Down And Up For Bonnaroo

After finishing up with the National Parks in South Dakota, the next city on our list was Chicago. However, before we could go there we had the small matter of a 4 day music festival by the name of Bonnaroo in Tennessee. We had a couple of things we wanted to get checked out before we took Ita to a field with no electricity for 4 nights so we booked her in for a service in Nashville on the Tuesday. We had a good few hundred miles to drive so we left ourselves two full days to do it after the punishing 900 mile 24 hour trip from San Diego through the heat.

After looking at one of the bits of travel literature we have we discovered Arthur Bryant's BBQ in Kansas City, Missouri. This restaurant is famous all over America for having amazingly good BBQ so we chose Kansas City as our destination for the first day's drive. We woke up at the rest area and hit the road to get the miles done nice and early and hopefully enjoy some delicious BBQ and watch the basketball. The first leg of the trip was quite forgettable as the miles ticked by but things heated up once we reached the state of Missiouri. Over the past few days we had been witnessing thunder and lightning storms every day so we assumed the one we were driving into was no different. How wrong we were.

At first there was the bright forks of lightning and pretty soon they were flashing out of the dark clouds every few seconds. Then the rain started, at first like a wet Irish summer, then a downpour and pretty soon it was end of the world style rain. It was so heavy the wipers couldn't clear the rain from the windsreen, even on the fastest setting. During this rain the wind started to pick up and gust, causing us to drift across the lane. Cars were starting to pull in under bridge overpasses but we were way too large to be able to do that. The torrentail rain showed no sign of easing and was soon accompanied by hail. Like the rain, the hail started lightly at first, tapping on our roof as it landed but soon it was hammering down all around and on top of us and causing the road and grass to turn white all around us. The wind was continuing to gust and swirl, sometimes blowing us to the left and switching to the right a few hundred yards down the road. At this stage our best bet was to get out from under the thick black clouds. We could see the bright skies up ahead in the distance so I put the foot down and we drove through the wind, rain and hail. Up ahead what we went through will live with us for a long time. The hail started increasing in size, exploding on the road in front and beside us. Next thing we heard this massive bang behind us. I grabbed the wheel thinking a tyre had blown out but the RV continued in a straight-ish line so it wasn't the tyres. The hail falling was now the size of sliotairs and some of them were raining down on the roof as well as all around us. The two of us were very nervous and incredibly keen to get out of the way of the missiles raining down. A couple of minutes we reached the edge of the storm and pulled up the next off-ramp. We could hear the radio again and the National Weather Service had taken over all the stations and was issuing a severe weather warning. We had driven through the beginning of a tornado.

I hopped out of the RV and had a quick look around the sides of the RV and on the roof to check the damage. The sides were fine but there were some big dents on the roof and one of them had punctured the roof completely. I talked to a woman in a car in front of us who was on the phone to her sister. As I did numerous cars and trucks with spinning satellites were flying past us and heading back into the dark menacing clouds. She advised us to continue the way we were going so we did. As we rejoined the interstate we could see the dark clouds swirling around in the middle, right where we had come from. We left the radio on the station as the National Weather Service continued to issue warnings - unfortunately they issue them for counties which are not on our map so we weren't sure which way it was heading so it was a nervous last hundred miles. We continued to head for Kansas City and watched as storm chasers flew past along side us and against us and thankfully we encountered no further severe weather along the way to the city.

As we approached Kansas City there was a noteable increase in temperature and humidity - the storm was the dividing line between the cool weather in the north and the muggy, warm weather in the south. Sat Nav brought us to Arthur Bryant's BBQ restaurant in Kansas City. It isn't exactly in the safest neighbourhood but it is quite popular - one man had been on the road 14 hours and wanted to stop there for dinner. It also looks like it hasn't been done up since it opened back in the middle of the 20th century, it has a very simple decor with simple tables and chairs and a counter at the back to order and pay at. They had the basketball on so we ordered a rack of ribs with fries and the special - rib tips with fries. The ribs came covered in the most flavoursome sauce I have ever tasted with a massive portion of home cut fries. The sauce wasn't like your typical BBQ sauce that we are used to and had experienced so far on the trip, it is very much a unique taste to the restaurant and draws people in from all around to enjoy it. It is a red sauce with numerous spices mixed in, not like the sweet brown sauce we are used to. Emer wasn't as much of a fan of it as I was but we were both hungry so we gobbled it down. Or at least as much of it as we were able, the portions we got were massive. They were closing so we weren't able to stay for all of the basketball. As Emer was washing the sauce from her hands I looked at the photos adorning the walls - a who's who of famous American people from the last few decades. Many past Presidents and the Republic contenders from the last election, John McCain and Sarah Palin, have all eaten in the restaurant. We checked the Sat Nav and found a sports bar and grill nearby so we headed there to watch the reaminder of the basketball.

We arrived at the beginning of the 4th quater so I ordered a beer and settled in to enjoy it. It was an incredibly tight game all the way to the end. The Lakers drew level with 0.6s left on the clock. Orlando had a chance to win it but the ball bounced off the rim so the game went into overtime. We got chatting to the staff about the weather we had come through and the barman was telling us that if we had comprehensive insurance then the RV is covered for the damage sustained in the storm. Meanwhile, the Lakers pulled away in overtime and won the game to take a 2-0 lead to Orlando. We continued chatting as the news was showing the hail from earlier and we had 2 pints of local stout bought for us by a drunk local who told us that not all Americans are bad guys. Quite funny really how much they want to be liked. Pretty soon the storm started moving into the city as lightning lit up the night sky. With the holes in the roof this was our cue to leave so we hit the road east to get out of the rain and rest for the night. We drove for a couple of hours to a rest area where it was dry. I covered up the holes as best I could and we reverse parked under a tree incase the rain reached us.

Which it did at around 5am. Thunder rumbled and shook the RV, lightning lit up the sky all around us and rain fell for hours. There was nothing much we could do about it so we just slept as best we could. The following morning the rain had stopped and a bit had gotten into the RV. I got up on the roof, swept off the standing water and we were on the road again. Emer drove as I rang the insurance company about the damage. The claim was lodged and an agent rang me from Nashville. He was to meet us at Camping World in the morning where it was booked in for a service anyway which was quite convenient. We drove through the morning and afternoon, I had the leftovers of yesterdays amazing BBQ for lunch. It still tasted as good as yesterday. As we drove through the afternoon we had the weather sirens on the radio and we looked at each other, the National Weather Service was issuing more severe thunderstorm warnings but thankfully we weren't affected today. We stopped just over the Tennessee border and went to the cinema to see Up 3-D, the new Pixar film. It was very enjoyable, except for the mother who brought her 2 year old in. To the 9.30 pm showing. The kid was full of sugar and didn't keep quiet. Emer said something to the mother after the show and got a barrage of abuse from the mother but agreeing glances from others leaving the show. We drove to Camping World and parked about a mile away for the check in the morning.

We were up and at Camping World just after 8.30am where we met with Dan, our insurance auditor (I think that is what they are called anyway). We had a quick discussion where he said due to the value of the RV there is a chance that it will be written off as roof repairs can be quite expensive. Emer drove Ita into the garage and saw the reaction on the face of the mechanic - it looked quite likely that it wasn't going to get repaired. We left Dan and the mechanic look at the roof and discuss the costs while we waited and caught up on our diaries and stuff inside. Dan came into us and said he needed to do the maths and a few minutes later it was official, Ita was to be written off. We looked into renting an RV but there wasn't a chance of getting one at this stage as Bonnaroo was starting on Thursday and it was now Tuesday. We went through our options with Dan to see how we would move forward. We told him about Bonnaroo and how we needed it for the weekend as we had the RV ticket and hadn't organised anything else. He said that we could keep Ita for the weekend and then meet him on Monday at the salvage yard where Ita was going to go and we could get the cheque for the full amount we paid, including the tax so it was a bit of a blessing in disguise as we wouldn't have to go through the ordeal of trying to sell it. There was also a couple of other options, one was salvage straight away and use the $750 vacation expenses entitled to us in our insurance cover but it would probably cost more than that in accommodation for Bonnaroo. The other option was to keep the RV, insurance pays us the full value minus the estimated salvage value and then we can pay for as many or as few repairs as we want. We continue to be insured if we are in a crash but not for any damage to our own vehicle.

Option A seemed to be our best option so he told us to go to Wal-Mart and get duct tape and black liners and seal all off the holes and dents so that if it rains it will keep the water out as technically it is their vehicle and it will reduce the salvage value. We parted on that, cancelled all the scheduled repairs to our RV and went to the RV park down the road. All the parks in Manchester (beside Bonnaroo) were completely full so we booked in for two nights before Bonnaroo. Here I taped up the roof good and proper and we had BBQ for lunch and dinner, recharged all the electronics and looked into what we would do after Bonnaroo. All our options were looking very expensive - even the smallest RV is $160 per day excluding mileage and must be dropped back to where they are rented from, a car worked out at nearly $2,000 until the end of July and then you have to buy food and pay for accommodation on top of that, trains are quite expensive too and then we have to deal with getting around all the cities. We rang Dan back and enquired about losing the salvage value and keeping Ita. He got onto the salvage yard who were busy and he was finished for the week so he left the matter with the team leader. We were expecting to lose a grand or two as the salvage value but it would still be the cheapest way to complete our road trip.

We got a call back later that evening informing us that their estimated salvage value is $400 which means that we can keep Ita and get a cheque for $5080. We agreed to this option and laughed at how lucky we were. We paid $480 in tax when we purchased the RV which we assumed we would never see again as our hope was to sell it in Florida for $5000. To earn that we would have had to fix the things that were going wrong along the way and hope that we find a dealer/person looking for something like that and also have the money to be able to give us instead of having to wait for installments. Now we have an RV that we can drive into the ground and then give to someone we have met along the way who wants it or a scrap yard for a couple of hundred dollars. Either way we are effectively driving around a free RV!!!

After this news I went back on the roof and taped up the holes even more since we need to roof to hold for another few weeks and no doubt we will see some more showers and thunderstorms. We took it easy in the RV park, got things cleaned, emptied and filled in preperation for the weekend and left the park early on Thursday morning. A friend of mine, Kelly, was travelling to Bonnaroo with 8 friends in a rented RV and we were planning on meeting up and going into the festival together so we arranged to attempt to be in Manchester Thursday morning. Myself and Emer had to collect our tickets from Will Call as they were only posted out in June and we had no address at that time. We turned up at the office just as a thunderstorm was overhead so we waited in the RV until the downpour past. It also gave us a chance to see how my expert duct tape job fared out in it's first test. We had a small bit of leakage but nothing serious, a few drops for maybe 5 minutes after the raining stopped. I got out and joined the queue when it stopped. Emer came up and joined me a couple of minutes later. She had seen that it hadn't moved at all so went up and asked if people were all waiting to collect tickets. It turned out that they were all there to buy tickets or enquire about what do because they had lost their tickets so we were able to skip it all and join the queue inside with only two people in it. We got our tickets and headed back to the interstate. I rang Kelly and they were about 50 miles behind us heading straight for us. We arranged to meet in a Wal-Mart car park a few miles away and it all went to plan. We went through all the introductions and then took an age to hit the road as the group of 9 in the other RV tried to decide which way to go. It was quite funny to watch from afar and after a while a consensus was agreed and we were on the road. They were much bigger than us so we followed them and pretty soon we were in the queue for Bonnaroo.

The National Parks Loop

First on the list out of Vegas was Giant Sequoia National Park, home to the giant Sequoia trees strangely enough. The route there brought us through the Mojave Desert and the searing heat that goes along with it. We originally had planned to go to Death Valley but it was just too hot so we knocked it off the list. The drive to Sequoia was a long one so we stopped off at a Sports Bar beside a lake in the middle of nowhere to watch the end of the Lakers Nuggets game 3 in the basketball. The Lakers were down by 8 going into the last quarter but pulled away and won it by 6 in the end. The fridges in the bar had broken so all beer was in ice in the sinks which was a bit similar to us as our A/C and generator had stopped working that day. Hopefully the problem is simple and related to both of them as neither of us fancy forking out too much money to get it

fixed. We parked up the road from the bar in a lay-by and went to sleep for the night after cooking some bolognese for dinner.

The following day had us arriving at Sequoia NP. It was Memorial Day which is the beginning of the Summer for Americans. It's a big weekend for them like the June Bank Holiday would be for us and the crowds were really out in force. The visitor centre was packed when we arrived there. We waited in line and found out where to go for an easy stroll through some massive trees - it was recommended to us to head us to General Sherman, the largest tree (by volume) in the world. We parked and got a shuttle up to the area, saw the massive tree and walked around for a bit. Now don't get me wrong, General Sherman is a massive tree and is impressive in it's own right but both of us agreed that we preferred the Redwood Forests of Northern California. Yosemite was on the bill for the following day so we hit the road to get a good bit of it done that evening to make the most of the day in Yosemite since so many people had recommended it back home. We drove to a town within 70 miles of the park entrance and stopped for dinner and ended up staying the night at the side of the road.

We slept in a little the following morning after the lawnmowers woke us at 7.30am but we were on the road and at Yosemite before noon. As with most of the other national parks, the entrance is often miles away from the visitor centre or the places you are there to see and Yosemite was no different. We went through the entrance, showed our pass and drove for another hour into Yosemite Valley. We went to the visitor centre and decided on the Upper Yosemite Fall Hike and while we were there we noticed that the campsites still had space. Now we had to go to campground reservations to book one of these places and we thought it would be a good idea as the plan was to do the hike and then watch the Lakers game in the Lodge afterwards. We headed to reservations but by the time we got there all the spaces had filled up and we were third on the waiting list. The catch was to claim a spot we had to be there at 3pm and we planned to be halfway up the hike by then so we nipped that idea in the butt. We drove back to the parking lot, laced up, got the shuttle bus to the visitor centre again and began the hike.

Now this hike is steep which hasn't been a problem so far, the thing was that te trail was full of ruts between rocks which meant it was really uneven and alot tougher on the legs. We got about 2 and a half miles up the loop to the first sighting of the upper falls that you get where we had a quick rest. We started up the rest of the trail when we passed some people coming down. They told us it was about an hour and a half to the top - at this stage it was already 5pm and the basketball was beginning at 6. Both os us were tired and hungry at this stage and continuing to the top meant we wouldn't get back until around 8 so we chose to turn around and head down. We had a quick wash and change in the RV and went to the bar to watch the game and relax. The bar had a really limited food menu so we got take-out from the cafeteria beside it and relaxed while eating and watching game 4 of the Lakers series. Denver ended up winning this one comfortably to tie the series at 2-2. We went back to the RV and hit the road since we wouldn't be able to sleep anywhere in the park. It ended up taking us about 4 hours to leave the park as the route brought us up over mountains and since there were loads of wild animals in the park we had to drive slowly as they could pop out of nowhere as a deer decided to do early on in the drive. We were quite low on fuel as we exited the park (at 10,000 feet elevation) and the gas station by the entrance was closed so we pulled into a lay-by and headed off to sleep.

The following morning we filled up with gas and headed on to our next planned destination - Lake Tahoe. We missed alot of spectacular scenery leaving the park under the cover of darkness the previous evening but we still had some amazing sights on our way to Tahoe, the first of which was Lake Mono. A Lake high in the mountains which has strange rock formations in the middle of it, many of which were under water until it started to be used as a fresh water source. To be honest I know no more about them and we saw them from the road but they cast a strange sight from the passenger seat. We continued on up and down the roads as the miles ticked by. We were well off the beaten track on this route and it showed in the towns we went through, alot of them seemed to be stuck in the 1980's. Alot of the roads went through open ranches so seeing cows by or on the road was not a strange sight so we had to be quite alert even though there was next to no traffic.

We arrived at Lake Tahoe in the mid afternoon. Or at least South Lake Tahoe anyway. This massive picturesque lake has many towns dotted around the lake and we seemed to be at one of the biggest ones. We had some food by the water and wanted to do something for the evening so we went to one of the built up marinas. Here we found a place that rents jetskis and I didn't need much persuading. We signed our lives away about 17 times and after a quick demonstration we were let loose on the water for an hour. We drove at 5 mph through the coloured buoys until we were in deeper water and then I squeezed the throttle to see what she had. It was great craic, again being out of season it was quiet so we had next to no traffic to deal with on the water. The longer we were out there the more confidence I got and near the end we were zipping over the water at over 40mph. We returned and gave back the kill cord and asked the rental guy for a nice place to get a small bite to eat and watch the basketball. He recommended a bar/restaurant called "The Beacon" in Camp Robinson so we headed there. As we went in there was a racoon going through the bins outside. We sat at the bar and watched the second half of the game as the sunset over the water out on the deck. We chatted with the really friendly bar man, had some wings and a burger and watched LeBron James get two free throws with 0.5s left in the game to bring it to overtime. Dwight Howard excelled in overtime and the Orlando Magic took a 3-1 series lead in the best of 7 Eastern Conference finals. We finished off our drinks and asked the barman if he reckoned we could stay where we had parked. He said he had seen people stay there for 2 nights in the middle of Summer so he thought we wouldn't have a problem. That was enough for us and stay there we did. We have been watching the Wire since we arrived on the iPod and we were all set to watch the last episode of the last series but it didn't transfer onto the iPod properly so we were left in suspense.

The following day we checked into an RV park early, picking up some food in Safeway along the way. I got there to see the last 20 minutes of the Champions League final which seemed to have been wrapped up at that stage. By all accounts Barcelona completely outplayed Man Utd so they can have no real complaints. We had a lazy enough day as the weather wasn't great so we just got our photos in order and spent some time on Skype back home. We had our usual RV park BBQ and went down the road to a pizza restaurant to watch the Lakers game. The owner was a big Lakers fan (now that we are back in California there are more of them again) so he spent most of the game chatting with us, stepping away every now and then to cook a pizza. It was a

really close game with the score tied at the end of each of the three quarters but the Lakers pulled away in the 4th quarter to win it comfortably enough and take a 3-2 series lead. We strolled back the RV and hit the hay.

We had 600 miles to our next destination so we got up and left the RV park around 11. We held off on filling up with gas until we crossed into Nevada where fuel is considerably cheaper. California seems to have the most expensive fuel in the states so the less we had to buy there the happier our wallets were. We filled up and stuck Ita in cruise control and watched the coutryside drift by as the mileometer ticked up and up. The journey started with rain, wind, hail, sleet and a bit of snow but dried up as we continued south and the altitude decreased. We stopped in a small town for gas and parked in the car park were Emer cooked dinner. I took over driving and hadn't gone two minutes down the road when I was pulled over for speeding. I was doing 45 in a 25 zone. Now as far as I know the rule in America is that you are fined $10 for every mph you are over the limit. I was fully expecting a big fat ticket as he took my licence back to his vehicle. As he walked back up his hands were empty except for my licence and he issued me with a warning. Must have been the Irish accent or something but I wasn't bothered, I stuck Ita back in drive and drove out of the town at 23 mph. We continued on to the next National Park, seeing our first piece of tumbleweed bounce across the road in front of us. We continued on into the darkness, driving under one of the meanest looking clouds I have seen on Extra Terrestrial Road and out of it's windy clutches until we got to a shell just outside of the town of Alamo. Alot of trucks had stopped here for the night so we did too.

The following day we continued towards Zion National Park. Before long we were back on the Interstate system, I-15 taking us north into Utah and we left it again when Sat Nav told us to. We drove on into Springdale, the closest town to Zion National Park. The Park run a shuttle service from the town and provide free parking so that the park doesn't get congested. It's a really good system and we were brought right up to the visitor centre. Here we chose the riverside walk after a little bit of ranger advice. We took the internal park shuttle bus all the way down to the end of the canyon and walked the easy paved trail. At the end there were alot of people putting on waterproofs and others drying off. You can continue the hike through the river all the way to where the canyon walls meet but we had no intention of doing that. The heavens opened as we were getting the shuttle back, we ran through the downpour to the town shuttle and back to our RV. We had left the windows and vents open when we were away as it was warm when we left so there was a bit of drying to do. The Lakers were playing so we found a Sports Bar and Grill and settled in at the bar to enjoy the game. I was wearing my Kobe Bryant jersey so I made both friends and enemies the second I walked in the door. The Lakers ran out easy winners as we had burgers, hot dogs and wings to take the Western Conference 4-2 and qualify for the NBA finals. During the evening we discovered that Utah state stipulates that you cannot purchase alcohol unless you are buying food - we were starving so it didn't really bother us but the amount of people ordering nachos or wings or some other cheap appetiser was funny to see. That night we found a dark spot in the car park of the bar and headed off to sleep.

The following day I was reading the Zion brochure over breakfast and remembered people telling me about the Angels Landing hike and how amazing it. We discussed it and decided to stay in Zion for another day as this would allow us to do the hike and then see Star Trek in the IMAX theater in Springdale. So we packed our bag and caught the shuttles to bring us to the start of the hike. And what a hike it was!!! The first mile and a half or so is really steep and it brings you up the canyon wall to a series of really tight switchbacks. When you finish these you come out at the top of the canyon and you are treated to an incredible view down the length of the canyon. This is where the fun part of the hike begins, there is still about a mile or so to the top of Angels landing. However, the route involves climbing up steep rock inclines and crossing over narrow passages a few feet wide with a 1000 ft drop either side and a chain to hold onto. I really hope the photos give you a sense of how amazing a section it was to hike. The weather was starting to turn nasty so we raced to the top and as soon we got there we heard thunder over the hills so we didn't hang around to see if there was lightning with it. The climb down was alot tougher but it was better to appreciate/be terrified by the view. We raced down the hill to the end and were amazed to see we did the whole thing in 2 hours - the brouchure says to keep 3-4 hours for the whole hike. We had showers in the RV and went to the same place for dinner as the night before and to watch the Lakers. While here we found out more about the strange alcohol laws in Utah. The barman told us that it is a Mormon state and they don't believe in alcohol. Not only can you not drink unless you are eating, all domestic beers are 3.2% alcohol (ours are usually 4.5%-5%). This includes beers sold in off licences and the like. Even though the Mormons are in the minority in the State, they make the decisions and they have decided that alcohol is evil and must be heavily controlled. We left before the game was over to go to the cinema.

The IMAX they had was massive, the screen as tall as a 6 story building. Star Trek had been out a couple of weeks at this stage but they only started showing it the evening before so there were decent crowds at it. We got there sort of early to get good seats but nearly all of them were good. We bought coke and popcorn and settled in for the film. A film we both thoroughly enjoyed. It's directed by JJ Abrams (the guy responsible for Lost) who has also directed Mission Impossible 3. The special effects and action are incredible and were certainly made better seeing it in the IMAX. We parked across the road and had a well earned sleep after our long day.

We got up early to hit the road to the next National Park of this leg of our trip - Bryce Canyon. The route we needed to travel brought us through the mile long tunnel through the rock of Zion Canyon. The first million dollar mile built in the States, completed in the 1920's, the tunnel hasn't been upgraded since then. Any vehicle over 8 foot wide or 13 foot high requires an escort through which basically means the rangers close the two way traffic for a time and you drive through the middle of the tunnel. We had to pay to do this, Ita didn't apprecriate being called fat but we reassured her and drove up to the entrance of the tunnel. The route was closed for oversized traffic coming towards us so we had to hang around for a few minutes behind a couple of Harley's but pretty soon we were sent on our way. The second we entered the tunnel it was clear why traffic needed to be stopped for large vehicles. It hasn't been enlarged since it was built in the 30's so we needed to drive in the middle of the road to prevent our roof scraping off the sides and top of the tunnel. When we emerged at the other end of the mile long tunnel the queue of traffic to enter the park was very long indeed. We got a few looks from people in cars giving out to us for closing the tunnel but it didn't bother us and we continued on. We stopped at a viewpoint to take a few more photos before we left the park and then we were on our merry way.

Bryce and Zion are close enough so we made it there before lunchtime and had some lunch in the overflow car park by the visitors centre. I had read about the Peekaboo loop trail in a couple of books and really wanted to do it so we laced up and got the free shuttle down to the start of the trail. It leaves you back a bit from the canyon edge so you get to walk up and experience the view without getting any peaks beforehand. And it is an amazing view. The best way I can describe it is like an outside cave. The way wind, ice and water have carved the rocks is incredible and the formations remaining resemble stalagmites. We walked the strenuous 6 km hike down, in and around the various stunning formations (I filled a 2GB memory card on this hike alone) and even passed a rattlesnake on the way back. The heat and yesterdays hike really caught up with us and we were shattered by the time we got back to the RV. We decided a stay at an RV park was in order to relax and recover. Sat Nav told us that there was a rest area about 30 miles from the RV park so we headed there with the intention of sleeping and getting a decent rest at the park. The route to this place was through some of the most left behind towns I have ever seen. Deer and cattle roamed the roads at will so there was lots of sudden braking. The worst thing about it was the lack of gas stations - we didn't see one the whole way to the interstate and it was another 60 miles once we joined the interstate until we passed one. We just about made it to it, we were putting Ita in neutral on any downhill sections of the last few miles we were so low. Made it we did (Thanks to Emers amazing driving) though so we filled up and headed on to the rest area.

We made it to the RV park around midday the following day but we continued into the town of Moab to do some shopping for food. Moab is a town fun of adventure lovers - downhill biking, white water rafting, climbing, absailing, dune buggys and many other adventure sports are all catered for. We did the complete opposite, chilling out in the shade, having a BBQ and chatting with family on Skype before the next National Park - Arches. We were up and out of the RV park at 11 the next morning as they seemed strict on check out time. We made the short drive to Arches and went all the way to the end where we liked the Double Arch Trail. It was a really fun trail - the first section was a path that brought you to a few arch formations but about halfway to Double Arch it turns into a very primitive trail. We didn't realise how primitive it was until the trail disappeared and we were scrambling across rocks and following stacks of stones which led the way through the desert. We passed people every now and then which confirmed we were on the right route. It was so much fun heading to a pile of rocks and then searching for the next one to lead the way. The formation made the hike completely worth it when we reached it - a massive rock arch had a smaller one below it. We walked through and sat in the shade to have a snack while we looked back through the arch over the desert spread out in front of us. We hiked back to the RV and drove to other formations to have a look at them but did no more real hiking. We did some more driving and stayed in another rest area.

Another day of driving beckoned so we were on the road in the morning. I-15 was the interstate for this portion of the journey. This road conveniently went right through Salt Lake City, capital of the Mormon state of Utah. Right in the middle of Salt Lake City is Temple Square which is effectively the Vatican of the Morman faith. The grounds are open to the public so we broke up our journey by paying it a visit. It's a walled area with numerous buildings including the Temple (which is closed to the public) and the Tabernacle, which is where the world famous (apparantly) Morman choir practice and perform. We strolled around the immaculately kept grounds where there were many Mormons walking around with leaflets and other stuff. We weren't there long enough to get talking to them which may or may not have been a good thing. We hit the road again north which brought us into the state of Idaho, parallel to the Rocky Mountain range to our right. Our eventual destination was to be Yellowstone and we stopped at the side of the road in a small town about an hour shy of the west entrance. I forgot to mention the amount of tunderstorms we have been driving through over the past few days - this evening was the 4th day in a row we saw fork lightning around us.

The next morning brought us into Montana and Yellowstone - the oldest and largest of all the National Parks. It's the one you always hear of and it was one I was especially looking forward to. And it didn't let us down - we were barely in the park 5 minutes and we saw a bald eagle in its nest perched on the top of a lightning burnt tree. A few more miles down the road and a Buffalo was walking down the middle of the road like he owned it. And then we reached the Geysers!! Iceland and New Zealand are probably more famous for their Geysers but Yellowstone National Park has over half of the worlds geysers within it's grounds. They are incredible, some just have small bubbles coming to the surface, others bubble and erupt but all of them create the most incredible colours around their edges. The smell of the steam eminating is quite rancid due to the high sulphur (for the kids - sulphur smells like rotten eggs, really gross) content but ther alien look to the landscape makes it all worthwhile. We also saw bubbling mud pits before we headed to the largest of all the geysers - Old Faithful. It erupts about every 90 minutes with the eruption spitting water over 100 feet in the air. When we got there it had just erupted so we decided to grab a shower in the Lodge right beside the Geyser. We had a thorough clean and came out and sat down on one of the benches around the Geyser and waited for the show to begin. A storm closed in over us as we waited and the National Weather Service issued a thunderstorm warning which had the park rangers out advising people to seek shelter. Nobody was moving so I think they were thankful when Old Faithful lived up to it's name and began erupting. The crowd were happy and we all headed to our vehicles or indoors. We took a quick detour through Hayden Valley in an attempt to see some Bears but the ensuing rain had them all under cover. We drove out of the park, over the Continental Divide (it's on a summit and contains a lake - water on one side flows to the Atlantic and on the other it flows to the Pacific) and on towards the town of Cody in Wyoming.

While we were in San Francisco a friend of Jack's (Garrett) recommended we go to a rodeo if we passed through here so we took his advice and went to the Cody Rodeo whcih is held for 90 nights in June, July and August. We had a quick dinner in the car park before buying our tickets and heading in. It was quiet enough as it was a weekday in early June but it was great craic to see it happen. We saw bucking Broncos, various lasoo events, kids on small bulls, barrel racing and the main event - bull riding. The aim is to stay on for 8 seconds but not one of the ridres managed this (one got trapped in the gate between the gate and the bull and was knocked out which was a bit scary). It was a really good event and is what Cody believe they are famous for. Again, we hit the road for a while and parked in a rest area on the interstate, I-90 this time.

Our run of National Parks was coming to an end but there were a few left in the Black Hills of South Dakota that we planned to visit before the spring south to Tennessee. First up was actually a monument - Devil's Tower. We drove for the whole day and made it here around 6pm. It's basically just a rock outcrop exposed by tectonic activity. Looks a bit out of place jutting out of the hill but it's nothing spectacular really after what we have seen so far on this trip. Jewel Cave was next on the agenda so we drove towards that so we could go to it early in the morning. As we drove there another lightning storm took place, this was the first one when it was dark though. It was incredible having the night sky lit up by the various forks all around us. Nature's power at it's greatest. We stopped by the side of the road in the last town before Jewel Cave and headed off to bed.

We got to Jewel Cave the following morning and went to the visitor centre to purchase tickets for some tours. Unfortunately the lantern tour hadn't begun yet so we couldn't do that one (basically a ranger led tour with only the lanterns which people carry to light the way) but we bought tickets for the two that were available - the Discovery Tour and the Scenic Tour. The discovery tour was a 20 minute tour of one room and was utterly forgettable but the scenic tour was alot more enjoyable. It was an hour and a half long and went about a mile into the cave (the second largest cave system in the world). Here we saw alot of the features that give Jewel Cave it's name but not any frost which is probably too delicate to display to the public. There was some on display in the cabinet in the visitor centre so that was something. We hopped in the RV and headed to our second of the last three National Parks and probably one of the most famous, Mount Rushmore. Along the way we passed by the Crazy Horse Monument which is currently being constructed and is due to be finished by 2050!! We got to Mount Rushmore, paid for the private parking (which we had no choice about, grrr) and strolled up to see the Presidents faces.

However, fog had rolled in and were obscuring the view from the terrace. We strolled along the path under them in the hope of catching a glimpse but they were obscured there too. We were going to have some food and wait for the fog to pass and as we turned to go for a food a cheer erupted from the terrace to signal that the fog had blown away. We had a look, took some

photos and then headed to the final park as the evening was closing in. We made it to Badlands as the sun was starting to set so we just drove through this park and admired it from the RV, and the odd view point that I hopped out at to take photos. It's an amazing landscape that has been formed, quite similar to Bryce Canyon but carved out of mud instead. As water has created Canyons in the soil, the various minerals in the soil have been exposed to the air creating a multi coloured landscape. We left the park as it was getting dark and started the long drive towards Tennesse for the weekend.

We found a rest area on I-90 on the Sat Nav and headed there. Along the way there was a truck overtaking us. I dipped my headlights as he was passing us and when he was nearly past us he put on his main beams. Up ahead was a deer standing right in it's path but he had no time to react. He jammed on the brakes but what followed was inevitable, the deer never stood a chance against an articulated truck at that speed. It was a bit horrific to see but both of us were thankful it was the truck and not us because I'm not sure how Ita would have fared. We made it to the rest area and rested our weary bodies after the productive day in preperation of a couple of long days on the road.

Vegas Baby!!!

Hit the road nice and early on our way to Vegas, one of the most important stops of our trip in my eyes anyway. The route was to bring us over the Hoover Dam, one of the Engineering Marvels in the US. And it is. Many of you will know it as the dam Harrison Ford jumped off in The Fugitive but I know it as the dam with the concrete that is still yet to cure, despite being laid over 60 years. The lake it has created is known as Lake Powell and the first thing that strikes you as you look at the lake is the bleached rock indicating how the water level has dropped over the last number of years. We turned on the generator, turned the A/C up to max to combat the unbelievable heat and had some lunch here after I took some photos and soon we were back on the road.

After a load of raod works we finally got to the city limits. Unfortunately we didn't approach from LA so we didn't get to pass the famous "Welcome To Fabulous Las Vegas" but we were still left in awe as we drove through the desert and suddenly you come upon this city in the middle of nowhere. And then the skyline of strip dominates out of nowhere. Ita couldn't bring me 

there quick enough. Eventually we made it to the Luxor, an eqyptian themed hotal and casino with a pyrmaid shaped main building housing the casino and alot of hotel rooms. They extended the resort with a tower out the back adding a number of hotel rooms after the original construction. We drove up to self park and were directed by a security guard where to leave our vehicle while we went to check in. We grabbed our packed rucksack and made the short stroll up to reception to check in.

Before we made it to the check-in desk we were stopped by a Luxor worker who asked us if we were married. No. Were living together. Yes. Were over 25. Yes. She then showed us to a desk where a well dressed man named Michael offered us some show tickets. We wanted to see the Bodies exhibition so he had our attention (The same bodies show that was in Dublin last March/April). The Luxor are involved in a Timeshare developement a bit down the Strip (the undeveloped part) and for $50 we could get 2 Bodies tickets and $125 in gaming chips/restaurant vouchers/spa treatments if we attended a 2 hour timeshare presentation. Now neither of us are fools and we are both well able to say no under pressure so we signed up. $160 for $50 and a couple of hours out of the heat when it's too hot to do much else sounds like a good deal to me.

We then went to check in and were told that we were entitled to a "complimentary upgrade". I enquired as to what extra we were getting and it was basically a bath tub but we were in the tower instead of the pyramid. Before we left I was told that the best part of staying in the Luxor was staying in the pyramid because of the lifts so we politely declined the "upgrade". We went to the inclinators (like elevators but since they are rising up the outside of a pyramid it's like being on an escalator in an elevator - quite bizarre). We got to the room to discover that it they had only just started to clean it and there were two double beds and not a king bed as we had booked so it was back down to complain to the Manager. We talked to the Manager who was a bit of a witch with a B and all she could do was give us the "upgrade" we were offered at the beginning. I argued the point that we booked a king size in the pyramid and not the tower and she countered with the small print that rooms are not guaranteed and are only subject to availability. I wasn't in the mood to argue so we took the "upgrade", dropped our bags up and headed back to the RV. By this stage security were really annoyed with us since we were supposed to get our keys, move our vehicle and then go to our room, not the way we did it. It didn't bother us so we went and parked and headed back up to the room. 

Emer went down to the pool while I watched the basketball. When Emer got back we went for dinner. Vegas is famous for it's all you can eat buffets so we decided to try one of them out. We were quite hungry and reckoned we could get some Irish value from one so checked online for the best ones. A few searches and it beacme apparant that Planet Hollywood was one of the best as well as being realtively cheap so we headed off there. The second we left the hotel we were blown away by how hot is still was, despite it being 9pm. We made it to the the hotel and paid our $28 each and hit the buffet. We both ate like Kings, choosing from Italian, Chinese, Indian and American cuisines as well as having water and Pepsi brought to our table and refilled throughout the meal. When both of us were uncomfortably full we decided to walk it off by having a stroll along the strip. It was as colourful and entertaining as we both expected. We saw the founatins dance at the Bellagio, the volcano erupt at the Mirage, the scrams from the rollercoaster at New York New York, we walked under the Eiffel Tower among the slots of Paris, we listened to the Gondoliers serinade their passengers with Opera extracts in the Venetian and enjoyed many other spectacles along the strip. Our paths parted at the MGM Grand where I went to play poker for a while.

I sat down with $130 in chips at a full table before midnight determined to do well. For those of you reading this expecting to hear me fulfill my plan of driving a Lambourgini the money situation is a little tight to allow for that luxury so I needed to be uber-successful over the next day or two to allow that to become a reality. Anyway, the cards weren't being nice to me so I sat there patiently picking up the odd dollar or two to keep my chip stack as I started. Things started to heat up but still no cards came my way. Eventually my big bling was raised to $15 by the first to act and was called by two more, I looked down at two Kings and went all in, only to be called by the short stack who had about $50. He had Ace Jack and caught an Ace to cause a bit of hit to my stack. Over the next hour I slowly built it back up to over $100. The next major hand I was involved in occured when I was small blind and I got in cheaply with Queen Jack. The flop had 2 queens and 2 clubs. Being first to act I wanted to get rid of the flush draw so I raised it $15 and had 2 callers. The turn brought another club so I raised it $23 to show I wasn't afraid of the flush. One guy folded straight away and the other reluctantly called so I was a little worried. The river brought a Jack to give me a full house so I went all in. After a bit of humming and hawing the other player called an showed his King high flush. Needless to say he wasn't happy when I showed him my full house. I pulled in the chips, about $250 of them. Now poker players know that it is an unwritten rule that you don't leave the table after a big win so I got a drink and hung around a few hands. During this time two young fellas sat down at the table. They were in Vegas celebrating graduating from College and had alot of money and weren't afraid to get their chips into the middle so I decided to hang around and see if I could get involved in a pot with them. The minutes ticked by and their stacks went up and down but I never got the cards to get involved with them. Eventually I was raised when I had Ace King so I bit back and had one of them call. $40 in the pot and the flop came King, 9, 4 with different suits. I checked and he raised $25 so I came over the top with a $60 raise. He thought for a second and went all-in. This was my chance. I called and he showed Queen Jack. The turn was a 7. There was over $400 in the middle and I started to dream of driving the Gallardo. Most of you know where this is going - a 10 on the river gave him a straight and my hours of patience were all wiped away. I shook his hand, accepted his apologies and headed off to bed. To say I was disappointed would be an understatement but that's poker - I got my money in while I was ahead and he got lucky. I have done it to many people in the past. It took a fair bit of self restraint not to take out more money walking past the ATM's on the way out of the casino but I made it back to bed without doing it. At 5.30am - that's Vegas for you.

The alarm went off it seemed 20 minutes later to get us up for the timeshare presentation. We got a bus out to the complex, had our free breakfast and listened to the presentation. We chatted to our guide for the day and told him about our trip - he seemed to know we were only there for the gifts and showed us around while talking about sport and other interests we had in common. We got up to the money part of the presentation, had our fill of the free lunch and politely declined the many "special one time offers" that the international manager offered us. He reluctantly let us leave and we headed back to the bus. Or so we thought. We were shown to a room where we were met by a "Head Office Representative" who wanted feedback on what we thought about the presentation. Now ewe were thruthful and said it might be something we would be interested in in the future. She tried offering us even better special offers, trying to get us to commit to giving them a few hundred dollars a a deposit then and there. I interupted her, looked her square in the eyes and said "No" numerous times. She didn't seem to accept this and continued trying to sell this "one-time offer" to us. Now as I said both of us know to expect this so we completely blanked her and looked at each other and she got the hint. She thanked us for coming and brought us out to the next room where we got our gifts. We had $125 to divide between food and gaming - Emer thought we should get $100/$25 food/gaming but I persuaded here the split should be $75/$50. We hopped on the bus back to the hotel and went back to our room.

Quick aside. For anyone else who has been to Vegas, did you have a problem with static electricity? It seemed that any time either of us touched something metal we were getting a shock. I seemed to be getting it worse, to the extent that when I went to give Emer a kiss I got a shock on my lips. Maybe it was the Egyptians trying to tell me something.

After the timeshare "presentation" we cashed in our Bodies vouchers for tickets. The Bodies exhibition is an exhibition in the style of a museum that explores the various functions of a body, from the bones to the muscles, arteries, organs and everything in between. It presents them using dissected body segments and groups. It's a fascinating exhibition, at times creepy and wierd, but fascinating the whole way through. After this the lack of sleep from the night before caught up with me and I headed for a nap while Emer went for a workout and a swim in the pool. The alarm went off at 6 to get me up to watch the Lakers game. We watched the start of it while getting ready for dinner. We decided to treat ourselves after sitting through the crap this morning so we went to "Tender", the posh steakhouse in the Luxor. Emer ordered the 14 oz. Striploin and I ordered the 24 oz. Porterhouse. We both got French Fries and I got some carrots as well to keep the meal healthy. The steaks arrived and were cooked to perfection. Emer's was a striploin steak (imagine a rasher or pork chop shape) as thick as the finest fillet you would get at home, mine was a 24 oz. T-Bone with a fillet steak on one side and a striploin on the other. They were both so big it seemed that the weights were cooked and not pre-cooked as at home. Emer's beat her and I just about finished mine, leaving a good few french fries behind as much as I didn't want to. We asked for the bill as the Lakers game was getting towards the end. We were shocked when it came and it was $9 for each of the French Fries and another $9 for the carrots. We had the $75 vouchers but it still ended up being more than we expected. The waiters sly move here cost him in tip and we headed over to the bookies station to watch the end of the Lakers game with the considerable crowd that had gathered (albeit a smaller crowd than the one that watched the American Idol final the night before). The Lakers missed a 3 point shot 

n the final seconds to tie the game so the series tied at 1-1. We had tickets for the Criss Angel/Cirque De Soleil show which wasn't due to start for over half an hour so we cashed in our $50 gaming chips. On our walk of the stip and the casinos the night before we had got the grasp of Craps (the dice game) so we headed over to the tables. We passed Roulette on the way so I had to stop here and put money on my number, 17. I have great faith in this number so put money on it, despite the dealer telling me my chips had much better odds on the Blackjack tables. I thanked him and put the money on 17 (Emer chose 23 with the other $5 we had to put on the table) and the ball was put in motion. It started to slow and caught the divisions between the numbers and caught flight. It bounced around the various numbers and started to slow down around 17. I got excited as it appeared to land in 17, only to bounce into 5 right beside it and settle. Again, I cursed my luck and we headed off to the Craps tables. Gambling in Vegas is quite expensive as all the casinos have $10 minimum bets, some up as high as $20 so unless you have a decent bankroll you can be out of money and chasing losings very quickly. We hit the craps table with our $40 in free bets and put $10 on the pass line. I won't bore you with the ins and outs of Craps but on the first roll you don't want to see a 2, 3 or 12. During all our rule learning over the previous two days we hadn't seen it but as soon as we had chips on the table, a 3 was rolled and that was another "$10" gone. We stuck another $10 down and survived the first roll. Once the first roll is done you can bet on a lot of things, basically betting that the roller will roll a certain number, higher odds if they do it the "hard" way i.e with doubles - a hard 8 is two 4's etc. We realised the only way to really win money is to bet on relatively long odds so we stuck another $10 on a hard eight. Craps continues until a 7 is rolled and then everyone loses their bet so naturally enough a 7 was rolled before we won any money and we were down to our last $10. We went in search of $10 Blackjack but could only find $15 minimum so we went back to Craps, put our last $10 on hard 8 and crossed our fingers. An easy 8 was rolled so we lost that $10 bet and were left with a grand total of zero winnings from our night of gambling. It was all free so it was alot easier to walk away but we really didn't get a feel for it since each bet was over so quickly. We headed over to the Theater to go into the show that was due to start in a few minutes.

When booking the hotel we were given a discount so we were able to get great seats, about 10 rows from the front in the middle third. The best way to describe Criss Angel is a popular David Blaine. He does illusion tricks in public like walk up the edge of building and levitate. He incorporated these kinds of acts into a Cirque De Soleil show featuring lots of incredible dancing which was very entertaining. Neither of us knew what to expect going into the show and left it quite satisfied with what we saw. I left Emer to watch her shows and go online while I took a stroll down the Strip to take some photos. I forgot to mention this during the first Strip walk but it is incredible the amount of people out handing out calling cards for prostitutes. You can't seem to walk a hundred yards without having cards forced upon you. 100 yards seemed to be 20 yards when I was walking as a single male without a girlfriend beside me. I walked around the various resorts taking photos and headed back to the room. It's amazing how many people are out on the strip even at 2 and 3 in the morning. They say that New York is the city that never sleeps, I think that description is much more apt for Las Vegas.

Friday morning brought checkout from the hotel at 11am but there was one more thing left to do before this Vegas adventure was to be finished. America is the gun capital of the world so I wanted to take advantage of this so we paid a visit to the gun store. Here you can rent a number of guns and try them out supervised and in a controlled manner. I chose an MP-5 sub machine gun, an AK-47 assault rifle and a .44 Magnum - just like Dirty Harry. I was given my ammunition and had to choose my target sheets. For the time in it my first choice was easy - the Terminator. For the country that was in it my second and third choice were also easy - Akmed the suicide bomber and Osama Bin Laden. We joined the queue and after a few minutes we were instructed to put on our eye and ear protection and we were brought into the range. First up was the MP-5, a "gentle" introduction to my time shooting. For the money you get two magazines to use with the MP-5 - if you hold the trigger the magazine will empty in a couple of seconds or one pull will release a 3 shot burst. They tell you to shoot in three shot bursts. The target was loaded (upside down as machine guns tend to rise) and sent down the range. I was given the gun, the magazine was loaded and I was on my own. 2 magazines were unleasehed on the Terminator in a minute or so and the target was brought back so I could admire my handiwork. He went out to get the next gun while I looked at the remnants of the target and rolled it up as a momento along with an empty casing.

Next up was the AK-47, a much different beast. I got one magazine for this one and it was more than enough - a longer, heavier gun with a much stronger kickback. I decided that Akmed the suicide bomber would fell the wrath of this gun. Again, holding the trigger would empty the magazine in a second or so or a single squeeze produced a 3 second burst. This gun being longer and heavier was still alot more accurate if handled correctly. Great fun and the holes were alot closer at the end. I was left to admire my handiwork again as he went out for the final gun of the session, the .44 Magnum.

Unbelievable!! It's so heavy you have to rest it on a box to keep it any way steady. This model had a scope on the end of it so we sent Osama to the end of the range. This gun is loaded 6 bullets at a time but since I had 20 he loaded them 5 at a time. I had a few practice squeezes before it was loaded to try and get the technique right. You are supposed to have a smooth squeeze, consistent the whole way through. This was easy to do when it was empty but it was a whole different kettle of fish when it was loaded. As you squeeze you can see the firing mechanism slowly rise and the barrel twist around to the next bullet. The nerves certainly build as you try and keep the crosshairs on the target and then BOOM!!! The flash and noise and kickback are really hard to describe. I shot a double barraled shotgun back home before and this had more kick behind it. The first shot got him right between the eyes but as fatigue kicked in the shots became a little more wayward. And it is tiring shooting the Magnum, brilliant fun but tiring. When all 20 shots were fired we brought the target back, posed again for a photo and then headed out. I picked up my souvenier t-shirt and we hit the road. I certainly don't believe in the gun culture in America but it was alot of fun shooting paper targets in a controlled environment.

We hit the road from Vegas and while we did there was a certain disappointment. I really feel like we didn't have enough time to do all the stuff and see all the sights that Vegas has to offer. It's a place I certainly plan on coming back to at some time in the future. But for the time being we have alot more of this huge and varied country to see.....