This past weekend while hanging out with our new friends, and soon-to-be-nomads, Brice & Rose of Tacky Texans - we decided to stop by the Cathedral of Junk in south Austin.

You’ll know you’ve arrived to the Cathedral of Junk when you spot a car on the roof of a house, and obviously displeased neighbors displaying ‘Keep off the Grass’ signs.

Park, be respectful of the neighbors – and then spend the next few moments of your life reminiscing as you see toys, electronics, signs, bikes and more from your past artfully constructed into a cathedral integrated in with the natural landscape.

Starting with a few hubcaps on the fence in 1989, over 800 bikes and thousands of specially donated items have been puzzled and wired together.   An ongoing project, the Cathedral continues to evolve.

Vince Hannemann is the yardist behind this monolithic collection of junk – he owns the yard that the cathedral has sprung from and has been working on the project for over 20 years. An inspired artist, not all that unlike Leonard Knight of Salvation Mountain, Vince claims to be ‘not as friendly’. We didn’t find him be necessarily unfriendly either.

The cathedral is well constructed – this really isn’t just a pile of junk. It’s wired together and built for full on interaction with winding paths, ladders to upper floors and various chambers. And in the case of a tornado tearing through the neighborhood, it’s quite likely the Cathedral will be the only thing left standing.

View our video tour of the Cathedral of Junk (click for those on RSS/e-mail)

(By the way, this HD video and many of the photos in this post were taken with my ultra compact Canon PowerShot SD780 – which I got back in July and am still totally loving.)

Some of the neighbors aren’t so amused however, and are trying their darnedest to create as many hoops as possible for the Cathedral to jump through. Their latest is involving the city of Austin for code enforcement – and presently the Cathedral has been granted only days to come up to compliance or face bulldozing. At present time, they have an April 9, 2010 deadline to file the necessary permits.

This would truly be a loss to the weirdness that Austin is – and many volunteers from the local community have come together to bring the Cathedral entirely up to code.  Vince is also seems fairly confident that his community can come up with funding to buy the displeased neighbors out and be able to sell the properties at full market value to enthusiasts of the Cathedral who would better appreciate the attraction.

Inspired like we were by this monumental art project?  Click on through to savethejunk.org to track the latest in the battle, and see how you can help out.

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April 17, 2010 Update: The Cathedral of Junk continues to meet challenges.. potentially terminal ones.  Not only is Vince trying to jump through hoops to meet code regulations, he is also now faced with possible zoning regulations.  Austin City Council has said it is open to hearing citizen feedback as to whether the zoning regulations need to be clarified to allow this treasure to continue to exist.  Write them now to have your voice heard!

Camp STS-130 in Titusville, FL

Since Saturday afternoon, we’ve been camped along the Indian River in Titusville, Florida – right off Highway US 1.  We’ve been enjoying a completely awesome nomadic rendezvous with Sean Welsh and Louise Hornor of Our Odyssey as temporary neighbors (it’s our first in person meeting after years of cyber stalking each other around

Sean & Louise of Our Odyssey

the country.)  We’ll post most later about our time with them.

What we’re here for was to watch the last planned night shuttle launch. And one of the last five shuttle launches, period.

I lived on the Space Coast of Florida for 12 years before going nomadic. Stepping outside to watch a launch is an amazing part of everyday life here, and an experience that never gets old. I feel very blessed to have serendipitiously ended up back on the Space Coast, in the perfect area to watch this last night launch.

Only on two other occasions had I made the effort to get a close up view and see the entire launch from engine ignition.

Our view across the Indian River - VAB & Launch Pad

There’s been a temporary RV encampment here along US1 that has been fun to be part of, it’s been sort of a ‘Quartzite East’.  The City of Titusville allows free overnight camping on their owned land during a 36 hour window surrounding launch time, something we greatly appreciate!

And we have had the most spectacular of views.

The first attempt of the launch was scrubbed Sunday morning due to low clouds in the area. However, we had an awesome time hanging out with Sean and Louise.  Nomad-stalker, James Schipper and his partner Maria, also came over from the west coast of Florida for the launch and for our first in person meeting.  The four of us huddled all night long in our little Oliver Travel Trailer until the last minute no-go call.

This morning however, at 4:14am EST – all systems were GO (or GEAUX for you Saints fans!), and we witnessed an amazing launch. We also had the nomadic Browski family stop by for a bit before they headed on to their shuttle view hotel room.  The past couple days have been quie the nomadic tweetup!

We recorded video to share:

Direct link to the video for those on RSS/E-mail. By the way, this HD video was taken with my ultra compact Canon PowerShot SD780 – which I got back in July and am still totally loving.

I had a tear in my eye watching this magical moment of technological splendor, knowing that the shuttle program is soon coming to an end. And most likely, this will be the last shuttle launch I’ll ever get to witness in person.  What a beauty!

However, I didn’t anticipate just how little ‘free time’ we’d be getting working at amazon.com’s distribution center in Kansas this month.  We’ve now completed our first full week (working 11 hour days – 5 days a week), and it’s exhausting. It’s not mentally challenging by any means, but it sure is physically challenging.  And it’s quite an experience and peak into this side of consumer culture and America. We’re all about experiences and learning about things we’re not normally exposed to – so it’s definitely worthwhile from that perspective.  Hopefully when we’re done with our time here in a few weeks we’ll have the energy to post more indepth about what we’ve learned (without violating the terms of our NDA we signed about the specific processes.)

So back to wonderful antithesis of consumerism – Slab City and East Jesus. When we met up with Route 66 Roadtripping Sandi Wheaton in what seems like so long ago now, she was thrilled to be able to play tour guide for us around the Salton Sea – an area of the country we had not yet explored, and were quite curious about.

We posted previously about our afternoon at Salvation Mountain.

However, we also explored The Slabs, and were introduced to her awesomely cool friend Container Charlie who has created an experimental artistic habitat constructed out of found materials and made into art – he calls it ‘East Jesus’. It came as no surprise to us that he’s a fellow burner (Burning Man participant) and vagabond. We instantly clicked, and new friend found.

Sandi just saved us a ton of writing by posting her write up of our visit to East Jesus. So instead of trying to muster the creative energy to post about it ourselves, I’m going to refer you to her awesome post – East Jesus, Pop 1, Elev 75.

Before starting at amazon, I also managed to complete a video piece about The Slabs in general (not focused on East Jesus) to give you an overview of our time there.

In case you don’t see the video above if you’re on RSS – here’s a direct link to the video.

So, I wouldn’t be expecting much in the way of posting for a few weeks from us as we complete our time at amazon – we hope you enjoy your vacation from our stories, and we look forward to continuing sharing our adventures after the first of the year with you.

As a gentle reminder – aside from working there as temps this season at amazon, we’re also affiliates.  If you’re going to be shopping at amazon anyway, if you start off your shopping session using this link – we’ll get a small cut of your purchases.  Every little bit helps to pad the meager hourly wage they’re paying us to package your stuff.

Most never act on this.

But a rare few are overcome with purpose, and devote their lives to the call.

Artist Leonard Knight heard such a call (“to my knowledge, it was on a Wednesday, about ten-thirty in the morning in 1967″), and has dedicated his life to nothing else since.

And for the past 25 years, Leonard has been toiling tirelessly in the California desert – building a monument to his message – that “God is Love”.

I have met tenacity and it’s name is Leonard Knight.

When the simple message of ‘God is Love’ hit Leondard in 1967, he was inspired to stitch together a massive colorful hot air balloon to fly the message to the people. But after 14 years of work, he was never able to get his balloon inflated without tearing. And eventually his patchwork of fabric had become a lost cause, beginning to rot.

When he gave up on the balloon project in 1984 Leonard was passing through Slab City in the southeastern desert of California – a fascinating no man’s land that we will feature in a story all its own. Before leaving, Leonard decided to stay one more week to make a “small statement” – a monument to his message built into a local hillside.

Decades later his “small statement” has grown into a 150 foot wide by 50 foot high mountain built out of adobe clay and buckets of paint, and he’s still going at it.

This kaleidoscope of colorful hills, limbs, arches, flowers and scripture became known as Salvation Mountain, and it marks the entrance to Slab City today.

When the county tried to tear down Leonard’s creation in 1994 locals rallied to his defense, collecting hundreds of signatures to stop the monument from being torn down.

Today no one even thinks of tearing down Salvation Mountain, and it has become a treasured landmark and tourist attraction that has become famous around the world. The Folk Art Society of America has declared Salvation Mountain a national folk art shrine, and in 2002 the US congress officially recognized Salvation Mountain as a National Treasure.

And all the while, Leonard has continued to work on it.

Salvation Mountain entered further into the pop culture mainstream when Leonard and the mountain were featured in Sean Penn’s 2007 Oscar-nominated movie Into the Wild (read our movie review), a dramatization of the true story of Chris McCandless, who spent time in Slab City on his nomadic journey towards his tragic death in Alaska.

We visited Slab City and Salvation Mountain recently with two photographer friends – Sean “Epic” Mahoney (get your website up already, dude!) and Route 66 Road Nomad Sandi Wheaton.

When we arrived, we were immediately greeted by Leonard Knight and taken on a personal tour of his amazing monument. We even got to witness adobe being made for further construction. (And we couldn’t help but giggle when he asked us Photoshop proficient photographers if we “knew anything about adobe?”…)

View our guided video tour of Salvation Mountain with Leonard Knight.

While none in our group are particularly religious, we were all overcome by Leonard’s energy and enthusiasm and sheer joy at being alive and sharing his message. And the mountain itself beautifully embodies his joy and love. Taking a tour with Leonard (free, btw), and then climbing the yellow brick road path to the top is an experience not to be missed.

Leonard started off alone in the desert, and through faith and tenacity his message has now touched millions.

Inspiring indeed.

Just like its more famous cousin located downtown along the Washington D.C. Mall, the Udvar-Hazy center houses an incredible collection of aviation artifacts, including an SR-71 Blackbird, the Space Shuttle Enterprise (the one used for in-atmosphere flight testing), an Air France Concord, and you can even see the Enola Gay – the bomber that dropped the first atomic bomb.

There are literally hundreds of aircraft of all sorts on display – ranging in size from ultralights to airliners, and in time from the dawn of flight to prototypes paving the way for tomorrow.

As an aviation buff (and licensed pilot), I was like a kid in a candy store. I spent hours running around from plane to plane, and I thoroughly enjoyed the free docent guided tour.

You can also go up into the old Dulles control tower for an exhibit on air traffic control systems, and for an unparalleled view of airplanes taking off and landing at Dulles.

Check out this video featuring some highlights:

The City Museum is no ordinary museum, however.  Sure, it is full of found things that are preserved. And it gets the ‘City’ part of its name because the found things are entirely from within municipal St. Louis.  But that’s where the museum part ends.. because this is definitely a place where you don’t just look. You touch. You crawl. You slide. You climb.

This place is what you might imagine would happen if you gave Peter Pan a blow torch.

Let’s start with the roof.. which has a praying mantis, ferris wheel and bus lurching over the corner.

And then there’s the MontroCity outdoor playscape sized for kids and adults which has a network of wrought iron slinkies and slides connecting two airplane fuselages, a fire engine and a castle turret.

And inside, you’ll be dazzled by whales, tunnels, slides, a circus, a skateless skate park and inner caverns with a 10 story circular staircase.. and slide!

Here’s a video we put together after two trips to the City Museum in the past month. I think it at least starts to capture just how awesome this place is.

Have I mentioned the City Museum is awesome yet?

Many thanks to our traveling friend, Matt Bell, who rendezvoused with us for one of our visits to the City Museum and allowed us to film him for this piece!

Located at the base of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, spending some time at the interactive center is well worth your time – and definitely check out the short movie that tells the story.

Enjoy the video we filmed on Philadelphia’s Magic Gardens!

When we first got off the SEPTA train at the Suburban station, we weren’t overly impressed – as the screen was disguised as wood paneling. And then it came to life.  This thing is HUGE!  Like, really huge!   And the content that is played has been specially developed by a team dedicated to just this screen.  It’s a very impressive display of art and technology.

First of all, the Gulpha Gorge Campground was amazing, right along a babbling creek and very affordable.  While there, we read up on what was avialable at Hot Springs National Park.  The park is unusual in that it’s not necessarily a preservation of a natural feature – like other national parks around the country. But rather, its focus was a historic row of bathhouses in a downtown setting that were previously a medicinal tourist draw.

One of the bathhouses, Buckstaff Bathhouse, is still run as part of the National Park. So in the morning we decided to indulge hot baths and massages. At $52/person, it was quite a value and very refreshing. But unlike any other spa service we’d ever encountered – it was more institutional like, but very memorable.

The video below captures our reactions to it right after our treatments.

Direct link to the video

We had an awesome lunch at the Salt Lick in Round Rock. The Salt Lick is some of the best BBQ in Austin, however their location south of Austin is their original and gives a fuller experience.

Afterwards, he told us about the Dell Diamond – a minor league baseball stadium that offers a lot more.

Direct link to the video

My brother still lives in Austin, so it’s a frequent destination for us.  My brother is also a pretty extreme adventure junkie and has introduced me to lots of activities I wouldn’t have considered before, like skydiving.   His latest hobby has been rock climbing, which brings him often back to the Barton Creek Greenbelt we grew up by.

I couldn’t bring myself to being excited about this one, but Chris wanted to give it a try.  So on one of the rare non-rainy days during our time in Austin, up a rock face my brother took Chris.

I filmed.

Direct link to the video

Direct link for the video

We were both blown away by how awesome it was.

But once you get in the middle of hundreds of acres of white gypsum sand dunes that are towering over you, your car and anything else in site – and realize they’re moving several inches a month. Let’s just say, it comes overwhelming!

Be sure to take your sunglasses when you go! We regret that we didn’t plan to stick around through sunset.

Direct link to the video

After grabbing a bite, we enjoyed wandering around the ruins and imaging what life might have been like here before plague and environmental conditions ushered both the Native Americans and missionary Spaniards out of the area.

Direct Link to Video

Direct Video Link

A check of our GPS confirmed we were still on Old Route 66. At some spots, we could still see the lane striping left over.

There was something very emotional about actually driving on the old road literally decaying beneath our tires.

In case the video above doesn’t come in, a direct link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12wSoZRmhOI

Here’s our video of our drive through – we’re also experimenting with hosting this video on TripFilms, to see if we might want to switch to them instead of YouTube. So please comment if you have any thing to say about the quality of this video as compared to others we’ve posted. I’m not convinced yet its the right tool for us.

If you’d prefer to see the YouTube version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCENZKXLv6k

Our video post: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6FgvBOSyeM

The door was unlocked, so we stepped inside to learn more about it..

The Grand Canyon is just one of those things that defies words, and you just have to see to experience it.

Link to video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpYGuC5UsAE

Ash Fork had been bypassed by both the interstate and railway, leaving it mighty high and dry. Even two of our travel road trip books skipped over mentioning the town at all in their guides to Route 66. But undaunted, Ash Fork has gone on to become “the flagstone capitol of the world”.

We noticed one other cool Ash Fork claim to fame… All the new Burma Shave replica signs we had been seeing along Route 66? They seem to lead into the Route 66 Museum in this sleepy little town.

And this is where we decided to start following Route 66 after our stay in Lake Havasu City. The section cuts through land maintained by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), and is part of the scenic byways program. Route 66 actually bypassed this section in 1953 in favor of flatter land, but it has been repaved and restored in effort to recapture some of the wonder that earlier travelers experiences in this dramatic landscape change uncommon for Route 66.

The road was windy, but we wouldn’t call it treacherous as compared to the many other windy mountain roads we’ve been on. Just take it slow and easy, enjoy the views, take a break in Oatman to feed carrots to burros – and you’ll be fine. But the scenery was indeed amazing! It’s 60 miles of wonder, and a fabulous way to start our Route 66 journey through Arizona and New Mexico.

The adventure getting there was quite.. umm.. exciting, and we’re proud to say that our stock 2006 Jeep Liberty Diesel earned its ‘Trail Rated’ badge and was able to keep up with the Rubicons out there – but that’s another story for another day.

Let’s just say that once we got to The Desert Bar, a cold beer and a hamburger sure did hit the spot! This was definitely a unique spot to spend the afternoon, and what an oasis in the middle of the Arizona desert! Definitely worth checking out should you ever be in the area on a weekend between Labor Day and Memorial Day.

It fell down, and was purchased by the founders of Lake Havasu City – where it now stands today.

While in the area, we stopped in to see the reassembled London Bridge in a place we did not expect, on the banks of the Colorado River in Arizona.

So off we went.. until we saw the first hill up starting in the Buckskin Mountain State Park inbetween Parker and Lake Havasu. This wasn’t going to be anything like our typical dirt road – it was rocks and boulders and steep inclines and dips and tight corners. It was quite challenging – more challenging than we had imagined. And we even had the road collapse beneath our front tire at one point.  With some creative jacking and building up the road underneath us, we escaped.

It was scary at times… but oh how rewarding!  The views were spectacular and we saw parts of Arizona that few ever will. And at the end, a Bud Light and veggie burger at The Desert Bar was like a gourmet meal.

See how our Jeep (and its driver, Chris) earned its Trail Rating:

Thank goodness there’s a regular ole dirt road to get out.

Our video about Joshua Tree: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBLeCeMg27g

One local flavor was Dattilo Ristorante at 2288 E Florida Ave in Hemet where our host meet up with us. This family run place started as a tailor many moons ago, and now practically everyone working at the restaurant is family. The matriarch, Maria, usually comes to your table at some point during your dining to check in and offer to sell you a loaf of her amazing bread which they get you hooked on. We loved it so much, we returned on our last evening in Hemet.

Enjoy our quick tour of Hemet!

Melanie and her husband Adam told us all about the local area and the history behind Studio City. On a walking tour of the Silver Triangle district, we stopped outside the CBS lot along the LA River for Melanie to share some of her local’s perspective with us to share with you.

Hanging out with Melanie and Adam was wonderful serendipity, and we wish we had scheduled more time in LA to hang out with them. We will return and do LA right next time!

First, we talked with Miles Elam about the Henry Cowell Redwood State Park:

And then Ben Jaffe about the University of Santa Cruz campus:

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Tales from Technomadia:Talking with Locals is a series of interviews with locals that Chris & Cherie encounter as they travel about.  If you’d like to be part of the tales, please shout out if you see we’ll be anywhere near you.

We spent the day there walking on the beach, watching surfers and sucking up bandwidth as we worked.    Enjoy our tour of Morro Rock via video:

We think it’s come time to allow our journey to include an element of purpose and story beyond ourselves, and to more pro-actively share our journey with whoever wants to read it. Which is part of the reason why we’ve revamped our website.

We’ve toyed around with a few ideas, but the one that is resonating loudest to us is interviewing locals as we pass through areas about the local things they love. We intend to produce segments of less than 2 or 3 minutes featuring people we meet talking and sharing. This gives us a new perspective in looking at the places we go to, and will hopefully share with others some of the wonderful things we encounter on the road.

Our first set of interviews featuring Sacramento are ready, thanks to some quick ramp up with learning iMovie today while parked under Morro Rock along Central California’s coast.

Our dear friends Sean Catanese and Lindsay Brown agreed to kick off this project by being our first victims..err… subjects.

First up, Sean tells us about the Spanish American War Memorial in Capitol Park:

And then Lindsay tells us about the Magnolia Trees in Capitol Park:

After two successful filmings, Lindsay was excited to also show us a cool urban forest in downtown Sacramento:

We hope you enjoy this new project, and we look forward to the content forthcoming. If you’re like to be included in this project, just give us a holler if you see we’ll be anywhere near you.