OK in OKC

Luckily, I spent several of my last nights on the road with family. The final night before reaching Missouri I stayed with my cousin Julie and finally met my newest cousin, Austin. He's quite adorable, to say the least. Their dog Sadie kind of stands out against his small frame!



The Mooneyham family caught up as Julie chatted with Sam, her husband, who is currently deployed to Iraq. Thankfully the modern age allows the family to stay pretty close, even if they are half a world apart.




Austin was very well behaved!


And in addition to seeing family, I caught up with Sara and Landon, old friends from Mizzou. They're now both tackling advanced degrees. It was a wonderful way to round out the 7 weeks on the road.

Dead and Petrified

Death Valley NP and Petrified Forest NP were so different from anything I had seen thus far. Both offered such odd aspects of natural life.



Petrified Forest NP was so cool because you can walk right through all these downed trees, which are rocks, of course. But it looks like it could just be a downed tree.


What seems to be bark is still right there. Such an awesome natural wonder!

Hidden Valley Ranch

The valley wasn't hidden, but I arrived at night, so it seemed to be! My good friend from living in Santiago, Chile, Jacob Bechtold, below, has worked on a ranch in southern California for quite a few years now. I helped a little here and there during my day there.

Carver Bowen, above, the patriarch and fourth generation rancher (there are up to 7 generations now!) got a water pump started. It was a cool old machine. The Bowens took me in and showed me around their lovely property.



Upon leaving the ranch I went through some of the sketchiest weather that I saw on the trip! Several inches of snow on a pass through the Sierra Nevadas meant that I went for 8-10 miles in first gear. If there was a time on the trip when I was going to lay the bike down...this was it. Luckily it all turned out well. Because then I exited down into the desert.

Large and Rugged

The General Sherman giant sequoia, rear right in the above photo, is the largest tree in the world. That's largest volume. Neither tallest, nor widest...largest. Photos can't do it justice. it's gigantic. Just huge. Both the tallest and widest are also in California.


Sequoia NP, above, and Kings Canyon, below, were spell-bindingly unique. Through Kings Canyon the King River rushes through an unfathomable amount of rapids. And Sequoia is just grand. And majestic. I wish I had more time to either sit or explore in either of these great places.



Kings Canyon and Sequoia offer some of the most untouched wilderness in the contiguous states. There is supposedly amazing hiking and wildlife. Both parks are Large and Rugged.


Redwoods allow for pretty cool camping spots, as well!

Some Among Them Are Dangerous

It is believed that Yosemite actually means, some among them are dangerous, in the native language. It was probably the native americans describing the white men who came into the area to one another. A warning against the white man. But, of course, the white man didn't understand, thought it was the name of the place, and used it for the national park title!


Yosemite NP is easily one of the most outstanding and unexpected of the areas I visited. I knew it was beautiful. Why else would Ansel Adams spend so many years photographing here, but I was not prepared for how impressive it is. I was blown away. I can't wait to return.



There are 3,000 foot cliffs, such as El Capitan, below, one of the most impressive rock faces I've ever seen.

Capital of the World's 10th Largest Economy

Among several other things, I caught up with some old friends some studying abroad while in Sacramento. Nicole, left, and I lived on the same street in Santiago. Her boyfriend Kip joined us. Quite similar, I know. And Scott, right, also studied with us. Nicole now teaches and Scott is in law school.


Amazingly, if California was an independent country, it would have the world's 10th largest economy. Wow. And they say 'Don't Mess with Texas!'


Scenes from around the capitol building where there are quite a few gardens. Scott and I did some reading, me for pleasure and him for homework, and played frisbee.



Sacramento is pleasant, but probably not a place I would want to end up long-term. It was great to see friends, but there didn't seem to be that much to do within the city itself. A lot of government stuff, as I had expected.


And a mounted policeman on his cell phone. Which is interesting, because it's illegal to talk while driving, so I would assume that applies to riding as well. Regardless, I didn't get a chance to ask him!

Sister Act...II

More photos from my visit to Jamie in Coos Bay, OR. These two are from a nice little hike we did to Golden and Silver Falls State Park.



Above is the final color of Jamie's living room area, at least as one when I left. Below Jamie is demanding that I paint more and at a much faster pace over the blue-ish and yellow-ish colors in the photo below, which she was unhappy with. Understandably!




My sheepish self trying to not catch more flack for my dismal painting skills! And to think that a vendor of paint supplies raised me! (My family owns a paint supply distribution business!)


Jamie hiding from the plethora of color swatches we littered the new apartment with. We weaved them together to make plates! Multi-colored plates!



At Shore Acres State Park (I have no idea why this is underlined, but I can't figure out how to shut it off!) Testing the versatility of my flippable shades!



Excited about something...probably the prospect of painting! More at Shore Acres.