Photo credit – https://www.cntraveler.com/galleries/2015-11-27/the-50-most-beautiful-places-in-the-world
Daily Photo – June 12, 2020
Photo credit – https://www.cntraveler.com/galleries/2015-11-27/the-50-most-beautiful-places-in-the-world
Tag: Travel
Photo credit – https://www.cntraveler.com/galleries/2015-11-27/the-50-most-beautiful-places-in-the-world
Drive Across America – Day 5 – 7, Abilene to Atlanta
One of my grand plans before I left to drive across the country was to stop everyday to see something interesting, take a hike, or visit some place I haven’t been before – but after driving four days non-stop across the United States (of course only 300 miles a day) I was anxious to get to my final destination, Atlanta. So Days 5 and 6, I really didn’t stop, I just drove.
Abilene, Texas was a nice town. The night I arrived I wanted to get some something to eat in a nice restaurant and I found a nice place using Yelp. The bartender recommended a pub near the local college to check out, and I ended up in a few games of friendly pool with some locals who were very nice. Abilene is actually considered a very good place to visit and live – this link will tell you a lot about Abilene history and livability – https://livability.com/tx/abilene . But overall Abilene did not leave much of an impression on me. I was only there for a night and my apologies to anyone who reads this who is from Abilene but I just decided to move on down the road.
But as I was headed east on Interstate 20 I did come to an interesting little town called Cisco, TX. Cisco seems to be surrounded by a lot of trees which was different after 4 days of driving across desert and flatland. That was because of Lake Cisco, a man-made lake created in the 1920’s.
One of Cisco’s claims to fame is that Conrad Hilton, the founder of the Hilton Hotel chain bought and operated his first hotel in Cisco. The story goes that Hilton came to Cisco to buy a bank, but the bank cost too much, so he purchased the Mobley Hotel in 1919. The hotel is now a local museum and community center. The hotel had about 40 rooms and did a very brisk business right from the start as this occurred during the beginning of the Texas oil boom. It’s now on the National Historic Register, and right next to the community center is a little park called the Conrad Hilton Park with a small statue of him there.
The rest of the drive that day is kind of a blur as to what happened because the entire focus of the trip was now just trying to get out of Texas and across as much of Louisiana as I could make in my 300 mile radius. I spent the night in Greenwood, Louisiana.
One last comment about Texas before I move on. What is it in Texas with the super high transition ramps to other freeways? They’re in every city no matter how small or how large, and they just keep going higher and higher and higher. Other states have them as well but Texas seems to have a real proclivity for building these structures. As I drove across the country along the southern route, Texas by far had more of them than any other place I’ve ever seen. Fort Worth has so many freeways crossing and re-crossing each other that the confusion of roads and bridges and transition roads is called the “Mixmaster.”
Day 6 was just spent driving I-20 through Shreveport, Louisiana on to the Mississippi River. I crossed the river at Vicksburg, MS. This is the site of a huge battle during the Civil War between the North and the South. The North had been trying to take Vicksburg, a major port city for the Confederates on the Mississippi for months. Every time they were rebuffed by the Southern soldiers. Finally Lincoln placed a relatively unknown general in charge of the effort, U.S. Grant. Grant laid siege to the city for 45 days cutting off all food and water. The Southern command finally surrendered, and the victory turned Grant into a Northern national hero.
The Vicksburg National Military Park is here that you can drive through and see almost the entire battlefield. Even places where people currently live and own homes are included in the National Monument. It is really quite moving when you consider the sheer amount of death and destruction because the weapons of war had far outstripped the stratagems that were used to guide men into battle. Although the sheer amount of information about who was fighting at what position on the battlefield, and who did what, and who died here after a while becomes overwhelming.
Here I have a a comment about growing up in the South. I’m of a certain age when the people of the South still talked about the War of Northern Aggression. Every little boy that I know including myself grew up pretending to be a Confederate soldier fighting against the Yankee intruders. Thank God that is all changed to a large degree. I don’t think many little boys grow up anymore wanting to pretend fight the most deadly war that the United States has ever fought which based on slavery, and that we fought against each other. What the southern states in the late 1800’s did to hang on to some integrity after losing the Civil War was to put memorial plaques up everywhere that something happened during the Civil War. And they’re literally thousands of them in every state. Starting at Louisiana and continuing on into Mississippi and Alabama and Georgia, thousands of Civil War historical markers everywhere covering everything from houses to where people slept, to where battles were fought, to where it seems like famous people took a crap. They are every where.
True family story – My mother used to like to read the markers and often complained to my father when he was driving that he would not stop and let her read them. So once on a trip to Mississippi after her constant complaining, my father began to stop at every maker and read them out loud in their entirety. After 10 miles of this history lesson, my mother gave in and never complained about reading the historical makers again.
I spent the night in Meridian, Mississippi.
Waking up the next day, I headed straight toward Atlanta through Birmingham on Interstate 20. As I drove further and further east that day my anxiety over why I was taking this trip and what I hoped to accomplish in Atlanta grew. Why had I driven 2400 miles to another city to prove what? To whom and why? Plus driving for 7 straight days with huge bridges, big trucks, crazy drivers, and the endless boredom of just looking at scenery pass by made me a nervous wreck the further I drove.
Yet I could also reflect on the amazing size of our country and the constant changes in scenery and climate. I started on the Pacific Ocean through the changing scenery of California, Arizona, New Mexico to the Flat Lands of Texas. Than in East Texas things start to change with trees, and the drive just gets Greener and Greener and Greener as the humidity soars, and plants and trees start to take over everywhere. I travel back to the South often but I am always amazed at how green it is and how many trees there are.
I finally got to Atlanta about three in the afternoon. I had chosen to stay for the first few days near my nephew Justin and his family who live in Woodstock , GA about 27 miles outside of downtown Atlanta. I had rented an Airbnb just a couple of miles from his home. Yet, in my exhausted and anxiety ridden state, I just could not handle driving on Atlanta’s infamous I- 285 Perimeter which is like a racecourse with too much traffic and huge trucks and Atlanta’s very aggressive drivers all doing 10 miles per hours over the speed limit. So I choose to take smaller state highways around to Woodstock, but that gave me the opportunity to understand how much Atlanta and the surrounding area had grown through the years. What had been open country and small towns was now malls, housing developments and apartment/condo complexes. Rows of them in all directions.
Arriving at my AirBnb, I unpacked my car and set up my temporary quarters. While worried, I was also very excited to see what the next two months would hold for me as I began my adventure in Atlanta. Performing and seeing what opportunities either in show business or real estate existed here, and the chance to really start to understand the city that I’ve passed through so many times during my life but have never stayed for more than a week at a time. After 7 long tiring days, The Grand Adventure was about to begin.
Drive Across America – Day 4 – Abileen, TX
To say that Van Horn, TX is slow would be an understatement. In the little hamlet of 2000+ people there is truly not much to see or do IN Van Horn. There are a couple of interesting buildings but by and large the town would be considered very sleepy. But outside of Van Horn is another story.
Jeff Bezos, the richest man in the world, must think that Van Horn is a special place since he bought over 165,000 acres of land just outside of the small town to build his spaceport where flight tests of the New Shepard are carried out by Blue Origin, his private space company. The ranch is called the Corn Ranch, and it is very hush-hush. Yet, the financial boost that you would expect from all those engineers and science types does not appear to have helped Van Horn much. There are several closed down businesses that had put up Welcome Blue Origin banners up to welcome Bezos and company.
Bezos is also digging a hole on his ranch to place a 10000 year old clock/time capsule. Actually, it is more complex than that. Bezos is hollowing out a mountain on his ranch to place the clock inside. Installation has already begun on this project that the Amazon CEO has invested $42 million in, along with the hollowed-out mountain, with the goal of building a 500 foot mechanical clock that will run for 10 millennia. According to the website for Bezos’ 10,000-year clock, visitors will (in theory) be able to view the finished timepiece, although the site notes that it’ll be a rough trip. “The nearest airport is several hours away by car” and a rugged foot trail that rises almost 2,000 feet above the valley floor. Fortunately, if the clock runs for as long as it claims, you’ll have plenty of time to plan your trip.
Another interesting factoid of Van Horn is that it is the Western most incorporated town in the Central Time zone. Yet, the only other reason that I can think of to recommend stopping off in Van Horn until the spaceport is built is that it is the southern gateway to the Guadalupe Mountains National Park and Carlsbad Caverns.
The Guadalupe Mountains (Spanish: Sierra de Guadalupe) are a mountain range located in West Texas and southeastern New Mexico. The range includes the highest summit in Texas, Guadalupe Peak, 8,751 ft, and the “signature peak” of West Texas, El Capitan, both of which are located within Guadalupe Mountains National Park.
You drive north out of Van Horn on Texas Highway 54 for about 45 miles or about an hour until you hook up with US Highway 62 that will lead you up into the mountains toward Guadalupe National Park and further on to the Carlsbad Caverns tourist complex in New Mexico. Along the scenic drive you pass the 12800 acre Sierra Ranch.
After the American Civil War, this area was the site of some savage Indian War battles between the Mescalero Apaches and a cavalry unit known as the Buffalo Soldiers. A main travel passage for settlers, mail, and stage coaches came through the Guadalupe Pass and were often attacked by the Apache tribe. The cavalry unit was ordered to the area to stop Indian raids on settlements and mail stage routes. During the winter of 1869, Lt. H.B. Cushing led his troops into the Guadalupe Mountains and destroyed two Mescalero Apache camps. The Mescalero Apache were eventually driven out of the area and into US Indian reservations.
The national park is beautiful and has many hikes of all levels that lead to wondrous sights including one that leads to an original ranch house located next to a natural spring that was the site of a prolonged fight between a rancher who wanted the land and the Apache tribe. Eventually the rancher won and drove what remained of the tribe out of the area forever. The ranch is beautiful, but the history of it not so much.
After taking that long detour to the mountains, it was an hour back to Van Horn and Interstate 20 and east toward Abilene. Right as you drive into Van Horn on Texas 54 you see right in front of you the most interesting building in Van Horn, the El Capitan Hotel. The hotel is a 5-star hotel built in the 1930’s. In the 1973, the hotel was convert to a bank. In 2007, Lanna and Joe Duncan of Fort Davis purchased the building from the bank with the plan to convert it back into a hotel. They rebuilt almost everything including all new bathrooms with all new plumbing. The hotel is one of five identical hotels all built in the West Texas/Carlsbad area.
As you drive across the flat West Texas landscape you notice something that is constant and unending. The Wind! It is part of the nature and atmosphere of this environment. The constant blowing wind. And it makes you think why not wind turbines? This is the perfect place for them – however, this is Texas. The land of oil and natural gas. That is the business that drives much of America’s business engine and much of its political machine. As you approach Midland, it is obvious what part of the world you are in. Oil well after oil well, business after business that are connected to the oil business. The chances of a wind turbine out here are nil.
Yet, the wind is persistent and sustained. And as you get closer to Sweetwater you begin to understand that oil and gas maybe king but close behind is Wind Power. Huge wind turbines in all directions by the hundreds. Texas dominates the nation’s wind energy production, adding far more generating capacity than any other state last year and having more installed wind power capacity than all but five countries in the world, the U.S. Energy Department.
Texas has vaulted to the top of wind power by not only exploiting the strong winds of West Texas, but also by building the transmission to move the electricity from remote regions to state population areas. The state’s wind energy production, meanwhile, is only expected to increase and provide a growing share of the state’s electricity as advancing technology allows turbines to generate at lower wind speeds and improved weather forecasting makes it easier to integrate it into the grid. Currently, wind power is estimated to provide 17% of Texas growing power needs.
Texas added more than 2,300 megawatts of wind power last year, nearly three times the amount added by the next closest state, Oklahoma, which increased its wind generating capacity by about 850 megawatts. At the end of 2017, Texas had more than 10,000+ wind turbines producing over 22,000 megawatts of wind power, more than triple Oklahoma’s 7,500 megawatts of wind generating capacity, the second highest in the nation.
Yet, oil and gas is king in West Texas so even as Texas rises to the top of the wind power business, Texas politicians are trying to find ways to undercut the federal subsides for renewable energy which they claim are an unfair advantage. It makes one wonder why can you not have both?
After 33o miles of flat, flat road with the constant whisper of blowing wind in my ear, I pulled into a cheap motel in Abileen. A long tiring day but found out some very interesting about Texas that I did not know.
Tomorrow – Mission Out of Texas!
Drive Across America – Day 3 -Van Horn, TX
Woke up in Wilcox, AZ, the next morning to hit the road again. I wandered back into the small downtown area for breakfast at my new favorite Mexican place, Isabel’s South of the Border, and had their famous Shrimp Enchilades special. Excellent but extremely filling!!!
So to walk off the food, I wandered around the little hamlet for a while. Like a lot of small towns across America, Wilcox’s downtown was struggling. People moving away or just preferring the newer places on the edge of town, whatever the reason about half of DT Wilcox was closed up or for sale. Yet there were some really interesting jewels of history or culture, and innovative uses of older buildings.
Wilcox’s most famous citizen was a singing movie cowboy by the name of Rex Allen. Located in DT Wilcox is the Rex Allen Museum featuring memorabilia from his rodeo, radio, movies and television achievements. Across the street from the museum is a larger-than-life bronze statue of Rex, created by sculptor Buck McCain. Inside the statue is a molded bronze heart with arteries, symbolizing that Rex’s heart will always be in Wilcox. Rex’s horse, KoKo, is buried at the foot of the statue.
Rex Allen was an American film actor and singer, known as “the Arizona Cowboy” and as the narrator of many Disney nature and Western productions. For his contributions to the film industry, Allen received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1975. Beginning in 1950, Allen starred as himself in 19 films. One of the top-ten box office draws of the day, whose character was soon depicted in comic books, on screen Allen personified the clean cut, God-fearing American hero of the wild West who wore a white Stetson hat, loved his faithful horse Koko, and had a loyal buddy who shared his adventures. Allen passed in 1999.
Around the corner from the Rex Allen Musuem is the Chiricahua Regional Museum. A wonderful little museum -researched and staffed-entirely by volunteers which has tons of artifacts from rocks to art work, original Navajo/Chiricahua clothing ,medals and pictures. Only a few bucks donated gets you in and there is a volunteer on site to answer any questions. Place could use a dusting but very informative! Stop in if you have time.
The town has adapted the best it can to the changing times. Originally known as “Maley”, the town was founded in 1880 as a whistle stop on the Southern Pacific Railroad. It was renamed in 1889 in honor of a visiting General. In the early 20th century, Wilcox had the distinction of being a national leader in cattle production, but Interstate 10 has replaced the railroad as the major transportation link, and much of the economy is now tied to the highway, which runs immediately north of the town.
Chochise County where Wilcox sits has many historical sites within its boundaries since many of the last battles against the Apaches happened here. Many of the famous tales and stories of the Old West actually happened here. There are several sites to see and explore. You can use this link to find out more. https://www.explorecochise.com/
But needing to get on the road I had to cut my exploration short and get back on Interstate 10. Soon I crossed into New Mexico wishing I had more time to spend in this amazingly beautiful place. There is a story that when Georgia O’Keeffe arrived in New Mexico, she is supposed to have said that she wasn’t going to say too much about it, because people would get interested and she didn’t want them so interested that they came there. New Mexico’s natural and dramatic landscape plays out like a painting: vast skies with bright sunlight, and stark shadows leaving silhouettes on the desert’s wide expanse. To see some of the best drives in New Mexico follow this link. https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attractions-g28952-Activities-c47-t74-New_Mexico.html
Since I was driving and had no time to stop and had to stay on my own personal schedule, I really did not see much except what passed me on the highway, but two things did happen during my drive. I crossed the Continental Divide about 30 miles west of Deming, NM. There is a sign that marks this event on the side of the highway. On every other Interstate you drive thru the Rockies. This drive is so gentle you don’t even notice it. The elevation at this point is 4585 feet about sea level.
The second adventure happened about 50 miles west of Las Cruces. The whole front end of my car started to shake. So the answer – new tires – after I entered Las Cruces I found a place still open in the downtown area. It was going to take 2 hours and 500+ dollars. I had little to no tread on the tires left and I was out of alignment. Stuck in a new town for 2 hours with nothing to do, I asked the counter man where close by is there a place to eat or drink. He pointed across the street to Amador. I walked across the street and what a surprise. Amador is part of a 4 restaurant and bar complex with several bars, outdoor dining, a concert venue. It even has an outdoor courtyard with games and room for kids of all ages to run around and play in the afternoon sun. I met a couple from California who had moved to Las Cruces to escape Cali’s growing taxes and enjoy a slower but richer lifestyle. They had been there for about 3 years and were loving it. Great scenery, a pretty upscale lifestyle, lower taxes and a slower pace! What is not to like?!
It was late afternoon when I got back on the road, and I was determined to get through El Paso and on into Texas. No offense meant to anyone, but I do not like El Paso. I have driven through it 5 times during cross country trips and I find it a nightmare every time. I am sure that it is a lovely place, but I just want to get through it. If I could find a fast alternative to driving around it, I would take it.
I do remember one beautiful site as I drove east from El Paso into the deserted West Texas landscape. I stopped on a side road for a pit stop and the night was completely silent except for passing traffic. The night was black with no lights 30 miles east of El Paso, and you could see the stars and the hundreds of lights across the border into Mexico. It was a lovely and very peaceful moment after a very long day driving.
Finally, about 9 PM , I pulled off the highway at Van Horn and checked into a Motel 6. Dinner was at a 24 hours Subway in a Love’s Truck Stop. One of two places open in town at that time. As I drove down the main drag I was followed by the local sheriff probably hoping for a speeding ticket from a California tourist. No luck, I drove slower than the speed limit. There seemed to be a lot of interesting buildings in the small DT area, but I was too tired to explore. It was back to the motel and sleep.
Next stop – Again somewhere in Texas.
Tombstone, AZ – Photo Journal
Just a few images from an afternoon in Tombstone, AZ and the surrounding country. Check out Day 2, Drive Across America for further details. Cheers!
Main Street – Tombstone 
Main Street 
Old Territory Courthouse 
Stage of Bird Cage Theatre 
Brothel Overlooking Birdcage Stage 
Doc Holiday’s Farro Table 
Longest Poker Game in US History 
Longest Poker Game 
Longest Poker Game 
Black Mirara BootHill Hearse 
Where My Rosebush is 
My Rosebush 
A extremely powerful pump for the silver mines that made Tombstone! 
Lake Patagonia
Drive Across America – Day 2 – Wilcox, AZ
There are three popular local bars in the Old Town section of Yuma, AZ. Places that I had visited on my first discovery of the town a few months before. Upon my return to the city of Yuma and checking into my cheap hotel (this was not the luxury tour across the country, this was the budget tour), I proceeded to have dinner and revisit all my favorite Yuma joints. In no certain order, Jimmie Dee’s, Red’s Bird Cage, and the Pint House Bar and Grill, all local and all great places to meet people and have a cocktail served by great bartenders. However, lets just say that I over did it and I was paying the price the next morning when I got up. So I was slow to get on the road and not expecting to get far that day.
I had made a plan to drive about 300 miles a day and take 6 to 7 days to drive across America. My hope for that day was just to make it to New Mexico before dark.
There are many things to see in Arizona. The Grand Canyon and the Painted Desert in the North, the lava fields(yes volcanoes) and many National Parks around Flagstaff, the red rocks and (former) spiritual atmosphere of Sedona (which is now thick with tourists and shopping malls), to the far West is the Sonoran Desert and the powerful Colorado River that marks much of Arizona western border with Nevada and California, Lake Havasu City and the original London Bridge imported from Great Britian, to the Southeast are the Superstition Mountains and the beautiful rolling grasslands that include famous Old West town Tombstone, Bisbee, and the Gila River. It is a beautiful state with a diverse geography of mountains, forests, rivers, canyons, and desert, plus it has a long and rich history centuries before it became part of the USA. The fabled Apache and Navajo nations began arriving in Arizona in the 13th century, and somewhere between the 11th and 14th centuries, the Pueblo Indian culture built their mysterious prehistoric cliff dwellings across America’s southwest, many of which still exist today. It is not hard to imagine as you drive through this varied terrain the savage war that Native Americans fought with whites for control of this land. Savage on both sides as one race tried to hold on and the other desired more and more land. One modern and the other not primitive, but closer to the land and to nature. There are historical markers and sites everywhere you look in Arizona.
The Spanish arrived around the late 1530’s in search of the Seven Cities of Gold, Marcos de Niza, Franciscan friar from Spain, the first European to explore Arizona; soon after, Francisco Vásquez de Coronado followed in his quest for gold. The early settlements built here were for missionary purposes only. In 1775, the Spanish established Fort Tucson, and in fact Tucson is one of the oldest cities in the United States of America.
So that morning as I drove across the Sonoran Desert towards Casa Grande to meet up with Interstate 10, I hoped to be able to take the time to drive down to Tombstone and see the sites there. I had been to Tombstone on my first around-the-country trip when I was 15, traveling in a bus full of hormonal teenagers from Georgia. I had faint memories of the town except for one really strong image that I wanted to see if it was still there as I remembered it.
By making great time on Interestates 8 and 10, I got to Tucson by early afternoon. Tucson seems like a beautiful city. The downtown business area seems gleaming almost especially near the university. Their freeway system is unlike any that I have seen in America before. Maybe because they had the room to expand in the city area, but the Interstate that goes right through the center of the city has wide frontage roads on either side that make entering and exiting the highway a breeze. Really well thought out.
About 100 miles east of Tucson is the turnoff toward Tombstone at the town of Benson. Traveling about 25 miles through some beautiful country you come to Tombstone. While the area around Tombstone is not as pretty as the drive down. The town was built on top the single largest silver discovery in Arizona. It became one of the last boomtowns in the American frontier. Within two years of its founding, although far distant from any other metropolitan area, Tombstone had a bowling alley, four churches, an ice house, a school, two banks, three newspapers, and an ice cream parlor, alongside 110 saloons, 14 gambling halls, and numerous dance halls and brothels. All of these businesses were situated on top of the silver mines. The people of Tombstone attended operas presented by visiting acting troupes or gambled and dealt with the prostitutes at the Bird Cage Theatre and brothel, and other places like it.
Most famous for the Gunfight at the OK Corral (subject of countless movies), Tombstone was a hotbed of crime and post-Civil War tension. The city was only 30 miles (48 km) from the U.S.–Mexico border and was an open market for cattle stolen from ranches in Sonora, Mexico, by a loosely organized band of outlaws known as The Cowboys. The Earp brothers—Wyatt, Virgil, Morgan as well as Doc Holliday, arrived in December 1879 and mid-1880. The Earps had immediate ongoing conflicts with the Cowboys. The Cowboys repeatedly threatened the Earps over many months until the conflict escalated into a shootout on October 26, 1881. The historic gunfight is often portrayed as occurring at the O.K. Corral, though it actually occurred a short distance away in an empty lot on Fremont Street. In the mid-1880s, when the silver mines closed down, the city nearly became a ghost town. Many owners just locked up and walked away like the Birdcage Theatre. When new owners opened the doors which had been locked for nearly 40 years, the place was exactly like is was the day it had been closed. It is now considered one of the best examples of authentic Old West historic lifestyle and memorabilia. Tombstone today exists almost totally on tourism.
After spending a couple of hours walking around Tombstone and seeing the real historical Old West with my own eyes, I found my childhood memory. While the town seemed very different (40 years later) I had a very clear image of a large Rose Tree covering a house or blocking it view from the street. Right next to the old courthouse was this very tree still blocking the view of the house from the street. I asked the owner how old the tree was and he told me about 105 years old and it was still blooming.
Leaving Tombstone I drove about 20 miles to a beautiful little area known as Patagonia for a wonderful hike by the lake there. This area has a cool little town and the area as many really great hikes that I wish I could have stayed for but I needed to get back on the road.
It was dark when I got back to the 10 finally and I only made it to Wilcox, AZ., before I stopped for the night. No nightlife in Wilcox to speak of, but I had a really authentic Mexican meal in a delightful place called Isabel’s South of the Border right on the main street. Great food and service.
Tomorrow – Somewhere in Texas?
Photos – Trip to Yuma
Old Border Wall and New Wall 
Road along the Wall @ Jacumba Springs 
Horse on the Other side of the wall 
Horses grazing on the other side of wall. 
Road in the other direction 
Colorado outside of Yuma 
Colorado at Yuma 
Colorado River 
Swimming hole under the Bridge into Yuma 
Colorado River 
Yuma Territorial Prison 
Yuma Territorial Prison 
From inside the Hole 
Drive Across America – Day 1 – Yuma, Arizona
On Wednesday, May 22, I left Los Angeles (Santa Monica to be specific) to start a 2000 plus mile journey across the country to perform my one man show – Mi Casa Su Casa – at the Atlanta Fringe Festival. This would be my 7th driving trip across the country, but the first one I had taken in 25 years.
The reasons for the trip were numerous – some professional and some very personal – but the end result was that I was leaving my home of 19 years to see if life in another city was something to consider. I was moving to Atlanta for 2 months to see if this was the next phase of the adventure.
I had left the South 40 years before for various political and personal reasons. It was the tail end of the Civil Rights era, but the rampant racism that still existed in the places that I lived plus the desire to pursue a professional life in the entertainment business made the move to New York and eventually Los Angeles the correct decision for me at that time.
Yet, I often returned to visit family and friends, and even worked there at times. The South and the style of living there was never far from my mind, but I was convinced that I could not live there again. However, Life marches on unrelenting. The film business came to Georgia in a huge way and to such a large degree that there is now more film production work in Atlanta then in Los Angeles.
I had/have an extremely good life in LA. I own a large home that has become a very popular Airbnb destination. I have the ability to direct theatre and film projects that are only limited by my desire to create them. I have many wonderful friends and a strong support system that I can call on when I need too.
Yet I felt stuck. Stuck in my own life. No one is to blame for this but me. But stuck is not a great place to be for anyone. I was bored with myself and felt I was repeating the same things over and over again. And at my age, there was not alot of time to lose by repeating myself.
So I decided to shake things up by moving to Atlanta to pursue an idea. And I would going to use the invitation to perform at the Atlanta Fringe Festival as the opening gambit in this journey of self rediscovery.
I said farewell to my partner and headed south to San Diego using I-405 to I-5 and into San Diego. I had traveled this way a few months before and had ended up in Yuma, Arizona. I grew to like Yuma a lot and so for the first stop on my cross country journey that is where I decided to land.
Taking I-8 out of San Diego, I was finally head straight East. This short interstate highway runs through some amazing country. About 40 miles out of San Diego, you have climbed to over 4000 feet while passing Native American Nations one after another. You pass through countryside that seems like you are riding through the old West expecting an outlaw to jump out from behind the nearest boulder and rob you. Then you drop down to pure desert. Slowly as you drive toward the Colorado River, the land begins to take on the color of green and you enter one of the biggest agriculture sections of the US. All the while you are driving within just a few miles of the Mexico/USA border.
I stopped at a little town called Jacumba Hot Springs where the main attraction is a small hotel/resort called The Jacumba Spa. But literally less than a football field away is the border fence. I drive down to the fence where you could see the new fence and the old fence side by side. And where on our side is a dirt road to patrol the fence. On the Mexican side, a rancher uses the fence to tie up his horses while they graze. Plus more than two miles down the new fence line, it stops completely. Anyone any time of day can just walk around the fence into another country. There is no camera, no fence, no sign saying stop, no nothing.
I drove on to Yuma and spent the night. I also took the opportunity to visit a few places that night and the next day before I pushed on. Night spots that I had found the first time I was there, and some historically interesting places that have factored in the history of the West and the USA. Yuma is historically interesting because of its place in settling the West. With one of the few safe crossings on the wild Colorado River of the late 1700’s, the Spanish used Yuma to settle San Francisco and Los Angeles and build the missions along the California coast. It at one time was a important rail head for cattle. The Arizona Territorial Prison (referred to in the film, 3:10 to Yuma) was famous for the criminals jailed there and treatment of its prisoners. Finally, while Yuma is now slower and more off the beaten track, it is still a very popular destination for senior folk looking for a quiet, mild winter and is home to some of the largest agri-businesses in the US. There is a lovely historic downtown area with a couple of excellent art musuems, and there is great access to the Colorado River for swimming, boating and fishing.
Photos of these various historic places in and around Yuma will follow in a photo gallery. Look out for it. Thanks.
NEXT STOP: Somewhere in Arizona
Hiking in Vegas – Lake Mead Railroad Trail
One of the easiest and best hike in Las Vegas is the Historic Railway Trail that over looks Lake Mead and Hoover Dam. TripAdvisor gives this trail a 4 1/2 rating and calls it the #15 thing to do in Las Vegas.
The Historic Railroad Trail is an easy, dog-friendly hike along a former railroad grade. It provides panoramic views of Lake Mead, overlooking the Boulder Basin area. As hikers travel through five large tunnels, they will experience a portion of the railroad route that ran from Boulder City to Hoover Dam from 1931 to 1961.
As one of Southern Nevada’s most unique trail experiences, the trail was designated as a national recreation trail on June 4, 2015. It shares the rich history of the construction of the Hoover Dam and the creation of Lake Mead.
In 2017, the Historic Railroad Trail was graded and received a new layer of decomposed granite, improving its accessibility and the overall visitor experience. The trail can be accessed near the Lake Mead Visitor Center or via the Hoover Dam Parking Garage.
This is the only remaining section of Hoover Dam Railroad system that is not highly disturbed or under water
You can walk, run, bicycle or even push a stroller on this flat easy trail. Along the trail you will see a section of rough, rocky road on the south side of the railroad bed that is believed to be the first section of pioneer trail or road for the construction of Hoover Dam. Approaching Tunnel 1, on the right, look down the ravine to see concrete plugs taken out of Hoover Dam to install the turbines.
- The first tunnel is around 1 mile from the trailhead.
- The fifth tunnel is around 2.2 miles from the trailhead.
- The elevation change from the trailhead to the fifth tunnel is about 11 feet.
- After the fifth tunnel, the trail continues another 1.5 miles to the Hoover Dam Parking Garage. The elevation change between these two points is around 445 feet.
- Total distance = 7.5 miles (12 kilometers) round trip.
All tunnels are approximately 300 feet in length, and 25 feet in diameter. The tunnels were oversized to fit penstock sections and large equipment being transported to Hoover Dam.
Tunnel 1 has eight sections of vertical supports, five of which have horizontal planks to prevent the fall of loose rock on to the tracks so there would be few delays during the 24-hour dam building schedule. Weight from the rock has damaged the outermost, eastern arch.
Tunnel 2 burned in an arson fire in 1990. You can see it looks different from the other tunnels. It was sprayed with shotcrete to fortify the now looser rock.
Rocks excavated from the tunnels were undoubtedly used for the fills. The outermost east arch was deformed by pressure of the rock in tunnel 3.
Tunnel 5 was burned in 1978 and was then sealed. The tunnel was restored, sprayed with shotcrete and reopened in July 2001. The trail continues to Hoover Dam and the visitor center parking structure. The gates after Tunnel 5 are locked at sunset.
Nine steam and four gas locomotives and 71 people used to operate the system. It was a standard-gauge, 90-pound rail construction that used Oregon fir ties.
This section of the railroad was used in the motion picture “The Gauntlet” starring Clint Eastwood and Sondra Locke for a sequence in which they were on a motorcycle being chased by an assassin in a helicopter.
You can access the trailhead from the junction of Nevada Way and US 93 at the northern end of Boulder City, Nevada, take US 93 approximately 2.4 miles in a easterly direction to Lakeshore Drive. Turn left onto Lakeshore Drive and proceed a short distance past the Alan Bible Visitor Center. The trailhead is located on the right side of Lakeshore Drive.
Note: Major parts of the information included in this article are taken from the National Park Service Lake Mead National Recreation Area website and the National Recreation Trail website. Photo credit: Photos were taken from NPS.org and NRT Database.
The TSA Blues – Opinion
So recently, I went to get my TSA Pre-Check eligibility in Los Angeles. I paid $85 for a 5 year membership to be able to bypass the long security lines at airports in the US. The ability to not have to pull my computer out, have to take my shoes off, or have a surly TSA agent stick their hand in my private areas. That sounded like a really good deal to me if for no other reason than just in terms of sheer time saved.
So I was eager to check out how this would work on my first international flight since receiving my TSA Pre-Check approval. I have been sometimes selected for this program randomly, but not officially. I had already booked a flight to Copenhagen after I had applied for the program (which takes about 3 to 4 weeks) so when I got my KTN # (Known Traveler Number) I called my carrier, Norwegian Airlines to give them my number. I was kindly told in a sing-song Scandinavian voice that Norwegian did not take part in the program so I could not use my KTN for this flight.
OK, I had to stand in line like everyone else again. Ok, I could that. I had done that before – many times if you have read my blog before. However, what follows are the worst two experiences that I or my family have ever had at the hands of the TSA.
I am all for border protection and legal immigration. I am all for the rule of law and applying it equally. I am not however, for a bunch of foul-mouth, self-entitled, rude, self-important jerk-offs yelling at US citizens, legal Green Card holders, and proper visitors to the US with proper visas, especially when those being yelled at are myself and my wife. The TSA feels that they are answerable to no one and that should change ASAP.
My wife had gone to Europe to see her family for 3 weeks, and I was joining her for the last 10 days in Hamburg, Germany. We were going to return together on a Norwegian Airline flight from Copenhagen and land in Los Angeles.
I should explain here that my wife is from Denmark. She has lived here for 7 years, and we have been married going on 5 years. Her permanent green card application has taken forever. In older days, the process took about 2 years from applying to receiving your permanent residence card that would be good for up to 10 years before you have to reapply. During that two-year period, the applicant was granted a temporary Green Card which allowed them to stay, and exit or enter the USA. Now because of Obama, Trump, 9/11 and other factors, this process can take up to 4 years and still not be resolved. The people going through this process are not illegal, but that temporary card can be taking away at anytime. And that can and does create a lot of anguish and anxiety for the individuals and their families.
Applying for the card is also an expensive choice costing with legal fees more than 3000 dollars with no guarantee that you will be allowed to stay. You can choose to do this process yourself to save some money, but it will still cost upwards of 1500 dollars. Once you are granted temporary status, it can be taken away at a moment’s notice and you are put on a plane at once and away you go back to your home country, even if you are married to a US citizen. If you are here on a visa of any nature and it runs out and you do not return to your home country, the only other choice you have other than marriage is to go underground. That is what many immigrants used to do, but if you are ever caught you are banned from entering the USA in many cases, forever. So the idea that getting a permanent green card is easy or simple, or that you can fake it by getting married is simply not true. It is a long, hard process that is expensive and is very stressful on a person or family.
Now Los Angeles is one of the busiest entry points into the USA. A TSA customs employee told me that at any one time there are 3000 people standing in line at customs waiting to be processed, and more than that are processed through the security lines. That is every working hour of the day – 7 days a week. That is a lot of people, stress and constant screening to process. It can put an amazing strain on people and a system. Yet, that is no excuse for bad and rude behavior to citizens and visitors alike just because your job is stressful. And TSA is making no excuses for its incredibly awful service and terrible treatment of people.
So I get to the airport and get my e-ticket for my flight to Denmark. I stand in the 45 minute line to get into the security line. One of my complaints is that no airport is the same in terms of how they handle this procedure. Every single one of them does it different, and at LAX which has 7 terminals – they do it all different as well. So there is no standard, no set way. Different places want you do to different things. And with the increase of machines helping with moving the bags and shoes, and new x-ray machine the process is constantly changing. Plus at LAX because of the sheer number of people, the guards scream instructions at you all the time. Someone should train them to understand that humans automatically turn off paying attention when someone screams at them continuously. We just tune out.
This day the message being screamed at us was”…nothing in your pockets at all. No passport, wallet, paper – nothing. Put everything in the container.” I managed to do that, however I always keep my boarding pass with me, so I stuck it in my back pocket. I go through the x-ray machine, and I am immediately pulled out of line and surrounded by two TSA guards.
They showed me the x-ray image where there is something in my back pocket. I pull out my boarding pass. A single piece of paper. But because of this I am now going to experience a full body search instead of a wand. I asked why and they said that it was a new policy. They were professional about it – telling me what they were going to touch and I said ok – meanwhile, my computer, passport, wallet, medicine, shoes were waiting at the end of the collection point where anyone could have taken them.
They checked my waistband, my pockets in the back and felt up my butt. “Now turn around!” I asked why because the x-ray clearly showed that there was nothing in the front part of my body. “Procedure” was the answer has he felt up my legs, grabbed my privates very hard and checked my front pockets. Than I was told to take off my socks? What were they going to find in two sport socks? At this point, I began to complain loudly about the overkill. I have a KTN number, it was a piece of paper, nothing in my socks. The sock check was over so I grabbed them and started away. I was shoved back into place by a large female officer, and when I pointed out that my passport was out in the open for almost 10 minutes now – she literally screamed in my face, “…we have cameras all over the place. No one is going to steal your lousy passport.” This is the same TSA that has failed every major test of their system since testing began. Sure they were going to notice one guy’s passport being pick up at the end of the conveyor belt.
Than they checked my hands of whatever chemicals that they check for – Pass. Than I was dismissively told to “move along.” That did it. His and his partner’s entire attitude was offensive and over the top. I told the officer that he was rude and this entire procedure was a pure power play. That the full body check was entirely unnecessary because of a single piece of paper that they could clearly see in the image screen. He demanded to know if I want to speak to a supervisor. I told him what was the point – 10 minutes had already been wasted, and I would simply be put in another room to file my complaint and more time would be wasted. But I retold them that they were very rude. As I walked away the female officer screamed again, “Did I want to speak to a supervisor?”
As I collected my items that had sat on the conveyor belt for 15 minutes almost and started to check if everything was there, I realized I was extremely upset. I have heard about rude or over the top behavior by TSA agents, but had never experienced myself in all the trips I have taken. I felt like I had been assaulted almost. A man standing next to me who must have seen part of the exchange stated to me that he had a Pre-Check number and he got pulled out every time. His comment was he did not know why he had gotten the KTN# because it was basically useless. I wondered to myself if the same fate would happen for me now.
Then the return –
So the brief history of my wife. She is a Danish citizen and while waiting for her permanent Green Card to come, her Danish passport expired. So she sent off for another from Denmark which took about 6 weeks, and in the meantime she got an extension placed in her old passport by the local immigration office. We are lucky that we live in LA, so there is a local one. Yet, if during that time a family member or emergency happened in her home country, she could not travel at all. No airline would accept her and no country would receive her until she had proper travel documents.
Plus because the process takes so long now, her temporary green card had expired. But instead of giving her a new card, the US made her travel with an expired temporary green card and a visa extension in her expired Danish passport. Her Danish passport is in her maiden name so each time she travels anywhere, she carries two passports (one old with the extension visa and the new passport), her marriage license with her married name, and her expired Green Card also in her married name.
Now just before her trip, she got notice that her permanent Green Card was approved she was here in the country permanently – but they would send the card in about 3 to 4 weeks. She would receive the card after her return to the country. So for this trip she carried the 2 passports, the expired Green card, her marriage license and the letter that said she had the permanent card with the ID# on it.
She had done this trip to Denmark about 4 time now, plus trips with me to Cuba, Mexico (twice) and Canada. She is always questioned but not for long and customs is relatively easy.
Recently, her fingerprints ended up in the system, so now she is pulled out of line every time and taken to a sealed TSA room known as “secondary check”. Here she is told to sit for up to an hour while they check her through the computer system. This is always on a first come, first serve basis. There is no allowance for green card holders and people already with the proper visas. The secondary check is for anyone that may appear on the screen of the customs agent at the first check-in. If they see anything that flags you, you are escorted by an armed officer to the secondary check room for the reason they were flagged.
This is not the little room that they show in all the movies with two-way mirrors and agents staring at you trying to figure out which country you are a spy for. This is a large room where everyone is treated like cattle. No one but the officer and the person pulled out of line can go inside. There is no cell phone communication allowed inside. None whatsoever. There is no time limit as to all long they can keep you, they will answer no questions about the person inside from anyone including family. They handle many languages and cultures and constantly have to deal with people who are confused, scared or literally do not speak English. So it is hard on the personnel and the person pulled out of line and can created some very stressful and tense situations. Yet again that does not excuse really rude behavior from anyone or agency.
My wife was in this room for 3 hours (a visit that has always only taken an hour), while I waited outside after a 12 hour flight and 2 hour check in that the Copenhagen airport. I was not allowed to know what was happening with her, and when I asked I was told in no uncertain terms to sit down and be quiet. So I sat in baggage claim for three hours with her bags and no idea if or when she would get out. She did manage to secretly text me a couple of times, but it was just to let me know she was still ok.
While there she witnessed TSA officers threatening legal immigrants with deportation if they did not shut up. Pulling cell phones out of confused foreigners’ hands who did not speak English and screaming at them. Not letting mothers talk to their children. Not letting relatives speak to the people in the room. There were chairs for about 12 people and there were more than 50 people in the room, so people had to sit on the floor. Why does this process need to be so aggressive and ugly? What is the point of this kind of behavior by professional airport and customs officials?
Now again let me state that I want border protection. I want to feel safe when I fly, but I don’t want officials of my country screaming at me and mine, or legal visitors and residents because they are over worked. There is no excuse for it. I wish someone in Washington would do something about this, but in the current political climate that is not going to happen, and this problem of rude, overworked, over-entitled TSA officers and personnel is only going to get worse.
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