Saturday, May 25
Houston, TX to Norman, OK - 430 miles
Jackson and I started a
our road trip on Saturday morning from Jackson's House. We loaded up the
car and headed for Norman, Oklahoma. We were driving in somewhat familiar
territory, and the scenery in east Texas isn't that exciting, but the drive
went by pretty quickly anyway. We listened to mp3s most of the way. After
a quick stop north of Dallas for lunch and gas, we pulled into Norman about
an hour or two before sunset. We unloaded some of our stuff at Courtney's
place, and then she took us around to see some of the sites in Norman. This
included getting to see a really cool mars rover type drivetrain for a robot
that one of Courtney's friends was working on. After unsuccessfully trying
to get us into the brand new engineering lounge, we headed to Rusty's, where
we has some excellent custard. I'd recommend it to any one who stops by
Norman. After heading back to Courtney's place we watched As
Good as it Gets, which Jackson hadn't seen, and chatted for a while.
Since we didn't take any pictures of Courtney on this trip, here's a substitute
picture taken form a video capture of the camera. Not very high quality,
but it's better than nothing. I'll be using more of them on this page.
Jackson and Courtney eating Rusty's Custard. Rusty's is pretty new, but it's apparently an OU staple now.
Courtney at her computer - note the bad wrist position
Sunday, May 26
Norman, OK to Boulder, CO - 720 miles
We got up fairly early,
ate breakfast, and then helped Courtney get rid of a bunch of groceries
that she didn't want since she was about to move out of her apartment. We
said goodbye to Courtney, and set off for Boulder. Jackson's going to grad
school there in the fall, so we thought it'd be a good stop. It was actually
a pretty long drive, and the plains of Oklahoma and Kansas are even less
interesting than the plains of Texas (the eastern plains). To add to the
scenery, the windshield was constantly being spotted with bug remains. It
was far worse here than anywhere else on the trip. It was so bad, that I
couldn't get the video camera to focus past the window for a little while.
We listened to our first audio book on this stretch of the trip, Harry
Potter and the Sorceror's Stone. I had already read the book, but even
so, the reader for the audio book was really good and I liked the audiobook
too, as did Jackson. Also we lost cell phone service right after we started
west on I-70, and didn't get it back till we were pretty close to Denver.
Sprint is not for those who want service in non-urban areas. It was funny
to see a small little sign on a overpass in the middle of nowhere in west
Kansas that said, "Entering Mountain Standard Time Zone." We got our first
sight of the Rockies as we got close to Denver, which was an awesome sight.
I probably recorded a little too much video footage of the Rockies from
the car, but hey, it's the Rockies. =) We pulled into Boulder around sunset,
and checked into our fairly pricey Holiday Inn Express. A bunch of the cheaper
places were full, and we didn't know why. After dinner at Chili's, we checked
out the local theater, which left something to be desired. Instead of watching
a movie we, browsed Barnes and Nobles for a little while, then went back
to our room. Here we got our first taste of running Netzero and IE 5 on
a P200 with only 16 MB RAM. Lots of grinding, but we could still check our
email (slowly). TWIG was apparently extra frustrating for Jackson, with
the slow connection. (TWIG is Rice's webmail client) After some cartoons
and ESPN, it was bedtime.
So much bug splatter that the camera has trouble focusing past it
Mountains behind Denver as viewed from the freeway
Monday, May 27
Boulder, CO to Moab, UT - 370 miles
After unsuccessful apartment
hunting for Jackson (it was Memorial Day). We hit the grocery store and
saw tons of runners walking around. We figure that's why a lot of the hotels
were booked, for the 'Boulder Bolder', a 5 or 10 k race. After we packed
the food in the cooler, we hit the road. We listened to Carl Sagan's Pale
Blue Dot, but the book and the reader were pretty boring. Of all the
drives we had, this was definitely one of the most scenic. We drove along
the foothills of the Rockies from Boulder back to I-70. From there, the
drive became very steep. So steep that the 4 cylinder Accord had trouble
keeping up around 80 mph unless we really punched it in 3rd gear. I'm guessing
that the altitude probably affected the power of the car too. Everyone was
driving suprisingly fast for an area that was so steep and curvy. Denver
is about 5000 ft elevation, and we climbed another 6000 ft at one of the
highest passes on I-70. After the climb, the downhill drive was a lot of
fun. We had to shift to 3rd just to keep the speed down, especially since
the road was still curvy. People were going 90 mph with no hesitation. The
slow people were going 80. The runaway truck ramps were crazy. If a truck
loses its brakes going downhill, and there is no way for it to stop on its
own, it turns off into a steep dirt ramp that looks like it's at 50-60 degree
angle from level. There was a mountain tunnel, about a 1 mile long which
was pretty cool. We stopped just before the tunnel to take a picture or
two of the snow covered mountains around us. (Incidentally we drove on the
portion of I-70 that closed because of the forest fires just days before
it happened. When Yono and his family were driving up to Oregon less than
a week later, they had to pick another route.) After we passed all the ski
towns the landscape got much drier and more red, less green. We drove on
a scenic road along the Colorado River in Utah which took us to Moab. We
didn't go into town, but instead we went to Canyonlands
National Park for a quick stop before sunset. We drove on to the 'Island
in the Sky,' a peninsula surrounded by two canyons. You drive over a 'neck'
of land only about 40 feet wide onto the island, which is isolated from
the rest of surrounding area (unless you jump or climb the cliffs). We had
some really nice views from there and a nice sunset. After that we narrowly
missed some deer while leaving the park and headed back to Moab.
The crazy truck ramp. It think it'd be pretty scary to use. I guess careening down the mountain without brakes is scarier.
The mountains just before the tunnel on I-70
A little canyon carved by the Colorado near Moab, UT
A view near the 'Island in the Sky' in Canyonlands National Park (right)
Tuesday, May 28
Arches National Park - near Moab, UT
There are no campsite reservations at the one campground in Arches National Park, so Jackson and I got there at 7:30 am to be sure we got a campsite. After pitching camp, we headed to the Devils Garden, a trail where you can see a whole bunch of arches and also get somme really nice views. It was very hot (95 F) and very dry, so we took a little under a gallon of water between us for the hike. We saw some really nice arches pictured below. Landscape Arch is a sandstone formation only about 10 feet thick at it's thinnest point and spans over 300 feet. The hike was pretty strenuous, mainly because of the heat, dryness, and the fact we were trudging through sand near the end. Also I had a little bout with my fear of heights, as we had to walk over a rock about 8 feet wide, that sloped downward on the outside, with a 20 foot drop on one side and a 300 foot drop on the other. (trying to make it sound moderatly dramatic) After some coaxing, Jackson got me past it. The hike was cool, but too tiring. It was about 8 or 9 miles and we were out for about 4 or 5 hours in the midday sun. We crashed for a while when we got back, and Jackson tied up a tarp with a crazy rope arrangement to provide some cover. We took short naps after a game of chess. We were attacked by what appared to be gnats for most of the day, and we thought they were harmless. Little did we know... The next day we were both covered in insect bites. We made dinner and relaxed around the campsite for the rest of the night. Jackson got some stargazing in, and I headed to sleep.
Landscape Arch
Partition Arch (it's in the top right corner of the Landscape Arch picture)
Jackson sitting in a small sandstone hole in the wall
Navajo Arch
Sandstone fins in the background. These are the what arches form from. Water seeps in the cracks in the rock, freezes, then opens the gaps to make the fins. Wind erosion eats away at the center of the fins more than the top and the sides, and you are left with an arch.
One of the many Arches chipmunks.
Wednesday, May 29
Moab, UT to Salt Lake City, UT - 240 miles
The hike from the previous
day really tired us out, so we weren't too ambitious about the days activities.
Also by the time we left Arches we had a pretty decent amount of time in
hot dusty weather, so I think we were ready for a little civilization. We
ate breakfast, packed our gear back in the car, and set out to see a few
more sights in the park. We stopped for a quick photo at Balanced Rock,
and took a short one mile hike for a decent view of Delicate Arch (pictured
below). It's the arch on a bunch of Utah license plates. We opted to skip
the 'windows,' two large, popular arches, as weren't up for the hike around
them. For some fun audio, you an listen to Jackson's
opinion on people who ride their brakes down hills. We headed back to
I-70 and then cut across the state on highway 6. About the point we got
back on I-70 the terrain got absolutely desolate. I've never seen a desert
like this before. I don't mean the regular definition of 'less than 10 inches
of rain a year,' I mean absolutely no vegetation whatsoever. Jackson
says there are even plants at White Sands in New Mexico, and all that around
there is sand. There was nothing here. Just low rocky hills. As we headed
north the terrain changed slowly but dramatically. From desert, to rolling
green hills, to snow capped mountains, to a flat plain adjacent to mountains
- where Salt Lake City/Provo are. We checked into our hotel, cleaned up,
then went out to a restaurant called the Mayan. It was a mexican food place
that Yono recommended. It's a kid-oriented restaurant, and it was crowded
on a Wednesday - with lots of kids. They have this weird diving (yes, diving)
show that goes on while you're eating. The kids really liked it, along with
the flashing strobes and fog. We wanted to see a movie, and we had a little
time before it started so we drove a few miles east into a canyon in the
mountains. There was a cold, fast-moving mountain stream at the base of
the glacier carved canyon. The area around Salt Lake City would have been
pretty cool to explore more or camp in, but we didn't know about it, and
didn't have time to squeeze it in. We got back and went to see About
a Boy. I liked the movie a lot (my second time seeing it), but Jackson
has some problems with Hugh Grant, so I don't think he was enthused as I
was. That about ended our night in Salt Lake City, and we headed back to
the hotel room to head to sleep. 
One of the many people we saw riding their brakes down hills...
Balanced Rock, which looks like it's poised to fall over
Delicate Arch. There are people on the slope behind Jackson. You can see them on the enlarged photo. Quite a distance away. Gives you a sense of how big these things are. (right)
Next to river just East of SLC. It's dark, so it's tough to see anything, but hopefully you can make out the water behind me.
Thursday, May 30
Salt Lake City, UT to Yuba City, CA - 640 miles
In the morning we headed
back to Sandy to stop at Stockton to Malone Honda. My sister is a huge Utah
Jazz fan, and I wanted to get some sort of memorabilia for her, something
that I wouldn't be able to get just anywhere. I got her some keychains,
and then we headed towards Nevada. We stopped at the Great Salt Lake to
look around just west of SLC. The lake was covered in a nasty haze and the
smell in whole area was terrible. The view was interesting, but not very
pretty. We moved on to Nevada and started the second Harry Potter book.
The drive through Nevada was somewhat hilly and pretty deserted. When we
got to Reno we decided that we had a few more hours of driving in us, and
we thought it'd be nice to have more time at Redwoods the next day. We got
to California, and the drive became much more hilly as we passed the Tahoe
area. I have to say that mountain driving is a lot of fun. (This is compared
to driving on I-10 where the road and horizon meet miles away.) There was
an agriculture checkpoint just past the state border where they asked us
about the type of fruits and vegetables we were carrying. They don't want
people bringing a pest that'll hurt all the crops in the valley. We had
some vegetables in our cooler, but none of it was a problem. After coming
down from the mountains, it got a lot hotter in the valley. We passed by
farm after farm. There'd be many more farms in the coming days. We stopped
overnight in Yuba City, CA. It was starting to get dark, and we had enough
driving for the night. Oh yeah, we passed into the Pacific time zone just
before Nevada. (Which was a contributing factor in deciding to drive more)
A mirage we saw over the very very white salt near the Great Salt Lake (although the salt doesn't look that white here it was pretty bright)
A weird exit sign on I-80 in Nevada. Sounds like something from Star Wars. A look up on the web shows that they are actually two different things. Deeth is a town that was named in the 1800s, and Starr Valley is also on the exit.
Friday, May 31
Yuba City, CA to Redwoods NP (near Orick, CA) - 310 miles
We checked out pretty
early in the morning, and left for Redwoods. A short drive through the valley
brought us to 101 and we headed north. This part of California is very different
from the stereotypical images of Southern California or even the Bay Area.
Lots of forest, small towns, farmers. No sign of suburban sprawl, not many
big freeways, and it's pretty. By the time we got near the Pacific and near
Redwoods National Park it
got a lot cooler and cloudier. Gas prices were higher here than anywhere
else on our trip, $1.80 a gallon. We got a campsite at Prarie Creek Redwoods
State Park, since the national park doesn't have any campsites; there are
a few state parks with campsites. Our campsite was great. Our tent was sitting
under a giant redwood and we had a ton of space. The vegetation was pretty
thick around us and a little different from anything I had ever seen before.
The area is temperate rainforest and it seems that it's always humid. After
we unloaded out stuff, we drove out to the mouth of the Klamath River, where
there was an overlook of the Pacific. The view was amazing. It's the type
of view that cameras just don't do justice. You have to be there and feel
the sea breeze and see the size of the mouth of the river. It was cold when
we got there, but then the sun came out when we were walking the trail to
the overlook and all the layers we were wearing came off. We heard some
sea lions, but we couldn't spot any. We drove around the park some more
and walk around one of the trails near our campground. We got back cooked
up dinner and sat around for a while before we went to sleep. 
The mouth of the Klamath River, where it meets the Pacific. The view from here was beautiful.
Jackson standing in the scar of a really tall redwood. It's hard to make him out at the bottom of the picture, but he's there. If a redwood gets burned in a fire, the inside of the trunk may die, but the outside can survive and the tree will still grow.
Here's the redwood that was right over our tent. Really big and really close to us.