Tuesday, May 10, 2022
Wednesday, June 4, 2014
coming Home - the last leg
"A man travels the world over in search of what he needs and returns home to find it." George Moore
Mo and I left Nashville about 9:30. We slept in for the first time in 16 days and the rest felt good.
Our trip today started with a 3 hour drive from Nashville to Knoxville. My wife, Wendy, and I started our marriage in Knoxville. I got off the interstate and drove down Sutherland Ave to try to find our first home, 3700 Golf Range apartments. Unfortunately (or fortunately) the development had been torn down and replaced by several recreational fields. From what I remember our two bedroom apartment cost $150 per month, and our electric bill averaged $30.00 per month. Wendy and I look back on that time with fondness. We had very little money, but enough, and good friends to share the situation.
We drove by the University of Tennessee next. Our old basketball facility, Stokely Athletic Center, is in the process of being torn down. it was really not a well designed facility for basketball. very flat, so the top rows were a long way from the court. On the other hand, we had great memories, defeating #1 Kentucky. In that game Wendy was sitting at the opposite end of the court. from the team. With 30 seconds left and Tennessee leading by 1 point a timeout was called. With Rocky Top blaring in the background one of the players says to me, "Coach Byers, is that your wife dancing with the mascot (Smoky the dog). It was actually true. The mascot had grabbed Wendy off the first row and they were dancing to "Rocky Top" at half court. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_n9prNixjbg&feature=kp A little embarrassing. Fortunately we won the game, and it made for a great story 30 years later.
http://www.chattanoogan.com/2014/3/27/272890/UT-s-Gibbs-Hall-And-Stokely-Athletic.aspx
We drove by Neyland stadium, seating over 100,000 football fans and then headed out of town.
Our next stop was Clyde, North Carolina. Unfortunately my aunt, Marie Byers, had passed away unexpectedly a week earlier. While I couldn't make it back for the funeral I decided to make one more side trip to visit by father's brother, Joe. My father passed in 1990. Joe is 6 years younger than my father would have been. He was the fun one for me. Joe was always trout fishing , hunting and traveling to Yellowstone in Wyoming or Montana. My father had heart problems that developed when he was about 12 years old. This prevented him from doing strenuous activities. I can remember John rebounding my basketball shots a couple of times, but not much more. We did have an opportunity to fish together at the peer at Cape Hatteras. While I would have wished for more, my time with my father was precious. Even though he didn't have the capacity to be an athletic person he opened doors for me to follow my dreams and supported me 110%. He bought tickets to Va Tech basketball and football games and took my sister and me to them, even though I'm sure he would have preferred to be reading a good book. Even though I lost "Papa" in 1990 he left a legacy of family commitment, honesty and integrity that I can only hope to follow. I miss you Papa.
We pulled into Blacksburg at about 8:30 Sunday night. 7800 miles, 16 days days and visited 21 states, including 8 national parks and lots of interesting sites and people. We saw incredible things and learned so much about America. My trip was based on a John Steinbeck that a hiking buddy introduced me to called "Travels with Charley," I really enjoyed the book, but it was even more fun writing our own book.
The timing of how things developed along the way couldn't have been better either. I couldn't have done it without my friend, Mohamed. Glad to make the trip, but even more glad to be home. Mo takes off for his home in Tanzania next Sunday. He hasn't seen his family in a year. Mo lost his father a few years ago. I know he is looking forward to getting home, too.
"A man travels the world over in search of what he needs and returns home to find it." George Moore
Mo and I left Nashville about 9:30. We slept in for the first time in 16 days and the rest felt good.
Our trip today started with a 3 hour drive from Nashville to Knoxville. My wife, Wendy, and I started our marriage in Knoxville. I got off the interstate and drove down Sutherland Ave to try to find our first home, 3700 Golf Range apartments. Unfortunately (or fortunately) the development had been torn down and replaced by several recreational fields. From what I remember our two bedroom apartment cost $150 per month, and our electric bill averaged $30.00 per month. Wendy and I look back on that time with fondness. We had very little money, but enough, and good friends to share the situation.
http://www.chattanoogan.com/2014/3/27/272890/UT-s-Gibbs-Hall-And-Stokely-Athletic.aspx
We drove by Neyland stadium, seating over 100,000 football fans and then headed out of town.
Our next stop was Clyde, North Carolina. Unfortunately my aunt, Marie Byers, had passed away unexpectedly a week earlier. While I couldn't make it back for the funeral I decided to make one more side trip to visit by father's brother, Joe. My father passed in 1990. Joe is 6 years younger than my father would have been. He was the fun one for me. Joe was always trout fishing , hunting and traveling to Yellowstone in Wyoming or Montana. My father had heart problems that developed when he was about 12 years old. This prevented him from doing strenuous activities. I can remember John rebounding my basketball shots a couple of times, but not much more. We did have an opportunity to fish together at the peer at Cape Hatteras. While I would have wished for more, my time with my father was precious. Even though he didn't have the capacity to be an athletic person he opened doors for me to follow my dreams and supported me 110%. He bought tickets to Va Tech basketball and football games and took my sister and me to them, even though I'm sure he would have preferred to be reading a good book. Even though I lost "Papa" in 1990 he left a legacy of family commitment, honesty and integrity that I can only hope to follow. I miss you Papa.
We pulled into Blacksburg at about 8:30 Sunday night. 7800 miles, 16 days days and visited 21 states, including 8 national parks and lots of interesting sites and people. We saw incredible things and learned so much about America. My trip was based on a John Steinbeck that a hiking buddy introduced me to called "Travels with Charley," I really enjoyed the book, but it was even more fun writing our own book.
The timing of how things developed along the way couldn't have been better either. I couldn't have done it without my friend, Mohamed. Glad to make the trip, but even more glad to be home. Mo takes off for his home in Tanzania next Sunday. He hasn't seen his family in a year. Mo lost his father a few years ago. I know he is looking forward to getting home, too.
"A man travels the world over in search of what he needs and returns home to find it." George Moore
Friday, May 30, 2014
Pike's Peak and on to Kansas City Missouri
Good night's rest for both of us, and we needed it. We slept in till 7 s.m. this time. I got Mo to turn off his cell phone this time, so it didn't ring from one of his friends every hour. Our hotel had a full breakfast and we took advantage of it. We headed out toward Pike's Peak about 7:45.
The cog rail is really quite interesting. There are only three of these things in the U.S. Beside's Pike's Peak there is one at Mt Washington in New Hampshire and another somewhere in Michigan. This one is the highest one in the world. the equipment is produced in Switzerland (makes sense) where they have 31 of them operating.
We got set to go about 9 a.m. and it took off promptly at 9:20 for an hour trip to 14,000 feet. Great views on the way up, but we were fogged in at the top. From 12,000 feet we could see about 75 miles. The cog rail has quite a history behind it. I'll let you read up. We had a great time. We had a great time. http://cograilway.com/alongroute.htm
It took about an hour to get to the top, and hour at the top, and an hour coming back down. We sat across from a great couple from Texas. We've spent a little bit of time talking with folks, but here we had a couple of hours and made it nice. Always so impressed with how people react to Mohamed. You can tell they they always enjoy meeting him and hearing about his story.
One cool thing was that this place was the inspiration for a poem for "America the Beautiful." we are thinking that it was probably clear they day that Katharine Bates visited Pike's Peak, otherwise it might have been called American the foggy."
We loaded up and got out of Colorado Springs about 2 p.m. for another 8.5 hour drive. We stopped along e way in Hays, Kansas at a neat little microbrewery/restaurant. http://www.lbbrewing.com/
Glad we stopped, but took extra time. Mo is driving and I'll finish from 10 - 12 midnight.
Mo had chicken and rice (but had beans with the rice this time!).
Our trip is winding down now. We have one more significant stop, in Nashville, TN. I talked with Aubrey Grant this afternoon and he gave us a couple of recommendations to hear some music. I'm hoping to see Aubrey for a few minutes tomorrow night after he gets off work.
The cog rail is really quite interesting. There are only three of these things in the U.S. Beside's Pike's Peak there is one at Mt Washington in New Hampshire and another somewhere in Michigan. This one is the highest one in the world. the equipment is produced in Switzerland (makes sense) where they have 31 of them operating.
We got set to go about 9 a.m. and it took off promptly at 9:20 for an hour trip to 14,000 feet. Great views on the way up, but we were fogged in at the top. From 12,000 feet we could see about 75 miles. The cog rail has quite a history behind it. I'll let you read up. We had a great time. We had a great time. http://cograilway.com/alongroute.htm
It took about an hour to get to the top, and hour at the top, and an hour coming back down. We sat across from a great couple from Texas. We've spent a little bit of time talking with folks, but here we had a couple of hours and made it nice. Always so impressed with how people react to Mohamed. You can tell they they always enjoy meeting him and hearing about his story.
One cool thing was that this place was the inspiration for a poem for "America the Beautiful." we are thinking that it was probably clear they day that Katharine Bates visited Pike's Peak, otherwise it might have been called American the foggy."
We loaded up and got out of Colorado Springs about 2 p.m. for another 8.5 hour drive. We stopped along e way in Hays, Kansas at a neat little microbrewery/restaurant. http://www.lbbrewing.com/
Glad we stopped, but took extra time. Mo is driving and I'll finish from 10 - 12 midnight.
Mo had chicken and rice (but had beans with the rice this time!).
Our trip is winding down now. We have one more significant stop, in Nashville, TN. I talked with Aubrey Grant this afternoon and he gave us a couple of recommendations to hear some music. I'm hoping to see Aubrey for a few minutes tomorrow night after he gets off work.
Thursday, May 29, 2014
Zion to Colorado Springs
Mo and I arrived at Zion National Park in the late afternoon. I told Mo that the important thing about travelling is to have a good map, a gps system, and then a good amount of common sense. In this case I left my common sense in the car and got on a bus going away from the park. After correcting my mistake we finally got on the correct bus and headed up through the valley.
Zion is on of the most unique places in the U.S. to me. Tremendous view in all directions. We got off at the lodge took a 3 mile walk up through the mountains to an area called Emerald pools. Really beautiful. The most memorable thing to me was the sound of tree frogs. At the lower pool they were so loud it sounded like sheep bleating.
Next we hoped on the bus again and headed up through the Valley. They only allow buses to hold down the traffic and the air pollution. Good concept. We got out a couple of stops up the way and hiked along the side of the river. After a couple more miles we hoped the bus the last time. I had told Mo about an area called the Narrows. I did the hike twice in one day 2 years ago. Probably my favorite hike ever. You walk up through the Virgin river for quite a while. In our case, the water started getting deeper, and we decided to head back. Now back to set up our camp.
Man, We had a rough night at Zion. We started out setting up our tents in the dark. First time for that. The temperature was about 90 degrees. We decided to leave the covers off the tents. Pretty good idea, until the wind kicked up to 30 miles per hour at 3 a.m. Mo got nervous that he might be blown away and chose to fold up his tent and sleep in the car. I'm a little heavier than him, so decided that being blown away by a 30 mph wind was the least of my worries. I woke up about 7 a.m. with the wind still blowing. Mo was no where to be seen. I thought he had started walking back to Blacksburg. As it ended up I caught a view of him sound asleep. No showers available this time, so we brushed our teeth and headed out. As long as we both smell bad neither one will notice.
Our trip today involved a place in Eastern Utah called Arches. Here we found about 100 arches, created by water. Our favorite thing was the balanced rock. Very amazing it hadn't fallen. We mostly drove through the park. I drive and Mo hops and and takes pictures. Obviously I did this one. We reloaded at McDonald's in Moab Utah, and headed out to Grand Junction, Colorado. Dinner of chicken and rice again, at Applebee's this time.
This morning we drove from Grand Junction to Colorado Springs. Along the way we took some roads through the rockies, seeing peaks over 14,000 feet and on road over 11,000 feet. We saw frozen lakes, even as we close in on the first of June.
In Colorado Springs we were in search of a place called Garden of the Gods, which is a city park. It is just below Pike's Peak, where we are going in the morning. It was very nice, and I think if someone hadn't been to the places we had over the last two weeks it would have been impressive.
Dinner tonight at a Brazilian restaurant called Tucano's. Mo expanded his dinner to include a salad bar and some meats that they bring around on huge skewers. Really a cool concept.
Zion is on of the most unique places in the U.S. to me. Tremendous view in all directions. We got off at the lodge took a 3 mile walk up through the mountains to an area called Emerald pools. Really beautiful. The most memorable thing to me was the sound of tree frogs. At the lower pool they were so loud it sounded like sheep bleating.
Man, We had a rough night at Zion. We started out setting up our tents in the dark. First time for that. The temperature was about 90 degrees. We decided to leave the covers off the tents. Pretty good idea, until the wind kicked up to 30 miles per hour at 3 a.m. Mo got nervous that he might be blown away and chose to fold up his tent and sleep in the car. I'm a little heavier than him, so decided that being blown away by a 30 mph wind was the least of my worries. I woke up about 7 a.m. with the wind still blowing. Mo was no where to be seen. I thought he had started walking back to Blacksburg. As it ended up I caught a view of him sound asleep. No showers available this time, so we brushed our teeth and headed out. As long as we both smell bad neither one will notice.
Our trip today involved a place in Eastern Utah called Arches. Here we found about 100 arches, created by water. Our favorite thing was the balanced rock. Very amazing it hadn't fallen. We mostly drove through the park. I drive and Mo hops and and takes pictures. Obviously I did this one. We reloaded at McDonald's in Moab Utah, and headed out to Grand Junction, Colorado. Dinner of chicken and rice again, at Applebee's this time.
In Colorado Springs we were in search of a place called Garden of the Gods, which is a city park. It is just below Pike's Peak, where we are going in the morning. It was very nice, and I think if someone hadn't been to the places we had over the last two weeks it would have been impressive.
Dinner tonight at a Brazilian restaurant called Tucano's. Mo expanded his dinner to include a salad bar and some meats that they bring around on huge skewers. Really a cool concept.
Wednesday, May 28, 2014
Yosemite to Grand Canyon
Most of our time together has revolved around getting this library going. I'm really hoping that he can pull this off. I tell him that "the main thing is the main thing is the main thing." I'm good at quotes like this, but not so good at putting them in practice. If you don't know Mo, you will.
http://cnre.vt.edu/magazine/articles/201405/geography-student-puts-heart-and-soul-into-library-project.html
We are staying at hotel in Grand Junction, Colorado tonight. They are playing the College World Series for Jr College women's softball. I thought for about two seconds about going to watch a game, but decided sleep would be more prudent. Dinner at Applebee's tonight, and for Mo, you guessed it, chicken and rice.
On Saturday morning we left Fresno early and headed toward Yosemite. We made our obligatory stop to get Mo his oat meal at McDonald's, and of course, two senior coffees. As with the other national parks to distance is calculated to the first sign of the park, so our hour ride from Fresno was more like 2.5 hrs to what we wanted to see.
Yosemite is an amazing park. I've been wanting to go here for several years. Dramatic view after view. We visited two extremely tall water falls and got close enough feel the spray from both. Unfortunately a few million people have the same idea each year, and half of them decided to visit on the same day as us. It was worth it, though.
We camped Saturday night within 50 yards of a major road, so obviously not a restful sleep. just glad to find a spot. We found a Mexican restaurant called Alexandro's and Mo got an order of Chicken Fajitas again.
On Sunday morning we drove back toward Fresno and then down to the Great Sequoia National Park. We tried to get to the General Sherman Sequoia (one of the largest in the world), but the lines were so long it didn't made sense. We have seen so many huge trees they are running together now. In the early afternoon we did a 6 mile round trip hike on a trail to see some giant redwoods.This was much more fun than standing in line with hundred's of tourists to see the General Sherman.
Now back in the car and driving on to Las Vegas. Miles and miles of crops of different types. Quite an operation. We arrived at our hotel at about 11:30. I really wanted to take Mo to Las Vegas Boulevard to show him the big hotels, but I ran out of energy. I decided to introduce him to the basics of gambling..... the nickel slot machines seemed safe enough. But gambling can be addictive, even at this level. I fronted Mo $3.00, but unfortunately he hit the wrong button and played for a whole dollar... and he won. Now with $5.00 in his pocket Mo decided that he was good to go. I was pretty sure he wasn't, and I was getting tired. Mo took out another $5 from his wallet, handed me his wallet and I headed up to the room thinking he couldn't get in much trouble. He didn't, and the nickel slot machine has his $10.00 within 30 minutes and he sheepeshly snuck back to the room a beaten man. Not the first, not the last.
Monday morning we headed to Hoover Dam where we took a tour of the power plant. I was here once before, but didn't make time to do a tour. Glad I did. Amazing ingenuity and resolve to get this project done. I don't think it could be done again. It was at a time in American history where people were very glad to have a job.
Now on to the Grand Canyon. We got to our camp spot and took a 1.5 mile hike along the canyon on our way to dinner at the Lodge. Along the way we passed two young ladies setting up their camp spot. I was ahead of Mo and he stopped to talk to them. this is not unusual, but in this case Mo realized that he had a class with one of the girls at Va Tech. Can you believe it? The next morning I saw the girls in the parking lot and asked them if they went to Va Tech. They did, and in fact they rent a house 50 yards from where I live in Blacksburg. Such am amazingly small world!
Our server is Maria, from Columbia. She has a wonderful accent and a very interesting character. Her husband works at the Lodge, too. She would remind you of Sofia Vergara, but with two main differences. I'll keep moving now.
We had a great meal. Mo and I both ordered trout. He was attracted to it because it was served with rice. Rice is very important to Mo. When we are trying to figure out where to eat for dinner that is always his first question. Do they have rice?
After dinner we sat out on the porch and enjoyed looking at the stars. So bright out tonight. After a while I'm getting tired and we turn on our head lamps to walk back to the campground. So glad that no one at dinner made fun of us wearing our head lamps. Just kidding.
I know I'm behind on my updates. Will work on filling you in on Zion tomorrow while we drive to Pike's Peak. Mo tells me that he is enjoying my posts, so guess I'll keep chipping away.
Sunday, May 25, 2014
Crater Lake, Oregon to Caspar Beach, California
I got up 5:20 this morning. I had set my alarm for 5:30 because someone told me the sun comes up at Crater Lake at 5:40. Good thing I got there early. I got a couple of great shots before the sun came across the rim of the crater. I met a few more people doing this same thing. Coffee was ready at 6, so I sat and chatted with a couple from Hawaii that Mo had met the night before. As it ends up, Billy was a Christian minister and his wife had a care giver business. Mo seems to meet the most interesting people.
We started driving down the mountain about 7. Coming across the California line we started getting excited about being at the Pacific ocean. Mo wanted to try out the water, and he did, but not for long. 
We took the day cruising down the California coastal highways through coastal redwoods and rocky beaches. Just amazing sites. We found a place called Fern Canyon. Had to drive 12 miles on dirt roads to get there. It was right along the coast. We climbed over rocks and fording the stream toward the top of the Canyon. Had a chance to see 4 moose (what is the plural for moose).
We ended up at our camp ground in the early evening. Not very impressive, other than being a 2 minute walk to the beach (we didn't take advantage of this amenity). After getting our tents set up we headed into the little town and had a Mexican dinner. Mo could live on chicken fajitas if he had to, so that was what we ordered.
On the road early again. someone had told us about the lighthouses along the California coast. We found one around the corner from our place as Caspar. the light came around every 10 seconds, so hard to time, but finally got it. We continued down the coast on route 1, a very famous high way. It was really beautiful, but tiring going 15-20 miles per hr most of the time.
Finally broke through and got on the interstate south going to San Francisco. Went across the Golden Gate Bridge and drove through the downtown area for a few minutes before heading out. Mo wanted to stop and visit Salman Kahn, the internet training guy. https://www.khanacademy.org/ He looked up his address and found that it was in Mountain City. GPS said 37 minutes, but we quickly realized that San Francisco traffic wasn't going to allow it. Mo was disappointed, and I was disappointed for him. He wants to pitch an angle to allow kids in Tanzania to view these training sessions off line because of the limited internet access. You never know unless you ask. You go, Mo!!
We ended up in Fresno this evening. We stayed with one of my old coaching friends and his wife, Jack and Jane Fertig. One of their two sons was back from college, an they took us out for a great Japanese Steak house Meals. Mo ordered chicken. surprise surprise. Lots of fun catching up with Jack in person. We haven't seen each other in 30 years. Talking on the phone a couple of times a year, is good, but not the same. Hoping they will visit us next year when Jane comes to Nashville for a class reunion. Maybe a weekend in Knoxville.
Out early again the next morning. Coffee and oatmeal at McDonalds in Fresno on our way to Yosemite.
Wednesday, May 21, 2014
Cody, Wyoming to Yellowstone, Grand Tetons and on to Twin Falls, Idaho
I've driven most of the day today. Mohamed has the wheel now. We are interstate 86 heading toward our hotel. After a couple of nights on the ground I'm ready to try out a bed. Did pretty well last night. We are getting our routine together. Mo has oatmeal and I have hot chocolate. I boil the water with my little cook stove. Works very well. We work on tent breakdown while the water boils.
Had another great day. We arrive at Old Faithful in Yellowstone park about 9:30 (left our camp at 7 a.m. We walked around for a while and got info about the site. Old Faithful was pretty close. they said 11:10 a.m. and I think it was about 10 minutes late.
Along the way we saw a few buffalo a bull moose and mountain goats. Didn't see a bear yet, but will keep looking.
Afterward we drove up through the park to see some of the other geysers and mudpots. Pictures to follow. After picking out a photograph of the area each and talking with the photographer that took them we were off to the Grand Tetons. The two parks actually meet, but both are so large that when you get to the edge you can have 1-2 hrs to go to get to the other side.
We drove through the Tetons, and the sites were just amazing. Mo and I each got a photograph to bring home. Mine was of the Tetons.
Had another great day. We arrive at Old Faithful in Yellowstone park about 9:30 (left our camp at 7 a.m. We walked around for a while and got info about the site. Old Faithful was pretty close. they said 11:10 a.m. and I think it was about 10 minutes late.Along the way we saw a few buffalo a bull moose and mountain goats. Didn't see a bear yet, but will keep looking.
Afterward we drove up through the park to see some of the other geysers and mudpots. Pictures to follow. After picking out a photograph of the area each and talking with the photographer that took them we were off to the Grand Tetons. The two parks actually meet, but both are so large that when you get to the edge you can have 1-2 hrs to go to get to the other side.
We drove through the Tetons, and the sites were just amazing. Mo and I each got a photograph to bring home. Mine was of the Tetons.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)