Three weeks. Three states. 2,143 miles. I had some really awesome moments, and I met some fantastic people!

That said, I've come to the conclusion that traveling alone is too tough. Next time, I'll find myself a travelling buddy.

There were a few nights when I was tired, cold, had red sand all over my clothes, was fed up of splitting my non-active time between the car and my tiny tent, tired of cooking the same stuff yet again, often in a hurry in the fading light of the day...

If I had someone to joke with (and/or to hug), someone to share all these things with, even these moments could be fun. And the rest would be made better too. Travelling alone is really hardcore!

I'm glad I did it though. It was better than not doing it!

I hope you had fun following my steps. Thank you!

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I had to drive back to Phoenix. Then pack all the stuff dispersed everywhere in the car into my two tiny bags. And return the car.

On the way, I went on the Hoover dam. They were building a bigger highway there and it was quite impressive.

The flight back went much easier than I expected. And soon I was in the coach driving through the English countryside. It was quite a shock to see how green it was!

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In most states, there is a "selling tax" applied to any sell. It's very annoying because if something is advertised as being $5, you'll end up paying something stupid like $5.43. It's really annoying how unexpected tax keeps on creeping in just as you're about to pay. In Europe, the taxes are usually included in the price!

While driving, I saw countless "Adopt a highway" or "Highway adopted by..." signs. http://www.adoptahighway.com/ I can just see the scene: "Dear, this year for our anniversary, I've decided we should adopt... a highway!"

On a lot of petrol pump, you have only one nozzle and you have to choose your fuel by pressing a button! It shocked me, but I think I've only seen that when you have to choose between different grade of Petrol. Diesel has its on nozzle.

I must have not been careful enough with my mobile phone number, or maybe I was just plain unlucky, but I got a lot of spam on it. Example of text:

"Easter Sunday at Baby Dolls! Doors open at 7p& Juanito will be KY wrestling the girls! Amazing drink specials till 2! Ritmo will be in the house! Plz 4wrd:-)"

What the hell is that about? Actually, I have received that one on April 11, 15:53, which is just a few hours after having bought the phone! It's quite ironic, considering my job is in Antispam...

One last fun fact. Driving long distances in the US is very easy. Sometimes roads are straight for dozens or even hundreds of miles. And with speed control, you don't need to use your feet. A funny thing is that if, say on a 65mph road for instance, your speed is set at 71, you will eventually catch up with people that are set a 69mph. It can then takes several minutes for you to pass them!

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Las Vegas was very busy, it's a big city actually, and there were a lot of road works. It was difficult to drive there. I knew the "strip", where all the insane hotel-casinos are, is located near the South of town, but I arrived on the North side. And then my GPS was dumb enough not to find "Strip, Las Vegas". I found out later that the actual name is "Las Vegas Boulevard". The GPS also didn't find "Caesar Palace" (Maybe because the correct spelling is "Caesars Palace"? It should be "Caesar's Palace", in proper English anyway!).

Anyway, I wondered where I'd be staying. I finally found the strip and which Hotel would have been more appropriate for me to stay in than the Paris? You know, the one with a mini Eiffel Tower on the front!

You can see it was pretty busy.

I had no idea how much it was going to cost and if I could afford it, but I figured I'd give it a try anyway. So I found my way to the free car park and went in the hotel.

First impression, which is valid for any Hotel in Las Vegas, is that it's like a Disneyland for adults. It all seem as fake and there are no kids anywhere you look. The ground floor of the hotel is huge and is organised in "Parisian" streets. You've got little signs indicated the directions of the various places. Every thing is slightly French. You've got signs like "Le Business Centre", "Le Car Rental", "Le Burger Brasserie", and my personal favourite: "L'Eiffel Tour". This is neither one thing ("The Eiffel Tower" in English) nor the other ("La Tour Eiffel" in French), it is so stupid! I got a good laugh out of that.

I finally found the "Reception" and queued to check-in. In my flip-flops and hiking clothes, I didn't feel very appropriate. People around me were all good-looking--or maybe more appropriately "looking good" (i.e. well groomed)--and with an attitude. I thought "what the hell", and was curious how much it was going to be. Their cheapest room (which is in fact quite big, with a huge plasma TV and a fantastic bathroom) turned out to be only 90 dollars! So I checked in. After 3 weeks in the desert, it was very nice to take a bath and use all the mini-bottles of grooming products they provided.

Then I went to walk a bit outside. Looked a bit at the zombie-people gambling. Walked to the nearby Caesars Palace. Same crap, different packaging. I saw Jerry Seinfelf on a poster and enquired about it. It'd have been awesome to go at his show! But unfortunately, he will only start here in August. Right now, Cher was here. No thanks!

Lacking Jerry Seinfeld, I set out to look for the Pussycat Dolls Lounge. My Lonely Planet guide mentioned it, so obviously I had to check it out! :-D I got a VIP pass for free and was told to come back after 10:30 PM. So I went back to the hotel to catch a couple hours of sleep (I was exhausted), watched a weird program about a group of amateur mechanics that changed an old van into a cow-milking truck (that was quite an experience) and came back to the club. I got almost denied entry because of my hiking T-shirt and pants and flip-flops, but I got in anyway!

Unfortunately, disappointment awaited me. I discovered that only the terrace was going to be open that night (Thursday). That meant no shows. So I only had a glimps of the "dolls" from behind a VIP ruban. Apart from that, the club was quite boring. As you've probably figured out, if you've read a bit of my blog, clubs are not really my cup of tea!

On the way back to my hotel, I met Elvis and Marilyn and got my picture taken with them! The picture was taken by Tommy & Lisa, from Alabama. They were kind enough to promise to send me the picture, thanks!

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I arrived in Bryce Canyon National Park on the 28th of April, and left on the 30th. In the afternoon of the 28th, I did a bit of drive-and-shoot like I did in the Arches--and it got old even faster.

The following day, early in the morning, I hiked down in Bryce Amphitheater. This is probably one of the most eerily beautiful place in the world. There's something about these orange hoodoos, with the green of the pine trees below. It is very peaceful. The silence down there in the early morning, before the hiking path becomes crowded with people, is very powerful. It takes a while to slow the pace down enough to take it in.

• * *

I've been re-reading "Into The Wild" a bit. Because he was often sleeping rough in unsafe places (like under a bridge, for instance) whenever he was crossing a city, Chris (or Alex, as he used to call himself), made a habit of burying his money and other important belongings before he entered into town, retrieving it when he was leaving. Before spending some time in Las Vegas in February 91, he buried his backpack in the desert. As his journal says:

"On May 10, itchy feet returned and Alex left his job in Vegas, retrieved his backpack, and hit the road again, though he found that if you are stupid enough to bury a camera underground you won't be taking many pictures with it afterwards. Thus the story has no picture book for the period May 10, 1991 to January 7, 1992. But this is not important. It is the experience, the memories, the great triumphant joy of living to the fullest extent in which real meaning is found. God it's great to be alive! Thank you. Thank you."

May I find some inspiration in there!

• * *

That night, I went back down there under the moon light. My initial plan was to do some stargazing. The altitude on the rim is between 2,400 and 2,700 meters above sea level. The air is very pure, and there is very little light pollution. Unfortunately, the light of the moon hide a lot of stars.

So I did little little stargazing and instead did a one-hour hike. It is very weird hiking under the moon. You can kind of see most things, but it's very dark. Yet, if you switch on your head-lamp, everything else but the very thing your lamp shines at disappears. It was quite scary too. I was so alone down there, it was so still and silent. I'd be watching for any kind of movement. I'd stop to listen intently everytime I thought I heard something. You could say I was afraid of my own shadow! But it was cool.

Speaking of cool, the nights were freezing (literally!) in Bryce.

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Wild? life...

Erosion at work... :o)

Yes, I like to take my shadow in picture!

Blossoming cactus.

Paddlers on the Colorado.

This was before 11 AM!

Resting.

Even down there, you have posting service! "Mail it by mule!"

On the way back up.

More on Monument Valley

Campground near Monument Valley. You get an idea why I didn't stay very long...! The sun is very strong there.

Moab's car show

As I explained in a previous post, this is a bit stupid. The participants simply go up and down the main street in the middle of the normal traffic...

Nice license plate.

It must have so much torque on the rear wheels, you need the little wheels to prevent the car from flipping...

Rafting pics

Preparing the rafts at the put-in.

The government only allows a maximum of 75 persons to go down that bit of the river per day.

Security speech. Or maybe he was just bragging.

Cruising to get to the rapids.

Pause for lunch.

Sorry, there are no pics of the rapids themselves, as my camera was secured inside a watertight box during that time!

After the rapids. I survived! This was minute before my camera fell in the sand... :-(

Canyoneering pics

In nice company (Mina and Jonalyn).

Going down, pretending I was scared. :o)

Down in the canyon.

Waiting for our guide, Jayce, to get down after us in the second rappel.

Many thanks to Jonalyn for sending me the pics she and Mina had taken!

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Phoenix suburbs. What do they need such wide streets for?

Inside an abandonned miner's building in the Vulture Mine near Wickenburg.

Haha.

Bikers catching up with me!

Saguaro cactus. They say each arm is a hundred years...! The name is pronounced something completely different. Sorry Gayle, I forgot how!

Nice curves going to Prescott.

The Governor's Mansion (an old shack in fact!)

They are so proud of it... :-P

The car I drive is already quite big, by my standards. Yet the white car on the right in the picture is much bigger. I leave you to guess how much bigger the one on the left is...!

A biker in Jerome.

First roundabout I've seen! There are a lot of them in France, and even more in the UK, but not many in the US.

The Oak creek in Sedona.

School bus.

Half-burnt tree. They have a real fire problem around here.

Driving to the Grand Canyon, I feel so reassured that there's going to be a McDonald's there!

You've got mail?

Real cowboys! Yahoo!

Old trading post.

So I was following these few RVs on the road and they were a bit slow (Like 60 on a 65mph road). They were not easy to pass as you have traffic coming in the other direction. I wasn't in a hurry anyway. Then you've got that truck coming behind me.

I couldn't believe it when he went to pass me!

It's huge!

HUGE "car".

The hood is at head-level...

Moab's public library has the crappiest internet access I've seen. The password they give you only gives you 15 minutes and then it locks the session. Then the next person unlocks it and can see whatever you were doing. How crap is that! Also notice the Symantec logo... (but I won't comment on that!)

This is inside a supermarket. You can try out your coffee!

Camping in Moab...

I wonder how you're supposed to fight back a Cougar...

Cryptobiotic soil. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soil_crust

"This is not a trail". They need to protect the soil crust. I like the big footsteps beyond the sign... Pfff!

Having fun with the balanced rock in Arches (Moab).

Delicate Arch. Symbol of Utah.

Nice bike.

Random dude taking a car in picture.

Me in car.

Stupid ad in a magazine. This is what I was talking about in my post about Arches... :-(

Up-the-creek campground. Very nice trees. (But too many caterpillars!)

"Drug free school zone. Enforced." What the hell does that mean? Is it Ok to take drugs anywhere else?

Here: desert.

Not far: you can hike in the snow!

Boob rock. [sic]

That guy took at least 5 minutes to maneuver his trailer into the alocated spot. It was fun to watch (I had to wait for him to free the passage anyway).

Recreation in America:

Tow your home!


You get an idea of the scale with the man standing next to the car.

Or you can also tow your car from your RV...

Add bicycles and you are all set.

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Will soon post more about what I've been up to in the last few days, as well as more details and pics on previous posts. Keep watching this space!

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After Moab, my next destination is Bryce. The drive from Moab to Bryce is long and quite desertic. That said, the road goes through all kinds of deserts, depending on the relief, the altitude, the type and the colour of the rocks. Yellow, grey, white, red, orange... And also green in the mountains where there are big forests. I went by plenty of places that were screaming at me with their little high-pitched voices "Hike me! Hike me!" It was tough not to stop.

Tired by hours of driving, I stopped in the mountains near Boulder (a small assembly of houses that barely merits the qualificative of "town") and went in a random 4-wheel-drive trail. My car didn't go very far, but I went on on foot and made quite a hike out of it (maybe 4 hours?).

It was all above 9000 feet (nearly 3,000 meters of altitude!) but I was surprised to meet quite a lot of snow! Sometimes it would hold, but most often it would just give and I'd find myself with snow up to above my knees in some cases! I was fun but it made for slow progress and a very tiring hike.

I had no map and no precise idea of where I was. I followed the signs for "Meeks lake". Unfortunately, near the end (I was quite high by that time), there was a lot of snow and it was either hiding the trail or making it impracticable. I tried to find my own way, but progress was slow and I eventually had to renounce.

Even so, it felt good to do something completely random!

Back at the car, it was getting quite late and Bryce was still a fair bit away. I was so cold and tired, I didn't feel like camping at all that night. So I spent the night in a motel near Boulder. It was more money than camping, but after 2 weeks of tent, it felt great.

It was also a good occasion to watch American TV.

One amazing thing I saw was an ad for a sleeping pill. It started as a normal ad, where you see a lady having an insomnia and being unhappy and tired, and then she takes the pill and she is peacefully sleeping and the next day at work she is rested and happy. But then, as the relaxing little music went on, and you could see footage of the lady peacefully sleeping, the voice-over went on for what felt like ages listing all the possible unwanted side-effects, including things like hallucinations and suicide! It was in sharp contrast to the peace of the music and the pictures. This was quite an experience. Only in America.

I also saw a couple of ads for attorneys specialised into helping people claiming "what is fair" from insurance companies. One ad was specialised against drunk drivers!

Today, I'm in Bryce National Park, where I'm going to spend the next two nights. Then I'll probably head to Las Vegas, and then back to Phoenix...

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There was a car show in Moab this weekend. It's the occasion to see lots of insane cars. Most of the "show" consists of the participants driving up and down Main street in the evening in the middle of the regular traffic. There were people sat on chairs on the pavement watching and cheering. It was funny to watch 5 minutes, but overall it was pretty stupid. And noisy. And smelly too! Only in America.

I went rafting on Saturday, down the Westwater Canyon, on the Colorado river! The rapids in this part are classed III and IV (out of V!). It was a day trip but in fact most of the day was taken by getting to the rapids (by car and then on the river) and then from the rapids back to town (again on the river and then by car). Lunch was provided, just before the rapids.

There were 3 boats: 2 paddle rafts (where you have to paddle!) and one oar boat (where you just have to hold on and, from time to time, bail!). I chose a paddle raft. We all did exactly what our guide told us to do and everything went very well. In fact, it was almost too easy! That said, if things had turned wrong, it would have been seriously scary. It's a big strong river. I guess that showed how good our guides were.

After the rapids, we stopped on a small beach to change from wet gear to dry gear, before cruising on the river to the take-out. I could recover my camera from the water tight boxes and take a few pictures. That's when I dropped it in the sand. It has refused to work ever since, beeping and complaining "lens error" :-( The only way to fix it would be to have it taken apart and cleaned by a professional. And that would cost almost as much as a new camera.

Apparently, there is so much sand in the air around here, you don't even have to do anything for your camera to break. During the summer, the guy in the shop told me he sees someone with the same problem every day. The sand here is even in the rain. It rained a bit the other night and my tent and car were both very dirty as a result. This is electronics hell.

I was seriously hit by this turn of events. I loved that camera. And what a lousy time to break it, only two thirds into this amazing trip!

One guy in Moab tried to sell me a replacement. The camera seemed quite good but he wanted $229 for it. A quick peak on Amazon showed the same model for barely more than half that price...! Unfortunately, I can't easily have it delivered on my path, and I'm pretty far from any decent-sized city where I could find a decent shop ("Best Buy" maybe). So I'm reduced to using single-use cameras. That sucks!

But ah well, it could have been much worse.

On Sunday, I had an introduction to canyoneering. It basically consists of rappelling down into otherwise inaccessible canyons and grottos. It was fun! The half-day trip I took had 2 rappels, both around 90 feet. On this trip, I met with Jonalyn and her mother Mina, whose husbands were having fun somewhere else with their 4-wheel-drive jeeps. They were fun company and they took plenty of pictures they promised to send me. Thank you very much!

Our guide, Jayce, advised us on the best places to eat in town. Because of that, I met again with Jonalyn and Mina this evening, this time with their husbands, Dale and Fred. We were all at Milt's, a kind of retro, good fast-food place. It's been operating since 1954! And it's said to have the best burgers in Moab. The burger I had was pretty good, but I don't think it topped the one I had in Jerome! I had a good time eating and discussing with these nice people. Oh, and Jon would be pleased to know my pronunciation of "burger" has improved a bit! :-P

Adventures and casualties in Moab remains copyright of the author Docte Gaby, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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I am in Moab (Utah) now. Probably the furthest from Phoenix I'll be on this trip. According to my GPS, I am 473 miles away from Phoenix and it would take me 8 hours to drive there!

Since Monument Valley, I am on Utah time too. For some reason, Utah is in a different timezone (US-Mountain) than Arizona (US-Arizona). Weird. I am camping anyway, so I mostly live with the sun.

Moab seems to be a popular adventure holiday destination. It actually fits well with my mood. I feel like doing some organised, unusual stuff. So I booked a rafting trip for tomorrow Saturday and some Canyoneering on Sunday. Should be lots of fun!

Even if I used my card to pay these, I'm starting to run seriously low on cash... :-(

Since I left the Canyon, I'm starting to feel the pressure of time. It is not long before I have to go back home! I need to make real choices about where to go and what to do. Also the sheer excitement of the trip is wearing out a bit. I'm getting confused: when I go to climb in my car, I found myself more and more often going for the passenger door (on the right of the car), as if I was in England!

Today, I went in the Arches state park. This kind of park is really weird to visit, and it's very different from my experiences in the French Alps. It is so huge, you have to drive around, for miles at a time sometimes, to go from viewpoints in trailheads.

The roads here were built by miners, when there was an important need for Uranium after World War II. They didn't find much, but with roads came tourism. The Grand Canyon actually have a similar story (replacing roads with trails), where miners came first, if not as recent.

This kind of park feels like a drive-in "fast-tourism" (like "fast-food"). You can cruise through this amazing place in the comfort of your air-conditioned car, maybe listening to your favourite music, stoping every now and then to stretch your legs and take a picture. Sometimes you don't even have to get out of the car to take a picture! Sometimes, you have to hike a mile or two, which feels better, but it is still weird to have to do several mini-hikes in one day, interspersed with driving.

Also, people are much less friendly. I'm guessing it might be related to the drive-through style. People you meet don't look at you, don't say hi. Some don't even return greetings. These people probably would prefer to spend the whole day in the comfort of their car. It was like that too in the Grand Canyon, at the end of the Bright Angel trail, when after hours of hiking up you start to meet the look-like-a-star people that gently strolled 20 minutes from the top. They were not friendly at all and didn't want to have anything to do with sweaty hikers.

For most important spots, big wide trails are provided. Sometimes, you also meet "primitive trails" [sic], which feel a lot more like normal hiking paths. You meet much less people on these. Probably because "primitive trail? ZOMFG this is not where everybody go, it can't be worth it!" :-P

Sorry to be a bit moody, but I didn't enjoy the park as much as I would have liked. Delicate Arch was fun to see, though. One thing I should have done, had I known about it in time, is a guided hike through the canyon maze (you can get completely lost, they say!) of Fiery Furnace. People are not allowed there without a guide or a permit. That sounds like fun!

Moab is very busy these days because they have a big car show this weekend. It was very difficult to find an available campsite and I'm having to move every night. Tonight I'm in the Up-The-Creek campground, which I would thoroughly recommend. It's small, tent-only, and has some amazing old trees and grass. Very nice setup and the woman who runs it is very friendly (nice change with the people in the Arches park!).

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The clouds were great.

The ultimate Monument Valley cliche.

Silly pic :-P

Say goodbye!

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After leaving Flagstaff, I headed to the Grand Canyon Village. To get there, you drive through miles of roughly flat desert. There is no built-up to the Canyon. After entering the National Park (for $25), you park the car, walk a hundred meters, and there it is: the earth simply opens. It’s massive. You can’t start to imagine how many tons of soil and rocks the water has taken out to create the Canyon. You are so high, and it’s such a maze of smaller Canyons down there, you can’t even see the Colorado river (at least not from where you arrive).

It’s very hard to have a good idea of the distances too. The Spanish Conquistadors, having (surprisingly) not found any city paved with gold and looking for a way back to Central America, discarded the river as impractical: they thought it was 6 foot wide! It’s more like 300, in fact. They were totally fooled by the distances.

But before even looking at the view, I had a lot to do. First thing was to check in at the local campsite. Then I needed to find out how to get a permit to camp down the Canyon. Normally, you’d apply for it up to four months in advance, but there is also a daily waiting-list system. You have to go to the Backcountry Office as soon as you arrive. There, the rangers give you a number in the queue. The following day, you have better be there at the opening of the Office (8 AM), when your number is called! If you’re lucky, there is still some place available where you want to camp – there are a few campgrounds in the Canyon. Your permit doubles as your reservation.

If you’re not lucky, you get a new number for the following day. As long as you keep coming, you’ll get a permit!

While waiting, crossing fingers, I met with Phill and Trudy, a couple from Florida. They had “lucky” 13, and I had number 10. It’s never really obvious at which number the permits are going to run out, because they have two independent limits: the number of campsite, and the total number of person per area. Permits run out as soon as either limit is reached.

Finally, number 10 was called and I had a permit to camp at Bright Angel campground the next day. Yay! Bright Angel is right at the bottom of the Canyon.

A few moments later, as I was coming back to the building to take some pictures, I met again with Phill and Trudy. Unfortunately, they couldn’t get a permit, but they were first in line for tomorrow’s give away. They were going to have breakfast at the El Tovar hotel and asked if I would come along. I already had breakfast, but I wasn’t going to refuse hanging out with such nice people! I had the whole day to kill anyway.

It was very nice, both the restaurant and the conversation. I took the cinnamon roll, which was amongst the cheapest item on the menu. It was not the smallest though!

Boy, it was huge! Keep in mind I already had breakfast. So I asked for a doggy bag. That was a first for me! I’ve never seen it done in the UK, and it’s certainly not something you can do in France. So I had to take a picture.

It was very nice to meet Phill and Trudy. And thanks for the tab!

Later that day, I half hiked, half rode the bus along the rim trail. That was a great thing to do to let the view sink in and tame the Canyon, before going down there.

The following morning, I woke up before dawn, took down the tent, went to park the car near the Bright Angel trail head (where I would come back to the next day), and packed up my rucksack in a hurry before catching the 6 AM express to the South Kaibab trail. I couldn’t really pack the day before, since I still had to use my sleeping bag for the night for instance!

It was great to see the sun rise on the Grand Canyon.

The South Kaibab trail is 7.0 miles (11.3 km) and 4780 feet (1457 m) of elevation difference.

It took me only three hours from the rim to the Colorado river. I was going pretty fast!

This trail really means business.

It’s difficult to assess if you’re getting sun burnt when your arms look green to you. I know they don’t on the picture, but after staring at red rocks and sand for hours, they did look green to me! Nice demonstration of why surgeons wear green outfits.

Colorado river in sight!

Because of the difference in altitude, it’s a lot warmer near the river. In fact, they advise to be done with your day of hiking by 10 AM! The forecast down there was about 90 F (about 30 degree centigrade) for the high. And that’s shade temperature. Now, there is little shade on the trail!

Before 11 AM, it was already near 90 Fahrenheit and I felt like doing nothing. I just ate and dozed. A funny thing is that my Jetboil was boiling water super fast, much faster than on the rim. Probably because there is more oxygen in the air down there… (Ah! Physics!)

The Colorado river. Notice the squirrel that popped out just as I was taking the picture.

I can see why the mules refuse to cross the Silver Bridge!

The Bright Angel Canyon – due to the Bright Angel Creek, a tributary to the Colorado river – is teeming with life. This is in sharp contrast with the desolated landscape you can see from the rim!

This is me, shooting cactus from the hips! :-)

Minimal campsite. It’s warm here, and there was no risk of rain, so I was advised not to take my tent with me (it saved me carrying 1.8 kg!). Notice you have to hang your backpack and shoes and put all your food and/or plastic bags (yes, even the empty ones) in the metal boxes provided. Animals here, because of the hikers, have associated plastic with food. Ringtail cats can even open zippers, so nothing is safe!

A few years ago, rangers had to shoot down deers that were starving to death because they ate too many plastic bags. :-(

A great little bird is the Canyon Wren. It’s a small ground bird and I love the way it sings. The “melody” starts pretty high and fast, and then slows down as it gets lower. It sounds just as if the bird is laughing out loud, mocking the tired hikers. This bird really is cracking me up!

It’s well worth looking for “Canyon Wren” in Youtube. Hopefully, you’ll hear its call. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pj8xmjVyhC4 around 0:50 is only an approximation. The Canyon Wrens in the Grand Canyon are really funnier.

In the afternoon, we heard stories about the Canyon told by a ranger. It was great to come back to the campsite the head full of the stories of the first explorers.

After the night had fallen, a ranger, armed with a UV lamp, set out to look for scorpions. For some reasons (what good does it do them, really?), scorpions glow in UV light. It was still a bit cold for them and most people following the ranger gave up after 10 minutes. I was the last one still there at the end and we did find one! It was much smaller than I expected (but they say the smaller, the more deadly), and it was back under the rocks before I could get my camera ready.

The night on the picnic table was great. It reminded me of Christophe, one of the Belgian guys I met in Sedona, who was sleeping on the picnic table every night! I could see the stars, hear the bats hunting (lots of them), and I tried to ignore the flash lamps of hikers coming to and from the restrooms, searching their food box for something they forgot, or simply having breakfast and taking the tent down at 4:30 AM...

The sun rose a bit before 6 but I lazily took my time and set out at 7 AM for the Bright Angel trail: 9.5 miles (15.3 km) and 4380 feet (1357m) of elevation difference.

Just when the trail stopped annoyingly going up and down alongside the Colorado river and started to climb consistently, I met with Jon and Julie, from Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, respectively. They are both in healthcare and met in Hawaii (isn’t that something!). They were very friendly and we had a lot of fun climbing up the Canyon together.

It worked out pretty well because they helped me pace myself and I took a lot more breaks than I would have on my own. As it turned out, I also helped them keeping a good pace. They left the Cottonwood campground (somewhere on the way to the North rim) at 4 AM, and they were expected in Phoenix tonight for dinner! Crazy schedule if you ask me!

We made it back to the South rim at a quarter to 2. To my surprise, it took me almost seven hours to climb the Canyon! The biggest hurdles were the sun and the temperature. As we were getting higher, so was the sun, so it was pretty hot all the way. We had lots of breaks in the shade every time we found some.

It was a great experience, hiking down and back up the Grand Canyon, and I’m glad I made some good friends along the way!

When I was leaving the campground this morning, my car refused to start. I obviously left the CD player on and the doors open too long yesterday evening and this morning! That said, that car is so clever in so many other ways, I think it should know when to shut down to preserve the battery! Thankfully, my neighbours Jim, Catherin and little Stewart, from California, helped me and jump-started my car.

Now I’m near Monument Valley. The sun is awfully strong here, and I don’t think I’m going to stay very long. Next stops will be Utah’s national parks (most probably Bryce and Zion).

Disclaimer about food: It’s true that I’ve shown a few pictures of burgers here and while it’s true that cookies and burgers are probably my favourite food on this trip, I eat a lot of other healthier food too! But salads, fruits, pasta and rice are boring to take into pictures! A good thing is that it’s not that easy to find good, reasonably priced burgers. Best burger so far was the one in Jerome, without hesitation!

And sorry Jon, but I don’t see what’s wrong in my pronunciation of “burger” ;-)

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I changed campground two nights ago, to go a bit North of Sedona. First night, I was told it was 24 degree Fahrenheit (that is below freezing!) and 32 on last night. I had all my clothes on (that’d be 4 layers, plus scarf, warm hat and gloves), but it still was pretty unpleasant in my so-they-say 3 degree centigrade North Face sleeping bag!

On the first morning in the new camp, I was offered some tea by Daniel and Tamara. Daniel has been in Sedona quite a few times and advised me to hike on Wilson Mountain. It was a good advice as the overview on Sedona is great.

My camera could only capture a small part of it, sorry!

See, I was there! That view was the signal for me to move on. I felt like I could leave Sedona peacefully.

Saying goodbye to Sedona.

Yesterday night I was nicely invited to share a campfire with Jeff and Kelly, from Tucson. We chatted as the sun went down and then played guitar and sung around the fire. It was fantastic. I didn’t think of taking a picture, though!

Climbing up to Flagstaff.

In Flagstaff the first thing I did was buying a warmer sleeping bag. This one should take me up to -10 degrees centigrade (15 fahrenheit), which should be much better.

Then I found this great shop that sold plenty of CDs for one buck:

I bought 4, 2 of which (Billy Joel and Van Morrison) I recognised were on that "500 best albums of all time" Rolling Stone book that my brother Frederic gave me for Christmas 2007. I'll probably drive route 66 listening to them.

I think I’m getting used to being on holiday now. I’m very chilled out.

The Aussie burger. Cheese, Bacon and fried egg. The menu said "Don't be afraid, mate!" If there was some rattlesnake in it, I'd understand...

Sitting in the sun, listening to some good music, drinking some great local beer (10 oz were plenty enough to get in the mood) and eating my burger, I felt in paradise.

Next stop now is the Grand Canyon Village. I need to see if I can hike down there. I've heard people have to book permits for months in advance. But some people told me there are some other options. Daniel told me he hiked down and up the canyon in one very long day. It's 1500 meters of elevation difference: the headlamp is crucial to come back! I've done 1,200 meters elevation hikes in the French Alps, I'm reasonably fit and I've got used to the climate here (cold dry air, strong sun, big temperature changes), so I might just about be able to do it. But hopefully I'll be able to find a way to camp down there.

Good bye Sedona, hello Flagstaff remains copyright of the author Docte Gaby, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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:-(

Free, but I didn't try it. :-P

Great sky.

Marshmallow, friends and camp fire...! This was at the very nice Lolo Mai camp site. I met with these two dutch-speaking Belgians, on a trip similar to mine except they rented a camper van.

American Stitch (reference to a character featuring in my movie "Keekoo & the Marmot" on Youtube).

The Red Rocks of Sedona. I find them very hard to capture on such a tiny camera, so you really should come and see them for yourself!

It's difficult to get used to such a grandiose scenery.

Today is a bit miserable. The sun is gone behind grey skies and it gets really cold as a result. It's probably going to be 0 or 1 degree (centigrade) tonight. No sun and low temperature is not great when you're outdoors and far from home. It's supposed to get much better tomorrow.

While hiking yesterday, I met with some more nice people. Monica is from New York but has spent the last few years in Alaska. Amongst other things she told me a nice metaphor: Americans are like a peach and Europeans like a coconut. Americans are very open and easy-going to start with, but if you try to go deeper, you hit the pit. Europeans are much harder on the outside, like a coconut, but very sweet once you've got past the barrier.

That reminds me, I was talking with an Ukrainian the other day and he was saying that no one smiles in Russia. Like if you're in a shop and the shop-keeper smiles, people will think something is wrong with the goods or the prices. So I wonder what kind of fruit Russians would be... :-P (No offence, btw)

Also chatted with a young couple from New Jersey that just got married last week in Rhodes Island.

I also briefly chatted with a couple of retired people from Los Angeles. It was brief, but the stillness in their eyes made a strong impression on me. They seemed very much in the present moment, and very happy.

Today I have to admit I feel quite lonely. I'm thinking the next time I do a trip like that (and there will be a next time, for sure!), I'll definitely do it with someone else.

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It was the first time I didn't pitch the tent on grass... a bit trickier but it worked -- thankfully it wasn't too windy or stormy during the night!

Hmm pasta... and as long as there is some beer, the moral is up!

The night was a bit chilly, though. I think it was something like 1,500 meters above sea level (to check), and Mike was telling me they had some snow just a couple of days ago!

This morning I had breakfast with Mike and we chatted a bit about his career changes and what brought him from NewYork and Chicago to Arizona.

After that I took the very winding road towards Jerome, where most turns are limited to 20 mph...!

Jerome used to be a real sin city during the gold rush. It then became the biggest ghost city of America. Now it's home to a lot of artists who expose their wares in posh galleries. It's actually a town I could visit by foot. The street were tiny and not organised in blocks for once, mostly because the town tries to hard to clutch onto the steep slope of the mountain.

That was much better than what I had in Phoenix. Bleu cheese & Bacon burger, at the Mile High Inn.

There was also an old "ghost" mine, but I saw one already and I didn't feel like camping in the area, so I just took a picture from a dirt road above and decided to hit the road to Sedona instead.

On the way, the gasoline light went on and I pulled over in a station. I had to figure out what fuel my car ran on...! There was little indication on the car itself. The people of the stations (including a customer) were very helpful (and amused by my not-knowing). It turns out no cars here use Diesel. Except the biggest cars that are in fact qualified of "trucks". The car didn't break down, so they must have been right!

It's funny how it works. You have either to pay by card, or to pay in advance. It's a bit difficult to know in advance how much you're going to need! The lady estimated $25 and she was spot on. Once you've paid, you have to lift the plastic bit in which the hose is stowed when unused, otherwise the damn thing wouldn't work at all. Then there's a system where you can block the handle so that the gas keeps coming out even if you don't press the handle anymore.

Now I'm in Sedona.

I long for a campground with a view. Somewhere I could settle for a few days, and just hike and generally take it easy. Watch the sun set. Watch the sun rise. Gaze at the stars. Relax. My life has been so hectic recently, what with deciding to move out of my place (which I did in 8 days, from the decision to the house being empty & clean) and then squat at a crazy saxophonist's place (no offense :-P).

I just long for some time off, with not much to worry about. No GPS. No "where am I going to sleep tonight?" Etc.

I'm hoping to find this in Sedona. I want to settle for a few days and there are a lot of scenic hiking trails here.

It's gonna do me a lot of good.

PS: many thanks to all of you who write comments (here or on FaceBook) or send me emails. I don't really take the time to answer them, but they're great!

Arriving into Sedona remains copyright of the author Docte Gaby, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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It happened this morning, as I was driving from Wickenburg to Prescott. Since I left Phoenix yesterday, the desert has been pretty flat. On the road to Prescott, however, it starts to climb onto what I think is the colorado plateau.

The road starts to get really torteous. Half-way up the climb, I saw a motorbike laid down on the side of the road, and the biker standing near the railing. It looked like he had just fallen off his bike. The guy was a bit confused. Without hesitating long I pulled over and asked from a distance if he was alright. He still had his helmet and he was alone, which I found a bit odd. I was a bit scared to be honest. I couldn't help thinking that maybe it was some sort of scam to get the tourist to stop and then someone else would come out of nowhere and take my money. So my reflex was to call 911. When I know that someone is coming, then I can get close to the guy and see if I could help.

I'm not used to call for emergency, so I had to explain very vaguely the situation to 3 or 4 persons over the phone. By that time, another guy had pulled over with a truck, assessed the situation and very calmly started to get cones out of his truck to secure the roadside. He then checked the guy out with me and only then called 911, giving informations such as "He is coherent", etc. That made me think I need to get on a first-aid training!

Pretty soon an ambulance arrived. Then fire men. Then police men. All in all, there came something like 6 vehicles all with sirens and blinking lights! I thought it was a bit overkill.

The biker is safe. I think he might have a dismantled/broken shoulder. :-( But he's alive and well. It turned out he stopped to take pictures a bit further down, which is why his mates where not with him. But they soon came back. They all thanked me for stopping. I didn't feel very useful though, to be honest! I'll think about this first-aid training.

Yesterday, I left Phoenix and drove in the desert up to Wickenburg, a small gold mining town.

A few miles away, there's an old abandonned "ghost" gold mine called the Vulture Mine. There I met with Gayle and Gordon, a couple of friends that kind of guided me around.

Gordon used to be a pilot in the military and I believe he is now retired. Arizona´s weather is great for pilots as it allows them to fly so many days a year. He loves old places like for example the Vulture Mine and the city of Jerome which I´ll see tomorrow. It was very interested listening to his slow American voice as he explained things about the mine, cactus, rattlesnakes, etc...

Gayle is a very enthusiastic person. She used to play piano and sing blues in clubs, before selling credit cards to movie stars (including Jon Voight, Angelina Jolie´s dad, which reminded me of an episode of Jerry Seinfeld...!), and then taking an early retirement. It was a lot of fun to hang out with both of them.

After the mine, we went back to Wickenburg to have a drink in one of the ¨Salloon¨. We talked a bit about the US. Cars, cities, religion and guns, amongst other things.

Then I found a campground to pitch the tent before dark. It was very near a very busy road. I have no idea why, but big huge trucks have this habit of honking for like a second or two several times in a row. I´ll have to find out what for, because it sure was annoying.

Then as you know I headed to Prescott. There, I visited the Sharlot Hall Museum. It's a bit funny how proud they are to still have the original Governor's "Mansion" (a big log cabin, in fact), something like 130 years after it's been built. A 130-years-old building doesn't really qualify as very old in Europe, but here in the West, that's the oldest thing they've got! It's starting to change, but until recently, they mostly had the same attitude I read the Chinese have about old things: "we don't need that, it's old, take it down and build new things instead".

PS: I've just understood why I was having difficulties with the quotes and apostrophe in this post: my keyboard was set to Spanish!

Wickenburg & Prescott remains copyright of the author Docte Gaby, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Last night I went to bed at 21:00 and I got up this morning at 7:00! Jetlag'd, moi? I don't think so!

I got everything I needed yesterday, including a great adventure hat.

The GPS is an absolute life-savior. It's not only a very detailed map and a very patient copilot, it is also the Yellow Pages! I can pretty much find anything now.

I'm starting to get used to the car and driving in the US. This is really car kingdom here. Every thing is far. I found natural to drive from a parking lot on one side of a street to a parking lot on the other side (slight exageration). The streets are really wide. Most often 3 or 4 lanes each way. The cars are big. I've never seen so many pick-ups and SUVs! Pedestrians look like an anomaly. Outside very commercial areas, it gives the feeling that no one's really out there. No life. Everything is so sparse, it feels like it doesn't have the critical mass to start crystallising history. Just keep cruising. (uh oh, I'd better change subject, I'm getting philosophical).

Driving through Phoenix reminds me a lot of playing Grand Theft Auto. Mostly because of the number of pick-up trucks. I've even seen a black 4-wheel drive just like the one in Back to the Future!

The fact that every big chunks of the city seems to be divided into either commercial, industrial or residential areas makes me think of the game Sim City. I remember finding the concept odd when I first played. This is so different to European cities.

Automatic cars have some interesting features. One is what they call "Overdrive". I like the name because it makes me think of the opening scene of "Back to the Future". It simply means the car will tend to use a higher gear to save fuel. In a manual car, you'd have much more control on that.

You also have the opposite possibility, where the car will maximise the engine braking.

Another feature I love is "speed control". The car will maintain the speed your going at without you having to bother with the gas pedal. Very nice to relax on a long trip. You can then adjust the speed by pressing buttons on the wheel. This feels so much like playing a video game, it's unbelievable!

Sometimes it's difficult to realise you have to stop. Streets are straight for miles here. When you suddenly see a red light, and you stop accelerating, the car doesn't slow down that much (because it's an automatic). Then you have to add to that the fact that the traffic lights are situated *after* the junction. It is a big deal because the typical street is twice 3 or 4 lanes, so you actually have to stop some 20 meters *before* the lights. Compared to Europe, this takes some getting used to.

A nice feature is that in some place, you can turn right when the light is red, provided you stop first (and give way).

On big roads (easily 5 lanes), the lane the most on the left is only allowed to cars carrying more than one person. Which means I can't use it, boohoohoo!

Oh, and one was thing that is cracking me up: my car has a built-in compass! It tells me if I'm headed North, South, East or West! I don't really use it because of the GPS, but it's very useful, seeing as most streets are aligned with the cardinal points.

People in shops are very friendly. I was in Safeway (like a small Tesco or Carrefour grocery store), minding my own business. I crossed the path of an employee, and he just stopped, greeted me and asked me how things were going. This never happened to me before. Not in the UK, not in France.

I've read and heard before that Americans tend to be more enthusiastic. Or at least they look like they are. It can be hard to tell what they really think of you -- that's usually pretty easy with Europeans.

Right, now I'm getting out of Phoenix and into the desert. I've already driven almost an hour and I'm still not out of here!

Leaving Phoenix remains copyright of the author Docte Gaby, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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In the hotel. 19:52, but it feels like 3:52. 8 hours of difference.
A l'hotel. 8 heures de decalage horaire!

I can't believe it's raining! They say it does happen from time to time. Shocking!
Il pleut! Ils me disent que ca arrive parfois. Quel scandale!

American breakfast. (ah well...)
Petit dej americain. (bof)

Check out my ride!
Vise un peu ma bagnole!

American lunch. (I prefer Japanese food, to be honest)
Dejeuner americain (je prefere la bouffe japonaise!)

Everything is huge here.
Tout est enorme ici.

My car (second on the left) hardly looks out of place...
Ma voiture (deuxieme en partant de la gauche) ne deparait pas...

A couple of quickies:

So when you press the "lock" button on the car key the first time, it locks the car silently. It doesn't flash the hazard lights for instance, like I'm used to. But then if you press it again, it actions the horn! That really surprised the hell out of me the first time. That also means that busy parking lots are usually not really quiet places.

Internet access here is so expensive. $12 an hour (in Fedex Kinko's). Three years ago, I paid 1 euro the hour in Dublin. What a rip off.

Rapidement:

Quand tu presses le bouton "verrouiller" sur la clef de la voiture, ca verrouille silencieusement. Les clignotants ne clignotent pas pour confirmer, comme j'ai l'habitude. Quand tu presses encore, ca actionne le klaxon! Ca m'a vraiment surpris la premiere fois. J'ai eu l'impression de me faire engueuler par ma bagnole! Entre autres, ca veut aussi dire que les parkings ne sont en general pas ideals pour la sieste...

Internet est super cher ici. $12 pour une heure. Il y a 3 ans, je me souviens payer 1 euro l'heure a Dublin.

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Yay! I'm in Phoenix, Arizona!

The US authorities now have the fingerprints of all ten of my fingers...!

The flight was alright. It was funny in the plane, once we were all seated, to be greeted by a very (commercially) friendly voice saying very slowly and clearly "Hi. I am George Michael, your cabin service director." He didn't do any cover of "Faith", though! :-P

At the car rental company, I was telling the guy it was my first time in the US, and that I was going to a tour to see Sedona, the Grand Canyon, etc. Hearing that, the guy insisted I should upgrade my tiny super-economy car (Phoenix to Flagstaff is 145 miles and 2,000 meters of elevation). Because I was new to the US, he made me a deal and upgraded my car up 2 levels for the price of one. I went for it because it seemed to make sense and I was too tired to argue for ages. Sure, it's a bit more expensive, but you should see the car! I feel very American suddenly. It sure is going to be a lot safer and comfortable.

I found it surprisingly easy to drive an automatic car. I'd thought I would be wanting to move the gear stick or use my left foot all the time, but I didn't at all.

I also rented a GPS unit, which I discover is absolutely invaluable. The hotel was much futher than it looked on Google Maps.

This morning I first woke up at 3 AM and struggle to stay in bed up to 5. I had to wait for 8 to get some breakfast!

This morning I spent a lot more time than I thought looking for an internet cafe of some sorts. I don't really understand the roads here. It's all very wide, with plenty of lanes. Easy to miss the correct lane to turn, or find oneself on the "MUST-turn-right" lane (the uppercases are in the signs!). I've got the impression I've driven for miles through sparse industrial/commercial estates. It's all very dispersed and sparse here. Every corner looks the same.

In Europe, you go to the city center, it's all very busy but you have all the shops, cafe, etc in the same place.

Anyway, I don't like cities anyway, so I'll get out of Phoenix tomorrow to go "into the wild".

Before that, I need a few supplies: gas canister for my stove, local pay-as-you-go mobile phone, food, water and a few other things. Wish me good luck!

• * * * *

Ca y est! Je suis a Phoenix en Arizona!

Les autorites americaines ont maintenant l'empreinte de tous mes 10 doigts...!

Le vol etait ok. C'etait marrant dans l'avion, une fois que tout le monde etaient assis a sa place, d'etre accueilli par une voix tres amicale (commerciallement) articulant lentement: "Bonjour. Je suis George Michael, votre stewart en chef." Mais il a pas fait de parodie de "Faith", malheureusement! :-P

A la location de voiture, je disais au gars que c'etait ma premiere fois aux USA, et que j'allais faire tout un tour pour voir le Grand Canyon, etc. Du coup le gars insistait pour que je prenne une voiture un peu mieux que la minuscule voiture super-economy que j'avais reserve (il y a 145 miles de Phoenix a Flagstaff et 2,000 metres de denivelle). Parce que j'etais nouveau aux States, le gars m'a fait une affaire et a augmente ma voiture de 2 niveaux pour le prix d'un. J'etais fatigue et ca avait l'air sense, donc j'ai accepte. Ca fait un peu plus d'argent, mais faut voir la bagnole! Je me sens tres americain d'un seul coup! Conduire pendant les 3 prochaines semaines sera beaucoup plus sur et confortable.

J'ai trouve tres facile de conduire une voiture automatique (ils ont quasiment que ca ici). Je pensais que j'allais vouloir changer de vitesse tout le temps ou chercher l'embrayage avec mon pied gauche, mais en fait non.

J'ai aussi loue un GPS, et j'ai bien fait parce que j'aurais vraiment galere sans. L'hotel etait beaucoup plus loin qu'il ne paraissait sur Google Maps.

Ce matin je me suis reveille a 3 heures du mat, et j'ai du mal a rester au lit jusque 5 heures. Et j'ai du attendre jusque 8 heures pour le petit dej!

Ensuite j'ai galere bien plus que je ne pensais pour trouver un cafe internet. Je comprends pas vraiment les routes ici. Tout est tres large, avec plein de voix partout. C'est facile de rater la bonne voix pour tourner, ou bien de se retrouver sur la voix ou tu DOIS (en majuscule sur les panneaux!) tourner a droite. J'ai l'impression d'avoir traverser des tas de zones vaguement industriels/commerciales. Tout est tres disperse, et pas dense du tout. Tous les coins de rue se ressemblent.

En Europe, tu vas dans le centre-ville, c'est plein de monde mais tu as tous les magasins, cafes, etc, au meme endroit.

Enfin bref. J'aime pas les villes de toute facon, donc je quitterai Phoenix demain matin pour aller "into the wild". :-P

Mais avant cela, j'ai besoin de deux-trois trucs: une cartouche de gaz pour mon rechaud, un telephone local pre-paye, de la nourriture et diverses petites choses. Souhaitez moi bonne chance!

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Je fais tres court ce soir parce que tres fatigue. Je developerai plus tard. Le message principal: tout est pret pour le depart demain matin!

See you on the other side... remains copyright of the author Docte Gaby, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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I’ve researched a bit the various dangerous wildlife there is in Arizona. This website http://www.thenaturalamerican.com/plants,_animals_and_insects.htm was really helpful.

It seems there are a few venomous spiders (Black Widow and Tarentulas), scorpions (the only really dangerous one being the Bark Scorpion) and rattlesnakes. I’m not overly worried about them. It’s mostly a case of avoiding them, not reaching into holes or behind stones where you can’t see, and shaking your clothes and boots before putting them on. If you leave these creatures be, they will happily leave you be. And just in case, I’ll buy a snake-bite kit when I arrive into Phoenix -- they’re bound to have the good stuff over there.

One thing I’ve I bought already is a mosquito head net. I don’t think there is going to be a lot of mosquitoes in Arizona. And I wouldn’t be too worried about them anyway, as a good repellent would probably get rid of most of the problem. No, I bought the head net as an emergency protection against killer bees. Killer bees are very similar to normal honey bees -- except they are complete psychopaths. They attack people for little more reason than just meeting them. You don’t have to be poking at them or even be in view of their hive. (http://www.desertusa.com/mag98/sep/stories/kbees.html) They attack in big numbers and pursue their victims. People are advised not to dive into water, as the bees will just wait for them to come back up to breathe -- but a shower or a spraying hose is a great defense (http://www.desertusa.com/mag98/sep/stories/avoid-africanized-honey-bees.html). The really scary thing is that the bees tend to go for the head. It amazes me that such a small insect can actually grasp the concept of a human head and the fact that it’s our most fragile part. Hence the head net. That and I’ll buy some bee spray in Phoenix.

I used to be really scared of any kind of bee when I was a kid. I got over it since then and now I just peacefully talk to the ones I meet and explain I'm not a flower, and usually they leave me alone. If I’m attacked by killer bees, however, there will be no negotiation and no quarter!

• * * *

J'ai fait un peu de recherche sur les animaux et insectes dangereux que l'on rencontre en Arizona. J'ai trouve ce site http://www.thenaturalamerican.com/plants,_animals_and_insects.htm tres utile.

Il y a quelques araignees venimeuses (La Veuve Noire et la Tarentule), des scorpions, dont le plus dangereux est appele "Bark Scorpion" (Le scorpion qui aboie?) et des serpents a sonnettes. Je ne suis pas vraiment inquiet, cependant. Il s'agit essentiellement d'eviter de deranger ces creatures. Ne pas plonger sa main dans des trous ou derriere des pierres ou l'on ne voit pas et secouer ses habits et ses bottes avant de les mettres. Si vous les laissez tranquilles, elles vous laisseront tranquille. Au cas ou, j'acheterai un kit pour morsure de serpent quand j'arrive a Phoenix (ils auront forcement le truc qu'il faut la-bas).

Par contre, un truc que j'ai deja achete, c'est une mini moustiquaire qui couvre juste la tete. Je pense pas qu'il y a beaucoup de moustique en Arizona. Et je me fait pas vraiment de soucis, etant donne que je peux toujours me procurer une bonne lotion anti-moustique. Non, j'ai achete la moustiquaire comme une mesure de securite au cas ou je rencontre des "abeilles tueuses". Les abeilles tueuses sont tres similaires aux abeilles que l'on connait bien. La difference principale est qu'elles sont completement psychopathes. Elles attaquent les gens qui s'aventurent sur leur territoire. Pas besoin de les embeter ou meme d'etre en vue de la ruche pour declencher une reaction hostile. (http://www.desertusa.com/mag98/sep/stories/kbees.html) Elles attaquent en grand nombre et poursuivent leurs victimes. Un conseil que j'ai lu est de ne pas plonger dans une mare pour les eviter: les abeilles attendent patiemment que vous ressortiez. Par contre une douche ou un jet d'eau est une bonne protection. (http://www.desertusa.com/mag98/sep/stories/avoid-africanized-honey-bees.html). Le truc qui fout vraiment les boules c'est qu'elles ont tendance a attaquer a la tete. Ca me tue qu'un insecte si petit puisse apprehender la notion de tete chez l'homme et sache que c'est notre point le plus faible. D'ou la moustiquaire pour la tete. Ca, et j'acheterai un spray a Phoenix.

Quand j'etais petit, j'avais peur de n'importe quoi qui volait et faisait "bizzzzz". Depuis j'ai depasse ca, et maintenant je parle calmement aux abeilles et guepes que je rencontre, leur expliquant que je ne suis pas une fleur, et en general elles me laissent en paix. Si je rencontre des abeilles tueuses, cependant, il n'y aura pas de negociations et pas de quartier!

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Wow, four weeks have past already! My life has been a bit hectic lately... but I’m still preparing the trip!

On Friday the 20th of Feb, I was quite excited to receive my Lonely Planet guide "Arizona / New Mexico / Grand Canyon trips". One nice thing about this guide is that it's been published in March 2009...! So it should be fairly up to date... ;-)

The guide doesn't cover California at all, which is a bit of a shame as there is a couple of things I was considering visiting there: The Joshua Tree national park (as I'm a big fan of this album from U2) and Death Valley. Looking at the guide and distances on Google Maps, however, I realise that there's a lot of things to do or see and 3 weeks suddenly look like a short time... 3 months would be more like it!

Right now I’m thinking of concentrating on a few things and really appreciating them, rather than driving extra long hours and racing to cram as much sight-seeing as I can. The main places I’m thinking of visiting are: the Red Rocks from Sedona, the obligatory Grand Canyon, a bit of road 66 on the way to Las Vegas, and then a stop at Lake Powell on the way to Monument Valley. That means I won’t go into California or New Mexico, and won’t see the Very Large Array Radio Telescope for instance, but that’s still a lot of driving and a lot to see.

I’ve learned a lot about Arizona. For instance I had no idea of its relief: according to Google Earth, Phoenix is at 350 meters above sea level, but Flagstaff (close-ish to the Grand Canyon) is at 2,100 meters! That means that typical high/low temperatures in April are, according to Wikipedia, 30/15 °C in Phoenix and 15/-2 °C in Flagstaff! (Interestingly, Las Vegas (Nevada) is at 1600 meters above sea level and its typical April temperatures are 26/12 °C.)

I was checking out http://www.weathercentral.com/weather/us/cities/az_grand_canyon.html the other day and I could read: “A chance of rain and snow showers in the late evening and overnight. Snow accumulation up to 1 inch. Snow level 6000 feet Decreasing to 4500 feet after midnight. Lows around 19 °F on the north rim to around 42 °F along the Colorado River.”

Snowing on the Grand Canyon... An information I could hardly compute!

The thing is, the rims of the Grand Canyon are at 2,000+ meters above sea level (2,100 for the South rim, while the North rim goes up to 2,700!), while the river itself is at around 900. They (http://www.grandcanyonhiker.com/planners/weather/index.shtml) say that in summer the temperature is pleasant on the rims, while the inner gorge is an absolute inferno!

That’s why I’m going there in April. So that it’ll be safe to hike in the inner gorge. I hadn’t realise it meant it would be a bit chilly elsewhere... So lately I’ve been buying warmer hiking clothes and I’m considering a warmer sleeping bag too...!

It’s gonna be so great!

• * *

Oh la la, deja quatre semaines ont passe! Ma vie a ete pas mal compliquee ces dernier temps, mais ca va mieux maintenant et je suis toujours en train de preparer mon voyage!

Vendredi 20 Fevrier, j’etais tout excite de recevoir mon guide Lonely Planet “voyages en Arizona / Nouveau Mexique / Grand Canyon”. Un truc pas mal avec ce guide, c’est qu’il a ete publie en Mars 2009...! Donc il devrait etre plutot a jour... ;-)

Le guide ne couvre pas la Californie, ce qui est un peu dommage parce que je pensais visiter une paire d’endroit la-bas: Le parc national The Joshua Tree (etant un grand fan de cet album de U2!) et “Death Valley”, la vallee de la mort. En regardant le guide et les distances sur Google Maps, cependant, je m’apercois qu’il y a beaucoup de choses a voir et que trois semaines, d’un seul coup, ca parait tres court... trois mois ce serait mieux!

Maintenant, je pense me concentrer sur quelques endroits et vraiment en profiter, plutot que conduire pendant des heures et des heures et faire la course pour voir le plus de chose possible. Voila ce que je pense visiter: les rocs rouges de Sedona, le Grand Canyon, faire un peu de la route 66 vers Las Vegas, puis le lac Powell avant de visiter Monument Valley. Ca veut dire que je n’irai pas en Californie ni au Nouveau Mexique, et donc je ne verrai pas, entres autres, le Very Large Array Radio Telescope (comment on dit ca en Francais? Le Tres Grand Alignement de Radiotelescopes? On le voit dans “Contact” avec Jodie Foster...). Mais meme en me limitant comme ca, j’aurais toujours pas mal a conduire et pleins de choses a voir.

J’ai appris beaucoup sur l’Arizona. Par exemple, je n’avais aucune idee de son relief: d’apres Google Earth, Phoenix est a 350 metres d’altitude, mais Flagstaff (pres du Grand Canyon) est a 2100 metres! Ca veut dire que les temperatures jour/nuit typiques en Avril sont, d’apres Wikipedia, 30/15 °C a Phoenix et 15/-2 °C a Flagstaff! (Et Las Vegas est a 1600 metres et il y fait typiquement 26/12 °C en Avril.)

Je regardais les previsions l’autre jour sur http://www.weathercentral.com/weather/us/cities/az_grand_canyon.html et j’ai pu lire: “Possibilite d’averses de pluie et neige dans la soiree et dans la nuit. Jusqu’a 3 cm de neige. Neige au dessus de 2000 metres, descendant a 1500 metres apres minuit. Temperature minimum: -7 °C sur le bord Nord et +6 °C pres de la riviere Colorado.”

De la neige sur le Grand Canyon! Mon cerveau a failli ne pas s’en remettre.

En fait, les bords du Grand Canyon sont a plus de 2000 metres d’altitude (2100 pour le cote sud, et jusqu’a 2700 pour le cote Nord!), alors que la riviere n’est qu’a environ 900 metes. Ils (http://www.grandcanyonhiker.com/planners/weather/index.shtml) disent qu’en ete la temperature est agreable sur les bords et absolument infernal dans la gorge!

C’est la raison pour laquelle j’y vais en Avril. Pour pouvoir randonner dans la gorge en securite. J’avais pas realise que ca voulait dire qu’il ferait frisquet ailleurs... Mince, c’est le desert, on s’attend a ce qu’il fasse chaud! Du coup ces derniers temps j’ai commande des vetements plus chaud, et je reflechis aussi a m’acheter un sac de couchage un peu plus chaud...!

Ca va etre vraiment super!

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Hi there,

It's weird to come back to this blog 2 years and a half after having starting it with one single pathetic entry...!

At the time I was still in France, writing up my PhD thesis. I was quite stressed/depressed by it. Half-way through my PhD, after a year and a half of hard work, I realised I didn't really belong to research. It seemd that every thing I had ever worked for was just to get into this dead-end street. I still wanted to end on a good note, and finish what I had started, but I had absolutely no idea of what to do after it. Hence the idea of a travel. I created this blog on an impulse one grey afternoon, instead of collating some diagrams.

After this blog entry, I became totally engrossed in the writing up of my thesis. I worked flat out for a month and a half. Every single thing I did during that time that wasn't writing the thesis itself (sleeping, eating, watching DVDs, etc) still served the same purpose: to keep me going so that I could progress in the writing as effectively as possible and still retain my sanity. It was quite intense and not necessarily a negative experience in fact.

(Short break)

After the manuscript was sent to the referees, I started to look for a job. Not a pleasant experience. I was still toying with the idea of travelling, but was really concerned about first managing my career change. I was taking the plunge, really stressed but very driven.

I didn't want to look for a job in France. I needed a challenge, something to force me outside my shell. The only other language I knew was (and still is :-)) English. Although I considered looking for something in the US, the European Union meant (by their proximity and the absence of a need for a visa) that it was easy for me to emigrate to England or Ireland - provided I found a job there.

That's where I concentrated my effort.

Not really knowing what I was going to do, I booked flights to spend 5 days Dublin and 5 others in London. That's what I mean by taking the plunge and being very driven! The idea was to see how things were over there (I'd never been there) and maybe get a few interviews. I'd be back in time to prepare my thesis defense.

I've been very lucky: A week before the departure, I had a phone call from a recruiter who saw my CV on monster.co.uk. That lead to a phone interview for a job as an Antispam Engineer in Gloucester (England). The day before my departure for Dublin, I was doing a programming test for them, by email. While in Dublin, I got an email saying they wanted to see me for a proper interview. I had to change one of my flights to go to Bristol. Everything about the job seemed perfect and before I left Cheltenham (a nice town very close to Gloucester), it was offered to me!

(I now work somewhere behind the trees on the left)

After that things became absolutely hectic. They wanted me to start ASAP and seemed to insist on that. I found out later that an extra week wouldn't have made a big difference to them. I should have taken it a bit easier, but I didn't want them to withdraw their offer. I came back to Strasbourg (France) early September, knowing I had to defend my thesis on the 15th, sell most of my furniture, move the rest to my parents', and be in England on the 26th to start my new job.

It was pure madness.

But I made it. I arrived in England with as many bags as I could carry (2 bags with small wheels, 2 backpacks and a sport bag), 3 nights booked in a hotel, and a job. Settling in England was quite an adventure in itself, but it's not the object of this blog!

(Lost after a train mix-up)

Nearly 29 months later, I'm still in the same job, and though I'd rather not need to have a job at all, I'm fairly happy. It took me a long while, but eventually ideas of travels came back to haunt me. The movie "Into the wild" made a profound and lasting impression on me. I really admire how ressourceful the guy was. The complete freedom he enjoyed holds an immense appeal to me.

Last September, I went hiking and camping in the Alps (France). Although I had a lot of hiking experience in the Alps, I'd never camped. So I kept that trip short: one week, including 2 days to travel there and back. I researched the gear extensively and managed to keep my backpack around 15kg, complete with tent and everything, which still was horrendously heavy for me! But even with that, it was absolutely awesome!

Pictures are here: http://picasaweb.google.com/gabypics/IntoTheWildHolidaysFrenchAlps#

I now think it was a good thing I got that job so quickly. My USA trip idea was not really mature. I was really not ready for it. For one thing, I wasn't considering camping. I would probably have burnt a lot of money very quickly and been forced to come back early. I'm now in a much better position to prepare such a trip.

I was probably still going to postpone that big USA trip for a while though... if it wasn't for a travel voucher I got as an unexpected reward from my company!

At first I had no idea how to use it. I didn't really see myself flying to the Caribbean and be stuck a whole week in a hotel. It's not really me. Then I discovered I didn't have to book a hotel, but could still use the voucher to rent a car. So my plan is to use the voucher (and top it up a bit from my own pocket) for a return flight to Phoenix, Arizona, get a rental car and wander around the state for 3 weeks. Hiking in Monument Valley, the Grand Canyon... Driving through the night towards the lights of Las Vegas...

How great would that be, huh?

Well, as of yesterday, it's all booked now! Departure: 10th of April. I'll keep you posted!

Regards,
Gabriel.

• ***************************

[Version francaise (Il vous faudra imaginer les accents!)]

Bonjour bonjour!

Ca fait bizarre de revenir sur ce blog 2 ans et demi apres l'avoir commence...!

A l'epoque, j'etais en train d'ecrire ma these de doctorat, en France. Situation a la fois stressante et deprimante. Au milieu de mon doctorat, soit apres un an et demi de dur labeur, j'ai realise que la recherche, c'est-a-dire tout ce pourquoi j'avais travaille jusque la, n'etait pas vraiment mon truc. Je voulais cependant finir ce que j'avais commence, et je me suis accroche. Je n'avais aucune idee de ce que je pourrais faire apres ma these. D'ou l'idee de ce voyage aux Etats-Unis. J'ai commence ce blog une apres-midi grise, au lieu de mettre en forme des diagrammes...

Apres cela, je me suis plonge a fond dans l'ecriture. J'ai bosse comme un malade pendant un mois et demi. Meme quand je ne travaillais pas sur mon manuscrit, tout ce que je faisais (dormir, manger, regarder des DVDs, etc) avait le meme but: me permettre de continuer a travailler aussi efficacement que possible tout en gardant ma sante mentale. C'etait une experience optimale, et pas forcement negative en fait.

(Courte pause!)

Apres avoir envoye le manuscrit aux rapporteurs, j'ai commence a chercher du boulot. Pas tres agreable comme experience... Je pensais toujours vaguement voyager, mais j'etais plutot inquiet et voulais d'abord reussir ma reconversion. Donc je me suis jete a l'eau, et comme pour le reste, j'y suis alle a fond.

Je ne voulais pas chercher de travail en France. J'avais besoin d'un defi. Quelque chose qui me forcerait a sortir un peu de ma coquille. La seule langue etrangere que je parlais etait l'anglais (et c'est toujours le cas). Bien que j'ai pour un temps envisage un boulot en Amerique, je me suis vite rendu compte que, par leur proximite et pour des questions de visa, l'Angleterre et l'Irlande etaient de bien meilleures candidates.

C'est donc la-bas que je concentrais mes efforts.

Sans vraiment savoir ce que j'allais faire, j'ai pris des billets d'avion pour passer 5 jours a Dublin et 5 a Londres. C'est ce que je veux dire quand je parle de me jeter a l'eau. L'idee etait de prendre un peu la temperature, voir comment les choses etaient la-bas (je n'y etais jamais alle) et, qui sait, peut-etre avoir quelques entretiens.

J'ai eu beaucoup de chance: une semaine avant de partir, j'ai eu un coup de fil d'une recruteuse qui avait vu mon CV sur monster.co.uk. De fil en aiguille, cela a mene a un entretien d'embauche par telephone, pour un poste d'ingenieur antispam a Gloucester (Angleterre). Puis, toujours pour ce poste, la veille de mon depart pour Dublin, je faisais un test de programmation par email. Pendant que j'etais a Dublin, j'apprenais qu'ils voulaient me voir en cher et en os pour un entretien d'embauche. J'ai du changer un des vols pour Bristol au lieu de Londres. Le job avait l'air tres bien sur tous les points, et avant de quitter l'Angleterre, j'avais une offre ferme que j'acceptai!

(Maintenant je bosse dans un batiment quelque part sur la gauche)

Apres ca, ca a ete la folie la plus complete. Ils voulaient que je commence le plus tot possible et insistaient sur ca. En fait j'ai compris plus tard qu'une semaine de plus ou de moins n'aurait pas fait une grande difference. J'aurais du me laisser un peu plus de temps, mais a l'epoque je voulais surtout garder le poste. Je suis revenu a Strasbourg debut septembre, en sachant que je devais defendre ma these le 15 septembre, vendre la plupart de mes meubles, demenager le reste de mes affaires chez mes parents, et etre en Angleterre le 26 septembre pour commencer mon nouveau boulot.

C'etait de la folie.

Mais j'ai reussi. Je suis arrive en Angleterre avec autant de bagages que je pouvais en porter (2 valises a roulettes, 2 sac-a-dos et un sac de sport), 3 nuits reservees dans un hotel, et un boulot.

(Perdu apres avoir pris le mauvais train)

M'installer en Angleterre etait une aventure en elle-meme, mais ce n'est pas l'objet de ce blog!

Pres de 29 mois plus tard, je suis toujours dans le meme poste. Bien que je prefererais ne pas avoir besoin de travailler, je suis plutot content. Ca m'a pris un sacre bout de temps, mais j'ai fini par avoir des idees de voyage a nouveau. Le film "Into the wild" m'a profondement marque. J'admire beaucoup la debrouillardise du hero. La liberte complete dont il jouissait m'attire beaucoup.

En septembre 2008, je suis parti randonner et camper dans les Alpes. Bien qu'etant un randonneur experimente, je n'avais jamais vraiment campe. Du coup, j'ai garde ce voyage court: une semaine, incluant 2 jours pour voyager. J'ai recherche le materiel en grand detail et j'ai reussi a garder mon sac-a-dos autour de 15kg, avec la tente et tout ce qui faut, ce qui etait toujours enorme pour moi! Mais meme avec ca, ces vacances etaient magnifiques!

Voici les photos: : http://picasaweb.google.com/gabypics/IntoTheWildHolidaysFrenchAlps#

Avec le recul, je pense que c'est une bonne chose que j'ai trouve ce boulot si rapidement apres ma these. Mon idee de voyage aux Etats-Unis n'etait pas vraiment tres mature. Je n'etais pas vraiment pret. Par exemple, camper n'etait pas une option que je considerais. Si j'etais parti, j'aurais probablement depense beaucoup d'argent tres vite et j'aurais ete force de revenir beaucoup plus tot. Par contraste, je suis maintenant beaucoup mieux place pour preparer un tel voyage.

Malgre tout, j'aurais probablement repousse ce projet pendant plusieurs annees... si je n'avais recu un coupon d'agence de voyage comme une recompense inattendue de ma boite!

Au debut je n'avais aucune idee de ce que j'allais faire avec. Je ne me voyais pas vraiment partir pour les Caraibes et passer une semaine coince dans un hotel. C'est pas vraiment mon truc. Puis je me suis rendu compte que je pouvais utiliser le coupon pour louer une voiture au lieu de prendre un hotel. Du coup, meme s'il faut que j'y mette un peu de ma poche, mon idee est de prendre un avion pour Phoenix (Arizona), louer une voiture, et me balader aux alentours pendant trois semaines. Randonner dans Monument Valley, le Grand Canyon... Conduire dans la nuit vers les lumieres de Las Vegas...

Ce serait vraiment cool!

Eh bien mon voyage est tout reserve depuis hier! Depart: le 10 avril. Je vous tiendrai au courant!

A+
Gabriel.

Long time no see! remains copyright of the author Docte Gaby, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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