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The Day of Big Trees

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24.08.2017
Ausma writing:

1st and 2nd team wake up in Motel 6 in Medford, Team 3 in motel in Weed. We take a quick sandwich and go to the Rogue Valley Inn motel to have some breakfast. This motel moved us yesterday, because there is a reconstruction and there were no places for us. Some of us have coffee and juice, others cornflakes, and then we go on a long journey to San Francisco.
The first team will try to drive to Walmart supermarket to give back the stoves and pans.

We drive along the road 190 towards the ocean coast. On the way, we are accompanied by fog and smoke coming from a burning forest near coastline. Ocean was gray, with large waves, foggy. As usual, we collect some small rocks from the ocean coast.

We drive through the Redwood National Park – on the edge of the road there are huge sequoias – very large and tall trees – biggest trees in the world. We are stopping everywhere in the road pockets, taking pictures, and flying like children through the sequoias forest. Daumants is very glad that we are in the big sequoias forest, not just seeing some trees as at the start of the trip. Impressively – the forest is in the mist, only at + 15*C outside. We are joking, that acclimatization for Latvia begins after the heat in America.
We drive along the historic 101 road, which is often referred to as the Redwood Road. We go to the Thomas Kuchel Visitor Center, named after a US Senator from California State (1953-1969). There we learn about the Sequoia trees and Redwoods. It is interesting to compare sequoias and redwoods: they are plants of one family. The Gigant Sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum) are more than 3200 years old, 300 ft or 91.4 m high, a mass about 3500 tons, a diameter at the base – 40 feet or 12.2 meters, the seed is like oat flake, but the cone is like chicken egg – they are the thickest trees on world. In turn, Coast redwoods (Sequoia sempervirens) are the longest trees on world: more than 2000 years old, up to 370 feet or 112.8 meters; mass about 1200 tons, diameter at foot 22 ft or 6.7 meters, seed like tomatoe seed, but cone like olive.
Soon we arrive at the Redwood Giant’s Avenue, which looks like a snake above and below the 101st road. Again we are in the Redwood Forest. Again stopping, taking pictures and trying to find the thickest and then the tallest trees, apart from the sequoias of redwood. In the roadmap it is written that somewhere there grow the oldest and largest trees in the World. I am not sure if we found it, but the remains we saw were both thick and long.

We visit private museum of Minerals. Ilgonis and Maris as experts buy some items (minerals, rocks, fossils and meteorites), for their home museum, others just visit the exposition.

We ride cars through the old sequoia tree, which does not show any signs of life. Glad to pay $ 8, to capture the moment, how our cars go through this tree. It turns out there is also an alive tree that you can go through for $ 5, but it stays for the next time. Team 1 traveled through that tree – Chandelier tree (height 315 ft, diameter – 21 ft, age 2400 ys) in Leggett.
Time is running on and we drive to San Francisco, still on our way to Walmart supermarket, because we need to buy some food for breakfast.

750 km traveled during all day and we are at the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. The sun has just set, but it’s a little light to finally see the bridge without a fog. We take some pictures; the wind is so strong that blows us off the feet, it’s cold.

We go to the bustling stream of San Francisco streets and it was hard to see the sign of Europe’s hotel & hostel on Brodway street, because other advertisements and signage were so bright. Maris has the sharpest sight and sees the letters above the very narrow door. We quickly load and shovel all the belongings from the car, because tomorrow we will transfer the cars back to the car rent. 5352 miles or 8563 km on the roads of USA are done. We drag the bags to the room on the third floor by very steep stairs. The room is full of stuff. The drivers go to look for car parking; the rest are struggling with suitcases. Need to pack for the journey back home.

Good night. This will be our last night in America.

Idaho – the state of potatoes, fountains and hot springs

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18.08.2017
Agnese writing:

Bliss, the place we stayed at, is very close to the total Eclipse path (~130km), so we are not in too big rush anymore. Still, the people in 3 of our 6 cars have decided to do a shortcut and not go along the scenic routes to the little town Stanley over the mountains. The other 3 are ready for the small detour. The road (Sawtooth scenic byway, road nr 75) gets nicer with every mile and we go over a mountain pass more than 2.6km high. A small parking area with a beautiful scenery soon after that where we not only see the mountains of Sawtooth ridge, but also some curious animals, maybe groundhogs.

Soon after we arrive in Stanley – Lonely Planet guidebook says it’s one of the most beautiful towns in the US. I must admit that this place is indeed pretty. Wooden houses on hillsides surrounded by mountains still having some snow. However, there were couple of other towns where we have passed through during this trip that have been pretty as well – just in a different way.

We agree to walk around and leave in about an hour. Stanley had its own tiny town center and its very own Wall street which doesn’t at all resemble its namesake in New York. We pick up a geocache here, others meanwhile are having breakfast in the local cafe. The food is reported to be tasty, but the highlight here is the bathrooms – decorated so nicely as if this was a palace.

After visiting Stanley we continue on another scenic byway – nr 21, named for Ponderosa Pine. The pines are indeed dominating the scenery. So much that we get a bit bored by looking outside. Luckily there’s another stop planned to chase the sleep away – Kirkham hot springs. We put the 5$ for parking in an envelope and drop it in a box – there is a ranger to check the parked cars for the parking note which comes from the envelope, but the payment system is similar to that of the first-come first-served campings. It’s relying much on the responsibility and honesty of people so can be easily abused. But it’s easy to see what we pay for (people keeping these places clean, maintaining toilets etc), so cheating is not on our minds.

The hot springs are indeed hot. One can only stand the heat for less than a minute. However a mountain river passes right by, so on the bank where the spring water meets the river, the water is just in the right temperature. If you move more to the side of the bank, you get warmer water and if you move closer to the river then you can cool down. The river itself is very cold, but after heating up in the hot water it is perfect for a quick swim – a process that can be repeated.

We bathe here a while, have a quick lunch and then continue to Weiser – a town where we will stay tonight. The other 3 cars are already there after visiting another place of hot springs – Idaho is known to have lots of them. We stop in a Walmart for groceries, gas station for petrol and arrive in Weiser before sunset. Someone has an idea of swimming because the Snake river is very close by. Daumants leads us to the bank, but the colour of the water is not inviting in this place, so we decide to skip the swimming tonight. Later on a group of us find some geocaches, some others visit some activities of the town festival. Everyone is delighted about the possibility to sleep longer tomorrow – will only be leaving at 10:30.

When I asked an American friend what is Idaho famous for, I was said – potatoes. We didn’t check every field, but the car licence plates do confirm that locals are proud of this vegetable. However, for me Idaho will be the state of fountains. The agriculture here is so important that almost every field has long rows of water sprinklers working all around. Not fountains by design, but generally having the same effect.

Forward to Arizona!

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14.08.2017
Kārlis writing:

Waking up early in the morning after 3 days staying in LV (Las Vegas, of course, not that LV which stands for Latvia). Exhausted but determined. Yes, that’s us.
Shortly after Las Vegas we made turn to the Hoover Dam. We crossed it by cars and walked back by foot. Try splitting some drops of water in it and you will see how upcoming winds fight against gravity. One can imagine how all this massive construction was build helping to control water in a desert and giving electricity at the same time. This side of the dam was made in astronomical motives symbolizing the greatness of this man made giant construction influencing several U.S. states. After sightseeing, shopping and geo-cashing we crossed the dam again. And we crossed it again by cars going back. Then we stopped at parking lot before the bridge. We went uphill and took a walk on a bridge. There was a nice sightseeing from a middle of a bridge over the dam. Really nice view just a bit windy on beginning –watch and catch your hats. Then we passed the bridge by cars continuing our journey.
So, we continued our trip following the Route 66 from Nevada to Arizona. Well, it’s better to say we were trying to follow the path of historic route wherever possible but our advanced navigation apps several times recalculated directions to the quickest possible way which, of course, tended to push our way away from the way 66. Good thing was that we noticed it several times and could navigate our cars manually by looking on a map (an electronic map, to be precise, it is really nothing to do with these old-fashioned paper poster maps that span well over several hundred sq. feet if unfolded). As one might guess bad thing was that a few times we did not notice it being surprised how quickly we can drive on a highway. In result, our know-how that we obtained was the following — if one strictly follows the planed navigation path it’s fine but if one decides to make a turn away then one must correct everything manually. So, we ended up using the navigator map showing our desired path but not using the automatic navigation (i.e. without all those fancy voice commands “keep left”, “go straight”, “go right”, “take exit”, “turn around”, “turn around now!” all those kinds of sounds that otherwise in a miracle way come from somewhere on a right time when you need it and tell you were to drive).

So, we were on the Rout 66 that was going up and down and right and left presenting the best possible landscapes for every rider. It was interesting to see how all villages, inns, shops, coffee shops, every place was proud to stand by the Rte 66 and to be a part of the great history trying hard to preserve it. Old cars, old signs, proudness and happy people that was how we saw the Route 66. It certainly is not easy for the owners at least not for all but that’s a way it was. What a way! Our advice, if you have a time — go Route 66, if you are in a rush then it’s your own problem – you are free to choose new quicker highways (sorry, I do not remember their numbers but one can find them on any map).

Our main destination for this day was the Arizona Meteorite crater. Our team was the last on its way but since we skipped a little part of the Route 66 we somehow got in a lead. Suddenly it started to rain. Several lightning bolts stroked the sky. Does it supposed to rain in desert? We were rushing to the Crater to reach it at the day time. When we arrived at the crater it was not raining. We got a group ticket and went inside. At the beginning, we rushed in passing the exhibition to see the crater itself. The Arizona Crater, the Canyon Diablo crater, the Barringer crater, the Meteor crater (note that this last term is technically incorrect, it should have been called ‘meteorite crater’ instead) — these are all the names for this crater. Being more than km in diameter and 170 m in depth it has been formed almost 50 thousand years ago in a matter of seconds by a small asteroid impactor around 50 m in diameter.

Then we went inside to see exhibition. We watched the educational movie, took picture of the biggest Canyon Diablo meteorite piece (called Holsinger meteorite) weighting well over 600 kg. For most of us it was the first time to see meteorite crater so big by our own eyes.
After visit of the great meteorite crater we went a bit back to Flagstaff where our reserved motel was located. Tired and ready for the next day adventures. Yes, that’s us.

Laura adding to the story:
When I checked the internet tonight I noticed that there had been a storm in Latvia. This evening we caught a storm as well, that resembled a huge lid over the sky, where you could see a light in the distance with black strip over it, which told us of rain. After visiting all the sightseeing objects for the day our team went looking for an geocache. Near one of the caches we met two photographers, who where looking for “natural light sources” that is lightning, rainbows and other such natural phenomenon to capture them on photograph. It is mainly an hobby, but some of the pictures are being sold as well. One of the two is n professional photographer. 2 men with 3 cameras, each turned to a different direction. Sensors that react to light where attached to the cameras, as soon as light hits the sensor, for example, lightning, the camera takes a picture. It was explained to us that the sensors are quicker than lightning, so the pictures are taken. We where shown the freshly taken pictures of lightning, as well as their best pictures, that where posted on Facebook. It is interesting that whilst standing in the middle of an abandoned gas station the fields stretch very far and there is lightning in the distance, that flashes with some regularity in every direction, so you can only turn your head around. If in the morning around 7 o’clock in Las Vegas the temperature was already 37°C, and it rose to 44°C in the middle of the day than at the moment the displayed temperature was only 13°C. It is a huge difference that shocks the body. We where ready for this kind of cold only upon returning to Latvia.

Along Route 66 to Las Vegas

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10.08.2017
Daumants writing:

Today we did the planned trip from San Bernardino (part of the LA aglomeration) to the biggest city in Nevada – Las Vegas. In complete we drove more than 300 miles. Traveling mostly took part on the historic route 66. Unfortunately in the middle of our trip the route 66 was closed due to road repair.
Day started with wonderfully refreshing morning swim in one of the motels pools. Already in morning hours we were heated up by the hot south Californian sun. The morning rush in this morning wasn’t so harsh, so we had some time to chill at the motel. At last our group got ready and we went to one of the local cheapest gasoline stations to fill car empty gas tanks.
After we filled our car “stomachs” we straightly hit the route 66, which has lost its main title as the main connector between two coasts of mainland USA already for decades.
On the way to Las Vegas the air slowly heated up from quite bearable 32 degrees Celsius to 45 degrees! The route 66 gave joy to our eyes with beautiful landscapes, and old lovely country side houses. Besides, locals try to keep the road surroundings as they were 50 years ago with old cars, fences and houses.
And then in the evening we came to Las Vegas! What a marvelous city. And the climate is crazy hot, but for us northerners, hot nights is our cup of coffee. We love it!
See ya tomorrow!

The 1st day in Los Angeles

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07.08.2017
Jānis writing:

Our first stop on the 7 th of August was El Matador State Beach. The weather was perfect for swimming, with overcast sky and chilly winds. However, for the couple of us that wanted to go for a swim it was not an obstacle. No, the obstacle should have been the rocky shores and underwater rocks, as Imants proved without a doubt by hurting his toe on one of these rocks quite badly. The time limit of half an hour prevented any further injuries to group. Here, I feel it appropriate to mention that both Imants and Salvis reported that their cars show that more than 1000 miles have been driven in the USA.

Next up was the Science Center. The center itself contained a lot of interesting rooms and experiments. For example, there were rooms showing the flora and fauna of deserts, rivers and arctics, as well as several experiments involving crash tests, wind turbines and structural integrities. It offered opportunities to see Gemini, Mercury and Apollo capsules.
But, all that aside, there was one exhibit that stood over the rest – Space Shuttle Endeavour. The majestic shuttle made for a truly breathtaking sight. To be fair, several artifacts were shown before the shuttle, for example, the tires, galley, nose cone, etc. and they were all fascinating as well, but nothing quite compares to seeing the shuttle. It was truly inspiring.

Next up, was Griffith observatory. Not much to say here, other than that it is a pretty building and provides an excellent view towards LA. Well, the main reason for the lackluster review is that it was closed. Still, we got a couple of pictures out of it, including our first in front of the “Hollywood” sign. After visiting the observatory we drove down the Santa Monica boulevard towards Santa Monica pier reaching the end route 66. The boulevard had a subtle change from run down houses in the beginning and the middle to the stunning heart of Los Angeles. At the end of the boulevard was the Santa Monica pier, end of route 66. The pier contained several shops, a couple of good ocean views and several attractions.

After visiting the pier the group decided to split up with some enjoying the Sunset boulevard in, well, sunset and others electing to stay in LA. As i was with the group that stayed, I will speak about that. We did two more things. Firstly, we checked out the pedestrian street with it’s shops and shops and dealerships and some cool hedges that were cut like dinosaurs and were part of a fountain. A rather uneventful trip, if you discount Laura finding a shoe shop with a sale going on and myself with Salvis visiting a Tesla dealership. Secondly, we went for a swim in the ocean. The water was warm, the air hot and the waves went over my head by just a fraction. In the end, our swim was rewarded by the sight of Santa Monica pier lighting up for the night and an sunset over the ocean.

At that point it was time to head home. We took a detour through Sunset boulevard as well although we didn’t see much as it was already dark outside. We did get pictures with the sign saying “Beverly Hills” though and did get to enjoy LA in the night with it’s neon signs, posters and all around colorful exterior.

Unbeknownst to us one more adventure awaited us – shopping. As we needed some food we went to nearest Walmart which was closed. There we received instructions (in Spanish/broken English) to the place with the nearest 24/7 Walmart which we mistook for a separate shop which in turn created a problem with navigation leading to us enjoying our night for two more hours before we finally got to our motel and could get to bed.

Everything is Big in America

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05.08.2017
Kristaps writing:

I woke up around 6am. Cold. I was cold in the night, the sleeping bag failed. If it was too hot previously then now I was missing heat and woke up with a sore throat. When the Sun rays hit the tent at 7am, I decided to wake up and quietly left the tent trying to not wake the others as the plan for the day allowed them to sleep for another hour. Only 9 degrees above zero. It had been raining more in the night and the forest was wet. The sun enlightened the rain drops that were caught by leaves and needles.

As long as I had stood firmly on my feet and looked around, already two girls asked if we are leaving today. Exactly how we did it yesterday. Only they did it already at 7am! This campsite is really demanded! It’s not exactly clear why so, though, as it was possible to stay somewhere lower down at the base of the mountain where it’s much warmer. They were happy by the answer that we are really leaving today already, asked where are we from, why. I told again that we will be chasing the eclipse. I didn’t try to explain where Latvia is – they were already surprised that we have come from Europe. So that the campsite would be safely “booked” they left their equipment in the site which was still for now ours.

To feel a little bit more live I decided to wash my hair and shave. Probably those are not the most typical actions of campers, but the decisions made early in the morning can be not as wise. Then I went to walk around the area while others were still waking up. In many places campfires were lit and breakfast prepared, here and there music was playing already, It looked like many people arrive here for several days – camper car (RV), sleeping bag, drying clothes, … And so many people. What’s the joy and nature here if all those neighbours are so close.

In the morning briefing Agnese says that “today we have only one thing in the plan, even though yesterday there was only one as well”. There’s a round of laughter as everyone remember the adventures in the mountains yesterday where we had to do “just one” round-trip to the Glacier point and back.

We gathered our things, got ready and left for the road. I already gradually started to get used to the winding roads of mountains, did not have the anxiety as in the first times of driving. I started to enjoy them. Really. The roads to the park, from the park and inside the park, those are simply really unreal, they are as in the game “Need for Speed”, only wit that difference tat the stress is real as there is no space for mistakes. Turn to one side, to the other, back to the first, downwards, a bend, more downwards, turn while going up, besides those are all one after another without any straight sections in between, they are not flat, but made as race track bends with an actual slope inwards. There are also no barriers, only trees – if you let the car go straight, then it’s for forever. And the sights behind the trees and past the edge – mountains, far away and other impressive sceneries. It’s fantastic to drive on such roads, and usually I don’t really like to be at the wheel.

The American road signs seem quite weird, they like to write all kinds of texts on them, and there are quite small amount of pictograms. Some signs are similar to the European ones, for example “stop” and “give way” (yield), but the speed constraints are completely different – those either work from one sign to another (zone) or for a particular distance which is depicted on another sign, for example – the 2 following turns. They are writing all kinds of texts on the signs, for example, “Report drunk drivers, call 911″, “Please don’t drink and drive”, “Two left lanes go to X city”, “Fasten safety belts, state law”, “Right lane must turn”, and some more variations. Besides, those are really standard road signs not informative posters.

It was hard to get used to three more american traffic features. They are allowed to tur right on a red if the road is free, They can put “stop” signs in the junction on all the roads which join here – then it’s as suspected – who comes first, stops and continues the first. And also on the highways they pass also on the right. Must be careful for this one. I don’t know if it is really allowed but my suspicion is that is because the highways go through cities, and cities are merged, and it is easier to not differentiate what’s happening in the part of populated place and what outside it.

When we got to the Wawona village, those who had the least gas, filled their tanks by a couple of gallons so we could safely reach the next fueling place. The fuel in mountains is, of course, much more expensive than outside the Yosemite, but it would be much worse to be left somewhere on the road.

Then we went to Nelder Grove to the big trees – sequoias – some of which are still growing there. Already by the parking we notice two stumps of the former giants. They seemed unbelievably big. We did a small, a couple of kilometres long loop along forest path to find sequoias. There were not many of them, but the view was impressive. Those trees are huge, even hugely huge. “Everything is big in America” somebody will say later. It’s, however, not really possible to photograph that hugeness by taking a simple picture, they look like quite ordinary trees, but when a person is put next to them to understand the scale, the person in the photo will be tiny. They must be seen in the real life to realise the grandness. Sequoias are growing for many thousands of years – it is sad that many were cut so quickly and without much reason.

We continue our route to Los Banos and feel that the air and everything else get hotter and hotter. On the way on the straight highway the ones in front suddenly brake and turn off the road to the roadside gravel. I wasn’t at all excited by this maneuver but I must admit that it was worth it – we have stopped at figs plantation, they were very delicious – as normal for a forbidden fruit..

This time we are in the motel very early, late afternoon. And it’s very hot, the temperature is more than 100 degrees Fahrenheit or around +39 degrees Celsium. Hot. We spread out the wet tents in the yard, and those got dry in one moment,

We turn into a petrol station (Circle K, by the way), where we fill our tanks full this time, and again visit Walmart, to prepare for the long drive tomorrow and also a party tonight – a week has passed by since we started the trip.