Louisville, KY

I'm at the Cracker Barrel Restaurant just outside of Louisville.
Yesterday I drove a little over 500 miles and made it into St. Louis
around 11pm. I can make good time when I want to!

I'm head for Virginia tonight, but likely won't make it that far. Too
many stops today and one detour to St. Meinrad's Archabbey in Indiana.
Pictures below.

I've just figured out that I'm only 50 miles from Gethsemani, Thomas
Merton's abbey, but unfortunately it is completely the opposite
direction from where I'm headed. If I'd realized how close I was going
to be earlier I would have planned my day a bit better, but the
pilgrimmage is going to have to wait until another time.

And now, dinner. Right after I post some pics.

Abilene, KS

It's a brick Victorian, which I don't think I've ever seen before. I was
going to pay the monstrous $10 for the tour because I love Victorians,
but sadly they had closed up early to prepare for their Halloween tour
and I didn't have 6 hours to sit around waiting when I could spend that
time driving.

I am currently in Kansas City and now that my back is feeling a bit
better, I'm hoping to get at least halfway across Missouri tonight. I am
tempted to stop in time to catch Threshold and Numb3rs though :)

Stuck in Denver

My back was twinging a bit last night. This morning I woke up in full
spasm. This isn't the sort of thing that goes away with a few days rest,
so I googled like mad for a chiropractor and found this guy who sounded
like he'd be pretty good.

When I called he said he was probably too far away for me to drive in so
much pain, so he referred me to someone a bit closer. Jackpot! I cannot
believe how much better I feel just from one treatment. Guys was totally
amazing.

Incredibly, he also gave me names of chiropractors he knows along my
entire route home, including one in Boston. I should be hitting the road
again tomorrow.

The hot springs visit was a total mistake. I've never gone from a slight
twinge to full spasm I less than 8 hours before. Usually it takes a few
days. The heat must have completely inflamed the area. I usually take a
very cold shower after "taking the waters", but even the showers at
Glenwoods came from the spring, so I didn't have the opprtunity to cool
down my back until many hours later, and by then it was too late.

Louise on the dash

Oh, yes.

The road between Canyonlands and Arches

Canyonlands NP

Yes, I was standing right at the rim to take this photo, and yes I was
hyperventilating as I took it :)

Canyonlands NP

After visiting Arches yesterday, I have to say I find Canyonlands far
less impressive. Of course, I only visited one section of the park
because the other two sections are each at least 100 miles from each
other.

The canyon itself is impressive, but I don't find it as spectacular as
the Grand Canyon.

When I visited the south rim of Grand Canyon I remember walking through
the shrubbery that carefully veils the Canyon itself from the roadway
and I immediately burst into tears as I stepped through and saw the
Canyon with my own eyes. Grand Canyon is still, by far, the most
magnificent place I have ever visited.

The Island in the Sky district of Canyonlands is only 33 miles from
Arches and yet the landscape could not be more different. The Martian
red rock gives way to grasslands, shrubs and small trees. Compared to
Southern California and Nevada, it is almost lush, and it seems much
less desert-like, though it is still technically desert land.

Here are some photos of the Canyons. I would have taken more, but I
forgot to charge the Sidekick last night and lost power 10 minutes after
entering the park.

Arches NP

Arches NP

In the close-up I'm standing on a rock directly beneath the arch.

Arches NP

In Arches NP

Here's me and here's the Beetle. We're both posing :)

I'm going to be posting a buttload of pics. I apologize in advance to
those of you on dial-up. I have no idea how to do a cut-tag via email.

Arches NP

I'm in awe of the fact that I have a signal inside the park! This place
is amazing. So glad I decided to stay nearby tonight.

Above the visitor's center at Arches NP

Today's view from the hotel

Funky stuff

The following pics are some of the odder things I've seen on the road.
First, the tree of shoes on US50 in NV. Second, a dinosaur driving a
car? Your guess is as good as mine. It was just one of the oddities on
the road into Great Basin.

A signal! A signal!

Oh man, it's been since midday yesterday without a signal. The cow
incident actually happened yesterday.

Today I went to Lehman Caves in Great Basin NP. I'm attaching a few pics
of the interior which you should be able to make out.

OMG! Cows!

This afternoon I took some time to let louise run around off-leash. She
was bounding back and forth through the grasses. While she was running
around I noticed two cows standing near the barbed wire fence so I
headed off to snap some pics. I never dreamed that little miss scaredy
dog would decide that she needed to investigate this new creature up
close. As she went bounding through the barb wire fence I just about
had a near fatal heart attack. I called out "Louise, LOUISE," and she
stopped, turned around and looked at me and then went leaping off
towards the departing cows again!

After yelling her name about three more times she finally came back to
me. But she would not stop staring intently at her new best friends.
Here she is - staring. And there are the cows!

Grimes Point Petroglyphs

I don't how well you can see them in the photo, but there's a section of
us50 that is civered with petroglyphed rocks.

Carson City to Ely

I'm in a restaurant, smoking! Ahhahhaha! I love Nevada! Though it would
sure suck to be a waitress here.

Today I'll be driving "the loneliest road", US-50 through Nevada. Our
destination tonight is Ely, NV, 350 miles from here and 58 miles from
Great Basin National Park. That's as close as I can get and find a place
to stay with Louise.

I should probably record my more entertaining conversations.

Yesterday morning in fresno I went into the Motel 6 office to get change
for the vending machine. The manager said he had a special runnung,
three quarters for a dollar. I counter-offered with five quarters for a
dollar and he said, "that's no benefit to me at all." Heh.

In Yosemite yesterday I pulled out my Holga to take some pics. I don't
think people generally pay much attention to Polaroids, but because I
use peel-apart pack film in the Holga people are always looking on with
interest. Yesterday I noticed a guy lurking, waiting for me to peel the
film. As soon as I did he came up and asked to take a look. Turns out
he's a commercial photography and he uses Polaroid for his test shots in
his 4x5 camera (big!). We talked for a bit then he set up his camera
and let me take a look through it. He was flabbergasted that I only
shoot Polaroid film. LOL. If it was good enough for Andy Warhol, it's
good enough for me.

This is the view outside my motel. And we're off!

Newlyweds

I have no idea who these people are, but they just got married and were
driving through the park and stopping to take pics of themselves. They
asked me to take their picture with their camera so I asked them if I
could take a pic of them with mine as well. Apparently, mine was not
the first request. They probably could have made a bundle by charging a
"modeling" fee ;)

Louise checks out the landscape

On Tioga Rd. in Yosemite

Yosemite National Park

I've just checked into the Motel 6 in Carson City, NV after a long day
driving. I logged about 275 miles today, most of it in the park.

I'll be posting some pics now that I have a signal. :)