From Colorado to Home

Left Teresa and Dave's at about 9:30 and decided to take the I-70 west through the Rockies, even though it is about an hour longer. It was worth it though, as the drive was absolutely beautiful. The centerpiece of the drive was the Eisenhower tunnel, a two mile long tunnel under a mountain pass. The pass is more than two miles above sea level.

Also got to experience some red rock desert in eastern Utah. It looked similar to the terrain near the Grand Canyon.

Got to my campsite in Brigham City, Utah just after sunset and set up my tent. I met a group of three other travellers who were from Texas. They were very friendly and we shared our experiences on our respective road trips. There was a couple who were my age - the guy worked at a college and the girl worked for a photographer. The third guy was a thirty year old who was married, although his wife was not with him. He was also a photographer. At one point, I asked them if they were college students, which provoked a laugh. The girl, Tracy I think her name was, complimented me by saying I looked like I was fifteen.

When they found out I was Canadian, they asked me about the healthcare system in Canada. I did my best to present an accurate account of it being careful to explain both the strengths and weaknesses of it. I sometimes get the impression that Americans, particular those in academic circles, are overly critical of their country. Like Canada is this utopian paradise where everyone says "please" and "thank you", and America is this international bully that everyone is completely justified in hating.

Not that I got the impression that my Texan friends were anti-American. But at one point one of them compaired capitalism unfavorably to socialism. Another mentioned that at one point in its history American had adopted a form of individualism that involved learning a disproportonately large amount of American history compared to world history. Okay, that one I buy

Anyways, we talked for about an hour. I even showed them my CD collection. One of them quipped, regarding my collection, that it would be amazing if Yanni opened for Def Leppard.

The next morning, I said goodbye to my new friends. They were going to a Mormon church service (because this is Utah and has a large Mormon population). I guess Mormons have their services on Saturday.

This is my last full day on the road and so I planned to make it a shorter drive. The idea was so I could get to my KOA earlier and swim in the pool. Among the highlights of Saturday's drive was the canyon in Twin Falls, Idaho.

These pictures are of a huge canyon with two little waterfalls flowing into it (Get it? They're TWIN FALLS). The town is located right beside the canyon.

Unfortunately, the KOA in Pasco, Washington left a lot to be desired, as the pool closed early and the tent sites were located right next to a very noisy highway.

Met a group of guys there from Seattle who were in the Tri-Cities area for a fishing tournament. They were nice, although one of the guys was drinking to the point of inebriation.

Then on Sunday I drove home. Do I really need to say anything about the drive through Washington State. At this point, I am just looking forward to arriving back home.

No trouble crossing the border back into Canada, of course. It helps that the border guard who waved me through goes to my church.

Tomorrow (maybe) I'm going to give a complete retrospective on my trip, including states covered and total distance covered.

Until next time...

Colorado: On the Origin of Frozen Yogurt

Okay a funny thing happened today (by today, of course, I mean almost two weeks ago). I wanted to get up a little early this morning so I could get to Teresa and Dave's house before dinner. So I set my alarm for 7:00 central. But here's the thing: I added the photos that I had taken onto my computer so I could put them on Facebook and on the blog. The problem was that the time zone on my phone was also changed, and my computer was still in the Eastern time zone, so this morning when I woke up, it was actually 7:00 eastern time. And it took me a few hours to figure this out, even with the campsite offices still closed. The offices opened at 8am, and I couldn't figure out why it was still closed even though it was nearly 9 (I played snooze tag a bit too). So I just dropped the key to my cabin in the dropslot and left.

Did get a free carwash out of the deal, because it was pouring rain in Kansas as I left. Drove west through the prairies and right up to the eastern edge of the Rocky Mountains in a town just south of Denver called Parker, Colorado.

Got to my cousin Teresa's house in the late afternoon and within five minutes found myself reading books about Babe Ruth and Princesses to her three year old son and daughter. See, like the Freemans, Teresa and Dave also have five kids. Now I know what you reading this blog are thinking: "You're crazy". And my response to you would be: "You know what would really be crazy? Is if I read a book that was about both Babe Ruth AND Princesses.

But seriously, I go to a care group that is comprised of thirty somethings who all have small children, so I am used to it.

Also, since many people who read this blog are family who would be interested, I will say something about each of the kids, like I did with the Freemans.

There's Benjamin, who's nearly nine and reads at a fifth (or sixth) grade level. See, the kids are home schooled, which enables them to achieve academic heights unattainable for those in the public school system. Also, the first day of school in Parker is on August 1st. What.

There's Daniel, who is six and is left handed and enjoys drawing
There's Lucy, who is three and a half and enjoys reading about princesses. She also enjoys the 25th letter of the alphabet, and often stated it in an inquisitive tone.

There's Toby, who is three and enjoys playing catch using a plastic shovel. The Schoel's adopted Toby from China.

And there's Violet, who is six months old and enjoys discussing politics over high tea

I stayed there for two nights, and on Thursday I went with Teresa and the kids to the Denver Natural History Museum

Teresa and Dave have a membership there, and so they knew which exhibits were worth seeing. We went into a space themed room which contained, among other things, a to-scale topographical globe, pictured above. Also, there was a machine that simulated a meteorite striking the surface of a planet.

We went into an exhibit that featured various crystals and minerals (also pictured above). This was simply remarkable. The picture immediately above is of crystallized leaf gold.

Finally, we went through an exhibit where we were able to walk through 4.6 billion years of the Earth's history (aww, isn't that cute?). I have strong opinions about certain things, and I will not spend too much time talking about them here, but Teresa and I did have an interesting talk about origins.

We had a picnic lunch in a park just outside the museum. It was hot out. I shared my fascination during my middle school years of watching science shows on the discovery channel, where an old earth worldview was always assumed. I heard it so much that I just accepted it, although it never threatened my Christian faith. I did, however, have a teacher in middle school who taught a unit in science on mammoths that he used to teach science from a more creationist perspective. He also presented some of the weaknesses of evolution (which you are NOT allowed to do in secular institutions. There's no room for skepticism when it comes to evolution. Just blind faith).

When we got back home, the boys showed me their Wii gaming system. Then Teresa sprayed us with a hose. Because she's awesome like that.

Often times on hot days, the kids run around in the back yard and Teresa sprays them with a garden hose. And I also ended up being a target. At one point, Benjamin and I were on the trampoline with a sprinkler underneath. He was worried that I was going to break the trampoline (come on, I only weigh 140lbs). I told him that I used to jump on the trampoline with a sprinkler underneath when I was a kid to which Ben replied:

"Trampolines were actually made?"

Dave took us out for frozen yogurt after dinner, which was another first for me. The store charges by weight and I ordered a rather large serving of yogurt. It was absolutely amazing. Mine cost $10 US (which is about $3 Canadian). It was coconut, vanilla and chocolate and left me wishing we had frozen yogurt here in BC.

Do we have frozen yogurt here in BC? If you are in BC and are reading this blog and know where there's a frozen yogurt shop, could you please let me know by commenting below? Thank you.

I played catch with Lucy and Toby over the course of my time there. I don't know if you've ever played catch with three-year-olds, but I'm going to describe to you the process: Lucy holds her glove out and I basically aim for her glove. She then throws the ball back to me and I "throw" the ball to Toby who is standing right beside me. And by "throw", I mean I place the ball into a plastic shovel which he uses to transfer the ball into the glove, then back into the shovel, and then I pick it up again and repeat. Also, at times they would put the gloves over their faces and pretend to hide. It was cute.

Most guys my age would be going to Vegas or something during the summer, but here I'm describing in detail playing catch with three year olds. Edge. Of. The. Seat.

Until next time...

Suspense

Okay, I am going to write about my time in Colorado tomorrow, but for now I'm going to leave you in suspense once more

Until next time...

Wrong Turn. Not Literally, Of Course

One thing that's nice about staying in a hotel is not having to take down my tent and fold it up tight enough so that it fits in the bag.

Very hot in Texas, even in the morning. Got to drive through the heart of the city of Dallas. I spent the night in Dallas on my Texas trip last year (actually Fort Worth, but that's close enough, isn't it?)

Short drive today, north from Dallas into Oklahoma and Kansas. Neat little drive through America's breadbasket. Not terribly exciting, but at least there wasn't road construction every five miles like in South Dakota.

I made a wrong turn on this day (August 9), and ended up in Sweden

In central Kansas, not far from where I spent the night, there is a town called Lindsborg. This picture above is of a gift shop here. Apparently the town was founded by Swedish settlers, and has now become a tourist attraction. Well between this and the Spinach Festival, I must say Kansas is quite an exhilirating state.

Got to the KOA in Salina relatively early and changed my reservation to a cabin again instead of a tent. Good thing I did too, because there was a thunderstorm and heavy rain. My $36 tent would not have kept me dry.

Some twenty-somethings from Switzerland showed up at the camp in an RV they had rented, but they didn't stay. Maybe they were threatened by the sight of a guy reading David Copperfield.

Running total of states: 17 (Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota, Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas)

Lifetime total of states: 24 (half of the continental United States)

Tomorrow, or whenever, I'll talk about my time in Colorado

Until then...

Weather of All Extremes

Left the Freeman's house at about 3pm and drove southwest into Alabama. I spent the night in Mobile and even with me gaining an hour upon returning to the central time zone, I still didn't arrive at my hotel until after 10pm. I was prepared for this, however. This was my only scheduled hotel stop on the trip, because there are no KOAs nearby.

The Next morning (August 8), I left my hotel in Mobile and drove along the I-10 along the Gulf of Mexico. Couldn't resist spending some time in Biloxi, Mississippi and visiting the historic lighthouse.

Interesting story behind that building behind the lighthouse. Met a middle aged black man named Matthew in the parking lot by the beach

and he told be that the building offered tours and served as a historical center for the area. What's interesting is that this building had been closed since Katrina hit back in '05, and had just reopened that day.

The beach was of fine white sand, and the weather was intimidating to say the least

This developed into a rainstorm that was so furious that I could barely see the car infront of me. I nearly had to stop driving.

Unfortunately, I couldn't enter the lighthouse

Spent the majority of the day driving through Louisiana, which was nice, although I avoided New Orleans.

The weather cleared up as I left the gulf and got increasingly hot. So much so that I knew I would never be able to sleep in a tent at my next campsite in Dallas. Once I crossed the state line into Texas, I called the campsite and cancelled the reservation, because they had no cabins available.
So consecutive nights in hotels for me. I stayed in a small town, about an hour east of Dallas that I no longer know the name of. It was a nice hotel though. It had an outdoor pool, which I was able to swim in.

Running total of states: 15 (Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota, Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas)

Lifetime total of states: 22

Highest temperature: Shreveport, Louisiana 40C / 104F (Beautiful!)

Until next time...

Tomorrow...

Okay, I am a little behind on keeping up the blog. I'm at home now, but tomorrow I'll continue talking about my trip. I'll cover my drive along the gulf coast, among other things.

Until next time...

German Orange Flavored Coke and Deep Fried Oreos

My first full day in Georgia started lazily. I slept in until 9am and took my time taking my tent down before leaving the KOA at Cartersville.

Drove to Atlanta,  which was less than an hour from Cartersville, and took in the Coke factory, which has been on my "to do" list for quite some time.

Apparently they had a Coke bottle designing contest for the olympics which took place in Atlanta 15 years ago, so they had some cool designs. The tour started with a series of videos about the history of Coke and some silly cartoon about buying happiness. At one point, the tour guide asked everyone where they were from, and except from one guy who was from Germany, I had travelled a greater distance than anyone else on the tour.

After the videos were over and I had purchased all the happiness money could buy (insert eye-rolling here), I explored the rest of the factory, which consisted of a slowed down production of the coke bottling process so we could view it, a bunch of old Coke artifacts from the earliest years of Coke, and best of all a tasting area where we were able to taste dozens of different Coke flavors from all over the world. I tasted some stuff from Uganda, some flavour from Italy which had an aftertaste which was more like a foreverafter taste, and some really good German orange flavored coke.

Of course, the tour ended by them forcing me to exit through the gift shop, which must be where all the promised happiness is bought - and I bought over sixty dollars worth of Coke merchandise. In America, sixty dollars would be enough for me to buy enough gas to drive through three states! I didn't feel any happier either, just foolish. Guess I should have taken a lesson from Christian and Faithful and not spent so much at the Vanity Fair.

Okay, this is going to be a pretty long entry, but I hope your attention span will prove to be long enough to get you through it.

After leaving the Coke factory, I drove to Toccoa, which is a small town located in the Northeastern corner of the state of Georgia, not far from the border with South Carolina. This was my destination in the sense that it was the farthest from home that I got on this trip - and indeed the farthest from home that I have ever been, having never been overseas.

Basically I went to Toccoa to visit my cousin Karen who lives out there with her family. I figured that since this will likely be my last road trip of this kind, and since I only see Karen and her family about once every four years or so, I might as well drive to Georgia, and see a great deal of the United States in the process.

Arrived at the Freemans at about 4 and had dinner with them. We had lasagna and garlic bread and salad.

There was a thunderstorm along with a half-hour deluge which caused one of my cousin's kids to repeatedly check the weather network to see when the storm would pass.

Karen and her husband Nick have a large family which includes five kids.

There's Madison who's eleven and reads Ted Dekker novels
There's Landon who's eight and plays soccer whenever he can
There's Alexa who's five and

     Okay, this is simply remarkable. About five months ago, Karen came to Canada to visit us. This was about the time my sister was diagnosed with cancer. My sisters and I showed Alexa and Natalie some random childhood pictures of us and Alexa asked if she could keep a picture of Jillian, my sister. Alexa still has the picture and has been praying for Jillian ever since. Simply incredible.

There's Natalie who's three and loves looking at photo albums
And finally there's Autumn who's eleven months and is a baby

On Saturday, we all went to a town called Helen, which is known as a tourist attraction and contains many German style establishments. It definately had a Bavarain feel to it. We went on a tube ride down a river that was similar to the Penticton channel, but with more rapids and shallower water. They charged five dollars per person, and they also were selling, I kid you not, sticks that can be used to push off if we ever get stuck on rocks. It was fun. I lost my sandal at one point, but luckily one of the Freeman kids retrieved it for me. I fell backwards over a little waterfall, which provided entertainment for those who saw me.

We went to a park for a little while and had lunch before going to a store that sold funnel cakes. I had deep fried oreos smothered in icing sugar.

We talked about missions at various intervals throughout the weekend. Both Karen and Nick were the children of missionaries, and I myself am considering entering the missions field in some way.

Went to Toccoa Falls College, which contains a rather large waterfall and a pond that is used by locals for swimming. Not by us though, as the pond was closed for repairs.

Karen and Nick introduced me to a neat show called Monk, about a detective who has some very wierd and comical mannerisms.

Went to church on Sunday with the Freemans. Nick's uncle Stan leads a house church that does outreach towards people who are intimidated by traditional church settings. We studied I Timothy 5:1-8 and shared some ways in which God has been working in each of our lives. There were about two dozen people there, so it was pretty crowded.

They taught me how to play a game called wiffle ball, which is like baseball only it can be played in a front yard. One person throws a wiffle ball at a chair and the batter tries to hit the ball. If the ball hits the chair it is considered a strike.

A very fun weekend that ended with me leaving their house and driving towards the Gulf coast.

The Freemans

Highest temperature: Atlanta, Georgia: 37C / 99F

Until next time...

Update

I'm in Texas now making my way west again. I'll try to post stuff about my time in Georgia and Mississippi tomorrow.

Until next time...

Three Time Zones in Five Days

Woke up early this morning in my deliciously cool air conditioned cabin. Good thing too, as this part of the country's idea of an overnight low is about 25-26C.

By the time I got to downtown St. Louis at 9:30 it was already smoking hot and humid. It was very easy to find. St. Louis is easy, because all the major highways cross the river at the same bridge. Took some cool pictures of the arch from the outside

The museum was under ground, and they had heavy security similar to that found in an airport. I had to take my belt off so they could put it through the x-ray machine or whatever that thing is called.

They had lots of stuff about Lewis and Clark and the Louisiana Purchase. But I came here for the ride to the top.

The Gateway Arch was built by the fast food restaurant chain McDonalds as part of a needlessly expensive advertising campaign. Unfortunately, they ran out of money halfway through and were unable to finish the second half.

Actually, it was built in the 1960s. The tour guide did tell us for what purpose but I forget.

The ride to the top would not have been pleasant for me had I been claustrophobic. It took four minutes to get to the top and three to get down. I took some more sweet pictures

There you go, Pastor Gary

Had a conversation with a young couple on the way down. The man was from Topeka, Kansas and the woman was from Jefferson City, Missouri. The conversation was exactly like most of the conversations I have had over the last few days.

Me: So where are you from?
American: I'm from ______. You?
Me: I'm from British Columbia
American: Wow, that's a long drive.

Oh and also, everyone here talks funny. But I guess that's relative. Nobody's asked me if I am German yet though like on my Texas trip.

Drove through Nashville and Chattanooga on the way here. Got to my campsite just before 8pm Eastern time. I was so excited that I had arrived before 8. But imagine my disappointment when I discovered that the office closed at 7(!). But they have a night registry system at KOAs and since I was already registered I had no problem going to my site and setting up. It stays light here later than you'd think given how far south I am now.

Tomorrow I am going to check out the Coke factory.

Running total of states: 11 (Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota, Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia)

Lifetime total of states: 19/50

Litetime total of Canadian provinces & territories: 3/13

Today's distance covered: 518.0 miles / 835.5 km

Total distance covered: 2876.1 miles / 4638.9 km

Highest temperature: Nashville, Tennessee: 35C / 95F

Until next time...

Somewhere Down the Crazy River

Interesting day today. Drove south along the Missouri river for a few hours, but had to take a few detours on account of flooding. Large stretches of the I-29 were flooded so I got to drive down a smaller highway through the cornfields of Iowa and Missouri. It was nice, but it took quite a bit longer than it would have otherwise.

Stopped at a Dennys in Kansas City just across the street from Kaufmann Stadium, where the Royals and Chiefs play.

I'm in St. Louis now. I didn't feel like setting up my tent again today so I switched my registration to a cabin which is air conditioned. It is very hot and humid here, so I think I made the right decision. It doesn't cool off at night here.

My campsite is just a couple of miles from the Mississippi River

Tomorrow I'll drive into town and do the Arch before making my way into the deep south.

Running Total of States: 8 (Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota, Iowa, Missouri, Illinois)

Lifetime Total of States: 16

Today's Distance Covered: 567.7 miles / 915.6 km

Total Distance Covered: 2358.1 miles / 3803.4 km

Highest Temperature: Kansas City, Missouri: 36C / 97F

Until next time...

Mount Rushmore

Woke up late today, then relaxed in the KOA for a bit before packing up and seeing Mount Rushmore. Why not? Any KOA with a waterslide deserves to have me spend some time there.

Mount Rushmore itself was awesome. I spent quite a bit more time there than I had anticipated, but it was worth it. I'll put pictures up both here and on facebook later on.

Mount Rushmore was formed over millions and millions of years by erosion. By astonishing coincidence, the faces that were formed looked exactly like Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Teddy Roosevelt.

But seriously, these were sculpted in the 1920s and remarkably no one was killed during the construction.

There isn't really that much in South Dakota besides Mount Rushmore. Basically it's Saskatchewan without the Roughrider fans. Lots of construction though.

I'm in Iowa now, not far from the Missouri River. It's now the Central time zone, so I'm two hours ahead of you all back home.It sure is humid out here. At my campsite, there are literally dozens of frogs. Haven't had any problems with them getting in my tent though which is good.

I'll try to get to St Louis tomorrow, and maybe the internet connection will be better and I can post some photos on here.

Running total of states: 6 (Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota, Iowa)

Lifetime total of states: 14

Today's distance covered: 503.1 miles / 811.5 km

Total distance covered: 1790.4 miles / 2887.7 km

Highest temperature: Chamberlain, South Dakota: 31C / 88F

Until next time...

A Long and Rainy Day

Slept well in Missoula. I think this tent idea was a good one so far. It was cloudy in the morning, and that really didn't change at all throughout the day. There was some drizzle, some rain, and even a dazzling thunderstorm in Rapid City, not far from where I am camping. Fortunately though, the skies finally cleared for me here at my KOA at Mount Rushmore.

This is my long travel day for this trip. I covered more than 700 miles today, and didn't get to the campsite until almost 9:30 so I had to set up my tent in the dark. Which is easy enough when you have a car that has a "headlight" option.

It's remarkable that considering how far I travelled today, you'd think I'd have crossed a time zone. But I'm still on Mountain Time for one more day.

Tomorrow is a much shorter drive as I plan to spend some time here at the KOA and tour Mount Rushmore. I deliberately made the first two days longer so I could take my time as I move further East

Didn't really take many pictures today, because there wasn't much to see. To what can I liken driving through Montana to? It's like when you're approaching Calgary from the West after coming out of the Rockies. You see the foothills slowly give way to the city of Calgary and the prairies beyond. But in Montana the foothills never end, and for literally 400 miles, you're driving around these hills that are not big enough to be called mountains (at least not by BC standards).

Just met a couple at the restaurant/pub here at the campsite. They are from Pittsburgh and have spent the last three days here at this campsite. Apparently there is a light display at Mount Rushmore every night. Pity I won't be here to see it. Still, they had nothing but good things to say about Mount Rushmore. Frank, the husband, asked me why I was a Red Sox fan if I am from Canada (I was wearing my Red Sox shirt that Pastor Gary brought me from his Israel trip).

Highest Temperature: 27C/81F in Belle Fourche, South Dakota

Distance Travelled Today: 712.6 miles / 1149.3km

Total Distance Covered: 1287.3 miles / 2076.3 km

Running total of states: 5 (Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota)

Lifetime total of states: 13 (First time in South Dakota)