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Loneliest Road?

US-50 is billed as the loneliest highway in America. I drove it, west to east across Nevada. Ha. I’ve seen lonelier, especially in southeast Utah. The drive was exciting at times…I had to drive through a snowstorm for most of the day it took to traverse Nevada. My mud&snow tires plus all-wheel-drive inspired confidence. Xena, the Warrior Princess, was unconcerned and napped, missing most of Nevada.

Snowy Nevada roads. I could only take pics during the relatively calm parts of the drive. You’ll have to imagine the parts where the roadway was completely whited out.
This road is much more to my liking.
I’ll bet you think you know what a shoe tree is. Think again and look closely.
That’s right, shoes! Hundreds of shoes tossed into this tree, right the middle of empty Nevada.
I’ll have to give Nevadans one thing…they have a really big moon.
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Wonderful Washington, Part 2

While in DC, I dined at some excellent restaurants and drank at superlative bars: Afghania, The Hamilton, Off the Record at the Hay Adams, Round Robin at the Willard Hotel, and others I neglected to take note of.

I attended a service at the National Cathedral. It had been a while since I have been to a service, which is ok because I don’t sin much any more. Toured Mount Vernon, the White House, the US Capitol, the National African American Museum of History and Culture, and the Library of Congress. Visited many of the monuments, including some new ones: FDR, MLK, and WWI.

Washington National Cathedral on a gray drizzly Sunday morning.

A brief snippet of post-service organ music, along with some idle worshippers.

The bells! The bells! My search for Quasimodo proved fruitless.

The Women’s Viet Nam Memorial.
The Korean Conflict Memorial.
Franklin and Fala.
A UN person.
I bet you don’t have a single spoon warmer in your mansion. The White House has them in abundance.
This plane was the first trainer for the Tuskegee Airmen. It is at the National African American Museum of History and Culture.
A bit of the beauty that is the Library of Congress.
This is how people eat and drink in Washington.
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Wonderful Washington, Part One

I write this as I wing my way home from a most excellent adventure in Washington, DC. I stayed with my friends and wonderful hosts, Andrew and Michelle, for 3 days, then moved to a hotel for 3.

As most of us know, Washington has one weather mode, muggy, with two variants, hot and cool. Lucky for me, this visit was in the muggy and cool variant. It was drizzly rain for most of my visit, which may sound unfortunate at first. However, with an umbrella or light rain jacket, it proved quite comfortable.

One dangerous result of the rain, though, was the extremely slick sidewalks. All the granite and red bricks seem benign when dry, but turn treacherous when wet. Pedestrians beware.

Washington’s public transit agency, WMATA, runs superb bus and rail service throughout the city. It was very convenient, clean, safe and usually on time. Using public transit is way better than driving a rental.

First stop, right off the plane, the National Air & Space Museum at Dulles. Excellent as always, crammed full of planes.

Head on view of a space shuttle.
This shuttle is so huge when you get up close. This one spent 365 days in space. I appreciated the way the curators left it looking worn and beat up; it shows that the shuttles were real work horses.
This P-40 has a scary shark face to frighten the enemies.
Elegant Concorde! Such a shame she no longer flies.
Pretty DC-3 all shiny and clean! Even the propellers have a mirror finish. The airline opted for this look to save the weight and cost of paint.
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Bend has a River

I have journeyed again to the land of the Oregon and have discovered a remarkable river. I call it Deschutes, so that I can show off my knowledge of French. It is at times placid and then ferocious. The Oregon living here claim the river has fish in it, but none were in evidence.

Real cats don’t need labels.
This is one of the placid stretches of the river. The Oregon have not opted for heating, so the water is inadvisably cold.
This is one the mildly terrifying ferocious parts of the river. Still too cold.

 

Finally, Xena, the Warrior Princess, asked me to share her latest blog: Xena’s Silent Tribute

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Southwest Romp

Took another trip through the Southwest, concentrating on southern Utah and northern New Mexico. I was again struck by the similarities between cruising on a sailboat and road tripping in a camper van. Both have moments of serene calm and awe inspiring scenery. And both require repairs of various components in remote locations.

Pretty scenery accompanied by the comforting tones of suitable tunes. Turn it up.

Xena, the Warrior Princess, loves to dig holes and she’s good at it. And not just for pooping! Sometimes she lays in them. Sometimes she digs for the sheer joy of it and wanders off.

More red rocks. Poor sound quality. Turn it down.

We had snow at 10,000 feet in Northern New Mexico!
An early example of the architectural style known as “brutalism” in an urban setting.
Xena ponders her next move in the deserts of Southern Utah.
The Winslow, AZ, tourist bureau, inspired by that Eagles song, created this corner. It was the first corner constructed in this part of Arizona.
Xena. Looking particularly leopard-like.

 

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Global Travel No Longer Necessary

Great news! I had occasion to transit a desert settlement I call “Las Vegas.” While there, I visited New York, Paris and Rome…all within a couple of hours. No more multiple flights around the world, no more incurring carbon karma, not more tedium of airports. You can see the same boorish behavior, regrettable wardrobe choices and waddling midwesterners in Las Vegas as you could anywhere in the world.

All of the best parts of New York, transported to the desert.
Ooo la la! Paris delights as always.
Eataly is conveniently located between Paris and Rome.
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Land of UK

The EuroStar ride to London was uneventful. I think they should have some sort of display or something about the engineering marvel of the tunnel under the sea.

The UK (pronounced UHK) is a fine little island; those dwelling therein are known as UKers (pronounced UH curs). There is a nice variety of UKers: smart ones and stupid, ugly ones and handsome. They have a lot of old buildings and newish sheep. Many of the UKer streets are crooked. This is due to a cost-cutting measure; the UKer government decided against providing civil engineers with straight edges. Consequently, the streets are not straight.

This statue is of Thomas Hooker. This UKer became quite famous for balancing objects on his head. Here he demonstrates his skill with a tomato. He is also quite adept with traffic cones.
This street, one of the rare straight ones, is said to be the inspiration for Diagon Alley in the Harry Potter books & movies.
UKers are quite fond of smothering their food in Brown and eschew other colors. This peculiar habit started in the Blitz, when UKers didn’t have access to more vibrant colors, and has carried on to the present.
Scotland is a part of UK; residents there are forbidden to use the term “bakery” by the Treaty of Union of 1706. England imposed this linguistic oppression to punish the Scots for failing to surrender promptly.
The Scots selected this weed as their national flower.
Although Scotland is primarily known for its prowess in gin distillation, they also bottle a whiskey called “scotch.” Rainfall in Scotland percolates through a layer of scotchite, a brownish colored mineral. When the resulting “scotch” makes its way to the surface, one need only pour it into a bottle. Note that UKers spell whiskey without the “e” due to a chronic “e” shortage. Don’t mention anything about it; they are touchy on this point.
UKers construct buildings out of the many rocks strewn about the island. Once built, UKers never tear them down to make way for proper buildings.
UKers die with great regularity. They anchor the dead people with heavy slabs of rock and encircle them with rock fences so they don’t wander.
The North Sea puts an end to the land of UK, way up at the top, near Iceland.

 

 

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Paris and EuroStar

In Paris, they have a meeting place for trains that is just like an airport! I suppose they are trainports. There are security lines and passport checkers and all the trimmings. Europeans use trains the way people use aircraft. Imagine the effort and resources in laying and maintaining all that track and associated equipment!

Pointy-nosed trains carry people from Paris to London.
This beefy archer will not be effective in battle because of no string in the bow. Also, no pants.
A stern looking Napoleon. Perhaps he did not appreciate being encased in bronze after escaping from Elba, home of the famous toast.
Marshal Foch’s Tomb. He was made famous during the Great War for failing to grasp modern warfare and causing a few million unnecessary casualties.
In the days before InstaGram, people would create metallic memory aids, like this one of Charlemagne sporting a W beard.
The French fondness for flaunting their wealth is shown by this solid gold bridge decoration. There are four adorning this bridge, representing 47% of the French government’s gold reserve.
This is a gigantic Brittany Lion with a self-satisfied expression.
An early Polaroid of a Norwegian family out for a summer picnic.
This carved rock is used at the Paris College of Veterinary Medicine. It illustrates the proper method of medicating crocodiles.