The trip across the US was incredible! Below is the day to day log of the trip. Matt Nolan road with and is also participating in the program at the JH Ranch. I will be adding pictures to this post as soon as I learn how to do it.
Oct. 31, Day 1
- I left Birmingham at 11am to meet Matt at the Georgia State Line (He is from Atlanta).
- We drove from until 3am and made it to the west side of Oklahoma City where we camped for the night (see picture of campsite)
- Traveled a little over 1000 miles today mostly at night
- It was a slow start because the drive to Memphis was very slow (not interstate highways the entire way), but we made it a long way. Our goal was Amarillo, Texas (probably to ambitious). We were 200 miles short.
- There was not much to see between Birmingham and Oklahoma City so we made few stops today
Nov. 1, Day 2
- Today we drove from the west side of Oklahoma City to Williams, Arizona (50 miles from Grand Canyon National Park) see picture of hotel (It was to cold to camp, below 20).
- 900 miles traveled today
- We drove through a blizzard in New Mexico today (see picture). The weather changed from Sunny and Mild to cold and snowing in about 5 miles. It took about two hours to drive through the storm. It was snowing so hard we could barely see the road (6 inches of snow on the ground).
- Matt and I stopped in Amarillo, Texas to buy Cowboy Hats, Something that will be very useful at the Ranch. Notice I am wearing mine in many of the pictures.
- There was very little traffic today and it was interstate all the way so the drive was easy.
Today was a great day. The scenery west of Albuquerque, New Mexico was the best yet. It is a desert with many plateaus (see pictures). The tape player in the volvo quit working this morning. So we can't listen to CD's or books on tape. It was very cold today.
Nov. 2, Day 3
- Now we are finally in the area we came to see. From here on the rest of the trip is non stop beautiful scenery. We plan to take our time (somewhat) from here to the Ranch.
- We left Williams, Arizona at 7:15am for the Grand Canyon (51 miles)
- Upon arrival at the Grand Canyon we wandered around for a little bit trying to get our bearings and decide what to see on our limited time schedule.
- We walked to the Kolb Studio first. This was where two brothers built a chalet style house on the rim of the Grand Canyon in the 1900's.They were photographers and all around adventure lovers. They took numerous trips down the Colorado river in home made boats and other crazy things. See this link for more info http://www.kaet.asu.edu/kolb/thestory.html . Jim, I think this is what we were meant to do.
- Next, we decided to bypass the guided bus tour to explore the canyon on our own. We took off in the volvo down the Desert View Road (about 30 miles long). See pictures. We did not have much time to do any of the day hikes, but that is definitely something I want to return and do one day. The views were incredible as you can see from the pictures (If I ever get them added).
- We left the Grand Canyon and continued on to Zion National Park, which is north of the Grand Canyon. This looks much closer on a map than it is. It took about 3 hours to get there, We arrived just before dark.
- We took the Inner Canyon Road through Zion. This took us through a tunnel that was over a mile long and opened up to stunning views of the canyon. It is difficult to describe the difference between the Grand Canyon and Zion. They are both so beautiful (see pictures) in very different ways.
- Time was running short so we drove to the end of the canyon and took a short hike through the Zion Narrows and took a few pictures. I definitely want to visit Zion again when I have more time for the day hikes.
- Next Stop Las Vegas!
- Matt had not been to Las Vegas so we had to stop and see a few sites (see pictures). We ate at the World Famous Binions Horseshoe Casino. Home of the World Series of Poker. Then we saw the light show on Freemont Street (http://www.troutman.org/trips/vegas-gc/freemont.html ) and visited a few casinos, took some pictures and went to sleep.
To be continued...
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