Days 24 & 25: Heading to the Big Easy

Seriously, if we weren't traveling the perimeter of the US, I'd NEVER choose to visit the South in the summertime.  Do you know how miserable it is?  Mosquitoes, biting gnats, hot, humid...yuck.  We ran right into the "yuck" on Day 22 at Sea Rim State Park on the Texas side of the Texas-Louisiana border.  We pulled in late that night & immediately received two looks of concern from the state ranger & a local fireman--both asked, "Have you camped before on the Texas Gulf in summer?"  That should've been our clue to move on, but due to our poor planning, we had no other place to sleep.  We started setting up camp & soon realized making dinner outside was pointless due to the swarms of biting insects.  So we grabbed some apples, scratched our dinner plans & focused on getting all the hundreds of bugs out of our van.  I wish I had a photo to show of the horror, but our focus was not documenting the night, but on surviving!  About 3 hours after the massacre began, our ankles were swollen (Mike counted 18 bites on one ankle alone), the ceiling of our van was stained both red & black from the killed insects, poor Bailey was cowering in a corner (reluctant to move for fear of another insect attack) & Mike & I finally turned off the light around 1 am having killed no less than 100 mosquitoes, maybe more.  And then we heard another buzz...

Despite the obnoxious bugs, we woke to a beautiful view & took a quick swim in the warm, salty Gulf of Mexico.  Of course, I should also mention that upon walking to the port o'potty alone first thing in the morning I read the park's safety guidelines that stated a warning that adult alligators were present in the park--hmm, glad I walked alone :/

We left my personal inferno of scary insects & reptiles & traveled eastward towards Louisiana along the coastline.  Another landscape I never knew was so beautiful, however, sadly eye-opening, too.  At first I was naive enough to think how wealthy the community must've been because of all the new construction, then sadly realized the construction was actually the result of Katrina.

Day 22: I-10, Texas.  On the road to Houston we came upon the largest travel stop I have ever experienced.  There were 2 gas bays each with about 24 pumps.  Inside there was a fudge stand, a bakery, a deli, your average convenience-store market (but on steroids), an amazing bathroom & finally an outdoor portion that sold guns, ammo, camouflage clothing...you know everyday road trip supplies.

Day 23: Sea Rim State Park, Texas.  The morning after our massacre.

About 10 miles away from the above photo :(

New construction on the Gulf coast.  (BTW, that's not rain on the windshield, but dead insects from the night before.)

 Next stop, the Big Easy!!

Day 23: Austin, Tx: A little Blue within a sea of Red

I'm so disappointed because I signed up for mobile Blogger (where I can simply text the photo & description from my phone to the blog) & yesterday I tried it out, but no luck.  I'll have to figure out the hiccup, as it would be so great to "post on the go".
Yesterday we had a full day in Austin.  And by full day I mean from one in the afternoon to ten at night; still a full day in all accounts, but we tend to be a little slow on the morning get-go.  I think that has a lot to do with "living on the road", as that was our pace last summer traveling around Portugal & Spain, too.  I wonder why...any advice for us to get moving quicker?
So Austin: a very cool city & obviously, as we've all heard, one of the most liberal cities in Texas.  We saw tattoos, crazy piercings, trend-setting neighborhoods...you know the norm for a couple who recently lived in Berkeley.  At one point of the day, Mike even commented that he felt like he was in California--that's a compliment, Austin :)  And thanks to the suggestions from our friends on Facebook, we saw the local version of the city.  We toured the University of Texas campus (Hook 'em!), walked around the capital (which of course is bigger than our Nations Capital because everything is bigger in Texas), went swimming in Lady Bird Lake, ate at the infamous Torchy's Tacos, then strolled the great neighborhood of  "So Co", South Congress Ave. As the sun went down, we made our way down to an area under the Congress Ave. Bridge to watch the largest urban bat colony in North America emerge from their slumber to wreak havoc on  the local mosquitoes. Go bats!  All & all a great day, & definitely a city we want to come back to!

Day 23: So Co, Austin, TX.

And now a drive through Houston, then onto the French Quarter!!  Hello Cafe du Monde.

Day 22, San Antonio Tourists

Today we spent our time in downtown San Antonio--we saw the Alamo & walked the River Walk.  Overall it was a pleasant day, but now I'm exhausted!  Supposedly we had a great weather-day, but at 92 degrees & 78% humidity, I'm completely wiped out!!  I can only imagine how much more difficult these coming days are going to be...whoever said that a Chico summer is hot, take a summer road-trip to the south!

Day 22: San Antonio, TX.  The view from our boat ride along the river.  Gorgeous architecture, great history & Mexican food--what more could you ask for!  (Less humidity....)

Days 19-21, Hot, Endless Driving

Oh my gosh, is it hot in the South!  This sounds so silly to admit, but I never really understood how hot it is down here.  What's worse is that we're just entering the humid regions.  So soon (maybe even tomorrow) it will be hot & humid.  Why did I agree to a summer road trip?
Since visiting our friends in Arizona, the last few days have been determined driving: how to get  from southern Arizona to San Antonio, Texas, in the quickest way possible.  Because of our desire to see gunfights in Tombstone, AZ, we were too far south to make sense of driving to the interesting towns in New Mexico--Santa Fe & Albuquerque.  Sorry to all of those that are from New Mexico, but we only saw the boring part of your state which lead into the boring part of Texas: west Texas.  So sorry to all those from west Texas, but your part of the state is overbearingly hot, very windy & filled with random cacti, oil derricks and tanker trucks.  Needless to say, Mike & I drove fast.  And that we did--the speed limits here are so high!  75 in Arizona, 70-75 in New Mexico & 80 in Texas...Californians drive slow.  
But onto the photos...

Day 19: Douglas, AZ.  That's Mexico just behind the van and that obnoxious wall.

Day 20: Just north of the New Mexico/Texas border.  A necessary swim stop in the triple-digit temps.
(We were a bit disappointed in the normalcy of Roswell--we didn't even see any aliens)

Day 21: South Llano River State Park, Junction, TX.  Our next "van" purchase.

Days 15-18, Phoenix & Beyond

After many days of hiking, cooking & camping in the desert sands, we needed a break into civilization.  Or maybe that was just me... Off to Phoenix we went to daily showers, real beds, sushi & HOT temperatures.  Wow was it hot!  With daily temps of 107-110, coming from the damp & fogginess of Berkeley, Mike & I were definitely not used to the Arizona summer.  We survived though, but thankfully monsoon season was upon us, so our last days in Arizona brought a cooling wind & a couple of light showers.

Day 15: Sun City, AZ.  The land of 55 & older!  Here we visited Mike's Uncle Jerry & got to see all the sites of a senior community.  It's like the freshmen dorms all over...in more ways than the bountiful amenities :)

Day 16: Goodyear, AZ.  We had the pleasure of staying with our good friends Alissa & Colin Harrigan & visiting with once-Chico-locals, the Wilkinsons.  So great to see such wonderful people!

Day 17: Taliesen West, Scottsdale, AZ.  A beautiful house & architectural school designed & operated by the famous Frank Lloyd Wright.  

Day 18: Bisbee, AZ.  After seeing the famous town of Tombstone (I'll have to post more photos later) we happened upon this little gem in the desert.  But please do NOT come here--it is (not) an awesome town & the people are (rude.)
:) :) :) :)

And finally we are up to date!  Look forward to daily photo posts--of course, based on what internet access we have.

Days 11-14, National Parks of the Southwest

Now, for any of you that have been to the Southwest, you will relate to our dilemma of so much to see, so little time.  In many of these photos, we're jumping out of the van, racing to view the landscape, then jumping back into the van & going to our next destination.  All the while taking turns on who sits in the car with Bailey, as she wasn't allowed in the parks.  (We did sneak her into a few photos though!)
I never before realized just how gorgeous red rock, stark landscape & just the right lighting could be... Mike & I can't wait to revisit the National Parks of Utah & Arizona!!!

Day 11: Arches National Park, Moab, UT.  

Day 12: Canyonlands National Park, Moab, UT.  Our not-so-happy camper.

Day 13: Navajo Bridge, Lee's Ferry, AZ.  Below of course is the Colorado River.

Day 14: Grand Canyon National Park,  AZ.  Our happy, yet hot, camper.

Ok, it seems we sneaked her into more sites than I realized...

Days 6-10

We finally left the comfort of our good friends (and the amenities of home) & took to the open road.  Our good friend Joe decided to come along for a week in the van & our first stop was Multnomah Falls in Oregon.  That night we made it to Eastern Oregon & camped in the small town of Joseph where we huddled in the van as the Oregon skies let it rain...typical of Oregon :)

Day 6: Multnomah Falls, OR.  Penny-pinching by our hitchhiker, Joey.

Unfortunately the rain didn't stop in Oregon, & we drove into the small town of Ketchum, ID, having not seen the sun for over two days.

Day 7: On the road to Idaho.

With threats of a foot of snow, we woke up to a bright, but freezing morning at the foot of the gorgeous Sawtooth Mountains.  As you can see, winter is still going strong in Idaho--not exactly what three Californians planned on for their summer trip.

Day 8: the Sawtooth Mtns, Idaho.  It snowed on us that day, can you believe it?!

 Awww, the sun!  We made it to Utah & how quickly we regret missing the heat...
After a quick stop in Salt Lake City to check out the sites, head back into the mountains to rough it out.

Day 9: Our arrival into Utah.

What's a road trip without spontaneity?  Mike pulls over in Green River, UT, to take Bailey for a swim.  What we get instead is a crowded beach of young adults claiming the desert as their own for a huge music festival.  The boys got weird, Bailey got her swimming in & I got to work on my tan.

Day 10: Green River, UT.  The "Sandbar"--a local hangout for the town's young crowd.  It also happened to be the location of "Desert Rocks", a huge music festival in the middle of the desert.  

Days 1-5

In a nutshell, we left Chico, drove to Eugene, hung out in Portland where we ate & drank, went to an amazing wedding of our great friends & finally recovered from it all before leaving the comforts of a friend's house for the open road.
A great start to the trip!

Day 1: the journey begins...

Day 2: Eugene, OR.  Reliving old times at the University of Oregon, our Alma Mater. Unlike 8 years ago, the athletic programs now rule supreme. It was almost unrecognizable with all the new (sports) facilities. 

Day 3: Portland, OR.  A hike in the city of roses to start of the wedding weekend.

Day 4: Trout Lake, WA.  The beautiful wedding of our good friends, Jake and Kendra Prinz.


And here's a great video our friend Kevin Hanzlik made for the bride and groom. 
It tells a much better story than these photos. Congrats again, you two!

Day 5: Hood River, OR.  The wedding recovery.

Let's Start from the Top

Oh, where to begin?  Unfortunately this initial blog post is way past its prime as you all were to start this journey with us from our road trip prep: Robin finishing up her job in San Francisco, our search for the coveted VW Eurovan, Mike graduating from UC Berkeley, packing up & moving from our apartment in Berkeley, & finally all the real road-trip prep work such as downloading our cds onto iTunes, buying 5-gallon water containers, finding the fabric for our custom made curtains… Ok, so not all of our “to-do” list was worth blogging about, but we still feel bad that this blog is coming to fruition two weeks into our trip.  As we cannot make up for our poor time-management skills, we can at least fill you in on what exactly it is that we are doing…

(A letter Robin recently sent out to friends & family nationwide.)

Dear Friends & Family,

About a year ago, my adventurous husband came up with the idea that
we'd take a US road trip at the end of his master's program.  Well,
here we are, a year later and Mike is graduating from UC Berkeley in
just 3 weeks time!!!

Slowly but surely, we've been mapping our route, saving gas money and
looking for a vehicle to take this journey in.  There is still much
organizing and packing to do, oh yeah and we still need to find said
vehicle, but the clock is ticking and our departure date is quickly
upon us.  What better time then to email you all of our intent to
visit you this summer!

Hopefully most of you have already heard about this road trip so I'm
not completely surprising you with this adventure; for those of you
whom I am surprising, I apologize!  What Mike and I have set out to do
with this road trip is to see as much of America as we can, all while
visiting (and hopefully staying) with all of you.  Sure, there will be
stops in cities where we know no one, and in that case we'll be
camping on the cheap, but our hope is that we can stay with you all
for one night or three, taking in the sites of your hometowns and
possibly helping you out while we're in your home.  Mike can fix
things and I'm pretty good in the kitchen, plus we both love animals
so we can pet-sit if needed!

This is probably a good time to include that our 24-pound dog, Bailey,
will be taking this adventure with us.  Bailey is a great houseguest,
I promise!  She is REALLY good with tiring out other canine companions
with lengthy play sessions; plus she's well-mannered, completely house
trained, small!, a good cuddle companion and only barks when she's
having a lot of fun.  Hopefully she won't be a deterrent for staying
in your homes, but if she is, we completely understand.  Instead, can
we just camp in your yard?

Another condition of this journey is to not have a timeline, so we can
fully appreciate our last taste of "life with little responsibility".
And of course, we want to see all that we can see and spend as much
time with those that we love.  We've discussed a 6-8 week trip, but
understand that beautiful sites and hiccups on the road could easily
extend or shorten this trip.  That being said, we really would like to
visit you all, but may have to make exceptions as our route changes
and as the financial reserves dwindle…

Our plan is such (and please don't critique, as the first leg seems
silly from a gas perspective, but we have our reasoning…)
Chico, CA--May 27th departure
Oregon
Utah
Arizona
Texas
Louisiana
Georgia
North Carolina
New York
Massachusetts
Vermont
Quebec, Canada
Michigan
Illinois
South Dakota
Montana
Washington
Oregon
California

If your home state is listed above, it means we'd like to come visit
you!  Or if we can't make it to you, we'd like to extend an open-van
policy: you can meet us on the road anywhere and travel with us!  Just
know you'll have to bring a sleeping bag, good music and gas money :)

Now knowing our plans, can we come visit you?

Much love to all--Robin, Mike and Bailey

*PS, if you know anyone on our route who would love to house us,
please feel free to forward this email.  Thanks!!

So now that you have the background: Welcome to the Cooks Do America, 2012!

Our goal with this blog is to post an interesting photo per day to help record the fun we intend to have on this journey.  Weekly we’d like to spend a bit more time & update you all on the funny stories associated with the photos, describe the breathtaking scenery we will encounter & maybe even the dos & don'ts of a road trip with your spouse & your dog. 

We hope you make it a daily habit to track our journey & we welcome any & all suggestions of restaurants we must try, sites we must see, & of course, the free bed & shower of your friends & family nationally!

Love, Robin, Mike & Bailey