Category: Daily Life

Day 35 Route 66

Wow! I went into the library here to exchange books and found a huge collection. I didn’t have time to look at many of them so I just grabbed a bunch and hope they are good ones.

I just saw a local bus. It was turquoise with pink trim. We are NOT in Minnesota anymore.

The Summit Inn Cafe was our first stop this morning. Based on its name I expected something like the lodges in the Glacier National Park. Nope  It’s fine for what it is; it just isn’t what I was expecting.

 

Cajon Summit is the oddest summit I’ve ever seen. First, you start from the Mojave Plateau so you don’t climb much to reach it. Then you start going down 12 miles without going over the mountains you see in front of you. In fact you never go over those mountains; you go between them. So you don’t ever feel like you reached the summit.

At the bottom you turn onto Foothill Boulevard and drive forever. It is hard for me to write foothill as singular as if there’s only one but that’s the name of the road. Here’s a view from the boulevard.

Our first stop on Foothill Boulevard was Bono’s Historic Orange. I’m sure that’s not what it was called back in the day when someone spent the day inside this thing selling orange juice. I’m not sure why they don’t still do that, though. 

Our next stop was REI, where we picked up a month’s worth of freeze dried dinners/deserts. That was one BIG box. Fortunately, a clerk offered to carry it out to the RV for me. He was impressed with our little house.

Our next stop was the post office where we picked up our regular mail plus another new Segway seat. There was a really helpful clerk there who opened the General Delivery pickup window just for us. He was funny too. He made me swear that box was really for me.

While looking for the next Route 66 museum we stumbled on another beverage container recycling center so Dave got rid of our bag of cans and got a receipt that could be cashed in the store for $2.99. We are not used to being paid to recycle. We needed to buy a few things so Dave went in and collected.

We never did find that museum. There is now a winery/BBQ place at that address.

We did find the Sycamore Inn which has been there since 1848. The trees made it hard to get a good picture but you can see it looks more like the lodge I expected the Summit Inn Cafe to be.

We had planned to eat at the Buffalo Inn where I could have another Buffalo Burger but we never found it. We found a sign for what I think was their overflow parking but not the restaurant.

Then we stopped at what we think was the Claremont Griswold Center. It didn’t exactly match the address we had but it was at the right intersection and it did meet the description of an old school. I suspect this was one of the places where white men tried to “civilize” American Indians. It is now a business center that is being renovated.

  

Then we went looking for the Fairplex RV Park. Again the address we had wasn’t right. The GPS said we passed it so we took the next right and found the entrance to the fair grounds. A guy there gave us correct directions so here we are, safely tucked in elbow to elbow with lots of other RVs with time to do laundry and unpack that big box of food.

TTYL,

Linda

Pinned by the Wind

Well, we spent our two nights at the Desert View RV Resort in Needles, California, then moved back across the Colorado River to the Snowbird RV Resort in Bullhead City, Arizona. It’s too windy to go any further. But we’ve done well with our time here.

We met Ed and Linda Lavin for lunch one day. They are fellow members of the Escapees Class of ’08 and another fun couple. We had a great visit!

We’ve had several nights where we haven’t had to turn our furnace on. You don’t realize how wonderful that is since you have not listened to our furnace fan during the night.

I’ve done a bunch more research. I realized we needed to make plans for the day we reach the end of Route 66. It’s not likely we are going to find someplace in Santa Monica, California, to hang out for a few days while we decide what’s next, is it?

We made another trip to WalMart. It’s amazing how low our food supplies are getting. It’s good we have a batch of freeze dried food waiting for us to pick it up at the REI in Rancho Cucamonga, California.

I’ve been catching up on my computer discussion forums and blog postings.

And we’ve watched the weather. Wind + desert = brown air. It looks like we will be able to move on tomorrow, though. I hope so.

TTYL,

Linda

Day 28 Route 66

We aren’t actually leaving Albuquerque yet but we spent today doing things here in hopes of leaving tomorrow. Our first stop was the UPS store to pick up the new, more padded seat for my Segway. Unfortunately, we got there before the seat did. We thought that the tracking number indicating the seat was in Albuquerque was enough. Nope, it was in ABQ all right but not yet to the store we asked it be delivered to. Normally it would have been there by the time we found the store but today’s delivery driver was running late. So we decided to make our other stops and come back later. But, the delivery driver pulled in before we got out of the parking lot, so we waited after all. At least, we didn’t have to backtrack for it.

Then we went to WalMart. Our groceries were amazingly low for us and I needed to order another prescription. We’ve been moving all our prescriptions from Target to WalMart because there are more WalMart stores than there are Targets once you get out of Minnesota. This may be a bad idea, though. As I’ve indicated previously, WalMart pharmacies don’t seem to have their act together well at all. They treat each new prescription as if I’m a brand new customer so they don’t get the address right nor do they see that they are supposed to give me easy-open caps. This one didn’t notice they were supposed to fill with a generic if possible nor did they file a claim with our insurance company. So Dave had them do it over again. I think I need to Google Target and see if they are more prevalant than I originally thought.

At least, this WalMart had recycling bins. We finally got rid of that bag of cans we’ve been carrying around plus another bag we filled up while trying to get rid of the first one. Yay!

Then we started seeing the Route 66 sights in ABQ. We were supposed to do this earlier in the day so the photos didn’t come out as well as I would have liked. And some of the places we saw didn’t have good photo opportunities at all since they were all along Central Avenue, a busy 4-lane street. But, we did see the De Anza Motel, the Royal Motor Inn, the Town Lodge Motel, the Aztec Motel, the Lobo Theater, the 66 Diner, and the KiMo theater.  

   

We had lunch at the 66 Diner. We almost didn’t because we couldn’t find a place to park.  We got trapped in their parking lot  without finding a spot then found ourselves turning into a very narrow alley trying to get out again. I got out and helped Dave figure out the maneuvers required. We had about three inches on each side of us as we made the turn but we didn’t scrape anything. Then we parked in a lot next door, with me helping him back up over that same alley so close to a utility pole that when Dave got out of the RV it leaned into the pole. When we were ready to leave, he pulled out of that one before I got in or something would have been damaged.

The diner had lots of memorabilia on the walls including a row of hundreds of Pez dispensers which reminded me of my friend the late Pat Walker who also had a collection of them. I still miss him.

The diner also had George Lopez eating at the table next to our booth. All the waitresses suddenly felt a need to come to our end of the counter to roll silverware in napkins. And a few people stopped to ask for photos and/or autographs. All of this happened behind my back so I didn’t know what the fuss was until he and his friends left. I’ve never watched his TV program so I wouldn’t have known who he was if the waiter didn’t tell us. He did look like he should be somebody, though. Something about his tan and his clothes and the way he carried himself. I wonder if celebrities don’t get tired of never being able to eat a meal in peace, though.

Driving down old route 66 in cities can be a challenge because I see lots of places that look like they should have been on our list and wonder why they weren’t. One of the reasons may be because they bought their signs from this place–The Absolutely Neon Co. How would you like to have that display in your front window?

We also went to the American International Rattlesnake Museum. Sort of. It was in Old Town where the streets were narrow, not as narrow as that alley, but narrow anyway. And the only parking was in a paid lot where we couldn’t tell if we would fit between the gate posts. And the museum, which we only wanted to see because it advertised a display on how to be safe around rattlesnakes, looked more like the old rattle snake/trading post tourist traps than a museum.  

So we skipped it and headed back to camp where Dave is installing the new seat on my Segway and we will do laundry to be ready to hit the road again tomorrow–God willing and the creek don’t rise.

TTYL,

Linda

We Blew It

We are sitting in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and have been doing so for several days now. As you may remember we were trying to get over the mountains before it got cold enough to freeze our water lines. Dave watched the weather forecasts very carefully to help us determine what the temperatures were doing. Unfortunately, when the temperatures gave us a potential break, the winds started. I don’t know if any of you have ever driven a motorhome in 35 miles an hour wind gusts. We try very hard not to do so. Blowing off the road is not on our list of things we want to do.

So we are still sitting in Albuquerque. And the temperature here dropped to 19 degrees last night. And our water lines are fine. It turns out our furnace blows into the water pump area and the rest of the lines are inside the coach. The indoor/outdoor thermometer Dave put in the pump area only got down into the 60s last night.

So we’ve had a few days off. Or a few off days. I’m not sure.  

Here’s some of the things we’ve done with those days:

We cleaned house, inside and out.

We did the monthly maintenance of the RV.

We reset our clocks and watches–except for my pocket watch; we haven’t found it yet.

We paid bills and filed papers.

We backed up the computers.

We checked on my Segway and ordered a new seat for it.

We ordered a bunch of freeze-dried foods.

We caught up with our on-line discussion groups.

Dave did some more fine tuning of the Escapees Class of ’08 map.

And, of course, I did more trip research.

So now we can’t leave because the Segway seat is coming here Friday. The freeze-dried food will be waiting for us at an REI in California.

So still we sit. Which is actually a nice thing to do every now and then.

TTYL,

Linda

Day 26 Route 66

Dave had a bad night last night. We are both subject to acid attacks. I take Prilosec which pretty much put an end to mine. Dave’s doctor prescribed Previcid which pretty much put an end to his. Then our insurance decided Previcid is too expensive so Dave should take Prilosec. It sometimes works for him but he is now having attacks every week or two. When he has one he gets up, takes a Rolaid, eats some crackers, and hopes it goes away so he can go back to bed. Last night he didn’t get to go back to bed. Which meant I didn’t get as much sleep as I would like either. So today we are both having to help each other think.

The five day weather forecast says we can go to Albuquerque before we have to reevaluate whether or not to head south. So we headed out driving along between the freeway and the railroad tracks. Sort of. The tracks themselves are long gone but the right of way is still visible.

Vega, Texas, is a small town but they have a lot of Route 66 stuff still there. These pictures are the Vega Motel, Roark Hardware (doing business since before Route 66 was established), Magnolia station, the courthouse, and Dot’s Mini Museum-mini is right.

    

I know I’ve titled this Day 26 but you probably realize by now I am only counting travel days. The days we stay parked to visit family or friends or do laundry and research are not included in that count. So we’ve actually been on this trip for five and a half weeks. Today we reached Adrian, Texas, the halfway point. 

We saw the Bent Door Trading Post but it is closed. The rumor is this structure was taken from a military observation tower which is why the door and windows on the left side are bent. Unfortunately, the angle of our photo doesn’t show that bend as well as I would have liked. It’s pretty dramatic in person.

And we had lunch at the Midpoint Cafe, a route 66 tradition.  

 

That white car belongs to Herb. Herb has been traveling parts of Route 66 for six years with his postcard sized travel guide, collecting signatures of business owners at the stops along the way. He’s still working at gathering signatures between Los Angeles and Springfield, Missouri. He hasn’t even started on the section between Springfield and Chicago. So, those of you who think we are traveling slowly, think about Herb. He was happy to have us confirm that places he plans to stop someday are still there, though.

Dave said Route 66 would end six miles west of Adrian. And he was right. But it wasn’t long after that that it came back. So all that work I did to get my mind ready for freeway travel was wasted.

The town of Glenrio straddles the Texas/New Mexico border. That caused a lot of confusion over the years. I don’t think it does any more because I don’t think anyone lives there now. Glenrio’s claim to fame is a motel. On one side the sign said, “Last Motel in Texas.” On the other side it said, “First Motel in Texas.” The owners wanted you to think their place was your only choice and I think it worked for a long time.

The two lane through San Jon, New Mexico, was so freshly oiled it was still black. It was old enough to not still be throwing up oily rocks, though. Still, Dave slowed down for each of the three vehicles we met on that road so that, if they were throwing rocks, we wouldn’t hit them so fast.

We are now in Tucumcari, New Mexico, at the Kiva Aok RV Park. The current owner only bought this place a couple of months ago and he promptly installed a wireless network. I’m glad he did because his network is a lot faster than our Sprint aircard. And I have no bars on my T-Mobile phone. So if you don’t hear from me for a couple of days, it’s because we may not get any signal between here and Albuquerque.

TTYL,

Linda