Road Trip 2007

TEEC NOS POS, Ariz.--I had just left the Four Corners monument and was on my way to the Canyon de Chelly.

The map showed me two different routes. First, the main roads, a 93-mile route. Not bad, but longer than I wanted to go, since I had much farther to travel after visiting the canyon.

The other route was on a dirt road over some mountains. It looked far shorter. And it was all on roads that were on my AAA map. How hard could it be?

Plus, I had a brand new 4-wheel-drive SUV (an Infiniti QX56), gallons and gallons of water, a full tank of gas, three car navigation systems, plenty of food, warm clothes and on and on.

I felt pretty safe heading out on the back roads.

So, I started driving. At first, it wasn't so bad. But then I noticed that the road had a lot of washes, and they were all wet. And I looked into the sky, and it was menacingly dark. And it occurred to me that those washes could well get hit by flash floods if it started to storm.

I stopped the car, and thought about it. I finally decided to continue, but I wanted someone to know where I was going, just in case. Only problem? I was far away from a cell phone signal.

Luckily, I had a satellite phone, an Iridium 9505A that I had brought along as one of the many gadgets I've been carrying with me on Road Trip 2007.

So I pulled out the sat phone and called my father. I just wanted to let him know what road I had taken. I told him I would call back later to assure him all was well. But if he didn't hear back, maybe he should call someone.

The signal was crystal clear. It was better than any cell signal. I've used these phones before, but I am still amazed that out in the middle of the mountains, or the desert, or wherever, you can get a great signal with one of these devices.

Anyway, the road actually turned out to be too much. I got to a point where the car really didn't want to climb a particular hill. I probably could have done it if I had tried several times, but then again, I might have gotten stuck. I didn't want to try that badly. So I turned back.

Still, in the end, the jaunt was worth it because it gave me a chance to head into a totally wild, out-of-the-way place, feeling safe that I had all the bases covered. And that's worth a lot.

SHIPROCK, N.M.--When I was looking at the map, trying to figure out how to get from Taos, N.M., to the north rim of the Grand Canyon, I saw that the road would take me through this little town.

At the time, it didn't occur to me that the town's name might be meaningful.

Well, until I drove through, on Road Trip 2007, my journey around the Southwest looking for the best of science, technology and nature.

And lo and behold, even before you get to Shiprock, off in the distance, a gigantic--and I do mean gigantic--piece of rock begins to dominate the horizon.

And as you get closer, you see that the rock--a sacred Navajo site--does sort of resemble a ship. A really, really, really big one.

I guess that will teach me to think people do things for no reason.

GROVELAND, Calif.--This is a very old town. It is just about the last piece of civilization before the western entrance to Yosemite National Park, and the town is studded with 19th century Wild West saloons and wooden buildings with wraparound porches.

Ah, but it isn't the 19th century anymore, is it?

Today, this venerable town, which millions of people surely pass through each year on their way to Half Dome and Yosemite Falls and such, is doing its best to keep up with the times.

And the most visceral symbol of that?

It's surely the fact that Groveland's general store--the centerpiece of any small town--is directly next door to the "Net Stop," a place where travelers can sit down and get a high-speed Internet connection.

It's quite a funny juxtaposition. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised given that the Internet is everywhere these days. But in a town like this, where the first things you see are such old buildings and a sense pervades of being in another time, it does feel a little out of place.

Yet, it is perfectly appropriate. In the old days, the general store, or the trading post, was the place where people would come from miles around to get word of the world at large--or at least towns beyond a short horse ride. So, this is that reality, writ modern.

GROVELAND, Calif.--I suppose I should read what my colleague Elinor Mills writes a little more closely.

If I had, I would already have known about a ridiculously useful new feature of Google Maps that lets you see a new route between two destinations simply by dragging an existing route line through another location.

Instead, I had to discover it on my own. But luckily I did, and things will never be the same.

Last night, I was sitting in my hotel room in this tiny mountain town near the western entrance to Yosemite National Park, feeling fortunate simply to have found an open Wi-Fi connection. After all, Groveland has a population of only 3,663--and that's for the entire zip code, which comprises more than just this hamlet.

I was looking at Google Maps, trying to determine the route from here to Las Vegas, which is my stop tonight on Road Trip 2007, my three-week journey through the Southwest, and I noticed that the suggested roads didn't take me through Death Valley, but rather just around it.

That was no good, I thought, to be so close to such a noteworthy location, and not go through it. But I have a lot of driving to do, and didn't have any idea how long it would take to reroute through Death Valley.

Then I noticed this little square on the Google Maps route. I'd never seen it before--since I hadn't noticed Mills' blog entry of June 28--and it was a wonderful surprise.

Suddenly I was able to simply choose a route through Death Valley, and it told me, in a little box on the route, what the new driving time would be. Halelujah!

Technology. It never ceases to amaze me.