Updates from the Road

Thursday's (we think it's Thursday) Top Ten Things You Should Know About Our Road Trip

1) Do not take pictures of border patrol booths

2) The "Thing" in Arizona is not cool at all and a total waste of $1

3) You can buy a bull whip, moccasins, giant fireworks, faux leather vests, a water feature for your lawn, a ceramic frog holding a bow and arrow, and homemade fudge at any truck stop on I-10

4) The GPS doesn't know where the In-N-Out burger is in Tuscan, bu tour noses can lead us to one within 100 miles.

5) Its amazing how much fun you can fit in a shoebox - Thanks Lindsay Flinn!

6) The best way to survive New Mexico is a rockin' playlist of showtunes and sountracks - Newsies, anyone?

7) Truckers really like our "Footloose" dance moves

8) Come on trucks! Get out of the left lane - we're a Mini on a mission.

9) Thanks to Mike and Linda Smyth we woke up this morning with a hangover and a clean windshield

10) 500 miles to Dallas - we might have to make a hard left to Canada (we don't want this roadtrip to end!)

sent via blackberry

More pictures and video to come. We just thought you might need something to tide you over. We know you are reading - so leave comments already!!! :)

Roadtrip Rock Out

We are about to hit the road from Phoenix, but before we go we wanted to share a little ditty that pretty much sums up the trip. Sorry for the poor camera work - my arms are only so long. :)

Cape Final -- Grand Canyon Grandeur

Incredible. Basically that picture says it all. We took the advise from our buddy at the front desk of the lodge and headed out on a 4 mile hike to Point Final. Most of the hike was through a heavily wooded area and we only got a couple of peaks of the Canyon along the way. Luckily, the payoff was SO worth it. Panoramic views all around. Its easy to put your life into perspective when you are perched on the edge of something so much bigger, so much older, so much grander than you can ever imaging being. It was pretty awesome. Check out some of our pictures from the hike.

Oh, and Exhibit #201 that Erin is going to win the handstand bet.

Late Night to Arrive - Early to Arise at the Grand Canyon

Despite our best intentions, it was not in the cards to make it to the Grand Canyon before sunset. We did, however, have some beautiful sunset shots through the burned out trees as we made the 40-mile trek from the highway into the National Park - arriving way after dark. ((Thank you Uncle Tom for the handy hand crank flashlight -- without it we would have been stumbling through the dark and probably have fallen into the Canyon))

We checked into the Lodge at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon and promptly grabbed some food, some drinks and headed out to the deck to star watch. We were told that the deck "overlooked" the Canyon. So we sat, looking out into a black abyss and admired the millions of stars and even saw some shooting ones. What we wouldn't find out until morning is that if we had happened to have tripped getting up from our chair we would have enjoyed a 800 ft drop to the bottom of the freaking GRAND CANYON. The Lodge is literally perched on the edge. If you haven't been to the North Rim, we highly recommend it.

So, since we missed sunset, we were determined to catch the sunrise. The 5:15am wake-up call came early, but since we are both so hard-core we were up and on the .25 mile hike to Bright Angle Point to fully appreciate the majesty of the Grand Canyon at sunrise. We scored a prime spot at the highest point we could find - making several octogenarians very nervous with our precarious perch - and camped out for an incredible natural light show. We were speechless (who? us?) as we took in the indescribable beauty of the sun rising over the East and gently painting the Western wall with delicate pink light. 

What an incredible way to start your day. Remarkably, just 24 hours before we were a world away, watching the sun come up on the Vegas strip. It was hard to believe that was just yesterday. 

As the sun climbed higher in the sky we headed back to the room for some photo downloading, some electronics charging and a quick nap. Then we packed up our stuff, grabbed some breakfast and made a beeline for Cape Final -- the hike that came highest recommended by our favorite desk guy - Jon. 

Highway Hot Shots

So, you might not have know that we are pretty awesome photographers. If you can't tell already from the photos we've added to the blog, what you will see below will make you a believer.

We were somewhere between Colorado City and Fredonia when my flat tire light went on mysteriously. In order to investigate this we pulled to the side of the deserted highway. Once we had determined that this was merely a momentary malfunction we noticed how freaking GORGEOUS the road was and couldn't resist an impromptu photoshoot. Don't be jealous. After two wardrobe changes and several angles, our favorites are below. Erin has dubbed our new venture "Highway Hot Shots." Like at the craps tables, millions are in our future. Feel free to email us and make an appointment.

hot.

Higher the Hair, Closer to God

As many of your probably know, I have been conducting an independent study on Fundamental Mormonism and Polygamy, so this roadtrip was a dream come true because it offered the chance to drive through Short Creek - modernly known as Hildale, UT/Colorado City, AZ. We left Vegas after a fantastically hungover lunch at In-and-Out Burger and hit the road north to St. George and hit three states before we headed south again into Arizona and into the cradle of Mormon Fundamentalism and the home of Warren Jeffs' FLDS. 

While there we wanted to witness the way these people live and see first hand if the media has portrayed them accurately. What we found truly confirmed all suspicions about this sect. The homes were 5 times the size of normal homes - plenty of room for several dozen wives and children. After cruising up and down the streets of Colorado City four or five times we knew we were in the right place. We spotted several 

young FLDS girls with slurpees and then got photographic evidence of what appears to be a 14-year-old with a baby. This was one of our favorite shots that Erin took with her telephoto lens as we did the creepy slow driveby half a dozen times. Please note, the buffont hair, "modest dress" and sensible shoes. In honor of our friends in Colorado City, Erin decided to try out the hairstyle. I was afraid she was going to get picked up by a polygamist and leave me to drive to Texas all by myself, but if that meant that I inherited Doug then I guess it would have been ok. I guess Erin's hair wasn't actually to scale, because we didn't get any offers. You can be the judge for yourself on her craftsmanship. Notice the prayerful stance. That didn't help either. Let me tell 

you there is some pretty hysterical video of our time amongst the FLDS - it will be uploaded later - but lets just say, I was pretty freaked out that we were going to get attacked or pulled over or stoned or something. Erin had to quote our friend Megan and remind me to "be cool." 

All in all, I have to say it was a successful trip. I can now write confidently in my academic paper that I have witnessed in person the oppressed lifestyle of these people. At least we made it out of town with out Erin trying to "rescue" one of these poor girls. There isn't much room in the Mini and that would have been awkward.

Red Bull - What's Fueling Vegas

So, needless to say after our slow start out of LA we didn't make it to Vegas until late. The drive was fairly uneventful. There was zero traffic on a Monday night and we jammed out to some good tunes and tried to ration our catching up stories for the hours ahead. I almost lost Erin as we crossed the Nevada state line - at this point she had been up for about 24 hours straight. By the time we rounded the curve into Sin City we were both fading fast. Luckily, we'd packed Red Bull in the cooler and between one of those and the excitement of driving the strip in the Mini our second wind was inevitable.

After cruising the Strip to an assortment of J. Timberlake and Britany tunes we checked into our hotel we issued a "no sitting down in the hotel room" mandate, quickly changed into our party clothes,

 pounded  another Red Bull, and headed out. After some disappointment at the Blackjack tables at the New York, New York (evil dealer, cold table, absentee cocktail waitresses) we crossed over the Strip to the MGM, a place where Lady Luck has always found me. At last we found a home at a Craps table that was coming into its own after a cold streak. We made friends with a couple of the craps dealer (croupier?) and began to figure it all 

out. Apparently craps skills (addiction?) runs in Erin's family, so we were in for a long night and several trips to the ATM. The cocktail 

waitresses were plentiful at the MGM and kept our Red Bull Vodkas full all night and we were pretty proud that we were able to make our money last for upwards of five hours. By the end of it we were betting with confidence all over the board. Next time we'll win big for sure.

We may not have come out ahead in the chips, but we certainly came out ahead in the friends department, buddying up to

 a group of seven British blokes on a roadtrip across the Western United States. They certainly kept us

 entertained at the table with their British-isms ("that was a rubbish roll") and then later at the bar where we partied until the sun came up. Capping off perhaps the best start to a roadtrip possible. Our new friends were sad to see us go (especially the one that apparently didn't notice Erin's w

edding rings!!) but by 6:30am Erin had been awake for 30 hours and I was approaching 24 and it was time to call it a night. We had

 to at least use our room for a few hours!! And of course rest up for the day ahead.

So now, we've hit the In-and-Out (amazing) and Erin is squeezing in a little work before we go incomunicato for a day while we drive through FLDS country and check out the Grand Canyon.

We promise pictures and video of all the above events in the near future!