Redwood National Park

July 16, 2010

Today we finished our recollection of the park. We finally got some images that look good in the dark tree cover. What a relief! Productive days are always nice. We also had great weather so today was almost perfect!

I didn't take many photos today. I did get a couple photos of some HUGE yellow slugs hanging out on a gate post.

Made it to Redwood National Park!

July 15, 2010

This morning I was up at 5:30am, hit the road at 6:30am and we made it to Redwood National Park around 10:30am. We did a distance calibration on the truck and then drove South a bit to some dark routes in the park. It was a frustrating afternoon to say the least but things did turn around by evening. While we were transferring data I got out of the truck to take a quick photo and here is my question of the day....How many locks does a gate really need? You can decide but I think this is a little much.

We ate dinner around 7:00pm. We decided to sit outside despite the chill in the air. Being right on the ocean makes a great dinner view. After dinner we headed to the beach for a short walk. We didn't find any shells but I was amazed at all of the critters we saw! I tried to get some photos to share with my blog readers. One thing I decided while on the beach was that when I got back to my hotel room I'd be turning up the HEAT! That lead to a funny thought for the day "I turn up my heat in July, do you?" Most of the country is in a heat wave and we are here in pants and a long sleeve shirt needing a jacket. It was 59 degrees according to the car thermometer when we left the beach this evening. I'll enjoy it while I can, before I head back East with the humidity.

Still Making Our Way West...

July 14, 2010

This morning I woke up in Utah and ended up in Oregon. I drove 9 1/2 hours but it felt like at least 12 hours. I-80 (Eisenhower Highway) wasn't bad. I saw a Hendrickson truck and finally snapped a photo. Some day I'm going to figure out how I'm related to the owner...who is based out of Sacramento, CA. After a couple hundred miles on I-80 we headed North at Winnemucca, NV. We then drove 208 miles though open wilderness. There wasn't much to look at and it seemed never ending. I've been on roads like this before, they all look the same, open wilderness with nothing in sight. We were lucky that there was one rest area! It was a welcome sight and it was nice to get out of the truck and stretch a little. Can you imagine 208 miles of looking at the picture below? Yeah, it does get old after about 30 minutes.

We finally made it to the Oregon / Nevada border and we got out to get a quick photo of the signs. The geologist in me quickly surfaced. I looked down at the sided of the road and saw black rock...could I really be seeing this! I looked around and it was every where...obsidian! It was really cool. It was a nice surprise and I wanted to spend the rest of the day looking for cool rocks.
The drive was far from over so back in the truck we went only to realize that since we were now in Oregon the speed limit was only 55mph! Uhhhh! A long drive just got longer. The last hour and 1/2 were pretty slow going. The scenery did get better with trees, farms and some small lakes here and there. We finally made it to Klamath Falls, OR and it was a very welcome sight. I was trying to remember how many times I've stayed in this town...I think this is at least my 4th time. If all goes well at Redwood National Park (yep we are going back) I'll be back in this town again in a couple of days when we collect Lava Beds...

Driving West, Again!

July 13, 2010

Today we drove from Cheyenne, WY to Wendover, UT. Wyoming proved to be as windy as ever. At a rest area I found a sign saying the winds can get up to 70mph.

I've done this drive many times now and there isn't much to look at but this time there were a few surprises. We saw this HUGE crane. It is amazingly big and my guess it is used for mining but I'm not sure. I can't even imagine how they got such a big piece of equipment to the middle of nowhere Wyoming. During this drive I decided to try and count the FedEx trucks that we saw. In February when we made the drive I noticed several FedEx trucks and this time I wanted to try and get a number. We came up with 68! I'm sure we missed a few. I think FedEx rules I-80.

A couple of other "interesting" things that happened today. ..
We got another rock chip in the windshield. This one is pretty big. It is Y shaped and I'm sure when the weather gets cold this chip will spread. Luckily it is in the middle of the windshield so it isn't in the line of sight, yet.

I pulled a muscle in my neck, doing basically nothing. I went into the back of the truck from the front seat because I was installing software and needed to put the CD in another computer and sure enough something shifted...ouch! If feels like I slept on my neck wrong, which I didn't but that is what it feel like.

Anyway, we made our way across the border into Utah. We drove across the Salt Flats and I took a couple of pictures this time. I think this is at least the 6th time I've driven across the Salt Flats going from one place to another for work. I don't remember seeing this "tree" before. It must have been there because wikipedia says it has been there since the 80s, maybe I was sleeping (or blinked) when the truck passed it before.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tree_of_Utah

In the air and on the road

July 12, 2010

Today I flew from VA to Denver. While at the Dulles airport I was taking the bus to the terminal and a little boy about 3 years old was really excited. He stood up and said "mommy, look at that rocket!" What he was looking at was a smaller United Express airplane. I guess it looked like a rocket to him and his eyes were really big.

I wasn't able to get a direct flight for a decent price so I had to have a short layover in Chicago. I've never been to Chicago without a delay of some kind. I had a short 20 minute delay leaving Virginia due to heavy air traffic in Chicago. Once in Chicago I had about a 45 minute delay because the airplane was late arriving. I arrived in Denver about 15 minutes before my traveling partner so even with the delays it worked out.

While at the Denver airport I noticed that they added a new statue to the airport grounds. It is a big statue of King Tut. I found an article about it online.

http://cbs4denver.com/local/Tutankhamen.exhibit.museum.2.1729692.html

I was surprised to see another statue after the blue horse statue caused such a "stir" around Denver. I guess this new statue is related to an exhibit at the Denver Art Museum.

After we gathered our bags we drove 2 hours North of Denver and spent the night in Cheyenne, Wyoming. It is good to be back in the midwest but windy as always!