but he does them really well.

Annabelle.

She needed a minute to figure out this whole Christmas morning thing, but she quickly realized the kitchen was hers and started cooking stuff in the sparkling frying pan.

Chieko is helping Annie with a backpack we gave her.

Next we went to Dad's for his annual Christmas buffet that is his present to all his family. I'm going to try to remember who all were there. If you were there and your name is missing, let me know. Spelling corrections also accepted. (Sorry, but this is the only picture I took all afternoon):

Dad, Nancy, Cecil, Andrea, Jordan, Maddison, Kaitlin, Hailey, Lindsay, Ryan, Thomas, Emma, Nathan, Kelley, Janet, Jennifer, Stanton, Michael, Chieko, Sara, Jared, Jackson, Tanner, Annabelle, Paul, Cindy, Marcus, Megan, and Amanda.

Merry Christmas

New Haven Visit October 2011

2011-10-26T00:11:00.001-06:00

Chieko wanted to visit John's family in Connecticut, so we decided that if the full-time job I was looking at didn't work out, we'd go this October, when the leaves would most likely be at their fall peak. (As you can see, the job didn't work out, but I picked up another client, which has turned out to be a much better opportunity.)

On Saturday, October 15, waiting and waiting for out luggage at JFK airport. The plane landed about a mile from the baggage pickup, so we thought for sure it would be waiting for us here. But we still waited 30 minutes or so.

Larry seemed to fare okay on the trip. Just kidding. He actually decided our open suitcase was a great place for a nap. So Chieko closed the lid over him. He just poked his head out and looked around but had no intention of moving.

On Sunday morning we drove to Essex, Connecticut, while John and family went to church in Madison. Oops. We didn't wake up early enough to get our spots in the shower in time to go with them.

In the late 1700s and early 1800s Essex was a major shipbuilding center. During the war of 1812, the British burned several of the new ships, valued at $180,000. That was the biggest damage during the war to that point. Many homes in Essex have the original owner's name and date the home was built, mostly in the early 1800s.

Chieko on the pier at the end of Essex Main Street.

When I move to a coast (East Coast or Puget Sound), this is the boat I'm going to own, the Nordic Tug 37. It's only $450,000.

This barge was dredging the harbor.

The Griswold Inn is in this building, which was erected in 1776.

We ate Sunday brunch at the Griswold Inn. Lots of fruit, salads, scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon, cornbread muffins, bread pudding, chocolate volcano cake, cooked-to-order omelettes, and small fluffy waffles with fresh strawberry and blueberry toppings.

The Astles in Essex Park: Mialisa, John, Wells, Elliot, Mei, and Caroline.

After brunch we took a ride in a steam-engine train through the countryside. This is not the train we rode, but this one is parked at the station.

This is the train we rode.

This is the train ride.

The leaves weren't as brilliant as we'd hoped, but they were still pretty and fallish.

Wells on the train.

When the train reached the end of our line, it couldn't turn around, so it disconnected, went down a sidetrack, and reconnected, with its nose at what had been the back of the train. The locomotive then pulled us backward to the station.

A little lawn mowing mishap we saw from the train (this is Halloween month, after all).

This is the home I plan to live in when we move to the coast and buy my Nordic Tug 37.

At the end of the day we walked and played a bit in the New Haven city park.

On Monday, Chieko and I drove to Vermont. This is the Chelsea Royal Diner, somewhere in Vermont. I just asked the clerk in the gas station if she knew a good non-chain place for lunch, and this was what she recommended. It was several miles away but worth the drive.

I had a hot open-face roast beef sandwich, and Chieko had a hot open-face turkey sandwich.

I'm sure there are many covered bridges like this in the East. We stopped at this one in Vermont near the Chelsea Royal Diner.

The approach to Joseph Smith's birthplace.

The Joseph Smith birthplace monument. The house he was born in was probably on the left of the monument, looking from this direction, in front of the small tree.

This is a bird feeder and probably looks like the house Joseph Smith was born in.

Two stones from the house survived in the location where there house probably sat. This fireplace hearth in the visitors' center is one of the stones. The other stone was a step to the house and is outside the visitor center. Joseph's family moved from here when he was about two.

We stayed at the Marriott Residence Inn in Scarborough, Maine, on Monday night. On Tuesday morning I set the alarm for 5:30 (3:30 Utah time) thinking that if I could get up to see the sun rise. The alarm didn't go off, but I awoke right at 5:30, so I decided I should get up. I had intended to go to the famous Portland Head Lighthouse, but my GPS sent me to Long Wharf Road off Commercial Street in Portland. There is no Long Wharf Road. When I turned into a parking lot, the GPS said, "Board ferry." Argh. There was no ferry running. The sky looked like this picture, so I knew I didn't have time to get to Portland Head, wherever it was. I wandered over a bridge and found another lighthouse that wasn't Portland Head, but the sunrise was beautiful just the same.

Sunrise at the Springpoint Ledge Lighthouse. Several boats were heading out, I assume to fish.

Springpoint Ledge Lighhouse at sunrise.

This is one of the lighthouses that you can see from Two Lights State Park. Both lighthouses are on private property, so not approachable, and the other one is in the middle of some houses.

This beach near Two Lights State Park looks like petrified wood, but it's just petrified sand, I think. The East Coast is much older and rockier than the West Coast.

Portland Head Lighthouse, probably the most famous lighthouse of the 60 or so along the Maine coast.

Chieko at Portland Head Lighthouse.

Bug Lighthouse is similar to the Springpoint Ledge Lighthouse, and you can see both from here, but Bug has Roman-like columns.

Another view of Bug Lighhouse.

For lunch on Tuesday we picked a little restaurant on the Portland Wharf. We walked down a wharf (near "Long Wharf") and ended up unknowingly going in the back door. The food looks good, but it wasn't that great. The chowder wasn't hot, and the onion rings were too thin and also not hot. The scallops were good. If we had walked another half block, we would have found several more, probably better, restaurants.

I think this is a tourist cruise, which is heading back into Portland Harbor around Bug Lighthouse.

For dinner on Tuesday we met Dave and Linda MacLeod at their nice New England home in Scarborough. Dave is my second cousin. We had a great visit and a great dinner at a restaurant whose name I forgot. I had a 12-vegetable dish that was quite yummy. But I forgot to take any pictures. I can't believe I did that. Meeting the MacLeods was one of my goals on this trip.

On Tuesday night we drove to Danvers, Massachusetts, and stayed in the Comfort Inn that we'd reserved on Priceline. On Wednesday morning we drove into Boston to follow the Freedom Walk. This is the fist stop on the Walk from the parking lot under Boston Commons. Boston Commons is where my parents met at a USO club in 1945.

Paul Revere's headstone.

Samuel Adams's headstone. He is a first cousin to John Adams and one of the main rabble rousers that set the fires of revolution burning in Boston.

This is the grave of Elizabeth Pain in another cemetery. She was born in 1626 and died in 1704. Elizabeth was from a wealthy family as indicated by the family crest on her tombstone. Because of what appears to be an 'A' in the crest (and maybe other reasons), some believe she was the inspiration for Nathaniel Hawthorne's Hester Prynne in "The Scarlet Lettter," which he set in Puritan Boston and published in 1642.

Faneuil Hall was a major meeting place where the likes of Samuel Adams and James Otis gave their fiery speeches.

Today Faneuil Hall is a great food court, with shops and restaurants (including a Cheers replica) attached to the outside.

My chowder was hot and good, but the hotdog and onion rings were overpriced and not that great. I wished I had just gotten a bread bowl of the (and saved about $10). Why did I pick a hotdog when I could have had any number of seafood, Italian, Asian, and a hundred other foods?

Paul Revere's house is one of the few (or only) house of the Revolutionary War period that is still standing. He lived in other houses, but this was his home during his famous ride and during the Revolution.

Statue of Paul Revere with the famous North Church in the background. One of two men or both men who worked in the church held up two lanterns to let the Patriots know the British Regulars were coming across the Charles River (faster route) rather than over a narrow land route (slower path) on their way to Lexington and Concord to capture munitions stored on a farm there. (The colonists had moved the munitions, by the way, but that's a whole other story. See my blog from June this year.) This signal was a backup plan in case Paul Revere didn't make it across the river to warn them. He did make it across, and the Patriots had also seen the lateens, as had some British guards in the city. But they never caught the men who held up the lanterns for 60 seconds.

Inside the North Church. Worshipers rented these pews, which have short walls to keep out the cold. Some pews cost $15,000 to $20,000 per year in today's dollars.

We also toured the bell-ringing room in an upper floor of the church. The teenage Paul Revere was a bell ringer here. Otherwise, he was not high enough in class to ever step inside this church.

The stairs from the bell-ringing room. We also toured the cellar, where no photography is allowed. About 130 crypts in the cellar hold about 1,500 bodies. People paid dearly (in cash as well as with their lives) to be buried under the church. When the crypts became full, the priests moved the remains to a sanctified common pit somewhere on the church grounds.

We stopped at Mike's Pastry shop in Little Italy, near Paul Revere's house for the most yummy Boston Cream Puff, cheese cake, and some other pastries.

The Freedom Trail was the only all-day outdoor activity we had planned on this trip, and it was the only day that rained, all day. We enjoyed it anyway. This is Boston in its rainy fog.

For dinner we ate at Sapporo Ramen, a tiny shop inside an office building. It was pretty good. While looking for it, I discovered via the GPS that sacrament has ramen in it. I don't know if that's significant, but I do like ramen.

On Thursday we visited John Adams's houses. This is the house in Braintree where he was born.

Next door to his birth house, is a house John Adams's father, a minister, land owner, and farmer, also owned. His father gave John, the oldest son, this house when John married Abigail. He gave the other family home to John's brother, because he had paid John's education at Harvard and couldn't afford to pay for any other children's education.

When John and Abigail returned from Europe, Abigail couldn't bear to live in the little house again, so they bought this house, which was also much smaller than it is today. Abigail had a large room added for entertaining and a back section. This is a side view of the house.

The Adams's house was nice, but it didn't compare to the Cornielius Vanderbilt (railroad baron) summer cottage called "The Breakers" in Newport, Rhode Island. This 65,000-square-foot house cost about $350,000,000 in today's dollars to build in the 1890s. The bathtubs are carved from solid marble and had to be filled and emptied several times to warm them. The bathtubs also had four faucets, two for fresh water and two for health-giving seawater. This is a side and back view.

Why it's called "The Breakers." From the back veranda you can watch the waves crash against a rock cliff at the edge of the backyard.

I think The Breakers is where Chieko will vacation when I buy our house and boat in Essex. She liked this place. This is a front view.

On Friday John took Misa to New York for her birthday. The three older kids headed off to school.

And we took Wells into New Haven to see Yale and to buy some souvenirs.

At the end of the school day the kids came home, and we headed off to dinner.

We went to a place called Fish Tale, which has good fried clams, as well as stuff the kids like. This place also has a carousel that you can ride for a $1 donation. The restaurant gives the money to charity and so far has raised more than $650,000. The carousel was closed for the season when we were there.

Chieko and I ate clams and fries.

On Saturday we headed out to pick apples. But first the kids played around the yard while the adults got ready to go.

A swing that I think Elliot made in the front-yard tree.

This is a good climbing tree.

At the apple orchard, the trees were loaded.

Elliot picking apples.

Wells picking apples. The owners didn't care if we ate apples while we picked. We should have eaten an apple from each tree, as we discovered the tree closest to where the hay wagon dropped us off had the best apples. But of course we wandered all over the orchard before we discovered that.

The orchard also offered pumpkins.

Wells found his pumpkin right away.

I think everyone got the pumpkins they wanted.

We then ate at an Italian restaurant called Joey's Garlics, or something like that. They should have called it "Enough food for three meals in one." The food was good, as well as plentiful.

Near sundown we went to a hill in New Haven, where the kids rolled down. This is Mei giving Wells a start.

He got the hang of it pretty quickly and had a great time.

Wells heading up the hill to roll down again.

These kids get along with each other really well and seem to always be having fun.

Elliot with his electric blinking glasses that he bought with birthday money from the Weavers.

Readying the glasses for eye protection.

On Sunday morning we went to church with John's group. The primary put on their annual program and all put on a very wonderful performance. Misa is the primary chorister, and she did an amazing job getting the children to learn the songs and then singing the songs really well. I was impressed.

On the way back to JFK airport, we stopped on Hillhouse Street in New Haven. Charles Dickens and Mark Twain called this the most beautiful street in America. Today Yale University owns all the buildings (mostly stately homes) except a church. The Yale president supposedly lives in one, but we could only guess which one. We're thinking one of the houses that has the address on a small sign on the corner of the building rather than a big sign next to the door.

This might be the Yale president's home. Or not. But this is our rental car.

Labor Day 2011

2011-09-05T18:59:00.000-06:00

This is just about everyone who was at our annual Labor Day Mirror Lake picnic. The weather looked a little threatening on the way up, but it stayed nice the whole time we were there (and kept a lot of people away). We stayed from 11 to about 5. It started to rain just as we left. Dad, Janet, Jennifer, Stanton, and Chieko and I ate the usual hobo dinners. Of course I started the fire with one match, no paper, using the three essential ingredients to a campfire: fuel, oxygen, and patience. We started a second fire with no matches, just some warm coals from the first fire. The others all brought food they'd made at home. We also roasted some wonderful giant marshmallows and stuffed them with little Twix and Snickers bars that Nancy brought. Jordan and Madison were off catching a bunch of fish when we took this picture. And Jason and Julie (Julie's taking the picture), who brought two kayaks, headed up just after this to hike Bald Mountain.

Jason, Maddy, and Kaitlin.

Bald Mountain Goats

2011-08-24T21:51:00.011-06:00

On Saturday, August 20, I made my annual climb up Bald Mountain from the summit of the Mirror Lake Highway. The trail is only about a mile and a half to the top, but it climbs from 10,700 feet to about 11,900 feet, and there isn't a lot of extra oxygen at those altitudes.It's really just spring up here. And it will probably be winter before summer arrives.

This is a pair of hikers nearing the summit of Bald Mountain. From here it's just one last climb, a narrow crossing, and up some tall rock steps to the top.

This is my favorite picture of the day. Five Utah Rocky Mountain goats were hanging out on the east-side ledges almost directly above Moosehorn Lake, which you can't see in this picture. What you can see in the background is Mirror Lake, and with good binoculars the goats could probably be seen from there. I assume this is the big-daddy goat, who gets first pick of ledges for his afternoon nap.

Looking west from near the top of Bald Mountain. The Uintas have 1,000 lakes and ponds, according to Wikipedia.

A bag of chips swells pretty big at almost 12,000 feet.

On the way down the trail, I see the goats are still lazying around the ledges.

A few thunderclouds were hanging around and blocking the sun from time to time (the only lightning I saw was on Hayden Peak, across the canyon). I waited until the sun poked out on the daddy goat while the Mirror Lake campground stayed in the shaded background to get this picture.

Tour of Utah, North America's Toughest Bicycle Stage Race

2011-08-24T20:57:00.032-06:00

The Tour of Utah, called America's Toughest Stage Race, was held August 11 through 14. It is gaining a lot of respect, especially this year, among the world of bike racers. This race is followed by the USA Pro Cycling Challenge in Colorado, where Cadel Evans (Tour de Fance winner this year), George Hincapie, and Levi Leipheimer will race. Cadel Evans came to Snowbird to watch the final stage of the Tour of Utah.

On Saturday, Chieko and I wanted to walk around Cascade Springs off the Alpine Loop, but we also wanted to see the fourth stage circuit race making 11 loops around Capitol Hill.

I talked Chieko into going to Cascade Springs first. We ate lunch in the little gazebo along with several other people who thought they were going to have a picnic there, but Cascade Springs doesn't have accommodations for picnicking--to protect the vegetation and water. Then we took the dirt road over the mountain to Soldier Hollow, Midway, Heber and back to Salt Lake. We arrived in Salt Lake around 3:45 and figured the race would be over but decided to drive up to the capitol to see if we could see the podium ceremonies, or anything. We got off I-15 at 600 North and took the back way to the capitol, pulling right up to the finish line. I dropped off Chieko and then spotted a parking place just a few feet away.

So we stood right above the finish line. The racers did 11 loops up the hill, down City Creek Canyon and around the Avenues. I think they did about 90 miles total. We arrived at the finish line just in time to see that last two loops. This is the stage winner, Javier Alexis Acevedo Colle of the team Gobernacion Indeportes Antioquia.

Levi Leipheimer of Team Radio Shack finished the stage 30th but was still 23 seconds ahead of overall second-place Sergio Luis Henao to retain the Yellow Jersey.

On Sunday, I snuck out of a church meeting just a little early and headed up Little Cottonwood Canyon to watch the last climb of the last stage of the race, which started at Kimball Junction and ran through Park City, Kamas, Midway, Provo Canyon, Alpine Loop, American Fork Canyon, Traverse Ridge, and up to Snowbird. This is the race helicopter that fed live video to TV and online.

The lead riders are Sergio Luis Henao of the team Columbia and Levi Leipheimer of Team Radio Shack. Sergio needed to gain more than 23 seconds on Levi. He made several attacks on this mountain, which open a huge gap between these two and the rest of the racers, but he just could not shake Leipheimer. But we were cheering for Leipheimer, so all was good.

Levi Leipheimer, who would finish the Tour of Utah in the number-one spot with Sergio finishing number two.

On the left is Janez Brajkovic from Slovania. He is also on Team Radio Shack and finished the Tour of Utah number three overall.

At this point, Levi Leipheimer is looking back to see how close the next riders are. Although there are a few breakaway riders, the peloton is a full 22 minutes behind him and Sergio.

This is the peloton.

The peloton riders.

The next several pictures show the various stages of determination, desperation, and pain of the riders.

Some of the riders in the back were so exhausted, they had to hold on to their team cars.

These are the last two riders, but they still finished.

Fourth of July Weekend 2011

2011-07-08T19:13:00.117-06:00

Jennifer cajoled us into going to the Grand Tetons and the Bar J Chuckwagon for the Fourth of July weekend or risk the guilt of not attending the "family reunion." Just kidding. Actually that was her strategy, but we wouldn't miss any excuse to go to the Tetons, Yellowstone and the Jackson Hole fireworks. Many of the Melvin Astle family collected at the Gros Ventre campground and in Teton Village. They included Melvin; Nancy and Cecil; Janet; Michael and Chieko; Paul, Cindy and Marcus; Jennifer and Stanton; Jamie, Brian, Kali, Caleb and Emi; Sara, Jared, Jackson, Tanner and Annie; Heather, Jason and Parker; and Tiffany, Mick, Addy and Owen. Did I miss anyone? Sorry.

The Tetons have a lot of snow for the first of July. When we saw the Gros Ventre River running very high and muddy, we worried that our trusty Gros Ventre campground might be flooded. It was open, but we arrived just in time on Friday afternoon for a choice of camp spots. The campground filled up quickly and stayed full over the entire weekend. The first time I've ever see that campground full.

Plenty of bison roamed the Tetons and Yellowstone.

This cow moose bedded right in the campground just a few feet from the camp spots across the road from us.

This baby moose was with her mother on an island in the fast-moving river along the Gros Ventre road.

We cooked Dutch oven for dinner on Friday night. Sara and Jared cooked a really good chicken-and-rice thing in two ovens. One turned out perfect. One was a little over-cooked. My bad, I think. I added a couple more coals near the end of the cooking because the original charcoal was looking pretty lame after an hour or so. The hardest thing with Dutch oven is trusting the number of charcoal briquettes you need to cook at a given temperature. It always feels like we should add more coals. Anyway, I love Dutch oven. I'm always amazed at how good the food is.

I thought I had taken a picture of Sara's chicken main course, but I guess I was too focused on my pineapple upside-down cake. So, sorry. No main course photos. I also forgot to bring brown sugar, so I mixed pure maple syrup with some ground-to-powder Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal. The mix had a consistency close to brown sugar and actually worked just fine.

Here we are enjoying our dinner.

Tanner in the campground before the kids discovered the black dirt around the fire pits.

Emi.

Friday night's campfire with roasted giant marshmallows and s'mores (the kind with plain chocolate--someone brought Reese's Peanut Butter Cups on Saturday night, when we were at the Bar J).

Roasting marshmallows.

Breakfast on Saturday morning, or was this Sunday or Monday morning? I think we cooked pancakes, bacon and eggs on Saturday morning. There would have been a Coleman propane stove on the table end.

The bunch that was afraid of a few mosquitos ate breakfast inside the trailer.

On Saturday morning, if 11 a.m. is still considered morning, we hiked up to Phelps Lake, where the Rockefeller's JY Ranch that Chieko worked at in college used to sit. Today there is a small parking lot (it's small to limit the number of people), a nature preserve building and a 1-1/2-mile trail to Phelps Lake. Cecil said he hiked to Phelps Lake from the Idaho side through Death Canyon when he was a Boy Scout. (Cecil wasn't on this hike. He, Nancy and Dad drove to Jackson on Saturday and stayed in a Condo at Teton Village. Then they took 85-year-old Dad on the Alpine slide. Really.)

The Phelps Lake hike.

More hiking.

Sara, Jared, Jackson, Tanner and Annabelle at Phelps Lake.

What kind of birds are these on the lake? I think they're common mergansers.

What the heck are these caterpillars? I think they're eastern tent caterpillars.

On Saturday night we made our pilgrimage to the Bar J Wranglers' chuck-wagon dinner and show. Jamie's, Sara's and Tiffany's groups stayed in the camp, swam in the pollywog pond near Kelly and made peanut-butter-cup s'mores, because their kids are too small to enjoy the show. Jackson chose to go with us to the Bar J, which he really enjoyed, especially "Granny."

On Sunday three cars headed to Yellowstone. (Us, with the Austins; Sara's group; and Jennifer with her mom and the Blacks, who split up to get Jennifer's and Sara's cars into the park free with their Senior Passes. Chieko finally qualified for her pass this year, too. Hooray for getting senior.)

Tanner and Stanton became best friends. Here they are heading to see Old Faithful do its thing.

Here's the crowd waiting for Old Faithful.

And there it goes.

This spring at Midway Geyser Basin is on the cover of the Yellowstone Newspaper this year.

Also at Midway.

Next we headed to Canyon to see the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone falls with more water than we've ever seen pouring over the brink.

This is the brink of the upper falls.

This is looking upstream right at the brink.

I think this is Hayden Valley. We wouldn't normally stop to look at elk, but people were sitting here with lawn chairs and spotting scopes. Apparently there is a pack of wolves that lives here and comes out from time to time to hunt and play. Unfortunately, we didn't have time to sit for a few hours until they showed, but Brian and I agreed that next time we'll bring our chairs and a book.

I didn't take this picture, but I did see this same view just past Jackson Lake Lodge on the way back to the campground. Apparently the speed limit didn't go back to 45 after we passed the lodge. Yes, I got pulled over for doing 45 in a 35 zone. And I had been carefully setting my cruise control so I din't go over the speed limit on every road from home and all through Yellowstone. The ranger lady let me off with a verbal warning and a lecture about all the bison and other wildlife that get hit along this road.

On Monday morning (July 4th), Jamie, Jared and I got up at 5 a.m. and drove in Jared's car, where he'd slept all night with Annie, to the cabin up the road that goes to Slide Lake above Kelly. The skies were threatening rain, but the Tetons were clear, and there was a clear spot to the east for the sun to shine through. However, just before the sun poked through, the clouds moved in from the south. Still, I like the pink clouds and reflection on the mountain snow, which is usually mostly melted by this time of year. We didn't get a lot of pictures or any classic shots, but I really like what we got.

Oooo, where are we going next?

I don't know, but it sounds exciting!

We decided to visit Lower Slide Lake on Monday. This lake was formed when the mountain above Kelly gave way in a wet 1925 spring and dammed the Gros Ventre (pronounced groh-vahnt) river.

Caleb on the rubble that forms the dam to the lake.

The girls on the hike.

In the distance you can see what is a massive hole in the side of the mountain where the mud, rocks and trees slid from. In the foreground is some of the rubble that came down and blocked the river.

The dam partially gave way after a couple years, dropping the lake 60 feet and killing six people in Kelly.

Hiking to the bottom of the dam to check out the brown muddy runoff water in what is normally a clear lake.

Janet on the dam.

Jackson with his patriotic hat on the Fourth of July.

Emi and Jackson on the dam.

The roudies figuring where they can skip rocks near the boat dock.

Brian skipping stones.

Caleb skipping stones.

After the slide, we headed to Jackson Lake Lodge, where Jamie worked for a summer. This is taken from the top of Lunch Tree Hill.

Kali taking a picture.

Emi, Jackson, Caleb and Kali.

Enjoying the view of the meadow and mountains.

On Monday night--it is the Fourth of July, remember--we headed to the base of the Snow King ski run for the fireworks. Paul's and Jason's families came early and saved spots on the ball field for our blankets. A whole lot of fireworks pictures follow. If you get tired of looking at them, keep in mind that there are a few pictures of the Tetons and Jenny Lake at the end of this blog.

Tuesday morning. Chieko on the trail to our traditional beach on Jenny Lake, where my mom and dad used to sit in their camp chairs while we swam in the cold lake.

With the spring so late this year and the water so high, there was no beach, but Jackson and Tanner wanted to skip rocks.

They had fun.

Jackson, Tanner and the Tetons with a lot of snow for July. Sara, Jared and Annie went home on Monday, so these cute guys stayed with us until Tuesday.

Tanner took this picture.

The end. We're on our way home.

Dallas, New Haven, Boston, Lexington, Chicago, Route 66, Santa Monica Road Trip June 2011

2011-06-22T20:35:00.107-06:00

This trip started when John invited us to his Ph.D. and M.D. graduations in Dallas the first weekend in June. I felt a road trip developing, but it depended on where he ended up for his residency and when he would move in relation to graduation. Well, all pieces fell into place for one long road trip. I canceled my airfare to Dallas and decided to drive my car to Dallas, load up a Penske truck with John and family's belongings, drive the truck to New Haven while towing my car, drive my car to Boston and Chicago, and then drive Route 66 from Chicago to Santa Monica, California. And drive home from there. I was planning to do the trip solo, especially because my car is so small and has a very tiny trunk, but Randy wanted to do Route 66, too, and we had previously dreamed of doing the trip, so we decided to meet in Chicago for the Route 66 leg.This was a couple days before I left. I double polished the car and took this picture in between raindrops at Murray Park.

Driving to Evanston, Wyoming, on Wednesday, June 1, the same day a freak tornado hit Springfield, Massachusetts.

The Wyoming border. Parts of this trip were driving marathons, including this leg from Salt Lake to Irving, Texas. I didn't stop anywhere except for gas, fast food, and sleep.

This guide book in the Double Tree Hotel is all I saw of Colorado Springs.

Because Randy and I were planning to drive Route 66, and John Steinbeck named Route 66 "The Mother Road" in his book "The Grapes of Wrath," I decided to listen to the book on the drive to Dallas. I think the book was 21 hours long, and I finished it about 10 minutes after I arrived in Dallas. Steinbeck dedicated a whole chapter to describing Route 66 in the 1930s. This book was a pretty somber way to drive to Dallas.

Texas and sunshine.

There really is a large truck stop called the Jesus Christ Is Lord Travel Center, where you can be born again and get a cheeseburger. I didn't go inside, because I was in a hurry, and the windows were all covered in paint, which made the place a little creepy from the outside. But now I wish I had gone in for a Diet Dr. Pepper.

Friday, June 3, we are attending John's Ph.D. graduation.

This was a great graduation. It was just under an hour with one speaker. This is the dean, Michael G. Roth, Ph.D., conducting the graduation.

John receives his first hood. All Ph.D. hoods in the United States are blue on one side (the outside?). And the UT Southwestern hoods have orange and white on the other side. John's degree is in biomedical sciences.

Mialisa and Wells at the graduation.

John's support staff.

This is the graduation party. Mark and Kate took off to Ecuador for Doctors without Borders (or one of those organizations) on Saturday morning.

A bunch of guys from the elder's quorum and John's friend Matt loaded the moving truck on Saturday morning. I like to rent from Penske because U-Haul often doesn't have the truck at the promised time. This time Penske didn't have the truck. They got it pretty quickly, but they didn't get the packing quilts and hand truck to us until after we were finished. We did use some of the quilts, and the hand truck came in very handy when there were just two of us to unload in New Haven.

The Irving backyard.

Dallas had a lightning and hail storm that smashed skylights and put bowling-ball-size dents in the Astle's roof a couple weeks ago. John saved some hailstones in the freezer for the insurance company, but the defroster reduced their size quite a bit. This is a reduced-size hailstone.

On Sunday we went to Spaghetti Warehouse in Dallas's West End for dinner. We shouldn't have used the tag some nice girls gave us for the parking lot, because when we came out we had boots on the left front and rear tires of John's van. So did the car next to us. That cost us $113.25 instead of $5.

Wells eating mac and cheese.

Mei and Emi (we ran out of letters for names) outside the restaurant.

Caleb is growing up fast.

Jamie's and John's kids in the West End...

...at the base of the Texas dinosaur.

On Saturday, we accompanied John and his seven classmates in the Medical Scientist Training Program (M.D./Ph.D. program) to a nice luncheon at the university, where they received their white jackets.

The luncheon.

John and his classmates (one was missing, as was the codirector of the program, Dr. Michael Brown, who was awarded a Nobel prize in 1985 for his discovery of the mechanisms of cholesterol metabolism, which led to the use of statin drugs for control of cholesterol).

John's M.D. graduation was held in the symphony hall in Dallas. And yes, a woman was playing this giant pipe organ for the proceedings.

John amid his M.D. graduates.

Francisco G. Cigarroa, M.D., and 1983 graduate delivered the commencement address.

John receives his second hood.

The M.D. hood is green, with UT Southwestern orange and white on the other side.

Receiving his diploma.

John's support staff: Mialisa, Elliott, and Caroline. Mei and Wells are missing in action.

Chieko, John, and Michael.
John with his sister Jamie, who came down with her family for the M.D. graduation from Oklahoma City between girls' camp (Jamie and Kali) and Cub Scout camp (Caleb).

Candice, Susan, Mialisa, John, Caroline, and Elliot.

On Tuesday morning John picked Chieko up at the Wyndham Hotel, where we had stayed, and took her, Susan, and Candice to the airport. And I headed off in the Penske truck on my second driving marathon toward New Haven, Connecticut. I had planned to stop in Memphis for one of my favorite BBQ joints and maybe a couple other spots, but I had zeroed in on getting to New Haven and stopped only when I had to.

On Tuesday I went through Arkansas...

...and most of the way through Tennessee. I saw more state police in Tennessee than I've ever seen anywhere. It seemed they were in every other "official" turnaround spot waiting for speeders.

With bleary eyes, I stayed in a Knoxville Motel 6 on Tuesday night.

On Wednesday, I traveled through eight states, including driving through Manhattan and paying $40 in tolls, $32 just to cross the George Washington Bridge. I had stopped at a Target store in West Virginia and bought a sleeping bag, towel, and washcloth to sleep in the Astles' new home in Branford, Connecticut, Wednesday night. I hadn't expected that all the floors would be hardwood. But I was so tired, I went to sleep at 11:30 p.m. and woke up at 6:30 a.m. in exactly the same position I had gone to sleep in.

John and family ended up about a day behind me, so on Thursday morning I dropped by Yale, which was chartered in 1701. This is the Yale Sterling Memorial Library.

I love these old buildings.

On Thursday afternoon I started unloading the truck. The temperature was 94 degrees, and the humidity must have been at about the same mark.

A huge thunderstorm hit in the early evening, so I took a nap on the unused packing quilts and waited for John and family to arrive. After they got here, they took me to a seafood restaurant in Branford on the waterfront, where I had scrod (a New England staple cod) fish and chips that were quite light, flakey, and yummy.

On Friday morning, John and I finished unloading the truck, and I left his family with all their boxes stacked in the living room, garage, and basement.

Larry on moving-in day.

Breakfast on moving-in day.

Here they are (Wells was having a nap) at their new home with its 1-1/2-acre yard. You can see pictures of their house and yard in my previous blog. The backyard looks narrow, but the trees behind there also belong to this house. And we just learned (on June 24) that it is full of blackberry bushes. I love blackberries. We used to pick them on vacation in the Pacific Northwest (officially marion berries) and make syrup in the trailer.

My official East Coast picture. I will take a West Coast picture when I get there. This is a Branford harbor on a bay on Long Island Sound.

Mark Twain's house in Hartford, a city he called the most beautiful place on earth. Tours were far between due to some Congressional event, and I didn't have time to wait, so I didn't see the inside. A cop made me and some other people walk down the opposite side of the street so we wouldn't mingle with the Congressional guests, but were allowed to walk right up to the house and a large party tent where the guests were having lunch.

This is the North Bridge in Concord, Massachusetts, where militiamen, or Minutemen, shot and killed two British regulars on April 19, 1775 . Other skirmishes had occurred earlier in the day all along the road from Lexington to Concord. The first colonists were killed in Lexington early in the day, but the battle here, with the regulars, was the first battle that involved organized Minutemen fighting under the command of an officer. This is the location of "the shot heard round the world" that Ralph Waldo Emerson made famous in his "Concord Hymn."

The statue of a Minuteman at the North Bridge, near where the shots were fired from.

This is where the two British regulars are buried on the opposite side of the bridge, where the regulars stood during the battle.

This is the home of Ralph Waldo Emerson in Concord.

This is the Battle Green in Lexington, where the first skirmish took place and colonial militiamen were killed. Seven hundred British regulars had come to seize munitions that were stored in Concord. However, the patriots learned of the intended seizure and moved the arms. The only thing the British soldiers accomplished was starting the Revolutionary War.

Next to Battle Green.

John and Misa told me that if I passed a Clam Box, I should stop. So after Concord and Lexington I looked one up on the GPS. It was only 15 miles away, so I went. I didn't know I had to go through Boston, which I had planned to avoid, but the Clam Box was worth the drive. And it was in Quincy, another place I wanted to visit but didn't think I had time.

I ordered the whole clams rather than the strips. This was certainly a plateful of fried clams. I enjoyed the whole clams, but they got to be too rich, and I ended up turning the last half into strips. I loved the whole experience of sitting on the waterfront outside the original Clam Box eating clams and fries at dusk.

Because I was already in Quincy, I visited John and Abigail Adams's house. It also housed several subsequent generations of Adamses. I didn't try to find his birth home, but I do plan to go back.

As I drove through Springfield on the way to Lexington-Concord, I passed a spot where the tornado on June 1 (the day I left Utah) crossed the freeway, leaving a path of tree sticks and a crumpled freeway sign. I stayed in Springfield on Friday night, and on Saturday morning I drove into the area that was hit by the tornado.

This is a crew of cleanup people, volunteers, I assume.

Most of the houses that were hit were missing roofs and windows and were pretty messed up.

A bridge heading into upstate New York.

This is in a little farm town in Ohio. It's a rain gutter downspout. Most of the pictures in this blog include GPS information (assuming Blogger retains that information--I haven't checked), so you can find their exact locations if you're interested.

A typical Ohio farm. It could also be an Indiana farm.

I arrived in Chicago on Sunday afternoon, June 12, and picked Randy up at the O'Hare Airport, where he had to return a rental car he'd has since Thursday. We then went into Chicago, where the Chicago Blues Festival was happening at Millennium Park, near the shore of Lake Michigan.

The is commonly called The Bean. It's officially Cloud Gate, a sculpture made by Indian-born artist Anish Kapoor on the AT&T Plaza in Millennium Park.

This is my North Coast picture. Lake Michigan.

And this is the beginning of our Route 66 tour, at the corner of Adams and Michigan Avenue.

We tried to eat at Lou Mitchell's Restaurant, but it was quite dark, so we headed to another diner Randy had seen. That one was also closed, but the valet parking guys directed us down a back alley to a place called the Hop Haus, which had the most delicious filet mignon (and other) sliders. A little pricey, but I'd go back if I had the chance.

Our first stop on Monday morning, June 13, was for lunch at the Launching Pad Drive-In, where this former muffler guy has been turned into an astronaut holding a rocket. It's in Wilmington, Illinois.

The Launching Pad Drive-In.

Our table in the drive-in.

The inside of a Route 66 drive-in looks much today as it may have in the 1950s, with some additions, such as the tables.

I suppose the food--a cheeseburger, chocolate-carmel malt, and fried cauliflower--may be original. At least it felt like 1950s to me.

Driving the old Route 66 road, which parallels the current "Historic Route 66" road somewhere in Illinois. Some parts of the old Route 66 road are long gone, some parts are still here in pieces, some have been turned into walking and biking paths, and some are still being used for automobile travel. We spent much of our first day on the "Historic Route 66" (newer road but not the Interstate).

A restored Texaco service station.

A restored Standard Oil service station in Odell, Illinois.

With an old (oaky, 2010--it looked old to me) Harley Davidson parked in front. A couple was driving this down Route 66.

This little travel trailer is on the side of the Odell Standard Oil station. It reminded me of our old Li'l Loafer trailer.

This school bus is not part of the traditional Route 66, but it certainly fits the kitschy atmosphere. I think this was in Pontiac, Illinois.

Burma Shave signs. We found a few sets of these in Illinois and along a long stretch of the old Route 66 that we followed in Arizona.

We stopped at Funks Grove to see the Funks Grove Maple Sirip shop. The shop was closed, because we were there too late in the evening, but we did find an old train station and a lot of silos.

The train stop at Funks Grove.

Abraham Lincoln's tomb in the city he was instrumental in making the Illinois state capital, Springfield.

The only home Abraham Lincoln ever owned, in Springfield, Illinois. The nameplate says, A. Lincoln, which is how he commonly signed his name.

We stayed near St. Louis on Monday night. We wanted a picture of the Gateway Arch behind the old court house, so we went into St. Louis when we arrived, about midnight. St. Louis is not the safest city. In fact, it has been listed as the least safe city in the United States. First thing, a tall guy approached us as we were taking pictures and asked if we had a light for his cigarette. He was odd, and I wasn't sure he even had cigarettes. Randy smartly walked off behind a stone structure so if the guy was going to mug us, he at least didn't have us together.

We got back in the car and headed for the freeway to Saint Charles. Suddenly a police chase came screaming by. The lead car had a young black felon and his wife or girlfriend and a baby (we learned later from the morning news). The felon was followed by about 10 or 15 or 20 police cars, trucks, SUVs and unmarked cars. Other unmarked cars parked and hung around the area.

After the procession flew by, we headed toward the freeway again. Then the whole screaming parade came toward us from a different direction. Then from another direction. Over the next 10 or 15 minutes it screamed past us five or six times, all from different directions. The last time we were making a left turn toward the freeway, and the sirens came from behind us. I had to zoom to the right side of the road or join the chase.

In the video you might hear me say, "He signaled to turn left." The felon really did.

You wouldn't see this in a comedy movie. Finally, all was quiet and we got onto the two-lane Martin Luther King Bridge. As we crossed the Mississippi River, the procession came flying the other direction on the same bridge. Then it was finally gone. We thought. We traveled a few miles on the freeway toward St. Charles, and sure enough, the flashing lights had finally succeeded in stopping the car along the side of the freeway.

This gift shop near Castro, Missouri, is the Unfriendliest Gift Shop in America. It's also called Indian Harvest Grand Opening. We got off the freeway to see what this Route 66 attraction was, and to find out whether Indian Harvest was a fruit stand or curio shop.

We drove past and turned around in a little paved area that led to a radio tower. Then we pulled into the parking lot and snapped a couple pictures. A woman sauntered out and asked what we were doing. I asked if this was a gift shop. She said, "We sell pots and pipes and...." I don't know, a bunch of stuff. And she ended with a little dance step. I couldn't tell if it was a sales pitch or a complaint.

Then she really started ranting, "Pictures don't pay the bills." This is exactly what a crooked jalopy salesman would have said in "The Grapes of Wrath" along this same road. And she was just starting. She went on and on complaining that we had turned around in her driveway, yes that was her driveway, and we were parked in her parking lot, the parking lot she had paid for. She turned and marched back to the teepees, and I snapped another picture, unfortunately just as she turned around to see if we were leaving. She raised her hands and yelled, "Git outa here!!!"

I later felt bad, thinking she had bought this place with her retirement savings and discovered no one wanted Chinese Indian trinkets on Route 66 in Missouri. I was going to write her an email with ideas for increasing business--like adding fry bread samples. But when I looked the place up on the Internet, I found several comments indicating she and a man who also runs this place have been treating customers exactly this same way for 11 years. If you happen to make it to the entrance of the gift shop, they apparently charge $2 to come in.

An old motel near Doolittle, Missouri.

John's Modern Cabins, on the dead-end road to Arlington, Missouri.

One of John's Modern Cabins.

Driving the old Route 66 road near Arlington, Missouri.

A Route 66 Winnebago.

This guy completely closed off his shell when I picked him up.

This stone memorial was made by Larry Baggett, whose self-made concrete statue sits out front. He died in 2003. It's a memorial to the Trail of Tears, the trail the United States forced the Cherokees and other Native Americans to march along on their way to relocation in what is now Oklahoma. Many died along the route, thus the name Trail of Tears. Baggett built these stone shrines when an old Cherokee told him the spirits of the passersby couldn't pass because Baggett had built a stone wall in the way. So he put in stairs. And then he continued building memorials of stone and concrete.

This is the first thing we saw in Joplin, Missouri, as we entered the area where the F5 tornado hit this city of 50,000 on Sunday, May 22, and destroyed 30 percent of the city's buildings. More than 150 people died from the tornado, fungus infections following the mayhem, and lightning that killed one policeman the next day while he was helping people.

This was what we saw next. This used to be a Home Depot. You can barely see the Home Depot sign above and behind this heap.

This is the new Home Depot.

The wall in the distance was the entrance to a sports megastore.

Vacuum cleaners and other household items were strewn everywhere.

Much of the debris has been bulldozed into great piles.

Smashed cars were everywhere.

Trees that still stood were stripped of their leaves and most branches.

The carnage was before us, behind us, and all around.

A trophy in a garage.

A neighborhood.

Lawn mower.

The areas we went into had new power poles and lines already installed. You can see the new poles in the background on the right.

A kitchen, a bedroom?

Permasheath insulation.

Vehicles that weren't smashed had their windows blown out.

Another neighborhood street.

This part of the city was pretty well flattened.

Joplin High School.

Volunteers.

As we were getting ready to leave for Oklahoma City, Jamie called to tell us a severe thunder storm, likely with big hail, was heading their way. They live in Oklahoma City. We decided to reserve a hotel in Tulsa and raced the storm as it left Oklahoma City and headed toward Tulsa. All along the way we kept our eyes open for shelter that didn't exist. This was Oklahoma. It's flat. We arrived at the hotel in Tulsa about 15 minutes before the storm hit. Luckily it didn't drop hail in Tulsa, since there was no cover under which to park the car, although the storm did some hail damage in Norman, South of Oklahoma City.

On Wednesday morning we backtracked about 15 miles to the Blue Whale swimming resort in Catoosa, Oklahoma. The resort is no longer in operation, but the whale is still here, along with some new picnic tables.

A slide from the whale into the swimming pond.

A swimmer in the pond today, along with a bunch of fish.

Downtown Tulsa, Oklahoma.

This is the inside of the roof of the Round Barn in Arcadia, Oklahoma.

We met Jamie, Kali, Caleb, and Emi for lunch at Pop's, across the street from the Round Barn. Pop's, with its 500 flavors of soda, is a modern Route 66 must-see stop. You can see pictures of Pop's in my blog from last year's road trip to Mt. Rushmore. This is inside the Round Barn.

Braum's serves the best ice cream. A large double waffle cone is under $3. Try to get that at a Baskin Robbins.

The Canadian River bridge near Bridgeport, Oklahoma, is 3,944.33 feet long and was completed in 1933, about the time of Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath," which starts in Oklahoma.

Restored service station in Hydro, Oklahoma.

Lucille's service station, built in 1941, near Hydro, Oklahoma. None of the restored service stations on Route 66 is a working gas station. Most are museums or gift shops. This one seems to be just a building.

Here we met Kal, Ali, and Donna. They came from Scotland, bought this Chevrolet Corsica in New York for $500, painted it up, and drove it to New Orleans. We met them on their way down Route 66 to Santa Rosa, New Mexico, then to Roswell, where they planned to speak to aliens, and then to Houston to meet a friend, put the car on eBay, and fly home. It was 105 degrees here. They asked if we had air conditioning. We said, "Yes." They said, "You win."

We arrived in Amarillo, Texas, late, but the Big Texan was still open. This is where you can get your dinner for free if you order the 72-ounce steak and eat it, along with a potato, roll, and salad within an hour. They had six people earlier that evening who had tried. Failing costs $72. We opted for a smaller filet mignon and a whatever Randy got.

The filet was very tasty but not the most tender filet I've ever eaten. More like a sirloin.

Thursday morning. The Bug Farm near Conway, Texas. This is a play on the Cadillac Ranch on the west side of Amarillo, but with Volkswagens.

One of Steinbeck's old jalopies.

The Bug Farm has an abandoned restaurant, store, and gas station that look like the people just left one day, leaving everything behind, including merchandise. The door is open and the stuff is still here.

In the gas station office.

Also in the gas station office.

Window shopping.

The Cadillac Ranch west of Amarillo. You can see more pictures of these with John's kids from our Mt. Rushmore trip last year.

This restored gas station is in Adrian, Texas, I think.

Near the midpoint between Chicago and Santa Monica.

Adrian, Texas, claims to be the midpoint on Route 66. Although the midpoint is in dispute, due to Route 66 changing routes over the years, this is close enough for us.

This is also in Adrian, Texas.

The Blue Swallow Motel in Tucumcari, New Mexico, is probably the highest priority must-see Route 66 stop. We had planned to stay here, but we only made it to Amarillo, Texas, the previous night. The neon lights would make a great picture, especially the little fluorescent swallows over each garage. That's right, each room has a garage and each garage has a neon swallow.

One of the garages with an old Chevy and tribute to the animated movie "Cars," which was based on Route 66.

Garage tribute to the movie "Easy Rider."

The Kimo Theater in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

The El Rancho Hotel in Gallup, New Mexico, is pretty big and hosted a lot of movie stars during the heyday of filmmaking in this part of the country. Movie stars included Clark Gable, John Wayne, Claudette Colbert, and many more. The rooms are named after the stars who stayed here.

The Wigwam Motel in Holbrook, Arizona, is the same as the Wigwam Motel in Rialto, California. Unfortunately we passed both at night, and they aren't lighted well at all.

This is one of the most famous billboards along the old Route 66. This is strictly a tourist trading post and is near Joseph City. Good luck finding it at night.

Everyone has to get their picture taken on the jackrabbit, even in the middle of the night.

We stayed overnight in Flagstaff, which is a nice mountain city in the Kaibab Forest. On Friday we drove to Williams, the last town to be bypassed by the Interstate in 1984 and the turnoff for anyone going to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. The town has a great Route 66 flavor of old and new tourist shops.

Williams is also home of the train that was the original access to the Grand Canyon and still makes the run.

Seligman has got to be the most garish, kitschy town on the entire 2,600 miles of Route 66.

This isn't unique. It's typical of Seligman.

We followed a 70-mile stretch of Route 66 that loops far from I-40 between Seligman and Kingman. About halfway is the town Peach Springs, which provides a glimpse of the Grand Canyon.

And some cactus flowers.

A little farther along this route is Hackberry, another must-see stop. This old gas station has a ton of memorabilia as well as stuff for sale. Cold soda is the best thing it sells.

This 1957 Corvette is parked in front of the Hackberry store.

Inside the store is a soda fountain or bar.

And inside the restroom are a lot of pinups (no R rated). According to another traveler in the store, the women's restroom is decorated similarly.

Oatman, Arizona, is out of the way for anyone traveling the Interstate. Route 66 takes a twisting track up a mountain here to this former mining town, where burrows were brought in to haul ore. Oatman turned into a ghost town and then was restored into a tourist stop with shops and restaurants in the old wooden buildings with their boardwalks. These burrow descendants roam the street waiting for tourists to feed them alfalfa pellets and carrots. The young ones who were still nursing had address-type labels stuck to their foreheads that said, "Do not feed." If the burrows got onto the boardwalk, the restaurant owner would come out and shoot them with a water gun connected to a 2-litre pop bottle.

My overall opinion of Oatman.

This place was way cool. This is Elmer Long standing under the Lionel train he got when he was three years old. He has spent the past 12 years or so building this bottle forest in his front yard near Helendale, California. He was much more friendly than the lady at the Indian Harvest joint. Elmer's wife saw us with cameras, invited us through the gate, and went to fetch her husband. He yacked until the sun was dipping too low for pictures. We each left a $5 tip in his tip mailbox. See, pictures can pay the bills.

A bottle tree.

Elmer's place has lots of bottle trees, and each is unique.

This is a hummingbird feeder. And a hummingbird was feeding, but I scared it away.

We happened to be here just at sunset, the perfect time for pictures.

On Friday night we stayed at Randy's sister Sue and her husband, Lynn's home in Orange County.

They have a wonderful garden with hanging grapes, which were huge and green but not ready to eat, a new avocado tree, an orange tree, and a lot of other growing things to eat.

After about six hours of driving through Los Angeles on the old Route 66, following the intricate directions on our map, we arrived at the Santa Monica Pier late in the afternoon.

Here I am at the entrance to Santa Monica Pier.

And the End of the Trail sign for Route 66.

Just to be sure, this is the West Coast water at the edge of the pier. That ends Route 66. And that completes my coast to coast to coast part of this trip.

We arrived in Las Vegas, Nevada--Henderson, actually--pretty late Saturday night. On Sunday we drove home through some serious rain storms, stopping for lunch at a cafe in Beaver. I dropped Randy off at his house and arrived home about 6 p.m., when Chieko cooked a nice filet mignon, medium rare, Father's Day dinner. Total mileage: 8,006.5 miles, including in my car, the Penske truck, and a little running around in John's car in Irving, Texas, for an average of about 533 miles per day for the 15 days when I was on the move.

This shows the entire trip in yellow and orange highlighter in a 2012 Rand McNally Road Atlas. I don't know how they publish a 2012 atlas in 2011, but they did.

This shows Route 66 in yellow highlighter in a 1957 Rand McNally Road Atlas. 1957 was the last year before the Interstate Highway System was started.

Moving-in Day, June 10

2011-06-13T08:46:00.005-06:00

John and Misa and family moved into their new house in Branford, Connecticut, on June 1, 2011. The house had had a fire in the kitchen, so the owners completely renovated in the inside (see previous pictures on this blog), so it's like a newly built house.Wells was asleep when I left, so he got missed from this picture.

Eating breakfast. Thank goodness for card tables and cold cereal.

Larry was a little apprehensive but seemed to be settling in okay.

John's Diplomas

2011-06-12T05:33:00.003-06:00

PhD

M.D.

John and Misa's House

2011-06-09T08:04:00.024-06:00

Here's the best tour I can give of John and Misa's house in Branford, Connecticut.

From the street.

This is what the backyard looks like out the kitchen window. Beyond these trees are more trees and various creatures of the dark.

This is the backyard looking from the north.

This is the south side yard. There's also a good-size shed just to the right (not shown in any pictures).

This is looking south from the back of the garage.

This is the north side of the house looking at the back of the garage. I don't know why I took so many views of the backyard, especially when it's so small.

The living room looking from the south wall.

The kitchen looking from the dining area.

The dining area, looking from the kitchen.

Hallway.

Does this room need a label?

Kids' bedroom on the front of the house.

Same kids' bedroom on the front of the house looking in from the door.

Kids' bedroom on the back of the house.

Same kids' bedroom on the back of the house. At first I thought this room didn't have a closet, but I found it when I closed the room door.

The master bedroom on the front of the house.

The master bedroom. I hope John and Misa don't mind that I slept in it last night. I bought a sleeping bag and a bath towel at a Target in Pennsylvania. I didn't realize the floors are all hardwood, and I was too tired to find a mattress in the truck. I was also too tired to let the hard floor bother me--I slept from 11:30 to 6:30 without moving from my original position.

The guest bedroom.

A view of the guest bedroom from the other direction. Notice the heating oil (or oal, as the guy in the truck stop said it) tank in the corner under the stairs. We're not used to these in the West, where natural gas is the dominant home energy fuel.

The two-car garage. Looks like they also now have two lawn mowers. They do have a large area to mow, but I'm not sure I would call it lawn. It's even more rough than Texas grass.

Memorial Day Weekend 2011

2011-05-28T21:48:00.008-06:00

We visited the cemeteries on Saturday morning, May 28, 2011. We were lucky to visit when we did, because by Saturday night we had a very steady, cold rain. We placed flowers on the graves of Grandma (Tenny Elvon) and Grandpa (John) Astle , Shirley Beaslin, and Mother at the Wasatch Lawn Cemetery, and Grandma Hart at the Mount Calvary Cemetery.

Our group is getting a bit small, but I look forward to this time to visit the grave sites and remember.

Annabelle smelling someone's plastic flowers (no one in our family--we do not do plastic flowers or pinwheels or balloons or "Mom" signs).

Tanner, Annabelle, and Jackson Weaver, and Addy Simmons at Mt. Calvary.

Annie checking out a veteran's flag.

Jackson at Mr. Calvary.

Tanner at Mt. Calvary.

Annie's Dance

2011-04-16T23:02:00.003-06:00

Annie Bieber Dance

Weekends in Winter

2011-02-23T20:01:00.076-07:00

I like to go into the west desert in the winter, because the east mountains aren't as accessible, except for skiing and snow shoeing. Here are some pictures from the past few winter weekends in western and southern Utah.

If you saw the eagle perched on a utility pole on my Facebook page, you're probably wondering if this is the same eagle and why the sky is white. It's the same eagle, and the sky in the other picture is blue because of PhotoShop. Now look closely at this and tell me whether that's a mouse in the eagle's clutches.

I love how the utility poles, fence and train tracks all follow the same line. I guess that's expected, but it looks cool.

This is Magnesium Corporation of America, MagCorp, which is in the news frequently for polluting. A titanium plant is next to MagCorp.

I drove out to the Great Salt Lake shore on February 5. I got off I-80 at the Lakepoint exit (Tooele exit), and as I exited I saw a guy parked on the eastbound side of the freeway and walking across the 75-mph lanes. "Natural selection," I thought. As my exit ramped met the ramp that enters I-80 westbound, I noticed a couple other cars parked and people walking toward this collection pond. This is right where the westbound on-ramp transitions from a 55-mph straight ramp to a sharp right-hand 20-mph loop. It took me a second to figure out that a vehicle had gone into the pond, and by then I was past the point of being able to stop safely, although I considered going back. But because a few other drivers had stopped, I decided to continue on to Subway. Plus, a Highway Patrol car arrived just as I was leaving the off-ramp. While waiting in line for a sandwich, I saw a couple of fire trucks and an ambulance go by. With my sandwich on the passenger seat, I tried to get back onto I-80 westbound, but the ramp was blocked by emergency equipment. So I U-turned and got on the freeway eastbound, made a U-turn at Highway 201, and headed west again on I-80. As I passed the accident I snapped this picture. On the way home later in the evening I heard on the news that the Utah Highway Patrolman who had arrived was Travis Williams, whom I had taught when he was in my 13-year-olds' Sunday School class. He's Sara's age. Apparently two women had gotten out of the van, but one was unable to get out of her seat and was screaming, so Travis went into the ice-covered water and freed her. I still wonder if I should have, could have stopped and helped. Apparently the other drivers didn't go in to get the lady out, and she ended up in the water for 20 minutes. I think or hope I would have gone right in to help if I had stopped. The lady had hypothermia, but was okay. The driver said she'd been cut off by another car, but that is hardly possible, since there's only one on-ramp lane and had been for 1/4 mile. She just wasn't paying attention to the sudden curve, I'm sure.

This train is crossing the road that goes to MagCorp.

I travelled on I-80 past Delle and got off at the Lakeshore exit. About 20 miles north of I-80 is this rock and a small gravel pit that is a great place for target shooting. Just past here, the road makes a left turn onto "No Tresspassing" U.S. Air Force property. A dirt road continues north to the shore of the Great Salt Lake. It goes through a fenced-off munitions disposal area that is posted with signs that tell drivers to stay on the roadway. A gate at one point has a sign that says something like, "Closed for bomb disposal." The gate is usually open.

At the lake's shore is a strip mine. I think this is just a rock mine for roadbeds and such. It doesn't look like there are any valuable minerals, but I don't know for sure. I came out here about 10 years ago and found several white camouflage military tanks lined along the shore. Unfortunately, I've found no trace of them since.

This tire must be difficult to repair.

Trains run through the mine property.

Above the mine is a hill with a radio tower, a great place to view the lake. This causeway is the Lucin Cutoff, which takes the railroad tracks across the lake rather than around to the north, along the route the original Transcontinental Railroad took.

This is a view of the Lucin Cutoff form another hilltop to the east of the mine.

This area has bizarre rock formations. I think this is the skeleton of the famous Great Salt Lake Monster. See his eyes and nose?

This looks to me like a moonscape, but I know I'm not on the moon, because I can see it rising in the east.

Along the south side of this hill is a fenced area, part of the bombing range or munitions disposal area. This tank is in a little wash that also has a couple of burned-out cars, a tipped-over pickup truck, another tank, a missile on a stand, and a couple of black buildings. I assume these are all targets, or very unfortunate Weekend Warriors.

This lava rock is full of cracks that have been filled with a carmel-colored mineral.

I can usually depend on seeing antelope whenever I come into the west desert.

This is an island in the Great Salt Lake north of the mine at Lakeshore.

To the right in this picture is a the Lucin Cutoff causeway with a train heading east. From the radio tower I could see the lights from trains while they were still in Nevada. The sectioned areas in what I think is Clyman Bay are evaporation ponds. The water collects in these ponds and evaporates. Then workers collect the leftover salt, minerals, and precious metals that had been suspended in the dense water.

Sunset over Clyman Bay.

On Monday, February 7, we went to the Weavers' for Superman Tanner's birthday.

He wanted and got an Easy Bake Oven. Tanner is quite the food connoisseur--he has always loved shrimp and other expensive foods. So I wasn't surprised to hear he wanted an Easy Bake Oven. Then I wondered why it's always been marketed to little girls--it has pictures of little girls on the box--especially considering that the majority of famous chefs are men.

On Saturday, February 12, I drove out to Antelope Island. This is a state park and costs $9 per car to enter. It's a great place, especially this time of year. The island is accessible by this causeway (Antelope Drive exit from I-15).

A thin layer of fresh water on top of the heavy salt water of the Great Salt Lake freezes. The wind and water then push the ice into these piles.

This is my Sequoia crossing the causeway.

The visitor center is worth a stop, and it's home to this fiberglass bison that has forward-pointing horns. I don't know what is normal for a bison, but the live ones I saw on the island had upward-pointing horns.

This is looking south from Buffalo Point. They're too small to see in this picture, but seven bison bulls are down in the valley on the left side of this picture. While I was cooking and eating my freeze-dried beef stroganoff, the bison wandered up to the road just below the Buffalo Point picnic area.

After a short staredown with the car, this bull did a little jump to his right and walked off.

The bulls were meandering around eating the winter grass.

Here's a herd of bison on the way to the south part of the island. I'm on my way to the Garr Ranch.

The ranch looks like a pretty fun place for kids and families.

Inside a workroom on the ranch.

A housing room on the ranch.

This is a stroller from some bygone time.

A few old tractors line a fence behind the ranch buildings.

These tractors are really old, but they look like they still run. There used to be a Massey Ferguson sales lot on State Street and about 5800 South, where there is now a gas station. We walked past the lot every day on the way to and from junior high school.

This is Salt Lake City as seen from the Garr Ranch at the south end of the paved road on Antelope Island. The island continues farther south, but the dirt road from here is closed to the public.

This is looking toward Kaysville and the Weavers' house from just north of the Garr Ranch. I'm pretty sure the white structure is the concrete silo next to I-15 at the 200 North Kaysville exit.

Antelope Island does have native antelope. The bison are not native. Twelve bison were brought here in the early 1900s from a ranch in Tooele County, which got them from Texas, when bison nearly disappeared from the United States. By disappeared, I mean killed by hunters, who slaughtered them by the millions for sport and to drive the Indians, who depended on the bison, off the plains. About 750 bison from the original 12 now inhabit Antelope Island. They are rounded up yearly, checked for health problems, and vaccinated against diseases such as brucellosis.

Traveling back across the causeway I saw what looked like a stream within the lake. It broke up the ice on the south side of the causeway.

On Presidents' Day weekend (Sunday evening) I decided to drive down Highway 89, since I hadn't been on that road for several years. The town in the distance is Aurora, where my dad spent his childhood.

Dad learned to swim in a canal in Aurora. This is a major canal that runs right through the middle of the town, so I assume it's the one he swam in.

This is some business now, but it looks like it used to be a school. I'm guessing it's the elementary school my dad attended, but I need to ask him. Maybe it's never been a school, and maybe it was built after he lived there.

In Panguitch, I stayed in the Color Country Inn, one of only three or so motels that were open. The several other motels had a foot or two of unplowed snow in their parking lots. By the time I went to bed, I was the only guest, but I did see another car when I left about 5:30 in the morning. Once I got here, I decided the only interesting thing to do was to go to Bryce Canyon, and I figured I may as well go see the sun rise.

Bryce Canyon is a year-round national park, but almost all tourist places around Bryce Canyon are closed for the season.

I stopped at Inspiration Point just inside the park entrance, partly because I was afraid I would miss the sunrise if I took the time to go farther and partly because the road is closed beyond here. The moon was getting ready to set as I arrived at the Inspiration Point lookout.

A young guy from Germany was also here. He said he comes to the U.S. Southwest about twice a year and spends four weeks each time. He said people in Europe get more vacation time than people in the United States. He works for a carpet manufacturer in Dusseldorf, which sounds like a very flat, densely populated industrial area. He said it was -2 degrees F in Bryce Canyon when we were there, which didn't take into account the windchill. I'm guessing that was -10 or -15.

Looking south from Inspiration Point.

Snow-capped spires.

I think this is the choir.

Bryce Canyon bowl from Inspiration Point.

The snow was quite deep. Luckily a lot of people had tramped up to the lookout since the new snow on Friday and Saturday, so the trail wasn't too difficult to negotiate.

Another view of the snow.

This is going down the canyon from Bryce Canyon National Park. This whole area has rich orange rock.

A cliff on the drive down.

I think this is the Sevier River. Those are clumps of ice floating down the river.

A chilly marriage.

Don't plan a motorcycle trip for winter in southern Utah.

This homesteader finally gave up the ghost.

I think this guy helped build the original Highway 89.

This is beachfront summer rental property for some lucky family.

A lot of abandoned homes are scattered throughout this part of the state.

These are two of 18 12-foot crosses erected to honor Utah Highway Patrol officers who died on the job. The Texas-based American Atheists, Inc., sued the Utah Highway Patrol and a private group that paid for the crosses claiming these are unconstitutional, because crosses are religious. Three stupid judges on the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals found in favor of the atheist group, reversing a lower court ruling. I'm not sure where this case is in appeals, but for now these two crosses are still here.

I've been playing around photographing falling-down buildings in light brown tones.

I forgot where this cemetery is for sure. It's on top of a hill outside Circleville or one of those towns on Highway 89.

These petroglyphs (chiseled into the rock) are called Newspaper Rock in Fremont State Park outside Richfield on I-70. There are also pictographs (painted on the rock) in this park.

The petroglyph that looks like a train is a train. It was carved by Paiute elder Hunkup in the late 1800s after he rode a train to Chicago and back. This is among several pictures that are hundreds of years old, and also some very recent additions. I'm not sure which is vandalism, but anything since 1900 seems like it fits that category.

This caboose is at the end of a bike trail that was laid on an old railway bed up a canyon. It looks like someone is building a train park. Update (April 2011): I just learned that someone is turning this place into a resort of sorts (maybe the Big Rock Candy Mountain people across the highway), and this and other cabooses will be motel rooms.

Drive to Texas in March 2010

2011-02-23T16:23:00.008-07:00

I was just deleting interviews and other stuff from my voice recorder and found my observations from when I drove to Irving, TX, to drop the Corolla off so John could use it for the summer. I'm not sure why I'm putting this here, but it seems a waste just to delete it all. I already covered this trip with pictures a year ago. The following is pretty much a direct transcript of what I heard on the recordings:

Gas Prices

I’m curious about gas prices. Of course, gas prices in Utah are ridiculously high. When I got down into New Mexico, I actually almost ran out of gas. I got off of I-40 and went south toward Roswell on a big four-lane divided highway, not a freeway, but divided, and I had maybe half a tank of gas. I drove miles and miles and miles and never went through a town and never saw a gas station. I was getting to about a quarter of a tank and was getting worried. I finally came to a little town in the middle of nowhere with one gas station. Gas there was $2.79 (and I filled up). Later I got to a town called Artesia, which is south of Roswell, and it’s actually an oil-refining town. Gas there was $2.99. Why is it that in the oil-refining towns gas is more than way out in the middle of nowhere?

Rattlesnakes (NM)

I did a U-turn at a rest stop before Roswell, probably about where, no, I think Gene (see below) told me that there's one alien crash near the highway that goes from Santa Rosa to Roswell and it's about halfway between the rest stop and Roswell. So I was turning around at that rest stop and I noticed a sign that said, Truck Parking, and there was another sign under it that said, Beware of Rattlesnakes. I was thinking that if I had to go to the bathroom I would suddenly decide that I didn’t need to go that bad after all.

Aliens (Roswell, NM)

Were there aliens or not? Gene, at the souvenir shop in Roswell, says there were three crash sites. Aliens were attracted here because we (the U.S. government) were doing above-ground nuclear testing, and the nuclear bombs we set off were fusion, which is a nuclear explosion, and what stars do is nuclear fission, which is an implosion. So the aliens recognized the difference and were attracted to it (fusion), and they went to Hiroshima and Nagasaki first, but they realized that was just radiation left over, that there was nothing going on. So then they came over here and checked out White Sands and the three places where they were testing nuclear bombs in New Mexico. And some of those were just radiation. But then they went up north, where nuclear bombs were still being built, and that was hot. So they sent three ships, at least, to investigate. And because of the way the mountain ranges are situated—there’s a mountain range that goes north and south; I’m not sure if it’s the Guadalupe Mountains. Then there’s a piece of mountain near Roswell that goes east and west off of those. And that causes weird storms and extreme winds and so forth. I think it was on July 4, 1947, that these aliens came to investigate the nuclear whatever was going on here, and two of them got caught in the winds and crashed. Each of those spaceships had two beings aboard. And they died, supposedly, or supposably, as Gene said. The third one, which was out more on the west side; there were some archeologists doing a dig, and they were really ticked off because they had permission to dig there, and no one else did, and they found a camp site. They reported it and the police or someone came out to investigate and found that it was aliens and there was an intact spaceship. They chased down the aliens and caught them. All of the spaceship pieces—the debris from one crash site stretched over 20 miles, or 400 yards, I don’t know. All of this material got taken to someplace in New Mexico. Gene doesn't know if anything was taken to Area 51. It was taken up north in New Mexico. And Americans first claimed it wasn’t anything of theirs; it was the Russians or Germans or somebody spying on our nuclear activity. Anyway, they took all the pieces to the same place where they took other stuff, like pieces of MIGs, so they could do reverse engineering on them. If it was an American device that crashed, they would have taken it back to an Air Force base in the south part of New Mexico. But they took this to the north place, where they do foreign investigations, so the American claims afterward that this was an American weather balloon or something were false, because if it were American they would have taken it to a different base. Also, the ranchers and so forth around Roswell knew the difference between weather balloons and other stuff, because they were actually being paid $30 or something if they retrieved weather balloons and hauled them in to Roswell and gave them to the Air Force. Anyway, that’s Gene’s story, and he’s sticking to it.

Aliens Part Two (Roswell, NM)

So the alien that I saw, I’m not sure it was an alien, but I have my suspicions. It looked like the body of a sheep with the head of a cow, so I have my suspicions that it was an alien in earthly disguise.

Cactus to Carlsbad Caverns (NM)

Driving up to Carlsbad Caverns is a little canyon with a little stream, although there was no water in it when I was there. On either side, things were pretty green, green with a lot of cactus and bushes that were just as stiff and mean as the cactus. Everything that grew there was just ornery. Anyway, so I was taking a picture of a cactus, because they have pretty flowers. I kind of squatted to take a picture, and when I stood up I reached back and discovered I had a bunch of cactus spines sticking in the bum of my pants. Luckily they didn’t go all the way through, and luckily I found them before I got in the car.

Carlsbad Caverns (NM)

So, this is how they make you feel comfortable at Carlsbad Caverns: People wonder whether rocks fall off the ceilings and kill people. And the answer is, No, you don’t have to worry about it. Rocks hardly ever fall off the ceiling. For example, that great, big, ginormous rock in the center there that we call The Iceberg fell off of the ceiling. But that was a long time ago. And that doesn’t happen anymore. And see those things that look like sticks in the bottom of that little pool? Those are stalactites that fell off of the ceiling, we think probably during an earthquake. But don’t worry; we don’t have earthquakes anymore, and when we do, they’re usually pretty minor.

Green Algae (Carlsbad Caverns, NM)

The green color you seen in Carlsbad Caverns is algae that wouldn’t normally grow there, except the wavelength of the lights they use, the Park Service uses, happens to grow that type of algae. The other colors, the orange—the natural color is white, because most or all of the stalactites and stalagmites are gypsum, the same thing you make sheetrock out of. If there’s orange, it means there’s iron in it. The other colors are other elements.

Bats (Carlsbad Caverns, NM)

I wish I had a thermometer. Down here by Carlsbad Caverns, heading out toward Texas, it feels like about 90 degrees. The temperature inside the Caverns is a constant 53 degrees with 90 percent humidity. And I have to say, going into the Caverns, as you approach the main entrance, it stinks. There are bats in there. In fact, these caves are famous for the Carlsbad Bats. If I were here this evening, every night at 7:30 they have a program, they have a little pavilion set up, and they say hundreds of thousands of bats fly out every night in big clouds. They also said the guano, when people first found the caves in the 1920s they used to “mine” the guano and use it for fertilizer. It was 40-feet deep in places. When I was there swallows, called Carlsbad Swallows, were flying around the entrance. They migrate south and come back in February or March. They just fly around and around and eat insects. Inside the cave, in the water, they tested for bacteria, some guy did, deep in the cave where it’s completely black, and he found more bacteria there than they do in the water in the Amazon. They also said that around the caves there are more different species of wildlife than in many forests.

Carlsbad City (NM)

Carlsbad Caverns were pretty cool, but Carlsbad the city, I don’t care to stop there.

Carlsbad Pavement (NM)

The pavement on the roads in Carlsbad city is worn down, maybe because of the heat. The places that weren’t worn were where there was paint. So the dotted lines between the lanes are probably two inches taller than the pavement in the lanes.

Stinky Andrews (TX)

I’m just driving through a little town; I think it’s called Andrews. Man, this place stinks. Like raw oil right out of the ground.

H2Oil (TX)

I just passed a bunch of oil tanks. One of them had painted on the side in big block letters: H2Oil. What does that mean?