Country Club of Crystal Coast

November 5/14 - We decided to try out a new course for our day at the coast.  The Country Club of Crystal Coast had been recommended by a sales person at Dick's.  Billed as a "placement" course, it lived up to its reputation.  At par 70, the 5,558 yard whites have a slope rating of 122 and the 4,816 yard reds are 120.

We will definitely be putting this on the "tour".  Take your camera and a disposable score card.

Beautiful old course with lots of water, trees in bad places, and challenging greens.

And views of Bogue Sound from six of the holes on the back nine.

Very pretty!

A very enjoyable day with Rose and Ed.

Happy Hallowe'en

It has become a tradition (our second time) to hold a theme dinner on our annual New Bern golf trip.  Last year, Rada and John helped us to welcome the guests from the other house for a Mexican night.  This time, Maureen and Matt joined us in hosting our Hallowe'en themed dinner.

First we decorated.

Then the food.   Eyes.

And faces.

And mummies.

And the hosts.

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And finally,the guests.

A good time was had by all!

Postscript

Not much to report today, but I will throw in some bits and pieces that you may find interesting.

But first, on our final push home we decided to enjoy one more lunch at our new favourite fast food restaurant - Culver's - home of the Butterbest Burger.  Never heard of them before, but they have outlets across a good portion of the States and we will be looking for them in the future.

Our odyssey ended at 5:15 p.m., in Grimsby, where it began 23 days ago.

We covered 10,917 kilometres on our trip.  One stone chip in the wind-shield, one wheel that needs to be rebalanced, otherwise the van looked after us well.

Our mileage readings were typically in the 8.1 to 8.5 litre range per 100 kilometres, despite sustained high speeds, in high temperatures, with strong headwinds, mountain driving at altitude, etc. The western states have a 75 mph (120 km) limit on their interstates (Utah allows 80 mph but I was content to set the cruise at 75).  Secondary highways are usually 65 mph.

Now for the tidbits.  Did I tell you about the trail rules of the Grand Canyon?

• Uphill climbers have the right-of-way, because it's harder to restart heading uphill.
• Mules have the right-of-way in either direction.  Move to the inside of the trail and let them pass. Mules will not fall off the trail, but would have no compunction about pushing you over the edge if you were in the way.
• There were toilets of some kind in each of our campsites.  But if you were caught short away from the facilities you must go at least 200 feet away from any water source or creek.
• In these cases, if your "business'" requires toilet paper, you must dig a hole, bury it, save the toilet paper in a sealable plastic bag, and pack it out of the canyon.
• All food waste must be brought out of the canyon, including crumbs.  The Grand Canyon has biting ants and they don't want them, or the animals, to be encouraged.
• Do not keep food in your backpack at night, or in your tent.  Food, including leftovers, must be placed in the ammo cans to prevent animals from raiding it.
• Soap or shampoo are not allowed to be used anywhere except in the Colorado River itself (good luck with that - remember the 47F temp?).  I would just soak my shirt in a creek or under a tap and rinse off, then wring out the shirt and put it back on - it would be dry in minutes.  No shaving either - the result being that you end up looking (and smelling) like a grizzled prospector before the trip is over.

• There are mountain lions, bobcats, rattlesnakes, scorpions and tarantulas in the canyon, but we didn't see any of these.
• Surprisingly, the most dangerous animal in the canyon is this guy:

More people are treated for squirrel bites than for anything else.  Don't feed the animals stupid!

• If you want a great travel companion, I can recommend Ewen.  He was a real delight, not just for me but for all of our group.  Polite, intelligent conversation and questions (and answers).  Willing to do whatever was asked of him.
• As for me, I'm retired from this level of adventure.  It's now time to plan Sarah-Jean's western trip next summer with Reggie to Las Vegas, Sedona, Palm Springs, San Diego, Los Angeles and San Francisco.  No hiking, just sightseeing and shopping!

But first, I have a cycling and canoeing weekend with the Trompers starting on Friday.  Don't hang up the spurs yet, Bud!

Thanks for taking the time to read the blog.  Hope you all enjoyed it. 

Dorsal.

Gateway Arch, St. Louis.

Just one destination on the agenda today, but it was on Ewen's bucket list so we made sure we got there.

Following the Louisiana Purchase, St. Louis became the gateway to the new lands west of the Mississippi. The Arch, seen here as we came from the west (much more impressive coming from the east as you can see it across the Mississippi) is intended to portray that gateway image.

It's hard to believe, looking up from the park level, that you can actually go up inside the structure!

But, you can!

Four minutes after we enter our pod we're at the top.  The pod re-levels itself as it progresses up inside the arch.  And 630 feet below us is the city (actually, nothing below us but air!).

And, on the other side, the Mississippi.

If you are lucky, as Ewen was, you get to watch a St. Louis Cardinal's game being played!

The picture below shows just a small portion of Gateway Park, a beautiful inner city parkland.

We reached Plainfield, Indiana tonight.  Tomorrow, The Homecoming!

Sunday, August 31 - Day 22

Very hot, high 90's all day, and strong crosswinds made the trip more demanding than I needed.  Not much to see today, but we did take a side trip into Tucumcari to see the Route 66 motel, The Blue Swallow, that Malcolm and I had stayed in five years ago (it was July 4 and the owner put on a fireworks display for his guests - but no cannon crackers - "us Vietnam Vets don't like them things").

It's still going strong - "every room refrigerated" - but there are dozens of old motels, gas stations and other businesses that are slowly turning to dust.  The new Interstate was the death knell for a lot of towns along Route 66.

This building was across the street.  Lots of 50's cars sitting around and I saw an auto recycling business that looked like it hadn't changed for 50 years.

The only other attraction that we saw was the Cadillac Ranch, but there are no signs telling you when to take an off ramp and rather than retracing our steps we carried on.  The photo which follows was taken on my trip with Malcolm.

Tonight we're in Tulsa,Oklahoma.  Tomorrow we see the St. Louis Arch.

Saturday, August 30- Trip day 21.

As we started our trip home we still had some neat things to see.  First on the list - Meteor Crater, which is not too far east of Flagstaff.

Somewhere around 50,000 years ago (early in my childhood) a 150 foot wide meteor crashed into the Arizona desert at about 26,000 miles per hour (they didn't have kilometres back then).  It created this hole, which is over 4,000 feet across and was about 700 feet deep originally (now just over 500 feet deep, it hasn't been swept out recently).

It obliterated the landscape for miles around and threw up a debris field around the hole.

Apollo astronauts did some of their early training in the crater.

At the bottom of the crater are the remains of mines where a fortune was lost looking for the vapourized meteorite.  Some pieces were found in the debris field however, and one about a cubic metre was located two miles away.

Next up, we had to make a pilgrimage to Route 66, specifically the Standing On A Corner Park in Winslow, Arizona.

It took a few minutes but we located the brick that Roger had paid to have placed in the forecourt of the park.

And we had lunch across the street in a vintage diner.

Then we were off once again to see the Petrified Forest.

There are acres of petrified wood, and more is being exposed as the surrounding hills continue to erode.

They also have an exhibit of dinosaur skeletons which have been excavated in this area.

The one in the green shirt is actually the grandson of a dinosaur.

The same park contains the area called The Painted Desert.  Hills like these are where the trees have been hiding since they fell in a swamp and were mineralized over time.

We stopped for the night in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

The Final Push

For the first time on the trip we started hiking when we had planned...at 5 a.m. with headlamps for the first half hour.  Then morning light took over.  Our target is somewhere near those two lights you see at the top.

Looks challenging!

The view below is from our first stop at Three Mile House (three miles left to go).  After one and a half hours I'm soaking with sweat and we're not out in the sun yet!  Temperature is supposedly in the low 70's..........but who can you trust anymore?

We have breakfast at Three Mile House and then press on.

Are we there yet?

We pass our first mules on the trip (they pass us, as per guideline).

It's a lot more satisfying to look back on what you have accomplished, than to contemplate what's left to do!

OK. Just get up Heartbreak Hill and you've got it made!  We're at about 6,000 feet at this point.

Ryan said there were two tunnels......must be getting close.

One more look back.  Three days ago, we started six miles past where you can see up the canyon opposite. Plateau Point is in the middle of the picture - you can see the trail to the point.  Indian Gardens Campground is in the oasis of cottonwood trees in lower centre...that's where we started at 5 a.m.

And we made it!  It's 10:15 a.m.  Just five hours of pain.  Thanks Ryan!  Not too many pictures of Ewen today........Ryan had turned us loose after Three Mile House and the scamp probably beat me to the top by about 20 minutes.

We earned our badge! Although it says "21 miles", with the side trips we made we're closer to 28.

Interestingly, when you reach the top there's a sort of letdown - now what?  The next morning when Ewen and I were enjoying a leisurely breakfast in the hotel dining room and looking out at the pine forest I suddenly felt like I was on vacation.  I realized that I had been on a mission till then.  Mission accomplished!

More to come.....