A Summary of Leg #1: USA

DC - What a sad good bye! It seems like everyone's dropping out of DC (Zawel, Goldstein, Seb, Diana...) Hang tough Brett, Leah.

NY - How I drove a Uhaul through the underpasses on the Belt Pkwy without crashing the roof, I'll never know. And a great wedding.

IN - Giant sand dunes and a beautiful beach? Who knew?

IL - Old friends, a happy birthday, an additional passenger. He is fun.

WI - Trolltown, Futuretron.

MN - Way to go with the wind power. And my first sighting of the Mississippi River. I love rivers.

SD - Our first "Holy crap," moment occurs in Badlands NP when we first played pioneer. Resurgence of American history.

WY - Yellowstone is a peek into our geologic past. Lander, the liberal oasis in a red state. Some good will earned us delicious cookies that kept us from running out of gas.

UT - Good bye to Zaks. Hello to 3.2% beer. Go to Souther Utah. It's amazing, but BYOB.

AZ - It was grand to hang out with Melissa and go into the Canyon. When will I do it again? To the Colorado River: you're my favorite! Sorry Mississippi.

CA - Rancho Moroma was the perfect place for stay for the perfect Mendoza wedding. A tour of Warner Bros studios, thanks Melis! Joshua Tree is just like it was in Entourage. We didn't bring mushrooms, so maybe it was a little different.

NM - Real cave dwellings in Canyon de Chille. Acoma is the oldest continuously inhabited place in the US. We saw their 13-family pueblo mesa and left with a hand-made vase. Santa Fe is full of art and history while we enjoyed the Balloon Fiesta in
Albuquerque (see pics below).

OK - High tailing it home, we finally had time for a Frito Pie. Yum!

And that does it for the USA. We leave town Monday, Oct 13 for leg #2. Please enjoy the pics below of Joshua Tree, Canyon de Chille, Santa Fe, and Alburquerque.