From Tamponian to Tempenian

I've made the move. Its amazing how much you can see in 11 days of driving. After 40+ hours in the car... driving the whole way since helen and manual transmissions are not friends, we made it to Tempe. The last sections of our trip brought us through Texas, more texas, texas, a little bit of New Mexico, back to Texas, another small section of New Mexico and Texas, into Arizona. That New Mexico Stint included Carlsbad Caverns and Gila National Forest. If you've never heard of Carlsbad Caverns, I highly suggest adding it to the list of places you'll visit in your lifetime. Its home to the largest single underground chamber in the western hemisphere. It makes Howes Caverns in NY, for those who have been, look like you just walked into your closet to go caving. It was massive. While pictures of the underworld are a little difficult to get, you can get some idea of what it looks like with these pictures.

We spent 3 days near the caverns staying at Guadalupe National Park (in Texas). The forest is home to the highest point in Texas and many mountain lions. We chose to stay away from both of them. The idea of hiking up a mountain in 100 degree weather with humidity was not cool. So we chose a hike into McKittrick Canyon, a 6 mile round trip walk to a Cabin and Grotto. The walk was perfect, hot still, but tolerable. Our two gallons of water came in handy. Its going to take me a while to get used to all of the different plants and animals here in the west. The cabin may end up being my dream home. Its was made in the 1920's by hand of all stone. Surrounded by mountains, it was the perfect place for an impromptu tuna fish lunch and later a nap on unbeatable adirondack chairs. A few miles past the cabin was the grotto. Interestingly enough, the whole Guadalupe mountain range is a coral reef. At one point there was an inland sea covering that area, after the sea drained, the mountains eventually lifted an exposed part of the old reef. So the grotto is a clear example of what the rock around us was made of. The interior of the stalactites (top hangy things) looked like coral, or like a solidified sponge. The area is so remote that at night there were not any nearby city lights, so I was able to take some pictures of the stars. The milky way is a sight to be seen in a place like that. We saw 4 satellites and 3 shooting stars.

The final stop was to Gila National Forest, home of some ancient cliff dwellings. The drive in was intense to say the least. A 40 mile (2 hour) winding mountain road resulting in some smoking breaks (old Suburu issues) and a lot of stress. Im glad we did it when it was light out. Just previous to that we drove through some torrential rain which ended up pounding the cliff dwellings and camp sites where we were staying. The sites were a little muddy, but a whole trail at the dwellings was washed out. The actual dwellings were awesome. Built some 700+ years ago they have withstood the test of time. The ceilings are still blackened from the soot from their fires. It is another must see. From there we went back out the crazy road and ended up in Silver City NM, home of the Silver City Brewery- if you like beer go there. And green chili cheese fries are wonderful. From there it was a quick (not if you ask Helen though) 5 hour drive and we made it to Phoenix. We stayed in a Days INN for 3 days then ended up finding a place (after seeing 13 apartments) more about the new place and orientation to come.

if Davy Crockett and Marie Laveau were friends, they would not have this much fun!!

So the journey has begun. I have not had the time or, oddly, good internet access for a while so this will be a big chunk of the past few days. It all started in Marianna Florida (click on these links to see pictures). A late night convoy to the middle of nowhere ending at the coolest house I've ever seen. Rachel's parents house was crazy filled with tons of antiques and other collectables it was designed to be fun. After a quick slumber-party-like view through Rachel's old year books it was off to bed to prepare for the festivities the next day. We spent the majority of the day (rated G version) kayaking down a local stream (rated R version) kayaking down a stream while drinking enough alcohol to kill all of the gigantic spiders living outside of Rachel's parents place. We made it down... some shorts were lost along the way (they don't float so well). In the morning, a little from the festivities, we left for New Orleans.

Doug's house was excellent. A great location plus fred the dog. A few po-boys and a good nights sleep later we were ready to brave the french quarter. If you havnt been there, the french quarter does not contain any regular groups of girls flashing people. Shame, but there is a lot of other good things to do. Between bars, (drunk) Karaoke (we walked past that place quickly), Preservation Hall, A wine and cheese bar with great music, Beignets (or as helen liked to call them Ben-gays), there is a whole lot to do. The big highlights were the wine and cheese place called Baccanale which we went to after taking a tour of the Lower 9th ward, the area hardest hit by katrina. There were many places that were being rebuilt, but many were still in ruins. Our friend Doug works for the Army Corps of Engineers so he knew a ton about the area. I found it a shame that non of the big corporations had rebuilt anything in the area. Abandoned KFC's and Taco Bell's which could be the first step towards rebuilding. I think the big companies with a lot of money missed the boat. Fred was another great highlight (and Doug). Sadly, we had to move onward to Texas!!

First stop, Austin. The capital city is pretty cool. We stayed in an off campus dorm for a few nights located right on "The drag" next to the university. We had a fabulous visit to the Texas History Museum and learned way too much about why Texas is so cool. Next we walked downtown and watched the "Largest Metropoiltan Bat Colony" fly off into the night from congress bridge. After a few miles of walking later around 6th street and some air hockey we headed back to the dorm. It was time to leave in the morning, but not without a stop at Whole Foods Headquarters. If you are ever in Austin, do not pass this up. It was everything I ever hoped for in Whole Foods and then more. We could have easily spent all day there. But we had to go. A quick stop in San Antonio to see the Alamo (highly recommended) and go on the River Walk (also amazing) and we drove through the montains of Texas (who knew) into the sunset all to end up here...in Pecos. I dont know whats here, but they have a hotel with laundry...we were both starting to smell.

Tomorrow it is on to Carlsbad Caverns. More fun soon.

3...2....1....

Although NASA has failed to launch now 5 times in a row, our journey has blasted off. A quick drive across the state to Kennedy Space Center found us on our first, itchy, adventure. Canaveral National Seashore, the north part of Kennedy Space Center turned national park has "back country" camping on private islands. Sounded nice. Got a site, rented a canoe and loaded up. Paddled 1.6 miles to the island against an incoming storm. Got to the island, set up the tent and got the hell in because the rain was a comin'. 1 shesbesh (backgammon) win for Jacob, and a half bottle of wine, later the rain stopped and it was time to explore. The island was great, good views all around, nice trees, picnic table, tiny little crabs, its was amazing.... enter Sandflies. Sandflies, if you have never experienced them, are millimeter sized flies that congregate in the millions?? and bite leaving an itching red bump for approximately a week or more. I've heard of how bad black flies in Maine, and the eighth plague of locusts are/were, but tack sandflies of florida on there too. Moses would have been proud of this one. Anyways, through the itching and biting, we found some manatees swimming by and a ton of beautiful birds. Sleep was pretty non existent as we learned that we were not on a private island. Our other guest was not Gilligan, the skipper, or Mary Ann.... it was a raccoon. I didnt know they were island dwellers, but things are a little different here in florida. Thank you to the sandflies (the only time ill ever do that) for keeping us awake, because the raccoon ripped into my dry sack for our food and ended up dropping it off the table and dragging it almost to the water. He may have been after the food inside or any one of the following: my camera, my cell phone, the car keys. After staying awake to watch the sunrise, the raccoon came back 3 times, we were off to NASA. The 45 minute paddle to the island against the storm turned to a beautiful calm paddle back with eagles and a beautiful morning in store. NASA was really cool, one of the best museums I've been to. The launch got canceled that day, the storm that we paddled through had lightening hit near the shuttle a bunch. We did go on the bus tour, saw the Saturn V rocket, the most powerful machine ever produced. Helen is so strong that she could hold it up (see the video). We were artificially launched to the moon in a simulator, rode in the moon rover, and relived the moon landing. We even got a chance to see the modules being prepared for the international space station. Oh... and we found the coolest halloween costume yet. It was a great start to the journey, real blast off is this thursday night. Here are some highlights of the trip so far.

Step out with your right foot

My dad always said that when we moved as kids. It was his way of making sure we made the best of the move and sealed the fate of "starting off on the right foot". Moving is always the same, the packing, cleaning, organizing, throwing away, finding those nostalgic items in the deep recesses of your room. But, for all the times that I have moved, this one is different. A fivel-esque journey out west (for those who have not seen Fivel goes west, id suggest starting with the original Fivel an American Tale). With Fivel in mind, i figured it was best to bust out the blog again. The idea of streets paved with cheese always gets me hungry for typing.

Highlights of the upcoming trip are my beautiful travel partner Helen, Mariana,Florida (kayaking), New Orleans(Doug, booze, Cafe du Monde, french creole gibberish, gumbo!!) , Texas??(i guess a lone star is a little interesting, BBQ, 1,000,000 points for Bush on road kill bingo!), Carlsbad Caverns New Mexico (down and dirty, check it out if you don't know what it is Carlsbad), Roswell New Mexico (I'm bringing my silver bullets, garlic, and camera...), Gila National Forest, and on to Tempe, AZ. No housing set up yet, but ikea should make that an easy, meatball filled, experience to furnish.

The journey starts next week officially, but the kick off party is this weekend courtesy of NASA and the space shuttle Endeavor. Thanks to all the NASA engineers for fixing that leak for me so we can blast some folks off to space after two failed 5 hour round trip excursions to Kennedy Space Center to see the launch. Finally should have some pictures and video this weekend. For now its on to more packing an deep recess scouring.

You can subscribe to this if you like, Im going to do my best to update it as we journey.