Back, Safe, New Journey

I made it back, according to the good folks at Dartmouth Medical it was Malaria and Dengue simultaneously, and after a gamut of tests and treatment I feel a lot better. With work starting soon and law school apps starting today, I'm going to help my sister move cross country by driving her car from VT to FL going all the way to Miami via the Universities of Kentucky, Tennessee, South Carolina, Florida, and Miami.

It Was Malaria

The doctor was wrong. I'm undergoing treatment and am doing really well. I caught it early and am on good meds. The owner of the guesthouse I'm in is an RN who has been checking up on me regularly.

To the Doctors Office

I've been having sharp pains in my legs and getting chills. Obviously this made me really nervous so I went to a good local doctor who did his residency in the US, he said it wasn't malaria or dengue, it was normal to have these symptoms if I were overexerting myself and that I needed to take a bunch of anti-inflammatory meds and get a lot of sleep. Hopefully I feel better!

Work, Work, Work

I'm safe and set up in Cape Coast, work is great so far, I feel like I'm getting a lot done and adding a lot of value to the projects I've started. I got out to Kakum in the back of a pickup the other day and met the staff there, and am about to start working closely with an accountant named Prince on how to segment park pricing to maximize revenue. Even though western foreigners make up only around 20% of the visitors to Kakum, they are responsible for the overwhelming majority of its revenue. By catering the business to Western foreigners and offering prices in between Ghanain and "foreign" entrance prices at the park for ECOWAS residents (non-Ghanain West Africans), I think the park will earn 10 - 30% more revenue on entrance fees alone, and attract more high margin clients who will pay a premium for western services. For western tourists, the entrance fees are a pittance, and can easily be raised, few if any who brave a $1000 flight are going to not go to a national park over a dollar or less.

Once we get them in the park, a basic example of "western services" would be selling candy bars. If you charge 1 GHC (around 70 cents) for a candy bar, no Ghanain in their right mind is going to buy one, and no western tourist would think twice if they were hungry and didn't want to sit down for a big meal. 1 GHC for a candy bar is somewhere around an 80% markup for the park. That money can go toward....

Removing litter. Nothing of what I've seen at Kakum has driven me more off the wall than litter. Ghanains litter. Everywhere. Even in the middle of a beautiful national park. Everybody tolerates it, and all of the westerners I've spoken to are appalled at the litter situation. If you remove the litter, you remove the issue, you employ someone locally, and you improve the quality of everything while creating another much needed job. My boss and I are convinced that the changes I'm suggesting are going to bring more money to the park. My only request so far is that part of that money be spent on cleaning it.

Another major problem facing the park is the dearth of information available online. Before this week there was no easily available information on Kakum National Park on the internet with correct prices, contact information, or maps to get there. By contacting a few websites, re-writing and completely re-linking the Wikipedia, Wikitravel, Google Maps, and other pages to Kakum, we've already begun to make the park more visible on the internet. There are two or three sloppy sites out there with mediocre information, but now the good stuff is rising to the top of major search bars.

Beyond the actual work, being downtown during the day is great, I work in the old Colonial Administration building and am figuring out where to go for lunch, how to act in an African office, and when I'm doing too much. Even compared to working in Madrid, this is far and away the most relaxed office environment I could ever imagine, and while having everyone come and go as they please isn't efficient at all, its really, really nice from a lifestyle perspective.

Some Photos

Top: the view from my office in Cape Coast looking North out at the city
Bottom: the office

Home and Office

Met up with my boss at Heritage House today and went over a bit of the project work I'll be doing. It looks like the majority of my work will be in Cape Coast but initially I'll be spending time in Kakum deciding where to focus our efforts.

My office is:
Heritage House
34 Garden Street
Cape Coast, Central Region, Ghana

I am staying at Fairhill, which is a guesthouse up the road on a small hill looking over Cape Coast. I just negotiated a long stay, and unless the room I look at tomorrow is out of this world and very cheap, I think I'll be staying here for the duration. Pictures will be uploaded very soon.

Ghanain Breakfast

Rice Porridge with milk and sugar
Hot dog
Bottle of Water
Pineapple Juice

In Accra

The flight was like a dream, I got great sleep, listened to good music, all 11 hours flew by, and with the plane being only half full, I got two seats to myself to spread out on. When I got in though, I was told at the border that my visa was only good for 60, not 90 days, and that I had three options… File an extension at the central municipal office in Accra, leave before 60 days, or overstay the visa, and go to prison for it. I think I’d do great in a West African prison.

Shortly after running into the visa issue, I discovered that I had a maple syrup explosion in my bag. None of the Vermont goodness I brought over liked the flights, and now one of my bags is like an old stack of pancakes covered in flies.

At the hotel, its expensive (by Ghanain standards) and depressing, but also clean and safe. I figured out a few minor technical details such as my plug rig for all of my electronics, and sat down with Samuel for a drink out by the pool. We talked about his upcoming ventures and I got to meet his wife who was very cool. They both love Accra and spend a decent amount of time near Cape Coast, they had been to Kakum earlier in the week. He remembered more people than I did from the last trip, apparently I’m not the first one back.

Tomorrow I’m off by cab to Cape Coast, it should be interesting showing up at the office, I really hope they’re expecting me.

Skype Users: My Skype login is JeffreySHallJr

Packing

Just got back from NYC and I'm getting everything ready to leave. Its interesting packing for business attire in 100 degree weather, I'm pretty sure I'll buy some long sleeve dashikis to wear to work over there as I remember lots of people wearing those to work instead of coat and tie.

I've got a bunch of books, a camera, cliff bars, clothes, a laptop and a flashlight. I'll figure just about everything else out when I get over there.

NYC -> Atlanta -> Accra -> Cape Coast here I come...

- Jeff

One Week to Go

In a couple of hours I'm going to be popping my first Mefloquine tabs to ward off Malaria, and this time next week I'll be in Atlanta waiting to fly out to Accra.

I got my LSAT score back, am really happy about it, and am taking care of all of the initial steps in the application process. Outside of work, I'm going to use the first month of my time in Ghana to figure out the kind of essays and personal statements I want to write.

Its going to be rough leaving Vermont, but I'm really excited for what lies ahead, Heritage House is really going to benefit from my expertise and being able to live in West Africa for a short time is something I've always wanted to do.

I'll be updating the blog as the packing starts in the next couple of days, my reading list so far is as follows:

Getting to Maybe
Black Like Me
How To Get Into The Top Law Schools
The Souls of Black Folks
All Quiet on the Western Front
The Immigrant Experience
The Rise of Globalism
Nip the Buds, Shoot the Kids

Cheers,

- Jeff

Updates From the Green Mountain State

Checking in with just over a month left until departure to Ghana. My time in Vermont has been going swimmingly... I've never had it this good. I took the LSAT a couple of weeks ago, still haven't heard my scores yet but I felt prepared going into it. I've been hiking and exploring swimming holes getting lots of quality time in with my family which is much needed after 6 years of seeing them only sporadically. Getting back onto the golf course with my Dad this past weekend and hiking in the National Forest with my Mother over the past few weeks has been a blast.

I recently found some part time work doing Excel analysis for Stratton mountain which is filling the financial gap left by the end of a brief stint lumberjacking trees with an axe and a bow saw at my Grandmother's condo complex in Killington.

I've been keeping busy with an incredible girlfriend and her organic farm. Barring some work at Farm & Wilderness summer camp growing up, this is my first real farm work experience, and I'm really enjoying getting out and learning about where the food I've always taken for granted actually comes from and putting in good physical labor. One of the great pleasures of my time here has been watching the food Megan grows go from lumps of dirt on a wooden plank to delicious meals. Being a part of the long growing process with someone I love has kept a smile on my face every single day...

Above is a shot of me in a pasture just over the border in New York with a flock of pregnant sheep at a friend's farm. Below is a picture of chicks being raised at Megan's farm, and a Llama keeping watch over the flock...
































Big wins of the week include:
- Getting the parts needed to fix my portable GPS
- Fixing my record player by myself (currently listening to "Scratch" by The Crusaders
- Getting my Ghanain visa delivered well ahead of time
- Ghana's recent stellar World Cup performances against Serbia and Australia

Hope all is well wherever you are. Be sure to drop me a line if you get a chance...

- Jeff

Got My Ghana Visa Today

My Visa came in the mail today. I used Travel Visa Pro and had an excellent experience. They kept me in the loop with the whole process, were quick, low hassle, and cheap. This sets me up between July and the last week of November barring any extensions. Should be a wide enough time frame to get a lot of good work done.

Halfway Point

Vermont couldn't be going any better.  The brown season after the snowmelt was brief, and all of the mountains are in full bloom.  I've been doing a lot of hiking and am starting to get some agricultural experience by helping out on my girlfriend's organic farm not far from here.  I'm planning one more trip, probably to Boston or Montreal in the next few months, and in the meantime am buckled down for work, planning, and enjoying the outdoors.

LSAT Preparation is coming along with new practice tests every week, and lots of class and work in between.  My scores are getting toward where I need them and I think the class is helping a lot... well worth the money.  I was in NYC this weekend, got to see some of my fraternity brothers for the first time in a long time, and am now getting everything together for Ghana.

It looks like I'll be working with some dedicated folks to digitalize and audit cash flows for Kakum National Park in the Central Region of Ghana. (Pictured above)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kakum_National_Park

I'll most likely be living in Cape Coast commuting to the site a couple of times a week.  Most of my work and my office will be in Heritage House in downtown Cape Coast, and all of my housing options are just outside of the city.  I'm going to book a ticket this week, and am planning to arrive in country at some point in mid June.

Hope all is well,

- Jeff

A Week In Baja California Sur, Mexico

Off to spend a week in San Jose Del Cabo, Todos Santos, and potentially some time in Los Barillos in Baja California.  I'm heading out at 4am or so tomorrow, and will be back in 7 days.  The picture above is from the road trip I took with a buddy of mine up the Baja Peninsula.  Its looking out across the sea of Cortez north of La Paz.

Snow Valley Vermont

I've spent the last two days hiking and skiing Snow Valley, an abandoned resort between Manchester and Stratton Vermont.  A friend of mine showed me the place and I see lots of opportunities for good skiing here in the next couple of months.  I think keeping on my feet hiking every day will put me in good shape to ski Tuckerman's Ravine this April (and maybe May), and have gotten back to doing outdoor sports every day.  Its a little lonely up here in VT, but not nearly as bad as I had anticipated.  I'm loving the time off, am putting in a lot of hours studying, and am going to be making trips to Burlington, Montreal, New York, and Boston starting this weekend.  I've also just started my second read of 2666, Roberto Bolano's massive tome about the human condition.  Should be some good beach reading!

Keep in touch,

- Jeff

jsh2h@virginia.edu

Snow Valley, VT pictures

Snow Valley Ski Resort has been abandoned for 25 - 30 years.  Where there used to be lines, there are now clumps of forest, instead of a functioning base lodge, there's decay, and after the lifts closed, the crowds went away.  What is left is a beautiful spread of open trails naturally covered in snow set in a quiet nook of the green mountains....

Happy 3/9!

Today, March 9th 2010 marks the one year anniversary of the stock market's bottom from the great recession of 2008 - 2009.





















I celebrated by skiing from 8:30 to 1 (like every day), going to LSAT class in Albany, and taking down a couple Long Trail IPAs. Cheers!

On Hiatus

I'm in Vermont studying for the LSAT and will be until the test comes around in June.  I've set up some good weekend trips to NYC, Montreal, Boston, Burlington, etc. but by and large am going to use the time to take 12 hours a week of class, plan where I'll be traveling after June, and organizing law school applications.

I'm going to put the blog on hiatus with potential monthly updates from now on.  Come back in June when I'll be heading out for some real travel, and will hopefully have an improved format.  Thanks for reading so far!

- Jeff

jsh2h@virginia.edu

The Great American Road Trip

A final statistical update:

Miles Driven:  3,919

Hours Driven: ~65

States Visited: 16 + DC

Speeding Tickets: $0

Parking Tickets: $320 ($0 paid)

Days to pack:  4

Days to unpack: 1.5

Weeks on the road: 2.5

Best City:  New Orleans

Worst City:  Albuquerque

Cups of coffee per day: ~6

If I had one big revelation or surprise about the whole trip, it was how big and diverse the United States is.  Flying over the whole thing really doesn't capture the size like I always assumed it did.  I drove from a densely packed bustling technology centered city by the Pacific into huge agribusiness driven fields, sparsely populated stops along Indian Reservations and into the thick morass of swamp across the Gulf Coast.  I felt familiar with the East Coast, but stopping along the way in small towns and cities, seeing parts of Virginia I'd never seen before, and making it up through New York into Vermont took on a whole different tone this time.  It was like listening to a great album in its entirety when before you'd only listened to a few familiar tracks.

America taken at large feels like a dozen countries packed into one, each one with a distinct immediately discernible flavor.  Though people say the spread of mass media and the highways have dulled down the differences and created a morass of monoculture, if it will ever take hold, it hasn't yet.

Taking a 2000 mile trip and turning it into a 4000 mile journey was one of the best things I've ever done, and I'm glad you all got to follow along with the blog.  I'm taking a big break from driving anywhere non-skiing related for a couple of days, and I'll be posting the new blog format once I'm settled into my new place in Vermont.  Thanks for reading, tune back in 3 months from now when the real journey starts.

In Vermont

Got home, skiied Stratton, getting ready to put this blog in hibernation for the next three months until the real journey begins.  I'll have a final road trip stats post, some info about what I'm up to for the next three months, and probably a post every now and again to pass the time.  I've been in close touch with some people I've worked with in Ghana and it looks like moving back to Cape Coast, Elmina, or Kakum could be happening in early July.  Emphasis on the word could, nothing is close to certain.

We got slammed with '31 inches of snow since I got in, and minus one awesome tumble on the road in front of a large truck towing a trailer, the driving has been fine, and the mountain has been open.  The skiing isn't Jackson Hole, but I had a great time today poking around.  Its sleeting here in town (Manchester), but snowing heavily up the hill at the mountain.  I think this week alone is going to prolong the season another 2 weeks.

Charlottesville

For the last couple of days I've been living in my old room in Pika, going out with friends who are still in school.  I've been having a blast, but being here without any of my pledge brothers or people my age has been surreal.  Barring a restaurant switching a name here and there, nothing has changed in the last two years.

The massive snows have melted off during the week thanks to hot weather which has cut back the fun of four wheel driving the Jeep around the parking lot.  Tons of cars are still blocked in with snow, but I doubt that will last much longer.

I met with one of the best professors I had undergrad today about a recommendation and it looks like there is a chance he could connect me to some volunteering in Ghana.  I'd love to go back to Cape Coast again, and the blog would be very, very interesting if I lived there for more than a couple of months.  The Imam I worked with in the Zongo district of Cape Coast apparently got a lot of help through UVA and is looking for graduates to bring technical skills to the Zongo.  Neither of us knew exactly what "technical skills" implies...

Every time I come to Charlottesville I get this deep seated feeling that I'm missing out on something by not living here.  I doubt I could swing UVA for law school, but staying in the state would be a great thing for me, and if I could live here permanently 5 to 10 years from now, I'd be thrilled.

Headed off to Vermont today, should get in late tonight, get a bunch of skiing in, then go to NYC, Burlington, Boston, and LSAT class before the blog goes on a 3 month hiatus.

Map

Making a good dent in the East Coast.  Meeting with a professor of mine then heading up to Vermont in the next couple of days.  A complete Charlottesville post will be coming soon...

Alabama -> South Carolina in Pictures

Above:  Traffic in Atlanta was nasty in both directions.  Awesome Baptist Church sign a block from our old house. 

Below: Tanya wrote blessings on my car, I thought they were graffiti at first.  South Carolina Peach Tower

Atlanta

I made the drive through Alabama to Atlanta where I stayed with my family there.  It was one of the shortest legs of the trip so far, but there was no Mardi Gras traffic getting out, and stopping for food in Mobile was a good time.  I walked into a diner outside of the city, ordered a grilled chicken salad in a flat Northern accent, and got stared at by every single person in the place.  I was the only person not doubling down on massive buckets of vat fry.

This leg of the trip was a blast.  I got to see my cousins, do a bunch of family stuff, get some good sleep and drive around my old hometown.  I only lived there for 2 years or so, but I remember the place well, and after my tune-up I rolled around Buckhead for a couple of hours.  Apparently the flooding has really screwed up anything near the Chattahoochie River, and the old civil war era trails that weave through the woods are all destroyed.  I used to walk our dog down there all of the time, but couldn't take my cousin's two Labradoodles (pictured above) unless I wanted to swim through icy mud puddles.  They romped around the house all day, and as long as they had their rope they didn't seem to mind.

The drive from Atlanta to Charlottesville used to seem like a real hassle, but after putting 50 hours in to Atlanta, another 8 was a breeze.  More Atlanta pictures in the following post...

In Charlottesville

I'll update the Atlanta post in a day or so, but I'm currently in Charlottesville, and there has been snow everywhere since I crossed over from North Carolina. Living in my old room in Pika again is surreal.

Mardi Gras Part Deux, Mobile Alabama

I headed out from New Orleans with a stiff hangover and a strong desire to see all of my friends again.  It was great getting eight of us together for a week, and I hope we're able to do it again in the future.  Heading ever Eastward, I got too tired to drive, and pulled into Mobile Alabama.  As I rolled into the downtown, I was confronted with another Mardi Gras...  Apparently this one is the oldest in the South.

The good news was the entire city was lit up and packed with people pushing for space along the parade routes.  Ladders were set up at varying heights and balconies were jammed with people looking to get a view at the floats and hopefully some beads.

The bad news was one of Mobile's finest accidentally waved me onto the parade route an hour or so before it all started.  I drove around a few of the main streets and around the square picking up a police escort within 5 minutes.  The Vermont plates and dust covered Jeep definitely helped the "bewildered tourist" game I threw at them, but it did little to stop the happy crowds from flinging beads and doubloons at my car.  The dull pan/slide of a string of beads hitting then dragging off the roof or the hood of the car started as a few isolated noises punctuating the loud WHOOP of the police sirens and jazz bands, but by the time I made it halfway around the main square, it was like a jazz infused Texas hailstorm.

I decided to ham it up, rolled the one window down, turned the Mardi Gras music up t0 11, and threw some beads of my own.  The officer later told me this was entirely unacceptable, but let me off with some harsh words in an extravagant neighborhood on the North side of town.  I got myself into the first motel I could find, wandered around to see a bit of the parades, then slept like a king for the first time in at least a week.  Mobile was good to me.

(view from my car)

Stats Update From Atlanta

My Mobile, AL post is forthcoming, but I think a quick statistical update is in order...

Miles Driven: 2733     (71%)

Hours Driven:  ~50

Miles to go:  1115        (29%)

Oysters Eaten: 80 - 90

Crawfish Eaten: 4 pounds

Alligator Eaten:  2 bites

Tolls Paid: $0

Parking Tickets in NOLA: $80 - $320

Burned CDs listened to:  30

% Radiohead Albums: 10%

% Talking Heads Albums: 20%

% Beatles Albums: 10%

Podcasts listened to: 2 (Ricky Gervais Podcast Seasons 1 & 2)

States Crossed: 8

States to go:  8 + DC

Gas cost so far: $456.50

The car is holding up well, here she is in Uptown Nola before this last leg. 

 

I'm off to get a tune up today, then update about Mobile, get some Brusters, and get a good nights sleep...

New Orleans, Day 2 - 6

The entire city of New Orleans is awake around the clock for Mardi Gras.  Whether you're choked in traffic behind floats in Uptown or squeezing through row after row of drunks downtown, you feel like you're in the middle of a dozen celebrations in every direction you look.

People I knew from college and through college friends were everywhere.  From our vantage, the entire week had a real family feel and it was a lot of socializing with people of all ages.  I was expecting complete debauchery, but everyone from the Grandparents down were involved.

I stayed in a beautiful house off of St. Charles St. and in a nice apartment a few minutes drive away with 7 of my fraternity brothers, most of whom I hadn't seen in 2 years.  We got to see massive parades from a box downtown, tons of live music and people losing their minds at bars, and ate food you wouldn't believe.  It was lamb shank, king cake, oysters, dark beer, and top shelf liquor at every meal.

The people in the city were generally about as friendly as I've ever experienced.  We got rides home from bars with complete strangers, invited into peoples houses, introduced to people we would normally never have met, and even on an hour or two of sleep a night, everyone was cordial and easygoing.  I'd rate New Orleans as the easiest city to hitchhike or borrow a t-shirt in the US.

Highlights in the first days include

- Jasquesimos:  Creole Catfish, Cajun Lamb, Alligator Cheesecake, all in an old house off Oak St. in Uptown.

- Endemyion and Bacchus parades:  Two enormous Krewes

- Absinthe House: a 200 year old bar off Bourbon St.  We got there after breakfast at the Palace Cafe and were dressed up, but were the only men not in suits.  It was like going back in time in the middle of the city

- Kingpin:  Great dive bar 100 yards from the apartment.

- The Maple Leaf:  One of the coolest bars I've been to.

- New Orleans:  The city has so much character.  Its one of the prettiest cities I've ever been to in the middle of a unique and complex part of the South.  The French element hasn't been lost, there's an almost maniacal civic pride, the people are beautiful and friendly, and there is a very distinct and overpowering music scene.

Another update to come soon...

First Mardi Gras Update

Not a lot of time to update today, but as promised, many more Mardi Gras posts to follow in the next day or so...

Metairie

After the Saints parade we headed off to eat a ton of crawfish and oysters in the swamp in Metairie...

5 People

15 pounds of Crawfish

6 dozen oysters, raw and grilled

10 crawfish hushpuppies

Crab dip

Pitchers of Abita Ale

Laissez Bon Temps Rouler!

New Orleans, Day 1

New Orleans is incredible.  I got directions to a friend’s parent’s house and parked my car in their driveway, then took a cab down St. Charles into the Saints Superbowl Celebration.  It was insane.  I met up with everybody then headed out on the far side of the parade to a bar called Lucy's.  Drew Brees was there shouting into a microphone pouring shots of Grey Goose, we had a smaller bar upstairs (The Attic) cordoned off for my buddy’s medical school party and had full reign of the balconies facing the streets below.  Unbelievable city, but I’ve had no internet access in days and I’ll try to post a lot of pictures when I’m out of this place.

Louisiana

The best part about driving to New Orleans if you’ve just come from the southwest is that once you cross into Louisiana, you see actual trees for the first time since the mountains of California.  Flagstaff AZ had a few, but I ripped through that place at night and there was so much snow I couldn’t take any pictures.

 

Louisiana from the get go is really low lying and wet.  In the drive to New Orleans, there were a lot of big birds, the southern portion of the state was all accessed by long bridges over swamp.  It also seems like every car at every rest stop is in the process of a hunting trip of some sort.  With a lot of traffic at Baton Rouge and in the city itself leading to the Saints Super Bowl victory celebration, it took me 10 hours to get here.  That’s 40 hours from San Francisco to New Orleans, in 3 days.  I need a drink!

Dallas

I stayed in Dallas overnight with good family friends who were incredibly hospitable.  It’s a very cool city, and I got to see a very different part of the city than on all of those trips to Fort Worth as a kid.

 

Within one day in Dallas I,

-       Ate the best biscuit I’ve ever had at a place called Bubbas

-       Wandered around SMU without a jacket (it was 45 – 50 degrees out) while all of the bundled up Texans looked at me like I was insane

-       Spent the tail end of my 30 hour driving daze getting on and off at the wrong places in downtown Dallas

Here's Bubba's:

Texas

Driving through Texas was an experience I’ll never forget.  The snow was coming down sideways as I crossed from New Mexico into the vast flatlands that led to Dallas.  The jagged lines of open mesa steppes and uneven demarcation of Indian Reservations were cut out into a neatly gridded plain fenced off with barbed wire and cattle gates.  New Mexico was an open place where you feel like you should have water on you in case your car breaks down.  Texas seemed to have some sort of civilized logic to it, where the fear of exposure died down even though the amount of people per square mile never really picked up.

 

The highway went from a fast moving interstate to a state highway that cut through mostly abandoned towns.  For the first time since I stopped for gas in Bakersfield, I encountered southerners whenever I fueled up.  After a 17-hour day and in the middle of a 13-hour day, it was nice to finally feel like I was making some progress.  The desert on the other side of the Sierra Nevadas really didn’t look all that different from the desert right outside of Albuquerque, it was the change in the people that really put the difference in perspective.

 

Within 1 hour of being in Northwest Texas I encountered:

-       Signs advertising Western Wear depots, 72 ounce steak eating contests, and large gun outlets

-       More barbecue joints than any other kind of commercial enterprise combined

-       More trains on the track than cars on the road

 

What a surreal place

SF -> Albuquerque

Perfectly cubic rainbow, just over the Colorado River in Arizona:

Its 7am in the middle of the desert.  Yesterday I put in 17 hours behind the wheel and made it from 21st and Mission to Albuquerque NM.  I got to drive through some incredible desert in Arizona, it was raining and snowing with bits of blue sky visible the entire time.  I almost drove off the road from snow near Flagstaff.

Some of the cool things I noticed on the trip that I didn't expect were,

- Massive clean energy setups on the CA / AZ border.  Enormous wind and solar setups churning for miles

- Snow in Arizona

- Giant signs saying "Congress Created Dustbowl" in the greenest fields I've seen outside of Ireland packed with fat cows

California Central Valley:

Arizona Mountains:

After seeing the Moavi Desert (sp?) yesterday, I'm ready for the painted rocks, long flat 90 mph stretches, and hopefully I'll make it to Dallas tonight!

Cheers,

- Jeff