CA 06: Deserts all Day

Our wild night driving into the campground at the Mohave National Park, we woke up about 6:30 am, to the sound of rain on the roof of the car. Outside, the rocky desert scrub landscape was a dark wet brown. I got out of the car, startling a jack rabbit, and inhaled the pervading scent of wet lumber. The campground was a grove of pinion pine that had burnt a few years ago. The smell was pungent, and somewhat unpleasant, having something of the smell of railroad ties. There were all different kinds of flowers blooming everywhere, and I scampered about taking up close photos of all the different ones I saw. The drizzle dwindled into nothing, as we stretched out and got ready to go. We went to the visitors center which was still closed, and explored some of the craggy rock formations around it. We then headed on an exploratory mission through the park. At one point we spotted what we believe was a peregrine falcon, sitting on a lonely outcropping of rock. All along the road were small clusters of quail rushing through the brush.

Finally we left the park, and headed for another kind of desert: Death Valley. It seems to take forever to really get down into the valley. The two land highway winds through a dry wasteland of rocky hills, reminding me more of footage of Afghanistan than any American landscape. Finally, as we crested a hill, we could see down into the valley. Something like 1200 ft in elevation later, we were approaching the lowest point. We stopped to investigate the ruins of Ashford Mill, and felt the dry heat cracking in the afternoon air. We got back in the car, and continued on towards bad water, remaining below sea level. Ahead of us on the left, a broad flat white plain came into view. Further ahead, there was a large lake - err wait, no, that's not really water... is it? No, no way, but... it looks like water. In fact, it look like a lot of water. We drove all the way to bad water without ever reaching that mirage, of course. At bad water, we were officially 282 feet below sea level. We walked a little bit of the way out onto the salt flat, but even though the temperatures that day were not as high as they could have been, the dryness of the air made it very uncomfortable. Further down the road we took a detour to see the artists palette, a section of the hillside that is many colors due to the different minerals in the rock. We missed Dante's view, and the racetrack, because time was short, and the day was getting long. It was time for us to make the long drive out of the park, and head towards out destination for the next day, Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park. The drive was uneventful, and unhindered by lunatic rabbits.

Arch of Constantine

Near dawn on our second day in Italy, we woke in our little tent and packed up our even smaller car. We headed back into the heart of Rome, heading straight for one of the city's best known buildings. Known in English as the Colosseum, but known in Italy as the Coliseo, This massive structure rivals today's sporting event structures in size, and is the model upon which they are often built. Much of the outer walls are gone, victims of time and earthquakes, but what does remained is shored up by angled brick sections.

We easily found a parking spot nearby and wandered the almost deserted streets. 8am in Rome is like 7am here. No one is out but the shop keepers setting up. Our goal on this particular day was not to actually pay a visit to the Coliseo, but to see the less famous arch that sits right before it, the Arch of Constantine, before we crossed through the Roman Forum to reach the Capitoline Museum.

The Arch of Constantine is one of several arches in the area of the Roman Forum, and, having been built around 315 AD was the last one built. It's purpose is to Commemorate Constantine's defeat of Maxentius. Many of the pieces of the arch were thought to be taken from existing structures or ruins, and re purposed to represent the battle. For a good description and more pictures, check out wikipedia's entry.


After looking over the arch for a while, we headed off through the Roman forum, which we would spend more time exploring another day. The forum is a large area filled with many ruins in varying degrees of decay. As a city center is houses temples to roman gods as well as early christian cathedrals. It was deserted in the early morning, and following the ancient road through it toward the Capitoline Hill, we were surprised to encounter free flowing drinking fountains, which seem to belong with the ruins. We weren't sure at the time if they were truly for drinking, but later, in the heat of the day and tourists everywhere, they were surrounded by thirsty people with cupped
hands or empty bottles.


Stay tuned for the Tarpeian Rock and Capitoline Museum.

Greatest Show on Earth Might Be Overstating it.

I was really excited to be going to a Ringling Brother's Circus, and a Barnum and Bailey Circus. I'm still a little confused that these are now the same thing. When Bellowbration came into town, it was high on my list of priorities, since I had skipped it last year to see Cats instead.

Overall, I had a good time, but several things made the experience less fun. The cost of the tickets I could understand, given the big names involved. But the mark up on the cheap toys being sold were offensive to me, though many of the parents didn't seem to mind shelling out $20 for a whirligig, which sells for $5 at Wal-mart. But I can get past the price.

I supposed what disappointed me was that the circus has made an attempt to modernize itself, using nickelodeon like characters, and a large screen for many parts of the show, the old fashioned show is gone. I don't think I'll being going to a circus like this again. I much prefer the more basic Ronald McDonald circus, which has all the same circus tricks with less of the modern add ons.

An Italian Experience from an American Perspective: Day 1

First let me say, that there were problems with my tickets. I had gotten the tickets in my married name, and forgotten that the passport was in my maiden name. This was no problem said the man in Nashville. He changed my name and gave me paper tickets. But, he didn't give Jake paper tickets, and somehow, his e-tickets got assigned a new number. So when we landed in Amsterdam at 5am, we had to wait at the ticket counter to get Jake's boarding passes, and they had trouble finding them in the system. Finally, they figured it out, and we ran to the complete other side of the airport to make our flight. We arrived in time and boarded the plane.

When we finally touched down at the Fiumicino airport just outside of Rome, I was happy to find that getting our car went much more smoothly than the tickets had. The fellow there showed us the car, and we were on our way.

The car was a SMART car, a tiny 2 seater that got phenomenal gas mileage. I had done some careful research online to determine if a) there would be leg room for Jake and b) we could store our luggage. Ultimately, we decided that Jake would fit just fine, but we needed to pack light, so we took 2 large duffel bags and 2 backpacks, rather than suitcases which couldn't be packed down or squeezed the same as the duffel's. Everything fit perfectly in the small area behind the 2 seats, underneath which is the car's tiny engine.

Even at $5 per gallon, we only spent a little over $250 on gas while in Italy, despite the fact that we drove just over 2500 miles, or 4000 kilometers. Not only was it great for gas, but its narrow width and short length made it perfect for navigating some of the narrow alley ways we sometimes found ourselves on.

As we left the airport, I pulled out my thick 3 ring binder full of info and directions, as well as the detailed Michelin highway map of Italy, and we were on our way. Our first stop was Ostia Antica just a short distance from the airport. We found the location easily and pulled into the gravel lot. After paying for parking, and for entrance (parking is rarely free in Europe, no matter where you go) we walked into the ancient city, and found that here, as we would see so many other places throughout the country, there were stray dogs. The prime suspect here was sleeping casually in the shade in the middle of the ancient road, with no regard for the few tourists. Due to jet lag, combined with the vast area covered by the ruins, we truly saw very little of this special place, before our weariness led us back to the car. Our next destination was in downtown Rome.

Little can prepare you for driving in Italy. Their interstates (the autostrasse) crisscross the country, and our much like ours. Highways, I had read, and expected, were slightly different. Cars would pass on a 2 lane road, even with oncoming traffic. The 2 other cars were expected to straddle the white lines, while the passing car passes straddling the center yellow line. That, I could handle. What I was completely unprepared for was the way the basic street system degenerates when in the core of the larger cities. Rome, is not the worst in this case. I would say Palermo on Sicily easily wins the award, but this was our very first day of driving.

Once into the downtown area, there are only a few rules:
- stay on your side of the road
- do not run red lights
- do not f with the bus. the bus will kill you. stay out of its way.
- scooters win.

As the highway we took into town degenerated into a city street, I suddenly felt like we were in one of those euro racing games. the lines on the road, except the center line disappeared. Scooters darted between cars with a reckless disregard for their lives, or the fact that we were driving a rental. The cars formed as many lanes as they could fit across the width of the road. buses stay generally to the right, and after dropping off passengers, would pull into traffic with little regard for the lives of others. We lined up at the red light, with scooters moving between the cars, and pulling to the front. Sometimes there were more cars lined up than could drive side by side down the road across the intersection. Paying attention and merging were VERY important skills. I'm glad we live in Murfreesboro. The driving here is a degree in the right direction to driving in Italy, but only a degree. We also found that busy intersections which do not have lights function differently than here. Replace the cars and streets with people in very crowded hallways, and you get the right idea. You slowly nudge yourself into the intersection until you are blocking traffic, and then you go, as well as all the cars behind you, until someone from another direction squeezes out, and takes their right of way.

To put it more simply, the flow of traffic is very liquid, and rather than drive defensively, everyone drives offensively. As scary as it is at first, it's a system that seems to work well, though, as Jake will attest, many cars have cracked quarter panels and dinged bumpers.

After some circling around, we managed to find a parking lot centrally located to our downtown destinations. Reading the payment sign we discerned that parking was free on Saturdays. The following morning we would find free parking near the Colosseum. Ironically, of all the parking we paid for, we never paid parking in Rome. A church's doors opened onto the parking lot, and on the stoop slept several homeless people. A nearby wall smelled strongly of urine. Yes, there are many homeless people here, as with any city. We turned first to the Area Sacra Largo Argentina and its ruins. We walked around it, counting kitties, then turned up a side street towards the Pantheon. Along the way, we stopped to photograph an obelisk on the back of an elephant, in front of an otherwise unnotable building. After seeing the Pantheon, on the way back to the main street, we realized the unnotable building was our next destination, Santa Maria Sopra Minerva. Finally, we made our way to Il Gesu. All of these sites are located very close to each other, and the free parking was centrally located to them, making it extra nice. On the way back to our car, we stopped by a grocery and grabbed some chocolate cookies and super cheap water.

After a busy, jet lagged first day, we were ready to drop, so we headed to Plus Camping Roma, where we had reserved a house tent for about $30, super cheap, and just outside of Rome. This camping village has tent houses, camp sites, small cabins, a grocery, and a restaurant, as well as a pool and play ground. It's popular with backpackers. I was dreaming of a tan canvas tent, like they use on safaris, but found instead these small teal colored tents just big enough to hold 2 cots with space to walk in between. Still, the cots were comfortable, and I would stay here again for the cost.



We decided to use our little coupon and head over

to the restaurant on site. Here we had our first authentic wood oven cooked pizza, and I was starving. Unfortunately, I don't like thin crust. But not only is the crust thin, it is also crisp, more like a giant saltine than pizza crust. But my main issue with the pizza in Italy is the sauce. Perhaps they use different spices, or the tomatoes are of a different kind, but something is off. I do not like Italian pizza.

After all that, we fell exhausted into bed. It was the first busy day of 16. Stay Tuned.