The only photos of the massive Apatosaurus/Brontosaurus sculpture were taken after sunset but the profile of the great dinosaur seems even more intimidating when only the outline is visible blocking the horizon! Pretty cool sculpture, now I'll have to do a little digging and sleuthing on the web to see the tie between this part of the West and the great dinosaurs of the Jurassic era!
Dr Clair has travelled quite a bit over the years and has amassed quite a collection of road signs warning of various animal crossings from turtles and snakes to bighorn sheep and pronghorn antelope but this road sign he encountered outside Boise City, Oklahoma definitely takes the cake for off-the-wall animal signs! Not quite certain of the significance of the warning sign, we nonetheless had to have a photo. Didn't really notice the poor condition of the sign with all the rust until posting to Blogger so maybe the sign has been around since the Jurassic era? Just down the road a bit from this warning sign however there was a massive life-size steel sculpture of the Brontosaurus, now known as Apatosaurus. There are large Apatosaurus sculptures throughout the West as the Apatosaurus/Brontosaurus is used by the Sinclair Oil Company as their company logo. Since Dr Clair was in a hurry to get to the Colorado border before dark, he failed to get any really good pictures of the sculpture itself and only has photos shot at sunset!? Sorry!
Dr Clair and Toto will sadly be departing Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico tomorrow morning bright and early! They've been the pampered guests of the Talamantes Family and will be sad to be headed back north so soon. Astride the Gold Wing are Maru, Jose and Kenia with Toto. Their own minature schnauzer was too short for the photo opportunity. Dr Clair loves this photo because he's had a chance to get reacquainted with Jose after a 32 year interruption in their own friendship. Jose was a 15 year old Rotary Foreign Exchange student that stayed with the Thompson Family for 3 months in 1976 and attended Jersey Shore Senior High. Jose "found" his good friend Clair on FaceBook only 3 months ago and was pleasantly surprised when Dr Clair and Toto showed up in his hometown with a set of directions that claimed Sonora was the 49th state for this AWSOM Flamingo 49 States in However Many Days It Takes Ride! The motorcycle accident in Wyoming lent new perspective to this trip and our adventurers have decided to slow the pace and smell the coffee, so to speak. Also the 48 state thing sounded kind of awkward when we all know there are 50 states so our travellers are adding the states of Sonora and appropriately Chihuahua(!) to make it 50 States and those of you who are hung up on technicalities may want to just stop following this blog then! What Dr Clair really likes about this photo is the show of support AWSOM enjoys in Mexico! Check out the AWSOM hat on Jose and the Liz-Tech Flamingo pin of Kenia's sleeve! Jose gives a Thumbs-Up BY COINCIDENCE ? A Dr Clair Trademark if ever there is one, check the photo gallery for proof!
After 3 cups of good strong Mexican java for breakfast this morning, you wouldn't expect Dr Clair to be quite so excited about a "caffeine truck" near the central plaza in downtown Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico but then once a caffeine addict, always a caffeine addict! This foto was probably taken just moments before he realized IT WAS CLOSED for business!? What's with that? Also the picture does not show that the Caffenio truck was blocking the view of the Yoga Center!? Dr Clair didn't even bother to check if the Yoga Center was open, like he ever would be caught dead doing yoga and hopes that photos of that one time he did try hot yoga(?) never see the light of day!
I was told by multiple people that the approach road to Grand Canyon West, the site of the Grand Canyon Skyway, was only paved part of the way and the rest was packed dirt and gravel. Well, it was packed into a motocross washboard with whoop-de-doos and the dust was so bad you couldn't see the vehicle in front of you! Discovered the best way to attack the rough road was standing on the pegs, motocross style, which is a bit unconventional for a Gold-Winger! Had I known how bad it was, I would still do it all over again but would have left my electronics like laptop and stuff back at the motel. I'm actually pleasantly suprised that everything still seems to work ok despite the rough handling. Took a helicopter ride over and into the Grand Canyon, an AWESOME experience! Also visited the Skyway and was photographed pretending to climb over the railing like a BASE jump but the Toyota jump turned out to be the best picture! There was lots of AWSOM interest today and sold 2 Liz-Tech flamingo pins to workers at the Route 66 Visitors Center. Passed out lots of postcards and the other people on the chopper with me were bull terrier breeders from New Zealand in the States for a big bully show in San Jose, California. Still managed 450 miles today and in Tucson tonight poised for an early start for Hermosillo, Mexico, the home of Jose Talamantes. Jose was a Rotary foreign exchange student that lived with our family in Jersey Shore > 30 years ago and he found me on Face-Book and we're meeting in Mexico tomorrow! Small world really!
Of all the dangerous stunts Dr Clair has thus performed to raise AWSOM awareness, including but not limited to his recent Flamingo Flyby skydive, his motorcycle crash in Wyoming and yes, he even ate tacos at Jack-In-The-Box restaurants out West; by far the most dangerous stunt to date has to be pulling off the Las Vegas Freeway mid-day to get this picture!!!! Dr Clair and his flamingo companion Toto skipped most of Sin City's temptations to stay on schedule(not really), but driving on the freeway they saw overhead signs for FLAMINGO ROAD and screeched to a halt for this very dangerous photo-op! Many of you have commented at the dangers of Dr Clair shooting video while driving his motorcycle, yet won't recognize the danger inherent in trusting other drivers not to run Dr Clair, Toto and the Gold Wing over while rushing to the casino to play Keno or craps! Our fearless adventurers quickly got the "film in the can" as they say and were off for less dangerous stunts such as driving over London Bridge in Lake Havasu City, Arizona! Stay tuned for "The Further Mis-Adventures of Dr Clair and Toto" as they head for Mexico!Message from Dr Clair D Thompson II:
FIRST! DO NOT WATCH THIS VIDEO IF YOU ARE AFRAID OF HEIGHTS! I met Sharon and Cliff(!?) today at the Perrine Bridge over the Snake River in Twin Falls, Idaho. This bridge is the only legal BASE jumping spot 365 days a year in the United States. Other spots are open 1 day per year for big carnival, festival type days such as Bridge Day in West Virginia which attracts > 450 BASE jumpers from around the world and brings over 250,000 people there for the weekend festivities. The Perrine Bridge is noted for being half as high with twice the landing area and no waiting times for jumping. At the New River people wait 6-8 hours for the chance to jump once! The woman in this video has had days when she jumped off this bridge 26(!) times in 1 day! They are from San Diego, which explains why they look so cold and they drive up here for a week at a time! Oh yeah, I assume Cliff is not his real name? Too catchy for a BASE jumper?!Click on a video below to watch it:
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To learn more about the Flip Video Camcorder, click here.
Finally made it to the far northwest leg of our trip in Washington state at WallaWalla before turning back Southeast to get our return leg of trip started. Pictures may be at a premium since I discovered last night that I forgot my camera charger and battery pack in Baker City at The Oregon Trail Motel! Trying to locate a replacement and my best odds may be staying in Boise until stores open at 9am because I'm headed South through Nevada on Route 93 for a rather isolated leg of the trip. Not much chance of finding a charger in the desert and mountains of east-central Nevada!
When travelling, we occassionally come across the truly unexpected jewel that you'll always remember and treasure. Dr Clair picked up a brochure at his motel for The Peregrine Fund and their World Center for Birds of Prey in Boise,Idaho. Since not too far off his route, he stopped by for a quick visit and was absolutely delighted at such a fantastic find! Dr Clair wound up spending an entire afternoon learning about the center and their efforts at captive breeding and falconry! Though seemingly in the middle of nowhere, the facility is obviously very well funded as evidenced by their property and buildings. Specifically not a raptor rehabilitator, the center is very active in captive breeding programs for the endangered California Condor and other birds of prey. Dr Clair enjoyed their separate building devoted entirely to the history and sport of falconry through the ages. As a wrap-up to the afternoon, there was a session of freeflighting some of the birds including gyrfalcon, previously endangered peregrine falcon and the ubiquitous little falcon, the American kestrel. Dr Clair will never forget having a peregrine falcon swooping low overhead, barely an arms length away, and knowing that part of the success for their population resurgence is due to The Peregrine Fund. Above all, Dr Clair recognizes that this gorgeous, well funded center and well trained staff were started one day with just an idea and a grass roots movement of dedicated people committed to seeing their efforts succeed and literally "Take-Off!" One can't help but recognize the parallels to our own organization,AWSOM, and the endless possibilities that can result with peristence, dedication and funding. We need to keep our sights and goals set high in order to succeed!Message from Dr Clair D Thompson II:
Hung around the Old Faithful viewing area long enough for the 2nd eruption and had a chance to meet people and talk about the trip and the animal shelter. Had to wing it as I'd left all my postcards back in the room! Listen closely and you'll hear unprompted Awesome! comments from my new friends. The people from Colorado had lived there all their lives and this was their 1st trip to Yellowstone and the Tetons. Sometimes people aren't even aware what they have literally in their own backyards! Still trying to increase local AWSOM awareness at home!Click on a video below to watch it:
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To learn more about the Flip Video Camcorder, click here.
I was absolutely amazed to have Old Faithful completely to myself before, during and after the first eruption of the day at about 715am! Arrived at the viewing area to find icy, cold conditions and wound up doing push-ups in the pre-dawn darkness to stay warm! (At least I hope there wasn't anyone else watching me do pushups in the dark!) As the sun slowly came up, the wildlife comes alive and I realized there were bison, ravens, ducks and geese to keep me from getting lonely! People started to slowly drift into the Geyser Basin for the 2nd eruption 90 minutes later and were quick to complain about the cold! I wisely chose not to demonstrate my pushup technique for staying warm! I was caught totally unprepared for the inevitable flamingo questions as well as the rational "You rode your motorcycle here from Pennsylvania comments" as I had left the AWSOM postcards in my room! I did my best to work the inevitable "Awesome" exclamation about Old Faithful into my dialogue about the animal shelter without arousing undue suspicion, I think!? While waiting for the sun to get high in the sky and temps enough to Defrost the roads, I managed to catch a 3rd eruption later at 1120am! It's not called Old Faithful by coincidence!
After getting my motorcycle repaired in Gillette the cold and snow were certainly on my mind! Going further west on I-94 past Billings, Montana the conditions improved and the decision to try for the north gate of Yellowstone was made. Approaching the park in perfect conditions with warmer temps and sun high in the sky acted like "Defrost" on the roads and we even made it over the Continental Divide a couple of times. Called Old Faithful Inn to check room availability and again managed to get one of the last couple rooms left at Snow Lodge on the next to last night for their season, ala the Badlands! Despite multiple road closures already in effect in Yellowstone, I managed to see quite a bit of the park and got to Old Faithful just as the temperatures dropped with the setting sun, ensuring icing conditions throughout the park! You can tell it's cold in this picture as I didn't even bother to get Toto out for his photo-opportunity!Message from Dr Clair D Thompson II:
The only time I don't like a train whistle is if I'm crossing the tracks! Passed this train leaving Gillette, Wyoming yesterday morning and the train whistle always reminds me ofthe Willie Nelson song On The Road Again and that's exactly how I feel after waiting 3 days for motorcycle repairs.Willie's lyrics "goin' places that I've never been, seein' things that I may never see again, just can't wait to get on the road again" never rang truer! Not sure where I caught my wanderlust from, but train whistles and Willie Nelson just feed it more!Click on a video below to watch it:
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To learn more about the Flip Video Camcorder, click here.
