Thank You

We would like to thank the following people. Without them our trip would not have been possible:

Dick and Jeanne Davis
Pete and Mary Margaret Sexauer
Wally
The Fitzs
Kevin Walker
Aaron Nesbitt
The Boston Red Sox
The good people at the Residence Inn, Cleveland OH
The Cleveland Indians
Bertha Balthaser
Jesus











Pat Easterling
The Cincinnati Reds
Parrish, the Gino's East waiter
The Chicago White Sox
The good people at the Sheraton Towers, Seattle WA
The Seattle Mariners
Rich and Chris Fisher
In-N-Out Burger
John E and B-Man
Route 66
Sonic Drive In
Steak
Kitsch
Elvis
Interstate Bar-B-Que
The good people at Comfort Suites, Nashville TN
The good people at Comfort Inn, Arlington VA
The following outstanding support staff at Virginia Hospital Center:
Wanda
Dabo
Lamonica
Boston Nurse Lynn
Dr. Leonard

The following KOA franchises:
Kankakee, IL
Sioux Falls, SD
Rapid City, SD
Cody, WY
West Yelllowstone, MT
Spokane, WA
Astoria, OR
Grants Pass, OR
Manchester, CA
Petaluma, CA
Williams, NM
Albuquerque, AZ
Oklahoma City, OK

And finally YOU, our loyal readers.

Thank you.

In Summary & In Conclusion

After we were discharged from the good services of the Virginia Hospital Center of Arlington, Virginia at around 2:00 in the afternoon, we high-tailed it out of there and made our way home, regardless of what time we would pull in. And during our journey home through familiar territory we had time to reminisce, contemplate and ponder that which our course had taken us through.

In summary:

America; there is alot of it.

A lot of it is flat. A lot of it is bumpy and pointy.

By and large, most Americans are not attractive. Even in California.

"Creature Features" which we hope to see on our trips to Maine, be it a deer or a porcupine or even moose, have now been trumped by anything we've seen in the wild and won't be as impressive. Unless we see a porcupine riding a moose.

Nice people are nice. And alot of Americans are nice. We like nice Americans.

New England does have the worst drivers, followed closely by Arkansas and Tennessee.

In-N-Out is really what a hamburger is all about. White Castle isn't.

Red Sox Nation may be touted as the most obnoxious fans in major league sports in other places, but they make for exciting baseball.

KOA is the place to stay and hit the hay.

Life begs simplicity. You don't really need that much.

All you need is love. Love is all you need.

It's not worth trying to diet on a trip like that. Save it for home.


BY THE NUMBERS

0 - The number of times we ate at McDonald's
1 - Number of Massachusetts license plates we saw between New York state and Arlington, VA
7 - Number of Major Leage Baseball games we took in
9 - Number of different Major Leage ballclubs we saw play (Boston Red Sox, Cleveland Indians, Cincinnati Reds, Milwaukee Brewers, Chicago White Sox, Toronto Blue Jays, Seattle Mariners, San Francisco Giants, Washington Nationals)
27 - Number of different states we traveled through (New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnessota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, Virginia, (D.C.), Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, & Connecticut).
$2.59 - The cheapest price of gas per gallon we paid on our trip (Front Royal, VA & Jessup, MD)
$3.99 - The highest price of gas per gallon we paid on our trip (Westport, CA)
258.37 - Total number of gallons of gasoline purchased
$749.69 - Total spent on gasoline
9,764 - Total miles traveling

Please click here to see a detailed log of our cross country gasoline intake!


SOUNDTRACK FOR A ROAD TRIP

Many of you may have wondered "What are Matt and Kate listening to on their trip?" Well, we took care of that on a daily basis by nominating a song of the day for each major leg of our trip. Most of these can be found on iTunes if you're at all curious. For your consideration:

Maynard, Massachusetts > Brockport, New York
"Enjoy Yourself (It's Later Than You Think)", as recorded by Todd Snider

Brockport, New York > Cleveland, OH
"Enjoy Yourself (It's Later Than You Think)", as recorded by Todd Snider

Cleveland, OH > Middleton, OH
"Enjoy Yourself (It's Later Than You Think)", as recorded by Todd Snider

Middletown, OH > Chicago, Illinois
"Conservative Christian Right Wing Republican Straight White American Male", Todd Snider

Chicago, Illinois > Sioux Falls, SD
"My Kind of Town", Frank Sinatra

Sioiux Fallls, SD > Rapid City, SD
Theme from "Dances with Wolves", John Barry

Rapid City, SD > Cody, WY
"Rocky Raccoon", The Beatles

Cody, WY > West Yellowstone, MT
"Hoedown", Aaron Copland, as recorded by Bela Fleck and the Flecktones

West Yellowstone, MT > Spokane, WA
"Enjoy Yourself (It's Later Than You Think)", as recorded by Todd Snider

Spokane, WA > Seattle, WA
"Talking Seattle Grunge Blues", Todd Snider
"The Day I Tried to Live", Soundgarden
"Even Flow", Pearl Jam
"Come As You Are", Nirvana
"Up From the Skies", Jimi Hendrix

Seattle, WA > Astoria, OR
"18 Wheels on a Big Rig", Trout Fishing in America

Astoria, OR > Central Point, OR
"Seaside Rendezvous", Queen

Central Point, OR > Manchester, CA
"Going to California", Led Zeppelin

Manchester, CA > Petaluma, CA
"Lumberjack Song". Monty Python

Petaluma, CA > Riverside, CA
"Surfbound", Wave Invasion

Riverside day trip to Hollywood, CA
"Celluloid Heroes", The Kinks

Riverside, CA > Las Vegas, NV
"Viva Las Vegas", Elvis Presley

Las Vegas, NV> Williams, AZ
"Enjoy Yourself (It's Later Than You Think)", as recorded by Todd Snider

Williams, AZ > Albuquerque, NM
"Take It Easy", The Eagles

Albuquerque, NM > Oklahoma City, OK
"I'm So Tired", The Beatles

Oklahoma City, OK > Nashville, TN
"Nashville", Todd Snider

Nashville, TN > Arlington, VA
"Truckin'", Grateful Dead

Arlington, VA > Maynard, MA
"Big Bottom", Spinal Tap
"Home At Last", Soundtrack from the motion picture "Labyrinth"
"Home At Last", Steely Dan
"Enjoy Yourself (It's Later Than You Think)", as recorded by Todd Snider

In conclusion:

As I type this we have been home for a week. I have been busy at marching band camp and Kate has been busy recouperating. Every now and then we'll mention to each other "hey remember __________" and our minds will start reeling as to the myriad of things we've seen over the past five weeks. It was truly the trip of a lifetime.

We certainly hope if you ever take a trip across this great nation of ours that you perhaps use this blog as a guide, inspiration or even a warning of things to come along your travels. But there is alot out there and it could easily change your life.


...and that's the view from Maynard, Massachusetts.

Elvis and Kate's Spinal Fluid Have Left the Building!

Oklahome City is the world headquarters for Sonic Drive-In restaurants. Kate loves Sonic.












We departed Oklahoma City after one night and made our way towards Tennessee. We were ready for an easy day of driving until we forgot that Arkansas stood in our way. So that added an unexpected 3 hours of driving time. Leave it to Arkansas....



Here we are at the Arkansas state border. Kate is yawning because Arkansas is boring. I am giving the "Bill Clinton Talking Thumb".

This was the only time we set foot in Arkansas.

Following Arkansas, crossing the Mississippi River you immediately enter Memphis. Home of Elivs and the ancient Greeks.


Graceland. Elvis' shrine, home, and final resting place. You walk through it using the self guided audio tour which is very well produced and tells alot of interesting information using interviews of Elvis and his family members. All of his Grammys, gold records, military uniforms, jump suits and personal affects can be found there as well as the dozens of rooms that he would entertain people in, including a TV room with three running TVs, a billiard room and a jungle themed room.











The tour rounds out at Elvis' gravesite. He's buried alongside his parents, grandmother and a memorial marker for his twin brother who died at childbirth.




After the Graceland tour we did what any other cross country tripper would do while in Memphis. Eat ribs. Greatest ribs I've ever eaten. Hands down. Interstate Bar-B-Que has been touted as the greatest of Memphis barbecue joints. And we agree.

After that we drove another 2 1/2 hours to Nashville for the night.

The next day our plan was to drive all the way to Washington, D.C. That's a long hike indeed, but if you're going to do it, you just have to put your head down and gun for it; which is what we did. We arrived in Arlington, VA at around 12:00 midnight.

Now, ever since Vegas Kate had been feeling like a sinus infection was coming on, but she also had these sharp headache pains on the right side of her head. As we approached D.C. the pains became more and more intense. She decided to sleep it off that night but the next day it was unbearable. So off to the Emergency Room we went. They gave her a CAT scan and found no major problems, although they did find a small benign pocket of space in her cranium which classifies her as a medically diagnosed air head.

So they released her with a prescription for Zithromax and Afrin for the siunusitis and Oxycodone for the headaches. Even before she had time to take these medications she was overtaken by dizzy spells and sweating, or what we'll call a vertigo attack. We returned to the hotel room and Kate went back to bed, occasionally experiencing these dizzy spells again a few more times. Not wanting me to be cooped up at her expense she urged me to go out and find something to do. Turns out the U.S. Marine Band was playing at the west steps of the Capitol Building, so I took that in. Great band, great performance. I have the performance bug again.

When I returned to the hotel, her vertigo attacks hadn't subsided despite her nap. So we thought maybe some dinner would help but on the way to a restaurant she experienced a very intense attack. So we decided to rush her to the Emergency Room once more.

By this time it was around 11:00 at night and we were taken in around 12:30. The ER was jumpin' that night. The doctor eventually came in and gave Kate some basic neurological tests to make sure her motor skills weren't affected. It was suggested then that they give her a lumbar puncture, better known as a spinal tap. This was suggested earlier in the day for her first ER visit, but she opted out of it. This time it seemed necessary.

WARNING For the squeamish : skip this next paragraph.

A spinal tap procedure is probably the coolest thing I have ever seen done to someone. First off, may I say that I could never endure this procedure personally and I have the utmost respect for my wife and I now truly see how strong of a woman she is. The doctor marked a spot on her lower back using a pen and then inserted a needle to inject lidocane or some sort of numbing agent. Then the spinal tap needle is placed in and cerebospinal fluid begins pouring out. The doctor collects it in vials for testing.


Kate's fluid came out very clear which is a good sign. Any discoloration would suggest cerebral hemmoraging or infection in the brain. So that could be ruled out immediately. The doctor also said that the symptoms sounded like meningitis, but had it been bacterial meningitis she probably wouldn't have made it to the hospital alive by that point. So he ruled that out as well. His best guess would have been what he called a "benign positional vertigo" which means she can experience vertigo in any position; standing, lying down, on her head, whatever. So for this they gave her something called alavert. But I thought that was an over the counter seasonal allergy deterrent. But I'm not a doctor. I just play one on TV.

Initial test results came back to the surprise of the attending ER doctor: viral meningitis. So this meant that they had to keep the sample and have it cultured for certain attributes. This would take, at the very leas,t 24 hours. We were in the comfort and care of the Virginia Hospital Center in Arlington VA for 60 hours. Two nights, three days, 8 bags of intravenous antibiotics later and all test results came back negative. The only thing Kate can now do is wait it out. No cure for viral meningitis, but she's not contageous. Plus she's had so much antibiotics running through her body that I'll be surprised if she ever gets a sinus infection again.

While we were in Arlington I took advantage of being near the Arlington National Cemetery. Here I made sure to check out the Arlington House, home of General Robert E. Lee, the Kennedy gravesite and the tomb of the unknown soldier including the changing of the guard.

Don't Freak Out

Sure, we haven't blogged in a while. Well, that's because we've been held up in Arlington, Virginia for a few days. Kate's been admitted to the hospital with some pesky viral meningitis she picked up somewhere along the way. But don't freak out. She will be just fine.



Well, to be honest with you, our funds have been becoming increasingly slim since Vegas and we were tired of having to pay for meals, hotel rooms, camping sites and intravenous antibiotics. So we said; "Hell with it! Let Harvard Pilgrim Health Plan pay for it!"

We will make sure that you all get caught up with our trip from Oklahoma through our travel home.

Don't freak out.

There Once Was A Man From Two Guns, AZ...

After our stay in Las Vegas for two days
We had to change our west and south route ways
It will sure be a beast
As we start our trip east
Now it’s time for our “Route 40” phase.

Now I would be quite the approver
For the Colorado River water mover
It’s tall and it’s grey
The largest in the world, they say
Yes, I speak of the dam they call Hoover





















If you go there, use much sunscreen please
From your forehead and down past your knees
It’s the best advice I’ve got
‘Cause it can get wicked hot
It boiled up to 126 degrees.











Into Arizona we carried our load
Switching from freeway to a two-laner mode
They say “you’ll get your kicks
On Route sixty-six”
It’s the stretch they call the “Mother Road”.
















On this road about which I’ve just spoken
You could take your time peering and pokin’
But it’s cool just to see
Most things here are kitschy
Even though it’s all run down and broken.


















Give the Colorado River a hand
For the job it’s done changing the land
Not through powerful explosion
But long time erosion
And making the Grand Canyon grand

















So we traveled out there on a whim
And we walked all along the South Rim
Your footing you must keep
For it can be a mile deep
And a slip off the edge would be grim




















For these next couple nights we would stay
At the Williams, Arizona KOA
No hotel rooms with keys
Or luxurious amenities
It’s tent camping when we hit the hay

For dinner that night; Steak and Brews
So many restaurants in Williams to chose
Outside all the hotels and bars
Lined up old vintage cars
For the Route 66 Saturday Night Cruise

















So from here we decided to go
To a town in A-Z called Winslow
It was kitchiness gold
And we did what we were told
By The Eagles song you might already know (Take it Easy)

















Down Route 40 our car was flyin’
While the Arizona sun was fryin’
We pulled over our ride
To a Route 66 roadside
That advertised live Mountain Lions

















For the traveling Mr. or Ms.
66 is the place for old-timey biz
If you’re searching for that or this
It is quite hard to miss
The big jackrabbit sign “Here it Is”

















Now dear reader, did you ever know
That in the U.S. there’s a new Mexico?
Though it wouldn’t be right
To drive through the night
Albuquerque is as far as we’d go

It was quite late when we got in there
Tired, hungry, and worse for the wear
So we went in half way
To the Church Street Café
And ate the best of their Mexican fare

















Be you a seasoned traveler or not
There is one thing we both forgot
It was a rough night we spent
Lying there in the tent
New Mexico really gets hot

We woke up at this morning’s dawn’s crack
We packed up the car and we made tracks
To a sight really great
In the old Lone Star State
To see Technicolor Cadillacs

















So on any long trip headed east
Where just could anyone feast?
Where one person could take
A 72 ounce steak?
The Big Texan Steak Ranch, not in the least!

















Now our car ride is taking a while
As we’re going down mile after mile
There’s just one thing I say
To make traveling okay
And that’s update your blog limerick style

Backlogue: Wagons East!

We left SoCal Tuesday morning, having taken in most of the Golden State's fruits and nuts. Our next destination was to Las Vegas, Nevada to take in their wonderful offerings of volumes and volumes of books in their numerous libraries. Then we would awake early to go to church and then help the less fortunate and volunteer to walk three-legged dogs being saved from euthenasia. It would go on to be a truly soul-cleansing experience.

In order to get there we had to take route 15 from California across the Nevada border. And although 15 doesn't claim to be the mecca of kitsch that, say, route 66 can be it does have its share of attractions, such as:



The world's largest thermometer.













107! Wow! Good thing we were in the middle of the desert, or that reading would be something to be concerned about!


And Zzyzx Road!









What a name! Zzyzx! It's a road that takes you to the Mojave Desert Natural Preserve.


It was simply a 4 hour drive, quite refreshing after the numerous 9 or more hour days of driving we've had in the past.


So long, California!

Viva Las Vegas

Two nights ago we checked into a hotel in Las Vegas.


The rest, they say, stays in Las Vegas.

Southern California in Two Acts

Act 1: San Diego

Discovered by the Germans in 1904, they named it Sahn Diahgo. Here they established an animal sanctuary, better known as the San Diego Zoo. Many animals can be found here, but even more prevalent than animals are hills.
If you travel to the city named for Saint Diego then please be prepared to trek over many hills. At least in the area designated for animal viewing.

And to speak of the animal viewing! If you can possibly think of an animal that can be viewed at this astounding menagerie then it can be found. That is, unless you're thinking of the tiger. Evidentally it was the tiger's day off.

The day began late as our night prior was a late one as well, succumbing to the allure of "the mouse". Plus, in the morning we had to make a ritualistic sacrifice to the god Kenmore, ruler of all things laundry.

We (Rich, Chris, Kate & Matt) drove down a "the" highway and arrived in the southernmost San city the Golden State could muster. And the Zoo was spectacular! We saw birds, reptiles, fish, and mammals.
We elbowed with elephants, regaled with rhinos
, kibbutzed with koalas
and pandered to pandas.
Every alliterative allegory you could think of, except any regarding the tiger. No tigers.

We walked up hills and down hills, amongst the bears, birds, monkeys, marsupials, and all other flora and fauna.





















We concluded the animal viewing day with the only way Southern Californians know how.


Dinner at In-N-Out Burger. The fast food burger industry put up its dukes and asked "you think you can do better than this?" In-N-Out Burger replied with a resounding "Hell yes."






Act Two: Los Angeles

Remember, folks: You can't spell "lame" without L.A.

Wow! Who invited the jerk? Yes, I know, that seems harsh, but we were less than impressed with Hollywood. I'm sure L.A. has more excitement to offer, but all we took in was Hollywood. Not what we were expecting.
Tinseltown intself just didn't seem as glitzy or simply as clean as we'd anticipated. Nevertheless, we drove down Hollywood Boulevard and parked at a meter in front of Aaron Spelling, Gene Autry and Harrison Ford. From there we walked about 3 blocks to the Kodak Theater, home of the Oscars. Outside of here one may be greeted by celebrity of character impersonators. We saw Tigger and the Cat in the Hat, later to be joined by Shrek, Flash Gordon and Darth Vader - all of whom appeared and performed unconvincingly. We found out that we could park under the Kodak Theater and it was no more than $10 for the whole day. So it's cheaper than Boston. That's one point for Hollywood. Enjoy it.
Sure, it was neat to walk down Hollywood Boulevard and see the walk of fame and all the stars. You'll see some that you recognize, some that you've hardly even heard of. Except the night before Rich told us that the stars aren't awarded to anyone by a governing body of judges, they're purchased by the so-named star holders for an outrageous price. So if you've got money, you too could be on the Hollywood walk of fame. So that made it just a bit more disingenuous. Although this didn't stop Kate from having her picture taken with the Bee Gees.


We decided to take a bus tour, and Starline Tours (apparently Hollywood's oldest bus tourline) was our choice. This one offers a hop on-hop off policy, so you can take one bus, get off somewhere, and catch the next one that comes along. Tickets were purchased next to Graumman's Chinese Theater. That was kind of neat, where you can find actors' handprints and footprints plus a message written in the concrete slabs outside of the theater. John Wayne didn't put his hands in it, he punched his fist in. He had small feet.

So we rode around for a bit, looking at this building where River Phoenix died, down the street from where John Belushi died, and further down where Eddie Murphy's career died. We drove down and viewed the pretentiousness of Rodeo Drive and decided to stop off at the Hollywood Farmer's Market. We were hoping for something akin to our experience in Seattle. It was a bit less stuffy and plastic than the rest of what we'd seen on the tour. Still nothing great though. So we ate something and looked at stuff and then caught the next bus. From here until the end of the tour route we caught a glimpse of the Hollywood sign, Forest Lawn cemetery, and a bunch of other buildings where famouse people USED to live. As we arrived back to the Kodak Theater where we started there was a movie premeire taking place at the Chinese Theater. We took some pictures of this guy in aviator sunglasses being asked questions from other people. I assume he was famous. We were just ready to get out of there.

So now we can say we've seen Hollywood.

A-ba-dee a-ba-dee a-ba-dee a-ba-dee a-ba-dee That's all, folks!

The 2nd Happiest Place on Earth

Disneyland pales in comparison to DisneyWorld, but it still proves to be a good time. If you can make your way around all of the double-wide babystrollers and slow moving electric wheelchairs. But it was still fun!

Upon entering the gates eagerly anticipating the "Magical Day" all the staff had wished us on our way in, we made a bee-line (or rather, I did) for Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. For all of you Disney enthusiasts, you know that DisneyWorld mistakingly got rid of Mr. Toad's Wild Ride and replaced it with Winnie the Pooh. How sad.
Having not been on this ride in over twenty years, I was very excited to go on. And it was just like I remembered. At the end of the ride you get hit by a train, and go to hell. Maybe that's why DisneyWorld replaced it with Pooh?



We had purchased park hopper tickets so that we could also go the Disneyland's sister park, California Adventure. It's kind of like all of the best parts of MGM Studios and Epcot Center thrown into one smaller park. Disneyland was way crowded, so we decided to go next door and see if the lines for the rides were any shorter, and they were. We were psyched to find that our favorite ride, The Tower of Terror, was also in California. The line was only twenty minutes long. Sweet.
This is probably the only ride that Matt and I could go on and on and on and on and NEVER get tired of. Every time you ride it, it is different. The basic plot of the ride is that you are checking into The Hollywood Tower Hotel, and it only has one workable service elevator. However, this hotel is in another dimension, or the twilight zone. So, when you go up the elevator it breaks, it falls, it shoots back up, it falls again, and so on. You never know what it's going to do. It's the best!

We made it back into Disney for dinner, and rode on Big Thunder Mountain, The Matterhorn Bobsleds,
and Pirates of the Caribbean. They have changed the Pirates ride to accommodate the movies that have come out, so now there is a Johnny Depp "Captain Jack Sparrow" animatronic pirate who lurks around the ride. I wasn't too impressed with it, but Matt enjoyed it.



Oh, how could I forget? Our last ride of the night was Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters, another one of our favorite rides. While we were in Florida for our honeymoon, Matt and I went on certain rides multiple times so we could anticipate when the 'hidden cameras' would capture us on film enjoying the ride, but we would pose for the pictures. My favorite was when we 'fell asleep' on the ride. I completely forgot about this out here in CA (it must be all of the sun), and my heart was set on killing the Evil Zurg. Matt was apparently intent on reading the park map for our next destination.

If everybody had an ocean...

The first full day in Southern California was a full day of Southern California nothing. And it was awesome. We lived the lives of Southern Californians to the fullest, which isn't that full at all - but that's the point. Life here is sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo laid back.

We (Matt, Kate, Rich & Chris) headed out to see cousin John - son of Rich and Chris, heretofore known as JohnE. JohnE is an accountant for a hotel in the area. That's his job. His life is surfing. He's the stereotypical Californian surfer dude. But he was at work when we arrived. So we stashed our stuff at his Newport Beach apartment and headed down to the boardwalk along the beach. And how do Californians get to the beach and travel around? On bikes. The four of us were riding bikes. I felt 12 again. It was so fantastically laid back.

So we drove along until we made it to the Fun Zone, where there are dozens of shops, quick eats, and amusement rides. We had pizza for lunch, stuck our heads in some shops, and biked back up to the apartment to suit up for the beach.


This time we walked to the beach where we sat out on the sand, waded in the surf, and cooked ourselves in the southern Cali sun. They tell you to apply sunscreen, I stress to you to RE-apply...




After a while JohnE got off work and met up with us as the beach before heading back to his place and returning with his board. When he arrived back with his board the lifeguard stations still had the "black ball" flag out on their stations. A yellow background flag with a big black circle on it. The worst sight for a surfer. This means no surfing - too many people in the water. But the flags eventually came down as the number of swimmers decreased. As we and JohnE were in mid-sentence he was quick to make a bee-line for the surf
and was on his board in no time. His roommate Brian (B-Man) met up with us soon after and joined JohnE in the water.

The four of us (M, K, R & C) went back up to the apartment, showered and changed and met up with JohnE and BMan to head on back down to the Big Belly Deli, a local deli and watering hole. Dinner and cold ones. Good times. Kate, JohnE, BMan and I rode bikes back down. And we imbibed, and rode bikes back up.


Such is life in southern California.

13 Hours to LA

Thursday was our longest driving day yet, clocking in at over 13 hours. We didn't realize this until we counted it up when we got there. Previously our longest day was driving from Rapid City, SD to Cody, WY. And that was about 9 hours. Oddly this 13 hour trip wasn't so grueling due to the fact that we didn't actually THINK about how much we had driven.

Our plan was to drive down the Pacific Coast Highway and cut across to Santa Barbara where we would shoot straight down into Riverside. However, the road that we wanted to use to get to Santa Barbara was closed due to a brush fire that had been burning for a month or two. So we had to double back and eat up about an hour of driving time.

This put us on the 101. By the way, that's the thing around here. At home we say "Take 495 to route 2 all the way to 128". Here they say "Take the 91 to the 101 and stay on that until you hit the PCH". We're in "the" territory. In fact, it seems like the entire country, save New England is "the" territory.

As we were driving along "the" 101 further south we saw more of the cliffside vistas and would occasionally get out and take some pictures. This one stop we made we heard
the most peculiar sound from below and realized that there were seals parked out on the rocks below. And flying around us at eye level was a California Condor. Wicked cool.

We drove along for a while until we saw a huge throng of people parked aside the road and taking pictures on the beach. I looked ahead and saw that they were photographing seals. But these seals seemed too big to be seen from far away. It turned out they were elephant seals. Never thought we'd see those in the wild.






The 101 drives right through Hollywood. We were driving on it at about 10:00 at night, and the traffic nightmares we'd heard of were not to be seen. Not much of Hollywood was not to be seen either, because it was dark. But inevitably my car was hit by Lindsey Lohan. Paris Hilton and Britney Spears were in the car too. Phil Spector denied it ever happened.

A little while later we were there, in Riverside, home of Uncle Rich and Aunt Chris. We talked for about a half hour and then crashed. Rightly so.

Hello, Frisco!

Today we slept in and left the Manchester, CA KOA around 10:30 to drive further south on CA route 1, hugging the coastline at 200 feet above jagged rocks and breaking surf. We drove until we reached 101, then south for a jaunt until we reached our next KOA 2 1/2 hours later. Extremely odd for us to be checking in to our tent site when it's a) daylight and b) just minutes after your earliest available check-in time.
The plan was to check in early and then find a way into San Francisco. We figured there would be public transportation from a local suburb that would be easy enough to follow, just like our trip into Chicago.
It turns out that there isn't a local commuter rail line. Most people when commuting via public transport use the ferry system. The ferry system in San Francisco wasn't going to cooperate with our plans. We asked at the KOA front desk for any ideas. The girl said that we could take a bus from a nearby town. That would take 2 hours. So I said to myself that I've driven all this way across the entire country, driving into San Francisco wouldn't be terribly difficult.
So with the blessing of a former San Franciscan named Cutter, we drove in.
We drove across the Golden Gate Bridge, which was exciting. Couldn't see much though because of the fog. We drove up to route 1 and parked in the Haight-Ashbury section.

Five years ago Kate and I were fortunate to spend some time in the city by the Bay. We were flying back from Osaka, Japan where I suffered an acute sinus infection and had to "decompress" for a day - EMT's orders. So we made the most of it while we were here in 2002. Although we didn't have time to see the Haight-Ashbury section, which was disappointing to me because of my affinity for the Grateful Dead and the counterculture movement. I was promised then that we would come back and see it. So today we did.

Mark Twain once said "The coldest winter I ever saw was the summer I spent in San Francisco." From what I understand, today in Boston saw nearly 100 degree temperatures and 5 tornadoes touched down in New York City. San Francisco was a blustery 57 degrees. As we walked up and down Haight Street we were lamenting the fact that we had dressed for a summer's day in California.....on a summer's day in California.

We had a late lunch near the corner of Haight and Ashbury streets at the
Magnolia Brewpub. We had a few of their brews and an entree. After that we browsed the shops of Haight and then walked back to the car so we could drive across town to make it in time for....


...ANOTHER baseball game! This time we walked right up to the box office of AT&T Park (formerly SBC Park, formerly Pacific Bell Park) and bought two tickets. 24 hours earlier you couldn't sell your soul for a ticket, but since Barry Bonds* had hit that home run the night before, no one cared enough to go tonight. And we confirmed a few facts we were speculating earlier. For example, National League games are boring. We look around and no one is invested in the game. This guy is reading, that guy is browsing on his laptop (the stadium provided free WiFi). No energy, unless Bonds* got up. And in case you didn't know, he hit home run #756 yesterday. And if you didn't hear the first time they reminded you, they took care of that every 2 minutes. But despite all that falderal, the Giants are in last place. So we also realized that there would be no baseball in October because they experience October in August. It's so cold.