--- category: "english" outlet: "vylet09.blogspot.com" url: "https://vylet09.blogspot.com/" url_label: "Original blog, in Czech" date_from: "2008-10-28" date: "2009-08-18" headline: "Road trip 2009: the American West" byline: "Tomas Havranek" genre: "travelogue" translated: "2026-09-11" translation: "vylet09-road-trip-2009-zapad-usa" perex: "13,000 km, 11 states, 42 days, 4 travellers" description: "Diary of a 42-day, 13,000 km road trip through 11 states of the American West in summer 2009, with the planned day-by-day itinerary and both the estimated and actual costs." body_note: "An English translation of the Czech original, which remains the record of what was written: [Road trip 2009: Západ USA](/komentare/vylet09-road-trip-2009-zapad-usa/). It is the diary of a 42-day road trip through 11 states of the American West in the summer of 2009, written on the blog [vylet09.blogspot.com](https://vylet09.blogspot.com/) from October 2008 to August 2009. The early posts cover the planning, including a day-by-day itinerary with planned distances and driving times, and a cost estimate. The last post gives statistics on the whole trip, among them what it actually cost. Prices and practical details are those of 2009, but the itinerary may still be useful to anyone planning a long road trip through the American West. All 53 posts are here, oldest first, so that the trip can be read as it happened. The blog showed them the other way round. Under each heading is the date the post went up, and where a heading itself has a date, that is the day the entry describes. Two downloadable files and a thread on the RoadTripAmerica forum that the text refers to are no longer available." images: "2009-08_vylet09-mapa.png" image_alt: "Map of the western United States with the route of the trip marked in red: from Denver north to the Black Hills and Yellowstone, through Utah and Las Vegas into California, north through Yosemite into Oregon, then south along the Pacific coast to San Diego and back to Denver through Arizona and southern Colorado. Circles mark stops at national parks, monuments and towns, grey dots overnight stays." image_figure: "1" --- # Road trip 2009: the American West *Map 1: The route of the trip, starting and ending in Denver, based on the original map on the blog. Los Gatos, Big Sur and Santa Barbara, between San Francisco and Los Angeles, are added from the diary. Circles mark stops, grey dots overnight stays. [Full-size map](/komentare/item-img/2009-08_vylet09-mapa.png), [interactive version on Google Maps](https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=17ANy8eHJUshCvFcH6rp86vAse6I).* ## The trip is definitely on! *Posted 28 October 2008* We have finally bought our plane tickets, so the trip is definitely going ahead! What's it all about? A road trip through the western states of the US, which for half of our four-strong team will be the last holiday of our student years. We want to get to know America's big cities as well as its countryside, travel through most of the national parks (some of the most beautiful places on the planet) and visit our friends and relatives along the way. More than 15,000 kilometres in 42 days lie ahead of us. We land in Denver on 3 July and will head north to the Badlands and Mt. Rushmore, and on 14 August we will come back into Denver from the south, from Great Sand Dunes. The technical details of our trip can be found on the RoadTripAmerica forum. This blog should be a source of information for us, our families and our friends here and in the US; with a bit of luck, a few stories straight from the road will appear here too. ## Breakdown of costs *Posted 29 October 2008* With the dollar strengthening in recent months and oil getting cheaper, the expected costs of the trip needed revising. Here is the new estimate: Return flight Prague to Denver: CZK 21,400. Car hire in Denver: about $1,300 (CZK 6,000 per person). At 8 l/100 km over 15,000 km, petrol will come to about $860 (CZK 4,000 per person). Accommodation (campsites, a motel): about $1,200 (CZK 5,500 per person) Food (with a propane grill): about $2,000 (CZK 9,250 per person). Other costs (national parks pass, fees, a reserve): about $1,600 (CZK 7,400 per person). Total per person: about CZK 53,600 (rising with the price of oil and the dollar exchange rate, calculated roughly at $70 a barrel of Brent and CZK 18.5 to the dollar) = CZK 21,400 + $1,740 ## Details of the planned route *Posted 2 November 2008* - Day 0 (Fri 3 July): Arrive in Denver in the evening. Night with friends. - Day 1 (Sat 4 July): With friends in Denver, acclimatising. Night with friends. - Day 2 (Sun 5 July): Getting the essentials for the trip, picking up the hire car. Night with friends. - Day 3 (Mon 6 July): Drive through Rocky Mountain NP. 164 km of driving in all (2 h 19 min). Night at a campsite. - Day 4 (Tue 7 July): Short stop at Scotts Bluff NM. Arrive at Wind Cave NP in the evening. 591 km (7:15). Camping. - Day 5 (Wed 8 July): Tour of the cave in Wind Cave NP. Short stops at Crazy Horse NM and Mt. Rushmore NM. Arrive at Badlands NP in the evening. 228 km (4:19). Camping. - Day 6 (Thu 9 July): In Badlands NP, leaving in the afternoon. 168 km (1:53). Camping beyond Rapid City. - Day 7 (Fri 10 July): Early start. Drive past Devils Tower NM. 638 km (7:12). Camping short of Yellowstone NP. - Day 8 (Sat 11 July): The figure-of-eight loop in Yellowstone NP. 262 km (3:14). Camping. - Day 9 (Sun 12 July): The figure-of-eight loop in Yellowstone NP. 92 km (1:14). Camping. - Day 10 (Mon 13 July): Stop in Grand Teton NP. 303 km (4:00). Camping near Montpelier. - Day 11 (Tue 14 July): Stops in Salt Lake City, in the desert and at the lake. 447 km (5:14). Camping near Mt. Pleasant. - Day 12 (Wed 15 July): Stop in Bryce Canyon NP. Arrive at Cedar Breaks NM in the evening. 355 km (5:25). Camping. - Day 13 (Thu 16 July): Arrive in Zion NP around noon, stay there. 119 km (1:47). Camping. - Day 14 (Fri 17 July): In Zion NP. Leave in the afternoon. Stop at Hoover Dam, arrive in Las Vegas in the evening. Vegas by night. 365 km (4:29). Night in a motel. - Day 15 (Sat 18 July): Leave in the morning. Drive through Death Valley. 478 km (6:52). Camping beyond the park. - Day 16 (Sun 19 July): Early start. Arrive in Sequoia NP in the afternoon. 242 km (3:52). Camping. - Day 17 (Mon 20 July): Leave around noon. Arrive in Yosemite NP in the evening. 286 km (3:52). Camping. - Day 18 (Tue 21 July): In Yosemite NP. Camping. - Day 19 (Wed 22 July): In Yosemite NP. 92 km (1:18). Camping. - Day 20 (Thu 23 July): Arrive in Grass Valley in the evening. 363 km (5:09). Night with friends. - Day 21 (Fri 24 July): Arrive at Lassen Volcanic NP in the afternoon. 283 km (4:16). Camping. - Day 22 (Sat 25 July): Stop at Lava Beds NM. Arrive at Crater Lake NP in the evening. 395 km (6:26). Camping. - Day 23 (Sun 26 July): In Crater Lake NP. Camping. - Day 24 (Mon 27 July): Stop in Redwood NP. Arrive in Eureka in the evening. 411 km (5:47). Night with friends. - Day 25 (Tue 28 July): Free time around Eureka with friends. Night with friends. - Day 26 (Wed 29 July): Free time around Eureka with friends. Night with friends. - Day 27 (Thu 30 July): Arrive in San Francisco in the evening. 511 km (7:24). Night with friends. - Day 28 (Fri 31 July): In San Francisco (Golden Gate, Alcatraz). Night with friends. - Day 29 (Sat 1 August): In San Francisco (Ripley's museum of curiosities, Downtown). Night with friends. - Day 30 (Sun 2 August): Arrive in Los Angeles in the evening. 661 km (7:59). Camping short of LA. - Day 31 (Mon 3 August): Hollywood, the Six Flags amusement park in the afternoon. 254 km (2:47). Camping beyond LA or a night with friends. - Day 32 (Tue 4 August): A quick hop into Mexico at Mexicali. Arrive in Joshua Tree NP in the evening. 397 km (5:21). Camping. - Day 33 (Wed 5 August): Early start. Drive through Joshua Tree NP and Sonoran Desert NM. Arrive in Phoenix in the evening. 644 km (7:11). Night with friends. - Day 34 (Thu 6 August): Free time in Phoenix with friends. Night with friends. - Day 35 (Fri 7 August): Early start. Arrive at the Petrified Forest after noon. 468 km (6:43). Camping near Winslow. - Day 36 (Sat 8 August): Short stops at Meteor Crater, Walnut Canyon NM, Sunset Crater NM, Wupatki NM. Arrive in Grand Canyon NP in the evening. 287 km (4:03). Camping. - Day 37 (Sun 9 August): At the Grand Canyon. Camping. - Day 38 (Mon 10 August): Early start. Stop at Navajo NM. Drive through Monument Valley. Stop at Four Corners. Arrive in Mesa Verde NP in the evening. 552 km (6:52). Camping. - Day 39 (Tue 11 August): Leave around noon. Arrive in Great Sand Dunes NP in the evening. 374 km (5:15). Camping. - Day 40 (Wed 12 August): In Great Sand Dunes. Camping in the dunes. - Day 41 (Thu 13 August): In Great Sand Dunes. Camping. - Day 42 (Fri 14 August): Return to Denver. 369 km (4:08). Flight to Prague at 20:15. ## The weakening koruna *Posted 23 January 2009* The koruna keeps falling, and I have more or less given up updating the costs :) . Since the first calculations in the summer the dollar has strengthened by half. Luckily cheap oil makes up for it at least a little (in dollars it is now at 30% of its July value). Who would have expected that in the summer? ## Route update *Posted 23 January 2009* Over Christmas we reworked the itinerary a little, and [the current version](http://vylet09.blogspot.com/2008/11/den-0-3.html) is now final. Each day shows the expected number of kilometres (without detours) and the time Google Maps says it takes to drive them (which should be taken with a pinch of salt, or rather with some time in reserve). Small changes may well still be made to the [trip map](https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=17ANy8eHJUshCvFcH6rp86vAse6I) itself, but unless something unpleasant happens they will not affect the dates on which we arrive at and leave each place (except at the end of the trip, the stretch between the Grand Canyon and Denver, where we have no reservations, so we will be flexible). Suitable campsites where we can spend the night (and a hotel in Las Vegas) have been added to the [trip map](https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=17ANy8eHJUshCvFcH6rp86vAse6I). About half of them need booking; so far we have reservations at 7 of them. ## Tasks for the coming months *Posted 27 February 2009* **1)** Choose a car hire company and type of car (ideally in March, Michal) **2)** Get a GPS with American maps (May at the latest, Petr) **3)** Book a campsite in Yosemite NP (15 March, Tomas) **4)** Book a hotel in Las Vegas (March, Zuzka) **5)** Buy the Rand McNally 2009 Road Atlas (April, Tomas) **6)** Buy Woodall's Campground Directory 2009 (April, Tomas) **7)** Put together a detailed list of things to take (April, Zuzka) **8)** Print guides to the national parks (March, Petr) **9)** Book the Mesa Verde RV resort (March, Tomas) **10)** Summarise the reservation details (April, Tomas) **11)** Find out how to charge devices in the car, and what is different in America (May at the latest, Michal) ## Reservations complete *Posted 15 March 2009* As of today all the accommodation we need is booked. The latest additions are 3 nights at the Upper Pines campground in Yosemite NP and the Fremont hotel in Las Vegas. We tried to strike a balance between the need for some certainty (it will be the high season, after all) and flexibility (towards the end in particular we made no reservations at all); an overview of the costs paid so far can be downloaded here. I have also finished a more detailed plan of the trip and a description of the route, which can be downloaded from this page. ## Car booked *Posted 1 May 2009* We have finally chosen and booked a car for the trip. It will be a Suzuki Grand Vitara (a small SUV). So now everything is arranged, and we just have to get through our exams and finals... ## Ready to go *Posted 28 June 2009* Finals are behind us, so now there are just a few last things to sort out and we can set off. For now we want to stick to the route we planned in the winter, except that, to be on the safe side, we will keep away from the Mexican border because of swine flu (so Mexicali and Tijuana are out). We'll see how many of the places [we planned](http://vylet09.blogspot.com/2008/11/den-0-3.html) we manage to visit. We fly out of Prague on Friday 3 July at 12:15 and land in Denver at 18:15 local time. We will spend the weekend with friends in Denver; on Monday we start the trip with Rocky Mountain National Park. Here's hoping it all goes well... ## Saturday 4 July (Denver) *Posted 4 July 2009* So we have arrived safely in Denver. The flight from London dragged on a bit, because the weather over Denver was quite bad, so the pilot flew us round in a few circles over the Rocky Mountains. A nice view, even though most of the mountains were in cloud. Earlier on the way we also had a good look at the coast of Greenland and at Baffin Island. Ken picked us up at the airport in Denver and drove us to his home in Westminster, a suburb of the city... Immigration and customs were quite fun, because a police dog sniffed out a schnitzel I had forgotten was in my backpack, so Zuzka and I had to go through a more thorough check. The interview with the immigration officer itself was quite relaxed: he asked us about our trip and reminded us several times that we could not work in the US, and that was all, no unpleasantness. When we arrived Betty made us pizza and we went to bed. She and Ken have a really beautiful house. Today is the Fourth of July, so a big holiday in America, and in a little while we are going out to see the fireworks. Since this morning we have been getting a few more things we needed for the trip; by now we should have almost everything, except the car, which we pick up in the morning. We also went to Mass with Ken and Betty, which was quite interesting and quite different from back home. Ken took us for a short walk. There is a nice view of the Rocky Mountains from here, and Denver's suburbs are full of prairie dogs. We will try to add some photos as we go, but right now we haven't got time :) ## Sunday 5 July (Denver) *Posted 5 July 2009* In the morning we picked up the car: a Suzuki Grand Vitara, a smaller SUV, quite adequate for our trip. It is red, a 2008 model, a very nice car. Then Ken showed us around the Denver area; we saw the Red Rocks Amphitheatre (a partly natural stage with excellent acoustics), which often hosts concerts, and even Mass. In the afternoon Ken and the others threw a picnic for us, where we rather overate (a hamburger, a sausage, a cake with the Czech flag on it, and then indigestion tablets), and we met their whole family. In the evening we packed for the morning departure to Rocky Mountain NP. Betty had got lots of things ready for us to take on the road. They have looked after us wonderfully the whole time, and we probably won't be able to repay them. There was another shower, just as on Saturday and Friday. Before bed we also walked to a nearby prairie dog colony (a few metres from where Betty and Ken live), and watched the sunset over the Rockies and a pair of white pelicans on the lake. Denver has beautiful suburbs. ## Monday 6 July (Rocky Mountain) *Posted 6 July 2009* In the morning we set off for our first national park. Petr is driving (which will probably not change for a while :), and we slowly grind our way up the vertical kilometres. The highest point we reached by car is over 3,700 metres above sea level, and the thinner air was quite noticeable, especially when we tried to walk anywhere. Rocky Mountain is a beautiful and varied national park (we had just about every kind of weather there, from blazing sun through unbelievable wind and rain to snow). Most of the park can be comfortably seen from the car, but we also went on one longer hike. The rain chased us off it early, but before that we got into real wilderness, full of completely tame, well-fed marmots. When we arrived at the campsite in one of the park's valleys, it had just stopped raining and it was quite cold; the night was not at all warm either. Luckily it did not snow any more :). People at the campsites here are very polite (and not only at the campsites, actually). The grizzly we had been warned about did not turn up in the tent during the night, nor did it lay siege to Zuzka, who slept in the car, where (as the rules require) all the food was stowed. When it started raining in the night, I rather envied Zuzka, bear or no bear. ## Tuesday 7 July (Scotts Bluff, Agate Fossil Beds) *Posted 7 July 2009* Today was the first of our driving days. In all we covered some 650 kilometres. So we made only short stops, but that was quite enough (after yesterday's snow, today was nice and hot and completely clear the whole way, though certainly not yet unbearably so, and besides, the air conditioning in the car luckily works well). After we left the national park the mountains disappeared from the horizon quite quickly, and we were out on the endless plains, where all you see along the highways is grass, cattle and wind pumps. We stopped at Wal-Mart for a few essentials there had been no time for at the weekend. We had a proper walk at Scotts Bluff, a high bluff towering over the prairie, which the old Oregon Trail passed in the days of the Wild West. Another short stop at Agate Fossil Beds (fossils, and the first warnings about rattlesnakes). We fill up the tank and stop at Wind Cave, where earlier a bison walked into our path (literally, we had to stop). At the campsite there is an evening programme with a ranger, who talks about the prairie. We tried to cook something from Wal-Mart ready meals, but it looks as though we will stick to fast food. I am finishing this entry and listening to the bison (our tent is right at the edge of the campsite, and elk or bison commonly wander past the pitches, so I hope things go the same way with them as with the bears yesterday). ## Wednesday 8 July (Wind Cave, Crazy Horse, Mt. Rushmore, Badlands) *Posted 8 July 2009* The night was quite pleasant, although towards morning, in keeping with the weather we've had since we landed, a few drops fell. We leave Wind Cave and on the way come across a big herd of bison. There are pronghorn antelope here too. We drive through Custer State Park and reach the Crazy Horse monument, a memorial to the Native American strategist of the Battle of the Little Bighorn that has been under construction for more than 50 years. The figure carved into the rock will be bigger than the Egyptian pyramids, and it is a counterpart to the sculptures of American presidents at Mt. Rushmore, where we arrive shortly afterwards. Big crowds everywhere, a contrast with Wind Cave, where there were only a few visitors. We don't stay long and just walk around the monument, so that we can head for today's destination: Badlands National Park. On the way we stop for lunch at Taco Bell (we agreed that was the last time we'd have tacos), and in the afternoon we drive through a ghost town (straight out of a horror film) on the edge of the national park. The Badlands are a beautiful landscape, like another planet, desolate and practically free of tourists. On a whim we went a little way down a dirt road and came to a fantastic viewpoint, Sheep Mountain. The temperature rose fast and was soon approaching 100 Fahrenheit (37 Celsius). Two days ago it was snowing on us! Towards evening we reach the campsite. It is insanely hot, and there are no trees to pitch a tent under. We set off on a guided walk with a ranger, and meanwhile the clouds gather and a proper Dakota thunderstorm begins (the first time I have seen horizontal lightning). We only just got the tents up in time. The rain stopped and for about half an hour there was a rainbow in the sky, and now Petr is trying to cook something and I am trying to write something before we go to the rangers' evening programme. ## Thursday 9 July (Badlands) *Posted 11 July 2009* The evening programme at the campsite was cancelled because of the storm and the strong wind. So instead of listening to the rangers we climbed a rock and watched the storm rage over the eastern horizon. In the night the wind grew even stronger, and we were glad we managed to keep the tents in one place. In the end, though, we slept quite well, and after nine we set off on a hike of about twelve kilometres through Badlands National Park. This is rattlesnake country, so whoever was in front had to watch the path carefully as well as admire the scenery. After only a few hundred metres we were in parched wasteland, and we were glad we had not left the hike for the afternoon: it was terribly hot, and the light reflected off the white sand. For a while we walked through grass, where progress was slow (you could not see where you were stepping), but elsewhere nothing grew at all. The rocks in the Badlands are colourful (mostly white to grey, but also yellow, red and purple) and very jagged, a completely alien landscape for a Central European. In the morning we met only a few people (not many people here are willing to go more than a few steps from the car). Towards noon a few hikers did turn up after all. We did not see any rattlesnakes (yet). Around one we set off for Rapid City, drove through another part of the national park with several nice viewpoints, and got on the interstate. In Rapid City we ate, did some shopping and carried on west. We are camping near Sturgis at Elk View, which was supposed to have wi-fi, but it looks as though we will have to wait a few more days for the internet. But at least we can shower for the first time in 3 days :). ## Friday 10 July (Devils Tower) *Posted 11 July 2009* A driving day. We had a good night's sleep and set off west from Sturgis after nine. We made a short detour to Devils Tower, a monument rising above the plateaus of northern Wyoming (the state even has it on its number plates). We walked the loop around the tower, stopped at the souvenir shop and carried on west towards Yellowstone. It is a long drive, some 650 kilometres; on the way we cross the high, rugged Bighorn Mountains (we pass a few miles south of the scene of General Custer's last battle). The going over the Bighorns is slow, the road is all hairpin bends, and we often stop for roadworks. Around eight we reach Cody, where we will spend the night before setting off for Yellowstone in the morning. ## Saturday 11 July (Yellowstone) *Posted 14 July 2009* At the campsite in Cody we finally managed to get online. We met a Swiss man there who spoke both Czech and Slovak and knew our part of the world well, which was quite a lot of fun. We slept out in the open (except Zuzka, who as usual preferred the car). We got up around 6 and drove west, and within an hour we were in Yellowstone National Park. The park is huge. At its centre is Yellowstone Lake, the source of the river of the same name. The lake lies in the middle of a great caldera (the whole of Yellowstone is really one big volcano), so even by the lake we began to see hot springs, vents and other phenomena, and the characteristic smell of sulphur followed us the whole way. The well-known figure-of-eight road winds through the middle of the park, and most of the famous sights lie along it. On Saturday we set out on its northern half; we checked in at a campsite and then saw the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone (not as big as the one in Arizona, but more colourful, and with several waterfalls), Mammoth Hot Springs (tectonic terraces) and a number of other things. We saw lots of bison and elk, and from a distance a grizzly and a moose. I bathed in the river where a hot spring flows into it, and the water was over 40 degrees. Once we had gone round the top half of the figure of eight, we returned to the campsite and lit a fire to get rid of the mosquitoes. ## Sunday 12 July (Yellowstone) *Posted 14 July 2009* In the morning we start on the southern half of the figure of eight, which is mainly geysers, hot springs and colourful volcanic pools. One after another we explored several geyser basins and other formations; you could spend a week here and still not see everything. The walking trails are almost constantly wrapped in hot sulphurous steam that makes your head spin. Today we meet a lot of people in the park: it's Sunday. Around 3 o'clock we reach the most famous geyser in the park, Old Faithful. It is not the biggest, but it erupts fairly regularly (unlike the biggest geyser in the world, Steamboat, a few miles away, which can reach up to 120 metres, but whose eruptions are sometimes days and sometimes decades apart). We were lucky too, and the geyser erupted only a few minutes after we arrived. We were tired after both days in Yellowstone (it was a lot of sightseeing), so we stopped only at one last geyser area by the lake and checked in at the campsite. Swimming in the lake is allowed, but the water is terribly cold, so I settled for dipping my feet in. Anything more was out of the question, because a thunderstorm came. Yesterday a grizzly wandered into the campsite, so we will see whether someone's dinner tempts it again tonight. ## Monday 13 July (Grand Teton) *Posted 14 July 2009* Today we left Yellowstone and carried on south to Grand Teton National Park. In the night in Yellowstone we had a proper thunderstorm, the fiercest so far. It was quite cold. In Grand Teton we did a two-hour hike at Jenny Lake to the waterfalls on the far side of the lake. The Grand Teton range is high (about 4 kilometres) and rises practically from flat ground, so from the east it looks quite imposing. As in the Rocky Mountains and in Yellowstone, there was snow to be seen on the peaks. The lakes were no good for swimming, as the water was terribly cold. We drove out of the park and, after two days, finally had a proper meal. That was our fourth fast-food chain already (the best so far is probably Hardee's). On the way to the campsite we were often held up by roadworks and often smelled a run-over skunk (a common thing on American roads), but we are here now and have made up for the long drive with a swim in the pool (and at last there is proper wi-fi here too). ## Tuesday 14 July (Salt Lake City) *Posted 15 July 2009* Today we saw the city of the Mormons. We drove to Temple Square, listened to the guides' fervent commentary and climbed up to the state Capitol. We saw the Tabernacle, originally built as a hall for speeches by the Mormon prophet Brigham Young and now mainly the home of the famous Mormon Tabernacle Choir. The whole city grew practically out of nothing in the salt desert when the Mormons came there in the middle of the 19th century. We splashed about a bit in the Great Salt Lake, drove to the edge of the Great Salt Lake Desert and then returned to our original route south towards Las Vegas. We stopped at a campsite we liked (we have somehow got used to a heated pool :). It lies right below a Mormon temple in the middle of nowhere. ## Wednesday 15 July (Bryce Canyon, Cedar Breaks) *Posted 19 July 2009* We got to Cedar Breaks around noon, checked in at the campsite and quickly drove off to Bryce Canyon. We parked at the park boundary and took the bus on to the most interesting viewpoints; we walked a few miles along the rim of the canyon. The canyon itself is a mass of jagged, colourful rocks and of stones balancing on thin pillars. A little way off we could see a forest fire. Towards evening we returned to the campsite at Cedar Breaks and looked at the monument itself. This was our highest campsite so far (3,200 metres), so it was not at all warm all day. In the evening we roasted sausages over the fire, Czech style (or rather some American frankfurters), and went to the ranger programme and a star party: stargazing at Cedar Breaks through a powerful telescope, with commentary from an astronomer. There is no light pollution here, so the night sky is really beautiful. ## Thursday 16 July (Zion) *Posted 19 July 2009* We had a comfortable night's sleep and set off for Zion some time after half past nine. We come down to lower altitudes and it starts to get properly warm. We stop first at the northern edge of the national park and drive through Kolob Canyons, and then head south to pitch our tents on the opposite edge. Cars are not allowed in the main part of the park, so we get on the bus and let it take us to some of the beautiful spots; to finish we do two hikes of about two hours each. By then, though, it is terribly hot (40 Celsius), so we are glad to get back to the campsite towards evening. But the sun keeps baking, and our site is nothing special, with ants everywhere. We are already looking forward to the hotel in Las Vegas tomorrow (especially the shower). ## Friday 17 July (Las Vegas) *Posted 19 July 2009* Terrible heat. We drive along the highway towards Las Vegas and the temperature climbs towards 47 degrees Celsius in the shade. We turn off onto a local road and drive along the Lake Mead reservoir through the desert, first in Arizona and then in Nevada. Without air conditioning it would not have been much fun. We put our watches back an hour and approach Hoover Dam. We spend a very long time on the last few miles to the enormous dam, practically standing still in a queue of traffic. But the dam is worth seeing. The air conditioning running flat out and the stop-start crawl in the queue mean we use a lot of petrol, so we stop to fill up again (and have an excellent lunch at Burger King). Around 5 we check in at the Fremont hotel, and in the evening we go out to see Vegas: the Fremont Street Experience and, of course, the Strip. The perfect contrast to orderly Salt Lake City. Around midnight it is still 44 degrees, hot as hell. We walk the whole Strip, get to the Stratosphere Tower and ride up to the roller coaster at the very top of the tallest building west of the Mississippi. We get our breath back after the roller coaster and enjoy the beautiful view over Vegas. Back at the Fremont we try a little gambling (we won 15 dollars), and some time before two we go back to our rooms. ## Saturday 18 July (Death Valley) *Posted 19 July 2009* We leave the Fremont after ten in the morning and, after some initial confusion, find our way onto the road to Death Valley. Las Vegas, parched enough already, gives way to proper Nevada desert, and the temperature slowly climbs towards 50 degrees Celsius (the record that afternoon will be 51). We enter the park by the southern access road, which is practically deserted (not many people are in the mood for a holiday in a desert where it is 125 degrees Fahrenheit). We drive across the Badwater flats, the lowest-lying area in North America (85 metres below sea level). The wind is so hot that you cannot bear to be out of the car for more than a few minutes. We drive past sand dunes. We planned our refuelling around Death Valley rather badly, so we make it to the petrol station running on fumes and sheer willpower. Terribly expensive petrol (well, we are in California now). ## Sunday 19 July (Sequoia) *Posted 24 July 2009* In the morning we leave the KOA campground at Lake Isabella and head north-west. The GPS takes us along county roads through the parched American countryside, and in the afternoon we reach Sequoia National Park. We climbed up to the Moro Rock viewpoint, which gives a fine view of the whole park, and saw the largest tree in the world (the General Sherman Tree), a road cut through a fallen sequoia and many lovely sequoia groves. On one walk we finally saw a bear properly close up (a black bear this time); it was feeding only a few metres from the trail. We pitched our tents at a nice spot not far from a river with a waterfall, where we later had a swim (the water was cold, but the natural whirlpool and the clean water made up for everything). ## Monday 20 July (Sequoia, Yosemite) *Posted 24 July 2009* In the morning we drive on west through the park and see the second-largest tree in the world (and the heaviest), the General Grant Tree. We drive on towards Fresno and, after some minor confusion over detours in the city, get onto the right road to Yosemite. For about the fifth day running we have afternoon temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius in the shade, but luckily it keeps getting better as we move north (and above all as we reach the park towards evening and climb to higher altitudes). We look at a sequoia grove on the southern edge of Yosemite and then head for Yosemite Valley, where we pitch the tents, roast sausages and go to bed early (we are planning a long hike in the morning). ## Tuesday 21 July (Yosemite) *Posted 24 July 2009* Our first full day in Yosemite. First thing in the morning we set off on the hike to Upper Yosemite Fall. It is some 12 kilometres, but with a huge climb, so it's pretty tough. Although Yosemite Valley itself is quite packed, we do not meet many people on the trail. After some 3 hours we finally reach the top and are pleasantly surprised by a lovely pool just above the drop of the highest waterfall in North America, where we had a good swim and washed off all the sweat from the strenuous climb in 38-degree heat. The way back is quicker, but you get just as dirty on it, so a dip in the river is welcome towards evening. We saw a coyote for the first time. After that we have no energy for anything more than a short bus ride around the valley. We light a fire and go to bed amid quite a racket (rangers chasing bears away from the campsite). ## Wednesday 22 July (Yosemite) *Posted 24 July 2009* We set off on another hike, and this time it is Half Dome. 25 kilometres in all, with 1,500 metres of climbing, so over the two days in Yosemite we walked almost 40 kilometres altogether. We get up at 6 to avoid the worst of the heat (which in the end we failed to do anyway). The morning is quite pleasant, but the steep climbing starts right at the beginning of the trail. In the first few kilometres we pass the beautiful Vernal and Nevada Falls, where the spray cools us down nicely. The whole hike is very demanding, though, far harder than any hike I have ever done back home. Some time around eleven, drenched in sweat, we finally reach the foot of the rock dome itself. But here comes the best part. Without climbing gear the only way up is via one face (about 150 vertical metres), which in places is inclined at 75 degrees and is fairly smooth, and the rock is quite slippery as well. It would be impossible without something to hold on to, so cables are strung up the face, and on the way up you use your arms more than your legs. The view from the top is superb, and several marmots and squirrels run about up there. They have climbed up here too, and they steal hikers' food (earlier, at the campsite, a squirrel got into our bear-proof food box, and we only found it when we opened the box again an hour later, stuffed with our bread). ## Thursday 23 July (Mono Lake, Lake Tahoe) *Posted 24 July 2009* We drive out of Yosemite and stop at Mono Lake, a salt lake known for its tufa formations. The smell is similar to Salt Lake's, and the view is beautiful. We drive on north and have lunch at Jack in the Box, and we have our first (and hopefully last) minor accident: we lightly bumped another car while reversing. Luckily there is no damage to the other car and only scratched paint on ours, which we will deal with before we leave. We had a wonderful swim in Lake Tahoe and drove on to Monika's in Grass Valley. We tried some local beers and are now off to bed. ## Friday 24 July (Lassen) *Posted 28 July 2009* We say goodbye to Monika and her family and head north to Lassen Volcanic National Park. We reach the park boundary after noon. The weather is quite pleasant, so we go on two hikes: Bumpass Hell, a volcanic basin quite similar to Yellowstone, and a walk to the lakes in the central part of the park, where we could swim (swimming in clean lakes in the wilderness is great in itself, but it is all the more welcome because the campsites in national parks almost never have showers). We get to the campsite early, so we have plenty of time for another walk around Manzanita Lake, which has a good view of the volcanic cone of Lassen Peak. The campsite by the lake here in Lassen is far better than Upper Pines in Yosemite, where the individual sites were close together and it was quite noisy. Here it is quiet, and there are no mosquitoes. ## Saturday 25 July (Lava Beds) *Posted 28 July 2009* The morning is really cold (6 degrees). We wake early, skip breakfast and drive north out of Lassen. We stop at Subway Cave, a lava cave much like those at today's main destination, Lava Beds, which has several dozen of them. We get there around noon and go through several of the longest and most interesting caves. All of them can be explored without a guide, and we managed it even without helmets and with only one decent torch (thanks, Michal). The caves are not as richly decorated as most of ours back home, but they have interesting shapes, they are open to everyone, and you can crawl through them all day without meeting more than a few people. Towards evening we reach Crater Lake National Park, home to an almost circular lake in the caldera of a volcano, the deepest lake in the US, with amazingly blue water. We stopped only briefly (it will soon be dark, and tomorrow we will explore it properly) and pitched the tents at the campsite. A change from yesterday: plenty of mosquitoes. ## Sunday 26 July (Crater Lake) *Posted 28 July 2009* Luckily the morning at Crater Lake was not as cold as we had expected (it is a good deal further north than Lassen, and we are still more than 2,000 metres up, as indeed we almost always are when we camp), so we slept quite well. At half past nine we drive to the lake, stop at several viewpoints and do the eight-kilometre climb up the highest mountain in the park, Mount Scott, with a lovely view of the lake and the whole volcanic area (and nothing strenuous compared with the hikes in Yosemite). The next outing is down to the water (the lake is ringed by steep cliffs, so we have to climb down a good many feet); it is not nearly as cold as you would expect from all the snow around, and a swim in thirty-degree warmth is very pleasant. We scrambled back up, drove round the other side of the lake, and right now we are grilling sausages at the campsite. In the evening we are going to a ranger programme by the lake. ## Monday 27 July (Redwood) *Posted 30 July 2009* We leave Crater Lake and Oregon and are back in California. We come down to lower altitudes and closer to the ocean, and it keeps getting warmer (in the morning at Crater Lake it was about 8, by noon it is already 30), but as soon as we come within some 15 miles of the sea, the temperature drops sharply by 15 degrees, and to the west we can already see the fog that lines this coast for almost the whole summer. We drive along a dirt road right through a redwood grove, where besides the tallest trees in the world there are also huge ferns, which complete the impression of a prehistoric forest. We reach the ocean, but everything is in fog. Very cold. We drive through the rest of the national park, take one longer walk among the redwoods, and then go on to Eureka to see Don and Joyce. Joyce cooked a wonderful dinner (game), we ate our fill and are off to bed. ## Tuesday 28 July (Eureka) *Posted 30 July 2009* In the morning we go to the ocean with Don and Joyce; it is still foggy, though better than yesterday. We walk along the rocky shore at low tide, and Don shows us some of the sea life (starfish, sea anemones, crabs and various kinds of molluscs). We look round the historic centre of Eureka and the harbour from which we should be going out fishing tomorrow, weather permitting. In the afternoon Don let us shoot several of his guns (a hunting rifle, a shotgun, a sniper rifle, a pistol) on a friend's land, which we thoroughly enjoyed :). Then we go to a brewery to taste the local beers (I liked them a lot; they are not afraid to experiment with beer here, so there was plenty to choose from) and have dinner there. ## Wednesday 29 July (Eureka) *Posted 30 July 2009* We get up before six in the morning. Don takes his boat and we go fishing. We put out from a harbour a few kilometres outside Eureka, and a friend of Don's also comes with us. He mostly took care of steering while Don kept an eye on our attempts at fishing. For someone who had never been out on the ocean (like me) it was a unique experience (even if the waves took their toll); besides a good few fish, which to our surprise we managed to catch, we saw lots of seals on the way, and even a whale. We were at sea for some 4 hours. Then we go back to Don's house in Eureka and rest a little while Don cleans the fish (they will be tonight's dinner). In the evening we are also going to try some oysters. ## Thursday 30 July (Point Reyes) *Posted 2 August 2009* Some time around 8 in the morning we say goodbye to Don and Joyce and set off on the road again. We go a little way south on Route 101 and then get onto California's Highway 1, which winds along the coast all the way down to LA. It is a very slow road, but far more pleasant to drive than the freeway a few kilometres further inland; Highway 1 has wonderful views of the Pacific. When we left Eureka it was of course completely fogged in, but a few miles south it was already clear. As we approached San Francisco in the evening, though, the fog came back. We stopped at the Point Reyes nature reserve and went to see the famous lighthouse, but the whole area was drowning in fog and it was really cold. We did not have much time anyway, so we carried on into the city, crossed the Golden Gate and made it to Los Gatos (which we translate as Kocourkov, the proverbial Czech town of fools, from kocour, a tomcat), where Vickie and Hanns live, and we are staying the night with them. ## Friday 31 July (San Francisco) *Posted 2 August 2009* We spent our first day in San Francisco seeing the city, with Thorsten (Hanns and Vickie's son) as our guide, which was great. We walked along the shore and looked at the Golden Gate from a distance, drove through several parks, went up Twin Peaks, had a beer on the top floor of the Bank of America building (probably the tallest in the city, with a beautiful view of the harbour and Alcatraz), rode a cable car and looked round Chinatown, where we also had some Chinese food (quite good). In the evening we returned to Los Gatos, where Hanns and Vickie made us a barbecue for dinner, and it was all very good. We had some local Californian beer (plus some German) and went to bed. ## Saturday 1 August (San Francisco) *Posted 2 August 2009* Today we go into the city on our own. It takes us a while to find somewhere sensible to park (that is quite a problem in San Francisco, just as driving a manual there is an experience, because almost every street is uphill, and just before the top there is usually a stop sign or traffic lights), and then we take the boat to Alcatraz: a great trip, from the view from the ferry on the way to the island, through the tour of the former prison itself, to the beautiful scenery you can also find on Alcatraz. We stay there about three hours and walk around the Rock. Back in SF we look round Fisherman's Wharf, the old harbour and fish market, now swarming with tourists. Finally we drive over to the Presidio park, right below the Golden Gate, but by then a really thick fog is coming down, it is cold, and we are getting very hungry. In the evening Vickie made us spaghetti (it will be hard to go back to a fast-food diet). ## Sunday 2 August (Big Sur) *Posted 6 August 2009* We leave SF and carry on south along Highway 1. Unlike the drive from Eureka, we have a beautiful day without fog, with the temperature below twenty degrees, so it is quite pleasant in the sun. We stop several times just to take in the coast; Highway 1 is often perched right on the edge of the cliffs and winds above the ocean. We park in one of the state parks along the road and go for a half-hour walk, looking close up at the shore, the big crabs and the little fish that the low tide has trapped in small pools among the rocks. We drive on a little further and reach the Big Sur area. We stop at a waterfall right on the beach. A lovely sight. Near Santa Barbara we hit our first proper traffic jam, but we manage to reach the campsite in Malibu while there is still some light left, though not much of it for pitching the tents. The campsite is rather overcrowded and noisy, but in quite pleasant surroundings (considering that a megalopolis of millions lies a few kilometres away). ## Monday 3 August (Los Angeles) *Posted 6 August 2009* From Malibu we drive into LA along the coast, turn left onto Sunset Boulevard and head for Hollywood past Beverly Hills. We stop at Universal Studios and stroll along CityWalk. Then we move on to Hollywood Boulevard and the Walk of Fame, which we walk the whole length of, and then we drive out of LA (it is a noticeably less pleasant city than SF, although by local standards we have pleasant weather, something like 33 in the city). We try to leave the city on Highway 1, but the traffic is terribly heavy and there are traffic lights every few hundred metres, so we go back to the freeway (on the whole, though, driving in LA is better than we expected). We carry on south, and halfway to San Diego we stop at a beach, where we stay for the rest of the afternoon. The water is quite warm, the air fairly cool, and there are big waves along the shore, so we had great fun (swimming is practically impossible, though: you cannot get past the waves into calmer water). Towards evening we arrive at Delena and Barry's in Valley Center, where we are given a wonderful dinner, and we go to bed exhausted. ## Tuesday 4 August (San Diego) *Posted 6 August 2009* In San Diego we explore Balboa Park (the largest city park in the US): fine Spanish colonial architecture, but above all beautiful gardens. San Diego is pleasant, around 30 degrees with fresh air blowing in off the ocean, but the sun is pretty fierce, so we look for somewhere to swim. We drive down to the ocean, cross to Coronado Island, look at one of the oldest hotels in the US (the Victorian Hotel del Coronado) and stay on the beach right next to the hotel. The beach is lovely. The ocean is colder than yesterday, but the waves are great, so we let them toss us about for a couple of hours. We are only 10 miles from the Mexican border. Before 4 we shake the sand out of our ears and head north-east towards Joshua Tree. We head inland into the desert, and the temperature rises to 44. We arrive at the campsite in the national park and have it practically to ourselves (camping in the desert in summer does not appeal to many people). But now it is cooling down and getting more pleasant. Now and then we see a jackrabbit or a lizard, but otherwise it is desolate here. ## Wednesday 5 August (Joshua Tree) *Posted 6 August 2009* The heat wakes us, so we leave fairly early. We camped in the southern part of the national park, and now we carry on north-west, where the Joshua trees start to appear, along with the clusters of boulders and rocks typical of this park (they often look like faces and are named accordingly). It is really hot (later in the afternoon we have 47) and clear, so we limit our hiking to a few short walks on marked trails (among cacti, Joshua trees and rocks). We always cool down nicely in the car, so on the whole the park is quite nice, with only a few people and beautiful scenery. We try to get to a pond (or perhaps a reservoir) that the guidebook promised, but all the water is gone (so only a few mice and rattlesnakes still survive among the rocks). We drive through the whole park and come out at its northern edge, then follow a practically empty, perfectly straight road (which we chose over the freeway); we stop for lunch and drive on into Arizona towards Phoenix (petrol is suddenly 30 cents a gallon cheaper now that we are out of California). Along the road we see several whirlwinds (dust devils), which look like little tornadoes. Towards evening we are glad to arrive at Chuck's. ## Thursday 6 August (Phoenix) *Posted 7 August 2009* We get up around nine and set off on a trip Chuck recommended to us, some 200 kilometres through the Arizona desert. We see a ghost town by a former gold mine, the tall cacti that are everywhere, and desolate mountains straight out of some horror film. We pass several reservoirs, but the land around them is still desert. We have a sandwich at Tortilla Flat and continue along an unpaved road where two cars can barely pass, with beautiful views of the desert. We get back to Chuck and his family in the afternoon and happily try out their pool (it is about 43 outside and the water is some 31, about twice as warm as the ocean we swam in the day before yesterday). In the evening Denise treats us to a wonderful Mexican meal. It will be hard to get used to fast food again! ## Friday 7 August (Petrified Forest) *Posted 8 August 2009* In the morning we say goodbye to Chuck and his family and set off towards the Petrified Forest. As we go further north-east we gain altitude, the desert gives way to wooded country and it gets much cooler (so by the time we reach the park it is quite pleasant). We walk through the petrified forest among rocks that look a lot like the Badlands. A little further into the park are the remains of an old Native American pueblo, with the original petroglyphs on the rocks around it. We drive on north into the Painted Desert, which has beautiful views of the colourful rocks all around. We leave the park for the interstate and drive west; we stop at a Burger King and in the evening arrive at the campsite at Meteor Crater. It is a lovely campsite, and for the first time in ages we pitch our tents on thick green grass. ## Saturday 8 August (Meteor Crater, Walnut Canyon, Sunset Crater, Wupatki) *Posted 11 August 2009* From the campsite at Meteor Crater to the Grand Canyon is only 2 hours by car, but it takes us the whole day, because there are so many things to see on the way. In the morning we see Meteor Crater itself (the first crater proven to have been made by a meteorite impact, and still the best preserved in the world) and walk along the rim. A very impressive sight. From there we drive a few kilometres on to Walnut Canyon, where there are old Native American pueblos in the canyon wall. We drive a short stretch of Route 66. We stop for lunch in Flagstaff and continue to Sunset Crater monument, a very well preserved volcanic cone. We make a short climb up one of the volcanoes and walk along the lava trail. From there it is only a few miles to Wupatki National Monument, which has several large Native American pueblos. We look at them one by one, then return to the main road, drive north and enter Grand Canyon National Park. The sun is already low, so it lights up the eastern part of the canyon beautifully (the western part is hard to see, partly also because there are several fires in the area). The view is spectacular. ## Sunday 9 August (Grand Canyon) *Posted 11 August 2009* We spend the whole day at the Grand Canyon. Our campsite is right in Grand Canyon Village, near a bus stop (several bus lines run through the whole park, and everything is free). We take the bus to the Kaibab viewpoint, where we begin the descent into the canyon. We did not go all the way down to the river, but even so we worked up quite a sweat (though it was much more pleasant than in Zion or Yosemite earlier), and we reached several beautiful viewpoints along the way; in the morning there was quite a lot of haze in the canyon, but the view improved a great deal during the day. A beautiful day. On the whole we have been lucky with the weather (I would not want to jinx it now). The hike took us some 3 hours, and we spent the rest of the day back up top, moving between the various viewpoints and walking the trail along the South Rim of the canyon. Lunch in Grand Canyon Village, although we had originally meant to cook (we'll do that at dinner). This morning it is supposed to be 4 degrees. ## Monday 10 August (Navajo, Monument Valley) *Posted 11 August 2009* In the morning we leave the Grand Canyon, driving east along the rim, the route we took on Friday, and stop at the easternmost viewpoint. We have a long drive ahead of us, almost 600 kilometres, all of it through reservation land. About halfway we stop at Navajo National Monument (a pueblo built beneath a cliff), take a walk of just over a mile and carry on to Monument Valley. We had meant only to drive past on the main road, but we give in to temptation, pay the Navajo the entrance fee and drive onto a very rough dirt road right in among the rocks (we do have an SUV, after all, so we ought to make at least some use of it). The fun was definitely worth the 20 dollars, even though those 15 miles cost us a quarter of a tank. Towards evening we reach the campsite near Mesa Verde. We got into the pool for a while and then soaked for a long time in the hot tub. ## Tuesday 11 August (Mesa Verde) *Posted 14 August 2009* We get up early to reach the visitor centre at Mesa Verde in time to buy tickets for a tour of a cliff pueblo. We chose Cliff Palace, the largest pueblo of its kind in North America. Impressively built into an alcove in the cliff face, it looks like a swallow's nest from a distance. We climb down with a ranger and walk around the pueblo. We spent the rest of the morning looking at the park's other archaeological sights (several more cliff pueblos, and older settlements on the plateau above the canyon). There is a great deal to see at Mesa Verde, and you could spend much more time there than the one morning we had. After lunch we leave, heading east towards Great Sand Dunes, and on the way we climb into wetter mountain country (around here it looks more like the Alps) and cross the Continental Divide again, reaching 11,000 feet (about 3.5 kilometres). In the evening we reach the park and take one of the last spots at the campsite (it is quite a small one). ## Wednesday 12 August (Great Sand Dunes) *Posted 14 August 2009* This park is perhaps the most interesting thing we have seen in all 6 weeks in America (so the best came last). The tallest sand dunes in North America (300 metres), which form a sandy "desert" some ten miles across, lie right next to mountain peaks, forest, meadows and a creek full of trout. It is an incredible sight (and looks different at every time of day), and we had to share it with fewer tourists than in any other national park we visited here. In the morning we climbed some of the highest dunes. From the campsite it looked like child's play, but the dunes were higher than we thought, and the loose sand certainly did not make the climbing any easier. Although it was not yet that hot (about 30 degrees in the shade), the sand was very hot, and we agreed that on the whole it was probably the toughest stretch of all the hikes we did in the US. In the end, though, we all scrambled to the top and enjoyed the beautiful view (and the way down, too). Before lunch we went to the visitor centre for a backcountry permit to spend tonight in the wilderness, and around one we set off on a ten-kilometre walk around the dunes. We are walking in sand the whole time, often crossing hillocks and smaller dunes, so it takes us 4 hours to reach our destination (a primitive campsite on the far side of the dunes, with nobody at all around us). On the way we stop at a creek to freshen up a little. We pitch the tent, hang our food on a branch 3 metres off the ground (because of the bears and mountain lions, many of which live here) and enjoy the wilderness (we did not meet anyone the whole way). After dark we watch the Perseid meteor shower, and the sky is once again absolutely perfect, with no light pollution. ## Thursday 13 August (Great Sand Dunes) *Posted 14 August 2009* Sleeping on sand without a sleeping mat was quite comfortable, so we all wake up fairly fresh. We did not hear any bears or pumas in the night (and the food stayed in the tree). By 8 o'clock it is already quite warm, so we have a quick breakfast and set off back. The walking is easier than yesterday, because the sun is not yet so fierce, the sand is cooler, and above all most of the way is downhill. We get back to the campsite, so in all we walked about 23 kilometres at Great Sand Dunes, probably second only to Yosemite. We are very hungry, so we leave the park straight away and head for the highway to Denver, stopping at Carl's Jr. at the first opportunity. Fast food, but excellent after two days of biscuits and cold beans. In the evening we arrive at Ken and Betty's in Denver, ending the road trip the same way we began it. ## The last hours *Posted 16 August 2009* After an excellent dinner we spent the night at Ken and Betty's. We crawled out of bed some time around nine, were given an equally excellent breakfast, and set off on one last short drive in our red Grand Vitara. In the city centre we bought some sweets and T-shirts for our families at home. Around two in the afternoon we say goodbye to Ken and Betty (we spent 4 nights with them altogether and felt very much at home there), stop one last time for a fast-food lunch (Burger King, where we probably spent the most on food), return the car to the hire office at the Radisson hotel (everything goes quickly, and nobody seems to look at the scratches) and take the bus to the airport. We have some 3 hours, so I upload the last photos, and in a little while we are through security and boarding the plane. The flight to London takes some 9 hours, but this time it passed quite quickly, and those unpleasant British Airways flight attendants did not even bother us much. We spend another few hours at Heathrow dozing on benches (the jet lag takes its toll), and then a much shorter flight gets us to Prague at 18:00. Time to say goodbye for a while: Michal stays in Prague, Zuzka's mum drives her to Bratislava, and Petr and I go on to Litomysl. ## Thank you! *Posted 16 August 2009* We could never have done so much in 6 weeks if our friends in the US had not helped us. They helped us with reservations, the car hire, the planning (and much, much more); we had somewhere to sleep (in a real bed after weeks in a tent) and to wash our sweaty T-shirts, we were given excellent food (after dozens of fast-food burgers), we could try ocean fishing and do a little shooting (plus lots more), we had people to talk to, and we heard about and learned lots of new things. I am the one writing this, but the others are loudly reminding me to thank you on their behalf too, so: Ken and Betty, Eddie and Norm, Moki and Garry, Don and Joyce, Vickie, Hanns and Thorsten, Delena and Barry, Chuck and Denise, THANK YOU SO MUCH! I hope I haven't left anyone out. ## A few statistics... *Posted 18 August 2009* We spent 42 days in the US. We drove 13,000 kilometres through 11 states (roughly the equivalent of a flight between the capital of Alaska and Punta Arenas on the Strait of Magellan), crossed the Continental Divide six times, and drove 310 kilometres a day on average. That is also a little less than we had estimated beforehand, and among other things it means that the distances Google Maps calculates do not differ much from the kilometres actually driven. At an average consumption of 10 l/100 km we burned 13 hectolitres of low-octane petrol. Altogether, flights included, we travelled over 30,000 kilometres on the trip, or 3/4 of the circumference of the equator. We drove the most in California, some 5,000 kilometres (roughly the equivalent of flights from Seattle to San Francisco and from San Francisco to New York put together). California is also where we spent the most nights, 18, followed by Colorado with 8 and Arizona with 5. We visited 18 national parks, 10 national monuments, 6 state parks and monuments, and 7 big cities. We had snow in the Rocky Mountains and 52 degrees in the shade in Death Valley, violent storms in the Badlands and the parched deserts of California, and we drove up to 4,000 metres above sea level and down to 80 metres below it. In total we spent CZK 193,000 on the trip, of which almost half (CZK 85,000) went on air fares. Another big part (CZK 46,000) went on hiring our SUV. Petrol cost us CZK 17,700, food 17,800, accommodation 14,000, admission fees 3,500, souvenirs 3,000, and other items (such as camping gear) came to 5,000. Overall the trip came out considerably cheaper than we had estimated in the autumn, even though we paid twice as much for the car as originally planned and fuel consumption was a quarter higher. Average total costs per person per day thus came to CZK 1,150. If we had to pick our favourite park, it would probably be Great Sand Dunes, for its uniqueness (if I had not seen it with my own eyes, I might not have believed it), but also because it was practically free of tourists. After that we liked Bryce Canyon, Badlands, Yosemite best... no park disappointed us. What pleased us most of all, though, was American society: the way the people we met along the way treated us. I can hardly imagine a similar trip around Europe.