Thrill Side!

Hey, that’s Maria, I’m Chuy. We’ve been good friends since high school, and we decided to take a pretty epic road-trip. Armed with a map and a sense of adventure, we got a cheap rental and hit the road. What proceeds is a recounting of our travels across The Great American West. I hope you all enjoy.

We left Oakland around 9:30 p.m. Arriving to the outskirts of Vegas at dawn, meeting the sunrise.

After a, nice, fat breakfast at one of my favorite spots in Vegas (Blueberry Hill), we hit the welcome to Vegas sign, and were on our way.

 

We checked out Lake Mead; the largest reservoir in the country. It’s pretty nice. Except for, it was hot as HELL! 98° at 8:00 a.m. Gale force winds blowing, picking up and hurling sand along with it. My lips got chapped instantly. We said “fuck this shit, vamonos a la chingada de este pinche infierno!” And we split.

Took a stroll across the Hoover Dam.

Since it was dark when we entered Nevada via California, we snapped a picture of the welcome to Nevada sign as we entered… Arizona.

Fuck Arizona, and all that immigration buuuullshit they’ve got going on down there. We didn’t cross the border; the border crossed us. Know what I’m saying?

Driving down the road, I always encourage everyone to turn off when they see a sign that reads “Vista Point”, “Scenic Outlook”, and the like. Because, you never know what you might see. Like, The Black Valley.

We decided to call it a day, as we got our kicks on Route 66. Maria did a bunch of souvenir shopping. I too walked away with a keepsake… If you’re eastbound on 2nd Avenue and wanna turn on U.S. Route 66, in Williams AZ, beware, there’s no sign.

Caught the sunrise with the Fallen Sons Of Williams memorial, grabbed some breakfast, and rambled on down the road.

Ladies and Gentlemen, The Grand Canyon and California Condors

Carved by the Colorado river over millions and millions of years, this, giant, massive chasm is truly a sight to behold. A mile deep, up to 18 miles wide, and 277 miles long, it’s beyond compare with anything else I’ve seen before.

For many years now, it had been my goal to see a California Condor. And I’m glad to say I can mark it off my list. Not to be confused with the very common Turkey Vulture, California Condors are critically endangered. From what I understand, there’s only something like 250 condors living in the wild. These massive birds (9 foot wingspan) are ravenous scavengers, who wait patiently as whatever—or whoever—they’re waiting for to eat, dies. They’re not too patient though, as they’ve been known to swoop in and peck to speed up the process of death. they’re the hyenas of the sky.

With Maria at the wheel, we set a course to the red lands of Utah.

Jump out, slap that good ol’ Beast Oakland sticker up, and keep rollin’ to…

Monument Valley

Monument valley is a Navajo park, on land that belongs to the Navajo Nation. A lot of the westerns I grew up watching had scenes of its buttes. Bandits kicking up dust as they try to escape their pursuing lawmen. And this beautiful valley in the background… I had to see it with my own eyes; and it’s just as amazing as I expected.

With the sun setting, we decided to head back and be on our way. But fate had a different plan. There’s no roads in the valley, it’s all, beautiful, red sand. And our little rental car kept getting stuck in it. To the point where the transmission overheated.

Sitting there in the valley floor, waiting for the tranny to cool, night fell fast. And with a no-moon-night come the sounds of the dark. Maria started to get a little freaked out, but I told her it was alright. “There’s nothing out here that can do you harm. The biggest predator out here are coyotes, and they won’t mess with us.” That being said, we did a little stargazing, and I showed Maria how to find the North Star.

After getting stuck and digging it out 5 times and the transmission overheating twice, we got out of the valley and back on pavement at 3:00 a.m. Slept in the car for a couple hours, waking up with the sun. Got out, snapped a pic, and split.

Made it to New Mexico

And the four corners. “Four States Here Meet In Freedom Under God.”

We left there and got on highway 160 through Colorado and it’s Rockies… This is when I fell in love with Colorado. Everything is so green! The air is crisp and fresh… Highway 160 is a beautiful highway. If you’re ever in the area, take it.

Got to Wyoming and tried to call it a night. Unfortunately, the biggest rodeo in the country was happening the night we arrived. So there were no hotel rooms available in a 200 mile radius. Another night of sleeping in the car doesn’t bother me, but I was starting to feel bad for Maria. She toughed it out like a champ though.

After stealing hot showers from a tiny community center in a tiny ass town in the middle of nowhere, we made it to South Dakota. Hella bullet holes in the sign made me feel like I was home.

And we reached Mount Rushmore, which was the farthest east we were heading.

Crossed back into Wyoming. This time during the day, so we saw a whole lot of beautiful countryside.

Slappin’ nothin’ but country, we made it to Montana. Where we were greeted by a thunderstorm. With 60 mph winds, torrential downpour, lightning crashing all over, we were the only vehicle on the highway. But we made it to our next destination.

Cracker Barrel, in Billings MT. Where we, for the first time, had an actual sit down dinner. Maria fell in love with their mac n cheese, and I’m still raving about the country ham. We found lodging, and had a good nights rest.

The next morning, we continued our adventure. Taking highway 212, known as Bear Tooth Pass, back into Wyoming.

At 11,000 feet, well above the tree-line, trees cannot grow because of harsh conditions. Leaving wildflowers to bloom. Here I stand, in the highest altitude I’ve ever been on land, breathing the freshest air I’ve ever had, looking at the deepest, truest, bluest sky I’ve ever seen… Words cannot express.

No matter where I roam, I’ll always find a home, under those blue ridge mountain skies.

We finally make it to Yellowstone, and Maria says “what’s that over there?”

BUFFALO!!!

Do the jingle, do the jingle. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there!

These guys are massive. And hella delicious.

Yellowstone is a super volcano. Water flows through limestone and fault lines and such, until it hits magma, causing it to boil. Turning into steam, pressure builds and creates a teakettle effect, shooting it back up. As it reaches the surface, it cools a bit, turning into water again. Full of minerals it picked up on its travels, it starts flowing. Leaving trace amounts of calcium, creating the travertine stone—that we see today—over many, many years.

Golden Gate Falls

We didn’t get to see as much of Yellowstone as we would have liked, but with the sun setting, we thought it best to get going. However, we later decided that we’re going back and doing a whole week of camping in Yellowstone.

The next day, we hit a Cracker Barrel for lunch, and hit the road, jack.

Crossed through the skinny part of Idaho, so we didn’t really see anything. I was expecting some big ass potatoes or something. But no, nothin’.

Short drive, made it to Spokane, Washington.

Crossed the state and arrived in Seattle. We googled a coffee shop, ’cause that was our goal: coffee in Seattle. Come to find, the coffee shop we went to, turns into a bar at night. The bartender was all hopped up on smack, I could tell by his twitchyness. But, everybody was! The streets were crowded with hundreds of 20-something hipsters. Junkies and beggars up the wazoo. We went up and down one block of pike street, and had enough.

Stopped at a gas station for cheap coffee and booked it for the space-needle. Snapped a couple shots, and we we’re splitsville. If you love San Francisco, you’ll LOVE Seattle.

Made it to Oregon, and headed to Portland.

For Doughnuts!

We had to wait in line for like an hour, but it was so worth it. There’s a doughnut a called cock n balls, and it sounds hellllla good. So I get up to the register and I’m like “yo man, I need a cock n balls in my mouth.” And dude was like, “I’m sorry man, we’re out of cock n balls.” … I was a little devastated, but I carried on.

After we got our sugar rush, we took a short trip to Multnomah falls. At 620 feet, it’s the tallest waterfall in Oregon. We took it in for a while, then kept it movin’

Jumping on 5 and reaching, beautiful California. Although, I must admit, we could really use a new sign, this ones all rusty. Throw up a Beast Oakland and a Mexican Roots Oakland Raised sticker, and call and tell momma to put the beans to boil; ’cause we’re comin’ home.

But first, stopped at one of my favorites. Burney Falls in Burney California. Teddy Roosevelt called the falls “the eighth wonder of the world” and he was right. At only 129 feet, what this waterfall lacks in hight, it makes up for in character.

Ok. After 80 hours 58 minutes and 18 seconds of driving, we made it back home to Oakland, and dropped the car off. We traveled 4,279 miles in 7 days. It was definitely an incredible experience. And it’s something I encourage everybody to do. You don’t have to go for days and days; take a day trip, go see some shit you ain’t ever seen before. You might like it.

Big thank you to the man, Rush
Thank for letting me share.

Once again, I’m Chuy. If you liked my photos, you can find me on Instagram: @chudeezy you can also find Maria @maria_reynoso