Saturday, October 01, 2005
House on fire?!?
Wonder how close my house is to the fires? Here's a map:
Friday, September 23, 2005
View from Gym, turn right, master bedroom, turn left stairs down.
Will be the gym once I get the gym in here. It is at the top of the steps.
Yes, that right.. the "kitchen" doesn't have a single appliance that matches. White/Beige/Dark Brown all exist.
Downstairs bathroom is behind the thermostat on wall, closet seen is the HVAC, thru opening is wet bar. That door has already been removed. Thru bar is the office.
View of dining area (on left) and kitchen (on right) from doorway of garage (rear of house). Sliding door on near right is the patio #1 with LIME TREE.
Just after noon, the beast was free. Pod 3 was gone shortly after.
Pod 3 has the GYM and Josh knows it is going to be pain. Let's see... it took 4 guys to load it up and we only had 2 right now....
By 10am josh had the entire first pod empty (I was getting breakfast) and we were already working on the second pod. We got them both empty so when the 3rd came, he took away the first two.
Pods were actually early. He was waiting for us at 8:45am.
Friday, September 16, 2005
Trip Map
Only the places we slept:
2) Champaign, IL
3) Waterloo, IA
4) Wall, SD
5) Rapid City, SD
6) Cody, WY
7) Idaho Falls, ID
8) Zion, UT
9) Kanab, UT
10) Grand Canyon, AZ
11) Sedona, AZ
12) Las Vegas, NV
13) Chatsworth, CA
Total trip: 4520.3 miles. Yeah, kinda odd how my odometer is exactly 41,500.
102 degrees, wins the highest award of the trip. (somewhere between Las Vegas and LA)
DAY 12 - Last day (9/15 @ 8:30am) View from our room at the Flamingo. Ryan lost $40, Josh made $52.50. Hey, we are at least net positive.
Nice sunset, but we are going to miss Hoover Dam in the sunlight.
Thursday, September 15, 2005
I bet that was really loud when if fell (assuming someone was around to hear it.)
At this point we are lost... forgot to bring the map. GPS is in the car. I have sunscreen tho. Except I forgot to put it on my calfs.
Day 11 begins (9/14 @ 11am): camp is broken and we are on our way to Vegas.
Pretty much everyone is on patrol for the skunks roaming around.
We pretended to take a self pic so we could get a good shot of the freek jobs feeling the "vortex". I felt like laughing.
Key info: water is 66 degrees. I would have guessed 50.
Lunch outside of Phoenix. Mountain Oysters anyone? "Have a Ball!"
Day 10: leaving the Grand Canyon. Aka: Death warmed over. (9:18pm)
Oh yeah, all free, and the salmon was flown special from Alaska... it was amazing.
We hear all this noise in the woods 15 miles from the Grand Canyon. We walk over and crash a corporate party. Middle of the woods, huge party.... unreal. Hundreds of cars... middle of the woods.
It turns out the Grand Canyon is fake. It has a steel pin holding the entire think up.
I'm not even going to write anything here... it is just too easy.
Welcome to the South Rim of the GC. (Day 9: Mon 9/12 @ 5pm)
Last tested... 6/01. Give me a break... just remove the sticker already.
Office is open: We stayed in a hotel Sunday night so Monday morning (shown here) I could get everything straight with the house purchase.
I *think* that might just be a benchmark! It is 100s of feet up in the air on that cliff.
They called is "single rock" or something. Anyway, the lake is unreal. Middle of the desert, beautiful water.
Breakfast is servered.... at 11am. We were just outside of Zion. (Yes, we have been camping)
I can't stop. I really have 100s of these. This is 10:45am
It is hard to aim driving 50 around haripins in a stick with your right hand up out of the sunroof!
This nail is why our tire was loosing pressure. It got really bad after Yellowstone (-20lbs/day). $12.50 fix, plus $10 tip for working on Sunday.
Yeah, that is a tumle weed caught under the car ahead of us. Guy had no idea.
Start of the 7th day: Another $40 at 3.10/gal. Can't get 93 anymore, gotta use 91.
Saturday, September 10, 2005
1 Guy, 7 Ladies.
Thermal features.
After the fires...
Grey is dead, green is new. I thought this was a cool picture.
Some cool falls.
Swimming hole.
Grab some lunch in the lodge.
This is proof we were there.
With a few of our friends.
Waiting.
It rained fairly hard while we were waiting for 40 minutes for the blast. Everyone left. We sat there. It was cold.
You gotta have faith...
I was thinking of a song that we should have played while entering "Old Faithful". I thought of George Michael's "Faith".
It came on just as we saw the first signs for the "Old Faithful".
57 degrees, 1:20pm
Contnental Divide
Bug guts... Day 6
Don't get eaten
Will never be a post card.
Welcome to Yellowstone
Grab some breakfast...
Leaving Buffalo Bill State Park
Friday, September 09, 2005
Day 6: View from tent...
Camping neighbors
$20 in gas
Over mtn toward Yellowstone
Gas and bug cleanup...
As we went over the mountain...
100 degrees - 2:36pm
67 degrees - 4:46pm
95 degrees - 5:20pm
Chineese Buffet
A long road ahead...
The door is wide open...
We stopped at a shop to grab some water for the trip. This was written on the note below the note asking for the door to be closed "This door is to be locked at al times - The boss seems to have logs." The door was wide open.
Pretty please...
Devil's Tower
Great bug hit.
Day 5 - Get some gas and some sun block
Wednesday, September 07, 2005
Day 4 Progress
Storm 'a brewing...
The sun was setting behind the me and the t-storm cloud was catching the colors. It looked amazing.
These guys helped build Rushmore....
I'd rather be Mr. Huntimer over Mr. Hudson if I had the choice.
One thumb up / One thumb down
Big Brown Box
Ryan: "Josh, what do you think is in that brown box?"
Josh: "Raccoon traps."
Ryan: "No."
Josh: "Light switches"
Ryan: "No."
Josh: "Water valves"
Ryan: "No, they are on the hydrant"
Ryan's EXTREME CLOSE UP
Mount Rushmore Amphitheatre
Mount Rushmore... 4 pics.
Mount Rushmore
We have a bug problem... bad.
We stopped at http://www.cosmosmysteryarea.com
and I snapped this pic. There are so many bug guts, bees actually are attracted. There are 2 or 3 in the picture collecting "bug necter?"
Welcome to the Black Hills
Um, yeah I can.
I guess it is fair if you have lived there for 7+ years!
I have that knife!!!
Poppop gave it to me. I either forgot or never knew that it came from his WWII survival pack.
SD Air Space Museam
Simulator (Dart)
B-1b Simulator
(rear seats)B-1b
B-1b simulator (front seats)
Prarie dog... up close.
That is going to hurt.
While it looks like Josh has been skydiving without a parachute, this picture is real. He is on his chest on a rock table.
Badlands 6 to 10
Badlands 1 to 5
Badlands again.
I took 92 pictures of the Badlands today. I will put only 10 here.
Day 4 Starts
Tuesday, September 06, 2005
Progress Reston, VA to Wall, SD
1) Reston, VA
2) Champain, IL (End of Day 1)
3) Waterloo, IA (End of Day 2)
4) Wall, SD (End of Day 3)
Yeah, we ate there...
Badlands are amazing.
BADLANDS
We wanted to push it to the Badlands today. We made it by 7:00pm (which is 6 mountain time).
http://www.nps.gov/badl/
1500 miles down.
Mental note: "Don't feed Ryan milk products"
Ice cream gives me gas. Josh's expession is with windows down, sun roof open, and going 85 MPH.
Gas stop... $46 bucks
Crossing the Missouri River
Corn Palace
"Made 100% of corn" (Except for the brick, glass, and metal)
85 MPH
SD's speed limit is 75 (which means 85 to the M3)
We had gone about 360 miles by 3:45pm
Fantastic Voyage
Welcome to South Dakota
Hand Inserters
Part-Time Night Hours
11:00 pm - 2:00 am
No experience necessary
Minimum wage
Ground Round for lunch.
Wow, that is a lot of electronics.
From top to bottom: GPS, Sat radio, 2 power splitters, DC to AC inverter. Not seen: Ipod charger, laptop adapater, Josh's camera battery charger.
Welcome to Minnesota
Day 3 - Started...
We started the day leaving Waterloo, IA at 9:06 with 1,019 miles completed so far.
Pods leave VA!!!
Monday, September 05, 2005
Josh's blog w/pics is in effect.
Dinner
Day 2 - 1000 miles down.
Front of car is covered in bug guts.
Click to zoom... it sick. We had to stop to clean off the windshield.
World's Largest Truck Stop
2pm central time
Welcome to IOWA
We have a bug problem....
Go ahead and put me down for $50.
Day 2 - 700 miles down.
Josh finds gear shift
15 minutes before last call....
Good times.... 2am eastern time
Worlds most amazing dance club.
Welcome to Illinois.
Trust me... it says it. Why would I take a fake picture that looks that bad?
80 MPH
Inedible Food
Main Entry: in·ed·i·ble Pronunciation: (")i-'ne-d&-b&lFunction: adjective: not fit to be eaten
Main Entry: food Pronunciation: 'füdFunction: nounUsage: often attributiveEtymology: Middle English fode, from Old English fOda; akin to Old High German fuotar food, fodder, Latin panis bread, pascere to feed1 a material fit to be eaten
Welcome to Indiana
Driving across Ohio was not as bad as I expected.
6:13 pm6:14 pm (Apparently for 1 mile, we were stateless.)
500 miles down, approx 3900 to go
Doesn't get any better than this....
Day 1 - Gas
Welcome to OHIO!
Welcome to West Virginia
Day 1 - Lunch is served...
10 oz or 22 oz... honestly, is that really a question? It is lunch time in PA ON MY BIRTHDAY!
Day 1 - Welcome to PA
Sunday, September 04, 2005
Day 1 - Gas
Saturday, September 03, 2005
Packing is pretty much done...
Pods are here...
Before pods...
After pods...
1/2 way...
Here we are filling up with some Chineese and some beers. Mike and Stacy had already left.
Thursday, September 01, 2005
Packing has begun
Monday, August 29, 2005
Packing
This weekend the packing started. House is a mess.
Saturday, August 20, 2005
The trip is set...
