Southern Hospitality ???

We left Arkansas early so that we could have some time in Memphis, Tennessee. What we should have done was leave Arkansas early so we could see Graceland and then get out of Memphis.
First thing first…. Graceland wasn’t bad, it’s a whole lot smaller than we expected. For less than $30 both Annmarie and I got to see Jefferson home “Monticello” in Virginia and walk the grounds for hours. For $66 we got to see the bottom floor of Elvis Presley’s home (the second story is kept private because apparently it was his private place - kinda begs the question what was Graceland’s first level to Elvis ? ) and a few out buildings and the garden, his grave etc… Whilst I’m glad we got to see it, I don’t think we will ever return to have a second look… I would also say that unless you actually worship Elvis, you could probably get through life without making the pilgrimage.
Once we had exhausted the things to do at Graceland and once we were about $100 lighter in the pocket, we left Elvis Presley Boulevard to see Memphis. We took a right onto the freeway instead of a left which would have taken us to the Mississippi River and downtown area and instead found ourselves in the ghetto. It didn’t take long for us to realize that with a few more days of exploration ahead of us a mugging or traffic accident would put a damper on the experience (not to put to fine a point on it, the motorists in this area consider driving two feet behind you car normal and adding 20 units to the posted speed limit on surface streets is the actual recommended pace) … we hightailed it out of there and got to the waterfront. For anyone coming to Memphis in the near future… remember to check with the eatery that you intend dining at when they open… we wanted a late lunch or early dinner at around 4:00PM. We literally went to 5 “five” restaurants whose lights were on (one who’s doors were open) but were all closed until 5:00PM. We landed up driving back to Graceland and Elvis Presley Boulevard to settle for a pretty standard Veggie Burger . On the up side the restaurant kindly included their tip “gratuity” on the bill for us… so that was nice.
Tomorrow we are going to try to leave early… not sure how much more Southern hospitality we want before getting to Florida, but since we have it on good authority that the Deep South only becomes “deeper” through Alabama and Georgia, we want to have time to decide whether to stop or push on depending on our ‘first impressions”.

Okay, hold onto your hat, this next statement could surprise you a little. From what we have seen so far... I would have to say that Arkansas is probably the nicest of our stop offs since the Grand Canyon. The geography is beautiful, there are hills, trees and water all over the place. Its clean and the people are actually very polite... well polite on the roads at least, its such a pleasure to drive on roads where all the other motorists drive in the Right hand side of the road so that the Left lane can be used for passing. After 10 years in Vegas I had gotten used to people using the road in a manner consistent with ownership of said road and intolerance to other who were so obviously trespassing.

While Oklahoma was very pleasant (we drove past Carrie Underwood's home town - a very small town with two road signs proudly pronouncing that she had been winner of American Idol for 2005 - "it has one traffic light") Arkansas is a little more appealing. I'm constantly amazed at how the topography changes from state to state... whats amazing is the way it changes so quickly. I'm sure for example the original Oklahoma / Arkansas border was decided by the sudden introduction ever green trees in Arkansas. It seems that while most every tree in Oklahoma was deciduous, Arkansas suddenly seems to have an equal mix of conifers, pine and acorn trees to deciduous trees. We stopped for a while to run around with the dogs and to stretch our legs for a bit at the picnic area pictured above, and I thought that we might have to leave La-Poo there. I have never seen her so happy to be playing in the leaves, sticks and pine cones. She truly belongs in Arkansas... naturally we made a few jokes at her expense involving the Ozarks, colour of her neck and the potential for her to suddenly and inexplicably lose all her teeth in an attempt to fit in.

Another thing that has definitely been obvious is the fact that we are most assuredly in the Bible Belt. The size and prime locations of religious institutions tells of community after community dedicated to worship. There is no doubt in my mind what so ever that God is big business in this part of the world... just from a real estate point of view, we quite literally drove past Billions of dollars in "God shops".

Whilst Little Rock is an agreeable spot, I think we'll probably head out tomorrow pretty early and get to Memphis... Its Sunday tomorrow and I would like to catch a game or two on TV when we get to our hotel. Its a short day tomorrow... we'll probably get there in just a few hours. But since Graceland in on the cards either tomorrow or Monday, I would like to be sure that we are booked in and comfortable with plenty of time to explore.

Three in One - New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma

Texas, Texas, Texas... The Governor of Texas in the 1920's - Ma Ferguson once said " If the King's English was good enough for Jesus, it's good enough for me!

From what I can tell, very little has changed since then. Texas, or at least the very small part of it that I got to see was filled with what I would expect from people who make statements like that. We drove into Texas on the I-40 from New Mexico heading to Amarillo. Our introduction was interesting to say the least... to say that the road signage is single minded is an understatement... I took from the first hour of road stimulus, that life for Texans consists of Steak and God. We went past signage boasting 72 ounce steaks at restaurants just a few miles ahead from the highest quality cows in the country. That would be followed by signs apparently endorsed by God... quoting scripture. We went past lots of farms, saw lots of cows... and I have to say, if Thousands of starving Cows huddling together in 30 degree temperatures in muddy fields without a single blade of grass to be seen defines "High Quality" then yes, absolutely... these Cows are top of the range so to speak. When we got to Amarillo where the stench was terrific... the town quite literally smells like shit. Of course the farmers probably sell the pollution to local politicians as healthy country air, but for a city boy... the stench was all I needed to make the decision to keep on driving the additional 200 plus miles to Oklahoma City. On our way out of Texas we saw more farms, more cow's, Church after Church after Church and the "Largest Cross in the Northern Hemisphere" the Church where it stood promised "a spiritual experience you will never forget." Needless to say, I couldn't get out of Texas quick enough. The picture above is perhaps the best part of my day... it shows my rear view mirror having crossed into Oklahoma, it was great to get Texas behind me.

Annmarie has asked me to add the disclaimer that the road that we traveled only represents a very small portion of the State of Texas, which is huge ! So I'm sure the rest of it is probably super.... almost seems a shame I'll never get to see it first hand - a conscious choice I have already made. It would take me quite a few words or sentences to describe who "Warrick" is... but if I was to describe who I am not... "Texas" would just about cover it.

Oklahoma on the other hand seems okay so far. The geography is definitely different from what we have seen in the previous three states. I have to say I have been quite surprised at how each state seems to be so unique in terms of its geography. Arizona reminded me of the sandy savanna in the Kruger National Park... of course allowances need to be made for the addition of Pine Trees or Joshua Trees or Cacti. Then New Mexico had a sort of Golden Gate appeal in the Free State. Lots of amazing rock formations and huge Boulders. Texas was flat, yellow oceans of grass and openness that really I can't equate to any where else. Now in Oklahoma, there is shape to the land, the flatness has given way to soft hills and we have driven over quite a few rivers and streams. there seems also to be plenty of wooded areas but I still get that Prairie feeling... a little like I'm watching Laura Ingles on Little House on the Prairie all those years ago.

Tomorrow is so far undecided... it may be nice to stay for the day here in Oklahoma City, I think after the long drive today we deserve a little rest. Bill Bryson has been keeping us company with his new book "THE LIFE & TIMES OF THE THUNDERBOLT KID" Its pretty good... Bryson is always good mind you... I just wish he would stick to writing and skip recording his books himself, he can tend to become a little monotone, lucky his humor keeps your attention or there would be some pretty sleepy drivers behind the wheel.

Today's leg took us through some very interesting places... We saw the East Rim of the Grand Canyon, Sunset Crater (Volcano) from its base, Meteor Crater, Winslow Arizona, Holbrook, the Petrified Forest and the Painted Desert. Lets just say that the East Rim was as beautiful as the South Rim... the Grand Canyon is amazing. Sunset Crater however is not that special from the vantage point that we saw it from. Unfortunately a Volcano Crater just looks like a mountain from the bottom. It was over a Mile hike up hill and lets just say we were in a hurry to push on ! Meteor Crater on the other hand was very cool... A 150 foot in diameter iron rock hit the Northern Arizona Desert floor at a thousands miles an hour around 50,000 years ago and made a bloody huge impact ! The picture of Annmarie leaning against the rail shows the Crater in the background.

Winslow Arizona... what can be said about Winslow Arizona... well I'm at a complete loss as to what the Eagles saw in Winslow Arizona in their song "Take it Easy". I stood on the corner of Hicks and Hilview... I couldn't see any Hills... but there were Hicks everywhere. Next up was the town of Holbrook, we had planed on bedding down for the night in Holbrook, but... well, the town is aptly named... if you take off the "Brook". We decided to push on a little further... actually about 200 miles further to Albuquerque, New Mexico. Right now that's where we are... and so far so good... Albuquerque is quite pretty, at night at any rate... we'll see what it has to offer tomorrow during the day. Before we got here we did drive through the Petrified Forest... this is an interesting description for a National Park... True enough there was once a forest where there is now Desert, and those trees are now petrified, but there was only one standing tree that I saw... it was a real live tree, about 10 feet tall and actually I though looked pretty petrified... I know I would have been if i was the only tree there ! The actual stone "petrified" trees were few and far between, on route to the Park there was a shop selling petrified wood, and I think I saw about twice as much there as in the Park itself.

Today's trip was approximately 450 Miles and took around 8 hours... along the way we went through alot of Indian Land, or reservation land. It was primarily Navajo Country and the thing that really struck me was the number of road side stalls selling Indian crafts and Jewelry. I wouldn't be far off if I said that realistically we drove past over a thousand road side shops, shacks and stalls between the Grand Canyon and Albuquerque. additionally we passed a lot of very poor residential areas... for miles we drove passed stunning geographic beauty ruined by shanty towns and run down residential trailers. Its sad to see these otherwise incredible vistas marked with tatty road signs beckoning travelers to come and visit Chief Yellow Horse. But as Annmarie commented, He was having a sale... so it wasn't all bad.

Tomorrow plan of action is currently undecided... we may stick around these parts for a while and see Old Town, Albuquerque. If it doesn't hold our undivided attention we'll hit the road for
Tucumcari , New Mexico or if Tucumcari turns out to be another Holbrook we'll push on to Texacutioner Country.... that's Mr Bush for those unfamiliar with who the Texacutioner is. Amarillo, Texas is roughly 465 miles away from our present "home" so we'll play that one by beer.

Keep posted, we'll see what happens come sunrise !

Natures Grand Wake Up Call

277 Miles long, 300 feet wide, 100 feet deep and solely responsible (well almost) for creating what I can only hint at as the most amazing hole in the ground (as Annmarie most eloquently put it this morning) in the world. The Colorado river has created for anyone who has seen the Grand Canyon a spectacle truly worthy of the hype… but for anyone who has not seen natures symphony at play all I can say with authority is that no words, no photographs, no video, painting or prose can being to capture the wonder of this place.
Of course I was excited to get going this morning, but not even I could have guessed just how much ahead of my mind my body was. I woke up at 7:15 AM, that’s 6:15AM Vegas time, and couldn't’t for the life of me fall back to sleep. So… a coffee and oatmeal breakfast later in 18 degree F temperatures it was off to the rim. As I mentioned before, there is just no way to capture the beauty of the Grand Canyon in words, and if I use this post shouting from the roof tops how magnificent it is, it’ll just be lost in translation. I will say this however… if there has ever been a fleeting thought in your mind to visit the Grand Canyon… do it, it won’t disappoint !
Tomorrow we leave early, our destination is the town of Holbrook. Along the way we hope to see Wupatki National Monument, the Painted Desert Vista, Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument , Meteor Crater and the town of Winslow Arizona. There is a song by the Eagles called “Take it easy’, in the lyrics is a line that says - “I’m standing on the corner of Winslow Arizona, it’s a mighty fine sight to see” I’m not sure what to expect, but some time tomorrow I’ll know what defines “a fine sight see”. In addition Meteor Crater is supposed to be the largest and best preserved example (of a meteor crater) in the world.
The dogs have been very well so far, Poosie loved all the walking today and Sweetie has enjoyed the views from her bed in the car.

Arizona - The Grand Canyon State.

The trip begun with two Vente Soy Chi’s, two toasted bagels and two exhausted Boston Terrier’s… or at least I presume the dogs were exhausted as they slept almost the entire time we were on the road. Apparently all warnings that Dogs don’t travel very well don’t apply to Boston’s.
After leaving Las Vegas we said cheers to the Silver State of Nevada by crossing over the Hoover Dam. A colossal wall of concrete that stops the mighty Colorado River dead in its tracks, all be it temporarily before releasing said river post redeployment through electrical turbines back on its jaunt to Mexico. Currently a huge construction protect is under way to build a bridge that will span the chasm that separates a mountainess ridge on the Nevada boundary from the mountainess ridge on the Arizona border. The elevation from the center of this overpass is probably going to be as towering if not higher than the Stratosphere Hotel. (Does that even make sense ?)
The full distance from home plate to the South Rim and the little town of Tusayan only took around five hours. We left just before noon, and by 5:30PM we were in the room, warm and happy to be at our destination. Along the way we were surprised by a lot of the geography, for some reason I thought the natural features were going to be characteristic of Western films. Wide open spaces punctuated by intermittent heaps of boulders, hills and or mountains. Instead we were pleasantly surprised by some very wooded stretches of Pine Trees, some tall, but oddly enough, by far the majority of trees seemed to be a rather stumpy. I assume they are indigenous to this area and or elevation because the closer we go to the little town of Williams the higher we climbed and the less and less the surroundings looked like Arizona desert. It was quite amazing to watch the temperature gauge drop as we climbed. At one point we went from 42 degrees F to 36 F in less than five miles. Currently the temperature is around the 28 F mark For those who work in centigrade, that’s 4 points bellow freezing. There is supposed to be snow in the next few days, but I’m guessing things are going to need to warm up a tad before that even possible !
As for our immediate future, tomorrow hails a day of discovery. Exploration of the Grand Canyon starts at the crack of dawn… Free breakfast ends at 9:30AM, which is pretty disappointing since there is no way in hell we’ll be up for that !

Approaching Zero Hour

Its Monday December 4th, the Carolina Panthers performed terribly in the Monday night football game against the Philadelphia Eagles but its okay... in a few hours time, Annmarie and I will be on route to the south rim of the Grand Canyon and I'll be miles away from any Sports Book and the ability to bet the wrong team again.... "Cheers Vegas".

As I write its 41 degrees outside "Fahrenheit" the equivalent of Bloody Chilly "centigrade". We are headed into some pretty cold country, a nice big Cold front has spread across the central States and we'll be covering a few of them on our journy. States currently in the think of the cold front and on our planned rought are New Mexico, Texas, potentially Oklahoma, Arkansas and Tennessee... this is of course presuming we decide to skip going the fully Southern route which would take us through Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.

Currently we have planned on an early out, we would like to hit the road no later than 12:00PM, that will get us into the Grand Cannyon National Park sometime arround 5:00PM.