Sunday night: Las Vegas

Sunday morning: Grand Canyon

We woke up early in Williams, AZ and raced to the Grand Canyon McDonald's to beat the 10:30 breakfast deadline. After a couple overpriced sausage egg McMuffins, we decided we might as well go check out the canyon since we were so close. At first, after paying $9.00 for a McDonald's breakfast, I was worried that the Grand Canyon would be an over-commercialized tourist attraction. We found a park and ride a couple blocks down the road. Since it was a national park, admission without a car was free. Altogether, we had arguably our best day of the trip so far without spending a dollar.

I'm sure I'm not the first to tell you that the Grand Canyon is something you NEED to see before you die, but it really is true. We spent about an hour and a half at just one of the many lookouts. With more time and the proper gear, I could have spent a couple days up there looking at different angles and hiking down into the canyon.

Our initial reaction was awe. After picking our jaws up off the ground, we inched closer to the edge of the viewing platform and looked down. The view was amazing, but we decided to check out the views from the ledges outside the viewing platform.

We took about 90 pictures in an hour and a half. So, yes, a pic a minute. Most of the pictures were poses close to ledges-half because they looked cool, half because we knew they would freak out our moms. These pictures were taken on a rotating basis. One or two of us would work up some courage and go to the edge, take some pics then crawl away from the edge. Both Matts and I could only handle being on the edge for a minute or two before having to back away. Danny was completely unfazed, however.

The pictures really speak for themselves...

Saturday: Santa Rosa Lake, NM to Williams, AZ

After our fun night of camping in Santa Rosa, New Mexico we woke up pretty early because the sun was shining brightly through our tent.

There was certainly no case of lying around in bed because the bed feels so comfortable, because we had essentially slept the previous night on a bed of gravel. We thought our blankets would provide enough padding for us, but real sleeping pads were what would have done the trick. In any event, it was just another part of the adventure and we quickly packed up our tent and belongings and got back on the road eager to make it to the Grand Canyon, or at least get as close to it as possible that day.

On our path across New Mexico we encountered our first real issue thus far that cost us travel time (besides the speeding ticket, but that cost us money, not time). About 20 miles before Albuquerque, the Volvo’s front right tire blew out totally unexpectedly. It was a random thing that we could not prevent.

Eager to get back out onto the road and unable to find the spare tire in this car that we were not very familiar with, we called triple A assuming we were going to need a tow to the nearest tire place (which happened to be Walmart). About 10 minutes after the tow truck left to come get us, of course we found the spare that was stashed underneath the back trunk. We felt kind of stupid when the tow truck guy showed up and we had a spare tire there, but it turned out to be good, though, because our car jack was pretty soft and the guy had a much better one. So we changed the tire (or I should say the guy changed it while we watched…this was a very emasculating experience), and made our way to Walmart to get a tire put on. Of course we just had to blew out our tire on a Saturday when the Walmart mechanics were most backed up, so we had to wait well over an hour to be seen. The one positive was that Sam put our pictures from the camera onto a disc so we could free up space on his memory card and take more pictures going forward.

We got back onto the road and powered our way through New Mexico into Arizona. We were warned once we got into Arizona to be careful, or basically to leave as soon as possible, because of the new Immigration related laws recently enacted that basically allows police to search brown people at any time without having to provide any sort of reason (I don’t totally understand it, but that’s how it was explained). As a side note I’d like to say that from what I understand, this law sounds like total bullshit. But anyway let’s move forward. So we made it through Flagstaff and into Williams, Arizona where we decided to bite the bullet and split a hotel room (our camping experience the night before had left some of our backs extra sore). Williams is about an hour from the Grand Canyon, so we figured we could stay there, get up early, and head out to the Grand Canyon before we made our way to Vegas.

We got into the hotel, and not long after we headed out to the town of Williams to grab some dinner. Williams is situated right along the historic Route 66, so the whole town and half the restaurants is centered completely around Route 66 and selling memorabilia related to it and the Grand Canyon. We settled on a pizza place, and after a nice meal we headed back to the car, anxious to sleep. As we were about to open the doors to the car, Danny unexpectedly puked all over the street (which was Route 66!). I couldn’t help but laugh because Danny had given no indication whatsoever that he was feeling sick or nauseous up until that point. I knew he had some sinus issues and was blowing his nose a lot, but this episode of throwing up took us all by surprise. We made sure he was ok, but in the end had to laugh about it not long after because it was really funny.

Friday: Ft. Smith, Arkansas to Santa Rosa Lake, New Mexico

So we’re doin’ it. We’re officially roadies. This is the section of the trip that we wanted to get done as fast as possible (perhaps too fast). No offense to Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas and New Mexico, but we wanted to spend as much time as possible with beloved friends, family and weather and the middle southern states just weren’t bringing much of any of those. Three-hour stretches without stopping don’t phase us any more. Our iPods need recharging before our bladders. I just don’t need to go to the bathroom anymore. This might be a problem in the near future but for right now, it’s great.

Today was our first really early start. I’ve been waking up way too early all trip. I’m not sure if it’s my body not adapting to the time changes or just pure excitement. Last night, I wanted to leave at 8a.m., but everyone else wanted to leave at 9a.m., so we compromised and left at 9:45. I woke up at 5a.m. and struggled to fall back asleep, so I decided to go outside and take some pictures because I vaguely remembered learning that early morning is the best lighting for pictures. Not that the best lighting could turn Ft. Smith into Jennifer Aniston, but I tried anyway.

We crossed into Oklahoma and promptly stopped for the first (and certainly not last) McDonald’s breakfast of the trip. The waitress the night before had warned us about “God’s Country,” but it wasn’t until I saw the billboards (“You call it abortion, God calls it murder), bumper stickers (“It’s not a choice, it’s a child”) and mega-chuches right off the highway that I believed it.

I come from places (Vermont, Swarthmore) where religion is a very private affair, so such outward religious preaching and condemnations were very new to me.

Another thing that was new to me in Oklahoma was large-scale wind power. I’m in my second summer working for NRG, a wind resource measurement company in Vermont, but Vermont is far behind in wind energy production. Oklahoma and Texas are in the wind corridor of the United States. They have great wind and are starting to use it to reduce their dependence on coal and oil. Some people complain that wind turbines are ugly or destroy scenic views, but I think they look cool and symbolize symbiotic relationship between energy and nature, rather than a parasitic one.

We stopped for lunch at the Cattlemen’s Cafe in Oklahoma City, another recommendation from the Road Food book that Dean gave us. The diner was in the Stockyard District. Oklahoma City is the first city I have been in that has such a district. It was basically the feedlot center of Oklahoma and probably some of Nebraska and northern Texas as well. The food was good, not superb. The atmosphere was pretty cool though. It is clearly the place that all the ranchers go after they buy or sell their livestock at the market. Vegetarians not welcome. I had the steak soup an the steak burger. Not bad, not great. Back on the road.

Texas was pretty similar to Oklahoma. Flat, lots of cattle, still some God-fearing billboards. We stopped in Amarillo to switch drivers and argue about whether to eat or not. I wasn’t a big fan of Amarillo and it might have tainted my opinion of Texas as a whole. Turner and I left Amarillo a couple minutes ahead of Matt and Danny. We usually drive as a caravan, but I guess we didn’t want to wait for them this time. A half hour later, as we were nearing the New Mexico border, the Audi caught up with us and they went ahead of us. Just as I moved over to the left lane to follow them, a sheriff car zipped into my rear view mirror. We were done. The speed limit on I-40 was a consistent 75, and we were probably going 90. I started to pull over, but he sped by us and was gone. I was in the middle of breathing a sigh of relief when I realized that this was not exactly great news because Matt and Danny were unaware. I immediately called Danny, who answered with an oblivious “YAAAOOORGH!!”, but it was too late. The sheriff already had them. Matt’s roadtrip budget took a heavy hit. Bummer. Matt was quick-minded enough to snap a picture with his Blackberry strictly “for the blog and blog-related purposes.”

Speeding cost us about 30 minutes. Our hopes of getting to a campground near Albuquerque were doomed not only by our renewed commitment to traffic regulations but also by a fast-setting sun. We did not want to set up the tent for the first time in the dark. My fear of snakes made me not want to be anywhere in New Mexico in the dark. We stopped at the first rest area in New Mexico and found a state park halfway to Albuquerque that we thought we could make before sundown going 75mph. I was reassured by the woman working at the rest area that the only poisonous snake in New Mexico was the Rattlesnake and that they really did rattle, so I could hear them and start heading (read “running”) in the other direction. For some reason, her co-worker thought this was a good time to mention that he saw one of these at the campground we were planning on staying at. Not sure if he was trying to be an asshole or not, but he also mentioned that the one he saw did not rattle.

One hour later (and fifteen minutes after our GPS’ died), we pulled up to the Santa Rosa Lake State Park. The sign said that a New Mexico camping license was required and called this area a “primitive camping area.” This might as well have said Rattlesnake Park to me. In democratic fashion, “we” decided to just put our money in the box and set up camp because there was no park ranger (me: who will take care us when we get bitten by the snakes?” My Jordan shorts were off and replaced by my canvas Carharrt pants in about 26 seconds.

We were at a race against the sun. Luckily the tent wasn’t very hard to set up. We had two flashlights. I automatically adopted one of them while I took pictures, set up the sleeping bags and rationed out bug spray. The other three guys shared the other while they wandered around the desert gathering sticks for a fire. The view was amazing.

We didn’t think it would rain, so we didn’t put on the rain cover and had a great view of the stars all night. I had plenty of time to look at them because I couldn’t sleep. One, every noise I heard sounded like a rattle. Two, we decided not to use the air mattress that Teryn lent us. In the wise words of Matt Allen: “These rocks are pretty soft.” I agreed with him because it was dark and I really wanted to get the tent door closed. We learned an important lesson: No matter how soft the rocks feel, they are not comfortable to sleep on.

Sam

Thursday: Nashville to Ft. Smith, Arkansas

I had cottage cheese pancakes for the second time in my life in Nashville. Teryn’s pancakes were just as flawless as the batch Mr. Allen (Dean) whipped for us in Seattle. It’s really nice to see a family tradition being passed on and spreading to new places.
It’s also really nice to eat a great breakfast. (MA now taking over writing this post for Danny). After gathering our stuff and packing it into our cars (which now had more room because Bruno and Gina were staying in Nashville to hang out for a couple more days before returning to reality), we said our goodbyes and thank you’s to my sister Teryn, Bruno, and Gina. I must say that it is funny just how long it takes all of us to get our shit together before we can leave to go somewhere, and everyone else on the trip can definitely attest to that. We were now entering the grind mode portion of the trip where our days would consist mainly of driving and not as much daily activities in the places we were stopping. Food would be the main motivator to stop.

So we got on the road headed to our next stop, Memphis. It was about a three hour drive from Nashville to Memphis, which went real smoothly. We were all pretty excited about getting to Memphis because by that time we were hungry again, and our friend Alvin had recommended a great BBQ place for us to go to (where he suggested we try the BBQ pulled pork sandwiches). We arrived at Central BBQ and could tell pretty quickly that this might be one of the better food stops on the trip. We laughed at the entrance to the restaurant because there was a sign that read “Hippies use the back door.” Which was right up our alley. Being four liberal, Swarthmore educated guys the sign was probably made for people like us, but we had a good laugh with the restaurant owner (we think he was) when we got in. We explained our road trip to the guy, and he took us through the menu and his recommendations. We wanted to try a little of everything, so we ordered dry rub ribs, three kinds of wings (dry rub, wet, and Jamaican jerk), macaroni and cheese, and a pulled pork sandwich (for Alvin, it was delicious, too). We tried some of the locally brewed beer as well. I’m not sure whether the guy really liked us or if we just ordered a lot of food, but he ended up giving us a discount (the police discount).

Oh, and it was also funny how multiple people gave us incredulous looks when we told them our ultimate destination that day was Fort Smith, Arkansas. They couldn’t believe we weren’t going to spend more time in Memphis, or rather that we would want to spend more time in Arkansas than in Memphis. Anyway the food was amazing! Some of the best BBQ I’ve ever had. I think we agreed that the dry rub was not as good as the wet wings. I personally loved the Jamaican jerk (shoutout to Jamaica!).

From Memphis we made our way through Arkansas eventually ending up at Fort Smith. We had one small hiccup where we got momentarily caught up in Little Rock (shoutout to Bill Clinton), but after about 6 hours we made it. We had had conversations the night before about where exactly we were going to stay this night. Originally we thought we could make it to Oklahoma City and maybe camp somewhere, but we found out that would have been a grind. Then we figured out that our Swarthmore friends Jake, Derek, and Rebecca were going to stop in Fort Smith on their own road trip, so we decided to go there so we could hang with them. We also wanted to make sure we could watch Game 1 of the NBA finals. So we agreed to get a cheap motel/hotel in Fort Smith. On the way in, Sam and I did a quick wikipedia to figure some things out about Forth Smith and we realized this city meant more to us than we could have ever imagined. First, Ronnie Brewer and Bryant Reeves were two NBA players that hailed from there. Second, it was the second biggest city in Arkansas. Lastly, but far more importantly, Fort Smith, Arkansas was the location for the final, climactic scene in the movie Bruno. Now our basketball team had had a hilarious team viewing of this film during winter break this past school year, and it is hard to put into words just how funny this was to us. It was the site of what the movie called “Straight Dave’s Man Slammin’ Max Out.” It was a wrestling match the main character of Bruno set up where spectators thought they were going to watch wrestling but ended up seeing two guys making out in a cage match. The largely anti-gay Fort Smith crowd went hysterical and tried desperately to stop what was taking place, throwing chairs at the cage and screaming obscenities. One person was even caught on camera crying because they could not take the queer act unfolding in front of them. Anyway, sorry for the detailed explanation but the context had to be set. See the movie if you want additional context.

Ok so we arrived, found a nice Days Inn and sat down and starting watching the game. Kobe was doing work all game (much to Danny’s delight, and much to Sam’s displeasure) and the Lakers dominated throughout. At halftime we walked a few blocks down to a sports bar to watch the rest of the game and get dinner. There we met some very friendly waitresses (one of whom was very attractive…we were all captivated by her accent), and had a good laugh about our four IDs being from four different states across the country. Danny told her he was from Long Island, and she looked back at him with a blank stare, and said she had no idea where that was but she bet it was nice. When we told her that we were on a basketball team, she explained to us that she was on her own team. Her sport—livestock judging. Even after a five minute explanation I still have no idea what it is, I guess you just tell people how nice their cows look and stuff.

At the tail end of the meal a group of fellow Swarthmore road trippers stopped by for a beer. Jake, Derek and Rebecca are taking a similar trip and were on their way from Chicago to San Antonio. It was cool to meet up with them and Ft. Smith, Arkansas was a pretty random place for a meet-up. We bid them farewell and went to back to the room to get some sleep so we could begin another “grind it out” day…

MAllen2

Tuesday night to Wednesday: Louisville to Nashville

After the Muhammad Ali museum experience, we hopped back in our cars and headed to a huge park in the suburbs to play basketball with Margot’s guy friends. The previous night at the farm we had mentioned that were basketball players (which usually isn’t a secret considering we have two 6’7” guys and a 6’3” guy, with me being the exception at 5’10”), and Margot’s friends immediately suggested that we hoop the next the day. We weren’t sure how many would show up or how serious they were, but when we got to the park the next day we quickly learned that they don’t offer up false promises. With our guys and theirs, we had 11 total, perfect for a nice 5 on 5 game (that extra sub is huge considering how out of shape most of us had gotten since the end of the season). The first game we played Margot’s friends versus our group of basketball players plus Bruno B. The only basketball player of Margot’s friends was Robbie, and while he is a good player, we quickly learned that these teams were a bit lopsided (we won pretty handily). The next game we switched the teams up separating basketball players on each team. The games that ensued were very competitive and also fun as hell. We were dapping each other and laughing like we had been balling together for years.

Turner was triple jumping his way to the hoop and even Bruno was a monster on the offensive glass (we found out that his calves were no joke or accident). Turner and Danny even got a few dunks (fitting that the only two black dudes on the court were the ones that got dunks). It was a perfect way to conclude an all together awesome day in Louisville, Kentucky. After the game we left the court sweaty as all hell and headed to the busiest Qdoba in America (according to Margot) for a nice post game dinner before we would head out to Nashville. While I am a staunch Chipotle supporter, I will admit that this Qdoba certainly hit the spot, but mainly because we hadn’t eaten since breakfast (which was Mark’s BBQ) and just played basketball for two hours. So anyway we ate and showered back at Margot’s, said our goodbyes and thank you’s to Margot and her parents, then headed off to our next destination: Nashville (to see my Sister!).

The drive was only a two and a half hours, so it felt like nothing at this point. The only eventful part of our drive to Nashville was crossing over into the Central time zone (and also crossing into Tennessee), which was actually great for us because we definitely appreciated the extra hour to sleep. After settling into my sister’s apartment (which was fun for me because this was my first time visiting her in her new home), it didn’t take us long to fall asleep after finding our sleeping arrangements (and also after watching “In the Mix” starring Usher and Sam and I’s future co-wife, Sloan from Entourage). Bruno was also coming to Nashville to visit a friend of his, so he ended up spending the night at his friend’s place (this was helpful because we were at capacity in my sister’s apartment). I really liked her apartment, and all of the pictures from home and of our family and friends made me feel like I was back at home in Seattle. After sleeping in a bit and lounging around, we headed out down the street from the apartment to Pancake Pantry for brunch (INSERT PICTURE), a famous Nashville spot. This was big because it was the first restaurant that we ate at from the book my Mom and Dad had gotten us detailing hundreds of road trip places to eat across the country. The food did not disappoint. There were over a dozen different kinds of pancakes, and just our table sampled at least four or five different kinds. Turner was especially enamored with the cinnamon cream sauce that you could pour along with syrup. We left Pancake Pantry extremely satisfied and full, and climbed into the cars to head to buy a tent for the middle portion of the trip. We knew going in that the first part of the trip we would spend staying with friends and family, and there was much more certainty and structure in our game plan. For the middle part of the country, we are approaching it with the following goals:

1. Drive as much as possible
2. Stop briefly at cool restaurants or landmarks
3. Watch the NBA finals

With these goals in mind, we wanted to get a tent so we could simplify our sleeping arrangements and focus on making good time to get to the West Coast where destinations of interest lay (Grand Canyon, Vegas, and California coast). In any event, we bought our six person tent, which we figured would be a perfect tent for our four XL person group (except me, I’m more of a medium). Sam rolled over four times in the tent, and if we had four Sam’s we figured it would be a tight squeeze in this four person tent. So we grabbed the tent and headed back across Nashville to visit my sister’s school that she is teaching at in East Nashville. We drove to and around her high school she is teaching at (Stratford High), and also drove through some nearby neighborhoods that were affected by the flooding Nashville experienced earlier in the year. From there we drove to nearby housing projects where many of Teryn’s students live, and even ran into one of her students in the process. For me it was great to connect the experiences that Teryn has described to me during his first year teaching experience at Stratford to the area that she is living and working in. She is so invested and interested in helping her students and I admire her so much for her dedication to her teaching and students even though it may be a temporary situation.

From there we drove downtown and parked along the waterfront and walked to Broadway Street. There we saw a number of bars with live music and a generally festive atmosphere with aspiring musicians playing street side hoping for tips. Teryn explained to us how the flooding from the nearby river had risen high enough to get to knee level at a historical fort at least 30 feet above the water level at the time we were visiting. After seeing downtown, we headed back to my sister’s apartment, but not before stopping at a sports bar for some wings and other food. Food (especially wings and BBQ) has been an essential part of this part thus far, and we have truly been spoiled by the quantity and quality of the food we have been able to enjoy so far. After a couple hours watching LIFE in HD on Teryn’s TV, we headed back out for more food at this awesome Mexican restaurant, Cantina Laredo (I think). We enjoyed yet another feast along with some tasty margaritas. It was a great ending to another great day. After dinner we headed back to the apartment to plan our next day, which was still up in the air. Not too much planning was done, though, because we were tired. So tired that Matt Turner, Danny, and I all managed to fall asleep together on a max two person blow up bed.

Stay tuned for more…

Matt A.

Tuesday: exploring Louisville

We drove back out to Louisville and were completely awake by 1p.m. Upon severe recommendations from Margot's friends, we went

to Mark's Feed Store for lunch. We decided that the number of cop cars in the parking lot during lunchtime is a pretty good indicator of how good the meal will be. Mark's had 5, including a canine unit. It lived up to and may have exceeded

expectations. We have decided for the rest of the trip not to stop to eat until we find places with more than one cop car outside. For the one or two major robberies we may witness from here to Seattle, I bet we find 10-15 incredible meals. Policemen know how to eat, no denying that. Meal highlights: grilled corn on the cob, HoneyWings (which are trademarked, which kind of tipped us off at how chronic they would be), BBQ pulled pork sandwich and traffic-cone sized fountain drinks. As we were planning the trip, I started watching a little more Travel Channel than usual. The show Man vs. Food has been a real inspiration. I'm very competitive and the show is straight up my alley, traveling around different American cities, huge portions of great local flavors and competition. When I saw Mark's' "World's Biggest BBQ Pork Sandwich" it was game over.

It was 1lb. and after using a halftime walk around the block, I was a couple bites from finishing, but really didn't want to. The waitress saved me when she pulled Margot's plate and spilled green bean juice right on my sandwich. I pretended to be mad, but I was thankful for the excuse not to punish myself further.

After lunch, we went to the Lousville Slugger plant. I love baseball, but I wasn't about to pay for a tour of a baseball bat factory. It was really cool to peek in the windows and see some of the process. They make personalized bats for just about every major league hitter. Turner and Danny had the chance to try out some bats in the batting cage. Turner did alright with a Griffey replica. Danny chose Derek Jeter, foolishly started talking smack about that baseball team from New York and promptly failed to connect on any of the ten pitches. If Bruno hadn't taken the tramp tumble in the morning, this might have been the highlight of the day.

Matt got to pose for a picture with Jesus's bat the day before he retired.

Next, we went to a hotel/restaurant called 21c that had a real cool art gallery in it. I'm usually not a big fan of art galleries because my attention span is pretty short, but this one was modern and interactive and we all had a blast. Not sure how successful their business plan is because the gallery is free, hoping to draw people to stay/eat in their hotel. The modern/technological style of the gallery seems to draw a young crowd (example: us) that can't exactly afford to stay in a hotel with an art gallery (or in our case, even a working elevator). The highlights for me were:

1. Seeing how excited Danny got when he saw a painting by one of his art idols, Kehinde Wiley.

2. An interactive exhibit with a live video camera broadcasting images of people facing it with letters falling, making poems. Hard to explain, but we were intrigued enough that we sat there taking pictures for a solid ten minutes. Hopefully these are worth a couple words...

3. Smoke ring machine.

4. Portrait of Nikolas Sarkozy made by shooting different size bullets at a piece of black plywood.

Next up was the Muhammad Ali Center. I knew Ali (born in Louisville) was an incredible athlete, but I never really appreciated it because I didn't have much respect for boxing. That lasted a couple hours. Not only was I convinced of his place atop the world's greatest athletes, but I admired his dedication to social issues of freedom and equality. We were a little too tuckered out to fully appreciate the more traditional exhibits, but we had a blast watching some classic Ali-Frazier bouts and hitting the punching bags.

Sam