the Malaysian Cowboy

On Lakoff’s The Political Mind, Looking To Mottahedeh’s The Mantle of the Prophet

Aeden — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 00:27:00 +0000

The Political Mind by George Lakoff

Perusing the shelves of a bookstore, a year ago I stumbled on George Lakoff’s The Political Mind. Claiming to explain the nature of the American political mind, through the lens of objective, cognitive science, Lakoff’s words seemed a refreshing change from the partisan finger-pointing. So I put the book on my seemingly endless list of things to do, and eventually, I got around to reading it about a month ago.

Having finished the book, in my opinion, if you ever happen to come across the book, go right ahead and skip it. Lakoff’s focus on the inner workings of the mind, from neural patterns, biconceptionalism, and unconscious frames, definitely make for a compelling discussion and newfound introspection about how our minds act in the political realm.

Yet, even as he declares notions of the “left-right” spectrum useless in this discussion, Lakoff’s conclusions seem bent on galvanizing liberals rather than simply informing. Every now and again, you’ll notice a reference to what he clearly views as direct and indirect failings presided over by the Bush administration, with his references to Blackwater and the invasion of Iraq, Enron, healthcare, among other things. Throughout, he calls for a “new enlightenment” that goes beyond mere rationality and utility that pervaded the original enlightenment, to acknowledge the emotional component of our reasoning. In one sense, to any progressive individual, the book is the kind of feel-good literature that makes you feel empowered and a little more certain about how to go about achieving significant progress in the American political landscape.

And, don’t get me wrong: it’s not that I didn’t find myself in agreement with Lakoff, on multiple occasions. I’m definitely sure of my own progressive mindset on countless issues.

Still, Lakoff appears to go through significant pains, at the outset and various other junctions, to convince the reader that he is presenting an entirely objective point of view, while at the same time turning right around and arguing, implicitly or otherwise, that there’s a sort of battle against a conservative mindset that the world must .

Using some of Lakoff’s terminology, one might say that as you move from chapter to chapter, you can’t escape the notion that Lakoff is carefully framing the argument in a manner presenting the progressive point of view as the better option, while failing to acknowledge this frame and the fact that it may in fact be clouding the actual discussion. That really irked me.

In short, I found it a chore to get through Lakoff’s writing. It wasn’t so much dry writing as it was annoyingly hypocritical, and, to the extent that it reached a conclusion, it was so overtly one-sided that it left a bad taste in my mouth for objective, informative writing.

The Mantle of the Prophet Religion and Politics in Iran by Roy Mottahedeh

I came to discover this gem writing on the Iranian revolution on the Council on Foreign Relations’ Foreign Affairs website. I received my copy in the mail today—turns out it’s not all that readily available at most local Barnes and Noble or Borders locations—but having read the opening pages, I’m already excited.

Presented in narrative form, from the reviews I’ve read, Mottahedeh presents an unrivaled account of an increasingly relevant society, and I’m looking forward to coming away with an increased appreciation and understanding for Iran. If nothing else, the perspective is likely to give me a refreshing change from all that the mainstream media love to spew on a daily basis!

Day 14: Dallas to Houston; The End!

Aeden — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 02:01:44 +0000

(the main video)

(the epilogue, of sorts)

Today’s Flickr Gallery | August 2nd: Dallas to Houston-HOME!

Over the course of this trip, I’d gotten used to heading out on the road at progressively later times. While the first day started with me leaving home at the ripe hour of 5:30, I left yesterday for Dallas at only 11 am. Granted, not all drives were the same length, but, I’m pretty sure as the days wore on and I became progressively tired, I made up for that by getting just a little more shut eye when I could. Today was, however, a bit different: I was headed home!

Leaving Rebecca’s place at the ripe hour of 8:30, I made one stop for gas along the way, but otherwise pressed on. As such, I’m going to leave most of the explanation to the video above, and the epilogue below, which will end up doing most of the heavy lifting in this post.

All told, once home I snapped a shot of the GPS totals for the miles travelled, hours driven, and all the other fun stuff. 4,685 miles. It’s only four simple digits, but behind that number’s an awesome, truly memorable trip.

Emptying my bags later, I laid out all the tangible souvenirs I had accumulated over the course of the trip. A little bit of a mess, but it definitely tells part of the story. Much later, Keesh and I popped a bottle of champagne Mom had gotten for my return

In a way, it feels weird that I’m not going to be continuing with the onslaught of daily videos, photos and blog posts. For a long time I talked mightily of it but wasn’t quite sure myself whether I would actually follow through. Now that I’ve done it, what I can tell you, is that sometimes you just have to do something without thinking too much about it. I can hardly do justice to it all with just a few simple sentences, so rather than try, I’ll leave you with a massive thank you to everyone that made this trip possible, big and large: Mom, Dad, Keesh, my friends Rafaela, Julia and Rebecca, and everyone else that I’ve talked to about this trip either before, during, or after. It was a blast. Thanks for reading and keeping up with my blog, and if you ever do find yourself bored at random other points in the future, chances are I’ll be here blogging, so feel free to come back. For now, this cowboy’s signing off!

Day 13: Oklahoma City to Dallas

Aeden — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 00:53:00 +0000

Today’s Flickr Gallery | August 1st: Oklahoma City to Dallas

The last two days were comparatively light on the photos, as the drives themselves were only about four hours, including the time I spent stopping off for photos. Still, as I set out from Oklahoma close to 11 am, I was interested to see what I’d find along the way to Dallas, as I was still on roads I’d never travelled before.

My first stop was just outside Oklahoma City, right off the highway. Nothing too different from what I’ve seen at this point, though the fullness of the trees was a little bit of a change.

Later, however, as I was nearing the Oklahoma-Texas border, I took another one of those “scenic overlook” exists . While this leg of the trip was short in terms of distance, it also hadn’t provided much in the way of easy-to-spot photo opportunities from the highway, which explains the other half of why it was relatively short on photos. That being said, at this stop, there was a pretty decent view, along with a bit of geological information along Interstate 35.

As you can see, there was quite a bit of graffiti on the main information board. It’s always interesting to see what people take the time to put down in ink. Some felt like leaving their mark across the board, while others carved out a small space to write in cursive. Some were individuals, others were groups. A part of me wanted to leave my own little mark there; indeed, at the Grand Canyon, I came very close. But then I figured these blog posts, videos, photos and the numerous random trinkets I’ve picked up along the way are more than enough for me to remember, and I’d rather not deface anyone else’s property if I really don’t have to.

Anyway, seeing this reminded me of this rather legendary stretch of wall in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, by the old railway station and central market. Every time I visit, it’s always adorned with a plethora of different images, each individual to different artists with different messages. It’s one thing to write your name at a rather desolate location where it’s relatively easy to not be spotted, but something completely different to do it in the dead of night in a bustling city.

After that, I stayed on the road to Dallas save for a lunch stop at a Love’s gas station, where I picked up another pizza. You can probably tell by comparing the photo to yesterday’s, but I definitely think today’s pizza tasted a looooot better than yesterday’s. Then again, neither compared to a nice home cooked meal, but you do what you can!

By 3 o’clock, I was coming up to Rebecca’s place in Dallas. It was refreshing to see yet another familiar face after having driven many thousands of miles . We hung around for a while catching up, before heading out to catch “Dinner with Schmucks”, with Steve Carell and Paul Rudd. Having recently watched “Inception” and “Toy Story”, both serious films in their own way, it was great to catch a funny, stupid film filled with lots of laughs.

When we got home, we sat down to a yummy home-cooked meal. One of the things I do have to take note of were her wonderful dogs, one of which was just four months old! It’s been a while since we’ve last had a dog at home, and having seen Rebecca and Julia’s dogs really made me miss the experience of having a dog at home!

Later, Rebecca’s friend Kathryn came over and we made milkshakes. We had actually planned to walk to The Purple Cow to get some awesome purple milkshakes, but it closed at 9 and that was just about when we decided to get the milkshakes. In my objective opinion, however, I feel like the homemade ones were just as good . We then sat down to Skype with Justin, another one of our awesome friends from Tufts and my future roommate in just over a month from now!

As my head hit the pillow, it dawned on me that I was about to begin the last day of driving. 13 days later, part of me felt like I’d been on the road for a month, if not more! Without question, they had been fun-filled, busy days that I’ll fondly remember. Anyway, the conclusions for my trip should be saved for the last day, so I guess you’ll have to scroll/navigate back to that Day 14 for the rest of the scoop!

Day 12: Amarillo to Oklahoma City

Aeden — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 21:00:24 +0000

Today’s Flickr Gallery | July 31st: Amarillo to Oklahoma City

The drive to Oklahoma City was as straightforward as things go: head east on I-40 and eventually I’d exit off to get to the hotel.

The first stop off the highway wasn’t terribly exciting, but it did give me another chance to get shots of a dirt road. And me in a cowboy hat, of course. Of note, about 25 miles into the trip I hit the 4,000 mile milestone.

For the moment, the skies were clear with nary a cloud in sight, making for some nice contrast between the fields and the wonderfully blue sky.

A few miles later I spotted more empty roads, and realized I hadn’t really tried out taking shots from the top of an overpass. So I pulled off, parked a little ways away, and made the trip across the overpass to see what kind of shots I could get. They weren’t awesome, but they were at least another angle that I’ve driven up and around over the course of this trip, so why not document them, eh? Looking back, I would like to get some shots in the dead of night, as The long exposure shots with the car headlights and taillights always make for beautiful shots…but I’m always fearful that I’ll get hit or something, what ith all those cars and a lot more darkness than there is light. So anyway, I still have to do that at some point in my life.

Moving right along, I left Texas and made it to Oklahoma, where, as I’d expected, not too much changed in the way of scenery.

That being said, the next set of shots are, with little doubt, some of my favorites from this entire trip. With the windmill, the old shed, the bountiful clouds, and the patchwork of color on the weeds and grass, it was truly a sight to behold.

After that, I passed by a number of wind turbines. I’d seen a few in Amarillo on my way west, but not any close enough for me to get a good look at right off the highway. Also was able to snap a shot of a huge number of hay rolls.

About thirty or so miles outside of Oklahoma City, I stopped at a Taco Bell to grab some lunch. Since check-in at most of these hotels is usually 3pm, I was running a little early so I decided I needed to kill some time; hence the lunch stop. A steak grilled stuft burrito. Mmmmm they’re always yummmmmyyy. Randomly, I just now Googled the term, and the first result was a WikiHow on how to best eat a grilled stuft burrito from Taco Bell. It was worth a few chuckles, especially step four…

Add cheese to the burrito; this can be done in several ways.

Pour over each bite of the burrito you take.

Attempt to open the burrito and put cheese in there; beware, you may not wrap it back tightly enough.

Grab the burrito and dip it in cheese.

Add cheese to the burrito; this can be done in several ways.Pour over each bite of the burrito you take.Attempt to open the burrito and put cheese in there; beware, you may not wrap it back tightly enough.Grab the burrito and dip it in cheese.

But I digress. Eventually, I made it to Oklahoma City, which seemed rather reminiscent of downtown Houston in the sense that the downtown was relatively small, and it seems as though most of the population is spread out elsewhere. Which, having now that I re-read that description, that’s probably an accurate description of a lot of modern cities across the south. Still, something about the architecture and the red brick really did remind me of some sections of downtown Houston.

A few minutes later I arrived at my hotel in Bricktown, at around 3 in the afternoon. I chilled for a bit, got some of the previous days’ photos and videos uploaded, and later, for dinner, walked across the street to find some hot food. I was dissapointed that the combo sandwich-Indian joint seemed to be closed. Or at least they weren’t interested in serving me. I don’t really know what the deal was; I settled for a mini pizza from the gas station next door.

Later that night, around 9:30 or so, I left the hotel to seek out some good night shots. After driving about 20 miles out, I turned off the highway. I did get out to take some shots, but the sound of all the bugs chirping was both annoying and interesting. I got back later and took a look at the shots…and it turned out I had left the camera in manual focus and they were all more or less horrible. Still, I did get to drive around some backroads on the outskirts of Oklahoma City in the darkness of the night.

Tomorrow, Dallas!

Day 11: Denver to Amarillo

Aeden — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 18:19:30 +0000

(You’ll notice this is quite a long clip, there’s some editorializing and random thought in the second half of the video, depending on your mood, you may or may not enjoy that )

Today’s Flickr Gallery | July 30th: Denver to Amarillo

The drive today was somewhat of a homecoming, in the sense that my journey would be bringing me back to good ole’ Texas, and I’d put up at the same hotel in Amarillo that I spent my first night of the journey. Down through Colorado I went, passing through New Mexico for a little while before entering more familiar territory.

Like most of the journey, the clear skies through most of the drive afforded me lots of wonderful photo opportunities. This first set is just outside of Denver, just off Interstate 25.

I continued down I-25 for much of the drive, at one point pulling a fair distance off the highway a little north of Pueblo. Again, the fields, clouds and general atmosphere were a far cry from the concrete jungles I usually frequent when I’m not driving across the southwest, and, had I the option, I probably would have spent the night out there looking at the stars….however, I did have a schedule to keep to!

A little further south, driving through New Mexico, I came across numerous beds of sunflowers that were simply begging to be chronicled. Admittedly, most of the shots I’ve taken on this trip have either been wide landscapes and/or panoramic, photos of me doing the cowboy thing in some fashion, or random snaps from within the car as I’ve been speeding ahead.

While I was driving through New Mexico, I saw a few signs for the Capulin Volcano National Monument. Given that it was just a few miles off the highway, I figured I’d see what the view was like. Turns out, while the drive to the entrance was short, there’s a 30 minute wait to get to the top, due to limited parking. Given the heat and the need to press on, I wasn’t quite in the mood to hang around a parking lot waiting for my name to finally get called, so I left and headed back to the highway. In the end, I found ever more beautiful views a little later on an empty Farm-to-Market road that had unmatched solitude I imagine I wouldn’t have found up at the summit of Mount Capulin.

Once I’d entered Texas, I continued on southeast on Highway 87. The photo below is of a cloud of dust kicked up by a truck driving around factory of some sort. If you check out the portion of the video that features the cloud, it looks a little more impressive.

At some point, I turned off Highway 87 onto Farm-to-Market Road 2202, which was where I really was ensconced in pure solitude for close to half an hour, taking photos and enjoying the rare quiet, away from the sounds of engines racing across asphalt.

Eventually, as I found I was just five minutes away from the hotel, I figured it’d be prudent to get dinner, rather than get in the room, get some rest, and force myself to go back out to find some food. Being that I was now back in Texas, the choice was easy: Whataburger. Mmm those chicken strips were good.

I then pulled into a rather familiar hotel parking lot, only this time, instead of an empty driveway, I found two limos from the famed “The Big Texan” restaurant—if you recall my first day’s post, here in Amarillo a restaurant that offers free limo service to whisk you away and sit you down to finish off a 72 ounce steak. The passengers definitely looked eager to get over there, and, for me, it was a nice, funny little way to end the day.

…and that was Day 11. Tomorrow I’m out for Oklahoma City, which is a comparatively shorter four and a half hours away. It does feel good to be back in Texas!

Days 9 & 10: Denver

Aeden — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 20:41:10 +0000

The Flickr Galleries: Day 1 | Day 2 || Denver: July 28th & 29th

After a good night’s rest and a late breakfast, our first stop was Casa Bonita, a wonderful dining experience similar to a Rainforest Café, only better. Now I must tell you that Julia and her mom went to great lengths to inform me that the food there was pretty bad, and, really, we were going for the experience over anything else. Obviously, being familiar with the numerous Tex-Mex dining options in Houston and Texas, while I can’t say I’m a connoisseur of good Tex-Mex, I can certainly tell good food from the bad stuff.

As it turns out, the food wasn’t really as bad as I’d expected (in fact, the nachos were pretty good, if not rather filling), and the rest of the experience was really cool (check out the video clip for a better idea)!

Having watched a few of the cliff diving shows and a pirate duel, we finished our meal and explored Black Bart’s hideout, which took us through a windy cave filled with lots of interesting creatures and sights.

Upon exiting from the cave, we came upon the Gorilla show that was currently taking place. At one point the gorilla was being chased around the restaurant, before coming back through the back door and waving at the camera (again, see the video).

Eventually, we left Casa Bonita and headed for Adventure Golf and Raceway to play some mini golf, where we were joined by a few of Julia’s friends. Of note, we forgot to pick up a score card and instead used a scorecard we found on the ground, which some kids had filled in the names for but had forgotten to actually make use of. It’d been a few years since I last went minigolfing, but, as always, it was a fun experience, especially the last hole, which, if you got it in the hole, released a huge burst of fire…and if you missed, you were treated to water streaming at your face—both enjoyable, if you ask me.

After that, we dillydallied for a little while trying to decide what we were going to do next, before heading to a nearby movie theater to watch Toy Story 3. Even though I’d already seen it a month or so ago, for those who haven’t yet seen it, it’s definitely a must-see. Once we were out of the movie, we had dinner at a Gunther Toody’s, a 50s diner that’s quite popular in Colorado. Four of us had burgers, but only two paid full price, while the other two were just 5 cents—it was burger night. I also had a yummy vanilla milkshake.

The next day, we set out quite a bit earlier, as our whitewater rafting trip required us to be there at 8:30. Neither of us had whitewater rafted before, but we both agreed a few hours later when we returned that it was an awesome experience. The water levels had been getting lower of late, but the night before it had rained to the point where we were able to ride through some Class III and IV rapids, all the while enjoying beautiful, clear skies. At one point we actually saw a pair of goats way above us in the edge of some cliffs.

We had five of us on our raft, including our guide and a Russian couple of programmers that were visiting from San José. Justin, our guide, has been doing his job for about seven years, and along with the rest of the staff, really seemed to enjoy his job. He told us of his best rafting experience, through the Grand Canyon, which was a twenty-six day trip!

As we went down and through the rapids, we got to talking about our plans to drive up to Mount Evans after our rafting trip. As it happened, the Russian couple had visited the day before and offered to pass us their $10 admission slip. Once again, just like the rather timely offer of free FastPasses at Disneyland, we had lucked out thanks to the goodness of some well-meaning strangers.

Once we returned from our trip of rafting, it was off to Mount Evans. At 14,000 feet, it was quite a climb. And by climb, I mean drive: Mount Evans lays claim to the highest paved road in North America, which takes you right to the top.

Though we encountered some rain clouds on our way up, the views up were simply stunning. Just like the view from the Grand Canyon, the vast expanses were really beautiful.

There was even some snow left on some of the cliffs!

Along the way, every now and again we’d pass by a biker or two. Now, it’s one thing to bike up a paved road this high. It’s another thing to do the trip despite the rain. And, if you’re like the guy we met at the top, who said it was probably his fourth trip up, it’s just that much more impressive.

Once we reached the top, in case there was any question as to whether we’d drastically gone up in elevation, the 43° temperature was there to reassure us.

By this point, the rain near the top had been falling at quite a steady pace, which gave way to quite a bit of fog. While we couldn’t quite see for miles—contrary to the statement on the sign—we were able to snap a rather hilarious shot of us looking off into the wall of fog.

Driving back down, the dense fog definitely made things a bit slower .

Once we were down from the mountain, on the way back we made a quick stop at the Buffalo herd overlook off I-70, across the way from Buffalo Bill’s grave. While they weren’t all that close, we did managed to get a glimpse of them.

After a few hours downtime, we were off again, this time to the Denver Botanic Gardens for a food tasting hosted by Slow Food Denver, before attending a talk given by Eugenia Bone, a food columnist. I feel like the little blurb on the Denver Botanic Gardens’ page does a much better job of explaining her talk than I ever could, so I’m going to shamelessly copy a good chunk of it:

For Eugenia Bone, the kitchen is an ecosystem with dishes in all stages of life: a bounty of mushrooms or artichokes might, simultaneously, be going into preserves, the freezer, soup stock and dinner. An avid canner, Eugenia writes not only about how to preserve foods but also how to merge food preservation into a daily kitchen routine. Thrifty prepping and cooking can get you ahead of the dinner curve in ways that are delicious, conscientious and uncomplicated.

(Denver Botanic Gardens)

And, after a whirlwind two days that kept me busy throughout, I can definitely say I had a great time. This was probably the most photo-filled post, so to those that made it down this far, I congratulate you!

Day 8: Green River, UT to Denver

Aeden — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 16:04:55 +0000

Today’s Flickr Gallery | July 27th: Green River, UT to Denver

After gathering all my gear and checking out, I left at 10:30. Looking back, it’s a shame I ended up spending most of my time in Green River working on video and photo uploads. When I awoke this morning, gone were the foreboding rain clouds, replaced by clear, blue skies. The forecast did show a possibility of rain later in the day, and as it turns out, I did indeed encounter some.

As I made my way east on I-70, I was once again surrounded by vast, open stretches of land. One of the songs I’m particularly a fan of listening to while driving these stretches is “Cowboy Take Me Away” by the Dixie Chicks. That, and “The Long Way Around”. Indeed, I’ve found that there’s no substitute for some good country music while I’m driving these stretches. In the canyons and hillier areas, a bit of classic rock and some Phoenix and more experimental music works all right, but I’ve got to have the country blaring every now and again.

At one point I came across some of the more conventional cacti that I had (apparently wrongly) assumed I would have seen more of by now. As it turns out, I never came across any Saguaro cacti in either Arizona or California, which I was a bit bummed about. I figure, you see them all the time in movies and they tend to be such iconic indicators of desert that you come to expect them when you’re finally there. Oh well, I guess that just means I’ll have to look harder next time around!

A little before crossing into Colorado, I pulled off and figured just a few more desert cowboy shots were in order. The first two black and white silhouettes were interesting, but the more I consider them, the more they seem ripe for a Marlboro ad over anything else .

A little outside Grand Junction in Colorado, I stopped to gas up. For some reason I had to go inside to pay for the gas, and impulsive as I am, when I walked inside I realized I might as well kill two birds and grab some lunch. I grabbed a slice of pizza, and for $2.50, it was a pretty delectable combination of meat, cheese and tomato sauce. Needless to say, it was gone almost a heck of a lot quicker than the time it took to make it.

In the photo below, you see a bottle of Budweiser left along the side of the road. One of the things driving on so many stretches of Interstate teaches you is that no amount of “Do not litter” signs will stop people from chucking their waste wherever they see fit. I was, however, encouraged by the many “Adopt a Highway” sections, which generally tend to be cleaner. Really, though, it doesn’t take all that much for people to just dispose of their waste properly…if you’ve already got the initiative to take that car out for a drive to wherever you end up, something tells me it isn’t going to be too far outside your capacity to bring a trash bag or, at the very least, wait until you find a rest stop with trash cans. It’s just a little disappointing, I guess.

From Grand Junction, I spent quite a while on a lovely stretch of I-40 that hugged the Colorado river winding through the canyons.

I passed through a series of tunnels, which were the first I’d encountered thus far. I was more intrigued by the abundance of bikers I saw around some of the more populous areas (I’m thinking particularly of Glenwood Springs.) These bikers weren’t sharing the road with the bigger vehicles, but were instead riding on well-defined paths winding around the canyons. Just as with the Sequoia National Forest, there was certainly no shortage of people taking advantage of all the recreational opportunities an area as beautiful as this offers during the summertime.

Eventually, I headed up in elevation through the more mountainous regions just outside of Denver, where I met with some of the rain I mentioned earlier. About an hour outside of Denver I encountered some heavy traffic, which I thought was precipitated by the rain itself. Later, I discovered it was people slowing down to observe a rather nasty-looking accident: a car had jumped from the other side of the road (which was elevated), and flipped, crushing most of the frame. Thankfully (and rather amazingly) both the passengers, while shaken up, appeared otherwise unscathed and it was more a case of people gawking rather than any casualties.

I finally arrived at Julia’s place around 6 o’clock, though I never got around to recording a video for that. Julia cooked a dish for dinner that I can’t quite remember the name of, but it included chicken on a bed of couscous with apricots, plums and figs, if my memory serves me well. While it took a while to cook, it was delicious.

All in all, another lengthy buy fun day of driving with some welcome downtime at the end.

Day 7: Las Vegas to Green River, UT

Aeden — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 02:01:54 +0000

Today’s Flickr Gallery | July 26th: Las Vegas to Green River, UT

After a good amount of sleep, I woke up this morning and figured I needed a bit of a different breakfast. And by different I mean I had myself some of that Tazo tea I keep seeing everywhere with my cereal, along with a muffin. My nerves and head had been a bit shaken by the heat, tiredness, and general malaise that Vegas seems to give off when you’re walking around. I can’t say if the tea helped, but I definitely was able to brush off that tiredness relatively quickly.

On my way back to the room, I got a text from Dad telling me it’d be prudent to do the usual checks on the car. I generally check the tire pressure every other day, but I figured the oil, coolant level, and washer fluid might as well be added into the mix, since I hadn’t looked at any of them since leaving Houston. As it turned out, it appeared the coolant in the car was just a smidge low—not low enough to set off the alert in the car, but it still looked a bit off to me. Theoretically, it could have been this low all the while I’d been driving (after all, how often does your coolant just vanish into thin air?), but with the 115˚ weather yesterday, I had already seen three cars sidelined with smoke billowing from the hood, so I wanted to be safe. Despite my writings to the contrary in the prior post, I was fortunate to be in a city as large as Vegas, as it made finding a dealer for BMW coolant very easy.

So, after about an hour of scrambling and a trip to get the coolant, I was finally ready to make a move for Green River.

The drive through the desert was relatively straightforward, as I headed northeast on I-15.

I passed through Arizona for about half an hour, during which time I found some more canyons and desert, stopping to take some shots…

…before finally entering Utah, where, as has become the norm on this trip, I was once again greeted by some greenery, courtesy of the increased elevation. I can’t mention it enough that the wonderfully clear skies that I’ve had for the bulk of this trip have really made both the photos awesome, and the drives relatively straightforward.

Shortly thereafter, I made a stop for lunch. Well, actually, I told myself I could wait about an hour, but the mysterious powers that be decided that the suction cup keeping my GPS attached to the dashboard would fall off right as I was passing an exit with a number of fast food outlets. At that point, I figured pulling over wasn’t a bad idea, and I found a Panda Express. Now, I could sit here debating the merits of this quick-and-dirty version of Chinese food, but you have to hand it to them: that’s a lot of food on one plate for the price I paid. Also, they gave me an awesome fortune, so on the whole, I was pretty pleased with the experience.

Back on the road, I soon found myself coming up on some pretty dark clouds. The video documents this a bit better, but essentially I ended up passing through patches of a storm as I made my way through the green hills of Utah.

A random observation: At some point I passed by this behmoth of a UPS truck, with 26 wheels and a lot of cargo.

As I made my way through the rain, I was kind of bummed that I wasn’t getting much of a chance to use my real camera, and had to instead resort to using my phone from inside the car. Thankfully, I was able to find a clear spot in between bits of the storm that allowed me about twenty minutes of good shooting, which I made sure to take advantage of.

Watching the clouds roll on at such great height, I found myself taking note of just how small we all are in the scheme of things; the relative lack of control we have over grander things like the weather. Naturally, my paradoxical mind also made sure to consider the sheer awesomeness I feel all this openness offers in the way of opportunity, chance, and the unknown. Why, you might be asking yourself, am I giving you both sides of this coin? I guess I figured I’d give you a window into the pattern my mind’s been apt to fall into over the course of this trip.

In other news, for those who remember back to I think Day 3, I’ve made what I think is a great deal of progress regarding my sense of identity and what it means for me. I’m still deciding the best way to come to record those thoughts, but they’ll likely come after I’ve had a few days home from the trip.

Moving on, I eventually made it through the stormy conditions, leaving I-15 for I-70. In search of ever more photo opportunities, I took the exit for the scenic overlook at Castle Valley, finding a wonderful salt wash

Evidently, a group of Hell’s Angels also agreed the views were worth stopping for! Wish I could’ve chatted them up, but they seemed rather distant. Anyway, first sighting of a real biker gang this whole trip, so I was pleased. I’ve also seen a few old VW camper vans making the rounds, harkening back to the old days when you’d see tons of them on the roads (old days that I was never around for, but, you get the gist.)

A little outside of Green River, the rain clouds seemed to be returning. Regardless, I came into town to find a rather quaint, small development that was undoubtedly the least dense location I’ve overnighted in thus far.

Keeping up my current record of not visiting the same fastfood outlet more than once, I hit up a Burger King for one of those Steakhouse burgers.

Sadly, it really didn’t come close to matching the picture…though I guess I did appreciate the flavor all the same. After finishing that off, I got to work updating Days 4 and 5, which I came to posting quite a few days ago. That took a fair chunk of my evening, and after that I hit the hay. Another good day of driving crossed off, and I must say, the sleep was rather restful and peaceful, away from all the hustle and bustle from the night before.

Day 6: Bakersfield to Las Vegas

Aeden — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 00:10:56 +0000

Today’s Flickr Gallery | July 25th: Bakersfield to Las Vegas

I began the day with some delicious waffles. Up to this point, given that most of my breakfasts have consisted of eggs with too much salt, bland cereal, and sausage patties, this was certainly a welcome change. I also had a simple-but-awesome smoothie of sorts, which consisted of milk, banana and wheat-germ. Like I said: simple, but with an awesome taste. I’m going to be making more of those when I get home! I said goodbye to Rafaela and her family’s wonderful hospitality, setting off to find some gas.

The drive to Vegas was slated to take about 7 hours, including a planned stop at Death Valley National Park. As you’ll see in the video, this leg did indeed end up taking 7 hours including all my photo stops, but I didn’t end up making it to Death Valley. More on that in a bit.

Though I didn’t quite know it as I pulled out of Bakersfield, today’s route would allow me a rather breathtaking trip through the Sequoia National Forest.

Initially, it seemed I was in more of a valley, with the mountains off in the distance, but that soon changed. Winding through the hills, while the drive down California Highway 178 was at times slow going, it was anything but boring.

Along the way, I spotted quite a few people stopping to fish or have picnics. The combination of the running water, gentle breezes, and awesome hills all around was very much inviting. Had I not planned to make it to Death Valley, I probably would have stopped longer

Leaving the forest and coming down from the hills, I was once again surrounded by more familiar desert landscape.

Of course, I had to break out the cowboy hat for a photo op. I also figured I’d see how well my new hat from Disneyland worked outside the park. I must admit that while I occasionally get looks from people driving along as I pull out my cowboy hat and set up my tripod, I can only imagine what people thought when they saw me posing with my rather magical attire . The verdict? Who knows. I do know that I had fun. As far as I’m concerned, that’s what matters.

Up to this point, I was still pressing on towards Death Valley National Park. Around 1:30, headed north on highway 14, I started to think about timing and when I would arrive at Las Vegas—once I finished with the park. I didn’t want to end up reaching Vegas at 8 or 9 in the evening, simply because I was already starting to feel a bit tired from the Disneyland adventure the day before. After mulling it over for a while, I decided to turn back and head southeast directly to Vegas.

My reasoning was simple: The price for entry is $20. While that didn’t deter me, I was a bit concerned that I was basically paying a fee to drive straight through the park on a barren highway, with perhaps a few stops along the way, but ultimately failing to explore and enjoy the park in all its glory. That, combined with my time concerns, ultimately led me to decide to skip visiting the park. Looking back, I feel like the trip through the Sequoia National Forest was a nice, unexpected (I’d only glanced at the route prior to actually hitting today’s stretch) experience that, in at least some senses, took the place of Death Valley’s visit.

Though I was now headed for Vegas, I certainly hadn’t left behind everything Death Valley is known for: the heat in the Nevada desert was certainly of a rather deadly variety, at a scorching 115 degrees. Definitely the highest I’ve ever seen the temperature gauge in the car. 141 miles from the hotel, I reached a milestone of my own: 2,500 miles travelled thus far. I expect the trip to end at around 4,500-4,700 miles, so at this point I’m more than halfway through the journey. Needless to say, I expect the second half to be just as awesome.

As I approached the city, the traffic became increasingly dense, which, when combined with the heat and sporadic road work, made for quite a tiring last bit of the drive. I imagine that had I made the detour through Death Valley, I would have likely encountered even worse traffic—so in yet another way, I continued to rationalize my earlier decision, heh.

Once I arrived, my ever-faithful GPS was no match for my stupidity as I missed a turn and instead found myself driving down the Vegas strip. My hotel was a few blocks away, and in the end, I imagine this will be the only amount of time I end up spending visiting the strip during my stay here. Despite the heat, people were still out there in droves. Unlike Disneyland, however, I got the sense that many were walking around rather aimlessly, moving from attraction to attraction. When I arrived at my hotel, I noticed the gentleman’s club located next door. Later, as I was looking out my window, I saw a rather scantily-clad woman sitting on the ground just outside a room on the lower floor. Needless to say, the aura of Vegas hardly appealed to me when I’d visited some seven or so years ago, and this time around I found it ever more drab and commercialized.

If I may stay on the subject a little longer, it’s worth noting that this is probably the most urban of stops I’ll be making on this trip. While Denver and Dallas are certainly large areas, I don’t expect to be spending as much time surrounded by concrete jungle as I do nature. Vegas certainly has its glitzed, compressed charm, if you’re looking for a particular sort of adventure.

That being said, I had known early on in planning this trip that the Vegas stop was simply that—a location for me to spend a night before moving on—and little more. And in that regard, the hotel was more than adequate in providing me a place to get some rest.

Anyways, on to dinner: I walked about a block down the street to pickup a scumptious Philly cheesesteak from a sandwich joint named Capriotti’s. I waited about ten minutes for it to be made, but when I finally got back to my room and opened up the packaging, I knew I had made a good decision.

Soon after, I collapsed on the bed for what I thought would be a few hours of napping…which ended up turning into an entire night’s sleep. Evidently, today had been one heck of a tiring drive! Spent a good amount of today listening to some Train, Phoenix, Passion Pit, CCR, Alexi Murdoch, and the BBC’s Global News podcast.

Days 6/7/8/9/10/11

Aeden — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 14:43:06 +0000

They’re coming, I swear! Once I get downtime later this evening, there will be a flood of posts, photos and videos .

Edit: Unlike the first go around, the hotel’s WiFi here in Amarillo isn’t nearly as speedy nor efficient. None of my video uploads are working, and the photo uploads are going at a snail’s pace. They’re coming, though. They are!