Author: icenrye

Today was a fairly mellow day. It started with a call to Budget Rent-A-Car to let them know that the license on my rental would expire while I was on the road. Solution was easy. Come in and they would exchange the vehicle, or see if the plates had arrived. So, off to the car rental center I went. 30 minutes later, I had new plates on my car and was good to go.

The next issue was the non-booting Mac. I guessed the issue could easily be fixed and when I explained my problem to the tech, he thought the same. Well, we were wrong! Turns out Snow Leopard had to be re-installed. The whole process took about 90 minutes. While waiting, I visited a local cookie shop and enjoyed a cookie and a smoothie!

So once the problems were out of the way, it was time to resume the normally scheduled day. Today was tourist day and my plan was to cruise the strip. So, starting at the MGM, worked my way north up to the Bellagio where I caught the fountain show. What a busy place! All along the strip, it was elbow to elbow. People were everywhere! After the fountain show, I worked my way back to the MGM then back to the motel. Highlights of the tour included visiting the Coke and M&M’s store.  Also, I checked out the CSI show in the MGM where you get to solve a crime.  Turns out it was the Butler in the Dining room with the candle stick!  Overall, a great day.  Just a note.  Pictures are available on my SmugMug site.
Tomorrow, it’s off to the Grand Canyon where I’ll trade in the king size bed for my sleeping bag. The TV for a fire. Stay tuned to this blog to see how it goes.

What a day! I had a great time caching out in the desert. It was over 90F, however there was a breeze blowing which made it quite pleasant.
The first stop was at the start of the Extraterrestrial Highway to take some pictures. Then it was caching time!
ET Highway 1 was my first of the series and I found the first 5 before I moved on towards Rachel to visit the Little Alien restaurant. After caching out the town, I moved down to the Alien Head series.
This series I enjoyed. The caches were spaced about 170m apart along a soft dirt trail which made for comfortable walking.
Two hours later, I had completed the head and mouth. I wanted to complete the eyes, but it was late in the day. Time to head back to Vegas.
So, where are the pictures? Well, something happened to the MacBook and it won’t boot up! Fortunately, there’s a couple of Apple stores here so I’ll have one of their experts play with it tomorrow. Will it get fixed? Stay tuned to this blog!

September 24, 2011. A day I’ve been waiting for a long time! Today is the day, the first day of the trip. Time to put together all the planning.
The day started in PG cold and wet. A great day to escape to the desert. All my gear was packed and ready to go. My ride showed up, and off we went to the airport.
With international travel, the common rule is to show up 2 hours early. So I did. Of course, Prince George doesn’t have the volume of other airports so there wasn’t much of a line at the Westjet counter and the bags were quickly checked in.
Next was security. I always worry at security. These people can prevent me from getting on the plane! That would, needless to say, ruin my holiday! So, jacket off, pockets emptied, belt off and camera bags in the bin with the Macbook taken out for the sniffer. Through the detector I went and off went the alarm! Opps! Sorry, I didn’t take out my phone! Take two!
With that embarrassment out of the way, it was time to check the x-ray machine. The young lady operating the machine, noticed the camera gear. It actually looked like a photograph, the detail was so good. She asked what I had for gear and I showed her what each lens was. We continued to have a great conversation on photography for about 5 minutes! Meanwhile, there was no line-up to get through security! It was that quiet at the airport.
So, onto the plane, and off we go. The flight was enjoyable as usual with Westjet and we arrived in Vegas 30 minutes early.
Next was US Customs.

Our plane arrived at the same time as a Virgin Atlantic 747 from London so customs was filled with Canadians and Brits. It made for some great conversation. The line moved along quickly and within 30 minutes, I was in the USA!
Next was the shuttle bus to the car rental centre. Interesting concept. Move the rentals away from the main terminals and reduce traffic. An hour later, I was in my 2012 Chevrolet Cruze.
Next was a quick dash to the motel to get checked in then off to the Geocaching event at the In-N-Out Burger. First time there for me and Kevin, who I met up with. Good food, but long, long waits. As for the event, there was a good turnout and we heard some desert caching stories.
After the event, Kevin and I introduced a local to Munzee then took off to the welcome sign. Busy place on this Saturday night. There was busload after busload of teenage school kids dressed to the nines taking pictures. I think it was homecoming weekend. We couldn’t get near the front, but we did get some of the backside for a challenge. We also found a physical cache and a virtual. There is suppose to be a Munzee on the sign, but we couldn’t find it. However, we did find Elvis!

To end the night, I took a trip up the strip. What a crazy stretch of road! I was too busy driving to look around, however while stuck in one of many traffic jams, I caught the start of the fountain show at the Bellagio! I’ll be back to that! Well, enough for now. Tomorrow is desert day. The ET highway! How many will I go for. Stay tuned to this blog to find out!

Introducing the Icenrye Southwest Tour 2011.  A two week whirlwind tour of Nevada, Arizona and California September 24 to October 8, 2011.

Needless to say, I’m pretty excited about the trip.  I’ve never been to these areas and I’m looking forward to touring and caching there.  So far I have the following itinerary:

September 24 – Arrive in Vegas.  After clearing customs and picking up the rental car, I’ll make my way to the Las Vegas Welcome Sign.  Here I need the help of the internet.  There is a webcam at the sign.  Once I’m at the sign, I’ll post on my special Twitter page and Trackfiles Facebook page that I’m there.  If possible, could someone please go to the webcam page and capture a picture.  Then upload the picture to Twitpic or whatever photo sharing service you use and post the link.  Think of it as my first souvenir photo!

From there, I’m off to my motel to check in then off to an In-N-Out Burger for the “Icenrye and PGgeodude Meet and Greet” event.  So if you’re a Vegas area cacher, come on down!  PGgeodude and I would like to meet you.

September 25-26 – Check out Vegas and the ET Power Trail geocaches.

September 27-29 – Visit the Grand Canyon and area.

September 30 – October 1 – Travel to Petaluma California.

October 2 – Take in TWiT at the Brickhouse.  I hope to have a chat with Leo.  Watch TWiT live to see if I make it on!

October 3-7 No set plans yet.  I hope to take in some Bay area attractions then work my way back to Vegas with a quick stop in Ely, Nevada.  What’s in Ely you ask?  Well, I’m a fan of the British show “Top Gear” and a couple of years ago, they stopped in at a local restaurant which is now a tourist attraction.  That, and they have good food according to every review I’ve read.

October 8 – Back home.

So of course being a web geek that I am, I intend to take tons of pictures and upload them to my Flickr and SmugMug site.  Also, I’ve set up a special Twitter page that all my  Geocaching logs, Foursquare checkins and maybe even Glympse will post to.  If you’re a Facebook friend, then like the Trackfiles page for updates there.  And finally, stay tuned to this very blog for, hopefully, daily updates.  All of this depends on my network access.  As a Telus customer, even tough I’ll have a “Data Roaming” package, I’ll still be charged $1.00/meg!  Ridiculous in my mind, but such is the nature of the beast! (carrier?)  If wifi is available, then all will be good.

So the flights are booked, hotels booked, campsites booked and the passport is here!  The Icenrye Southwest Tour 2011 is on!