Zippity Dooing America

The never ending drive

2008-06-30T18:35:00.000-07:00

We visited Fort Collins, CO on our way east from Jackson. Just our luck there was a brewfest! We bought some slices and a couple pints while we watched the drunkards from the University of Colorado mill around the town. That night we camped in a KOA outside a few miles away.
The next morning we took a drive through some of the Rocky Mountains. The granite rock bulged out of the clusters of pine trees along our drive. Near the end, before making a final haul to New York, we purified and filled up on massive quantities of Rocky Mountain river water to get us through our trip. Joe drove through all the Rockies, so I had the first shift. I drove from Nebraska at 7 pm clear to Iowa. We switched shifts at 3am. Joe took an 8 hour run through the "I-fecta" Iowa, Illinois, and into Indiana' Then I took the wheel for an Indy 500 of my own to Buffalo NY. we drove over 30 hours straight, the credit goes to the civic, ol' bessie never let us down. We should be in Saratoga by two a.m., where the journey will end. We still have some video footage to edit and will get it up in a day or two. Laters.

Cowpokes

2008-06-28T13:16:00.000-07:00

Jackson, Wyoming was an old west style town with the charm and appeal of Lake George in upstate NY. We sat down for a well deserved meal at a locally owned tavern. The service was suspect and the menu was full of spelling errors. They accepted my temporary paper i.d. only after calling the sheriff down to run my information. We apologized for the hassle and the bouncer responded, "We don't have anything better to do." We washed down our personal pan size 6-cut with a pitcher of Snake River Lager. While finishing our pitcher we realized we were surrounded by fellow north easterners. The conversation that was sparked by a Celtic's shirt turned into what seemed like a reunion. We moved across the street to Cowboy Bar, where we mingled with our new friends and the local hee haws. Tomorrow we head for the Rocky Mountains.

Yellowstone

2008-06-28T13:05:00.000-07:00

We arrived in Jackson Hole Wyoming on Thursday. After a quick fill up of $3.99 gas, we headed to Grand Teton/Yellowstone National Parks which were 20 miles North. We stopped periodically to photograph the sprawling rocky mountain range of the Grand Tetons. We paid our 25 dollar entrance fee and made our way into the vast wilderness of Wyoming's grizzly country. We didn't see any bears, but we did get many other creatures on film. We camped at a public site on the edge of a placid mountain lake. The air was filled with the scent of sulfur and evergreens. The commercial side of Yellowstone took away from its natural beauty. Restaurants, lodges and gift shops popped up throughout the park, amidst the tall pines and wild mountain bison. The crowd of people surrounding Old Faithful was reminiscent of a tailgating party in the parking lot of some rock concert. We managed to escape the herds of humans with a quick back country hike. Walking in known grizzly territory armed with only a camera and a rock was both eerie and exhilarating. And now ... I'm goin' to Jackson.

Park City BABY!!!

2008-06-25T20:51:00.001-07:00

We entered Park City Utah Tuesday night and spent the day Wednesday seeing what the city had to offer. We made our way down the cities quaint main street. At the Wasatch Brewery a friendly bar tender bought us a pitcher of their micro brew polygamy porter. They played with our video camera and wished us luck on our journey. Joe went down one of the Alpine Slides at Park City Ski Resort to get a better feel of the ski hill. Unfortunately the video camera died right before take off.
We took the recommendation of Rachel Ray's 40 dollars a day and enjoyed a quick lunch at the Windy Ridge Cafe.
Then the campfire kept us company Wednesday night as we sat around and watched the sun set over Jardanelle Reservoir.
We now make our way to the wild northlands of Wyoming... bear country.

Salt Flats

2008-06-25T08:50:00.000-07:00

We left Nevada Tuesday afternoon for Salt Lake City, the longest we've driven so far on the trip. The 8 hour drive was fairly easy. Joe switched out of the cockpit with me after the first 240 miles. Just before Salt Lake City the land transformed from sporadic mountains to a flat snowy glass like ground. We really didn't expect to see the salt flats, what we guess were the salt flats. They were beautiful right at sunset. Of course we both had to taste the dirt a little bit and wouldn't you know it, SALTY!!
After the flats we Salt Lake City, the air was refreshing and clean smelling. A far cry from the stale air of the civic. We then headed for Park City to find a spot to camp in the middle of the night.

Reno, Reno, Reno

2008-06-25T00:31:00.000-07:00

Joe and I went on a quest to find a 3.99 buffet on the Reno strip. Instead, we drank, gambled and messed with the local yokals. We never did find the holy grail of buffets but we did get to explore some of Nevadas neon forest.

Poker chips

2008-06-24T09:55:00.001-07:00

Today we hiked some of the Tahoe Rim trail that circles Lake Tahoe. The day was beautiful. The air is usually cooler in the Sierra's and was just right for a little day hike. After dangling off of rocks like climbers and tanning on some glacial boulders we climbed a couple small peaks. The view of Lake Tahoe would have been beautiful if the air wasn't thick with a fog of smoke from all the forest fires around the area. When we reached the peaks we could see the rim trail what seemed like miles off in the distance. To our backs was a little blue speck of Joe's Honda Civic parked on the road side.
After we left the mountain wilderness we set forth to Reno, NV to try and make some money for our trip, we failed. However, we did go to the Nugget and got ourselves an Awful Awful. An awfully big burger for an awfully cheap price.
Its going to be hard to leave two comfortable king size beds at the little motel. The Civic can get a little cramped with two people and loads of our belongings.
Tomorrow, with Reno behind us, were headed on the 80 east for Park City, UT.

Truckee and bus depot camping

2008-06-23T06:57:00.000-07:00

After stopping at a cliffs edge on the Yuba River, Joe and I drove to the High Sierra Nevada town of Truckee, CA. We set up camp in a remote part of the forest. We tried barb less fishing but were unsuccessful. The pine tree's touched the empty sky's and silence filled the air for once.
All at once we heard the natural gas engines of commuter buses driving right over our site. There must have been a hundred buses that drove up and down a long, hidden and winding road behind our camp. We walked up the hill to watch a sunset. We were curious about what was up the road but the winding mountain highway went forever. Joe and I turned around and went back to camp. It was just about dark, the stars were brilliant in the sky. The view didn't come without cost though. It was freakishly cold and unusual for a summer night in Tahoe. The temperature dropped to about 30 deg, we froze in our little tent. We are now slowly on our way to Reno. We may stop along the way at a few choice fishing holes and/or watering holes. Much more to come from Brian and Joe.

Prospectus

2008-06-21T18:27:00.000-07:00

Joe Trestick and Brian Feulner met in Saratoga Springs, NY in 2002. Separately, Joe and Brian moved to California in 2006 to enjoy the sun, surf and big mountain recreation. In 2008 Joe needed to leave for job opportunities and drive back to New York, leaving his new home in Los Angeles behind him. Brian needed time to speculate on life and learn to enjoy the freedom of living that he once had, so he decided to ride along. This is their story.