A Bellinghamster and His Travels

The run from Lake Tahoe to Vegas was dramatic and harsh as one would expect the high dessert to be. I crossed too many passes to count, but US395 was a beautiful drive. I thought about stopping by Yosemite also. Of the almost twenty years on the west coast and innumerable trips up and down the coast, I never stopped by the jewel.SR120 had not yet opened this spring yet, so I needed to once again postpone this visit. (To go around to the east end would have added four hours to the trip.) I stayed in a small town called Independence, California. In an hotel built in the 1920's for Hollywood filmmakers. Evidently a lot of Westerns were filmed up here. The hotel was quite dated, but I loved this: The creaky hardwood floors and old furniture was so nice compared to the same homogenous places I stay at the other ninety percent of the times.  This picture was taken on the way to Death Valley.  Manzanar  was a WWII internment camp for the Japanese Americans. This was a sad way to...

Today was a day of transitioning from the Cascades to the Sierras, much of it driving through the Great Basin. I tried to stop off to visit to Crater Lake National Park , but the north entrance was closed, and heading to the other entrance would have added hours onto the trip. Oh well. Six other cars stopping, idling, turning around and departing (in the time I was sitting there transitioning to Plan B - mainly entering the new destination in the GPS) were also probably equally surprised.   Every time I do the I-5 run, I tell myself I should carve out time to visit Crater Lake. Maybe next time.  Although I had not set a destination, I though Lake Tahoe was desirable. I loved there for two ski seasons back in the 00's and have fond memories of the area.  So far, I've driven nine hundred miles. The sparse high dessert is beautiful and desolate. It is also comforting to leave the rush of the interstate. I arrived last night around 8:30pm and found a place on the north shore ...

 Not the most exciting  first night of departing Bellingham. Of course the anxiety if wondering if you completed everything necessary - turning off things, stopping the mail, locking up, and packing everything you need. For me, the key items are my laptop and related accoutrements. Everything else is not really critical or can be purchased tased en route.  And I had the oil changed on my 2003 Ford Ranger that has made plenty of cross country trips in the past. It just hit 150,000 miles, but I drive very little around town, so the bulk of those miles are highway mies. A basic truck that anyone can hopefully work on Ibn any podunk town in this grand country of ours.  So I made it to Roseburg, Oregon last night. I hit Seattle rush hour, which added an hour to the trip. But the rest was pretty uneventful, arriving at the interstate motel around midnight.  Morning conference calls and work until the eleven a.m. checkout, then an afternoon visiting Crater Lake, and ho...

The highway beckons, and I answer. Once again, I will begin my journey around the United States and reflect upon my travels here. Five weeks or so, starting from Bellingham, Washington the northwest corner of the U.S.  The entire trip should take me south to Las Vegas through the Sierras, then over to New Orleans, up to Raleigh-Durham area, up to Boston and then back to the West Coast via visits to family and friends in Philly, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Naperville and Minneapolis. I hope to spend a few days camping in Northern Minnesota in hopes of hearing the cry of the Common Loon.  I spend enough of my life in front of a computer, so I will limit writing my posts to fifteen miunutes. So if I disappear and the trail dries up, you can maybe track my last known whereabouts here.  Today is Monday, May 10th. I plan on departing this Thursday. first stop: Crater Lake. The excitement is building. More to come.