Dinner at the Range Cafe in Albuquerque on Saturday night was great, as was the good night’s sleep at the Fairfield. (Although I have to interject here that Fairfield is OLDSCHOOL because Hampton Inn is kicking their a&&. Our Hilton/Hampton stays were far superior, and I must say a little less $$$ than the Fairfield on the last night. Better rooms. Better beds. Better bathrooms. And better free breakfast.)
When we heard the alarm go off at 4:30am MST Sunday morning the only thing that kept us from hitting snoozzzzze was the reminder of a 13-hour drive. So I stole yogurt from the kitchen, filled our coffee cups with lukewarm coffee (Steve really wanted SBUX but it was a couple miles away), loaded the car and off we went into the pitch darkness looking for yet another interstate access.
But the astronomy gods were smiling down on us and we got to see the ISON comet for about 30 minutes until the sun came up. It was literally right in front of us, driving east, directly above I-40. It was this big smeary bright swath in an otherwise dark early morning sky. Thanks to the big guys for that one.
Driving through the scrubby golden sand covered flatlands dotted with scrub-brush and jagged rock outcroppings gave both of us visions of cowboys 150 years ago loping along on their ponies, headed for the next town. Or preparing to rob one of the many passing trains. We imagined their conversations, the creaking of their saddles and the bad food around the night’s campfire. We could see circles of tattered covered wagons pulling into circles at the end of a long day to be thankful for safe travels and wonder about the future “pushing west” held for them.
Trading drivers frequently was a good idea. It brought us back to reality and gave me a change to shoot more old Route 66 buildings. We hadn’t really thought about it on the front end, but alot of the trip gave us views of what once was the “Mother Road.” Old billboards, abandoned buildings and cars were sprinkled along our path. While taking photos at 80mph from a moving vehicle surrounded by other moving vehicles isn’t optimum, I got some great pix of the old buildings.
This old church might have been my favorite. With it’s new front door, new roof and metal smoke vent it’s obviously still being used today.
The winds blows right through this old house, scattering its secrets and memories across the desert. It looks like a movie set.
Albuquerque became Santa Rosa, became Tucumcari, became Amarillo became OKC, Tulsa, Joplin and home. By 8:00pm we were drinking a glass of wine, toasting a wonderful adventure, watching TV and calming the cat (who did kill a mouse in our absence, but missed the little snake that the house watcher found in the living room…could have done without that note!).
17 days. 4400 miles and change (1900 of them in the last 3 days, I tried to figure it out in hours but those time zones made the math too hard!). A bazillion gallons of gas. 5 states. 3 times zones each way. A dozen different highways. 7 different hotel rooms. Several mountain ranges. Two terrible car wrecks on the highway. A thousand box cars. Two Cali kids who love and care for each other. Two grandkids we can never see enough of. Two grand dogs (one is 126!). A really smelly car. Two bikes still on the back of the SUV.
And at the end of it, I still love my traveling buddy and think he’d say the same. Although we will never attempt to find a hotel in Frazier Park, CA at night with me navigating on the cell phone!
Thanks for reading my blog…whomever you were.
Stay tuned…..a Key West / Key Largo road trip is next….
Yesterday On The Road 