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I'm just back from a 21 day outing, and there are still a series of questions about it that I can not answer. A gentleman (by the name of Victor [last name unpronounceable]) from Slovenia (an independant [or maybe not so independant]) providence of Yugoslavia), persuaded David Ellis to act as a guide to the wonders of the western United States with an emphasis on photographing birds and other widelife. Dave invited me to go with them, and I agreed (it seemed like a good idea at the time). Exactly what Victor wanted to see, exactly why David agreed to guide him, and exactly why I chose accompanied them rank with the unsolved mysteries of our time... We began this car camping trip by picking Victor up at Sky Harbor Airport in Phoenix, and our peregrinations from there are shown on this map in red. If that wasn't easy to follow, an alternative view can perhaps best be demonstrated by listing our our camp sites. June 12, Mogollon Rim June 13, Above Oak Creek Canyon, near Flagstaff June 14, In forrest near the Grand Canyon June 15, Near Bluff, Utah June 16, In a horse trailer near Meeker, Colorado June 17, In a hunting cabin near Steamboat Springs, Colorado June 18, Near Grand Teton National Park, Montana June 19, A campground in Yellowstone National Park, Montana June 20, Near Helena, Montana June 21, Near Craig, Montana June 22, Near Augusta, Montana June 23, Near Choteau, Montana June 24, Near Missoula, Montana June 25, Near Donnelly, Idaho June 26, Near Meadows, Idaho June 27, At the home of the sister of Cathy Ellis in Bountiful, Utah June 28, At the home of the sister of Cathy Ellis in Bountiful, Utah June 29, Near Minersville, Utah June 30, Near Alton, Utah July 1, Near Kaibito, Arizona July 2, Near Crystal, New Mexico July 3, Home

As no family members were traveling with me, none appear in the 600+ images that I captured (much to Ameilia's chagrin). None-the-less, in spite of her anticipated scathing review, I bravely include a few of them here.

Mogollon Rim David's grandson and son Merlin accompanied us on the first day. There aim was to complete a 20 mile hike--one requirement for a merit badge. They were successful, and even made it look easy.

Grand Canyon The south rim of the Grand Canyon was much too crowded for my taste. It was definitely a world class attraction, as I heard very little English spoken during the two days we spent there. The California Condor that was hanging around there only added to the babble. Dave and Victor took a couple of short hikes while we were there.

Navajo National Monument We arrived here after the visitors center had closed (crazy daylight savings time), but hiked about a mile to the overlook. I don't think I had seen this previously. The second photo is full size image of the overhung area of the first.

Monument Valley This is some interesting real estate, but we were in a hurry, and rarely stopped.

Arches National Monument The last time I drove through here, I vowed I would return and spend some time here this summer. I envisioned that it would be in Barbara's company, but... "the best laid plans of mice and men often go astray."

Stereo Image

Steamboat Springs This is Dave's home town (or at least one of them). Maybe this is where he got his fascination with Sasquatch.

Grand Teton National Park The Grand Teton National Park sits astride the road into Yellowstone. We drove on this road so we actually traversed the park, but we did not approach the mountains.

Yellowstone National Park We spent two days here, saw masses of humanity, flocks of water four, numerous elk, herds of buffalo, and even (at a long distance) a grizzly bear. Oh, and cars. There were many many cars.

Anybody looking for a "rebuild" project? Just a thought...

Glacier National Park Pretty impressive vertical real estate, with some pretty friendly deer... We also encountered some bicyclists, suggesting we could have ridden it a few year ago (except for the snow).

Cedar Breaks National Monument Cedar Breaks and Bryce Canyon are similar and not very far apart. I suspect they may be parts of the same formation. Here are a couple more stereo views.

Bryce Canyon National Park Two weeks into the trip, Victor twisted his ankle. It didn't slow him down as much as one may have imagined, but he did occasionally make some funny faces. If you look closely, you can see trails through the canyon. Dave hiked down one and we picked him up in the town of Tropic. Sounds like good adventure for some of the novo hikers in the family...

Try this image as a jigsaw puzzle at: http://www.jigsawplanet.com/?rc=play&pid=29731891e080 (To start, click the circular arrow in the lower left corner.)

Zions National Park I had been to Zions previously, but in those days you could drive the length of the park. If I understood correctly, people were paying circa $30 to rent the proper equiipment to hike the "Virgin River Narrows" (which Dave Elliott and I did in our street cloths).

Canyon de Chelly National Park This is another national park I had previously visited. Towards the end of the trip the enjoyment level had definitely slipped a notch or two. Oh look, another gorgeously breathing national park... Can we go now?

Painted Desert/Petrified Forest National Park This is a "twofer," two parks in one.

Using the little camera, I also managed to capture some interesting images of my finger...

This was a fun trip, and I enjoyed it immensely. I saw many new things and learned a few new facts. At the same time, I'm glad it is over. "Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home." Three incidents occurred during this trip that are worth noting: We stopped at a convenience store (similar to a Circle K) in a small town (whose name escapes me) in Colorado and asked to use their microwave. The clerk not only stayed past quitting time to accommodate us, but she also gave us (and refused payment) the contents of the grill she was closing down. We had problems with the transmission shift lever. I called Wyatt and suggested that he come to northern Montana and help us, but for some reason he found this course of action to be inconvenient. None-the-less, he diagnosed the problem and armed with this information we pulled into the tiny town of Sun River and found a small garage (that actually looked like [and may havd been] farm equipment repair) and explained our predicament. The time was 9:05 pm. At 9:14 pm we pulled out of that establishment with the missing bolt replaced and the vehicle again functional. The mechanic refused payment (we insisted). I'm willing to wager a substantial sum that you could not duplicate that experience in any large city in the world. Victor filled the electronic media of his cameras and needed to transfer the files to a storage device. This required a computer. Holly Herring, the Branch Manager of the public library in Augusta, Montana agreed to let us use the equipment there for this multi-hour task, and when it appeared we would need and extra half hour past her quitting time of 5 pm, she left us in charge of the library while she went home and prepared to attend her evening class at 6 pm. Can you invision that occurring in Tucson? My experience at the crime lab convinced me that the world is full of crazy people, but incidents like these suggest there may be a few nice people out there too...

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