DAYS 10-11: Big Sur, Big Trees, Really Big Mammals

Christmas Day, Day 10, we awake to the warm Big Sur air, waves, and mating elephant seals on the beach where we had spend the night. For a failed marine biolgist, happening upon these gargantuan, enormous, elephant-sized elephant seals on Christmas morning was quite meaningful. It was their biggest day of the year. That morning most of the years young were being born, (we got to see it happen!!) sows were stealing eachothers babes, bulls were attempting to mate with the unwilling and no longer pregnant sows, and the dominant bulls were masquerading their unbelievable size and sounds. They were a wild clan of seals, and we were fortunate enough to have a naturalist there to let us in on the details of what was going on. He was there to monitor the births of the new seals.




We spent the rest of the day driving the coast of Big Sur, without a doubt the most stunning place on Earth. I begged Leigh to turn around, "Portland is so rainy, and you can surf here, please we can live on the beach in a tent!"... but onward we went.





We stayed in upper wine country that night, and proceeded throught he enormous redwood forests along the coast the next day, making it, FINALLY, to Portland, OR around midnight!

DAY 9: California, Adventure of the Insane Mtn Road

Day 9 was certainly one to remember. We drove north through desert tree farms and palms towards the Sierras and the southern Sequoia National Monument. Not really knowing what we were doing, we decided to take the old Volvo 240 to the top. There we ascended the world's narrowest, sharpest, guardrail-less road that I have ever had the terror of experiencing. At any given time you had the pleasure of driving off the cliff edge, with a guaranteed 1,000ft drop. Not to mention the ice and snow that covered the "road" near the top.



To our amazement, we discovered a town at the top of the mountain - Pierpoint Springs, elevation 4,700ft, population 50. We were served coffee by a jovial little lady in the cafe/bar/post office/realty/store before attempting the descent down Earth's most outrageously terrifying road. Inevitably, Ali spend the whole descent paralyzed in fear, and Leigh was probably rationalizing when to throw her out of the car.

Amazingly, no cliff did they drive off, no mortal fate did they meet. Leigh safely navigated down to Earth, and they drove through tree farms and oil fields to the Pacific Ocean.

DAYS 7-9: New Mexico, Arizona, California & Acute Viral Rhinopharyngitis

Sorry for the drop off in communication folks. We were seized by a terrible case of acute viral rhinopharyngitis, also know as the common cold. By the time we finished our adventures I had no energy to edit photos and write quaint entries. So where did we leave off... ah, yes, New Mexico!

After the Carlsbad Caverns we traveled back into Texas through the Guadalupe Mountains and down into the salt plains.. a whole day through the desert with no signs of life. We passed through El Paso, back into New Mexico where we stayed in Truth or Consequences! We spent the next day (Day 8) soaking in Hot Springs, and then up north through Albuquerque (scary town) into Arizona where we were blindsided by a blizzard and forced off the road.

Due to the snow (Day 9), our next day plans to visit Sedona were botched, but we did spend some time in Flagstaff, which looked nothing like Arizona and seemed very hip. From there we drove down into the Mojave desert and into darkness through southern California.

DAY SIX: A realy big hole in the ground.

This definately competes with the fiberglass dinosaurs for "most outrageous/wonderful" roadtrip experience: the Carlsbad, New Mexico caverns.


After leaving the overwhelming hole in the ground, we traveled back down into Texas through the Guadalupe Mountains and canyons.



See all of our photos on {here}!

DAY FIVE: Texas, Good Lord...

We spent the entire day driving across west Texas 'big country'. What we didn't realize is that the strange pothole we hit in early morning was actually a sinister time warp that sent us hurdling decades back to the dust bowl era, when abandoning entire towns was commonplace and lean-to shanties were fashionable.



We thought we'd escape the periphery of the time warp by crossing into New Mexico. Although we seem to have graduated to a more recent era of neon and giant roadside statues, we are still very much trapped in it's bubble. Unbelievable!

You can see all of our photos {here}!

DAY FOUR: Texas!

Not much to say, except that it's big.

DAY THREE: The amazing storm dodgers! (Mississippi)

So - we narrowly dodged the epic storm now dumping feet of snow onto the wee motel we hid out in last night in Virginia. After driving 12 hours through the warmer, rainier incarnation of the storm we arrived safely in Meridian, Mississippi.

We've got to tell you about yesterday. What a day! We were driving through the ancient mountains of Appalachia, Shenandoah to be exact. The views were incredible.

Leigh insisted that we travel off the beaten path to photograph the wildlife, so against park rangers warnings we took the steep, danger ous roads closed for the winter. Soon we found many gentle and peaceful beasts of the wilderness..

...we heard a strange thumping in the distance, and fearing a landslide, I turned towards the volvo and AHHHHHHH!!!!!! A giant Megalosaurus!!!!

Never in my life had I run so fast, I needed to warn Leigh. It was then I realized that Shenandoah was crawling with dinosaurs! They were everywhere!!

We raced towards the Volvo, survival our only goal.. when out of nowehere came King Kong!! I trembled in fear! But I was also star struck! Kong, wow! He snatched me up quicker than I could have anticipated - fast for a slovenly gorilla, anyhow - I was at his ape mercy!

When out of nowhere, brave Leigh came to my rescue, taming the irritable beast with a frozen Snickers bar!

The beast relinquished us to the path where we sped away from Kong, now battling the Megalosaurus for the coveted candy bar. Those ancient mountain ranges sure are wild.

DAY TWO: Virginia - You Can Never Leave

Although we'd love to update you on our amazing day in sunny Harpers Ferry, sunnier Dinosaur Land, and the epic Skyline Drive of the Shenandoah, we've encountered a wee force threatening to lock us down in remote southwest Virginia:

No time to say more. Must get a few hours of sleep and then hope to beat the temperature gradient by making a b-line for the south. Wish us luck!

DAY ONE: To West Virginia

Of course, on a journey like this, no matter how perfect, how early you start, how lovely the weather is, or how traffic ceases to exist -- if you do so much as comment on how well things are going, and then knock on your dashboard whilst saying "knock on wood", your tailpipe will instantly fall off on the highway and you will be stranded in Hazelton, Pennsylvania.

Hazelton - home of the Tasty-Cake, Farmer's Tea, and a guy named Dave.. After our cringe-worthy entrance into the rough valley town, we were led to Cole's Muffler where we sat in the small waiting room, neon lights buzzing. There we sat for hours with a cute old woman, who turned out to be not-so-cute, and a metal-head, Dave.

It was Dave who broke the ice by returning from the cold and handing us a brown paper bag with Hazelton's finest fare. He then proceeded to woo us with his extensive knowledge of religious conspiracy theory, Halo 3, freshwater fishing and his disappointment with the local paranormal society's lack of investigative imagination. Dave, in our opinion, is Hazelton's finest citizen and a great American.

Although we would have loved a second round of tasty-cakes and paranormal epistemology, Hazelton wanted us and our new muffler out - so into the darkness we drove to West Virginia. What a day.

T-1, and counting!

Winter in America, here we come!



And a Richard Strauss accompaniment to our emotions at large:
[ Click Here ]

Wish us luck!

T-2, and counting!

The Volvo 240, Leigh, his many bags, and Alison (if she fits amongst Leigh's necessary items and the many bags they necessitate) will finally be leaving (will we? or will Leigh need to quadruple-search the house for any overlooked bags?) in 2 days..