The sign said elephant seals, so I'm not leaving until I see an elephant seal.

mandy told me to look for whales. I will be here until I see 1

California dust bowl

Just saw my first brotha since getting in the car....

Just saw my first brotha since getting in the car.

Hello Yosemite

Earthquake fault

Call me crazy but, as long as the trees stayed standing, I think an earthquake right now would be neat.

More to Come

I will still be posting small things for the next few days, and I have notes that I've been writing down, but It's just too much updating this the way I'd like using only a smart phone.

I left Death Valley yesterday rather content.  It was beautiful there and I'm happy with the amount of trails I got to do, but you need a buddy to properly adventure there.  There are only so many marked trails, but you are allowed to wander anywhere.  Unfortunately, it was a little dangerous wandering solo in 116 degree heat.  With a hydration pack and some extra food, I Did pretty well, but my last hike hit me pretty hard.  I ended up using the "solar parasol" Andy gave me, them proclaimed he saved my life.  Hyperbole just isn't as much fun when
No one is there to hear it.

My last night in Death Valley was probably my most ridiculous, in hindsight.  After going to Dante's View (I have a pic attached) where you can see the highest and lowest places I'm the park, and all of the main valley, I decided to do one last trail, the Wildrose Trail.  Unfortunately, everyhing in DV is at least an hour away from everything else, and it took about two hours to get to the Trail head.  Then I made the mistake of really the Trail guide.  Without out any explanation or elaboration, it simply states, "this is typical mountain lion territory".

I'd seen no cars for the last 40 miles of road, and only one parked at the Trail head, but decided to not be a coward and do the hole anyway.  It was only 4pm and I had four hours of sunlight.  Besides, mountain lions couldn't possibly be hanging out here.

Then I saw scat.  But it was dried, so it was probably old, and I didn't want to be a coward, so I continued on. Please note, this was the only trail I'd been on where I couldn't see miles around me, as this was a forest path.  All others had been desert/canyon trails.  So I continued on, and saw my first non-avian wildlife in the park: lizards.  Tiny little guys.

Then I saw more scat. Fresh scat, and I turned my ass around.  That is how I survived a mountain lion attack.  I have a picture of the scat and as soon as I get a chance, I'll identify it.  For now, it was mountain Lion.

I decided to get to a campsite, and,  because of my. Extra time because of the whole lion thing, I decided to go to a different camp, which means an hour or two away, but I got to see a new part of the driveable valley.  Cut to two hours later, the sun is going down and I'm set up in a 40 site campground by myself.  It was right next to a wash at the foothills of the eastern mountains, and I set up camp fast.  I decided to just sit around and write some in my notebook, which meant going between the cat and the picnic table.  I put some music on and was having a lovely evening.  On the way in to camp I'd seen my first desert rabbitt, and, as the sun went down the nocturnal jamgarooouse came out.  No pics of either unfortunately, but you can prob find better ones online, if you'd like.  Is loom for a video of the mouse; they're adorable.

With my thoughts written down and a belly full of trail mix, and my first cold drink in a few days, I decided to go to bed.  And as I went to unzip my tent, I heard coyotes chatter behind me.

Sounds travels pretty far in DV but I was in a bit of a canyon/valley, so I'm reading this as they were within a mile of me.  And I assume they eat rabbits and mice, which are all around me, at this point.  I decided not to lay down to sleep just yet. Then I hear them again, and promptly decide that I'm sleeping in the car.  So, I break down camp, and head to sleep. I do hear them a few more times throughout the night.

DV does not do a real good job offering info on the mammals you might run into in the park.  I knees out snakes, scorpions, and spiders, but never once heard about coyotes or lions, except "don't feed them".

Ah well.

So, this is taking a long time and I need to head out soon, so my Nevada story will be brief, and attempt a highlight list:

-Two half hour waits in traffic in the desert and I realize too late that there are no gas stations until my next destination, and I'm getting lower on gas. 

- passing two brothels, that had big, though not very lurid or alluring billboards.

- a ghost town.

-very windy, mountain roads, and valleys, that I didn't properly enjoy because of the gas concern.

Now on to figure out what today will bring me.  Yosemite will be today or tomorrow, and I have no idea where I'm sleeping as this area apparently isn't as empty as the valley is.  In the Sierra Nevada,this is apparently the busy season.  And I'm looking for a campsite on a Friday.

This is what happens when you don't plan for the second half of your trip.  Good-bye from Bishop, CA.

A View with a Room

Last night I was roughing it Abbie-style. That means sleeping in a three star hotel or lower. I liked the Mountain View Inn, though I didn't really have a view of any mountain until I walked out to the street.

The Mexican food was tasty though. Now on to figure out what to do today.

Watch for... Devil sheep (?)

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Hello, Nevada.

Good-bye Death Valley.

Last day in the Valley.

One more hike through the Gomden Canyon, then on to Bishop, CA and the Ancient Bristlecone Forest.  Will be roughing it in the Mountain View Inn and will update with photos.

Mountain lion (?)

I did turn around half way down the Wildrose Trail because of a hypothetical lion.  I did it because of very real scat that might have been a mountain lions.

Happiness is a cold beer 200' below sea level when it is 110F outside

That is 5700' feet away and 20-30 degrees hotter.

Can't get much lower than this. 227' below sea level.

Nearing Death Valley

What theydon't tell you is that death valley is surrounded by more desert .  I have been driving on route 395 / 14 for about an hour and it is beautiful driving .  before that I was on mountain road 109 which maybe some of the most fantastic beautiful driving in the country , and winding .

I'm going to have to spend some time writing down everything I have seen and a bunch of other things I thought to tell you all , but it is 420 and I really would like to have a campsite set up soon .1 hour and 20 minutes left before I get to the park .

Rte 395 North.. prob lose cel after this road.

I'm heading over that way.

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Sierra Nevada

I think they are in front of me.  Air quality not good enough for a pick.

The car

From earlier.  Just south of Fresno.

Where I am.

Matt's Cab Musings

The following are the types of climates I've packed for:
1. Desert.

The following is the estimated percentage of this trip I will be in a desert climate:
30%

Apparently, California has many different types of climates.  Matt's travel advice: be careful of focusing too much on one part.

Not quite moving

Waiting on a cab to bring me back to the airport, to get a rental car and drive back in this direction.  I had imagined I'd be doing a lot more of this back and forth driving myself.  What's a trip without hiccups?

In hotel.

In a bed which is nice, but have to head back to airport to get car which puts a shitty time crunch on the.long drive that is tomorrow.  Ah well. I'm just going to sleep now. 

To Dionne Warwick

I can't say I did, but my pilot apparently did know the way to San Jose.

Leaving Houston

An hour later than hoped.  Here's hoping we don't lose time a miss San Jose curfew.  Did get a free upgrade to emergency row though. 

22,000 feet.

On my way. 

Airport #3 - George W. Bush Houston international.

I wrote stuff while out of service; will try to update later.  On to the next plane.

Can't think of any song besides "leaving on a jet plane".

In the plane.  No problems with security. Now let's all hope rental car and hotel go easily.

Leaving on a jet plane

Boarding now. Wish me luck.

My first friend

Look who I found at BWI.

Good Night Sleep.

Last night in my bed for awhile.  Good night.

I can't think of a funny play on words with "tweet" in it.

So, if you look to the right, you'll find a twitter feed.  It feels sort of like that mole on your cheek that you wish no one looks at.  Maybe this will be how I learn to love Twitter.

All I wanted was for this to publish straight to Facebook.  Should have used Wordpress.

T Minus 26.5 Hours

Bags are(n't quite) packed.

(Mostly) Ready to go.

I have car rental figured out, and I have a hotel for tomorrow night.  I have directions to my first and second choices for campgrounds (Pictured here and here).  I'm doing my laundry to get final packing done, and still deciding which bag to bring (duffle or suitcase).

I'm a little excited, and I have to use the bathroom, approximately every ten minutes.  I also just found out that Mandy and Jake might be making a trip to Yosemite to meet up.  What fun!

I just can't seem to remember what I've forgotten at this point.  The blog is a go, and it automatically updates to Google+, so if anyone is a consistant Google+ user, please follow along.  Can't seem to have Blogger automatically publish to Facebook, so I'm not sure how much after this post will make it there, as I'll be without laptop and it can be a bit tricky to do all that with my phone.

I'm a ramblin' man.  I hope to be back tomorrow with something more exciting.

Adventure prep pt. 2

Great falls, MD. Adventure prep

First Airport - Dulles (IAD)

Kate's in town for the weekend, so I am at my first of the five airports I will see in the next two weeks (though this is the only one I won't see from the inside).

I'm also testing out the playlist.  Lauren's Muppet Movie suggestion worked out very well.  Charlie's suggestion of "You Go On Ahead" is going to rock on a wide open road. Surprise hit: "Sally Maclennane" by The Pogues.  I never realized how great of a travel song that is.  I'll publish the entire list before I go.

Contest #4 - What to Eat?

I won't have a stove and I am hoping for the occasional food/farm stand.  Besides those, I am planning to nosh on fruit and nuts.  Any other ideas?

Contest #3 - What to Read?

I have:

On The Road by Jack Kerouac
Travels with Charlie by John Steinbeck
Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey
Great Plains by Ian Frazier

Now, Chuck said Travels with Charlie wasn't the best of reads, and Charlie has suggested Red Sky at Morning by Richard Bradford.  I have three days before I head out; any other suggestions? 

Contest #2 - Matt's Infinite Travel Playlist

"Get Your Kicks on Route 66"
"On the Road Again"
"Leaving on a Jet Plane"

What songs would you add to Matt's Infinite Travel Playlist?

Can you see me?

I can't figure out why the GPS map thing to the right isn't working properly, so if anyone wants to be able to follow me via Google Latitude, just let me know, and I can invite you in (I assume).

I was kind of counting on that to be the way people know if I'm alive.  I'm a bit disappointed.  If only I understood technology better.

Book Requests

Any suggestions on books to read while traveling?

Pre-trip test: Destroyer

Contest #1 - Name the Car

Batman has "the Batmobile"

The Duke Boys had "the General Lee"

 Knight Rider had "KITT"

 Now it's time for the next great adventure-mobile name. I will be renting a "Chevrolet Aveo or Similar" to drive around eastern California and Western Nevada. Suggestions for a name?

Infinite regression test

This is a test of the infinite regression machine.

T-minus 9 days.

(I can't figure out how to change the title, so we're going to stick with the old one.) On June 25th, I'll be starting on my first grand adventure of the summer. Flying to San Jose, hopping in a car, and driving around CA and NV for a week. Feel free to follow along here. I'll be posting pictures, posts, and maybe videos as long as I have cell coverage, including using google latitude to let you know EXACTLY where I am in the world (please no murderers). Starts in just over a week.