The Desert Moon Begins to Wane

Our trip is coming to an end as the mountain (& then desert) moon that led us along begins to wane.

We were able to spend some time in San Francisco

but with a lack of free parking

we had to skip town before seeing an old friend of mine.

A detour was taken, solely for my sake.

I had wanted to see a ghost town while we were in the Southwest.

No fee was made apparent online.

So we went a good distance out of our way (a full extra day on the road).

After arriving we realized that we were to be charged $21.

($7 per person)

I thought that it would be a good plan to have Benjamin hide in the backseat.

Thus saving us $7.

Bodie, California.

Quite the sight.

Perfectly preserved.

The town folk abandoned their houses, furniture, all of their belongings.

 

We continued to head South and decided to skip over the larger cities (San Diego, L.A.).

This being due to our lack of ability to locate free parking.

I am a cheapskate.

We did see Santa Monica, however, which was great fun!

We swam in the ocean with scuba gear we dumpstered while still in Michigan.

The waves were unreal, nothing like what we see at the great lakes.

The water was also saltier than I would have imagined.

I headed inland after a large wave caused my goggles to vanish. 

After swimming, we laid in the sun.

Then Benjamin decided that he wanted to walk the shore.

This was fine. But he had to be back in half of an hour.

He was not.

After running up and down the shore, along the sidewalks, making desperate phone calls,

I decided to wait where we had been when he left.

Somewhere between overjoyed and angry was how I was feeling when I spotted him walking towards me.

We continued on our way, making it to the Grand Canyon by the next morning.

What an incredible sight it was!

Ben and I did some free-hand climbing off the beaten path.

The best part was hiking down into the canyon for a few miles.

We could see storms making their way across the desert.

Absolutely beautiful.

In the end I was glad the we had stumbled upon the Canyon in monsoon season.

We spent around 8 hours total in the park

witnessing the stark difference that light quality made throughout the day.

Night fall was upon us soon enough and we were just leaving the park.

We made the heart-breaking decision to pass the Pueblo Ruins

A lot of road had to be covered in the next few days.

We hoped to make it to Colorado that night.

Which we did, with me behind the wheel.

I was usually the late night driver.

The plan was to see our Grandfather Jim by tonight.

We should be to Greely by this afternoon.

It is very difficult for me to believe that we've been on the road for close to a month.

I guess that this is what traveling and living in a car can do to an individual.

Headed Out West, Fourth Day, Spirits Are High

It is our fourth day into our first traveling stint across the nation.

Plans changed abruptly when my partner's mother voiced her concern for her daughter hitchhiking.

She "resolved" the situation by offering us her car (& credit card to cover gas!).

This amendment would change more aspects of our travels than I would like to admit.

It would dramatically decrease the adventurous, as well as spiritual, energy of our experience.

Thus causing the trip to feel less genuine to myself.

It would hinder the personal interaction with strangers that we would usually be forced to endure.

I could continue with the negatives, including the hypocrisy that would come coupled with my personal philosophy on life and travel.

But this was an opportunity of a lifetime and I felt that it would be

foolish to not accept.

Accepting the car keys and credit card would (almost) ensure that we did make it to the West Coast.

That we wouldn't get stranded in the desert.

This would also be a chance for us to "give back" by giving rides to fellow hitchhikers along the route.

Safety is usually something that I am completely content to sacrifice for absolute freedom.

But after much prayer and thought on the subject, we were headed north from Kalamazoo,

Autumn, Benjamin, & I.

We made our way up through our home state & were able to sneak into Sleeping Bear Dunes.

With our tent and gear on our backs.

We met a couple from South Carolina that took a genuine interest in our travels and philosophy.

We watched the sunset over lake Michigan, as a summer storm made it's way over the waterfront.

The wind was strong and we were silent.

Our tent was pitched in a basin carved inbetween the dunes.

The wind turned out to be more than our little tent could handle...

So we made the two mile hike back to the car.

It was dark and the rain fell hard on us.

After we reached the shelter of our vehicle, the sky opened and displayed the stars in a beautiful way.

We would be air-drying our clothes in strange places for the next few days.

The next morning we hit the road at 5:30 a.m.

Ended our driving in a familiar Traverse City.

Free breakfast for the needy was located shortly.

Solitude time was spent in chapel that we came across.

We also took in a 25cent movie.

The 75cents were spanged and the film was an old-time classic based off of a Hemingway novel.

We continued on our way.

Across the Mackinac Bridge and to the U.P.

This is where the sight-seeing truly began.

We visited the Tahquamenon Falls, both high and low.

Then proceeded to the Lake Superior shoreline by way of a a network of narrow, dirt roads.

We thought that we were lost many times, but the Almighty pulled us through!

It was a race with the sun along the swerving country roads.

We made it to Pictured Rocks just as the sun was setting.

Ben and I found a hole in the barricade that was keeping us from the rock formation...

we made the ascent, right past the sign forbidding us to do so.

The image of us sitting in the lotus position atop the monumental rock face is burnt into my mind.

Then it was to far northern city of Marquette.

I drove through the night and we eventually found a wal-mart on the outskirts

where we camped in our car for the night.

The next morning we explored the city.

Most notably were the ancient ore dock

the People's Food Co-op

& Northern Michigan University

Autumn picked Benjamin and I upon campus and we made our way west towards Wisconsin.

I was navigating and fell asleep.

This ended in us accidentally going much further north than intended.

After many roads traveled through the Northern Woods we crossed the state border

& began our descent through Wisconsin.

I drove late through the night once more until we found ourselves at another wal-mart parking lot.

This time in Menonimie, WI.

We were asleep soon enough.

Up until this point we've sustained ourselves on dumpstered food and a large jar of peanut butter.

Mostly free traveling and our spirits are high.

And now we're in the Twin Cities, taking off for St. Paul's Cathedral!