Cruisin the U.S.A. - Part I - Palm Springs, CA to Minneapolis, MN

Description: From April 21-28 I travelled with my uncle, Bob Phillips, over 3,000 km from Palm Springs, California to Minneapolis, Minnesota. 

Highlights

• staying with Brian and Joan on their beautiful ranch in Nemo, South Dakota, and seeing a mountain lion!
• hiking alone through the desert in Arches National Park, Utah.
• long chats along the way about life, career, the family company, balance sheets, and more!

After arriving in Palm Springs, we spent an easy day touring the city.  In the evening I met friends of UB's, Alan and Nielle, who were getting geared up to drive across the country in a convertible - very inspiring.

We left early the next day for destination #1 - Sedona, Arizona.  Passed through beautiful desert along the way.  Stayed at a great motel called the Skyway Inn. 

The next day we decided to see the Grand Caynon in style and took a fixed wing plane to the west part of the Caynon, where we then dropped in by helicopter and went on a boat on the Colorado river.  The view was spectacular. 

We drove on that night to Monument Valley, Utah, where we lucked out getting the last hotel room available (Johnny Depp was in town filming the 'Lone Ranger').

We then put lots of miles behind us and drove all the way up to Vail, Colorado - which looked like a bit of a ghost town since they hadn't had any snow for weeks and weeks. Found a great restaurant (the Terra Bistro which was essentially empty).

Onwards to Nemo, South Dakota. About 20 miles before arriving at the ranch, I saw a beautiful mountain lion off the side of the road. We pulled up at a great local burger joint and started jabbing with the locals - who were very impressed I saw the big cat. I think they were more interested from a hunting perspective, so I was intentionally vague about where exactly I had seen it!

We then stayed two nights with Brian and Joan at their beautiful ranch in a valley in the Black Hills (with their two horses and dog Kia) and during this time visited Deadwood, SD and Mt. Rushmore.

The last day driving was a marathon through wind and rain and we arrived late in Minneapolis, where I said goodbye.

All in all an amazing start to a year of adventure and I learned alot along the way.  I was especially impressed by my Uncle's ability to speak to ANYONE about pretty much anything.