The Final Days

Rain and rainbows followed
us into South Dakota

We spent the last few days of our trip driving across South Dakota, Minnesota, the corner of Wisconsin, and Illinois. Not the most exciting places to drive through, but we made them fun by staying with awesome people.

Libby and Kim in Art Alley

The first night was spent in Rapid City, South Dakota, at the house of Kim’s friend from camp, Libby. After a delicious pizza dinner, much hilarity ensued as the two girls skyped all their former camp worker friends, and many camp songs were sung. Alexander was eventually dragged into the shenanigans, and wound up being just as silly as the girls.

Robbing a bank
in a stagecoach :)

The next day, we drove across the South Dakota, driving through Mount Rushmore and visiting one of those crazy gimmicky illusion places called the Cosmos. Many old people asked us two science folk to explain the illusions, but don’t worry, we did not ruin it for everyone! We also stopped at Wall Drug (the signs every 5 feet along the road really convinced us that we must visit!) and spent some time feeling like we were in the WILD WEST!

The second night was spent in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, spent with a lovely couch-surfer and her couch-surfer friend, along with the other folks that were surfing with them. We went to a small micro-brewery and it was delicious!

MILK FIGHT!

From there, we drove across the bottom of Minnesota to visit Kim’s amigo Jimmy at his college. We went to his farm, milked cows, and tricked Alexander into climbing up the silage ladder…whoops! That night, we went out and celebrated the best bars Platteville, Wisconsin has to offer-i.e. country music galore!

Rob!

After we woke up the next morning, we called Kim’s mother and told her we were in northern Minnesota and would be wandering back to McHenry in a few days.  Little did she know that we would be surprising her later that afternoon!

On the way to McHenry, we stopped at the camp (Camp Kupugani) Kim worked at, and she was briefly reunited with her friend Rob. She was full of joy. After a quick camp tour (as well as doing some archery), we were on our way to McHenry. Two short hours later, we were home J

 Did we like the smell of adventure? Yes, yes we did.

So we are a bit behind...

but have no fear! We will update soon.

Here's a teaser...riding bikes across the Golden Gate Bridge, San Fran, the awesomeness that is Boeing and Seattle, Idaho Falls, The Grand Tetons, hammocking, Yellowstone, and Cody-where we are sleeping tonight in a teepee!!

Driving East

Craters of the Moon...ZZZZZ

We left Seattle and went inland. Our first destination was La Grande where we stayed with a ranger we found on Couchsurf. The second day we stopped off at Craters of the Moon national park which was a little underwhelming. We passed through - and ate in - Arco, which was interesting for the atomic history of the area. We finally got to Idaho Falls, too late for a Couchsurf which forced us into our second unexpected hotel stay.

Paddle away! 

From Idaho Falls, it was a short trip into the Grand Tetons National Park. This was a beautiful place to drive through. We set up camp in our hammocks on the side of Jackson Lake at Signal Mountain, with snow-capped mountains all around. We were able to get a canoe and paddled out to an island in the middle of the lake, on which we landed and climbed, much to Kim's retrospective justified displeasure (Edit by Kim...I was NOT happy landing and climbing!). 

Where we witnessed a
savage animal attack

For sunset, we drove up a nearby summit. Surprisingly, the view we expected to the West was bettered by a vast vista to the East; we could see for miles and miles and miles of stunning, varied, rolling landscape. The highlight of the view was a small lake, which we affectionately coined the Penis Lake (actually Cow Lake - whoever thought of that...). Thanks to  a bunch of fun old men with telescopic lenses we found out and watched a fight between a pack of wolves and a baby antelope. The antelope herd uselessly watched on while the baby and the mother fought off the growing pack of mutts. The Wolves won. I was backing them the whole time while Kim was a baby antelope supporter. I should have wagered some money on the outcome! We camped that night and hardly any of us were devoured by bears, much to Kim's surprise.

The view from the hammocks

Hot Springs smell NAZZZZTY

TOO CLOSE TO MY CAR!

We liked Grand Tetons (slight exception here: Kim did not like the hordes of road-approaching Buffalo). We thought, "if this is good, then the more famous adjoining Yellowstone must be immense". So we packed out bags and drove North into the inaccurately-named park. Cheapskates as we are, we went to the second cheapest campsite - Madison. The cheapest was up on "the rim", all of which was covered in a meter of snow. Madison, by contrast, is in a large crater or depression that is comparatively warm and dry..? On our first day in Yellowstone, it was cold and rainy and miserable. We went up further North to Mammoth Springs. We weren't too impressed with the springs nor the food. Seeing the place, however, reminded me of a time in my youth when I was last there - Al Gore landed in a helicopter and gave us all a chat.

It finally gets sunny after 4 days
of continuous rain!

The second day at Yellowstone was a little brighter. We wandered the various springs and gysers and pools. Some were quite stunning. Steamboat, once again, failed the blow while we were there. We had some fun in the evening when the car failed to start; the battery had gone flat somehow - fortunately, there was a handy and kind bloke from Wisconsin who helped us out; we discovered that this guy really liked Yellowstone and had spent four weeks a year for two decades there.

We survived another night in the hammocks. The bears would surely have devoured us had it not been for Kim's choosing of a camp site that was actually surrounded in large RVs, all of which had rangers in them. It was like the perfect anti-bear wall.

Buffalo Bill Dam

Not too enthusiastic about Yellowstone (YELLOWSTONE SUCKED!-Kim), we went to go see the essential Old Faithful which was faithful for us. After some miscellaneous wandering we drove east, out to the park through some epicly bleak weather. However, as we went lower the weather improved loads and became very windy as we approached the town of Cody; a place I'd been hoping to visit all trip for reasons that I never quite understood. Right before we got there we stopped off at the Buffalo Bill Dam, a very impressive - and tall - narrow concrete arch dam.

Teepee night! 

When in Cody, we decided to go for one night more camping; this time in fixed teepees! We had to make some modifications - teepees have large holes in their roofs, which seems a bit a shortcoming when huge rain clouds are gathering. We went out for food, wifi and boots - a whole barn of them in fact. Kim was in shoe heaven but the prices were off the scale... or at least off the budget.

While stealing wi-fi in a local McDonald's, we had our first major accident. Kim for all her bear fears, was brutally savaged by a car door/wind alliance.

River rafting like champs

We slept without incident in the teepee that night, and decided to go rafting the next day. We went to a local place and got a dedicated guide on a cute little 3-man raft. Hilarious. Best of all we didn't need to row. Not the most intense ride, but still a fun descent. We left Cody that same day, heading still further East....

Seattle

Drinking in Seattle on a Sunday...what heathens we are! 

The next morning, we blitzed North. Kim was on overdrive and powered through town after town, making up for lost time, jacked up on Arizona Sweet Tea. We ended up in Portland, where we spent only 6 hours, 5 3/4 of which were asleep. Portland is certainly a lovely town, but we saw none of it. Actually, that's not entirely accurate; we were able to assess the quality of thier flyovers and highway bridges, both of which were as thrilling as any flyover of highbridge could be expected to be. We were blitzing because we wanted to get to Seattle, a major stop on our desired trip. Seattle has a unique allure as a city, perched in the Pacific Northwest. It's also where Phil lives, one of my good mates from Purdue. He'd moved out there to go work at Boeing just weeks before. After a hilarious navigation of busy highways into town, some creative Kimberly navigation and dubious parking, we met up with Phil and, as typical with Phil, a entourage of ladies. As typical with Seattlites at the weekend, he was found in a gastropub, flavoursome beer in hand. This is a life I could appreciate. We enjoyed an afternoon wandering the shore of Lake Union...

Phil and a new friend

We went back to Phil's swanky new apartment where we were to base for the next couple nights. Lovely place he has himself up in Everett, right near the Boeing plant. Kinda makes me want to be in engineering... wait...

The next morning, we went to the local place to be: Boeing. They have a huge plant there in Everett that we did the tour of. Good fun. Great to see those aircraft put together. It's surprising how fast they do it; mere days to build a craft, with parts coming from everywhere. On their newer product lines, they technically have a mass production line: the aircraft are slowly but continuously dragged from one side of the building to another, with various bits added as they move. Very impressive - and clean - icon of modern industry.

Kim as an Avatar! 

Then we had a day off, just lounging around. The highlight would be a lasagne we made. Our third day in Seattle was the most busy; we started on an entertaining but obnoxiously loud Duck Tour - a drive around the city and Lake Union in a converted amphious APC. Good fun. Kim's first motorboat experience! After, we wandered the area around the Space Needle. We couldn't afford to go up the top and couldn't play our Vegas trick, so I settled by climbing modern art around the base, large, abstract structures that constitued 2% of the Space Needle's build cost. Good fun, imminently climbable. We went into the Seattle Center to see a bunch of Nirvana stuff, played some music and checked out some Avatar and Battlestar exhibits. We strolled uptown and did the famous Underworld tour: Seattle, like Chicago, had its streets raised. Unlike Chicago, the pavements and sidewalks at the original street level are still accesible in places, and a preserved - if somewhat grimy - image of the original streets and storefronts can be seen. We returned up to Phil for one more night with him.

“Oops”

Not too long ago, a friend was telling me that excitement is not necessarily a good thing. She was right about that today.

We were planning to leave Rogue River am today to get to Portland with some time to look around. But host Spencer offered to give us a ride in his Rhino, an over-sized ATV that he plays with from time to time. Kim was not in the mood for a vehicle that deliberately throws you around but I was, to her chagrin, very keen. On a promise we’d only be out for a half hour, she let Spencer and I go out for a spin. We drove the Rhino onto the back of his even-more-oversized truck and drove out to the trailhead for some fire roads that go into the forested mountains nearby.

We unloaded the Rhino and he drove us up these gravel roads, sliding and bouncing all over the place. It was loud, bumpy and twisting – so good fun for people who are not Kim like myself. Our first destination was a half-built but sweet treehouse on the top of a mountain with a hell of a view. He offered me the wheel and we went up an even steeper road. We had a scare briefly when we stalled, one wheel stuck halfway up a tree with the vehicle at 45 degrees, but were able to back out of that OK. We found a destroyed pot-growing facility and encountered a mysteriously-filled hole. We drove back down the hill – I swear it was steeper on the way down but ultimately had few problems rolling down. It was great.

The next bit was interesting. I was driving on a fairly flat but narrow trail on our return when we hit a pothole. These are not rare and indeed encouraged when on an ATV and we’d been over many. This one was a little different. We went in, it was deeper than expected and I lost control of the vehicle briefly. I recovered but was driving off the trail about to go over the edge so sharply turned back to the road. Oops. At our speed and given the rough surface below us, the wheel hit high resistance and the vehicle’s low centre of gravity wasn’t enough to hold us down. We overturned completely – possibly twice – and came to rest on our side right on the precipice. I felt no injury and the vehicle seemed stable and Spencer was conscious, so I killed the engine, unbuckled, climbed out and helped pull Spencer out. His ankle and finger were looking ugly but otherwise he was ok.

We called for help – only the second time I’ve ever had to do so – and soon had a bit of a problem: we had no idea where we were. Turns out that “an unnamed path somewhere in the forest on a mountainside” does not constitute a precise location. We we gave them an approximate location. Without a compass, sun, or an app we weren’t able to take bearings. Pro tip: iPhones can’t natively report lat/long – we could see ourselves in Google Maps but couldn't describe our position. My Android’s battery was dead due to overzealous photography earlier in the ride.

So all credit to the Rogue River Fire Department when the rumble of their trucks became audible in under half an hour. We caught a glimpse of one of them on a road a few hundred metres below us – although there wasn’t an obvious road connection between them and us. They stopped and started hiking up the hill while I ran down to meet them. Good exercise, running up and down all those hills looking for the paramedics and directing them to us. Had to break out some old skills I’ve not needed in many years. But they got to us and patched up Spencer.

Second problem we encountered was that Spencer has a suspected ankle break and wasn’t mobile. our location wasn’t road accessible. I ran a few miles trying to find a way they could bring an ambulance up but no cigar. There was a reason we were on an ATV. They called in a heli mission, although there was no LV so they starting to prep him to be winched up. I ran down to meet the rescue vehicles and hauled supplies up. Finally, all that hill running I do paid off…

You’re probably aware that using the American ambulance service isn’t quite as financially comfortable as the NHS or SAMU. Even if your arm is falling off and you’re the ongoing recipient of CPR, you have this voice in the back of your head saying '”will the insurance cover all this? Did I pay my premium this month?”. And when someone mentions helicopters that voice becomes very loud. You start looking for alternatives. Hmm, that ATV may have just flipped over and is on its side but it’s not on fire, why don’t we take that down? And so that’s what we did. The paramedics and I flipped it upright and checked it out. Not a scratch. It started up as if nothing had happened. Kudos to Yamaha for building their tough cars tough. It was arguably improved, in fact, due to the addition of vegetation throughout; it was now an ATV with a shrubbery in the back seats. We loaded Spencer in, drove down to a waiting ambulance, transferred him and headed down the mountain. He rushed off to hospital while I met up with his and my girlfriends, both of whom were understandably concerned,

There were some more adventures, including my driving of a massive all-American truck that, when driven, felt like it could drive over other cars; the smashing of a window (not me!); the purchase of $50 worth of Keystone beer (for the uninitiated, that’s a good night out for a Rugby lad); overeating at a China Buffet and a late night drive up to Portland powered by very sweet tea.

I walked away from this without so much as a scratch. Spencer was a little more banged up, but the X-rays, to everyone’s surprise, showed nothing broken. This vehicle is chilling in his garage with no damage. It could have been a lot worse in many ways: if I was injured we wouldn’t have been able to find help; we were very close to rolling down the mountain; our harnesses held us inside the rollcage, the Rhino could have not restarted; the S&R might have searched the wrong area… the list goes on. I suppose there’s a lesson here but I am surprisingly unshaken by the whole thing. 

Concerning Americans

That title is supposed to echo the LoTR first chapter as opposed to Americans that concern me (which they do on occasion :D ).

We made our way up two days ago out of California. Crikey, California is a big state. Took a long time to trek out of it. We spent the morning, on recommendation, in Prairie Creek National Park, which, ironically lacked prairies and instead was covered in colossal trees – the famous Redwoods. They’re fairly large. You can’t see their tops most of the time. There were some fun climbing opportunities, including a bunch of trees so close together they formed a platform of dirt, space enough for several people, three of four metres up. That was fun ;)

We had to make sure NEO got his picture with the Pacific!

Problem with Redwoods is that once you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all. So we set forth. The first stop was in Eureka, on the CA/OR border. We arrived, as usual, later than expected at our host for the night, Jack Justus. The reason we were late was because I wanted to go and do the quintessential but winding Pacific Drive. Some stunning views and a very fortunate break in the weather allowed for some remarkable near-dusk photo opportunities. Before it got completely dark, we saw a sign for a drive-through tree, a particularly impressive Redwood specimen that, to the horror of conversationalists, an entrepreneurial group punched a big fat hole through, big enough for our car (but probably not the average American truck or Missourian) to fit through…

Holy shenanigans, this tree is huge!

Jack was a reserved but polite host. A retired gentleman, he made us comfortable but not too exciting. We set off early* the next day and started up towards our next host in Rogue River, a small mountain town in Southern Oregon on the way to the reputed Crater Lake. However, due to our early start we were facing the unprecedented event of arriving at our host too early. This situation, of course, was unacceptable: we have a reputation for tardiness to maintain. So we pulled into a local cinema and went to see Thor. Excellent film; visual effects and fun are maxed out and then sprinkled by Portman. Better yet, we were the only ones in the theatre; it was a private showing. Guess these small towns don’t have a lot of demand for weekday afternoon cinema going… perhaps they have something else going on?

Suitable enlatened, we rocked up to to Rogue River, a small, cute mountain town. Our host, Spencer, was a very jolly chap. They welcomed us in, had some (delicious) pizza and (delicious) beer. Also joining us was his girlfriend Reina, roommate Katie, her boyfriend James, and a plethora of dogs and cats, none of which were particularly house-trained (the animals, that is).

The next morning we got ready to se off to Crater Lake but discovered, despite it being June, that the roads around the Lake to deep buried in snow and only a tiny bit was accessible. Balls. I’d just persuaded Kim that we could camp outside without fear of retribution from the Confederacy of Anthrovoric Ursines out there and that significant accomplishment was dashed.

So we formed a plan B with our host’s recommendation. We set off South, instead, to the Oregon Caves, a National Monument (ooOooOoh). After a long fun/nauseating winding road to a very remote gully, we found the well-developed cave complex. We joined a tour a got an eclectic guide ranger who appreciated our snarky sense of humour. It’s a fun cave, lots of steps and some impressive chambers of Marble, with a backstory of its discovery and exploitation.

Winding road back to Rogue River. We picked up our hosts and drove down to the next town where they were having an all-American Rodeo. Bulls, pissed-off horses, a clown and pretty lasses on horseback. One guy got minced and there was some over the top patriotism. Good stuff. Something we’ve wanted to see for a while, something to check off the list. There were cowboys, beer, guns, trucks, flags – it was like the Midwest all over again :)

USA! USA!

We stayed another night with Spencer and co, with a plan to set off promptly the next morning.

* Actually early! We even had breakfast at breakfast time after we left. Incredible.

San Fran Sis Co

Well, we made it to the Pacific proper. Kimberly got her first sight as we drove up the SF peninsula and saw the Bay. 3 Oceans, check! We made a beeline to a childhood friend of Kim’s, Dan, who recently moved out to San Fran and who agreed to accommodate us for an evening. After a hair raising parking experience that involved a 45deg angle, a curve on which 2 of the car’s wheels became airborne, some serious brake groaning and an expression of horror in the making on Kim’s face, we arrived at his nice but scarcely filled apartment. We didn’t stay long as he had to get off to do some work (at 7pm, as you do in social IT), so Kim and I drove (after a similarly interesting de-parking process) to the nearby Twin Peaks viewpoint. We got up there, found a (flat) parking space just in time for sunset and the achievement of the world windspeed record. It was a stunning view. I was at this point 6 months before with Filipe, but then the more conventional San Fran fog obscured everything. It was a lovely sight.

We returned to the flat, parked (!) and with Dan went off on the DART to a reputed Sushi place that Dan advocated. It was great! Ate loads. The bill came to about 3 days’ budget, but it was worth it nonetheless. We went back, planned to have a bunch of drinks but instead fell into a food coma for 9 hours. Wild night.

The next day we identified the waterfront as a serious tourist trap so felt obliged to go there. The fun started almost immediately: when quietly in line for something in a Walgreens, a huge, disheveled ginger guy with a dirty face and bandaged fingers turned to us and accused us of racism. Apparently, he felt compelled to tell us somewhat astonished visitors that discrimination against ginger people is not tolerated in San Fran. We are still uncertain which of our silent remarks or invisible gestures invoked this response, but after this angry man’s tirade, we will be sure to continue not insulting gingers. Especially in SF’s Walgreens. I now associate that downtown area with New Years’ fireworks and crazy people (not at the same time, fortunately).

We continued along the Embarcadero, climbing under things, admiring other things, and thing like that. A highlight was a clam chowder on Fisherman’s Wharf that was served in a bowl made of bread. Genius! Why can’t we get food served in other food more often? We went to the old-skool game machine museum (basically, an arcade from the 1890s) and discovered that Kim is Hot Stuff. Then we went on a WWII submarine that happens to be outside. Subs are fun to go in and be amazed at how many men fit into such a small space in an era that didn’t encourage gay orgies. One of the great things about submarines is that they’re waterproof, so we were blissfully ignorant of the rain that had started falling. Until we went outside. We briskly walked to a tram halt, briefly stopping a Ghirardelli’s chocolate store to get some dangerously high concentration chocolates. Dan got the 100% cacao – something he’d bitterly regret (HAHAHAHAH!). The tram plan was good but it was the same plan that everyone else in SF had, so it was a long wait and a crowded ride. We did, however, talk to a very excitable bunch of ladies who showed – uncharacteristically – far more interest in Kimberly’s rear than Dan’s or mine. Fun people, them.

We got back to downtown where we met up with Shanelle, a Purdue friend of mine I’d not seen for months owing to her being in France for a semester. We went to go see a film – Pirate of the Caribbean – then got some late night food. We left Dan and went back to Shanelle place across the Bay.

And what a place! Woah, she lives in a mansion. Proper mansion – with columns and winding staircases and 4-car garage and rooms that have no practical purpose. We got an entire wing of the house to stay in, a definite step up from the “regular” couchsurfer beds that we’d experienced up to then! It was very luxurious. Between the three of us we helped make a (small) dent in the wine collection and slept.

The next morning we DARTed back to downtown to meet Dan for a bike ride. Of course, we waited until we were in the hilliest town in the US to do this. We got some dodgy-looking bikes, went through the city, checked out the bands in Golden Gate park, the Observatory, the Academy of Science (the outside of it at least), some Jack-in-the-Box food, and, of course, the Golden Gate bridge which we cycled across twice. Pretty impressive bit of building, that one. The best bit was taking those bikes down Lombard Street (the curly one!), and the expression on Kim’s face as she reluctantly did so..

We got back (late) to Shanelle’s and, not being in a rush to leave, were kindly invited to stay another night. The next day Shanelle and family were out so we took a day of from the holiday and loitered around. I did some work, Kim visited a local mall. We cooked using nothing but food packages that were already open, as all the stuff in the pantry was so prettily arranged we felt guilty about moving any of it. We went outside to eat and, much to our surprise, all the cooking utensils and pots had vanished when we came back in. Turns out they have a very discreet but effective cleaning staffer. That night we went to a Cheesecake Factory and had no cheesecake, but other, better things to eat, courtesy of Shanelle’s generous father.

We left the next morning, drove across the bay, went to the Exploratorium (a science and perception museum), cross the Golden Gate bridge and drove North to a town called Sevastopol. On the way we stopped at an In-And-Out Burger joint so I could order – and successfully eat – a 7x7. Finally, we arrived at a modern hippie commune where we stayed the night in a acupuncturist's “office”. Fun times.