We Travel World

Videos in the Playlist:

1: Monterey Sea Otter 58 secs
2: Big Sur Vista 45 secs
3: Monterey Sea Otter 2 28 secs
4: Big Sur on the motorcycle 217 secs
5: Golden Gate Bridge 61 secs
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Arches National Park
One of our favorites so far. The landscape is so unique. Utah was next on the list and we took good use of an extra day we had and took in Arches National Park near Moab on a hot August afternoon. We made our way South again crossing the Colorado river from time to time to enjoy it’s mark on the landscape with in Glen Canyon and later the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. We agreed after making our way to Bryce Canyon that we had actually been more impressed by the landscape we had seen along the road that day coming from Capitol Reef National Park. Soon after we met up with Julie’s parents near Kanab, Utah and visited the Grand Canyon in the same afternoon. The next day we all really enjoyed a few hours of easy walking in the Zion National Park before leaving for Vegas.

It was a very hot and fast ride to Las Vegas where, with the help of the GPS, we managed to find our cheap hotel near the base of Fremont street which turned out to be very nice. Feelings we mixed after coming from the wild lands of Southern Utah but accepting as we took the visit with a grain of
Arches NP
We felt like we were on Marssalt. It was a feat of human engineering but I must say I was happy to be leaving town towards Death Valley of all places that saturday. As you might guess the temperature was around 110 degrees Fahrenheit by the middle of the afternoon as we cruised lightly along the blistering black tarmac. The landscape was similar to that of the moon it seemed, a sort of majestic opening of the oven door in your face. We coasted down the pass to the west towards the Sierra Nevada where all the sudden we were staring at the back of Mt. Whitney, the highest peak in the continental USA only 2 hours before having been at negative 150 feet of elevation. Yosemite was appreciated for it’s higher, cooler air the next day and again thanked Obama for the second free National Park entry that weekend. The next day was a warm drop down into the valley and spent some time sorting out some issues of food, money, and a hotel for Julie’s parents in Stockton. We pushed on that afternoon to do a quick back roads tour of Napa and Sonoma Valley before parting ways for Julie and I to visit
Glen Canyon, Utah
It was a very warm afternoon but the day was full of spectacular landscape and formations. Britta in Winters. Britta was a friend from our Cape Town days who we were excited to see again. Britta was very sweet to us and encouraged us to return late the next week for the local Earthquake festival.

We continued on to San Francisco where we had the privilege of staying at an old friend of Julie’s who had moved to San Fran from France. The weather was cool and cloudy in the city and stayed with us as we cruised further down the coast through Monterey until Los Angeles. We arrived late in the city but we went out again for a night cruise of Beverly Hills and Hollywood which turned into a 2 hour drive while the traffic was still stop and go at 11 pm. After the weekend we said good bye to Julie’s parents early in the morning and then proceeded to make our out of the city and stopped early that day at a cheap but nice stay in Morro Bay. Our luck continued north with us as we met a energetic skipper of a beautiful 47 foot sailboat during our overnight in Monterey. Christian gave us a great deal on a cruise
Bryce Canyon
A beautiful sight after a full day through Southern Utah, we agreed though that the roadside viewpoints along the way were just as good as admission into the National Parkthe next day we ended up being a wonderful understanding host that night as well when he put us up free of charge on the beautiful yacht (after we had spent 125 the night before to stay on the 30 foot boat next to his from Monterey Bay Sailing). The next day we made it all the way back to Britta’s for a night of local flavor and drinks. A little hung over the next day we returned to the ocean to follow highway 1 through the mist all the way up the coast. We agreed that the Avenue of the giants was a more satisfying display of Redwood trees than the Redwood National park. The next day took us through Eureka and Arcata to a perfect camping spot on the beach. That night we accidentally left our empty cans of Chef Boyardee about 30 feet from our tent and were woken up by a timid black bear that was curious about the new smell. Knowing that we weren’t in imminent danger with no food in the tent I quickly returned to sleep leaving Julie to fretting in the dark.

Utah et Nevada!

Et nous voila,
Fremont St
the most stimulating place I’ve ever been tode retour pour la suite de nos aventures!
Aujourd’hui on est le 18 septembre, grand merci a tous pour vos Bday messages!
J’ai ft mes 26 ans au milieu de nul part dans l’tat de Montana!
Aprs avoir pos l’ancre dans l’archiple des les San Juan entre Seattle et Vancouver, direction le Canada!
La moto est un peu plus rapide que nos crits, mais promis on essai de se mettre un peu a jour!
Donc, pour reprendre dans l’ordre, apres vous avoir laiss au Colorado, ‘colourful Colorado’ on a continu jusqu’ la frontire de l’tat de Utah! Super surprise, malgr le peu de bien dont j’en avais entendu parler, j’ai t plus que agrablement surprise et la traverse de cet tat reste jusqu’ maintenant un de mes meilleurs souvenirs. Les paysages sont tellement majestueux et surtout uniques, impossible de comparer pour le coup! On a commenc notre visite de Utah par le Arches National Park sous une chaleur touffante, limite insupportable avec tout l’quipement moto. On a ensuite suivit la ‘Colorado River’ jusqu’au Bryce Canyon National Park, o on a decid de planter la tente. Est ce que vous savez que aujourd’hui, seulement 2/3 de la plante a la chance
Casino
The faces of Julie’s parents are very telling. de voir la voie lacte, ce soir l on tait chanceux!
Le lendemain on rejoignait mes parents, rendez vous Fredonia 13h, station service Chevron. Pendant deux semaines ils allaient donner un peu de leur couleurs a notre voyage. Direct aprs quelques embrassades, on filait direction le mythique Grand Canyon, o j’ai t je dois avouer un peu due Grand Canyon est un parc qui se visite distance. a reste un parc impressionnant, surtout de part sa grandeur, mais le ciel tait un peu couvert, le flux de tousistes imposant et le mode de visite trs impersonnel.
Le lendemain, on passait une journe au Zion National Park, mode croisire au coeur du parc avec petite randonne l’appui. Le jour suivant, on passait dans l’ le ciel tait un peu couvert, le flux de tousistes imposant et le mode de visite trs impersonnel. Le jour suivant, on passait la frontire de l’tat de Nevada et traversait le desert de Mojave, direction Las vegas pour tenter notre chance…Ah Las Vegas, que dire sur Las Vegas? Unique, touristique, populaire, mythique, bruyant, crasant, bruyant, blouissant, malsain, accueillant, fatiguant, tonnant, stimulant, impressionnant, bref voir!
Bon le lendemain je pense qu’on etait quand meme
Las Vegas Sign
How could we not get a picture of thattous contents de quitter la folie ‘Las Vegasienne’ pour retrouver le calme du dsert, on allait traverser la fameuse valle de la mort!!! Le compteur de la voiture affichait 112 degrs farenheit, soit 44 degrs celcius, ‘a promets! Surtout avec l’quipement sur le dos…’. A ce moment je vous avoue avoir serieusement pens pendant 2 secondes abandonner Tim pour rejoindre mes parents dans la voiture et apprcier la climatisation. Malgr le soleil frappant sur le tarmac et la chaleur de plus en plus crasante, la beaut des paysages lunaires compensaient la souffrance, C’est bon, on avait survcu la traverse de la valle de la mort sans trop de peines et on longeait maintenant la Sierra Nevada, avec en face de nous le Mont Whitney, plus haut de l’Amerique continental.

Sinon l’xperience sur la moto reste toujours aussi exotique et palpitante. Comme dit Tim “Voyager en moto, c’est un peu comme jouer dans son propre film”. Mme si, on subit au quotidien les contraintes de l’space rduit dont on dispose sur la moto, contrairement une voiture, a nous force voyager lger, garder le strict minimum et renoncer toutes temptations. A cot de a, c’est mon
Las Vegas Blvd
One of my favorite pictures of that visit, this is at around midnightgot une faon de voyager beaucoup plus riche en sensations. Sur la moto, on subit tous les caprices de la mto, que ce soit un agrable rayon de soleil dans le dos ou la grle qui tappe contre le casque. Voyager en moto, c’est aussi subir toutes les odeurs, aussi bien dlicieuses que dgoutantes. Etre en moto, c’est aussi se trouver nez nez avec un bizon sur la route sans pouvoir fermer les fentres…

Voila pour les dernires nouvelles, prochain pisode, los Angeles, Hollywood, San Francisco et notre fameuse rencontre avec un ours pendant la nuit…

We decided recently that since we aren’t really very good at updating our monologues on this blog (California was a month ago, currently writing from Montana) that we would simplify our writing to very limited entries and more pictures with better captions. I hope you’ll understand that for us it helps to preserve the experience and keep us working towards our goal and less time having to sit at the computer every week. Most of you English readers I will most likely have the chance to catch you up on the trip in person in the next year
Death Valley road
The ride was that much hotter as the heat radiated from the black asphalt road, Julie didn’t believe meor two anyways.