Koniec

As planned, we arrived Sunday night in Washington DC. We made it, the
car made it. Lights out.

Thank you for following the blog.
M&M

Sailing Eeast

Leaving Las Vegas our minds were set on driving back east, but we
still has some must see stops on the way: the Hoover Dam, Grand
Canyon, Monument Valley and Arches National Park. So it wasn't until
Friday evening that we really started going. With 2200 miles to drive
by Sunday night, we entered Arches National Park in Utah an hour
before sunset to make a 'Japanese visiting Europe in three days' style
visit. However, it just occured that the muffler of our car fell of at
one rusted joint, dragging on the road underneath the car. But this
could only stop us for a very short period of time: after a half an
hour repair in the middle of the National Park, using our natural
polish improvised engeneering skills we managed to support the muffler
with a piece of sandstone(!). This worked for a few hundred miles
until the stone became displaced and the muffler once again hit the
ground in Colorado. We modified the construction replacing the stone
with a piece of firewood. This lasted until Kansas, where we finally
perfected the design using plastic fasteners copper electrical wire.
Since then we have had no problems. After a short overnight stay east
of Kansas City we continued our drive with slightly over 1000 miles
left till Washington DC. We should arrive late Sundy night, helped by
back winds blowing since Utah and improving our gas mileage.

Camper's cookin': last part

There is always a positive side of anything, even if it appears a
loss. Or so we learned when we lost our camping stove at the Coast of
Oregon. Not being able to buy a replacement for the next few days we
started cooking on fire and liked it so much the we continued to do so
even after buying a new stove. Back to the basics: in order to eat we
need to gather firewood first.

1. Grilled chicken, Yosemite
2. Oatmeal, Monument Valley
3. Rice on fire, coast of California
4. Oatmeal with bananas, Grand Canyon.

Outdoor cooking: third part

1. Oatmeal with plums (picked from a tree), Olympic National Park near
Seattle
2. Breakfast at Monterrey Bay, California
3. Soup for dinner in Seattle
4. Rainforest cooking, Olympic National Park
5. Oatmeal with hand picked blackberries, Vancouver

Vegas

We came, saw and comquered. We started with a real player's budget of
$4 and after three hours of play on innumerable one-handed bandit
machines in four casinos we walked home with $10. Ain't bad, don't you
think?

Warming up in Death Valley

After a cold night in the Sierra we headed for Death Valley. We were
not dissapointed: the temperature hit 113 degrees F (46 C). Not having
air conditioning in the car and staying one night on a campground
right in the middle of the valley, we experienced the heat to the
fullest. What did surprise us, was that it didn't really cool down at
night as you would excpet im a desert. Instead a wind built up which
felt like the heat circulation im your oven.

Our old faithful car also hold up well. After two days of driving
through the valley it was only on the way to 'Dante's Viewpoint', a 17
miles, and up to 15% of inclination uphill drive that the engine
coolant boiled. We hitchhiked the remaining 2 miles to enjoy the
overlook, refilled the coolant and forged on to Las Vegas...

Camper's cuisine continued

1. Breakfast at Flathead Lake, Montana
2. Warming up oatmeal at sunrise in
Grand Teton National Park
3. Cooking a soup Seattle
4. Cutting cucumber with a stone(!) in Glacier National Park (we
forgot the knife)
5. Rottiserie chicken in Idaho