9/10/3056 - El Capitan meets Major Tom

I'm new here - using the lyrics of Gil Scott Heron's last album - landed in the country were the roadtrip was born.

The radio plays Bowie's Ziggy Stardust while I wind down steep serpentines, diving deep into the dessert - below sea level. The digital info display indicates 40 degrees Celsius. I press the electric operating buttons to open the windows and switch the automatic gearbox in neutral position. The car takes up speed. Dry hot air blows into my face. I turn up the volume ... "Ground control to Major Tom ..." ... welcome to the Death Valley.

Hard to believe that I had some morning frost on my tent. Nor that I crossed the Sierra Nevada at 9600 feet, taking a barefoot walk in the last snow - just to find myself midday below sea level at 40+C. This is what a roadtrip is all about.

9 national parks in 10 days; 3056 miles. Yosemite, Death Valley, Zion, Bryce, Capitol Reef, Arches, Canyonlands, National Monument, Grand Canyon. A route through three states - California, Utah and Arizona. Oh, not to forget the "gateway" for this tremendous loop: Las Vegas ...

The contrast could not be bigger. After days out on rocky trails and nights in my tent in nature straight into the glamorous city of gambling. Or the other way round - from sin city straight into the Death Valley. However, sleeping 8 out of 10 nights in a tent in the pure wilderness - without any proper camping equipment - Las Vegas on the horizon turns your eyes wet like a child getting the first glimpse of the illuminated Christmas tree. I know, what a silly way to feel "civilization" ... but stopping at the gas station, I got my first hot dog, followed straight by another one. Even the conditions of a shabby hostel won't bother in such situations - it offers a shower to get rid off the dust and a mattress to rest the tired bones.

As a citizen of the "old" Europe, it is one thing to debate upon the "way of life" with ordinary Americans, but it is the abundance of breathtaking nature that captures your mind and requires no words to frame it. Hiking up to the top of the Yosemite Falls was only one of the numerous highlights during the last ten days.

Big Sur, a stretch of coastal land along the classic Highway 1, is home of the redwood trees - the tallest trees on our planet. I spent my last two days on a trail up into the Los Padres Forests. Placing my tent beside a small creek under the giant redwood trees felt like traveling back in time - just about a century ago, when the first settlers made their way up into the steep mountain valleys.

Traveling through Canyonland is also a time journey into the land of Native Americans and "historic places" of their encounters with the first pioneers and settlers. Today one quarter of the population of about one million inhabitants of Canyonland are decedents of Native Americans. How fast mobility changed, once a track or path was found - and over time - roads and highways were built. Although I was driving over 3000 miles in 10 days through this land of rocks and sand, I hardly can imagine the hardship people faced in making 10 miles a day.