With over 5000 kilometers on the twisted compass trip odometer, I estimate that Dave and I have spent at least 75 hours in the cab of the truck together by now (taking into account the “short cuts” and less than favourable routes where we weren’t exactly clocking 100 km/hour). (Dave’s edit: We have actually only reached 100 km/hr a few times)  One of the things I wondered about when we started planning this trip was what we would talk about during all of that time on the road. I even went so far as to envision us getting more caught up on current affairs, discussing politics, the meaning of life and much more. To be fair, we have had some great conversations: we have talked about the economy, discussed our future and our priorities, and have spent some time trying to teach ourselves Spanish. Sometimes we even geek out and talk about watershed management practices. More often than not, though, our conversations are less intellectual in nature… For a laugh, I thought I’d share a sampling of actual conversation topics that have come up during those 5000 kilometers (some more than once):

• How much I like salami (turns out, I like it a lot…yep, if I could live with just one type of deli meat for the rest of my life, salami would be it – you know the spicy kind that comes in a little roll all coated with pepper…)
• How well/poorly we are managing our budget (this definitely changes on a day-to-day basis depending on how many guilty pleasures we may have partaken or forsaken in recent days).
• What kind of adventure vehicle we’d really love to have (if money were no object, of course).
• Why more people aren’t fascinated by grammar (okay – maybe it’s just me on this one but I honestly love grammar and I don’t get why more people aren’t jazzed up about it)
• Whose hair looks crazier today.
• What we should eat for dinner.
• What is the proper wine pairing for hot dogs (trick question – hot dogs should always be paired with beer and the proper beer pairing depends completely on the air temperature and the toppings of the hot dog).
• What we could have eaten that has made us so gassy.
• What Chester could have eaten that has made him so gassy.
• How we should really do something about Chester’s breath.
• Whether or not it’s normal that Chester sleeps as much as he does (good thing we brought the dog along – he provides loads of entertainment and conversation fodder).
• How much I love well graded roads (I really do appreciate superelevation – God, engineers are brilliant!)
• How Americans put up those little white posts at shear drop-offs instead of using guard rail.
• Whether Americans will ever convert to the metric system.
• How Dave’s hunger is completely different than mine. He seems to feel hunger coming on gradually while it strikes like a bolt of lightning for me. Without any warning, I can become a beast that must be satiated immediately. I sort of knew this already but the effects are far more pronounced when we are on the road and traveling without set meal times.

(Dave’s Edit: The topics change completely when we leave the highway for a more adventuresome road. It inevitably turns to Kristel’s Top Ten Reasons we should not be on this road:

1. We will puncture a tire on a sharp rock (more emphatic since we met someone who did this).
2. We will drive off the edge (The “we” here actually refers to me).
3. We will rip stuff off the bottom of the truck.
4. We won’t be able to turn around, ever!
5. The camper will slide off the truck.
6. We will hit a tree, cliff, large rock, etc.
7. We will get stuck, run out of gas, get lost, etc.
8. Rocks will fall on us.
9. We will never come back alive.
10. I don’t think our roadside assistance is valid out here.

This is why I enjoy these roads so much.)

Perhaps all this comes up because we’ve spent a fair amount of time in the vehicle these last few days. Since leaving San Francisco, we headed for Fresno where we had the opportunity to visit the Sportsmobile Factory and showroom located there. The dealer spent at least an hour with us, walking us through the assembly and we got to tour two of our ideal (note list above) adventure vehicles, including the Earth Cruiser and a variety of Sportsmobile options.

From Fresno, we headed northeast to Yosemite National Park. Hiking John Muir trail has been a big item on my bucket list for a few years now and, while that wasn’t in the cards for this trip (it’s a 20+ day backpack expedition), I was hoping to at least take a peak at Half Dome. As luck would have it, a “peak” is about all we would get. Without an advance booking, we were only able to camp one day at Yosemite so we basically “blitzed” the park. We drove up to Glacier Point as soon as we arrived and oohed and aahhed over Half Dome (totally worth it). The next day we took a tour of the village and visited Lower Yosemite Falls.

The falls themselves were gorgeous but there were so many people milling around that it could hardly be considered a wilderness experience. Dave and I were both starting to feel a bit squirrelly so we attempted a hike that would take us up away from the crowds but were quickly turned around when we saw that dogs were forbidden. Given our many hours in the car these last couple days, we couldn’t bear to leave Chester behind. We opted instead to head east out of the park and find a place to camp for the night. We ended up at a little place called Hartley Springs: a free (!!!!) forest service campsite in the middle of the Inyo National Forest. It was several miles off the highway and we were the only ones there. We had endless free (!!!) firewood at our disposal. It was bliss.

We awoke to a cold morning the next day, and I was feeling a serious need for warmth (not to mention a serious need for a shower). I saw “Keough Hot Springs” on the map and we made our way there. Although it wasn’t as natural or stunning as our experience in Terwilliger Hot Springs, it was everything I hoped it would be. The shower freshened us both up and I finally started to feel warm after two dips in the hot water. We were still high in the mountains, though, and woke up to a chilly 6 degrees Celsius the following morning. Since we still wanted heat, we headed for Death Valley. We eased into the western edge and found pleasant temperatures (and gale force winds).

As it was nearing lunch, we took a little hike to visit the Park’s only year-round waterfall. It really was a little oasis in the desert and Dave even took a quick tip. The warm winds helped dry his underwear on the way back.

We are now camped at Furnace Creek and our wish for warmth has been satisfied. It was 33 yesterday and has already reached 36 this afternoon (I can hardly remember what it felt like to be cold now). We spent this morning exploring the area, wandering through some very cool land forms and visiting Badwater Basin (lowest point in North America at 282 feet below sea level). It was a pretty laid back day and, when we couldn’t hack the heat anymore, we returned to our campsite to cap off the day in the only reasonable fashion. A late lunch and a couple cold beers.