Hunewill Ranch Bridgeport

... After leaving the lake we headed a mile down the road to the Panum Crater which was formed around 650 years ago by a volcano. We (Kathryn) decided to walk around the crater (click for clip), I wasn't too keen on the idea as it looked way to big to entertain but now I'm married I need to do as I'm told (well I need to appear that I am). The walk wasn't as bad as I thought, it was only a mile or so, but the ...

... unlike some ghost towns was abandoned for other reasons and not through disease and death. Outside many of the buildings you will see cars, machinery, cans and all kinds of things scattered around. We thought some of this may have been staged for the tourists so we asked one of the rangers and apparently everything was found with the town, some pieces may have been moved but only for the rangers ...

... a long distance with no fuel. To put this into UK terms, this is like us having no petrol stations between Cardiff and London, this country is huge! After a 2 minute panic, as we didn't have much fuel left, we reached for our reasonably helpful GPS and punched in our requirements, to which it saved the day and even surprised us a little. So we set off back in the direction from which we had came to find fuel.

We reached the garage ...

Zonder goud was CA waarschijnlijk de natuurtuin van de Amerikaanse wetenschapper gebleven. De goudkoorts heeft er echter voor gezorgd dat CA vandaag één van de dichtstbevolkte staten van de V.S.is geworden. We bezoeken deze morgen Bodie, the ghosttown. Dit levendige stadje telt begin 20ste eeuw nog een kleine 10 000 zielen, zeg maar de grootte van Zomergem. Vandaag echter is Bodie een spookstad. De beelden spreken eens te meer boekdelen. Tegen eind de jaren 40 van vorige eeuw bleek ...

... the long windy, winding drive thrrough the mountain was further delayed by several cow crossings! One even had cows in the middle of the highway. We had to come to a complete stop at several points for Lisa to moo at and video tape the cows. Only in California! Mike

... comes to the camp and then let it go but if it returns then it will be shot so as not to encourage bears around the campsite. Anyway it took off through the river - needless to say each trip to the loo that night was a little tense!! The rest of the night was peaceful and we were woken by the squirrels dropping acorns on the tent and ground below - they are everywhere. After a nice simple breakfast we went for a walk ...

After visiting Devils Postpile I got back on 395 but this time heading north. The scenary on the drive was amazing with the snow covered mountain range off to the left of the highway. I stopped at Mono Basin National Forest Scenic Area to view and learn about the lake and this unique ecosystem. The lake is 60 square ...

... I have more time, I will sit down with all my currency conversion charts and Visa statements, and I will figure out exactly what I spent. But I was checking my bank statements as I went along, and was surprised at just how cheaply I'd been traveling. 12) What did you pack? As little as possible. I did the entire Latin America trip, as well as Japan, Africa, and Mauritius, on one daypack. People were impressed that I traveled so long on so little luggage ("what, no huge ...

... stopped of on the way to have my minging sarnies. I'm so fed up with par boiled sarnies...... cant see it ever catching on really!!!!! It wasnt far and we certainly knew it when we got there as there were squillions of people, after a quick photo of Yosemite falls we took a hasty exit and saw out the rest of the day with a nice cuppa - oh not forgetting ensuring we stocked up on some vino!!!!! (thats my speak for wine by the way) Once we'd been picked up we had a scenic drive ...

Thankfully today is a much brighter day and we experience the true vastness of Kansas countryside. (eg we are told its not unusual for 4 or 5 combine harvesters to tackle into the same fields of corn!). The land is very flat, fields of wheat or sunflowers stretch as far as the eye can see. We take some interstates and some country roads today, the country roads are nothing like Louth or Mayo, they are even, straight, paved and sign posted! No hassle ...