New Battery On-The-Fly

Another automotive upgrade. The car practically died as we pulled into the parking place at Walmart, and 15 minutes later we're on the road again with a new battery. Hopefully this is the last issue we run into before getting back home.

Yesterday, the battery light started showing up dimmly and then just before we navigated to this Walmary (thanks to the Blackberry) all of the lights and guages dropped out. We hope that this isn't the alternator again somehow.

Anyways, onward and upward towards Geneseo.

500 Miles Down, 400 To Go

We're almost through Nebraska and into Iowa. Our target is getting closer and closer- can't wait to get these miles behind us.

Tomorrow we'll just be a stone's throw from Columbus if we make it all the way to Geneseo, IL tonight.

80 towards Omaha...

"Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and potentially able to reach Illinois by day's end."

A great breakfast doesn't hurt either. My aunt helped get us back on the road with some eggs, sausage, biscuits and well wishes. We then left Estes Park at 7:30 and headed east. Our goal is to meet up with our friend Pat and his family in Geneseo, IL. Interestingly enough, they are just embarking on a vacation around the western United States. Perhaps we can enlighten them with some of our newfound 'expertise' on that subject.

One lesson we may offer them is to watch out for the Wyoming Highway Patrol right at the border. Officer Wilson was none to pleased with our "80 in a 75" (nor our out-of-state license plates). He gave Sean a warning and one mile later we entered Nebraska. Coincidence? I would plead 'no'.

Thanks again to Margi and Gary for the hospitality and car advice!

Grand Finale

Fireworks at Lake Estes.

Happy Birthday America- I feel like I know you so much better now.

The Road Less Travelled

We went down the other side of Deer Mountain (about 5 miles down this way) and into Estes Park to check out the town. On our way down we barely saw a handful of people.

Our feet will surely rest easy tonight after all of that hiking.

Deer Mountain Summit

We made it up the 3 mile hike to the top of Deer Mountain- elevation 10,028ft. Our Ohio lungs start to burn at about 7,000ft- the air is noticeably thinner at that height.

Across the way you can see a ton of other mountains- including Long's Peak (the tallest mountain in Rocky National Park at about 14,000ft).

Goodnight from Estes Park, CO

We woke up early this morning to beat the heat on our way to Estes Park. My aunt Margi and her husband Gary have a summer home there and have taken us in for the next few days. It feels good to relax and forget about driving even if just for a short time. This evening we all drove into Rocky Mountain National Park to look for animals and check out the views. Even after all that we have seen, the size and majesty of these mountains continues to take us aback.

Tomorrow we hope to wake up early and explore the park before the holiday crowd hits.

Vail Pass

Elevation - 10,603ft

Getting Up To Speed

After camping out in the picnic area, we split-up yesterday between the Grand Canyon and getting to Zion National Park.

The Grand Canyon certainly lived up to expectations. It's so massive it looks fake- even when you're standing right at the edge. We drove up to Point Imperial at the North Rim and hiked along the edge for about a mile or so until we found a pretty sweet lookout point to chill at for a while. No better place to take 5.

Then, instead of chancing being closed out of the campgrounds again, we hit up Zion and setup camp.

Once again, we had awesome neighbors to hang out with. We shared stories, food and supplies. They warned us about Officer Winslow and the nightime foot patrol during quiet hours. The night before, Winslow slapped our camping neighbors with a not-so-nice violation.

Also per the advice of our camping buddies, we stayed in Zion this morning for a killer hike through the Narrows. The Narrows was my favorite hike of the trip- about 20 feet wide the whole time with huge, smooth cliffs rising above us on both sides. The whole time you are walking through the river which gets about knee deep in some parts. The cliffs on either side of you get as high as 2,600ft tall. We hiked about an hour upstream and then came back. The water was crystal clear.

Zion, the Grand Canyon, and Bryce Canyon make up the "Grand Staircase" of the U.S. The lowest geological level of Bryce is the top of Zion, and the bottom of Zion makes up the top of Grand Canyon- one huge staircase.

I think Zion will prove to be my favorite park of the entire trip and will probably we the first place I'll revisit- along with Vegas.

Along those lines, I think Jake's spirits have lifted since leaving Las Vegas and now we're ready for the home stretch. As soon as we can get there, we'll be staying with Jake's family in their cabin at Estes Park, CO.

We've got one last great challenge for the car tomorrow as we cross Colorado from Grand Junction to Rocky Mountain National Park.

A Hard Day's Night

Sent 7/1/08, at 2:30pm.

What a night. With one driver down and none to go, I got us as far as I could- to Jacob Lake (40 miles from Grand Canyon North Rim).

We got there only to find no open campsites and nothing for 40 miles in any direction. This was 2am Arizona Time, so I made the call to setup the make-shift lean-to seen above, right in the middle of the RV picnic area. What were they going to do, kick us out? Ha ha. We were smart to stake the rain fly as we caught some rain at around 5am or so. All in all we got about 4 hours of sleep.

It was all worth the while, Grand Canyon updates are on the way. Wherever I go, there I am.

Why Run the A/C When We Can Blast the Heat?

So now we're headed towards the Grand Canyon. The ending of our trip now has the added variable of a seriously distressed automobile.

We're trying to get as much driving done tonight as possible, so it'll mean less time in the car tomorrow during the dessert day. Even now the road temp is 89F with the daytime high reaching around 110F.

The problem with the car is either with the radiator or transmission, and causes the engine to run really hot under stressful conditions. To remedy this (by Al's advice), we often have to drop down to 3rd gear (and about 50mph) while putting the HEAT on full blast. This helps keep the engine within normal operating temperatures, thankfully. If it gets to be too hot, we have to pull over and chill.

The risk is that she gets caught in the red and we have a true breakdown- we're being very careful. The repairs aren't something we can do on the road, we're just doing our best to baby her and get home safe.

Blasting the heat at 84F in the dessert makes this quite a ride. We're almost constantly drinking water just so we don't stop sweating. Right now I'm knocking on wood and the car is running cool.

It was great hanging out with Jesse and the guys in Vegas- it was a nice contrast to the rest of the journey. It was really cool hanging out with friends from home after 3 weeks and 5,800 miles on the road. Thanks for the accomodations at the Rio.

Viva La Vida.

Fear and Loathing of Las Vegas

Somewhere between the 108 degree heat and the constant stream of ways to have money removed from your wallet, I came to be tired of Las Vegas. This little dessert oasis is the exact opposite of almost everywhere that we have been so far. Everything has a price and all that people are concerned with is money. Up to this point everyone that we have met had been very laid back, helpful and genuinely concerned with our well being. Conversely, most people seemed only interested in ways to procure more and more money. I'm not sure what I expected, it is a city that exists solely for the purpose of offering entertainment to people in exchange for their money.

On the bright side though, we are going to appreciate the wonders of nature that we will see in the next few days. As we left, we drove out to Hoover Dam to take in a truly amazing feat of engineering and construction. The dam's immensity cannot be fathomed unless you see it person. The concrete is so thick at the base it is still curing even though it was poured in the 1930's. The dam sits as a quiet giant that ironically creates quite a ruckus 20 miles away by generating the power that enables Las Vegas to be such a crazy place.

Regardless, we soldier on and are excited to see all of the parks to which we will travel in coming days. I'll take this lesson away as we leave the city atmosphere: we all really just need to slow down and appreciate just being alive and well and having a beautiful country in which to live.

Good Things

Yes... I finally got to play a piano! It is the one thing I couldn't pack up with me and I've really missed playing everyday.

We joined the band at McFadden's for Desperado, Butterflies and Hurricanes, and Old Time Rock 'n Roll. Jake held down the vocals on Butterflies and Hurricanes. The other pianist had an amazing voice and could play some nasty solos. They have a pretty cool sound and setup. They play there like 4 nights a week and like to get the audience involved whenever possible.

Thanks guys for letting us jam out with you. At the Palms on the roof now.

What Went Around, Came Around

"You always said,
The cards would never do you wrong.

The trick you said,
Was never play the game too long."

-Bob Seger, "Still the Same"

Jesse and I sat at the same $1/$3 No-Limit table for an hour and a half and made about $300 each- enough to cover my entry yesterday. In the end, I made about $4/hour playing poker in Vegas. An easy way to make a hard living.

A Break in the Action at the Rio

Here's Jesse playing some $1/$2 on Full Tilt before going down to the casino to play live.

Chris and Ben are clocked out in the beds after their all-nighter- I lasted til about 5am.

Jesse and Jake didn't make it out with us last night, but Chris, Ben and I figured out that we knew each other in a past life. Back in the day when I lived in Mentor, they were good friends with my neighbors, the Williams. We must not have seen each other in 10 years- it took a while to figure it out.

What a small world. Good times guys.

Ace-King Doesn't Beat a Pair

Got into Vegas around 6:30pm yesterday and by 7pm I was sitting in a nightly WSOP event. In the 30 minutes leading up to it, I saw Daniel Negreanu (in the photo) and said hey to Scotty Nguyen.

Jesse backed me $100 and I put in another $240 to compete in the $100,000+ tourney. I lasted about 6 hours but got knocked out when my Ace-King met Ace-Ace all-in pre-flop. I was at half average stack at that point and was waiting to make my move. I pushed all-in with 16K under-the-gun and got one caller holding pocket aces. Of all the ways to go out, I'll take that honorable discharge- there's no escaping that play.

1st place was good for just under $27,000. I was only 19 people from the money- finished 56th of 344. I met back up with Jake, Jesse and his crew after I busted.

It was fun playing for so long in a World Series Event. I saw some ridiculous hands and met a lot of cool people.

You win some, you lose some.