I seldom end up where I wanted to go, but almost always end up where I need to be.

In planning for this trip, I had boasted there would be no night driving. Night driving was slower, more dangerous. I think I had only planned for night driving from San Francisco to Seattle. But this trip turned out to be an enormous amount of night driving. I did not anticipate there being so much to see in the world, but there it was. I drove late into the night from San Francisco > Seattle, Vancouver > Seattle, Seattle > Yellowstone, Yellowstone > Salt Lake City…. Well, pretty much every day ended in night driving. And this last stretch would be the true test.

On the way near San Antonio, my GPS tells me to take 290 rather than I-10. I found this strange, but it hadn’t lied to me yet and so I ended up making a huge mistake. 290 to Austin is a 4 lane road, at times with dense woods on both sides and no sort of guardrails. You can't speed along at 70, 80 miles an hour for fear of hitting animals that may dart out from the woods. I-10 would have been a sure shot, 290 was just plain terrifying. As it got later and later into the night, I saw two full-sized dead deer by the side of the road. A raccoon sat on the shoulder and stared at me. A little deer trotted out into my car’s path, but luckily I was going 40 mph and stopped in time. The LilBro and I told scary stories to stay awake and asked creepy questions like, “Would it be more scary to be rounding that corner and seeing an old lady staring at you, or a kid staring at you?”

We had gotten up at 8 AM that morning in Socorro and now we were nearing Austin, finally. I chugged my Monster drinks. We should have gotten into Austin at 4 AM, but because of the 290 East route, we ended up getting in at 5 AM. I was nearly delirious and finally arriving at his apartment was a hugely welcome sight.

---

Friday in Austin, I didn't want to do anything but sleep. I had been driving the entire trip even though he had volunteered, but now I made him drive me all around Austin and San Marcos. In the evening, we go out to Spiderhouse (because, for the second time in Austin I have craved a Mexican martini but Trudy’s is always too packed). We go and party out at Shangri-La that night.

I made him and Ruth eat the asian fried chicken at Coco's Cafe since I hadn't had it in forever. The end of the trip is a fairly relaxing one.

---

On Saturday, I leave Austin and make a beeline to Yen and Phong’s engagement party in Houston. The drive home is a cakewalk. 2 ½ hours from Austin to Houston? After weeks of driving for hours upon hours, 2 ½ hours is a warm up. I arrive in Houston before I know it and meet up all my friends for the happy occasion.

I am nearly, finally home. I have not hit a deer yet nor gotten a ticket the entire trip, so I half expect to have both happen as I near the driveway. Maybe I will hit a cop who is disguised as a deer and he will give me a ticket.

In exactly 3 weeks, I had driven 7,679 miles.

My gps reads the total mileage a bit shorter, but that's because I didn't always have my gps on. But here's the trip stats- I wish I knew the total driving time, but I maxed out the timer by driving well over 100 hours during the course of the trip. I do know, however, that I spent 5 hours and 7 minutes just stopped. The moving average peaked around 73 mph during the trip and ended around 61 mph, probably because of the city driving.

When I finally get home, I feel like Odysseus at the end of his epic adventure. I feel like I climbed Mt. Everest. They don't know what it was like out there. They may only know bits and pieces, but they don't know, man.

In the past 3 weeks, I fit in nowhere.

In the past 3 weeks, I fit in everywhere.

I am now road hardened, calloused.

The world became smaller, closer now.

The story became too big to fail.

Pepper greets me as I walk through the door and I go upstairs and sit on the couch. She lays on her back and lets me rub her stomach as if to say, “Welcome Home.”

---

If there's one thing that I would like people to glean from this whole trip (all 2198 Nikon photos, 84 Canon photos, 302 video clips, and 21 pages of single-spaced word document trip notes of it), it is this:

The world is not as dangerous as everyone makes it out to be, and it is much more amazing than any photos or a few pithy blog posts will ever adequately describe.

We head off for the last stop on this road trip after the Very Large Array- the White Sands National Monument, located not too far from El Paso. While I was getting my knee checked at the clinic after I came back from Beijing, my doctor and I were chatting and he told me about this place I had never even heard of. Said it was pretty amazing. I added it to my road trip itinerary as an afterthought.

We arrive at the national park ($3 per person, good for 7 days- dirt cheap) and at the first car stop in the park, I am fairly disappointed.

I had assumed it would be white sand dunes for miles around, but here it was white sands covered with desert foliage. We walked the pathway to look at uninteresting desert plants and headed back in the car and followed the road further into the park.

But it turns out that was just the beginning. A little driving further yielded amazingly white sand dunes for as far as the eye could see. We parked our car near one of the sand dunes and ran out.

We got there around noon or 1, and I expected the sand to be scorching hot like at the beach.

Except it wasn't- it was like cold, powdered snow that didn't melt to your skin and was completely dry. One of the highlights of the trip and highly recommended to anyone planning on driving from Texas to Cali.

Fortunately, it was a Thursday and there was almost no one else there.

That made the dunes perfect for us to stomp on through.

They had tons of these picnic tables. I could stay out here for a few hours, but we only had an hour or two at most before leaving for Austin.

People even brought sleds out here- the sand dunes aren't particularly large, but it'd make for a brief fun sled ride.

People wrote large messages in the sand.

Each dune would have 2 sides to it- the wind-facing side was much more packed and harder, while the side away from the wind was like powdered snow. We walked barefoot through the cool sand.

Very good.

Of course, one last requisite jumping photo.

Powdery sand.

Hard sand.

I wish we could have stayed there for a few hours, but we had to make it to Austin that evening and it would still be at least 10 hours to get there. We leave the dunes for the last long stretch of the trip, with me estimating we'd get to Austin by 2 AM at the latest.

Thursday morning was the start of the last long stretch of the trip- From Socorro, New Mexico all the way to Austin- well over 12 hours of driving with stops to the Very Large Array and White Sands National Monument inbetween.

We start off the morning slightly late. We check out the nearby Walmart and head off to check out the Very Large Array in Socorro. It turns out the trek out there is much more off the map than I had anticipated- you've gotta really love science to want to see this.

Ever since I have picked up the LilBro, he has been a pretty excellent traveling companion- the kind that does not sleep. We play stupid games like “How long do you think it would take to walk out to there?”, pointing at various small towns or rock formations a ways away from the highway.

The Very Large Array is possibly the nerdiest stop I wanted to check out on this road trip and is exactly what it is- an array of very large radio telescopes out in the middle of nowhere away from any light pollution (meaning it is quite a ways from civilization).

LilBro looking quite fashionable, as usual.

The sound dishes like at the museum where you stand on each end and whisper.

The radio astronomy observatory consists of 27 independent antennas, each of which has a dish diameter of 25 meters (82 feet) and weighs 209 metric tons.

They're actually arranged on a rail system so that they can be moved around as necessary.

Ok, so not quite the most interesting site to see, but I still liked it. Large mechanical feats of science are always noteworthy in my book.

We make it to Albuquerque by nightfall, arriving in town far too late to check out the restaurant you can only get to by tram. Albuquerque is a huge sparkling city out in the middle of nowhere, much like Salt Lake City. I have a list of restaurants from Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives that I printed out at the start of the trip and make headway to The Standard Diner. I was expecting a hole in the wall diner, but it turned out to be an upscale restaurant.

Gotta love cucumbers and water.

Oh course, this diner was anything but standard. The interior is fairly nice and the menu contained much higher fare than the typical.

The Finer Loaf- bacon-wrapped angus chuck, smashed potatoes, seasonal vegetables, and red wine gravy.

Country Fried Tuna- wasabi guacamole, pickled ginger tartar sauce, and ginger-infused basmati rice.

2 homemade sorbets (Earl Grey Blackberry and Basil Lime) and a cookie.
 

On the way to Socorro, New Mexico- the night wasn't over yet. We stop at a rest stop out in the middle of nowhere. There were a billion stars out that night, and we stared up in the cold marveling at them.

And then I brought out the tripod for idiotic light pictures. I always carry one of those mini led lights on my keychain for occasions like this.

Raving.

This one makes me laugh because the eyes are all weird.

Dinosaur thing

I always like to trace people's outlines too.

And this here's me.

It is late at night and we drive an hour out of the city to a much smaller town on our way to Socorro. We stay in a tiny frightening town and find the cheapest Motel 6 I’ve seen on this trip- $30/night, $35 for two people.

On the way out of the Grand Canyon, we pass by a random Flintstones theme park/restaurant and we spontaneously decide to get lunch here.

The place seems frozen in time- still in operation long after the cartoon ended, as though no one told the owners. I suppose this was Dino's fate.

This was nowhere on my travel itinerary, but sometimes it's places like these that are the best. The place looks to be in good condition and it feels like nothing has changed since the 80’s.

Blargh, I should have used flash. Oh well.

Inside the shop is a small restaurant/cafe.

In fact, the prices for the food seem to be also stuck in the 80’s as well- we were chatting with the waitress and she told us the original owner hasn't really changed prices much to match the current supply costs. Of course, I had to try a Bronto Burger.

Not sure what Fred Flintstone had to do with the Grand Canyon.

It was near Halloween, so they had some decor up.

Bronto Burger with onion rings. Pretty darn tasty. Plus, buttered and toasted bun!

We ate in here, but we didn't check out the theme park in the back as we were pressed for time.

Showers.

Our next stop on the trip would be to the Meteor Crater. When my family lived in Arizona for 2 years while I was 7 and 8, I distinctly recall going to the Grand Canyon, Flagstaff for sledding, Sedona for fishing, Tucson for their cowboy theme park, and to the Meteor Crater. The LilBro remarked, “You sure like looking at holes in the ground, don’t you?” referring to the Grand Canyon, the strip mine, and now the meteor crater. Maybe he was on to something,

During this trip, cops have been a constant background stress. Flooring it throughout West Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona, there are unmanned vans by the side of the road with cameras mounted on the roofs- speed traps on wheels. On the way to the Meteor Crater, I pass by an actual cop car and I look in the rear view as he immediately pulls out. I nearly choco pie my pants. I was speeding but have since slowed since passing and I tell my brother I think I’m going to get a ticket. I think I see him in my rear 2 cars back for a few miles and I’m completely paranoid. After some 15 minutes, we turn off towards the meteor crater and I am relieved.

This raven right outside our car door was enormous.

Hole in the wall. Clever.

As you can see, the LilBro is very enthusiastic about me dragging him out to see this big hole in the ground.

The meteor is just that- a big hole in the ground. Exactly as I remember it, but maybe not as large as I remember when I was a kid. Admission is surprisingly an astounding $15 a person to stare at a hole in the ground, but we were already here anyway. You get more bang for your buck at the National Parks. But still, it's one of the only large meteorite impact craters in the world. The “museum” was underwhelming, but the weather was nice outside as we peered through the random telescopes pointing out points of interest in the crater.

Peering through the telescope into the crater.

And then peering off into the distance.

There's pretty much nothing for miles around.

These telescopes are all pointed at a specific landmark in the crater.

And that's about all there is to the crater.

It is Wednesday morning and there is a layer of frost on the rear windshield. It is late October. The temperature is in the 30’s- all these national parks are freezing. If you ever plan on visiting all the national parks (such as Yosemite, Yellowstone, and Grand Canyon), you can actually purchase a parks pass (which I did not realize) and save some money.
 

It costs $25 for park admission and we are out there by early morning sunrise. It is cold and we stare at the canyon.

It's pretty grand, I guess. The lighting in the canyon was not that great in the morning. I rarely like sunrise shots- sunsets are always much more spectacular, but I can never seem to hit these landmarks in time for sunset.

When I was little (around 6 or 7), my fear of heights relegated to me crawling around near the edge rather than standing up and taking it all in like everyone else. This time, I was back and upright.

This was kind of neat- it's not actually a telescope- just a hollow rod. You position the rod in any of the grooves as shown and the metal disk indicates what landmark you're looking at in the canyon.

Like me, the LilBro is afraid of heights. Here, he's all, "Hey, take a picture of me on this rocky ledge."

This is about as close to the edge as he got.

Yeah, not very close at all.

We took the shuttle around to various spots in the canyon, but once you get to one lookout point, the view is practically the same two miles further along.

Man, these shuttles take forever to make the loop to pick us up from the shuttle stop.

I think we waited half an hour or so before the bus finally appeared.

I mean, this was killing precious traveling time. We were trying to eat dinner at a restaurant on top of a mountain by means of a tramway in New Mexico by nightfall.

I had made plans that morning in Vegas to make it to the Grand Canyon by nightfall. I wanted to check out the new glass platform at the Grand Canyon and stare into the abyss below.

Right at the start of leaving Las Vegas, the LilBro suddenly has an urge to use the restroom. “We haven’t even left yet!” I say as I am forced to pull over to a gas station and he runs inside. This may not bode well for hours on the road.

Some 45 minutes outside of Vegas, we pull over to the Hoover Dam for a bit. I actually wanted to see Hoover Dam at night- the dam is lit up spectacularly, but with the road trip as it is, logistically speaking you can’t plan everything to happen when you want it to, just when you can.

The engineering that went into this is amazing.

How they managed to build an enormous dam and slow the flow of the river back in the 1930's is remarkable.

The LilBro spent more time trying to get a photo of these guys than of the dam.

This tower is on Nevada time. On the opposite tower, it's the next time zone, I believe.

I love how you can clearly see the old water level.

That's some good work right there.

The LilBro spent nearly as much time in here as on the dam.

Looking impressive from the back.

About an hour outside of Vegas, we see a billboard for the Grand Canyon skywalk. But we were still in Nevada- that didn’t make sense. It should be in Arizona, at least. We pass by and continue on the 5 hour drive from Vegas to the Grand Canyon.

We arrive at the Grand Canyon by nightfall and search for lodging in the small town nearby. We end up at an inn where the cute receptionist Isabel tells us the grub across the street at the Canyon Café is pretty decent fare. And her dad is also the singing cowboy at the restaurant there too. Say no more, Isabel, we are headed there right after. Being a local there, we also asked her about the glass platform overhanging the Grand Canyon. “Oh, you mean the Grand Canyon skywalk? That’s about 4 hours back in the other direction.” BLARGH.

We get to the Canyon Café across the street connected to a nicer hotel. Canyon Café is the opposite of Vegas- it is old timey, innocent in stark contrast to the gaudy excesses of Vegas. Isabel’s dad comes on stage and sings quite a few songs that night such as King of the Road. But let me tell you, you ain’t lived until you’ve heard La Vie en Rose sung in French by a cowboy with a banjo.

Isabel's dad. Go say hi if you're ever out there.

Osso bucco elk- elk served medium well on top of a roasted poblano chili pepper demi-glace and drizzled with a zucchini vinaigrette. It tasted more like stewed meat (which, I suppose, is the osso bucco part). I wanted something more steaky/gamey flavored. Ah well.

 

LilBro's pretty good sliders.

Snickers dessert thing, I think

The room at the inn. I fell asleep watching some documentary on gay republicans.

On the road to Vegas, I have to pee. In fact, there are no rest stops in 60 miles and it is starting to get painful. Once I hit the city, I try to pull over into any gas station I can, except Vegas roads are under heavy construction and I’m sent on hellacious detours and slow traffic. I finally end up at a 7-11.

While I'm there, might as well pick up another Domo cup.

I am here in Vegas to pick up the LilBro. I bought him a plane ticket to fly him out from Austin to Vegas and he would be accompanying me from Vegas all the way back to Austin for the last stretch of the trip. His flight touches down around 6ish and I get there just in time. Except he gets lost and takes something like half an hour trying to figure out how to get out of the Las Vegas airport (he had actually taken the wrong bus to get to the Austin airport and nearly missed the flight, so this was not unexpected). As he makes his way to the arrivals pickup area, I prep for the Vegas experience. Miley comes on the radio and I roll down the windows and blast it. The people waiting to be picked up at the airport terminal all look somber and tired. What is going on? This is Vegas? Why is no one getting down to party in the U.S.A. at the Las Vegas airport? Not one waiting traveler appreciates my musical contribution. The LilBro sees the Corolla and jumps in shotgun. It is his first time in Vegas. It is time to party.

Ok, so maybe not party- the first destination the LilBro wants to hit up is the large H&M store out there. We’re there for an hour or two and are moderately successful- apparently what happens in Vegas comes home in an H&M bag.

We check into the Imperial Palace, located right on the strip near the Venetian around 9 or so. I somehow managed to book Imperial Palace for some $48 after taxes, which is cheaper than some Motel 6s I had been staying at. I had told Melissa I was staying there and, with her full pretentiousness, was all, “That place is ghetto. I am never staying there again.” Of course, we check in and find the accommodations quite nice. There’s actually shampoo. They never have these at Motel 6s. I had to shampoo with a bar of soap. Ok, so granted, the room’s location featured a huge concert stage outside a few stories below right off the strip so that the music blared late into the night, but still, it was pretty nice for the value.

The Strip, being all gaudy as usual.

We walk the Strip, past all the porno flyer passers, into the more picturesque casinos, and into random shopping centers on the Strip.

Aw jeah. Like those light walls in them music videos

This looks pretty cool in this light.

Inside the Bellagio, there was a display with a replica of the Bellagio. Hrm.

In front of the Bellagio fountains.

Now in front of Paris.

Now in front of Venetian.
 
By the time it is 11 PM, we go in search of dinner. Unfortunately, all the casino buffets had closed down by this time and food options within a reasonable price were quite limited ($15 chinese food at this hour? Really?). We end up at Wild Bill’s casino which advertised $5.99 steak and eggs after midnight. The casino is small and a slightly depressing affair and though there is a wait, the turnover is quick as people do not linger much after eating their steak. I lose $6 in the nickel machines before our names are called.

The steak itself is paper thin, and I think could hardly be called a steak at that point. It did come with eggs, but also came with hash browns as a nice bonus. All in all, not a bad meal for $5.99.

Not too shabby.

We passed by the $10 for 2 pitchers of beer and- as it was a Monday night- tried to find a place to camp out for the night. Most clubs seemed dead so we ended up at Rockhouse Bar, connected to Imperial Palace. It wasn’t packed, but it wasn’t empty either. On the couch, a couple was making out. People were playing beer pong. Beers were $7, but served in pints, so it wasn’t completely unreasonable. The crowd is strange and the LilBro and I people watch and laugh- particularly about the dudes practically lining up to hit on the one attractive girl in the entire establishment. At 2 AM, we head back to the hotel and pass out.

---

View from our hotel room. See that thing in the foreground? There's a cover band in there that plays loud music late into the night. Blargh.

Breakfast at Fatburger.

Not too shabby. Fries are good.

On the way out of Vegas.

The requisite jumping photo. I always forget to use flash out here and so it looks all sorts of terrible.

Monday, before heading off for the Strip, I decide to hit up the strip mine out here. It's the Bingham Canyon Mine, the world's largest man-made excavation.

The sky was unbelievably blue that day, though it looks a weird blue in this photo. But still, the landscape is strange out here anyway.

The Bingham copper mine is actually still in operation to this day, with a blast detonating the ore going off twice a day or so. I just happened to arrive at the right time and saw the blast shortly after touring the small visitor center.

A line of enormous trucks began driving down to the explosion site to truck away the rock.

Check out my gravel pit.

I always loved these trucks when I was little (what kid doesn't like tonka dump trucks?).

Then, it was Vegas, baby, Vegas.

Quite possibly one of the most picturesque, alien places I have ever seen.

People have lost legs and lives by mistakenly stepping off the path. The ground looks stable, but your foot could fall into the boiling liquid at any moment.

Unfortunately, I have come in October and the running water has all but dried up out here.

I like the man walking about in this picture.

Up at the top. Again, the water level has dropped, but it's like an alien world up here.

One of my fave pictures from this trip.

And the park rangers were right- M. Bison would occasionally appear on the road while driving through the park, though they were very passive and obeyed traffic laws by walking on the appropriate side of the road.

I headed on south to check out the Steamboat Geyser, the world's tallest active geyser. Unfortunately, it's much more infrequent, appearing every few years/decades. No luck that day.

It's said that when it's about to erupt, this entire Cistern Spring drains dry.

There are several trails nearby but I didn't have enough time to take the entire trail around the lake.

I tried to venture out far enough to get a good idea though.

Looking back to the start of the trail.

I wonder what it's like when the water level is higher during the spring/summer.

It is nearing the afternoon at this point and I need to leave to be in Salt Lake City by nightfall. I head down to the south park entrance. I really need to pee.

It turns out that the Grand Tetons National Park is connected to the south entrance of Yellowstone, and it looked like the $25 entrance fee gets you access to both. I am down to my last gallon of gas when I hit the entrance to the Grand Tetons. I am hoping there is a small city near the entrance of the park like at Yellowstone and Yosemite, but have no such luck. Worse, there is heavy road construction going on. Late October is near the end of the park season at these national parks, so I suppose they decided to resurface the roads before the snows set in for the winter. The gas light comes on and I have no idea when the next time a station would show up. In fact, there is a lineup of cars and I am braking for miles, slowly eating away at the remaining gas in my tank at five miles an hour.

Finally, when the construction clears up, I make my way and am relieved to find a gas station. Except for the realization that it is closed for the season with its pumps boarded up.

I continue onward, with a view of the Grand Tetons in the distance. I pull over to the side of the road to snap some shots, but I couldn’t enjoy the view fully while slowly panicking over how little gas there was left and how badly my bladder was filling up.

Another view, panoramic stitched from a few shots.

Finally, a second, barely visible gas station appears. No one is in the station, but the pay pumps are functional. I felt a huge sense of relief at being able to fill my tank as I also relieved myself nearby. A hundred dollar bill in your wallet instills a man with confidence in the city. You can get in anywhere, cover most anything with a hundred dollars. Cash only? No problem, for me and my friends. On the road, a full tank of gas is that hundy in your wallet- you aren’t worried- you can go anywhere, man.

When I got back into the car, I drank another Monster I had in my cooler. After a terrible night of sleep in the car, I was tired. And after the initial majestic view of the Tetons, there wasn’t much else to the park.

With my cousin's 80-200mm f/2.8 zoom lens he let me borrow.

Small town just outside the Grand Tetons National Park in the early afternoon, heading for Salt Lake City, Utah.

The route to Salt Lake City is practically a downhill trip- coming down from 9000 ft elevation will do that. There are hours of highway cloaked in pitch darkness, and I was glad I left the Grand Tetons with a full tank of gas. Again, like in Yellowstone, I couldn’t see the scenery enveloped in the inky darkness after the sun went down- there were no lights on these highways either- and I guessed that there were steep drop-offs and amazing canyon walls that I could only fathom.

It is Sunday and- not realizing Yellowstone had so much to see- I missed out on checking out the Dog Tavern. I didn’t get into town until 9:30 PM. I rounded a hill and all of a sudden, the miles of blackness turned into the familiar patchwork electric grid of the city. It was a welcome sight after hours of nothing.

I had wished I had my car charger on this trip- I gave the one for my phone to my best friend’s sister’s then boyfriend some 7 years ago thinking I would never need it. My battery was near dead and for the past two days, I’ve only been switching it on long enough to receive texts.

My gps pointed me out to a super walmart to fill up on trip necessities- snacks, water, and another bag of ice for the cheese Jennifer had bought me from Seattle.

I don't know where to eat that's open after 10 PM on a Sunday night, so I randomly end up here, my first real meal of the day aside from 4 small bags of chips and a Monster energy drink.

I order the spaghetti dish, and it came with a generous serving of salad and garlic bread.

And then the spaghetti comes with another serving of garlic bread. All dirt cheap. Quantity-wise, it's a great value. It also tasted delicious, but that may be because I was starving and I've only been eating chips all day.

I check into a Motel 6. It is Sunday night and I had not showered since Friday morning, meaning I had been effectively unbathed for 3 days.

This shower looks futuristic, but still no shampoo at these Motel 6's. Soap for shampoo is not bad though.

It starts thundering and pouring rain like crazy- the rain has followed me across the Midwest too. I am up until 2 AM. Someone tries the door handle to my room. There’s a knock on the door, but I ignore it. I turn off the lights and try to sleep. And just like that, week 2 of this trip is over.