Econo Lodge Bakersfield

... Entbehrungen wie Bradl, Schnitzel, Grillkotlett und so weit**....
Das einzig nicht so schöne war die Fahrt aus dem Park h**aus. Kathi W. ich glaube, ich habe heute eine dein** schlimmsten Vorstellungen durchgemacht - ca. 50 Meilen extreme S**pentinen bevor wied** eine halbwegs g**ade Strecke gekommen ist. Das war ein Härtetest, ab** als wir dann unten waren und die B**ge ins Licht d** unt**gehenden Sonne getaucht waren, war alles wied** v**gessen. Ich ...

Today we drove into Sacramento so that I could see the capitol. It was even prettier than I expected it to be--not as impressive as Denver's, but more old-world like Montgomery. On our way out of town we saw an old steam engine train crossing the main street. It looked as if it carried tourists--I managed to get a photo. We ...

How quickly things change without even leaving yet. Due to the heat, we decided to split the original first day's trip into two. First night we are staying at http://www.oasislasvegasrvresort.com Yes, I know it's roughing it (they only have 20 cable channels), but it beats driving ten hours on the first day.

We have been planning our "epic" trip across the West for some time ...

After driving all morning we arrived back home this afternoon. Got to talk to the neighbors about the local happenings. The lawn is looking sad, overgrown and brown, I'm sure our local watchdog is not very happy with us. Oh well I clean up next week. For now I’ve got to finish up the work I brought home and we leave for Santa Barbara tomorrow for a couple of days.

... not received the Declaration from each person but I did have the one for my brother and myself. As the woman helping us told me that we could pick up our passports on Wednesday my mom said I had a huge sigh of relief. So it is back to L.A. on Wed. to pick up our passports and we will be set to leave. The lesson here is check the embassy website for last minute changes. Don't get caught off guard when doing a trip like this.

... in my rear view mirror as I head out on 101. Did get sprinkled on a bit but really made pretty good time (Sundays are good for that) and no huge puddles sprayed on me, so I count myself lucky. The mountains and orc******** the way to Bakersfield were lovely and Rte 5 S and 58 were not too busy. Motel 6 was a cheap relief after the Super 8 SF and its weekend pricing increases. Of course it was dead easy to get around from, so that's the trade-off.

... We thought at least we could get a couple of tumbleweeds and have a bit of fun. All we got was one derelict building (which looked nothing like the wild west) and a stone wall from another building. But, we were there and we had to wake Zac up. He was devestated. His dreams of a shoot out were dashed and he was woken up from his deep slumber just for these couple of piles of what was not much more than rubble. Poor boy. Only redeeming feature was that it ...

... foot. so i won with a 150 with kurtis at 144 in 2nd, not by any means how i wanted to win. (he found out the next day its a sprain, good news for all) Mens II was just as nailbiting, if not more. The big rivalry was between hometown homie Jeff Surdej and Dubuque native Brian Ansel. Surdej skied first and struggled with the conditions to post a 148 with only ansel left to ski. most skiers take a normal/normal-easy opener to post a score and get comfortable ...

... and other random acts of gratuitous violence. As it was just on dusk when we embarked on our walk I made sure that we took all measures to avoid looking like vulnerable tourists. As it turned out it was a surprisingly nice area and the locals that we spoke to were probably more friendly than at home!! After seeing Venice Beach and deciding it was no comparison to Newcastle Beach, it was time to get some dinner. We went to a Mexican restaurant and ...

... we passed over 50 different types of church, drive-in churches, and the unusual sounding Erick's Church of the Nazarene). Instead of the 'World's Strongest Man' we had 'Team Impact' - extremely large men snapping handcuffs and other large things with the power of their faith alone. Oral Roberts is a serious TV evangelist who has a huge retro university built by and named after him. The space age buildings were amazing but we failed to get on one of his TV programs ...