Salt Lake City

Here we are in Salt Lake City, spending the nite with Colleen Smith and Wayne Bingham.  They are strawbale builders & authors & photographers.  Check out their website at SmithBinghamPhoto.com    for way better pictures than mine.

Today's beer report:  turns out they DO brew beer in utah.  Had a Pale Ale from Desert Edge Brewery of SLC.  Very Good.  Speaking of recommendations,  Kip's in Pagosa Springs, CO makes a very good elk burger.  Wagon Wheel Pizza in Monticello, UT makes a Very Very good Mexican Pizza.  And Butte Cafe in SLC makes a fine portabello sandwich.  

Mesa Verde cliff dwellings, Colorado snowy view from car, view southwest from Trudy's at dawn.  

Monticello, Utah

Motellin it for the second nite in a row.  

Beer Report!  Two on tap at Kip's in Pagosa Springs:  Pinstripe Red Ale, SKA Brewing, Durango.  Lucky U IPA, from Breckinridge.  Both good.  Pevious to that, i bought two sixpacks in Taos brewed by the Santa Fe Brewing Co.  Pale Ale and Nut Brown Ale.  I liked the Nut Brown better.

Today i learned to use a dinner knife to break into a motel room!  Management TOLD me to do it!  Turns out we weren't supposed to lock the knob from the inside side as we closed the door.  They could have warned us....    

As we left town this morning (no, the cops were Not after us) we took a side trip into the National Forest for some fine Cross-country skiing.  My poles worked fine this time, but we both agreed that our 20+ year-old equipment need upgrading.

In the afternoon we side-tripped to Mesa Verde and were rewarded with a private tour of the Spruce Tree Cliff Dwelling.  It was very cool.

Now that we are in Utah, microbrews may be hard to find, but our motel room has 3 copies of the book of Mormon.  i have started reading it!  While drinking beer, of course.  

Pagosa Springs, Colorado

It is the 28th of January, and i have never ever seen my legs and feet so so very very PINK.  We are in Pagosa Springs, CO, which is a hot springs town and we cooked ourselves in a rooftop hot tub.  Our tub-mate happened to be a local straw-baler.  We had a very interesting conversation.  She said they had had a slow year but that things are picking up.  She said she was using crushed recycled glass instead of sand in their plaster mix.

I don't believe i have mentioned our visit to the "earthship visitor center."  That's the tire house people, they have their headquarters north of Taos; it is called "the Greater World Community," i think.  It was pretty darn cool and inspiring but we don't like the name. We will try to incorporate some of their ideas.   

Snowboarding Santa Fe

Jeez, i forgot to report the best day, until i read Kathi's comment of a few days ago.  Speaking of comments, i just changed the settings so that anyone can comment, i think.  I didn't know they couldn't, and i don't know if it matters.  

Monday i drove up to Ski Santa Fe.  I got in about 4 hours of snowboarding, talked to lots of people on the lift, did about 5 runs with a boarder about my age.  Great guy, took me through some moderate bumps, that was fun to do a few times but kind of hard work.  The snow was good.  Everyone told me my timing was right, they had been short of snow until last week.  I wished i had been there right after the storms but i didn't want to complain.  I stayed on the groomers pretty much, and they stayed smooth and predictable thru the day.  I  wiped out twice, but not badly.  I was on the blue runs mostly, started looking for greens at the end, so as to prolong my day safely.  I had to make sure to get my $60 worth.  The locals told me the deal was to buy the January pass for under $200 i think, and come a whole bunch, and then be entitled to $40 lift tickets for the rest of the season.  Probably did 20 runs of 1000 vertical feet each, but as Kathi knows, i may err on the plus side.

Talked strawbale with a guy from Albuquerque,  and i told him about our friend Eric's former house in Rio Rancho, and he actually could tell from my description that he had seen it.  Small World!

Taos

We are now just outside Taos, at Trudy Abrams, formerly of Yellow Springs.  The directions to her house were just as circuitous as the ones to Shel's.  She has a great new house, of which she told us all the problems and disappointments, but overall i think she is happy with it, as she should be.  I had been thinking we would split today, but Trudy has convinced us that Taos requires a closer look.  I should not be in such a hurry.  Who knows, Trudy may be right; perhaps Taos is Yellow Springs West.

  I have said that i want to find a small town with a liberal, worldly population that has a definable downtown and a feeling of community.  A public radio station and a local newspaper would help a lot.  A good supply of water, clean air and being able to see a lot of stars (in the sky) are important, too.  Last, but not least, there needs to be a quality ski resort!  The Taos ski resort just started allowing snowboards last year, so Taos can now be considered.  I will keep you informed.  

The Road to Taos

On our way from Santa Fe to Taos, we visited Shel, the ceramicist who led the workshop to tile the bench at Xenia and Corry.  We pulled off the side of the two-lane, had to use our ski poles to maneuver our way down the switch-back path to the rickety suspension bridge across the river, followed a very circuitous semi-path past fences, a very curious hog and an irrigation ditch, and found ourselves at the most delightful little house, with a whimsical wall around it.  Shel showed us around the house, his studio and his 4? room cave carved into the sandstone hillside.  With multiple skylights.  It was all pretty damn amazing and my pictures don't do it justice.  There was so much and i failed to get pictures of a lot of it, such as his current work; slumped glass.  I am inspired, but to do what?

Purple prickly pear in the canyon.  View from the canyon rim.  Bales of cotton, LARGE, in texas.  In front of Tris's

Moonrise near Taos.  Nook next to the entry to Shel's cave, sideways.  Cadillac Ranch, Amarillo.  Our cabin in the canyon.

Sorry about the sideways picture of Beth coming out of Shel's sandstone cave. The bas relief of nudes is in the cave also.  The bathtub in in Shel's house.  Shel is a potter, led the workshop for the tile bench at the xenia/corry corner.  The snowy picture is Beth cross-country skiing near Santa Fe.

Santa Fe

Packing up after three nights on the outskirts of Santa Fe.  Very Comfortable accomadations, courtesy Bob & Kathi's house swap.  It is hard to call them Luxurious, being only one room with attached bath, but it is close.  I would tell you all about the Japanese toilet seat/bidet, but it is not suitable breakfast conversation.  Suffice it to say, i want one.  

Okay, to the important stuff:  Beer!  We bought a variety pack from the Marble Brewery of Albuquerque, plus they gave us samples of two others.  India Pale Ale, Red Ale, Oatmeal Stout, Double Pale Ale.  All Good.  Wildflower Wheat, not so much, but Beth liked it.  I am pretty damn easy to please, aren't i?

Our first day here we went crosscountry skiing.  As we started out on the skis for the first time after lugging them 3000 miles, it seemed to call for thanking of the sponsors.  Thank you, Sponsors!  You know who you are?  So i whip out my new REI collapsible trekking poles and they were too short.  I have to go back to the car and get my old poles.  Later in the day we went to the REI store,  i returned the poles and went to pick out a brand that would be long enuf.  I found a different model that wasn't much more expensive, then tried the same model that i has just returned and discovered that i am an idiot and that i had failed to open the second slider.  So i had to go up to the counter and buy back the poles i had just returned.  How embarrassing.

Road Trip Page 7

We didn't leave austin till 1 or 2 pm, so i got a lot done!  Got the outside outlet all squared away (figured out why the other kitchen outlets weren't working: as usual, it was not a coincidence, it was my fault from the previous work).  Got up on the roof and cleaned it off a bit.

Yesterday at sunset near Sweetwater, Texas we saw the most amazing number of wind turbines.  The BIG kind.  As it went to dusk and then dark we were surrounded by hundreds of  slowly spinning blades and blinking red lights.  We were surprised that we didn’t know about such a large wind farm.  We camped on the shore of Colorado City Lake, and every time I awoke  I saw hundreds of blinking red lights across the water and a shit load of stars.

            Today it got super windy from the Southwest.  They were talking about gusts to 40 mph, but it felt like a steady 40 mph to me.  Our mileage improved dramatically due to the tailwind when we turned north.  We had seen mention of Texas’s Grand Canyon, Palo Duro Canyon, we thought we better check it out,  thought we might get out of the wind at the bottom of the canyon.  It is still windy down here but it sounds nice from inside the state park cabin we are renting for the night.  Very Spartan, but cosy.

            We saw numerous groups of wild turkeys on the road in the canyon.  They weren’t exactly begging for handouts, but I think they wanted us to know that they were available if we had any extra food.  We also saw two coyotes.  Well, Beth saw two, I only saw the slow one.

            It is now the next day, Saturday, Jan. 23.  We finally made it out of Texas, not there was anything wrong with Texas, except it’s too damn big, and the sign Beth saw that said: “Babies are God’s stimulus package.” 

            Yesterday in Texas we were making 50 mpg with the wind.  Today we are driving into the wind and making less than 37 mpg.  The car has other excuses for today’s bad mileage – we are going uphill, we are at higher elevation and it is cooler: 46 degrees at 2pm.  Plus Beth is driving  and she is not as compulsive as I when it comes to maximizing mileage. After a week without, the long underwear is coming back out real soon.  Tonite we plan to stay at a house in Santa Fe, courtesy Kathi & Bob’s house swap. Too complicated to explain.  Tomorrow some snow sports, I hope.

            We have used up our  book on tape and listened to all our music at least once and now we are in the middle of  No Good Stations Land.  To make matters worse, it looks like we won’t be seeing a Cracker Barrel ( for books on cd) for a thousand miles.  That’s poor planning….  oh, I forgot that i have an ipod, i better stop complaining.

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It's Wednesday nite, Jan. 20, one whole year without George W.  I miss our national idiot, but  I am thankful.  

We are spending our last nite at Tristan's in Austin.  Today we had lunch at Green Mesquite Barbecue.  Excellent.  We had dinner at the Hyde Park Bar & Grill, where Tris waits tables.  That was excellent, too.  During the past few days i have had Lone Star Beer, Lone Star Brewing, Fort Worth.  Cheap and lite.  I had three more brews from the Real Ale Co.: Brewhouse Brown Ale (very good), Full Moon Pale Rye Ale (good), and Rio Blanco Pale Ale (good). At Tris's resturant i had Live Oak Pilsner on tap, brewed in the Austin area (good enuf to have two). At some point in there i also had a Sierra Nevada from Chico, CA.  No, i did not make a quick trip to CA, it was all we had.  It was good, though.  

Played disc golf twice.  I hope nobody noticed my butt getting kicked.  I got to make more throws than anybody else and got to see the most remote areas of the course, and even got a bit of a wash in the creek, so it wasn't a complete loss.

No surprise, after many days of doing nothing constructive, i was jonesin' to do some home improvement here.  My projects so far: tighten the toilet seat, advise Tris on putting back up the SECOND coat rack i have pulled off the wall this trip, repair two Venetian blinds.  I have talked a really good game about putting in an outside GFCI outlet for the electric fence, but all i have done is replace the inside outlet with the GFCI and determine that the electric pence doesn't trip it.  Tomorrow morning i have to choose, do i go back to the disc golf course to find the disc i threw into the woods just as it got dark, or do i commit to the outside outlet project.  I don't have a lot of time, we want to leave before noon.  

The Real Ale Co.

I forgot to post this beer report!  Rio Blanco Pale Ale by the Real Ale Co. of Blanco, Texas.  Good hoppy beer.  Hey, i also forgot to tell about visiting Seaside, Florida.  It's a planned community on the Florida coast, started around 1980, i think.  they did a nice job of high-density, visually pleasing and walkable.  Lots of vegetation, walkways between the backyards, like alleys for the non-motorized.  

photos FL & AL

Oil rig in Mobile Bay.                         Beth with  a big bird near florida alabama line.  Sunrise at Big Lagoon State Park.  Breakfast

Road Trip Page 5

We have arrived at Tristan's in Austin, TX.  It is Sunday nite, the 17th.   A few beers (I froze our beer supply in the motel mini-fridge the other nite, but they didn't break and only one leaked and they all still fizzed and then Firemans's Blonde from the Real Ale Co., Blanco, TX.  Good)  and a really quick viewing of the Jets/Chargers game.  If you are going to waste time watching football, you may as well waste much less by skipping not only the ads but also the time between plays. You have to watch it later than it was broadcast, of course. The downside is no downtime for multitasking, like blogging, or brushing teeth.  

On the subject of spicing up this blog, I am remembering the words of Jerome K. Jerome (well, his parents may be cruel, but it's easy to remember: even i can).  He wrote Three Men in a Boat.  He also wrote "It is always the best policy to tell the truth, unless, of course, you are an exceptionally good liar."  I, unfortunately, am not, at least in person.  However, the printed medium does open up some possibilities. 

We were walking to our car in Huntsville, Texas, which is the home of amazing builder remodeler (google phoenix commotion)  who thinks well outside the box of a typical building.  So, we're almost to the corner of a glass storefront and thru the corner of the store Beth sees a guy coming the other way who we are about to bump into.  Common usage, all you grammar police.  CU for short.  So, anyway, Beth recognizes him from a utube video before we even meet at the corner and the next thing i know we are deep into a conversation about buildings and vibrations and aliens and frequencies  and he takes us around to meet people and see way cool building projects but his parents showed up coming from church i think and they drove us back to our car and gave us some fine little bananas from the store that we never see in Ohio but are not ripe yet and i made an unfortunate comment about it is good to have your son have a job so that you don't need to send him money and that was an awkward thing to say to our new friend Eric's parent's because Eric had already told us he didn't have a job right now but Eric's mom agreed that you should pray for your son to find the lord but that you should also pray that he find a job while waiting to find the lord and we shouted out Amen to that and then they disappeared.  I had to bring that true account to a close cause Beth said i should keep my posts short.  Now we have to decide if it is worth it and possible to stay in East Texas for a whole week in order to take a proper tour of the houses in Huntsville next Saturday.  I think not, Beth may think not not.  Tristan and his Housemate/landlord may think not. Hey, I got snowboarding to do.

It is Martin Luther King Day.  Why are all roads named after him "boulevards?"  Not that I have a problem with that...   andy 

photos GA & FL

Andy reading at Bald Point, FL.   Campsite at Sopchoppy, FL.  Mark, Bert & Zoey.   Beth running on the trail near Savannah.

These are pics from a sculpture garden called Brookhaven, just south of myrtle beach.

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Friday the 15^th.  9:45 Central Time.  Entering Alabama along the Gulf.  Sitting in the passenger seat with my  legs tangled in power cords (thanks Selwa).  Having just spent two nites at Big Lagoon State Park, we are on our way west, perhaps to New Orleans.  Currently we are hugging the coast, planning to take the ferry across the mouth of Mobile Bay.  Yesterday we snuck up on  an armadillo, and it wasn’t hard.  We got about 2 feet away, murmuring about how amazing it’s tail and armor were and wondering aloud if it couldn’t hear us with those big rabbit-like ears.  I guess we surprised it cause it suddenly hopped  straight up 6 inches or so and then moved a foot away and went back to sticking it’s nose in the dirt.  We have also had some close encounters of the raccoon kind.  Last nite I swear I heard one getting eaten by an alligator.  Maybe that had something to do with the beer: Blue by Sweetwater Brewing, Atlanta.  Blueberry overtones, very good, but of course it’s not really beer.  We still have some Landshark Island Style Lager but nobody’s gonna drink it till the Blue is gone. 

            The bathhouse at the campground had 4 solar thermal collectors so I took a shower this morning, even though air temp was about 45.  Beth said I needed it, and being solar powered, I couldn’t say no.  I meant the hot water, but i guess the same could be said of me.  Speaking of energy efficiency, I have been very happy with our mileage.  We have driven 1750 miles averaging in the upper  40’s  in mpg.  This tank we are getting 52.1 mpg after 308 miles, doing so well because it has been at 55 and 45 mph.  I am glad we didn’t need the rooftop carrier,  I think our mileage would have been 5 -10 mpg worse.  Attempting to include two ferry pictures and attempting to delete one self portrait

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thursday, 14 January.  Nothing to see here.  Move along.  At the library at the entrance to Big Lagoon State Park just west of Pensacola, Florida.  Didn't bring the camera, so still no photos.  Spending a day here, Beth drawing, me picking up trash around the campsite, juggling, getting my Sports Illustrated fix at the library.  Finally warm enuf to hang around a campsite, hallelujah.  andy

Road Trip Page 2

Well, I am sorry if there is no continuity in my posts, but I guess that is the nature of traveling. Time at the TONE is 8:17 pm est, Tuesday January 12, 2010. We are spending a very comfortable night (I hope) in Bob Benton’s house in Sopchoppy, FL.

When last heard from we were on the road to Savannah, having just spent a COLD nite camping near the SC shore. I forgot to mention that the dregs of my granola and soymilk were freezing to the sides of my metal bowl as I was trying to eat them that morning. I also forgot to mention all the dolphins we saw with Steve just off the beach south of his place.

Last nite we did our second nite of camping. It was a relatively balmy 30 degrees, I guess. As we pulled into the town of Sopchoppy, looking for the nearby state park, Beth remembered the Bob had a house here, so we set the wheels in motion for a second nite in the area. The skies have been very clear and the stars incredibly bright. Last nite the stars were so thick it was hard to pick out our usual constellations. Saw the Milky Way! It was too cold to look for long, though.

The previous two nites we spent at Beth’s brother Mark’s (& Elissa’s) house in Savannah. Got the tour of historic Savannah on Mark’s trolley. Nice walk on abandoned rail right of way through tidal marshes. Forced to watch Bengals get crushed in company of rabid Jets fans. Had to watch hated Ravens humiliate tiresome Patriots. Decided it may be time to forgive Ravens for forsaking Cleveland. Watched in horror as The People’s Team – the only major professional team in the country not owned by RICH people – The Packers fell behind the Cardinals. Didn’t give up hope and was rewarded with an awesome comeback, only to have defeat strike like an unseen cobra. Well, the reason to watch sports is to be entertained, and I was, but the refs screwed my team, as it always seems. That’s what we all say, and that’s part of the fun, as long as the ref doesn’t reply “You’re just mad because my team’s winning.” Also watched some of Cowboys Riding the Eagles out of the playoffs, and was disappointed that both teams couldn’t lose. Yes, I watched a bit of football, and I am sorry to say I have no new micro-brew reports. Mark had a bunch of Corona which needed drinking, and I was glad to oblige. As a result of all that couch-potatoing I felt the need to be useful, so Mark and I re-hung the coat rack which broke under the weight of all our coats, and I replaced a lite fixture. After about a week of vacation I am always grateful for the chance to do something useful. Maybe there will be a little job for me in Austin, between football games…..

We don’t have internet here, maybe tomorrow we will find a coffee shop. It is now the next morning and we found a library near apalachicola. I forgot to mention, we saw an industrial park near Valdosta named BIG NOISE INDUSTRIAL PARK. Sorry, didn't turn around and go back for pictures.

Road Trip Page 1

Okay, here goes.  Beth & Andy’s big road trip adventure.  Maybe I am starting with too many expectations.  Maybe I should start by saying I might just write a few words about a drive we are on.

            So, here we are driving south on US 17 in south Carolina.  It is Saturday morning.  I am trying to type and watch the scenery at the same time.  It is hard for my brain cause it is trying to do two things at once.  Speaking of which, I discovered another limitation of my brain yesterday.  Maybe I should say “yet another limitation.”  Being on vacation, and having no projects, I was practicing my juggling and I thought of having a “trigger” (the yellow ball landing in the right hand) tell me to throw the ball in my left hand high and then throw the yellow ball behind my back.  It seemed like it was one too many things to think about. That’s Common Usage, all you grammar police.  Maybe if I make the trigger the first ball to throw, that is the yellow ball in the left hand, my brain will be able to handle it. 

We did our first camping last nite.  Even though we are on the South Carolina shore, it was about 30 degrees.  We got to use our new sleeping bags and liners and new sleeping pad.  All was well except for Beth’s feet.  We need one more full-length camping pad. 

            We started Monday afternoon from Yellow Springs.  We spent two nites at Alan and Julies (Beth’s sister) in Chapel Hill.  One of our missions is to sample the local brews.  Well, I guess maybe it is my mission only.  I tried Raleigh’s Triangle Belgian style ale on tap, and thought it similar to my old homebrew.  That’s a no. Then we bought a six of Angry Angel, also from Raleigh, but I forget the brewery.  It gets a thumbs up.  Then we drove to Wilmington, NC.  We spent two nites at Steve Spier’s.  Went to art museum and beach.  Drank Carolina Blonde in a tall narrow can but I didn’t like it.  Beth did, though.  Then I started drinking Kashmir IPA from the Highland Brewing Co. in Ashville, NC.  Good! 

              

Road trip officially underway!  400 some miles to Chapel Hill, NC. to visit Beth's sister, Julie, and Alan Pitstick.  400 some miles.  46.5 mph after Charleston, WV, forgot to check from ys to there.  Nothing of import to report, which can be a good thing.  Impressive 3/4 moon rising at about 10PM, though

2010 Happy New Year.  Our big adventure starts soon.  learning to blog is a small adventure.  We will leave on our Road Trip monday the 4th if we are lucky.  This picture is just a test.  It is the start of the greenhouse we built this summer and fall.