Google Map Progress.. Page two.

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Can also be viewed here.. to see the first page of the map. 

The bits in-between..

So i kind of skipped ahead slightly when i posted last about the Mega Church we visited.. So heres the story from the Grand Canyon to Carlsbad Caverns.

Right then, so we left the Canyon early in the morning on the sunday to drive to Phoneix (again to get to a 'mega church') the drive was fairly straight forward.. i was asleep for most of it as it was an early start..

we got to Phoenix ahead of time, and then proceeded to rely on the old satnav to find us some breakfast... this resulted in many loops around the same roads, a visit into a Mexican place, only to leave straight away.. a couple more loops around the block, before giving up and relying on the hospitality of the church to provide us something to eat. they didn't.

As per usual we received a warm welcome to the church..  and found some seats. this particular place was no where near the same size as Saddleback (or The Potters House). There was a little 'meet and greet' part near the beginning of the service, where we got talking to this elderly couple in front of us who took great interest in the fact we were from Europe.

Anyway to cut a long story short, they offered to take us for lunch to hear more about our experiences in Germany & The UK as Maryanne had lived in both countries for a short while. We were truly grateful for the wonderful kindness and hospitality they showed us and for paying for lunch!

Another pit stop in a nearby starbucks before we left for Tucson. The Drive to Tucson was certainly a long one.. and one that greeted us at our destination with yet another storm.

We had found an RV park online that was only $19 a night, which included free wifi, pool, laundry, showers, 30/50amp hookup, and a fruit tree. We had a lime tree.

We basically used the time in Tucson for some R&R and for laundry and showers. The town it's self didnt have a great deal to offer.. upon visiting one afternoon almost everything has closed for the day.

Two nights was all we spent here in the end.. one of which we spent in the Jacuzzi drinking beer in the middle of a thunder storm... needless to say it was an interesting experience.. 

After a morning in the court house, watching the Trail of Jared Lee Loughner we finally left Tuscon and headed for New Mexico. 

New Mexico greeted us with storms on the drive in, but then as we got closer to Las Cruces the weather was more settled.

Another night spent in a Walmart Carpark as we arrived too late to check into a RV park. The following day we decided to check out a local Farmers Market. Lots of small stalls there selling all sorts of food, jewelry, plants, coffee, paintings and more!

After several long and indepth conversations with several stall holders we treated our selfs to a great Mexican style street food lunch.. 

The afternoon was spent in the old part of the town in Old Messila. This part of town is where Billy the Kid was tried and hung. A stroll around the town spending time talking to the local shop owners and also some visitors proved interesting. 

we ended up talking to these two old guys from Texas for a good hour or so, about life in america, politics, their time in Germany and everything in between.. Interesting views on their current government and president. 

Right, so i'm going to leave it here on this post.. i'll talk about the next stop in New Mexico in the next post.

thanks for reading!

Adrian

Sunday Morning Ritual.

Just gona start off by saying, I know I should blog about what I got up to in Arizona and New Mexico before talking about things I've done in Texas. But, I'm in the mood to do a quick blog post, so here it goes.

As part of the trip, Andreas wants to visit some churches along the way, every Sunday. When I say church, I'm not talking your little local chapel, steeped in history, adorned with pictures of Jesus and other saints.

No, I'm talking about the American phenomenon the 'Mega Church'. These places typically seat thousands (and that's no exaggeration) of worshipers into these almost stadium like buildings.

We've done two proper Mega churches so far, Saddleback and now The Potters House.

I myself do not like to say I'm atheist nor do I belong to any form of religion. I believe I can live my life without the need to pray, or place faith in a mysterious being/ force that 'has planned out my path in life'.

The experience so far has been interesting from the view point of someone who's not sucked into these mild cults. I use the word cult, only because I feel the way the bible is delivered to the people is done in a way that has people hooked on the Pastors every word.

I'm not writing this with the view to offend any who come
Across it. So far readership of this blog is probably confined to those I know and a few who stumble across it by chance.

I posted this picture just now to Instagram.



This was what I wrote below it:
"I believe in Science. That's not to say I'm against religion and those who believe it. I live by the saying "each to their own". This morning, we visited a place of worship. I'm hesitant to say 'church' because in America there are places some call 'mega churches' where thousands come every Sunday to celebrate god. My travel buddy is doing a dissertation on these mega churches, hence our visit.. Today's visit I found the most intense so far.. Ive never witnessed anything quite like it in my life. I'm doing my best here not to offend anyone, but in all honesty I can not find any enjoyment or reason to spend my time in these sort of places, or for that matter put so much faith in this all powerful 'God'. This post may well loose me 'followers' but at the end of the day I'm not asking anyone to give 15% of all their earnings to my 'feed' to say thanks for the enjoyment you may or may not get from my pictures.... This has turned into a rant I think.. Well I'd be interested to hear your views on religion as a whole. I'm not singling out Christians or American Christians in this post... Like I say, everyone is entitled to believe in what ever they please... But I personally think that I can find enjoyment, happiness, comfort, relief, and everything else that religion 'offers' in the way I live my life.... Ok I'll stop rambling now. Happy Sunday Everyone. Normal Service will now be resumed! "

That was aimed more at the Instagram crowd, but I think it conveys my thoughts on the whole idea of these places, and religion as a whole quite well.

Well that's all for now, going to try and get my pictures from previous destinations on Flickr then do another blog post.

Thanks for reading

Ady





- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:N Bowser Rd,Richardson,United States

The Trip so Far...

I'm going to start this blog post of by saying, that for more up to date progress of what im doing, check out my google map here as its quicker for me to write little tid bits about what ive been up to and show the route we took on there.

So last time i wrote i had stopped off in Slab City... well i can tell you know, we're far, far from there!

After leaving the slabs, we headed for the desert mirage, otherwise known as Las Vegas! however we took a rather long detour via the Joshua Tree National Park..

(Clicking the Picture should take you to my Flickr feed for more pics)

spent an hour or two at  most stopping every now and then in the park for a few pictures.. then carried on our merry way on the Vegas.

As we drove into vegas a rather large thunder storm erupted in front of us, but luckily it was still a good way off and wasn't over vegas in the end.

we spent around a day and half in Vegas in the end.. having got a cheap deal on a hotel off the strip.. but the heat was intense. so most of the day was spent either in the pool, in the room, or in a starbucks!

the evening we went out for a walk down the strip to see what was going on.. my overal impression of Vegas was a rather seedy, dirty, tourist hot spot kind of city.. i'd maybe go back for a day or two to see more of the shows they put on.. but i didnt fancy losing lots of money there which will be sorely needed further along on the trip.

We left Vegas in the afternoon and drove down to Hoover dam, getting there just before closing.. but still to late to see the museum.

i wanted to get some pictures to show the sheer size of this structure, but even this doesn't really do it justice.. you have to see it for yourself.. and to think they built it in 4 years in 1934!

leaving the Dam in the late evening we set the SatNav to the Grand Canyon and carried on driving..


as we're getting close (we had set the destination to the skywalk... big mistake) the lovely paved road, stopped. "Rough Road" "14 Miles" said the sign.. rough was an understatement.

we were luckly to get more than 10 mph along that road, any faster and i'd be in a neck brace...

i should also add, it was around this point that yet again, lightning began to make its self evident in the distance.. as cool as it looked, neither of us thought that it could possibly be heading our way...

we finally got to a point where the road was paved again! (i nearly got out and kissed it, had it not been for the fact the lighting seemed to be getting closer). We drove toward the skywalk, hoping to be able to park there for the night and be the first on it in the morning. Thats when the rain started. its also when we saw flashing lights coming towards us.

"Turn Around!, the Skywalks Closed"

"Can we not drive down there and camp for the night?!"

"No. Follow me, and i'll show you where you can camp"

"OK."

we were back at the start of the paved road, end of the dirt road. but we'd driven back out of the storm. so we thought.

I managed to get a few pictures of the lighting before the rain reached us.

this picture only gives a very small glimpse into what we witnessed that night... after a few beers, wide eyes, and distaster theories later, we ended up calling it a night and going to bed.

The next day Andreas decided to go for a jog from where we were down to the Skywalk. thinking it was only 5 miles or so (according to the satnav... which we're sure is lying to us on a daily basis).

i stayed in bed.. however after what felt like hours, i decided i best get up and drive down the road to see where he'd got to.. a mile or so down the road i found him. Turns out now it was more like 9 miles one way... he'd spoken with people at the Skywalk.. a few things of Note: 1) it was $60 a person (rip off) 2) didn't look that good anyway. 3) he'd never have run that distance had he known it was 9 miles 4) according to a park ranger, that was the worst storm he'd seen in his lifetime.

We packed up, and made our way to the Grand Canyon Village, which was a long drive East.

we took a route via a section of the old Route 66. had lunch at a Native America Restaurant (the food was distinctly american.) and made it to the canyon ($25 later) just before sunset... oh not before old Gavin (The satnav voice that we blame for mis-direction) took us via some crazy dirt road again.. which somebody, decided to drive along as if we we're in a rally car... )

anway.. the view was breath taking..

We stayed in the visitor car park that night, and even ventured out at night to see the canyon, with the hope of a clear sky and no more, to try some more star trail pictures. sadly it was neither clear, or no moon, and was also rather cold, so after one test shot of a ten minute exposure (which came out rubbish) we retreated back to the van.

i'm going to end it here for now.. as i write this, i'm in New Mexico, but i'll save the next post for the journey south in Arizona and then on to New Mexico. Havent got the pics up on flickr yet either so you'll just have to wait!

Thanks for reading..

Ady

Keep up to date with my progress (when i keep it upto date!)

So this Little Map right here, will from time to Time Show my progress across America... When I get a chance to update it!

Right now as I post this I'm in Phoenix.. But can't update the map on my iPad, so will amend it when I get my laptop out again next... We're just plotting our route across the next days.. A lot to see in this part of the US.. but not enough time to do it all if we are to make it to Houston by next Sunday.

I'll also post a couple of normal blog updates soon about my last few stops after Vegas... Need to sort out the pictures on Flickr first!

Thanks for reading!

Ady








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