Coming Next - The Wedding & South Africa

We will be updating the blog when we can - but we're supposed to be working during the next stage of our "gap", so we're not sure how easy it will be to get to a PC.

In the meantime we have another marriage to celebrate.......

Wishing Matthew & Laura all happiness!

Goodbye to all that

Home for the graduation

Mazel Tov Laura!

Profound Thought?

When G-d wants to measure you, He puts a tape measure around your heart - seen outside a church in small town USA

Wildlife We Did & Didn't See

Did see :

Mule Deer, Chipmunks, Woodpeckers, Tree Creepers, Butterflies galore, Loons, Ladybirds, Ducks, Gulls, Hawks, Falcons, Crickets, Biting Insects!, Squirrels, Skunk, Blue Jays, Coyotes, Rabbits, Toads, lizards, Bats, Turkeys, Big Horn Sheep, Banana Slug, Grey Pelicans, Elephant Seals, Californian Sea Lions, Ravens galore, Mustangs, Donkeys, Elk

& dead Racoons by sides of roads.

Didn't see, despite the dire warnings: Bears, Mountain Lions & Moose loose aboot the roads.

You may want to go?

Chabad-by-the-sea (Santa Cruz)

Gay State Park (New Hampshire)

Toad Lick Park (Arkansas)

Death Valley Health Centre (Death Valley!)

Chilchinbito - The Home Of The World's Largest Rug (Arizona)

Enticements Along The Way

"Spelling Bee, The Musical"

Romp & Roll Doggies' Playground

Pet Poo Cleaners (tell it like it is!)

Futon Blow-Out Sale

"We now stock Kosher chicken, Kosher meat & pork line chops"!!!!!!

For sale - barbecued beef, pork & dogs

Willy's Ice Cream - hard & soft serve

For sale - Scuppernongs ??!!

Visit Cherryfield, the blueberry capital of the world.

We buy guns - shoot a machine gun here!

Pawn here - we buy guns, jewelry & guitars.

The Ho-Hum Motel

Cherokee Tribal Bingo

It was a long drive

We drove 8,750 miles.

We visited 21 states in the USA, 1 province in Canada.

We stayed at 36 campsites, 1 hotel, 1 private home.

We used a lot of petrol!

Artistic Licence - Chinatown

San Fran Day 2

San Fran Day 1

San Francisco

Since we met, we've been planning to go to San Francisco together. It's one of our favourite cities but the last time we were both there it was with our previous partners while in the throes of marriage breakups! We won't dwell on that further but suffice to say that we were hoping to take away happier memories this time. We did!

An all-American breakfast of waffles, pancakes & maple syrup at Sears Fine Foods, off Union Square, seemed like the best way to start our visit before we headed down to the Cannery & Fisherman's Wharf, hanging off one of the famed cable cars. We ambled around for a while, soaking up the atmosphere, & then spent ages watching the antics of the Sea Lions which have taken over the floating wharves anchored offshore. The noise was deafening! We moved on to walk up the incredibly steep Hyde Street, as far as Lombard Street (the much-filmed "crookedest street" in the city) before jumping back onto a cable car or two to take us to the Jackson Square Historical District. More ambling ensued, with a stop at a pavement cafe across from the Heliotrope Building, before we wandered our way through Chinatown & stopped for dinner at a restaurant there. The food was fresh, plentiful & delicious. Then we climbed onto another cable car for our last ride of the day, down to the lively Market Street where we meandered some more & stopped for a break at a pavement cafe. Yes, it was a tough day but somebody had to do it. Thus ended our 1st day in San Francisco.

Our 2nd day was more energetic - we visited the Golden Gate Park before getting the bikes down from the back of the RV to cycle across the Golden Gate Bridge. It was a fantastically beautiful day with no sign of the famous mist that frequently envelopes the city & the bridge. The spectacularly clear views provided a wonderful finale to our entire trip - but made it difficult to tear ourselves away for the final drive, over the Oakland Bridge, to San Leandro where we had to bid farewell to our RV (having cleaned up all the detritus of our 2 month stay - but we won't dwell on that either!)

Big Basin & Ano Nuevo

Sierra Nevadas & Yosemite

The Redwoods & The Coast

We took a short walk amongst the Sequoias while we were at Yosemite, but our main encounter with these magnificent trees was at Big Basin Redwood Park. Some of the Redwoods are as old as 3,000 years, with base diameters of 60 feet. We had the amazing experience of standing inside a living tree - the "chimney tree" has been hollowed out by naturally occurring fires which have burned away the central core of the tree and yet it still lives on. We stood in the middle & were able to look up to the sky through the "chimney" flue.

We would have liked to follow the 10 mile "skyline to the sea" trail from the Park to the coast, but didn't really have the time so we drove down from the mountains (only 1000 feet this time) to the coast to see the Elephant Seals that heave themselves onto the beach at Ano Nuevo State Park. They are impressive beasts! We were also enchanted with the flocks of Pelicans diving for food just off the beach. It was a beautiful Californian winter's day - warm sunshine & a moderate breeze. The sea mists duly rolled in as we drove north along the Pacific Highway to Pacifica, our penultimate stopover before we had to face up to true winter weather in Scotland.

California - The Long & Winding Road to Yosemite

We left Death Valley early on a Thursday afternoon, hoping to be at Yosemite that evening. This turned out to be a slight under-estimation! We finally arrived on Friday evening. In the event, the old adage, "It is better to travel hopefully than to arrive", proved only too true. The scenery en route was fantastic from baking deserts to the immense snow capped peaks of the Sierra Nevadas, passing through "Gold Rush" country (great "Wild West" Main Streets in Sonora & Angels Camp) & beautiful wooded valleys glowing with Fall colours. We drove through Glencoe, which was in a setting nearly as beautiful as the original & one of the few namesake places we've seen which remotely resembled the original. The sun shone in a clear blue sky but it turned out that 3 mountain passes were closed by snow for the winter so we had to keep driving further& further north (surpisingly) till we reached the Carson Pass at 8573 feet & finally made it over the mountains. We felt like pioneers by the time we had finished our 200 mile detour!

Sadly, Yosemite proved to be an anti-climax. Much of the Park was closed for the winter, mostly the wilderness areas that we would have preferred to explore. Being there on a Saturday was not a good idea - the over-built-upon & gloomy valley was swarming with other people. Yosemite may have been the original model for the whole National Park system but it was not one of the highlights of our trip.

Yet I Will Fear No Evil

California - Death Valley

We resisted the lure of the Las Vegas "Strip". Even after all these weeks together, 24 hours a day, we still didn't feel the need for a quickie divorce & we had no spare money to gamble - our monster gas-guzzler has seen to that. So we skirted around the city, through the suburban sprawl. We were amazed at the number of housing estates (little boxes!) that are being built. No doubt the hazy layer of pollution floating above the city will grow accordingly. Escaping up & over the Spring mountains, we ignored the further enticements on offer in Pahrump (casinos, massage parlours, brothels, live shows......) to drive up & over more mountains to reach California.

Our 1st stop was Death Valley where we lingered for 3 days. Another amazing wilderness! We had been living at altitudes of 6 - 8,000 feet for several weeks but suddenly, on the floor of Death Valley we were down to 200 feet below sea level. In theory the walking should have become easier but the temperatures were now up in the 80s, so it was still a bit of an effort. Quite good excuses, don't you think? Great place names here - Bad Water, Devil's Golf Course, Furnace Creek & Stovepipe Wells.

The landscape was wonderfully varied : salt flats, 700 feet sand dunes (we managed to climb a 100 feet dune), marble canyons, volcanic craters, layers of rocks tilted at absurd angles & mountains up to 11,000 feet high stretching on either side the whole length of the valley. And it wasn't just the ground that was spectacular - the night skies were magnificent. Thousands of stars glittered in every direction & the Milky Way stretched down to the horizon before us. Just to add to the atmosphere the howling & yapping of coyotes echoed in the mountains around us. To cap it all, we were awestruck to see a hugeB1 Stealth Bomber circling silently & eerily just above our heads. It was all truly surreal. We loved it!

Along the road

Encounters with Route 66

Route 66 has been replaced by Interstate 40 as the main east-west highway across the USA, but we found our route regularly coinciding with or running parallel to "The Mother Road", as they call it in these parts. Sometimes we made a special detour to drive along it, just to get our kicks, of course! Flagstaff was where the original campaign began to have Route 66 recognised as a "historic route", to ensure its iconic status was preserved. We visited a famed Route 66 stopover - The Museum Club, otherwise known as The Zoo. It's the biggest log cabin in Arizona, built around 5 trees (still standing inside, but long since dead) & originally constructed to house the owner's taxidermy collection (also long since dead, but still there). This is the place to go for cowboys who want to do the Arizona 2 step. Occasionally the Texas 2 step can be seen, but line dancing is a no-no. We weren't there of an evening but there were cowboys hanging out there, even on a Sunday afternoon, by a roaring log fire watching horse races. We left before the Poker tournament began but not before the barmaid showed us round the 1880s mahogany bar & the old brothel & Poker rooms. She was very keen to share her ghost stories with us.

We drove on along the section of Route 66 between Seligman (with its 50s diners & motels) & Kingman, which gave us a taste of the classic Route 66. We were enthralled with The Hackberry General Store. In the middle of nowhere, it was an amazing relic from the past - old petrol pumps, rusting old cars, advertising hoardings & signs, an old Greyhound bus stop & a small wooden building with the words "Music Hall" over the doors. Having read Bill Bryson's "Lost Continent", we were very excited to see the roadside advertising for Burma Shave. If only road side advertising had stayed like this: simple wooden boards with white lettering at strategic intervals along the kerb

"Along The Road

How Sad To

Know You're

Out of Mode

Burma Shave"