Category: travel

ARCHIVES: Jan, OOG

Sometime after sister Jan moved to California, she flew back to Iowa to gather up her left-behind Dodge Dart.  I then flew to join her to help drive the thing back in about August 1976.  Before we learned that the car’s gas gauge was faulty, we ran out of gas (OOG) on the road several miles from Las Vegas.  Here we document the wait, around sunset, for roadside assistance.

ARCHIVES: Death Valley, Forty Years Ago

Starting to nibble around the edge of my old color slides. Not nearly as numerous as my black & white negatives, and stored in pretty much total disarray. Here is my phototog friend Bill, his truck, and friend Mike — the same crew that did Mexico — on a Death Valley weekend in December 1976.  In discussing this with Bill yesterday, he recalled our terrified screaming as we hurtled down a twisty road with the the smell of brake fluid in our noses.  And then we blew a head gasket.  On another trip, a cylinder cracked in a snow storm near Mammoth.

Route 66 Remembered

Just as we are about to retire our 2016 National Geographic calendar with its Route 66 theme, old friend Herman happens to send along this reminiscence of iconic, historic Route 66 as published by Al Jezeera, with excellent photography by Gabriela Campos.
gabriela-campos_route66_al-jazeera

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2016/12/route-66-decay-resilience-iconic-highway-161204113428151.html

Rendezvous With Ivi

Despite dense fog from Cabbage Hill* on, we charged forward for a meetup on Sunday at the Walla Walla Regional Airport with Ivi, who was driving the D-van from Seattle.  With a few hours to kill before her return flight that evening, we struck out for the nearby Bennington Lake Recreation Area for hiking and (really?) picniking.  Despite Dense Fog and intermittent rain, a surprising number of people were out, also walking their dogs. We probably saw only a small portion of the lake but are eager to see how it compares under normal atmospheric and lighting conditions.  After an hour or two, we went for dessert and coffee, then returned to the dry and warmth of the airline terminal for rest and conversation.  Our return convoy was successful, despite continued Dense Fog — even denser and more nerve-racking and down to 20mph going back up toward the aptly-named Deadman’s Pass — as well as rainy night time conditions and a gas tank empty warning, needle on “E” and glowing icon, for the final 17 miles.

* see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_T0aJLxZKvQ and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHsmeXdOsEw and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1u5ZQzSEUk (and there are even more Cabbage Hill/Deadman Pass videos on YouTube)

[rDay585]