December

I'm in California. It's hard to believe that about a month has passed
since I started my trip in Philadelphia! Everything has gone
according to plan or better so far. I plan to hang out with my good
friends Kallie and Josh and Keren for a couple of days before they fly
back to Pittsburgh. My usual blog updates with camara photos showing
where I've been will have to wait until I have easy wireless Internet
connection somewhere.

I'm in the process of working out my plans for December. I have a lot
of ideas of who I want to see and where I'd like to go, mostly around
California. I also want to rest and take a breather, write a lot of
notes and some letters, organize my van to make the space nicer, read
some books, listen to some tim keller sermons, ride my bike, get more
time at beaches or national parks, visit lots of people, call people,
call farms, deal with some insurance stuff and mail that needs to be
sorted out, and other activities like those. Wow, those are going to
keep me plenty busy!

zzyzx

my # 1 favorite road name so far on this trip is one I saw as an exit
off of I-15 in California: zzyzx rd! and yes, that's how it's
spelled (it's niether a typo nor a substitute for an explative).

van wash

wednesday night i stayed near modesto with my sister jeni and mark and their four kids sabrina, joshua, julia, and isaiah.  grandma and poppa joined for thanksgiving.    we played games, ate food, gave thanksgiving, talked, played more games...   and they also helped me rediscover what color my van has by washing off the dirt.  here are some before and after shots...

some of the helpers...

i should get more time to spend with jeni and the rest in december.  i didn't get a picture with them all, but i think thats because i'm going to come back anyway.  oh well.

agricultural checkpoint

upon entering california, all vehicles were required to stop at the agricultural checkpoint.   the checkpoint lady who i pulled up to must have been very impressed with my minivan house because she asked me to open the rear hatch so she could take a closer look.   she asked where i was coming from and was noticeably shocked when i said philadelphia.  i'm pretty sure she doesn't get that as an answer very often, but given the layer of salt and foreign dirt on the van it was a believable story.  i opened the rear hatch for her and she said 'ok.'   i guess that's not a bad rating given the fact that i didn't have the chance to tidy up first.

pacific coast

i finally made it to the pacific coast.  yay!   i had such a beautiful day driving up the coastal highway.

my tradition:

throw in a beautiful sunset as well, and i'm finding my soul soothed : )

sleepin' in the van!

i was eager to see the pacific ocean and wanted to see it in daylight, but that meant it would have to wait until wednesday because the dam is about five hours away from the ocean and tuesdays sun was already falling.  i put myself in position for wednesday morning by driving all the way to a walmart parking lot in simi valley which is close to malibu and spent the night there in the van.  by the way, my iphone has made these decisions so easy!!

that's the first time i slept in my van.  it was great!  my bed made of plastic stacking shelves worked out just as i hoped.  or actually better than i thought it would.   it was warm enough in southern california not to even need my sleeping bag at first.  i used it in the second half of the night and it made me happily cozy.  my sleep was disturbed repeatedly due to my heightened awareness of anyone who might tell me to leave.  noises woke me up throughout the night, like the trash-can-emptier vehicle, the walmart semi-tractor-trailers making pickups and deliveries, automated sprinklers spraying one side of my van like a rainstorm, walmart after-hours employees getting in their own vehicles to go home, etc.  but i got some sleep despite all the disturbances.

dam

where to go next?   my california destination of sacramento was well within range, but i'd made such good progress that i was ahead of schedule.   my original plan was to spend time in some of our national parks, but the cold weather sleeping situation changed that.   as i pondered where to go, i thought to my self "isn't the hoover dam nearby?"   indeed, it was only an hour away!   i had never been there, so i headed that direction.  i drove a cross and walked across going back and forth between mountain and pacific time zones.  no, i did not go on the tour (because i assumed it had a cost).  however, a bunch of you apparently think highly of the dam tour, so maybe i'll have to swing by there in january if i can.  you have behooved me.

hoover dam with its intake towers.

spillway with movable weirs (bottom right).

the dam was not as wide as i imagined, though it looked as deep as i thought it would - very deep.  although the dam was impressive in its own right,  the new arch bridge under construction for the bypass was capturing my attention and admiration just as much, if not more.

when i got back to my van, i realized two things:   1) i'm super satisfied that i got a minivan and not some huge rv or anything else.  2) it really badly needs a car wash!

las vegas

on my way to las vegas, my friend neal contacted his brother and arranged for me to stay with him.  so i had the privilege of meeting my hosts brian and arlethe upon arrival.  they accepted me as though they'd known me their whole lives.  what a warm welcome to las vegas!  this was the view from the highway approaching the lit-up city.

on my way out of las vegas in the morning, i quickly drove a few streets in downtown.

denver to las vegas

the beginning of my drive through the colorado rockies included about an hour of yucky snow covered winding highways.  my van handled it pretty well, but got incredibly dirty in the process...

i don't have any windshield wiper fluid (yet), so the road salt on the windshield started to develop a translucency problem.  the problem is when the salty water dries up, the salt remains and blocks the view.  my temporary solution (pun intended) was to reach my arm out of the window with a water bottle and pour water while the wipers were on.   at 60 mph this worked, but not without having lots of cold water blow up my coat sleeve and into the van window.  at lest it allowed me to see my way to a gas station where i could clean the windshield for real.

colorado is beautiful.

utah too...

which way to go?

before leaving denver, i considered three alternate routes (see map below).  1) i-80 goes thru southern wyoming, salt lake city, and northern nevada.  since i've taken this way before, i wanted to try another route.   2) i-70 goes over the rockies in the middle of colorado, and thru the middle of utah where the interstate terminates and 'continues' as highway route 50.  this was my desired route because i hadn't taken it before and it got me off the interstate through nevada.   my plan was to spend a night in my van in central utah and a night in central nevada.   i got in bed satisfied with my choice of the second alternate...   that is until i imagined spending my first two nights in my van in the forecasted 15 degree nights of utah and nevada.  they were to be the coldest nights of the week in those high altitudes.   no thanks!   before i went to sleep i worked out some details on a southern / lower-altitude route.  3)  where i-70 terminates, it T's with i-15 which runs southward toward las vegas, cutting the NW corner of arizona along the way and dropping from well above 5000 ft to about 2000 ft.  the forecasted lows in las vegas were in the 40's...   much preferred conditions for trying out my van's bed...  then the route would continue by wrapping around the southern and western sides of yosemite.  yes, good, i was happy with that as the plan.

hannah

about a year ago my friends denise and amy connected me by email with their friend, hannah.   she had recently been on a trip around the country by train and she gave me good tips on travel ideas which helped me plan my own trip.  it's rare that i get to become friends with someone prior to ever meeting them, but such was the case with this friend.

i met up with hannah in denver and we had a great day walking, chatting, drinking coffee, and pondering life.   she showed me around some of denver and then showed me the warehouse that will soon facilitate hundreds of volunteers and thousands of shoe boxes for about two months as operation christmas child gets into full swing.  she is in charge of the orders and all things related which is not a small task.

this photo is at snooze's in denver.  hannah is on the left, me on right, and rest of the people are some of her friends who were visiting from her home state of wyoming.

denver

matt and leigh are two new friends from denver that i met when my friends john and kristin and i drove to oregon in august.   i wish i knew them better.  maybe some day i'll have to make a real visit instead of just a quick night while cruising coast to coast!  anyway, i'm excited i got to see matt and leigh again and i'm again humbled by their warm welcome and generous hospitality.  : )

iowa / nebraska

sunil and jitixa were gracious enough to get up super early on a sleep-in saturday to see me off!   i covered almost 800 miles in the next 14 hours.   i-29 brought me into the SW corner of Iowa.  it was my first time in that state.  the morning light gradually increased through the fog.  it was also cold, so ice accumulated on my van as the fog froze on contact.

then i proceeded westward on i-80 all the way through nebraska - another state i'd never been to.   ( by the way, their are still nine states i haven't driven through in my lifetime: Hawaii, Alaska, Washington, Montana, N & S Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Louisiana... it would be fun to clean up the 48 contiguous during this trip)    i diverted my path from I-80 for portions of Nebraska and got to see things a little more up-close.  interestingly, i was on route 30, which was also the route i took across Pennsylvania last week...  um, oh, i mean the beginning of this week. hmh.

this cow was staring at me as though i was interrupting his lunch.

i love this photo...  i didn't even notice the draped antenna until i put this photo on my computer...

my expression is funny in this photo.  i think i was just making sure to stay in my lane while taking the picture.

I continued west passing into the mountain time zone and then into the SE corner of Wyoming as the sun set.  then i took I-25 down toward Denver, my intended final destination for the day.

wildwood high school reunion in kansas city

friday i only got as far as kansas city, missouri where i met up with a high school friend. i hadn't seen sunil for at least a decade! his work schedule happened to work out in my favor. i was going to keep heading west that day, but sunil convinced me to stay in kansas city for the night instead. so, i hung out with him and met jitixa friday night as we relaxed and enjoyed pizza and poker and plenty of reminiscing. in the short visit, we covered a lot of ground and even taught each other some things. three things that i learned are 1) there is an indian sweet food called veremy (sp?) which i like and which sounds like my name. 2) i will never dare challenge jitixa at poker with real money.  3) always look inside the pizza box to make sure you got what you ordered before the delivery person leaves.

tea with ti

before i hit the gas pedal out of lexington, i got to have tea with my friend ti.  i didn't get to see jamin because he was at work and had a meeting during lunch : (.   sadly i forgot to have ti sign my hostbook.  i realized it 30 minutes into my 8 hour drive and almost turned around.  oh well.

little ella, who is not as little as i remember her, is soon to be a big sister as they are waiting to meet their second kid within weeks! guess i'll have to return sometime to meet that little one face-to-face.

columbia missouri

i stayed with devon and becky three months ago during my driving trip from philadelphia to portland oregon.  they mean it from their heart when they offer me a place to stay as i pass through the area.   thanks d & b!   maybe they could start a d & b's b & b. : )

wildwood mo

before i left philly, i noticed that there was a wildwood missouri near st louis.  i grew up in wildwood new jersey, so i thought it would be fun to stop through.   there wasn't much there.  it was dark so it was difficult to know when i was in 'wildwood' and when i wasn't.   i'm not sure what defined its city limits, but i did find a community college with 'wildwood' on the sign.

st louis

indiana / illinois

indiana green houses?

to the side of the highway in indiana i noticed a bunch of school busses on a hill...   they commingled with some large semi-circle covers on the ground used to help grow plants.   basically my conclusion is that what i saw was the outer shells of old school busses which were being recycled and used as green houses.   my fascination made me get off the interstate and take the local (gravel) roads back a few miles in the direction of the farm to get a closer look and take photos.  unfortunately, i couldn't access the part of the farm where i thought i remembered seeing them.  instead i just took a photo of some cows feeding.

lexington ky

my sister judi is on a business trip in lexington kentucky.  how timely!   the day was long for her and the day was long for me.   getting the evening with each other is just what i needed.  : )  

during the photo we tried our best to stand slow...  uh, err, stand still... or stand fast?  (such was our conversation prior to the attempt)

keep on driving

i drove down i-79 south through west virginia, which is a lovely highway with many smooth horizontal and vertical bends.  then i took i-84 west into kentucky.  while i was driving i listened to a voice recorded cd that some of my philadelphia friends put together as a way to wish me well on my trip.  it gave me a decent dose of emotional tears as i listened.  God has truly blessed me through so many people!!!

while feeling tired and a bit drained (probably from listening to that cd!), i had a headache and for about a half-hour i experienced my first moments of homesickness.  drives are longer when no one else is in the vehicle.  with only an hour left to drive, i pulled over to stretch my legs and reboot for a few minutes.   i got back in the van, stuck in a mixed cd with some upbeat music and started feeling better.

many miles are scheduled for the next week.  over the next couple of days my driving times could range between 5 and 10 hours on the road per day.   hopefully i'll be responsible enough to get adequate rest even though i'll be attempting to maximize my time spent with the people i'm visiting.

pittsburgh pa

i highly value my friendship with josh and kallie and have been so blessed to know them.  my visit conveniently coincided with josh's birthday, so i got to celebrate with him and also see a bunch of our other pittsburgh area friends while we gathered for dinner.  do you have specific people in your life who have positively shaped and influenced you in such a way that it's difficult to think who you would be today without them?  well, that's who these friends are to me.  : )   happily, i'll get to see them again in california!

$2 million

figured I'd add a visual. : )

costly flush

I just peed at a rest stop on I-79 in west virginia. oh, but
apparently this was not just your ordinary rest stop. it was a $2
million rest stop that just openned up - according to the west
virginian enforcement officer who voluntarily remarked on it as we
were both washing our hands. clearly he thought of it as a rediculous
use of funds, and my sarcastic small talk didn't even crack a smile on
his face. oh well, at least my bladder is happy.

non-interstate roads

making my way across P A toward pittsburgh.   i detoured through greencastle to see some friends and drop of some stuff and then decided to take non-interstate roads.   i drove highway 30 instead of taking the turnpike.   this brought me through a pennsylvania of rolling hills with small farms and cute little town centers.   i also saw some wind turbine farms that i don't usually think of being in this state.

harrisburg pa

my friends theron and steph hosted me sunday night with non(?)caffeinated coffee and good conversation...  actually their three year old daughter and one+ year old son conversed with me just as much.  for all i know their third child was probably trying to say something from the womb too!  what a fun family.  what an honor to be a guest.

me an theron

sunset

i love sunrises and sunsets.  have i said that already?  i will probably say it again : )   for the next week i'll be watching the prior in my mirrors and the latter through the windshield.  i love my living space having  windows on every side.

this photo snatches part of my sunset view as i was leaving philly on sunday...

License plate

My favorite license plate this week was "K2BU"

last night in philly

i've been in philadelphia for 4 years.  my last night was spent at northbowl with a few friends and then i slept one last time in what used to be my top-bunk (top-notch?) bed in fishtown.  i've been so busy driving around and seeing people in the last two weeks that i haven't had a lot of time to anticipate or mourn my last day in philly.  in a way i've already left, but the difference now is that i'm going far away.  so here we go.  everything is in my van and coming with me.  time to take this trip westward with philly in the rear view mirror.

somewhat random photos at northbowl