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Showing posts with label exploration. Show all posts
Showing posts with label exploration. Show all posts

Friday, March 6, 2009

Day 2 - Cabaret Voltaire or Bust

When I arrived at the Little America Hotel last evening I proceeded to recharge all my technology and immediately discovered that I screwed myself…total rookie move…ipod syncs with itunes and proceeds to ifuck me by erasing everything except the small collection stored on my laptop. Turns out all I have left is the music (excerpts from Courtney’s outrageous master collection) I added at the last minute to augment the vibe….now I’m loaded with the obtuse Cabaret Voltaire, Loop, X-ray Spexs, Coil, B.A.L.L. and a bunch of shimmy disc stuff I’ve not heard in almost 20 years. After spending a day with my new music collection sans all my main music…I’m beginning to think this may be just the ticket.

What better way (I am now rationalizing) to lose your mind than to deny yourself access to all your favorite music while spending 2 weeks in your car. I believe the goal here is to lose my mind...i'm not sure anymore?


I have about 15 hours of Spacemen 3 queued up for tomorrow!


The terrain is morphing as I head north.


The wind-blasted red clay of northern Arizona is populated with strange amorphous formations and markers where loved ones died along the way. I always wonder what might have happened to these people and if they were just drunk and stupid or did someone drunk and stupid come out of nowhere and kill them right here.

















Paying the obligatory $3 to visit the 4 corners landmark provided an opportunity to stretch the legs and stand on 4 states simultaneously. A nice distraction for about 10 minutes….but I wanted to get to Ouray before dark.













































Up into Colorado brought about some radical change with Snow, Foliage and some significantly colder weather. The scenery on this drive was spectacular.




























































Arrival at the Box Canyon Inn was proceeded by a drive through the town of Ouray where I spied the Outlaw Bar and Grill. What a great meal and appropriate environment to decompress and drink a “Million Dollar Marguerita” which cost a mere $8.50. The “Millionaire Marguerita” I’ve had the pleasure of drinking courtesy of Tony’s tab at the Penninsula Hotel pool cost about $25….The Outlaw has ‘em beat hand’s down.
































































I wrapped up the day with a dip in the natural hot springs which are an integral feature of the Box Canyon Inn. Climbing the hill behind the hotel brings you to a couple private redwood hot tubs running about 104 degrees. The best part was watching the clouds pile up at the top of the moonlit mountain peak…then accelerate and disintegrate on the other side.

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Day 1 - LA to Little America

As i was leaving LA today at noon-ish....it occured to me how amazing my wife is.  She actually let me do this 2 week road trip by myself.  How cool is she?  Most of my friends think we are both insane...but mainly that she's nuts for being cool about it.  Hey...she knows me.

Alright...so, of course, a photo of my Chariot.  I'll be living in this thing fo
r the next 2 weeks so it's more like my mobile home...but chariot sounds more a bit more like there's glory associated with what i'm about to do

my chariot....


my path today.....


first ya gotta get out of LA which is easier said than done


but before you know it you find yourself with a first taste of the desolate desert...it's a great entree to the process of figuring out why you are doing the road trip

Today's journey included about 490 miles out of LA across the desert into flagstaff. I arrived at the Little America Hotel in Flagstaff at about 9pm local time and promptly cracked a new bottle of 1942 which expect will be a staple for the trip...gotta come down from the drive and all.

The Little America is a very unusual place to stay for sure....Upon checking in Jim told me, "the owners like to offer something special to their guests...without being too fancy" which i thought was an amazingly candid note and was clearly the case. This place was rated the #1 hotel in Flagstaff....and i really dig it.

but it is kinda like The Shining around here...