The story so far...

After the trials and tribulations regarding Internet access over recent weeks, myself and some of my fellow trekkers decided to group together and buy a laptop.

Is there anything Wallmart doesn’t sell?

So much for getting away from it all, but at least I should be able to update my a blog a bit more frequently.

Hurrah!

So where were we?

Without painstakingly re-living every little incident of the past few weeks here is a low down of what I’ve been up to in those ‘wilderness’ weeks.

Think John Lennon’s ‘Lost Weekend’…

Florida: Friday 15th – Wednesday 19th June

After writing my last proper blog entry during the morning as the rest of my group went snorkeling in Key Largo, that afternoon we drove down to the southern most point in the US, the Florida Keys.

A group of islands trailing off from the mainland into the Gulf of Mexico.

The weather here was typically tropical, unpleasantly humid and successiptble to sudden storms.

On the Saturday we visited the southern most island, Key West.

Key West had a relaxed Caribbean feel to it and I enjoyed wondering round the streets, doing a recording at the point where the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico meet, tasting Key Lime Pie, and rather stupidly forgetting I was in probably the hottest place I’d ever been and getting sun burnt.

In the evening we were meant to go for a ‘booze cruise’ at sea, but unfortunately as the storms picked up once again, we spent the evening in a bar named after the famous mince meat burger and local ‘delicacy’, ‘Sloppy Joes’.

On the Sunday we drove back up through Florida onto Orlando and stopped at the Everglades National Park en route.

Although we didn’t see any alligators on our boat ride apart from those in the enclosed caged areas, how much I would have really have liked to made their acquaintance I’m not too sure.

Then early on Monday morning we set off to ‘The Happiest Place on Earth’ TM, Disney Land.

Despite my initial cynicism, evoked in a place where you are bombarded by smiling faces and replica ‘ye olde worlde shoppes’, I have to admit I had an incredibly enjoyable day going on many of the rides.

Even the big scary ones!

In fact, as someone who had never been to Disney before or to any one of the major theme parks back home, I think I enjoyed myself even more than some of the rest of the group.

The next couple of days were spent relaxing in Panama City.

Essentially a coastal resort, but it served it’s purpose and it was nice to slow the pace down a bit after a hectic first week on the trek.

Louisiana: Thursday 21st June- Friday 22nd June

Our time in New Orleans or ‘Nawleans’ was briefer than intended.

Still visibly affected by Hurricane Katrina , it was certainly the most poverty stricken and deprived place I had seen during my visit to the US.

We only stayed the one evening to sample some of the night life, and then departed the next day staying the following night at a campsite in Lafayette.

Texas: Saturday 23rd June- Tuesday 26th June

I didn’t really give the state of Texas much thought before my trip.

Cattle, cowboys and cacti were the three things that first sprung to mind.

Texas would however become my favourite state of the trip so far even though we saw just a small part of what it has to offer, and is somewhere that I would definitely return to in the future.

On the Sunday we visited the Alamo in San Antonio, renowned for the famous battle between the Anglo- American Texan settlers and the Mexican Army, as the former sought to obtain independence from Mexico.

I really enjoyed visiting the remains of the former mission, and even bought a rather cool T-shirt, even if I do admit it myself, for my collection. That night we arrived in the state capital Austin, and went for a few drinks with another Trek group touring the US.

Our plans to explore the city and the numerous city walks were unfortunately hampered the next day though, when we encountered a heavy rain storm.

My time in Austin was to some extent the biggest disappointment of the tour, because I really wanted to see more of this city that I instinctively felt a connection with, and was primarily due to the weather regrettably unable to do so.

As a result of this I have however already penciled in the notion of going returning there for a holiday in the future.

On the Wednesday we set up camp in Del Rio, and then made the short journey South of the Border, Mexico way.

The border crossing to the town of Acuna was a bit protracted, especially as we all sought to stock up on duty free, and to be honest there was much do or see once we there.

Having visited as many tourist shops as possible selling the same old touristy things, and having passed numerous dentists en route too, we decided to set our stall up in a local bar and have a few tequilas.

Whilst it had been slightly windy that day, nothing prepared us for the horrendous weather accompanied by thunder and lightening that erupted around 5am Wednesday morning in Del Rio.

My tent and my belongings were lucky to escape somewhat unscathed, if a little wet, although some of the fly sheets were torn straight off the other tents.

New Mexico: Wednesday 27th June- Thursday 28th June

That morning, sodden but unbroken we drove onto Carlsbad in New Mexico.

In the afternoon we descended into the famous Carlsbad Caverns and witnessed some spectacular stalagmite and stalactite rock formations, before returning to the caves later that evening to watch the evening bat flight, when some 300, 000 bats leave the cave into the night sky.

Typical, you wait ages for one bat and then 300, 000 come along at once!

Interestingly despite my intentions of recording this event for my audio diary, electrical equipment was not permitted in order to prevent it interfering with the bats’ navigation.

That night fate’s fickle finger was once again to select our group for a disrupted night’s sleep, as we were again awoken by a huge thunderstorm, and which this time our tent’s well being was less fortunate than the night before.

In the end the whole group spent most of the night sleeping in the game’s room complex of the campsite to escape the weather.

On the Thursday we visited the capital of New Mexico, Santa Fe.

One of the oldest existing cities in the Americas and now a rather salubrious location consisting of various up market art galleries, as well as old historical sites.

The Great Outdoors: Friday 29th June- Monday 9th July

In an attempt to get my blog up to date as quickly as possible, I have decided to write about all the National Parks we visited so far, in one section.

On the Friday we arrived in Colorado at Ridgway National Park.

Surrounded by giant red sandstone mountains, and at an altitude of around 7, 000 feet above sea level this was the first time I felt that we had truly made contact with mother nature on the trek due to the remoteness of the campsite and the majestic scenery that encompassed it.

The following day we went to a bathe outdoors at the natural spa at Orvis. Where despite the beautiful scenery, photography was not permitted because of people’s tendency to get truly one with nature more ways than one.

From the Rockies in Colorado, the further westward we went the more the scenery began to resemble the old Road Runner and Wiley Coyote cartoons.

On the Sunday we drove to Moab in Utah, and went for a sunset walk in Arches National Park.

The following morning I went on probably my most ambitious activity of the tour yet, when myself and several other trekkers went for an early morning 7 mile hike around the park.

Arches National Park is essentially a desert comprised of huge red sandstone rock formations and arches that have eroded over time into spectacular shapes, that is possible for the public to ascend and explore.

Although at some points quite high, incredibly hot, and with little shade, we all managed to successfully traverse the route and support each other on the way.

On the Tuesday we then headed to Monument Valley home of the Navajo Indian and the setting for numerous old Hollywood Westerns as well as more contemporary movies.

On the Wednesday morning we went on a guided tour around some of the famous stone buttes, before then stopping off for lunch at a Native American market for lunch.

Although I was able to try some typical Navajo cuisine, the market itself was not particularly exotic and was not dissimilar to your average Sunday car boot fair.

From there we then headed for the Grand Canyon, Arizona. Wednesday was of course the 4th July, American Independence Day.

This was however to turn out as far as we were concerned, rather surprisingly low key.

My own enthusiasm for the event had somewhat waned due to a heightened awareness of the injustices faced by America’s indigenous population, that had troubled my conscience on several occasions the previous couple of days.

In addition to this the incredibly dry weather had meant that all bonfires and fireworks were not permitted at our campsite near the South Ridge of the Grand Canyon.

It is hard to explain the appearance of the Grand Canyon and to truly do it justice simply because of its size.

In many ways it does not look real.

As it is so vast and distant you cannot even measure your own insignificant size in comparison to it.

The best way to describe looking over to the North Ridge would be to say imagine standing on the South Coast of England and instead of being surrounded by sea as you look over to France, imagine a huge crater in the Earth.

Over the couple of days we were there I saw the Canyon on four separate occasions including sunrise and sunset, but it was probably not until my third viewing and on a helicopter tour over the Canyon, that I truly began to appreciate its magnificence.

On the Friday we drove back into the state of Utah, adjusting our clocks once more and stopped off at Lake Powell before setting up camp at a ranch run by a former Trek America Leader.

In the afternoon I went horse riding for the very first time, in true cowboy style, before we held a special party in a barn with three of the other trek groups who were staying at the site.

Our group in particular made a special effort for this event, with all of us dressing up in an outfit costing no more than $10, from items we had managed to buy in a thrift shop earlier that day.

I can’t wait to show you the photos for this one…

On the Saturday afternoon we headed off to Bryce Canyon, a site as distinct to the Grand Canyon as possible.

Despite an initial feeling that we would be going to visit a lesser version of the latter, Bryce Canyon was far from a disappointment, and was bizarrely evocative of a scene from a Christmas card with the pine trees and the wonderful vertical rock formations, or hoodoos, that dominated it.

That evening we even had time to go to a local rodeo.

Yee Haw!

On the Sunday and Monday we visited our final National Park for this part of the trek, Zion National Park.

The Canyon in Zion was again quite distinctive from those we had visited previously, and although I chose not to partake in any of the more adventurous hikes along the steep rock ledges, I was content enough to spend the morning going on some of the more shaded trails at a lower altitude.

Vegas Baby, Vegas: Monday 9th July- Tuesday 10th July

Well so here we are now.

Within less than 24 hours we exchanged the natural beauty of Zion National Park for the flashing lights and artifice of The Strip in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Although I didn’t hit the casinos until around 11.30pm Monday evening, within a period of less than 50 minutes I had managed to lose $150 (approximately 75 pounds Sterling), so much for the ‘party’ shirt- you all know the one.

As I had given myself a rather modest budget of $200 for the two days I decided to call it day on the gambling front for the evening, before I did something I would regret.

Boring I know, but once you start…

The fact I have spent the past hour and half writing this blog this morning has also proved a useful distraction as I have not felt the urge to go forth and win back ‘my’ money first thing this morning, or more likely lose the rest of it, as well as the shirt on my back.

Well at least I had a nice clean bed to sleep in for once.