RIDDLES on the ROAD 2009

2009-08-06T14:46:00.000-07:00

What a long, strange trip...

Riddles on the Road 2009–Deep South and Eastbound...

Well, we’re back in Southeast Texas; five days to departure back to Oman. And it is HOT. It was downright heartbreaking to descend from Red River, New Mexico, temperature 76 F (mid 20's C) to Texline, TX 102 F (42-ish C). The hottest weather we had experienced before that was Fairbanks, AK at a balmy 82 F (30-ish C, I think).We melted, physically and spiritually. But alas, so goes the end of an adventure–the impact of reality. And the reality of it is, we experienced some of the most beautiful environments on Earth, with incredible weather to boot, but it was an adventure with a beginning and an end. But this brings me to another point: Reality. We live out our lives each day, in our routines, in our houses, on our paths, in our own little microcosms, but we don’t often allow ourselves outside of what we know. This summer, we gave up a house on a foundation, bought a house on wheels, and set out to live and breathe and feel places we have never been. We broke the mechanism of routine. It was a risk, but it has paid off.

I just finished a book about dropping what you know to seek what you don’t. You need to do that to grow. One of the most poignant statements from that book is this: “...life cannot be understood on a flat page. It has to be lived; a person has to get out of his head, has to fall in love, has to memorize poems, has to jump off bridges into rivers, has to stand in an empty desert and whisper sonnets under his [or her] breath...” We have given ourselves incredible, tree-fringed mountain vistas; wildlife, up close and personal; we have discovered personal strengths and points to build on; and hopefully, more than anything else, we have planted seeds to exploration and discovery in our kids. That success will be evidenced in the years to come.

With arriving at our final destination in Wesson, MS, we will have traveled approximately 9700 miles, passed through 14 US states and three Canadian provinces, visited 22 National parks and recreation areas and nature refuges and just about as many state or provincial parks, and met countless people from every corner of the world.

On that note, let’s complete the Riddles on the Road 2009 journal:

Yellowstone National Park

After beating it to Great Falls, MT to sign away the house, we passed through the north entrance to Yellowstone National Park. If you did not know this little tidbit of knowledge: Yellowstone is the oldest national park ON EARTH. It’s also a live caldera that erupts every six hundred and forty thousand years or so–-last time it erupted was about six hundred and forty thousand years ago...We spent three nights there, exploring geisers and sulphur springs and chasing wildlife.

Jackson Hole, WY

OK, so we drove 79 miles, but with construction down the south path from the park, it took hours. So we stopped in Jackson Hole for the night. There’s a picture of me somewhere, standing under the arch of elk horns that ornate each corner or the plaza in downtown Jackson. Now here’s one of the kids:

After leaving Jackson, we took the scenic route through Northeastern Utah into Western Colorado, on our way to Pagosa Springs, CO for a couple of days in hot springs (sorry, no pictures–too busy soaking!). The highlight of the drive had to be Hwy. 550 from Montrose, CO to Durango, CO, through Red Mountain Pass, elevation 11, 075 ft. If you need to perk up your blood, the road through Ouray to Silverton will do it for you...The road sign for the drive is the first picture (what it does not show are the sheer drops–no right shoulder of the road!!)...

From Pagosa, we headed over to Red River for two days of fishing with family. We did more fishing than catching, but it was fun all the same:

We hope you have enjoyed virtually and vicariously living our trip this summer. It’s always good to share! We know we missed many friends along the way, mostly due to having to push through a couple of spots we wish we could have spent more time enjoying, but we hope this journal was at least a bit of time shared, knowing we enjoyed your neck of the woods. And know this: we found many places we want to re-explore in the very near future!

Take care and prepare of RotR 2010!!

“Leave...Don’t worry. Everything will still be there when you get back. It will be you who will have changed.” –Donald Miller

Riddles on the Road–The Great Descent

2009-07-27T09:06:00.000-07:00

Here we are in the van, getting ready for another day of travel

WOW! North American is top-heavy! With the weight of Canada and Alaska bearing down on the rest of the continent, I’m surprised the US and Mexico have not been compressed into Central America (I’ll bet Panama was once the size of California but has been squished into it’s present size by the weight of Yukon Territory alone!)

After 7 days of driving (OK, two days were light travel because we did not want to blow past everything there was to see), we finally made it back to the US, Montana to be more precise–Shelby, Montana to be exact. And we splurged and got a hotel for the night (we really, REALLY needed to shower). The Alcan Highway progressively improved after YT, and the countryside was incredible! This issue of RotR is the wildlife issue–we did not realize that the Alaska Highway also served as the world’s largest petting zoo!

Yukon Territory and Northern BC

YT
The roads were atrocious and the mosquitos had killed all of the wildlife. We escaped the area with our lives and have just begun to walk upright after the lumbar-twisting roads. (But the landscape was nice to see. It was the Tundra afterall.)

A family picture with fireweed that paints the roadsides of YT.

Northern BC
Now THIS is the wild! There are signs EVERYWHERE warning of animals on the road. After the disappointment on not seeing all of the wildlife we had hoped to see in Alaska, we were more than satisfied: bears, bison, deer, elk, horses (shoed and branded, but don’t tell the kids–they think they were wild ;-)), moose, stone sheep, and a couple of caribou, as well as a great deal of fowl: Canada geese, magpies, eagles, hawks, ducks...Here are pictures:

Canadian Forest Bison--there are supposedly only 250 or these in BC, and I think we saw all of them!

"Wild Horses"

"Da Bears"

Mom and Cubs!!!

Stone Sheep...eh?

And the weather was cool and refreshing as well (not to rub it in to all of you in the American South and the Middle East right now–we’ll be there soon enough!)

Along the way, we found the Road Sign Forest in Watson Lake, so we did not get lost:

And at one place we camped, we articulated a moose skeleton Drs Kai and Emma, budding paleontologists, discovered in the bush.

Alberta

So plans changed Again. Originally, we were going to follow the road east to Banff, then Yellowstone, then south, but Shawna really wanted to spend time in Washington State. THEN we realized we’d be putting another 1000 miles into the trip going back west, so we changed plans and headed east again. So we landed in Alberta, Canada on Saturday. We had wonderful ideals for Jasper and Banff National parks, but they were overrun with people. We ended up camping in an overflow camping area with about 700 of our closest road companions. However, of all of the places we have seen so far, Banff National Park is hands down the most dramatic.

SO we are finishing laundry and preparing for Yellowstone in Wyoming. You will probably hear from us when we land in Colorado.

2009-07-19T12:13:00.000-07:00

Riddles on the Road–Destination: Alaska

This is a great picture of “Sonny” resting in Palo Duro Canyon. This is our House on Wheels

OK, so NOW I’ll get you caught up with us.

The Alaska Marine Highway Systems Inner Passage Ferry from Bellingham, Washington to Haines, Alaska

SO after a red-eye departure from Crater Lake (5:30 a.m.) We bee-lined it to Bellingham, WA. We heard traffic can be “difficult” from Olympia, WA to past Seattle, but fortunately we beat the rush and did not encounter the I-5 parking lot until half an hour or so north of Seattle. The estimated 9 hour drive took 11 ½ hours going at a full clip. Fortunately, the kids were champs on the drive; they were so excited to get to the ferry, they chilled with toys and car games, read books, and watched a few movies while Shawna and I sweated the traffic. We arrived last in line at the ferry landing, but we made it.

Our itinerary was Bellingham to Ketchikan to Wrangell to Petersburg to Juneau to Haines–it took approximately 69 hours. AND, since we did not know what we were getting ourselves into, we scheduled our trip too late, was next to the last car included in the trip and had NO berth to sleep in. SO we had to get a tent (we had not planned on “roughing it”.):

What is interesting to note is that people slept EVERYWHERE on the boat. It is designed for comfort: snack bar, full service restaurant, cocktail lounge, 2 observation lounges, movie lounge, gift shop, showers, and laundry. We pitched our tent and camped (used the Gorilla Tape to “stake” the tent to the upper deck) along with about 2 dozen others, but people bivouaced it in spots on the 2 camping decks, slept in the various lounges, and copped a shut-eye about anywhere they could set themselves. Here are 2 vagabonds we captured:

However, the scenery was WELL-worth the trip. We saw countless glaciers, traveled through the Tongass National Forest (the largest national forest in America) and witnessed miraculous wildlife: Steller seals, humpback whales, dahl’s porpoises, sea otters, innumerous bald eagles, terns and seagulls. But the pinnacle of the trip was on the evening of the second day, about 10 p.m., after we had put the kids down for the night (hard to go to sleep when the sun never sets ), Shawna and I stood portside at the stern for a nightcap of nature watching when a HUGE swirl about 20 feet from the boat caught our attention. Suddenly a very large male orca surfaced (its dorsal was easily as tall as I am) alongside, made a turn and slowly made his way down the passage; we watched him for about ten minutes. This was quite amazing because seeing an orca this high into the passage is very rare this time of year; they are usually down coast feeding and birthing. The US Forest Service ranger said we got really lucky. And only half a dozen people saw it; everyone else was either asleep or warming up in the bar (it was VERY chilly at night ). And of course, we whipped out the camera to take a once in a lifetime photo, and the battery died; we quickly retrieved the other battery–dead. And our phones did not have the distance by that time. Damn.

Here is some of what we WERE able to capture:

Humpback flicking its tail

Humpback waving bon voyage

Bald eagles on the lightpost--we saw bald eagles EVERYWHERE along the passage!

Stellar Seals on the bottom of the buoy

And here is some scenery:

Glaciers

A Lighthouse outside of Haines, AK

Alaska at 11:30 pm

And here are some totem poles we found:

Just to note, Ketchikan, BC and Haines, AK are quirky, interesting towns worth visiting some day.

ALASKA (As much as I can give you to this point)

(The Cow moose in front of Eielson AFB)

SO we arrived in Haines, AK, kicked around a couple of hours (it was GREAT to be off the boat), then began the final stretch to Fairbanks, camping for the night at Million Dollar Falls in the Yukon Territory. Did not have a chance to take photos–the mosquitos had drained us of so much blood we did not have the strength (nor did we have a battery charger, so the camera was out of commission until Fairbanks). We stayed the next night in a quaint state park outside of Tok, AK (pronounced “Toke”, as in “have another, brother ”). Along the way to Tok, we saw our first Moose (a big bull in a lake), a black bear pulling a Jesse Owens across the road, and an arctic fox that almost became intimate with the drivers’ side tire of Sonny. Outside of Fairbanks, in the middle of Eielson Airforce Base (pictures strictly prohibited...unless you are a tourist with Texas plates and it’s your first up close moose encounter) we shot out first quality picture of a cow moose, with the phone (I LOVE technology ). We have also seen caribou and muskoxen and shrews--untamed--(just to juxtaposition wildlife for you ). Lots of life and we are right in the middle of it.

Now we are enjoying time with friends, seeing wonderful sights, and enjoying the warmest weather we have had since leaving Lake Mead, NV two and a half weeks ago (low 80's), as well as doing a bit of repair to the van--the Al-Can Highway ate up the shocks, so I had to replace them.

My apologies for the windbaggedness of this letter, but there has been SO much to catch you up with. I hope the pictures are worth it. Next contact will probably be in Vancouver or so as we begin The Descent. Take care for now.

2009-07-16T14:56:00.000-07:00

Patrick's Point, Arcata, CA

16 July 2009

My apologies for the delay, but we have been opting for campsites in state parks rather than RV parks--quieter and more room for the kids to move, although they are unplugged. SO, here I sit in a coffee house in FAIRBANKS, ALASKA! Yes, we made it. To all of the nay-sayers who thought it was an ambitious trip to get here, well...the ambitious part will be getting back to park the van in time for our flight back to Muscat ;-b

So here is how the blog is going to work, I am going to catch you up with the Redwoods, CA and Crater Lake, OR; the Inner Passage Ferry we took from Bellingham, WA to Haines, Alaska, Yukon Territory and Alaska State will come later (there's just so much to say!). On that note:

Redwoods, CA to Crater Lake, OR

Wow. Green. Ginormous. Solitude.

After a night midway between Yosemite and the coast, we entered Humbolt County, CA. Known for many things medicinal and psychologically therapeutic, nothing was more so than The Redwoods We stopped for a break in Leggett, CA, where the “Drive Thru Tree” is:

Emma in a Trunk

Then it was down the “Avenue of the Giants”, just outside of Eureka, CA. Now, there are trees, and there are TREES. But these magnificent works of time and nature were spell-binding, and to try to describe the majesty of these beasts would only insult them. There are no words in any language for the experience of the Redwood forest. 2000+ year old trees; the largest living organisms on Earth. Even David Attenburough can’t wax poetically enough to deliver an understanding. You can only live the Redwood Forest to know the captivating power of life is holds.

Patrick’s Point, our residence for two nights, was also incredible (lamely, the word repeatedly rolled out of my mouth time and time again–I was dumbstruck with the beauty of the place.). Tide pools, sea lions, trees to the cliff’s edge, hiking trails, and GREEN, GREEN, GREEN.

Kai was SO into the trees, one actually sprouted from his face!

Emma hiding out in a local Native American house.

Reluctantly, we pulled camp to make our push to Alaska. We almost settled in.

Crater Lake, OR

After a very enjoyable drive through Jedediah Smith National Forest and numerous other national forests fostering towering Red Giants (and a pit stop for oil change and laundry in Crescent City, CA), we entered Oregon and hit Crater Lake sometime around sunset. Thinking we could camp on the rim, we made for it, but alas, the entire Crater area (inside the National park) is owned by a resort The lodge at the top was nice (the sunset over the lake MUCH more so), but not camper friendly. So we dodged a few deer (Kai is a master deer spotter. We did not hit one ) and camped in the resort-owned camp grounds lower down and spent the next day hiking and fishing and bike riding and celebrating Kai’s seventh birthday. He loved it.

All in all, so far, GREAT! We'll sit and rest in Fairbanks until SUnday or Monday, then begin "The Great Descent". Look for an update for The Inner Passage and Alaska SOON!!

2009-07-06T00:28:00.000-07:00

Riddles on the Road–Week One

OK, so as many of you know, we bought a camper van. If you did not know, well, we bought a camper van. A 1993 Dodge Ram series extended body converted camper van. With a pop top sleeper. Its name is Sonny, after my grandfather, Sonny Austin, who every summer when I was growing up would pile all the grand kids and anyone else who could (or would) fit into his van and haul us all over North America, from Matamoros to Yellowstone, the Grand Canyon to the Great Smokey Mountains. Fitting name for our van, as you will see.

After touching down for jet-lag recoup and good ol’ Southern hospitality in Mississippi, we flew to Austin, TX, picked up Sonny the Sportsmobile, hauled to Galveston packed up our apartment and are awaiting the sale of our house, sold and donated extraneous clutter, downsized into our humble House on Wheels and hit the road. What lies in store on the road ahead? What ALWAYS buries itself behind each curve of tarmac? ADVENTURE.

I hope you enjoy your vicarious virtual travel across up and back down the Great North American West and North (props for our friends The Canadians, whom we will visit as well) And without further adieu:

Week One: Palo Duro Canyon, TX; Santa Fe, NM; and Yosemite, CA

We left Ft. Worth and hit Palo Duro Canyon, the SECOND largest canyon in the US (behind ol’ Grand Canyon)–neither Shawna nor I had ever been there. What a place. We did not explore the vastness of the place; half of the park was closed due to a recent flood, but we did wake up to coyotes singing in the early morning!!! Here are some good pictures:

Santa Fe, NM: Crash land at our friend, Jen Davidson’s house. The hospitality was pure Texas (generous and warm!) And the food was authentic southwestern! What a great town! Definitely enchanting...(sorry no photos--Jenn has them!!)

Here is a special shot we had to take--our friend Dennis Koi used to call Kai, Kaibab, after the Kaibab National Forest outside of Flagstaff, AZ. SO...

Santa Fe to Yosemite: nothing to report other than if you never make it to Dubai, go to Las Vegas; it’s the same place...Although, Kai and Emma DID chase jackrabbits at Lake Mead National Park, where we slept a night.

Yosemite National Park, CA:

All I can say is that it is one place you must see before you die. There was still a heavy snow layer in the upper elevations, and where we camped on the east side in the highlands (9000+ ft) nighttime lows were in the upper 30's and daytime highs were in the 70's...for our non-American friends who cannot convert, that around 3 - 4 C for a low and about 18 C for a high (I guess–I cannot convert either! ). El Capitan was commanding; Bridalveil Falls, breathtaking; trees and green, dream-branding; people, plentiful–what do you expect for 4th of July weekend?!?

(The kids do not remember Christmas 2004 when it snowed in Galveston, so this is a first for them to play in REAL snow, not fabricated Ski Dubai stuff...)

There is so much more wildlife than people in the park though. We saw chipmunks and yellow bellied marmots, and Shawna "swears" she heard a bear snooping around our campsite. I still think my sinuses were acting up again...No deer or elk, but we still have many stands of trees to explore...

Now, we are just off 101 in Northern CA, on the way to Redwoods. Update to come...