The return trip to San Diego

1988 Our lives in America»July -US Nationals at Virginia Beach VA
Monday August 1, 1988 We drive from Cookeville Tennessee to the Casey Jones Museum in Huntersville Tennessee, a distance of 240 miles and 3½ hours just off Interstate 40. Casey Jones was a locomotive engineer who became a folk hero after his death in a train crash in 1900 was commemorated in a number of songs. According to legend, Jones died with one hand on the train's whistle and the other hand on its brake. Next door to the Museum is the Old Country store There is a lot of girl stuff which Val enjoys.
They even sell Coca-Cola in old fashioned coke bottles here. There is an air of authenticity about the place. Val is a real soldier through all of our trip the East Coast and back again. She never complains or demands anything but just once or twice it would be nice if we'd do something that she wants to do. Browsing around this old store is a real treat for her. It's still Monday August 1, 1988 From the Casey Jones Museum, we travel on a short distance (85 miles, I hr 20 mins) to Graceland very near Memphis Tennessee. The entrance fee seems cheap ar $7.50. It's $77 in 2022 and another $10 for parking. One of Elvis' planes, a Convair 880.
The plane is named after his daughter. The tail logo, TCB with flash, stands for "Taking Care of Business in a Flash". Throughout Elvis' career this was his guiding force. This is the plane his manager, Colonel Parker, used. He would fly ahead to arrange details of a performance. 1989 TripBack 0008 a A pink 1957 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz Convertible, one of only 1100 produced. "While the Eldorado Biarritz is generally considered to be the most valuable 1957 Cadillac, price guides generally assign perfectly restored examples a value between $150,000 and $250,000" in 2022.
Honda Goldwing and sidecar with CB radio, trip computer, auto-adjust suspension and many other goodies. Graceland is a mansion on a 13.8-acre estate in Memphis, Tennessee once owned by singer and actor Elvis Presley. His daughter, Lisa Marie Presley, inherited Graceland after his death in 1977. Elvis bought this when he was 22 and it cost him $100,000. When Jenni told people that we stopped to see Graceland, often the reply would be, "Why? He's a terrible singer" or " I never liked Elvis." She would reply, "Neither did I, but he's an American icon and institution."
Graceland was opened to the public as a museum on June 7, 1982. The site was listed in the National Register of Historic Places on November 7, 1991, becoming the first site related to rock and roll to be entered therein. In the living room. The piano is gold-plated completed after Priscilla gave it to him as a white piano. The dining room. Living room
Stairway leading to upstairs bedrooms. Closed of course. The pool room The TV Room with three TVs. He got the idea from LBJ who used to watch the news on all three networks at the same time.
Part of Elvis' fleet of cars, bikes and trikes. This car, the 1979 Stutz Bearcat was a very limited production car. The Bearcat chassis was an American made Pontiac A platform with a 403ci V8 motor and automatic transmission. The Stutz was originally sold by Stutz Motor Cars in Hollywood, CA. The average price of a Stutz is now $225,366 in 2022. Rear of Graceland. Horse corrals in the 14 acre back yard.
The trophy room where Elvis displayed his Gold and Platinum records. One of his costumes. He is buried on Graceland "God saw that he needed some rest and called him home to be with Him." In the summer of 1977, the night before he was to begin yet another concert tour, he died of a heart attack brought on largely by drug abuse. He was 42 years old. Half of the Official pamphlet
The other half. Was the "Future site of Graceland Hotel" ever built? Yes indeed. Thursday, October 27, 2016 The Guest House at Graceland Opens with Historic, Sold-Out Celebration Weekend Graceland’s new, world-class, 450-room resort, The Guest House at Graceland, welcomed its first guests today when Priscilla Presley joined Graceland executives to cut the “blue suede ribbon” to signify the official opening for the $92 million luxury property. Among the first guests to check in were Elvis Presley’s family members, friends and musicians, along with Elvis fans and Graceland visitors from around the world. Memphis is on the Mississippi River which borders with Arkansas. We leave Graceland and cross the mighty Mississip. Tuesday 2 August, 1988 We stay overnight in a nondescript motel in Arkansas on I40 somewhere. We drive a bit more and stop for lunch in this delightful catfish restaurant. Both cars continue to go well.
Tuesday August 2, 1988 We motor through Oklahoma on I40 and stay overnight in a motel in Amarillo Texas after driving for 725 miles and 10½ hrs. Amarillo is in that part of Texas called the pan handle. Wednesday 3 August, 1988 We keep on driving and finally stop for a break at Gallup NM: 7 hours and 425 miles away from Amarillo. We have driven 1150 miles and 17 hours drive time almost non stop from Graceland. Why the rush? The Eathers have to catch a plane at LAX soon and we promised Val we would take her to Las Vegas as her special treat. Stopping at this store in Gallup costs us $320 for genuine Navajo hand-crafted turquoise jewellery. The same day Wednesday 3 August, 1988 we continue driving to the Painted Desert in Arizona. The Painted Desert is a desert of badlands in the Four Corners area, running from near the east end of Grand Canyon National Park and southeast into Petrified Forest National Park.
This is the Entrance to the Petrified Forest National Park just off I40. Entrance to the park cost just $5.00. The building is to the north of the of the petrified forest itself. The Painted Desert is known for its brilliant and varied colors: these include the more common red rock, but also shades of lavender. The desert is composed of stratified layers of siltstone, mudstone, and shale of the Triassic (200 -150 mya) Chinle Formation, which erode easily. These fine-grained rock layers contain abundant iron and manganese compounds, which provide the pigments for the various colors of the region.
On an overlook, I proudly display my "Arkansas Teddy Bear Club" T Shirt. I don't do violence. "The region was once near sea level" Before that, 80 mya, it was part of an inland ocean called the Western Interior Seaway. The Western Interior Seaway was a large inland sea that existed from the early Late Cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma) to earliest Paleocene, splitting the continent of North America into two landmasses, Laramidia to the west and Appalachia to the east. The ancient sea stretched from the Gulf of Mexico and through the middle of the modern-day countries of the United States and Canada, meeting with the Arctic Ocean to the north. At its largest, it was 2,500 feet deep, 600 miles wide and over 2,000 miles long. Due to plate tectonics, the Atlantic Ocean was expanding and pushing the Americas gradually westward. The Western Interior Seaway divided North America into eastern and western halves; Appalachia and Laramidia.
We continue driving to the South through the Painted Desert to the Petrified Forest National Wilderness Area. The Chinle Formation is an Upper Triassic continental geological formation of fluvial, lacustrine, and palustrine to eolian deposits spread across the U.S. states of Nevada, Utah, northern Arizona, western New Mexico, and western Colorado. That is, it describes a local geological formation unique to this western part of the USA. Chinle is a small town in Arizona. These are the fossilised remains of a Triassic period coniferous forest that have fossilized over millions of years. 1989 TripBack 0051 a
1989 TripBack 0053 a The rock strata are truly beautiful. The layers come from early sands that were laid down at the bottom of an inland ocean. Other strata formations can be made by desert sands that accumulate over millions of years. An assortment of fossilized prehistoric plants and animals are found in the region, as well as ancient dinosaur tracks and the evidence of early human habitation. There are two explanations as to how this landscape arose: one is that God did it when he made the earth 6000 years ago (Bishop Ussher) and the other is that it was laid down at the bottom of an ocean over millions of years and eroded over millions of years.
This petrified tree is supported by a concrete beam. 1989 TripBack 0058 a Petrified logs rest at the bottom of some cliffs. Petrified wood was formed 225 million years ago during the triassic period and is 4 times as hard as granite and very colorful, due to the effect of impurities such as iron, manganese, copper and lithium present in the wood during the fossilising process.
These are chips of petrified trees and it is illegal to pick up a single piece. The story is that trains would stop nearby on early train journeys to California (late 1800s) while passengers would come and help themselves to lumps of petrified wood. Perhaps these chips occurred as a result of these passengers' desecration. Imagine taking a hammer to this to break off a lump to take home as a souvenir. 1988 OfficialDocuments 0029 a 1988 OfficialDocuments 0030 a
1988 OfficialDocuments 0025 a To get to the Painted Desert, we turn north off I40. We then loop south to get to the Petrified Forest Sunset over the National Park. We stay overnight in Holbrook Arizona, still on I40. We drive a mere 525 miles from Amarillo, 7hrs 40 mins today.
It's morning Thursday 4 August, 1988 and we turn north and and enter Navajo Territory along US 193 This is Navajo housing. Sheep grazing in the Navajo Nation Along US193 the land is lush and green for a while
A Navajo settlement Pee break? Our first stop is the Hubbell trading post Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site is a historic site on Highway 191, north of Chambers, with an exhibit center in Ganado, Arizona. It is considered a meeting ground of two cultures between the Navajo and the settlers who came to the area to trade.
Everything in store seems to be very expensive. Katchina dolls are $100-$200 These beautiful hand woven rugs sell for as much as $4,000 The Barn at the Hubbell Trading Post. Trade with men like Hubbell became increasingly important for the Navajos. The trader was in contact with the world outside the newly created reservation; a world which could supply the staples the Navajos needed to supplement their homegrown products. In exchange for the trader's goods the Navajos traded wool, sheep and, later, rugs, jewelry, baskets and pottery. It was years before cash was used between trader and Navajos. We buy this post card that shows Lorenzo Hubbell trading rugs with Indians in 1923. Hubbell owned 24 trading posts.
This picture is of a Navajo man on horseback, Ganado, in 1907. We leave Hubbell and head for the Canyon De Chelly (pronounced shay), still within the Navajo Nation. This is a Navajo school at Ganado These are The Needles at Canyon de Chelly.
Canyon de Chelly National Monument is a vast park in northeastern Arizona, on Navajo tribal lands. Its prominent features include Spider Rock spire, about 800-feet tall, and towering sandstone cliffs surrounding a verdant canyon. The Canyon has been inhabited by several Native American peoples for millennia and the area is dotted with their prehistoric rock art. The White House Ruins (later) and Mummy Cave are remains of ancient Pueblo villages. The canyon is one of the longest continuously inhabited landscapes of North America. It preserves ruins of the indigenous tribes that lived in the area, from the Ancestral Puebloans (also known as the Anasazi) to the Navajo The park's distinctive geologic feature, Spider Rock, is a sandstone spire that rises 750 feet from the canyon floor at the junction of Canyon de Chelly and Monument Canyon. Spider Rock can be seen from South Rim Drive.
According to traditional Navajo beliefs, the taller of the two spires is the home of Spider Grandmother. Canyon de Chelly is entirely owned by the Navajo Tribal Trust of the Navajo Nation. It is the only National Park Service unit that is owned and cooperatively managed in this manner. About 40 Navajo families live in the park. Canyon de Chelly has long served as a home for Navajo people before it was invaded by forces led by future New Mexico governor Lt. Antonio Narbona in 1805. In 1863, Col. Kit Carson sent troops through the canyon, killing 23 Indians, seizing 200 sheep, and destroying hogans, as well as peach orchards and other crops. The resulting demoralization led to the surrender of the Navajos and their removal to Bosque Redondo, New Mexico.
Such is usually the fate of native peoples when they meet Europeans. These may be dandelions because they have pods ready to burst - but maybe not. Donkeys feed on a juniper tree The monument covers 83,840 acres (131 sq mi; 339 km2) and encompasses the floors and rims of the three major canyons: de Chelly, del Muerto, and Monument. These canyons were cut by streams with headwaters in the Chuska Mountains just to the east of the monument. None of the land is federally owned.
These are called the White House Ruins built by the ancient Puebloans. Horse corral at the bottom of the Canyon. The Ancestral Puebloans, also known as the Anasazi, were an ancient Native American culture that spanned the present-day Four Corners region of the United States, comprising southeastern Utah, northeastern Arizona, northwestern New Mexico, and southwestern Colorado. The Anasazi are believed to have developed, at least in part, from the Oshara Tradition, which developed from the Picosa culture. The people and their archaeological culture are often referred to as Anasazi, meaning "ancient enemies", as they were called by Navajo. Contemporary Puebloans object to the use of this term, with some viewing it as derogatory.
There are ancient ruins just visible in this cave. 1989 TripBack 0095 a 1989 TripBack 0096 a 1988 OfficialDocuments 0008 b
1988 OfficialDocuments 0009 b We travel farther north and enter Monument Valley. Here we get the best view looking east into Arizona of West Mitten Butte (L), East Mitten Butte (Centre) and Merrick Butte (R). Confusingly, this view looks east from the visitor centre. West Mitten Butte is on the left viewed from the visitor centre Sentinel Mesa is 180° around from the previous picture looking north-east into Utah
This is looking to the west at Mitchell Butte. Monument Valley is part of the Colorado Plateau. The elevation of the valley floor ranges from 5,000 to 6,000 feet above sea level. The floor is largely siltstone of the Cutler Group, or sand derived from it, deposited by the meandering rivers that carved the valley. The valley's vivid red color comes from iron oxide exposed in the weathered siltstone. The darker, blue-gray rocks in the valley get their color from manganese oxide. Jenni's T Shirt is about her belonging to the 1969 New Mexico Bad Girls Club. Yeah, sure. Monument Valley is one of the places where an antipodean like me gets confused because the sun is in the south. This means to me, instinctively, south becomes north and north becomes south. I always get the feeling that I'm looking to the west from the visitor centre when, in reality, I'm looking east.
1988 OfficialDocuments 0007 b On US163 travelling south. As the day slowly ends we are unable to get local accommodation so we have to go south again, Pick up I40 again, and stay overnight in Flagstaff AZ. Friday 5 August, 1988 From Flagstaff it is a short 1½ hour drive to the Grand Canyon.
We buy a pass at the visitor Centre and follow the East Rim Rd State 64 and the Desert Rim Drive, also State 64 We go to the South Rim lookout From Mather Point; it's very crowded Moran Point. Along with Desert View, Grandview and Yaki, Moran is one of the most visited points on the east rim drive, and offers far reaching views along a wide section of the Grand Canyon, approximately between river miles 87 and 72.
Moran Point is due south of Cape Royal on the North Rim - just 8 miles away in a straight line but 215 miles by road. The promontory is reached by a short spur road and was named after the landscape painter Thomas Moran who came here for the first time in 1873 and helped popularize the canyon, leading eventually to its incorporation as a national monument in 1908 (and a national park in 1919). This shot is looking west from the Desert View Tower viewpoint. Desert View Tower is on Desert View Drive along the South Rim. The Grand Canyon is being carved by the Colorado River. The canyon is 277 miles long, up to 18 miles wide and attains a depth of over a mile (6,093 feet).
The canyon and adjacent rim are contained within Grand Canyon National Park, the Kaibab National Forest, Grand Canyon–Parashant National Monument, the Hualapai Indian Reservation, the Havasupai Indian Reservation and the Navajo Nation. President Theodore Roosevelt was a major proponent of the preservation of the Grand Canyon area and visited it on numerous occasions to hunt and enjoy the scenery. Nearly two billion years of Earth's geological history have been exposed as the Colorado River and its tributaries cut their channels through layer after layer of rock while the Colorado Plateau was uplifted. While some aspects about the history of incision of the canyon are debated by geologists, several recent studies support the hypothesis that the Colorado River established its course through the area about 5 to 6 million years ago. Since that time, the Colorado River has driven the down-cutting of the tributaries and retreat of the cliffs, simultaneously deepening and widening the canyon.
For thousands of years, the area has been continuously inhabited by Native Americans, who built settlements within the canyon and its many caves. The Pueblo people considered the Grand Canyon a holy site, and made pilgrimages to it. The first European known to have viewed the Grand Canyon was García López de Cárdenas from Spain, who arrived in 1540. I rate the Grand Canyon as top of the list of scenic wonders created by nature. It's breathtaking to behold and even better to know the story behind its creation. Look at this view. Amazing. This is the Little Colorado River. It is one of the two major tributaries of the Colorado River, the other being the Gila River. Runoff into the Colorado River typically peaks twice a year, first in the early spring (February–April) from snow melt and highland rain; and in the summer (July–September) from monsoon storms.
The annual runoff is extremely variable with the possibility of no flow occurring due to a weak snow pack or lack of summer rain. Monthly average flows in the springtime average several hundred cfs and can reach 2,000 to 3,000 cubic feet per second. Only the upper reaches of the river above St. Johns, and the lowermost stretch below Cameron, flow year round; the middle section is basically a huge arroyo that carries water only during the wet seasons. We cross this bridge over the Little Colorado and get back onto US89. I think it's called the Navajo Bridge. We drive north on US89 into the Vermillion Cliffs National Monument. We branch off US89 onto US89A and enter the Marble Canyon area. Marble Canyon is the section of the Colorado River canyon in northern Arizona from Lee's Ferry to the confluence with the Little Colorado River, which marks the beginning of the Grand Canyon.
Lee's Ferry is a common launching point for river runners starting their journey through Marble Canyon and then onward to the Grand Canyon. Marble Canyon is also well known for the Navajo Bridge, where US Highway 89A crosses the Colorado River. Marble Canyon marks the western boundary of the Navajo Nation. In 1975, the former Marble Canyon National Monument, which followed the Colorado River northeast from the Grand Canyon to Lee's Ferry, was made part of Grand Canyon National Park. The name Marble Canyon is a misnomer because there is no marble there. Although John Wesley Powell knew this when he named the canyon, he thought the polished limestone looked like marble. In his words, "The limestone of the canyon is often polished, and makes a beautiful marble. Sometimes the rocks are of many colors – white, gray, pink, and purple, with saffron tints." 1988 TripBack 0009 a
1988 TripBack 0010 a We branch off US 89A onto State 389 and visit the Pipe Spring National Monument Pipe Spring National Monument is a United States National Monument located in the northern part of Arizona. The water of Pipe Spring has made it possible for plants, animals, and people to live in this dry desert region. Ancestral Puebloans and Kaibab Paiute Indians gathered grass seeds, hunted animals, and raised crops near the springs for at least 1,000 years. In the 1860s Mormon pioneers from St. George, Utah, brought cattle to the area, and a large cattle ranching operation was established. In 1866 the Apache, Navajo and Paiute tribes of the region joined the Utes for the Black Hawk War, and, after they raided Pipe Spring, a protective fort was constructed by 1872 over the main spring.
The following year the fort and ranch were purchased by Brigham Young for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). This isolated outpost served as a way station for people traveling across the Arizona Strip, that part of Arizona separated from the rest of the state by the Grand Canyon. It also served as a refuge for polygamist wives during the 1880s and 1890s. The LDS Church lost ownership of the property through penalties involved in the federal Edmunds-Tucker Act of 1887. The Edmunds–Tucker Act of 1887 was an Act of Congress that focused on restricting some practices of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). An amendment to the earlier Edmunds Act, it was passed in response to the dispute between the United States Congress and the LDS Church regarding polygamy. Although their way of life was greatly impacted by Mormon settlement, the Paiute Indians continued to live in the area and by 1907 the Kaibab Paiute Indian Reservation was established, surrounding the privately owned Pipe Spring ranch. In 1923, the Pipe Spring ranch was purchased and set aside as a national monument to be a memorial to western pioneer life. This is part of an area called the Arizona Strip that was part of the migration route to California that the Pipe Spring supported.
We continue towards Las Vegas and eventually connect with I15 south. We pass through the Red Cliffs Conservation area The Red Cliffs. We stop long enough to take a picture but we're running out of time to get to Las Vegas. We get to see yet another sunset on the road.
It's still Friday 5 August 1988 We finally get to Las Vegas at 20:25 and check in for the night. We travel 460 miles today and only 7½ hours on the road Las Vegas is a must-see at least once in your life; even if only for its vulgarity. We keep our promise to Val. This is the highlight of the trip for her. We have dinner in a restaurant in The Sands and have a very cheap and very good prime rib.
The golden couple. 1988 TripBack 0027 a We separate from Brian and Val and (one imagines) they dance until dawn. 1988 TripBack 0024 a
Saturday 6 August 1988 We wake late, breakfast late and sleepily drag ourselves back into the cars and drive down I15 south. We're back in California and take a break at the Calico Ghost Town. Mr Knotts of Knott's Berry Farm bought and restored the town, partially restored it at least. Logically, there is no such thing as a restored ghost town. Calico is a ghost town and former mining town in San Bernardino County, California. The town is located in the Calico Mountains of the Mojave Desert region of Southern California and was founded in 1881 as a silver mining town. Apparently, there are $6,000,000 of silver remaining in the tailings. The downside is that it would cost $9,000,000 to extract it.
It was later converted into a county park named Calico Ghost Town located off Interstate 15. it lies 3 miles (4.8 km) from Barstow and 3 miles from Yermo. Walter Knott purchased Calico in the 1950s, and architecturally restored all but the five remaining original buildings to look as they did in the 1880s. Calico received California Historical Landmark #782, and in 2005 was proclaimed by then-Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to be California's Silver Rush Ghost Town. In 1881 four prospectors left Grapevine Station (present day Barstow, California) to investigate a mountain peak to the northeast. After they described the peak as "calico-colored", the peak, the mountain range to which it belonged and the town that followed were all called Calico.
The four prospectors discovered silver in the mountain and opened the Silver King Mine, which was California's largest silver producer in the mid-1880s. John C. King, who had grubstaked the prospectors (the Silver King Mine was thus named after him), was the uncle of Walter Knott founder of Knott's Berry Farm. King was sheriff of San Bernardino County from 1879 to 1882. A post office at Calico was established in early 1882, and the Calico Print, a weekly newspaper, started publishing. The town soon supported three hotels, five general stores, a meat market, bars, brothels, and three restaurants and boarding houses. This is the real deal.
Jenni, a wagon and the famed Joshua Tree. Brian and Val ride the cable car back down to the car park From here we drive straight home on I15 and arrive at Mission Valley around 19:00. Thus ends our great adventure. So many things could have gone wrong, but didn't. Pretty well actually. These experiences started a love affair with Honda Cars until Honda got fat, dumb and happy and lost the plot. This is the end of one of the best adventures of our lives: coast to coast in the USA and back again. End of this segment