Wild Places and Open Spaces

Hello Everyone! We thought that with this update we would give a “quick and dirty”, bare bones view of life on the road thus far.

Gas max price: $3.90 Yosemite. Lowest price $2.64 Kansas

Hi temp: 108F Death Valley California. Low temp:33F 11 Mile State Park Colorado

Inconveniences so far: locked keys in car, vomiting in vegas, bladder infection, lost bird book, 5+ days without shower, ticks, broken zipper in tent (now we use the window to get out), broken cooler (melted plug in car), engine light in car comes on from time to time……

Eating…..Groceries: $1.00 Pringles at Walmart (where we shop about 1/2 the time…we hate to support the “big box”, but it is SOOO cheap and we have a strict budget), strawberries are plentiful/cheap/yummy, bread is very expensive averaging $3.00 US, rarely eat meat, most produce is around the same price as Canada, BEER IS $3.99 US FOR 12 PACK OF BUSCH!! 2 x 750ml bottles of wine cost us $5.00 US!! Unfortunately, roadside markets are very pricy…strange, you get better deals in the store than right from the farmer.

Wildlife we haven’t managed to see: rattlers, coral snake, bighorn sheep, ringtail, copperhead, mountain lion, vinegaroon (sorry Julie)

Wildlife (flora/fauna) bonuses we HAVE seen: yellow billed magpie, blue corouse, coral root, mountain bluebird, wild horses, coyotes, giant sequoia, burrowing owl, yellow headed blackbird, horned owl, bison (in our campsite as you all know), painted redstart, california quail, chukkar, elk, mule deer, black bear (which is actually brown in colour here in CA), bullsnake, king snake, chorus frog, road runner, western green snake, whipsnake, zebra tailed lizard, desert horned lizard, tarantula wasp, elephant seals, California sea lions, pale swallowtail, painted sister, black tailed jack rabbit, sun spider, pup fish, Kaibab squirrel, Abert’s squirrel, chickaree, California poppy, sego lily, white tailed antelope ground squirrel. (all of these are wild seen)

Typical Breakfast: oatmeal/fruit for Kris, Peanut butter and jam/fruit for Jim

Lunch: cheese and crackers, carrots, fruit, occasionally PB/jam

Supper: pasta, meat rarely, rice, beans, fried veggies, PB/jam

Junkfood: chips, seeds, ice cream

Average spent per day: $64.47

States visited thus far: Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizonaa, Utah, Nevada, California

Significant places visited: Milford Lake State Park (KS), 11 Mile SP (Col), Black Canyon of the Gunnison (Col), Mesa Verde National Park (Col), Four corners national monument (Col/NM/AZ/UT), Homolovi SP (AZ), Meteor Crater (AZ), Petrified Forest NP (AZ), Grand Canyon NP South Rim (AZ), Arches NP (UT), Canyonlands NP (UT), Green River SP (UT), Antelope Island SP (UT), Bryce Canyon NP (UT), Zion NP (UT),Grand Canyon North Rim (AZ), Valley of Fire SP (Nv), Hoover Dam (Yawn…..tourist trap) (NV), Las Vegas (NV), Death Valley NP (CA), Rhyolite Ghost town (bigger yawn) (NV), Bristle Cone Pine National Forest (CA), Mt. Whitney (CA), Giant Sequoia National Monument (CA), Limekiln SP (CA), Monterey Aquarium (CA), Cannery Row (CA), Halfmoon Bay SP (CA), San Francisco: Alcatraz NP, Golden Gate Bridge, Maritime National Historic Park, Crookedest street; Mt Tamalpais SP (CA), Muir Woods NP (CA), Yosemite NP (CA), McConnell SP (CA), Bothe Napa Valley SP (CA), California Old Faithful Geyser, Petrified Woods of Calistoga (CA), Chateau Montelena Winery (CA)

Accomodations: camped every night except the first night (rain/cold), and in Las Vegas

Flora/Fauna/Others that we have been warned about: scorpions, rattlers, poison oak, ticks, wasps and kin, spiders, squirrels/chippys/rodents (b/c of bubonic plague), bears, mountain lions, hogs, oleander, red velvet ants, sunburn, dehydration, landslides, flash floods, robbery, running out of gas, seedy people (there have been a few!!!)

Jim’s favorite spot: Mesa Verde SP

Kristin’s favorite spot: Limekiln SP

Campfires: North Rim – wood $2.00 (we split with another girl) supplemented with pinecones, South Rim $5.00 supplemented with downed half burnt brush, Limekiln – leftover wood from previous campfires (generally we are too cheap to have fires, so we have only had 3!!)

Where we do internet stuff: libraries/visitor centers $0 – $1.00 (not always easy to find)

Downloading pictures to disc: 1st 2 discs and 2 copies $9.00, 2nd place we did it cost us $20.00 for 2 discs!!!

Weather: rained first day, spit out maybe 2 times. Couple of snow flurries. Warm to very hot in valleys, cool on the coast, cool/cold in the mountains.

Mosquitoes and blackflies – few to none so far

Souveniers bought: hat at Zion $9.00, Petrified wood $4.00, gift for someone special at 4 corners $8.00

Average Kilometeres driven/day: 320km

Our Ammenities:

Bedroom/Rec Room size: 42’sq

Kitchen: outside (huge)

Bathroom: public always. Varies from nice pit toilets (not too smelly), nice flush toilets with running water to wash hands, to gross johnny on the spots (dangerously high crap mounds verging on contact when sitting. Any toilet (whether it be pit or flush or whatever) without too many biting insects and low fumes is considered premium.

Showers vary (when we can get them): a slight cool trickle of water, to warm fairly constant pressure costing under a buck to $1.75 each.

Worst camp meal: Mr Noodles (threw the rest of our stock out ….. that is awful stuff)

Best camp meal: spaghetti with meat sauce and fresh veggies

Best restaurant meal: buffet at Golden Nugget in Las Vegas – $7.99/each for all u can consume!!

Worst rip off: $41.00 oil change

Best money spent: National Park Pass $50.00. (has saved us over $100.00 already and can use it in Hawaii and American Samoa)

Best camp for the buck: Valley of Fire SP (NV) $14.00

Worst camp for the buck: Sandy Flat Sequoiaa NF (CA) $17.00 (no trails, pit toilets, no showers, lots of noisy people)

Best camping so far: Limekiln SP (CA) – nice flush washrooms/showers, excellent trails (short but nice), historical artifacts, safe, beautiful forest, shade, no bugs, ocean access, free fire!!

Favorite trails: Bryce Canyon, Zion (Angels Landing), Mesa Verde (pictograph trail)

Photos saved to disc so far: approx 1700

Cost to mail a postcard: $0.55, each postcard costs $0.20-0.40

Most called people: our parents

Most regular e-mail received from: Gerald Klein

Most impressive sight: Grand Canyon (Kristin), Cliff Dwellings (Jim), Giant Sequoias (both)

Best piece of extra equipment we brought: mini propane tank (cuts down on canister waste) and tree (allows use of stove and lantern at the same time) (both obviously for car camping use only)

Most useless equipment brought: Looks like our snorkels and masks!! They would have been useful had we brought dry suits….the water is freezing, murky and shark infested.

Best wildlife seen: Mesa Verde

Most organized National Park: Zion

Most disorganized National Park: Yosemite. (the Mesa Verde campground was also very disorganized, but it was run by Aramark….many of you reading this will appreciate this since you know of a cafeteria run by this company….enough said)

Most regular form of entertainment: Skip Bo (card game) and Scrabble

Most pleasant night: Death Valley NP. It was a great temperature, lots of bats, great stars, air show (the air force base is right near here so we saw lots of planes), quiet, no people, FREE!!!

Tags: Travel

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 7th, 2006 at 10:11 am and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.