Uh… Everything Else?

After poking around Utah, we pointed Precision Auto east and started the long haul back to New England. Yes, we made some stops and did some things, but we were cracked out, driving most of the time, and not really taking pictures. Loveland and Cincinnatti deserve recognition but won’t be getting their own posts. Instead, here’s a little taste of our non-stop drive across Kansas. Imagine an eternal loop. Ugh.

The Way to Zion

We’ve been doing a lot of hiking. And while we don’t want to bore you with our exercise, we’re pretty hardcore about it so we thought we’d share some of this epic trek with you. We were at Zion National Monument in southern Utah. Just remember that no matter how hard it looks… it was probably harder.

Mexican Food

Oops – I meant to post this with the other Mexican stuff, but I forgot. This was our breakfast on our first day in Banamichi, Mexico. It was a roadside shack called “Pollos Nittos” that served us up some tasty hamburguesas and fried chicken. Que delicioso!

How Grand!

There’s this place in Arizona that most people don’t visit because it’s tucked away and off the beaten path. It’s called the Grand Canyon, and even though it doesn’t get very much press, it’s a really cool place and I highly recommend visiting it if you’re looking for something new and unusual to do in the South West.

The two of us spent a couple of nights camping out at the bottom of the Canyon, about a mile down from the rim. The hike down took us only a few hours, and despite a bit of soreness in our leg joints it was a relatively painless descent into the bowels of the earth. The Colorado river (which looks like a trickle in photos but is really a massive body of water) was a pleasant and refreshing reward at the bottom of the canyon – it was a toasty 80 degrees down there – and there was even a little beach where we lounged and watched the sunset.

For two nights we camped out under the stars, spending the day in between on a long but flat hike and hanging out at a waterfall. And we saw a rattlesnake, which was awesome and scary. So it was generally a good time in the Grand Canyon.

And then we had to climb back out.

Navajo Skatepark

Tuba City is officially one of the all-time-greatest place names. And although it’s not full of big-cheeked brass players, it does have a brand new skatepark. Deep within the Navajo Nation of northeastern Arizona, Tuba City is pretty short on pavement, so when this was built it was instantly swarmed by the Hopi and Navajo kids who live in the neighborhood. They hadn’t even opened the place yet but no one seemed to mind hopping the fence. Gwen and I hung out for a little while, talking to the kids while I skated. Unfortunately, I managed to tape over the majority of the video we shot, including some of the voices we caught (and all of the AMAZING tricks I landed) so here’s an abbreviated version. And yes, I almost crushed that kid.

Sedona: Arizona’s New Age Playground

On our way from Tucson to the Grand Canyon, Christopher and I spent a couple of days cleansing our auras and getting in touch with our inner children in Sedona, the New Age capital of the world. Under the whimsical and fancy-free watch of the Earth God Kokopelli, Sedona is home to a number of Vortexes and desert hiking trails that attract New Agers (aka: old hippies who became financially secure in their adulthood) from far and wide. Gift shops selling crystals and T-shirts with words like “spirit” and “earth” line the town’s main drag, and scattered among them are holistic treatment centers where visitors are invited to get their souls pampered for a modest fee.

Two Weeks in Tombstone

…well not really Tombstone, but we were nearby.

Out in Southern Arizona we had the luck to spend an extended period in the desert on a family ranch. You don’t really need to hear about it, but we spent a couple weeks lazing around, riding mules, and helping to build stuff. Very low key. We mention it only because it was such a huge part of our trip – it was where we caught up with ourselves, stopped to learn the names of cacti, and really started to get a sense of how ridiculously different that part of the country is. So… thank you Mule Mountains and Rancho Nando. Hope we’ll see you again.

Heladito

That’s right, “little ice”.

The Heladito was one of my favorite details from our trip to Mexico. I have no idea if this is a nation-wide phenomenon, but in Sonora you do your beer shopping at small roadside outlets – they’re essentially bars you’re not meant to hang out in and they all sport a ubiquitous “Tecate” sign. But the genius of it all is in the packaging. Your six-pack comes double-bagged and cradled in a bed of ice – they even remove the little plastic rings beforehand. Very thoughtful. It’s a cooler-to-go, a traveling party, and probably a little too likely to encourage drinking in the car. But other than that it’s nothing but fantastic. Here’s to the heladito. Brooklyn bodegas take note.

Mexican Adventure

While in Arizona we unloaded the car and took a little side trip to the Sonora Mountains in Northwestern Mexico. Just a couple words of explanation/apology. First of all, sorry if the video doesn’t make any sense, we weren’t really on top of the narrative flow this time out. You’ll just have to deal. Second, the “permit” we keep talking about is a temporary vehicle import permit, a small, relatively expensive piece of paper. And finally, keep your eyes peeled for a prime example of Christopher/Gwen bickering and see what what it’s really like during all those hours on the road.

Climate Change

Being from the northeast, I have a thing for seasons. I like to complain that it’s too hot or too cold, too wet or too dry. I like hearing horror stories about New England snow storms and New York summer scorchers. But most of all I live for the changes. It’s no accident that everyone loves spring and fall – not only is the weather perfect, but they are periods of transition, helping you mark time and shed the past, giving the year a natural, unavoidable rhythm.

But enough new age talk. I gave this a fair amount of thought while Gwen and I lived in Cambodia after I noticed the climate starting to wear on me. The weather there changes only slightly from season to season – ranging from kind of hot to really hot – and months of the year started to blur together. I found myself becoming listless. I needed something cyclical to feel like I was making forward progress (which as I write it seems a bit contradictory… but oh well).

We ran into the same problem while in the southwest. The weather was oh-so-beautiful, but relentlessly so. How can you fully appreciate dry, sunny, 80 degrees with a slight breeze, if you don’t have the occasional day of gray drizzle for comparison? I’m not sure, but folks seem to manage.

Ahh… being on the road is hard. We tackle some of life’s biggest problems – like how to cope with another perfect day.