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The band "America" has continuously existed for nearly 50 years. The band was started in London by three Americans living abroad with Air Force parents. Learning that fact immediately reminded me of Chip Ahoy.

I'm not quite sure what to make of the lyrics. The song's author claims the song was partly a remembrance of a childhood incident along US 101 near Oxnard, California. The "alligator lizards in the air" were clouds that the younger brothers saw in the sky. But I think the song is somehow about leaving home -- or loving home.

We're leaving soon to drive up Ventura Highway to visit our daughter who goes to school at Santa Barbara. That part of California is fast becoming my favorite. There's something about the east-west lay of the land. It reminds me of the Italian Riviera: Liguria as the Italians call it. It's possible that the days are slightly longer there because sunrises and sunsets are unimpeded by land mass.

US 101 is also old El Camino Real. Ventura Freeway was so-named by Angelinos because it led them to Ventura, a once and still important seaport -- just like the San Diego Freeway took them south. And just like the Pasadena Freeway took them to Pasadena. All roads led from L.A.

Like the Appian Way, there isn't much left of the original El Camino Real. Here is a photo of what's left of the unpaved original:

link to original

Dams and Bridges

[originally posted here a few years ago. I changed some the time references as the trip was some time ago now]

A few years ago my wife and I took our kids on a crazy road trip adventure to retrace the history of water conservation in the Great American Southwest. The trip was inspired by our reading Colossus, which retells the story of taming the Colorado River and building the Hoover Dam.

First stop was the Salton Sea which is just a little over a 100 years old and was created by accident when an irrigation canal went awry in 1906. I traced down the exact spot where the accident happened which was right outside of Yuma, Arizona. There wasn't much to see. We drove on a levee alongside the old Colorado River bed, following an old 1906 map and Google Earth. Two Border Patrol agents' trucks were parked nose-to-nose on the levee as we peered into Mexico. We drove the Chevy to the levee but the levee was bone dry. The Border Patrol guys gave us such mean looks that I was afraid to even take a photo.

We stayed overnight in Yuma which is a very old and dusty town bisected by what's left of the Colorado River. I took some high-res ("artsy") photos of an old hotel there which I'll post separately. Heading further upriver, we reached the Hoover Dam:

Hoover Dam taken from Tillman Bridge

The last time I was at Hoover Dam was pre-9/11. In the old days, the main route between Phoenix and Vegas still passed over the dam. We did that journey then with one kid and one in the oven while driving our glorious 1963 Thunderbird (that car deserves more that passing mention so I won't mention it further). There was something new this time that wasn't there in 1999--the new Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge:*

Tillman Bridge taken from Hoover Dam

The bridge is stunningly gorgeous. It's part of the main road now between Vegas and Phoenix, but you can park and walk it too for no charge. I felt a little acrophobic as I took that photo of the dam from the bridge.

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*I dedicate this blog post to Corporal Patrick Daniel "Pat" Tillman (November 6, 1976 – April 22, 2004).

Added:  A 1930's artist captured the same view of Hoover Dam from the imaginary bridge:

More old stamps: