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We drove to flagstaff that night, got up the next morning and went to the meteor crater. We didn't know that is was going to cost 10 bucks just to take a peek at it, so we left. We considered sneaking in on the other side of the crater, but the had the place surrounded with 8 foot fences with barbwire. They even had their own security truck driving around. The place was deserted, even the couple who came up to the window after us left when they saw how much it cost, so we headed on to the petrified forest. That was another big wet blanket. There was one really good viewpoint of the painted desert, but the rest wasn't too impressive. We drove the rest of the day on crazy back roads and 35 miles of dirt roads to get to Chaco Canyon in the middle of the desert in New Mexico. There was no wood for sale and we weren't allowed to collect wood. Like there was any wood to collect in the middle of the desert anyways. It was freezing cold, so we got out the camp stove and sat in the van and watched for the ramen water to boil. We got up the next morning, expecting it to be warm, but it was still about 25 degrees in the wind. If you could manage to get out of the wind it was still about 40 degrees. We had all figured the desert to be a little warmer, so this was all unexpected. We checked out some 1200 year old "great houses." They were really well excavated and you could walk around inside them. Earlier that day, one of the park rangers invited us over for dinner, so we went on a day-long hike and went over to her house. We hung out for a while and ate spaghetti. After that we drove pretty much non-stop to the Florida Keys, stopping only in Austin, Texas for a few hours to do laundry and update the web page. We made it to Matt Shroyer's aunt Pat and uncle Phil's place at midnight. All they knew of our arrival was a message on their machine earlier that day. It was like "Hey, this is your nephew, matt, me and a few friends are driving around the country and are going to stop and see you. We'll be getting in at midnight, if your up we'll see you, if not, we'll be sleeping in your driveway in the morning." We didn't really know what to expect in the morning, but found that his aunt had breakfast all ready for us when we woke up. We relaxed with them for a while and then went out exploring. Matt's aunt Pat had told us about a state park that had snorkeling trips. They took us about ten miles out into the ocean to snorkel around a coral reef. There were tons of fish everywhere. There were a few barracuda's eyeing us. It was kind of creepy at first, but after a while you realized all the fish could care less what you're doing it was cool. There were lots of jellyfish that we had to try and dodge or get stung. We swam around for an hour and a half then they blew the horn to return. When we got back to the house, Matt's aunt had made us a thanksgiving feast, complete with turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, biscuits, and pie, pumpkin and key lime. I was amazed that she went through all that trouble for us, it was great. We stuffed ourselves and watched Gladiator. Matt and Justin wanted to go out and check out the Keys' bar scene, so I got to drive them back. The next morning we started our drive back home, we weren't able to get a hold of our friend in Atlanta. I woke up and drove while they slept it off. That's about it. The U.S. trip is coming to a close. We will be back on Saturday, weather permitting. I won't be updating the web page again until Reilly and I have been in South America for a while. There's no Kinko's there, so I'll have to find another way to update. Thank You for checking out my web page. It was pretty hard to get into writing it and find time among all our adventures. 
The Petrified Forest and painted desert
Chaco Canyon
Steps carved in the rock by the Chaco Indians
The Florida Keys |
