It's Tuesday morning and I am waiting for Ike to get out of bed. Shocking, I know.
But I wanted to blog about all the little cool towns we are passing thru.
We have been trying as hard as we can to stay off the interstates in favor of the smaller, windy more interesting side roads. We have seen so much more of the essence of a town/state when we take the smaller roads.
Somewhere in NM, while on this really cool windy road we came across this little town Lincoln. When I say small, I mean small. The entire town on the main street and it road was shorter than Pinehurst. The people were beyond friendly. I ended up talking to one of the shop keepers for almost an hour. She learned the art of spinning wool from an elderly gentleman and has taken over his shop for him as he is in his 80s and can no longer run the store. She had all sorts of stories to tell. And Lincoln is "famous" for the Lincoln County War. Back in the Billy the Kid days there were two wealthy families trying to control all the merchantiles that went in and out of Lincoln. These families eventually went to war and Billy the Kid was fighting for the one side. To hear all about these stories and the history of this little town really took you back in time.
That's the real beauty of this trip. It's finding the little towns and having conversations with the townspeople and really getting a flavor of what is out there. America is so vast it's incredible.
The number of climates alone are mind boggling. We went from 105 in the dessert to having to wear pants and jackets in 12 hours. Crazy.
We are off to northern CA today and then on to Oregon (which I think we are just driving through) and then onto to Seattle before we make the turn toward home later this week.
We are hoping to be able to spend a few nights in Yellowstone. There were more things we wanted to see in the south and west so hopefully the next leg of the trip will be a little more relaxing and we can spend a little more time camping. We have yet to have s'mores. :)
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Some clarification about Vegas
So, I liked Vegas. I really did. And we want to come back another time so I can really experience it. We did walk around the Mirage, but apparently we missed this huge boat battle where they sink one of the ships and all these really interesting attactions. Guess we didn't walk around enough. So hopefully in the next few years we will be able to make it out again to really enjoy Vegas and stay on the strip. And maybe even see Hoover Dam in the daylight. ;)
Why are there so many people that died while we are on this trip?
Ed MacMahan
Farah Faucett
Michael Jackson
Billy Mays
Steve McNair
And two local people I know from Boyertown.
That's a lot of people in two weeks.
It's a little scary and more than a little freaky.
Is someone trying to tell us something.....
Farah Faucett
Michael Jackson
Billy Mays
Steve McNair
And two local people I know from Boyertown.
That's a lot of people in two weeks.
It's a little scary and more than a little freaky.
Is someone trying to tell us something.....
Dog friendly places and poop
All in all almost everwhere we have been has been dog friendly. The National parks have surprised me. Almost all are dog friendly and people LOVE the dogs.
Everywhere we go people stop to pet them or at least walk by and say "those are some good looking goods" or "they are really pretty". Kinda nice.
Grand Canyon was very dog friendly and we were able to take the dogs out of the car at each view point and take pictures. It was cute. Montezuma was very dog friendly too, we even took them on the walking tour.
Arches was not so dog friendly, but we were able to have them in the parking lots, just not on trails.
All of the campsites and even the hotels we stayed in were very dog friendly. Minus the jerk from the one place in Vegas.
And that brings me to poop. If you have a dog, for crying out loud pick up it's poop. I don't want to step in it and I don't want my dog to sniff it. Those idiots give other dog owners a bad name. While in Vegas at hotel #2, Ike took the girls out for a last potty of the night (well actually morning, but whatever) and managed to step in, not one, but two piles of poop while wearing my flip flops....nice.
I even pick up the dogs poop when there is no way anyone will EVER step in it. We were at this rest stop somewhere along our travels and we took the girls to potty. The entire place was completly strewn with trash. It was everywhere and it was disgusting. The girls finally went and I picked up the poop admist all the trash and debris. Ike looked at me like he couldn't believe that I was making the effort to pick through the trash to pick up the poop. But hey, we left it, we pick it up. If more people had that mentality, there would be less road side trash. Just my thoughts.
Everywhere we go people stop to pet them or at least walk by and say "those are some good looking goods" or "they are really pretty". Kinda nice.
Grand Canyon was very dog friendly and we were able to take the dogs out of the car at each view point and take pictures. It was cute. Montezuma was very dog friendly too, we even took them on the walking tour.
Arches was not so dog friendly, but we were able to have them in the parking lots, just not on trails.
All of the campsites and even the hotels we stayed in were very dog friendly. Minus the jerk from the one place in Vegas.
And that brings me to poop. If you have a dog, for crying out loud pick up it's poop. I don't want to step in it and I don't want my dog to sniff it. Those idiots give other dog owners a bad name. While in Vegas at hotel #2, Ike took the girls out for a last potty of the night (well actually morning, but whatever) and managed to step in, not one, but two piles of poop while wearing my flip flops....nice.
I even pick up the dogs poop when there is no way anyone will EVER step in it. We were at this rest stop somewhere along our travels and we took the girls to potty. The entire place was completly strewn with trash. It was everywhere and it was disgusting. The girls finally went and I picked up the poop admist all the trash and debris. Ike looked at me like he couldn't believe that I was making the effort to pick through the trash to pick up the poop. But hey, we left it, we pick it up. If more people had that mentality, there would be less road side trash. Just my thoughts.
The drive to CA
We were up fairly early Sunday am, but still didn't leave the hotel until 10:30. We headed to Hoover Dam, but there was a flashing sign that said there were major delays on the bridge so we turned around and headed straight to CA.
The traffic into CA from Vegas was just plain hellish. It was supposed to be a 7 and a half hour trip. It took us 12 and a half. And we didn't make it to the see the Sequois. Needless to say we made it safe and sound and arrived at Ike's sister's house just north of San Jose around midnight Sunday night. Thankfully, Chi Mai had dinner for us so we ate and then crashed.
We spent Monday am doing laundry and trying to de-funk the van. It was getting a little ripe. We headed out around noon to make the 1+ hour drive north to see Ike's niece Marie at school at University of the Pacific in Stockton. We had lunch with Marie at a Vietnamese place, saw her apartment and the university, went to Jamba Juice (love it!) and then headed to San Francisco.
We say a Target and some cheap gas on the way and decided to stop. By the time we left there it was after 4 so we decided to do San Francisco Tuesday am on our way out of San Jose area and headed back to Chi Mai's.
When Anh Hong (our brother in law) got home from work we went to dinner at another Vietnamese restaurant in Milpitas (the town they live in). Awesome food! It was really nice to relax and hang out with them.
Tomorrow (Tuesday) we plan to head to San Francisco in the am and then head up to wine country and will make camp somewhere north of Napa/Sonoma tomorrow evening.
The traffic into CA from Vegas was just plain hellish. It was supposed to be a 7 and a half hour trip. It took us 12 and a half. And we didn't make it to the see the Sequois. Needless to say we made it safe and sound and arrived at Ike's sister's house just north of San Jose around midnight Sunday night. Thankfully, Chi Mai had dinner for us so we ate and then crashed.
We spent Monday am doing laundry and trying to de-funk the van. It was getting a little ripe. We headed out around noon to make the 1+ hour drive north to see Ike's niece Marie at school at University of the Pacific in Stockton. We had lunch with Marie at a Vietnamese place, saw her apartment and the university, went to Jamba Juice (love it!) and then headed to San Francisco.
We say a Target and some cheap gas on the way and decided to stop. By the time we left there it was after 4 so we decided to do San Francisco Tuesday am on our way out of San Jose area and headed back to Chi Mai's.
When Anh Hong (our brother in law) got home from work we went to dinner at another Vietnamese restaurant in Milpitas (the town they live in). Awesome food! It was really nice to relax and hang out with them.
Tomorrow (Tuesday) we plan to head to San Francisco in the am and then head up to wine country and will make camp somewhere north of Napa/Sonoma tomorrow evening.
Vegas Baby!
The drive from the Grand Canyon to Vegas was a tough one. We were tired, dirty, hungry and cranky. Not a good combo. The rain and wind made it a really pain in the ass to drive (oh, yes, it rained) and it took FOREVER to get there. Not to mention that Ike lost his hat trying to take a picture of the setting sun out the window and we searched up and down the highway for an hour with cars zooming past us at 80 miles an hour looking for the damm thing. UGGHH. It was his Steeler's hat that I bought him last year. It was getting dark and even more dangerous to be out on the highway, so we called it a loss and got back on the road.
We made it 10 miles outside Hoover Dam and came to a dead stop. Really? 10 miles away? It was so pitch black, but we all had our cars turned off. Rumors were flying that a bus turned over, that there was a bad accident, etc. However, after almost an hour we started moving again and there was a check point ahead. We had to pullover and they asked to inspect the clam shell. We opened it and while the guy was looking at our goods, I asked him if they were inspecting because of the 4th holiday. He told me no, that someone ran the checkpoint about an hour ago so they are doing inspections. And that he told me is why the traffic was at a dead stop. They had to hunt down the guy before they could let anyone on or off the dam. I told the guy that I would kick that idiots ass if I ever saw him - who runs a friggin check point on the Hoover Dam, you know they are going to catch you - and then his assinine actions stopped traffic for an hour. Jackass! The security guy laughed. I think he knew I was serious.
So across the dam we go. It looked awesome I am sure, it was hard to see at night and headed toward Vegas.
We had reserved a hotel room earlier in the day at a hotel right off the strip. We had stayed in the same chain in San Antonio and loved it. It's Marley's favorite place. La Quinta, Momma she kept crying when it was 105 outside. She is such a baby. Anyhow, Ike wanted to take me down the strip first and then get some food before we made it to our hotel this being my first trip to Vegas and all. The drive on the strip was interesting. The whole Vegas thing was alluding me at that point. It was bright, I'll give you that. And flashy and gaudy and at that point, a little too much for me to take in. See we had not showered since the 5 minute shower in NM almost 4 days prior. We had also spent a lot of quality time in Walmart parking lots. I was hot, stinky and tired and just wanted a shower and a bed in that order. But I did want to see the strip to, so we finally made it to our hotel and checked in . The kid at the front desk was a moron. We had not eaten since lunch in Sedona at 10:30 (remember the time difference thing) and it was now after mid-night, we were hungry. Ike asked him where we could get something to eat without going back on the strip. He just looked at us and said nothing. Ike said, "food, where can we get food" and I swear to God, the kid just looked at us and said very slowly, "food?" Holy crap you idiot! Are you that dumb? I told Ike to forget it and we went up to our room. Our NON_SMOKING room, which was not however, non-smoking, it reeked. So back down to the desk I went. After some slow words and hand gestures, I got the kid to understand that the room, although not supposed to be a smoking room, was in fact a smoking room. Back up I go with a new room key. Oh, BTW, no elevator in this joint. The second room was not smelly, but holy mother of God it was HOT! Like desert at noon hot. Immediatly the dogs were panting, Ike was sweating and cursing. It was awesome! I leave Ike to get the air cranked while I grab stuff from the car and when I come back upstairs Ike has the manager in the room and Ike is PISSED OFF! OMG, I have not seen him that angry in years! Now if you know Ike, he doesn't do a whole lot of yelling and screaming, but that manager was getting the wrath of Ike. From what I understand Ike went back downstairs to ask if we could get a room that had the air already turned on. The dimwit at the desk was less than able to help so he called the manager. The manger, in his broken English, was a complete ass to Ike from the get go and it all went downhill from there. By the time I got back to the room it was getting ugly. I stepped in and tried to calmly (shocking I know, but I was very calm) explain our angst. We had no air, no elevator to carry up our stuff, no cable TV, then the manager says the dogs were too big (funny thing, I saw a huge rotty that smelled my butt in the lobby) and the list goes on and on. It was pretty bad. And the room was not cheap. The manager told me that it was the desert "its' hot". Yeah, no crap Dick Tracy, but if you know someone has a reservation to check into a room, wouldn't you think to turn on the AC? So the manager says to me, "but this is not the room you were assigned" Okay, true, but the room we were assigned to did not have the AC on either, but it was a smoking room and we requested a non smoking room" "It's not a smoking room", the mananger bellows. And this is how it went. It was pure poetry. We told him we were finding another hotel and did, in the same chain 3 minutes away with very nice staff and a cooled room to boot. We ordered in some pizza at 3 am (it is Vegas) and made it to bed (after a LONG hot shower) about 4:30 am.
The next day brought better things. We himmed and hawwed (sp?) about whether to drive to San Diego or stay in Vegas. It being the 4th, we knew getting a camp site would be almost impossible. They had given us a late check out at 3 pm as a curtesory since we didn't check in until 2 am so we figured the room was free for the 4th. It was and we decided to forgo southern CA for another night (or should I say a full night) in Vegas.
We had a late lunch at the buffet at the Mirage. WOW!!! is all I can say. Pre-peeled shrimp, prime rib, awesome sushi, pho, fresh rolls, fish, italian food, wonderful salads....and the desserts...it was awesome! We walked around the Mirage did a little gambling and when I say a little, I mean $5 each, got a free drink and headed to Treasure Island casino via the tram. We hung out in TI for a little and then headed back to the hotel. We had Petty crated in the hotel room, but I always get nervous leaving them for too long in a strange place.
We hung out in the hotel room the rest of the night and planned to get up early and head to Hoover Dam and then to CA to see the Sequois.
But we are on vacation and when the alarm went off at 5:30 I asked Ike if we wanted to get up, he said no so we slept until 7 when the dogs woke us up.
We made it 10 miles outside Hoover Dam and came to a dead stop. Really? 10 miles away? It was so pitch black, but we all had our cars turned off. Rumors were flying that a bus turned over, that there was a bad accident, etc. However, after almost an hour we started moving again and there was a check point ahead. We had to pullover and they asked to inspect the clam shell. We opened it and while the guy was looking at our goods, I asked him if they were inspecting because of the 4th holiday. He told me no, that someone ran the checkpoint about an hour ago so they are doing inspections. And that he told me is why the traffic was at a dead stop. They had to hunt down the guy before they could let anyone on or off the dam. I told the guy that I would kick that idiots ass if I ever saw him - who runs a friggin check point on the Hoover Dam, you know they are going to catch you - and then his assinine actions stopped traffic for an hour. Jackass! The security guy laughed. I think he knew I was serious.
So across the dam we go. It looked awesome I am sure, it was hard to see at night and headed toward Vegas.
We had reserved a hotel room earlier in the day at a hotel right off the strip. We had stayed in the same chain in San Antonio and loved it. It's Marley's favorite place. La Quinta, Momma she kept crying when it was 105 outside. She is such a baby. Anyhow, Ike wanted to take me down the strip first and then get some food before we made it to our hotel this being my first trip to Vegas and all. The drive on the strip was interesting. The whole Vegas thing was alluding me at that point. It was bright, I'll give you that. And flashy and gaudy and at that point, a little too much for me to take in. See we had not showered since the 5 minute shower in NM almost 4 days prior. We had also spent a lot of quality time in Walmart parking lots. I was hot, stinky and tired and just wanted a shower and a bed in that order. But I did want to see the strip to, so we finally made it to our hotel and checked in . The kid at the front desk was a moron. We had not eaten since lunch in Sedona at 10:30 (remember the time difference thing) and it was now after mid-night, we were hungry. Ike asked him where we could get something to eat without going back on the strip. He just looked at us and said nothing. Ike said, "food, where can we get food" and I swear to God, the kid just looked at us and said very slowly, "food?" Holy crap you idiot! Are you that dumb? I told Ike to forget it and we went up to our room. Our NON_SMOKING room, which was not however, non-smoking, it reeked. So back down to the desk I went. After some slow words and hand gestures, I got the kid to understand that the room, although not supposed to be a smoking room, was in fact a smoking room. Back up I go with a new room key. Oh, BTW, no elevator in this joint. The second room was not smelly, but holy mother of God it was HOT! Like desert at noon hot. Immediatly the dogs were panting, Ike was sweating and cursing. It was awesome! I leave Ike to get the air cranked while I grab stuff from the car and when I come back upstairs Ike has the manager in the room and Ike is PISSED OFF! OMG, I have not seen him that angry in years! Now if you know Ike, he doesn't do a whole lot of yelling and screaming, but that manager was getting the wrath of Ike. From what I understand Ike went back downstairs to ask if we could get a room that had the air already turned on. The dimwit at the desk was less than able to help so he called the manager. The manger, in his broken English, was a complete ass to Ike from the get go and it all went downhill from there. By the time I got back to the room it was getting ugly. I stepped in and tried to calmly (shocking I know, but I was very calm) explain our angst. We had no air, no elevator to carry up our stuff, no cable TV, then the manager says the dogs were too big (funny thing, I saw a huge rotty that smelled my butt in the lobby) and the list goes on and on. It was pretty bad. And the room was not cheap. The manager told me that it was the desert "its' hot". Yeah, no crap Dick Tracy, but if you know someone has a reservation to check into a room, wouldn't you think to turn on the AC? So the manager says to me, "but this is not the room you were assigned" Okay, true, but the room we were assigned to did not have the AC on either, but it was a smoking room and we requested a non smoking room" "It's not a smoking room", the mananger bellows. And this is how it went. It was pure poetry. We told him we were finding another hotel and did, in the same chain 3 minutes away with very nice staff and a cooled room to boot. We ordered in some pizza at 3 am (it is Vegas) and made it to bed (after a LONG hot shower) about 4:30 am.
The next day brought better things. We himmed and hawwed (sp?) about whether to drive to San Diego or stay in Vegas. It being the 4th, we knew getting a camp site would be almost impossible. They had given us a late check out at 3 pm as a curtesory since we didn't check in until 2 am so we figured the room was free for the 4th. It was and we decided to forgo southern CA for another night (or should I say a full night) in Vegas.
We had a late lunch at the buffet at the Mirage. WOW!!! is all I can say. Pre-peeled shrimp, prime rib, awesome sushi, pho, fresh rolls, fish, italian food, wonderful salads....and the desserts...it was awesome! We walked around the Mirage did a little gambling and when I say a little, I mean $5 each, got a free drink and headed to Treasure Island casino via the tram. We hung out in TI for a little and then headed back to the hotel. We had Petty crated in the hotel room, but I always get nervous leaving them for too long in a strange place.
We hung out in the hotel room the rest of the night and planned to get up early and head to Hoover Dam and then to CA to see the Sequois.
But we are on vacation and when the alarm went off at 5:30 I asked Ike if we wanted to get up, he said no so we slept until 7 when the dogs woke us up.
Monday, July 6, 2009
Utah and Arizona
On Thursday we drove through the rest of Colorado past Grand Junction and made it just outside Canyonlands National Park in Utah in the late afternoon. We drove a scenic route through Utah, it wasn't Canyonlands National Park, but it was really the same landscape. The scenic route took us to Arches National Park shortly before 5. We toured Arches and I totally loved it! Ike had already been there on his last cross country trip and really wanted me to see it. I am so glad we went. The Arches are quite a natural beauty.
After Arches we headed straight down to AZ. We made it to Cottonwood, AZ right outside Sedona about 4 am Friday and slept in yet another Walmart parking lot.
I have to say that I have not been such a fan of Walmart in the past, but the whole thing about them allowing campers and RV's to spend the night in their parking lots overnight is really a nice deal. I had heard they allowed people to park overnight, and looked it up before we left to confirm and it has really been a lifesaver when we are too tired to drive or arrive too early/late to get a campsite.
We were up bright and early Friday am and drove to Montezuma Castle National Park and got there before they opened because apparently AZ does not follow daylight savings time. The things you learn. :) We toured Montezuma's Castle and headed back up north to Sedona.
I really loved Sedona! It's what Aspen could be if it wasn't so prententious. Sedona is a quaint little town nestled in the foothills of the desert mountains. It has cute shops, yummy cafe's and really nice people. We stopped for lunch and a little shopping and then headed further north to Flagstaff and the Painted Desert and the Grand Canyon.
The Painted Desert was disappointing. In fact, I thought we had missed it, but when we got to the Grand Canyon and I saw pictures of it in the gift shops I realized we had seen it, it just wasn't that much more impressive than the rest of the beautiful landscape.
We toured the Grand Canyon and I truly loved it. I know people say that it does not live up to the hype, but I really loved it. The views are wonderfully breath-taking. And the knowledegeable that nature could create something so vast and so deep is incredible. We saw some elk on our way out of the park. We toured about 25 - 30 miles of the South Rim of the Grand Canyon on the advice of a local guide and the really nice host at the campsite in CO.
We left the Grand Canyon in the early evening Friday after we were pelted with huge, cold rain drops (yup - it stormed in the Grand Canyon) and headed off in search of Lady Luck and Vegas.
After Arches we headed straight down to AZ. We made it to Cottonwood, AZ right outside Sedona about 4 am Friday and slept in yet another Walmart parking lot.
I have to say that I have not been such a fan of Walmart in the past, but the whole thing about them allowing campers and RV's to spend the night in their parking lots overnight is really a nice deal. I had heard they allowed people to park overnight, and looked it up before we left to confirm and it has really been a lifesaver when we are too tired to drive or arrive too early/late to get a campsite.
We were up bright and early Friday am and drove to Montezuma Castle National Park and got there before they opened because apparently AZ does not follow daylight savings time. The things you learn. :) We toured Montezuma's Castle and headed back up north to Sedona.
I really loved Sedona! It's what Aspen could be if it wasn't so prententious. Sedona is a quaint little town nestled in the foothills of the desert mountains. It has cute shops, yummy cafe's and really nice people. We stopped for lunch and a little shopping and then headed further north to Flagstaff and the Painted Desert and the Grand Canyon.
The Painted Desert was disappointing. In fact, I thought we had missed it, but when we got to the Grand Canyon and I saw pictures of it in the gift shops I realized we had seen it, it just wasn't that much more impressive than the rest of the beautiful landscape.
We toured the Grand Canyon and I truly loved it. I know people say that it does not live up to the hype, but I really loved it. The views are wonderfully breath-taking. And the knowledegeable that nature could create something so vast and so deep is incredible. We saw some elk on our way out of the park. We toured about 25 - 30 miles of the South Rim of the Grand Canyon on the advice of a local guide and the really nice host at the campsite in CO.
We left the Grand Canyon in the early evening Friday after we were pelted with huge, cold rain drops (yup - it stormed in the Grand Canyon) and headed off in search of Lady Luck and Vegas.
New Mexico and Colorado
The Walmart in New Mexico was a hoot. The entire town has really embraced the whole alien thing and the Walmart was no different, it was completely decked out with murals of aliens on the front of the building and on the bus stations. There was a whole section in the front of the store with alien stuff - from alien water to alien beer, magnets, postcards, you name it, they sold it. It was hysertical. And I swear the people that work there are not from this world. Such an odd bunch - I think I even saw a guy in an "Edgar suit"!
We walked around downtown Roswell for a little while and went in and out of the touristy alien shops. We even made a stop at the alien museum, but opted out of the tour and just headed to the gift shop. We had breakfast at this little cafe in town, nice folks - bad coffee.
So as we were in and out of the shops, I asked the one shop keepers where Area 51 was, she told me Nevada. Oops. We got to talking to one of the check out girls in the museum gift shop (see jerky flirt posting) and found out that nothing actually happened in Roswell. No spacecraft landing, no little green men with antenas, no flashy things in the sky. The reason Roswell is famous is because in 1947 Roswell was the closest major town to the landing site in northern AZ, 4 hours away. Good information to know. BTW - they say that there have been "sightings" in Roswell over the past 60+ years. Guess the little green men are salty that all their stuff is hiding out in a small town in NM.
After Roswell we headed north to Albuquerque (Abq from now on - that word is a pain to type), Home of the 5 Minute Shower. We arrived in Abq about 4:30 Monday afternoon and found a campsite to stay for the night. We checked in and found out that there is a limit on shower time this being the desert and all. So it's one 5 minute shower per person, per night. But ya see, we had not showered in a few days and really NEEDED a nice long hot shower. We asked if we could purchase another shower, but the painted lipped lady had to ask her husband first. In the end, they gave us each an extra token for another shower. We used them in the morning and took a nice long, hot shower before getting back on the road and heading into town.
During the night in NM, we had this crazy, crazy thunderstorm. Because even though we were in the desert it rained, like it always does, where ever we go. I kid you not, every place we have been to, it has rained. It rained in KY, in TN, in MO, OK, TX, NM, AZ. We could make a fortune as rainmakers. I swear to God. We actually saw and took pictures of "our cloud". See somewhere in the desert we were driving and saw these big beautiful white puffy clouds and in front of those clouds was a little dark cloud, just hanging out. That little dark cloud is ours, it follows us everywhere just to let us know it's thinking about us. Cute. Kinda.
So anyway back to the thunderstorm in NM, it was bad, like end of the world bad and so unbelieveably loud that it shook the ground and our tent. I woke Ike up to make sure he thought we were safe. He mumbled something and went back to sleep. Helpful. It was a long night for me. :(
A quick call to Tracy Tuesday afternoon and we found a great Mexican place for lunch. Can't be in the southwest and not have Mexican. The food was awesome and the server was hysterical. We couldn't do the Sandiea Peak tram tour thing that took you up the mountain in a gondola type thing because it was too hot for the dogs to stay in the car, so we headed out of Abq and figured out where to go next.
Where to go next was a question...we had had enough of the desert heat for a while so we decided to head to Colorado. I heard a rumor that there was free beer in CO.
We drove all night from NM to CO and arrived about an hour outside Golden CO about 2 am Wednesday and slept in another Walmart parking lot. I have to say there is nothing more humbling than brushing your teeth in a Walmart parking lot. :)
We toured the Coors brewery the next morning (Wednesday) and got there early enough that we were in line when the first tour bus pulled up. We got on the second tour bus and it was such a cool tour. They even gave you free beer during the tour and 3 free beers after - it was awesome! After the tour we ate lunch in the Safeway parking lot overlooking the streets of Golden and then headed to Vail and Aspen. The drive was VERY windy...holy crap! Vail was pretty cool and a cute little town. Aspen was horrible, prententious and snotty....but really beautiful.
The drive through the Rockies was absolutly breathtaking. The mountains are incredible. We camped about an hour outside of Aspen on Wednesday night. The views from the campsite were amazing. Words can't really describe it.
On Thursday we drove through Aspen and made our way to Utah.
We walked around downtown Roswell for a little while and went in and out of the touristy alien shops. We even made a stop at the alien museum, but opted out of the tour and just headed to the gift shop. We had breakfast at this little cafe in town, nice folks - bad coffee.
So as we were in and out of the shops, I asked the one shop keepers where Area 51 was, she told me Nevada. Oops. We got to talking to one of the check out girls in the museum gift shop (see jerky flirt posting) and found out that nothing actually happened in Roswell. No spacecraft landing, no little green men with antenas, no flashy things in the sky. The reason Roswell is famous is because in 1947 Roswell was the closest major town to the landing site in northern AZ, 4 hours away. Good information to know. BTW - they say that there have been "sightings" in Roswell over the past 60+ years. Guess the little green men are salty that all their stuff is hiding out in a small town in NM.
After Roswell we headed north to Albuquerque (Abq from now on - that word is a pain to type), Home of the 5 Minute Shower. We arrived in Abq about 4:30 Monday afternoon and found a campsite to stay for the night. We checked in and found out that there is a limit on shower time this being the desert and all. So it's one 5 minute shower per person, per night. But ya see, we had not showered in a few days and really NEEDED a nice long hot shower. We asked if we could purchase another shower, but the painted lipped lady had to ask her husband first. In the end, they gave us each an extra token for another shower. We used them in the morning and took a nice long, hot shower before getting back on the road and heading into town.
During the night in NM, we had this crazy, crazy thunderstorm. Because even though we were in the desert it rained, like it always does, where ever we go. I kid you not, every place we have been to, it has rained. It rained in KY, in TN, in MO, OK, TX, NM, AZ. We could make a fortune as rainmakers. I swear to God. We actually saw and took pictures of "our cloud". See somewhere in the desert we were driving and saw these big beautiful white puffy clouds and in front of those clouds was a little dark cloud, just hanging out. That little dark cloud is ours, it follows us everywhere just to let us know it's thinking about us. Cute. Kinda.
So anyway back to the thunderstorm in NM, it was bad, like end of the world bad and so unbelieveably loud that it shook the ground and our tent. I woke Ike up to make sure he thought we were safe. He mumbled something and went back to sleep. Helpful. It was a long night for me. :(
A quick call to Tracy Tuesday afternoon and we found a great Mexican place for lunch. Can't be in the southwest and not have Mexican. The food was awesome and the server was hysterical. We couldn't do the Sandiea Peak tram tour thing that took you up the mountain in a gondola type thing because it was too hot for the dogs to stay in the car, so we headed out of Abq and figured out where to go next.
Where to go next was a question...we had had enough of the desert heat for a while so we decided to head to Colorado. I heard a rumor that there was free beer in CO.
We drove all night from NM to CO and arrived about an hour outside Golden CO about 2 am Wednesday and slept in another Walmart parking lot. I have to say there is nothing more humbling than brushing your teeth in a Walmart parking lot. :)
We toured the Coors brewery the next morning (Wednesday) and got there early enough that we were in line when the first tour bus pulled up. We got on the second tour bus and it was such a cool tour. They even gave you free beer during the tour and 3 free beers after - it was awesome! After the tour we ate lunch in the Safeway parking lot overlooking the streets of Golden and then headed to Vail and Aspen. The drive was VERY windy...holy crap! Vail was pretty cool and a cute little town. Aspen was horrible, prententious and snotty....but really beautiful.
The drive through the Rockies was absolutly breathtaking. The mountains are incredible. We camped about an hour outside of Aspen on Wednesday night. The views from the campsite were amazing. Words can't really describe it.
On Thursday we drove through Aspen and made our way to Utah.
Lost connection....
So on July 4th I blogged for two hours about the past week and then lost the connection hence wiping out all the information I had just typed. Only the first part was saved and posted. So here it goes again...I'll post in sections this time.
Saturday, July 4, 2009
"Jerky Flirt"
Here is a scarey peek inside my brain. (Somewhere btwn Aspen and Grand Junction CO...)
Steph...you know in the movie "Broke Back Mountain?" How did those guys decide it was okay to hook-up when they didn't know the other was gay?
"Where in the world did that come from?"
Well I'm going to tell you the whole thought process...I was thinking about how much we manage to fit into this van (still with no name) and I'm glad we have this van, and how I don't want to have to try to repack the other van if we had to get it back...you know, i was thinking about having to return the seats to KC and if Kinzel might go with me if you know he was free...would I want to take the big tent or little tent...
"So are you afraid Kinzel and you might be gay?"
That's funny, but no. I would be flattered but I don't think either of us would be going "Broke back..."
"I would take the big tent if I were you...then you guys can share the air mattress..."
You're missing the point here, how did those to guys know it was okay to get it on...when none of them were open about being gay...I think that is kinda weird...
"Let's just say you were in a tent with someone, you wouldn't just sleep with them, just because you are in the same tent right? Let's say Kinzel was gay and you're not..."
Quit it...neither of us are gay...Let's say it was Heath Ledger and me and he can be gay, but I'm not...would he come on to me if he knew I wasn't gay...
"People regardless of whether they are gay or not, will flirt when they are around someone who they are attracted to..."
Wait...How do you know if some one is flirting?
"Whatever, you are such a flirt..."
I don't know what you are talking about...you say I'm a flirt but I don't flirt, and I can't tell if someone is flirting with me...
"Right, because everytime I leave you somewhere, I find you talking to some chick or flirting with some one...Like the the ladies at the eye doctor's...you always flirt with them, they love you..."
Whoa, wait I do not flirt with Virginia, she's like someone's grandmother...I don't find her attractive why would I flirt with her...
"You know how you do it..."
I am not flirting, I know that I can come off as a jerk, so I make a concious effort to be nice to everyone...
"No, you're still a jerk...and a flirt...you're the worst type of flirt... a jerky flirt...women love jerky flirts...cuz you really don't care what people think so you will say whatever you think, but then you know how to be nice too...so it gets confusing and intriguing, because you are nice but at the same time you are condiscending..."
What are you talking about? I am not a flirt...I need to ask some of my female friends...Do you think Terry would say I'm a flirt? I know Lenny and Jason are flirts...I'm not like them...I'm going to ask Suzanne, she'll tell me if I'm a flirt...
Steph...you know in the movie "Broke Back Mountain?" How did those guys decide it was okay to hook-up when they didn't know the other was gay?
"Where in the world did that come from?"
Well I'm going to tell you the whole thought process...I was thinking about how much we manage to fit into this van (still with no name) and I'm glad we have this van, and how I don't want to have to try to repack the other van if we had to get it back...you know, i was thinking about having to return the seats to KC and if Kinzel might go with me if you know he was free...would I want to take the big tent or little tent...
"So are you afraid Kinzel and you might be gay?"
That's funny, but no. I would be flattered but I don't think either of us would be going "Broke back..."
"I would take the big tent if I were you...then you guys can share the air mattress..."
You're missing the point here, how did those to guys know it was okay to get it on...when none of them were open about being gay...I think that is kinda weird...
"Let's just say you were in a tent with someone, you wouldn't just sleep with them, just because you are in the same tent right? Let's say Kinzel was gay and you're not..."
Quit it...neither of us are gay...Let's say it was Heath Ledger and me and he can be gay, but I'm not...would he come on to me if he knew I wasn't gay...
"People regardless of whether they are gay or not, will flirt when they are around someone who they are attracted to..."
Wait...How do you know if some one is flirting?
"Whatever, you are such a flirt..."
I don't know what you are talking about...you say I'm a flirt but I don't flirt, and I can't tell if someone is flirting with me...
"Right, because everytime I leave you somewhere, I find you talking to some chick or flirting with some one...Like the the ladies at the eye doctor's...you always flirt with them, they love you..."
Whoa, wait I do not flirt with Virginia, she's like someone's grandmother...I don't find her attractive why would I flirt with her...
"You know how you do it..."
I am not flirting, I know that I can come off as a jerk, so I make a concious effort to be nice to everyone...
"No, you're still a jerk...and a flirt...you're the worst type of flirt... a jerky flirt...women love jerky flirts...cuz you really don't care what people think so you will say whatever you think, but then you know how to be nice too...so it gets confusing and intriguing, because you are nice but at the same time you are condiscending..."
What are you talking about? I am not a flirt...I need to ask some of my female friends...Do you think Terry would say I'm a flirt? I know Lenny and Jason are flirts...I'm not like them...I'm going to ask Suzanne, she'll tell me if I'm a flirt...
"You're going to ask Suzanne? What do you think she's going to say...you ask her what she's wearing everytime you talk to her on the phone..."
Well maybe she might not be the best person to ask...I'm going to ask Terry and I know, MB...they'll tell me the truth...Jerky Flirt...what the hell are you talking about?...
"What can I tell you...you're a Jerky Flirt...the worst kind, or maybe the best kind depending how you look at it..."
Well if I knew I had this ability, I would chanel it...to...you know so I could consciously turn it off...not to lead any chicks on...you know...
"Then you could just be a jerk..."
At least I wouldn't send the wrong message to any gay guys in a tent...
-IKE
I don't know Lloyd, the French are assholes...
I have always wanted to go to Aspen CO, since we missed it my last go around with the guys...I heard that Aspen was the place to be, because "the beer flows like wine, and the women flock like the salmon of Capistrono..."
So I told Steph let's not go to AZ just yet. We need a chance in climate. I know a place where the beer flows like beer straight our of the Rockies. It didn't take much to convince her, because we were both tired of sweating and...well...not only do they brew Steph's favorite beer, Blue Moon, in Golden CO, but it is free!
After a quick tour of the Coors brewery, we found Marley in the driver seat and Petty riding shotgun. We have our suspicions that the girls were trying to find a way to the Purina factory half a mile down the road.
From Golden, we were on our way to Aspen. Up and down a few mountains on RT 70 west, we were awestruck by the landscape. We sat with the windows down, in a traffic jam at the base of a mountain listening to Tom Petty for about half an hour only to go about 2 miles. Back on our way we climbed and descended a few more mountains...the DJ on the radio told us that the low temperature for the night was going to be around 40 degrees. This became apparent as we climbed a few more mountains and saw snow on the ground, big, frozen, piles of snow!
We left 70 for a much smaller road that climed some more mountains, but this time it was a little different. The roads were two lanes, and sometimes one lane at certain spots. We got out to let the girls potty and to look down on the mountain we had just climbed.
We luckily found a camp ground about an hour outside of Aspen. Before getting there, we loaded up on our s'more ingredients and hot cocoa and some brauts we would cook over the fire. We've learned from our past that we will need to put the rain fly on. Besides, it was getting chilly as the sun went down. Not to disappoint, mother nature brought on some more rain. I had just gotten the perfect campfire started, the embers were red hot and the logs caught flame with the slightest breeze. Then came the rain. We ate our bratwurst sandwiches and plain pasta standing under the gate of the of the mini-van(which we have yet to name). Our hopes of gorging on s'mores and sitting by the fire were washed away by the steady rain. Steph got the girls settled in the tent and I put out the fire. Ironically the fire was not so easily extinguished as our plans to enjoy it. I spread the embers out went into the tent. We went from sweating our selves to sleep to stacking our sleeping bags and blankets on top ourselves to stay warm. Since I get hot in my sleep, I slept in shorts and a t-shirt. I realized how foolish I was when I got up in the middle of the night to answer nature's urgent call. I was close to literally freezing my nuts off, I may have left icicles on the the tree stump I visited feet away from the tent.
In the morning we got back on the road. This time it was Steph's turn to climb the mountains. It was fun to see her knuckles turn white as she gripped the steering wheel, maneuvering through 180 degree bends on a 2/1 lane road up Mt. Elbert (I think it was named after the fat guy who critiques movies) which happens to be CO's tallest peak at 14433 ft. Well we got to the top right at the Continental Divide with snow on the ground. The view added with the high elevation was breath taking... There was a guy in a stretchy tank top and shorts panting in front of our van. He had just biked up the mountain. That was breath-taking. I was worn out just watching Steph steer our way up the mountain, I could not believe that someone had the urge to bike up that mountain. To the bicycle man, I raise my free Blue Moon to you and drink to your achievement.
I was eagerly looking forward to visiting Aspen, and trying to locate Mary Swanson or was it Samsonite. Either way, Harry was right. The French are assholes and so are the inhabitants of Aspen. This was exclamated by the kid who tried to pull out in front of us without looking and yelled at us to slow down, as we drove by him going the blazing speed of 10 mph. Then came the gas station that charged us $4 for a bag of ice. Steph just paid them from our tube of quarters and walked away. I wondered if the ice could do tricks, or if it was much different than the pile of snow on the ground on the side of the mountain.
I fell asleep on the way to Utah with visions of bicyclists, free beer, perfect campfires, and uneaten s'mores. Good thing I wasn't driving.
-IKE
So I told Steph let's not go to AZ just yet. We need a chance in climate. I know a place where the beer flows like beer straight our of the Rockies. It didn't take much to convince her, because we were both tired of sweating and...well...not only do they brew Steph's favorite beer, Blue Moon, in Golden CO, but it is free!
After a quick tour of the Coors brewery, we found Marley in the driver seat and Petty riding shotgun. We have our suspicions that the girls were trying to find a way to the Purina factory half a mile down the road.
From Golden, we were on our way to Aspen. Up and down a few mountains on RT 70 west, we were awestruck by the landscape. We sat with the windows down, in a traffic jam at the base of a mountain listening to Tom Petty for about half an hour only to go about 2 miles. Back on our way we climbed and descended a few more mountains...the DJ on the radio told us that the low temperature for the night was going to be around 40 degrees. This became apparent as we climbed a few more mountains and saw snow on the ground, big, frozen, piles of snow!
We left 70 for a much smaller road that climed some more mountains, but this time it was a little different. The roads were two lanes, and sometimes one lane at certain spots. We got out to let the girls potty and to look down on the mountain we had just climbed.
We luckily found a camp ground about an hour outside of Aspen. Before getting there, we loaded up on our s'more ingredients and hot cocoa and some brauts we would cook over the fire. We've learned from our past that we will need to put the rain fly on. Besides, it was getting chilly as the sun went down. Not to disappoint, mother nature brought on some more rain. I had just gotten the perfect campfire started, the embers were red hot and the logs caught flame with the slightest breeze. Then came the rain. We ate our bratwurst sandwiches and plain pasta standing under the gate of the of the mini-van(which we have yet to name). Our hopes of gorging on s'mores and sitting by the fire were washed away by the steady rain. Steph got the girls settled in the tent and I put out the fire. Ironically the fire was not so easily extinguished as our plans to enjoy it. I spread the embers out went into the tent. We went from sweating our selves to sleep to stacking our sleeping bags and blankets on top ourselves to stay warm. Since I get hot in my sleep, I slept in shorts and a t-shirt. I realized how foolish I was when I got up in the middle of the night to answer nature's urgent call. I was close to literally freezing my nuts off, I may have left icicles on the the tree stump I visited feet away from the tent.
In the morning we got back on the road. This time it was Steph's turn to climb the mountains. It was fun to see her knuckles turn white as she gripped the steering wheel, maneuvering through 180 degree bends on a 2/1 lane road up Mt. Elbert (I think it was named after the fat guy who critiques movies) which happens to be CO's tallest peak at 14433 ft. Well we got to the top right at the Continental Divide with snow on the ground. The view added with the high elevation was breath taking... There was a guy in a stretchy tank top and shorts panting in front of our van. He had just biked up the mountain. That was breath-taking. I was worn out just watching Steph steer our way up the mountain, I could not believe that someone had the urge to bike up that mountain. To the bicycle man, I raise my free Blue Moon to you and drink to your achievement.
I was eagerly looking forward to visiting Aspen, and trying to locate Mary Swanson or was it Samsonite. Either way, Harry was right. The French are assholes and so are the inhabitants of Aspen. This was exclamated by the kid who tried to pull out in front of us without looking and yelled at us to slow down, as we drove by him going the blazing speed of 10 mph. Then came the gas station that charged us $4 for a bag of ice. Steph just paid them from our tube of quarters and walked away. I wondered if the ice could do tricks, or if it was much different than the pile of snow on the ground on the side of the mountain.
I fell asleep on the way to Utah with visions of bicyclists, free beer, perfect campfires, and uneaten s'mores. Good thing I wasn't driving.
-IKE
Turquois Trail Campground home of the 5 minute shower
We were all set up and laying on our air mattress, looking up at the stars through mesh in our tent. We listened to coyotes howling in the distance. Steph just started nodding off and I saw the sky light up over the mountains miles away. Well, Steph awoke to the sound of me trying to put the rain fly on by myself. Together we got the tent covered in minutes. A good thing too. Within 15 minutes of getting settled in again, the sky exploded and it began to rain...in the desert...again.
"Are we going to okay?" Steph asks me in my sleep. I told her we'll be fine between snores. She could not sleep through the thunder storm that took place feet away from our heads.
In the morning we enjoyed our five minute showers as it was the first shower we had in two days.
-IKE
"Are we going to okay?" Steph asks me in my sleep. I told her we'll be fine between snores. She could not sleep through the thunder storm that took place feet away from our heads.
In the morning we enjoyed our five minute showers as it was the first shower we had in two days.
-IKE
A week on the road goes fast.....
Sorry for the delayed posting, we have been in some remote areas and didn't have WiFi access...so here it goes:
The hotel in San Antonio was wonderful and very pet friendly. On Sunday am we left the hotel and headed into downtown San Antonio. I toured the Alamo while Ike stayed in the car with the girls. It was too hot to let them in the car without AC.
The Alamo was really interesting. The history there is incredible. I had a great time just wondering around, in and out of buildings and reading all the information I could gather. I was able to tour the church on site (the Alamo was originally a mission post) and was amazed at how the church made it through all the strife that occured.
After I finished the Alamo, we went back and forth about whether or not to take the dogs on the River Walk. It was so hot outside, we decided that it was too warm for them to be out. It was a safety call at that point.
We left San Antonio and headed to New Mexico. It was Sunday afternoon. We made it to Roswell NM on Monday am about 2. It was so much cooler than TX it was actually funny...Isn't NM the desert? :)
And there we spent our first night in a Walmart parking lot.
The hotel in San Antonio was wonderful and very pet friendly. On Sunday am we left the hotel and headed into downtown San Antonio. I toured the Alamo while Ike stayed in the car with the girls. It was too hot to let them in the car without AC.
The Alamo was really interesting. The history there is incredible. I had a great time just wondering around, in and out of buildings and reading all the information I could gather. I was able to tour the church on site (the Alamo was originally a mission post) and was amazed at how the church made it through all the strife that occured.
After I finished the Alamo, we went back and forth about whether or not to take the dogs on the River Walk. It was so hot outside, we decided that it was too warm for them to be out. It was a safety call at that point.
We left San Antonio and headed to New Mexico. It was Sunday afternoon. We made it to Roswell NM on Monday am about 2. It was so much cooler than TX it was actually funny...Isn't NM the desert? :)
And there we spent our first night in a Walmart parking lot.
Saturday, June 27, 2009
San Antonio
Greetings from San Antonio!
We met Ike's sister and her family for lunch today before heading to San Antonio. We went to this huge Vietnamese mall-thing in Dallas. It had shops and a great food court. The food was great and cheap. It was so nice to finally meet Chi Hong and her family.
It's H-O-T here...It was 105 in Dallas today and we are about 6 hours south so it's hotter here. And I am not talking heat index, we are talking actual temperature! I swear you melt when you walk outside, it's unbearable.
SO.....we are in another hotel tonight. It's way to hot to be in a tent for us and for the dogs. Thank goodness for AAA. The room we have tonight ROCKS...It's huge and has a couch and everything. The dogs are having a ball. :)
Tomorrow we are touring the Alamo and the River Walk and then heading to New Mexico.
I promise to get some pics up soon. I had to bring some work on the trip so I have been doing that at night too. :)
We met Ike's sister and her family for lunch today before heading to San Antonio. We went to this huge Vietnamese mall-thing in Dallas. It had shops and a great food court. The food was great and cheap. It was so nice to finally meet Chi Hong and her family.
It's H-O-T here...It was 105 in Dallas today and we are about 6 hours south so it's hotter here. And I am not talking heat index, we are talking actual temperature! I swear you melt when you walk outside, it's unbearable.
SO.....we are in another hotel tonight. It's way to hot to be in a tent for us and for the dogs. Thank goodness for AAA. The room we have tonight ROCKS...It's huge and has a couch and everything. The dogs are having a ball. :)
Tomorrow we are touring the Alamo and the River Walk and then heading to New Mexico.
I promise to get some pics up soon. I had to bring some work on the trip so I have been doing that at night too. :)
Friday, June 26, 2009
MJ and FF and waves of the micro kind
Sad news about Michael Jackson and Farrah Faucett. So that's 3 people who died since we left on this trip....concidence?.....good God I hope so. :)
Oh and somehow the microwave at home is broken....the BRAND new one. So I so hope that is the 3rd thing....bad things happen in 3 ya know.
Oh and somehow the microwave at home is broken....the BRAND new one. So I so hope that is the 3rd thing....bad things happen in 3 ya know.
Hello Texas!
We made it to Texas and were going to stop in Houston to see Ike's sister, but she is visiting family in Dallas, so we are in Dallas instead. We arrived late, after midnight local time so we ended up getting a hotel room for the night....Yay AAA discount! Plus it's hot as the bejeezus outside, the heat index is 110 and we are still in tornado country so we opted for the hotel room. The dogs are surprisingly well behaved. Shocking, I know.
The drive through KS and OK were nice. Really flat, lots of cows and these crazy bridges they build across the highways to drive cows from one field to the next. Really cool. We stopped for dinner at a place called Punkin's off of Route 35 in southern OK. It was a little mom and pop kind of place...really nice waitress. They advertise the best catfish and BBQ in OK. Not sure about the BBQ, but I got the catfish and it was awesome....Oh, and they have fried green tomatoes and fried pickles....so yummy....but holy everything fried.....YIKES!
Notes about MO....we loved the BBQ from Zarda's. The Plaza downtown was beautiful! And the houses in Mission Hills were amazing....what do those people do for a living? The downtown is nice, small compared to Philly, but VERY clean. And Becky's mom's apple pie is hands down the best we have ever had!
Everyone we run into (or have run into) especially in the mid-west are super friendly. It's not uncommon for Ike and I to split up in a store/rest stop, etc. and me to come back to get him and find him chatting with someone, usually a woman----hmmmm.... :)
We plan to see Ike's sister in the morning and then head to San Antonio and maybe El Paso. We will probably drive all night tomorrow and find a campground early afternoon.
The drive through KS and OK were nice. Really flat, lots of cows and these crazy bridges they build across the highways to drive cows from one field to the next. Really cool. We stopped for dinner at a place called Punkin's off of Route 35 in southern OK. It was a little mom and pop kind of place...really nice waitress. They advertise the best catfish and BBQ in OK. Not sure about the BBQ, but I got the catfish and it was awesome....Oh, and they have fried green tomatoes and fried pickles....so yummy....but holy everything fried.....YIKES!
Notes about MO....we loved the BBQ from Zarda's. The Plaza downtown was beautiful! And the houses in Mission Hills were amazing....what do those people do for a living? The downtown is nice, small compared to Philly, but VERY clean. And Becky's mom's apple pie is hands down the best we have ever had!
Everyone we run into (or have run into) especially in the mid-west are super friendly. It's not uncommon for Ike and I to split up in a store/rest stop, etc. and me to come back to get him and find him chatting with someone, usually a woman----hmmmm.... :)
We plan to see Ike's sister in the morning and then head to San Antonio and maybe El Paso. We will probably drive all night tomorrow and find a campground early afternoon.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
New Van is ready to be packed up...
We made the trip to the KC airport this afternoon and picked up a new van. It's a Toyota Sienna (the old one was a Kia Sedona). Ike swears it's bigger, but we shall see if it fits all our stuff. :)
We plan to head to TX tomorrow am and continue with the trip. The manager from the Hertz will call us early next week with a day when the old van will be fixed and then we will have to make our way back here before finishing the trip.
We plan to head to TX tomorrow am and continue with the trip. The manager from the Hertz will call us early next week with a day when the old van will be fixed and then we will have to make our way back here before finishing the trip.
Days 4, 5 and 6....More of Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Tenessee again, and Missouri
Monday am we had grand plans to get up early and be at the Jim Beam Distillery for a tour at 9 am.....however, the comfort and quietness of the cabin changed our plans. We did make it to Jim Beam, but not until later in the morning. It was the best night of sleep ever! We did the tour and tasting and then headed South to Nashville, Tennessee. We stopped at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville off of Route 155 and did a quick walk around. I have to say I was a little disappointed at the Grand Ole Opry. The Opry building itself was not near as impressive as I thought it would be (just a brick building - there were some pretty light fixtures outside) and they built up all these outlet stores/shops on the Opry grounds, so it was a little more commericalized than I would have thought. I walked around a little. Ike stayed in the car with the girls. We took some pictures and checked out the gift shop and headed out.
We headed further South in Tennessee to Lynchburg to tour the Jack Daniel's Distillery. We arivved in Lynchburg about 7 pm local time (central) and found a state park about a half hour outside the town to camp for the night. The camp site was nice and cheap. And we did have a typical redneck family a few campsites down...which was a hoot. You hate to stereotype, but holy crap they lived up to everything stereotype you have ever heard. Tuesday am we went into town and toured the Jack Daniel's Distillery. This tour was way more involved then the one at Jim Beam. The tour guide was great and there was a lot to see and the history of the Jack Daniel's story was interesting. We even got to see the inside of the vats as the wheat, barley, corn and yeast fermented. It was really cool. After the tour we headed into the little historic town and did some shopping and had a bite for lunch at one of the little cafe's.
We left Lynchburg and headed to Memphis to see Elvis. From Lynchburg (which is in Southern TN) the fastest route to Memphis was through the upper parts of Alabama and Mississippi and then back into southwestern TN. So off we went in search of the King.
And that's where it all went wrong.....
About a mile after we re-entered TN, we were pulled over for speeding. In our defense the speed limit is 70, we were doing 75. We saw signs that there was reduced speed ahead, but never saw another speed limit sign. We were nabbed for doing 75 in a 55. Awesome. The cop was nice, but we still got a ticket.
We arrived in Memphis about 7 pm central time - about an hour after they closed the tours of Graceland. :( So we took some pictures of the outside of Graceland, the gates and the Lisa Marie airplane. We went into a souvenir shop and bought a bumpersticker that said, "I've been to Graceland" which has been changed via a sharpie to "I've been outside the gates of Graceland".
Our plan was to drive through the night and head to Kansas City, MO to stay with our friend Becky for a few nights. Which we still did.....even though we had a little fender bender in the parking lot of the Checker's on Elvis Presley Blvd. Damm fast food.
Yes, kids that's right, in a span of about an hour, we got a speeding ticket and had an accident in a rental. Perfect.
Basically we backed into a pole in the parking lot and normally, this kind of bump (going about 5 miles and hour) would have just dented the fender, but since we are the poster children for Murphy's Law, this little bump shattered the back window. There was glass EVERYWHERE....in the parking lot, in the car, in our boxes, in the dirty bag of clothes that was in the back...everywhere. We called Hertz, reported the accident, received a statement from Checker's that nothing on their property was damaged and headed out to the Hertz at the Memphis airport to exchange cars......Of course, nothing is that easy.
The Hertz did not have a car big enough for us, so our only choices were to stay the night in a hotel in Memphis and hope they had something for us in the morning or head to Kansas City as planned. We decided to head to MO since we couldn't secure the contents of the van. So we drove to MO, 9 hours in a van with the back window shattered and a tarp covering our stuff with a HORRIBLE dinging noise because the sensor on the back door registered it as not shut correctly since the window was missing. It was a LONG drive, but we arrived safetly, in Kansas City at 4 am Wednesday morning.
We slept for a few hours and started making all the necessary phone calls to get a new van and report the accident for insurance purposes. Of course there is a convention occuring in Kansas City this week and there are NO vans to be found within a two hour radius of the city. So 4 hours later we were no better off than when we started. Ike finally was able to get a hold of someone who could help us and thanks to a wonderful Claims Manager at Hertz named Matt we are picking up a new van today (Thursday) at 2 at the Kansas City airport. We will have to detour back to Kansas City after the original van is fixed so we can pick it up and continue our trip.....see, we needed the extra space and took out the second row seats for more room. Those seats are in our garage in Sanatoga, the wrecked car is in MO. It would have been fine had they provided us with the Honda as we requested since those seats fold into the floor....but that is now a moot point.
So we are safe and sound at our friend Becky's house (thank God for her) and have just kind of relaxed the past few days in air conditioned comfort. She has a fenced in back yard and the dogs are in heaven. We joked that we may just stay here for the next 3 weeks, but our desire to see the rest of the country overrides our need for air conditioned comfort.
We plan to pick up the new van this afternoon, repack it and head out tomorrow (Friday) am and drive through to Texas. Hopefully, it all works out.
What happened happened and we can't change it. So please don't ask us who was driving when the ticket was issued or who was driving when the accident occured. We swore ourselves to secrecy and it doesn't matter anyhow since the four of us are safe and unharmed. Life is always an adventure. :)
We headed further South in Tennessee to Lynchburg to tour the Jack Daniel's Distillery. We arivved in Lynchburg about 7 pm local time (central) and found a state park about a half hour outside the town to camp for the night. The camp site was nice and cheap. And we did have a typical redneck family a few campsites down...which was a hoot. You hate to stereotype, but holy crap they lived up to everything stereotype you have ever heard. Tuesday am we went into town and toured the Jack Daniel's Distillery. This tour was way more involved then the one at Jim Beam. The tour guide was great and there was a lot to see and the history of the Jack Daniel's story was interesting. We even got to see the inside of the vats as the wheat, barley, corn and yeast fermented. It was really cool. After the tour we headed into the little historic town and did some shopping and had a bite for lunch at one of the little cafe's.
We left Lynchburg and headed to Memphis to see Elvis. From Lynchburg (which is in Southern TN) the fastest route to Memphis was through the upper parts of Alabama and Mississippi and then back into southwestern TN. So off we went in search of the King.
And that's where it all went wrong.....
About a mile after we re-entered TN, we were pulled over for speeding. In our defense the speed limit is 70, we were doing 75. We saw signs that there was reduced speed ahead, but never saw another speed limit sign. We were nabbed for doing 75 in a 55. Awesome. The cop was nice, but we still got a ticket.
We arrived in Memphis about 7 pm central time - about an hour after they closed the tours of Graceland. :( So we took some pictures of the outside of Graceland, the gates and the Lisa Marie airplane. We went into a souvenir shop and bought a bumpersticker that said, "I've been to Graceland" which has been changed via a sharpie to "I've been outside the gates of Graceland".
Our plan was to drive through the night and head to Kansas City, MO to stay with our friend Becky for a few nights. Which we still did.....even though we had a little fender bender in the parking lot of the Checker's on Elvis Presley Blvd. Damm fast food.
Yes, kids that's right, in a span of about an hour, we got a speeding ticket and had an accident in a rental. Perfect.
Basically we backed into a pole in the parking lot and normally, this kind of bump (going about 5 miles and hour) would have just dented the fender, but since we are the poster children for Murphy's Law, this little bump shattered the back window. There was glass EVERYWHERE....in the parking lot, in the car, in our boxes, in the dirty bag of clothes that was in the back...everywhere. We called Hertz, reported the accident, received a statement from Checker's that nothing on their property was damaged and headed out to the Hertz at the Memphis airport to exchange cars......Of course, nothing is that easy.
The Hertz did not have a car big enough for us, so our only choices were to stay the night in a hotel in Memphis and hope they had something for us in the morning or head to Kansas City as planned. We decided to head to MO since we couldn't secure the contents of the van. So we drove to MO, 9 hours in a van with the back window shattered and a tarp covering our stuff with a HORRIBLE dinging noise because the sensor on the back door registered it as not shut correctly since the window was missing. It was a LONG drive, but we arrived safetly, in Kansas City at 4 am Wednesday morning.
We slept for a few hours and started making all the necessary phone calls to get a new van and report the accident for insurance purposes. Of course there is a convention occuring in Kansas City this week and there are NO vans to be found within a two hour radius of the city. So 4 hours later we were no better off than when we started. Ike finally was able to get a hold of someone who could help us and thanks to a wonderful Claims Manager at Hertz named Matt we are picking up a new van today (Thursday) at 2 at the Kansas City airport. We will have to detour back to Kansas City after the original van is fixed so we can pick it up and continue our trip.....see, we needed the extra space and took out the second row seats for more room. Those seats are in our garage in Sanatoga, the wrecked car is in MO. It would have been fine had they provided us with the Honda as we requested since those seats fold into the floor....but that is now a moot point.
So we are safe and sound at our friend Becky's house (thank God for her) and have just kind of relaxed the past few days in air conditioned comfort. She has a fenced in back yard and the dogs are in heaven. We joked that we may just stay here for the next 3 weeks, but our desire to see the rest of the country overrides our need for air conditioned comfort.
We plan to pick up the new van this afternoon, repack it and head out tomorrow (Friday) am and drive through to Texas. Hopefully, it all works out.
What happened happened and we can't change it. So please don't ask us who was driving when the ticket was issued or who was driving when the accident occured. We swore ourselves to secrecy and it doesn't matter anyhow since the four of us are safe and unharmed. Life is always an adventure. :)
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Day 3....I hate Kentucky
Okay, maybe hate is too strong a word, since I am sitting at our campsite here southern KY about an hour or so from the Tennessee border and am able to blog as they have free wifi, plus the little old guy at the office was so sweet with his Southern twang and laid back manner, he even delivered ice to our site (I asked Ike if we could take him home with us, but he said we already have a little old lady).....but I digress...about the hating part...
.....So last night we ended up getting fried chicken for dinner at a local grocery store and wanted to pick up some beer to go with our chicken. We searched the store for beer and found none, so we asked at the register and the annoyed teenager at the check out told us we were in a dry county and had to drive 30 mins to find a store that sells alcohol. Great - no wonder the checker was cranky - dry county - yikes. We decided that it was worth the drive and made the 30 min trek to Shelbyville which incidently was exactly where we were earlier in the day. It's kinda hard to explain, but the drive to civilization from where we were camping, was long and windy and not at all a direct path. And we kept ending up on the same road that we turned off of about 5 mins from our camp site - I knew it had to be the same road (how can you have two different roads with the same route number within 5 mins from each other). We stopped a few times to ask and even got map quest directions and it kept taking us the long route. I asked at one of the places if it was the same road and the woman behind the counter, I swear to God said to me, "oh, honey, I don't know numbers"....Really? Helpful. We drove back from getting beer (which had a true window drive thru where you place your order, pay and they get your selections) the long windy way and how we didn't see this before is a mystery, but there was a huge sign on the side of a run down shack "Not for Sale". Ike and I started cracking up! Is this a problem for them? Do people actually stop and ask to buy the run-down shack?I almost couldn't help myself and so wanted to stop and ask how much, but Ike said it wasn't such a good idea.
We slept like ROCKS last night - no sleep for a day or so and some Sam Adams will do that to you - and I told Ike before we went to bed that we should put the rain fly on the tent because there were no stars out and I could see lightening in the distance. Good thing too because sometime duing the night we got one heck of a storm. All was well in the AM, I got up bright and shiny and made Ike a father's day breakfast of french toast and scrambled eggs. During breakfast we could hear thunder in the distance so we decided to pack up and leave right away, which was a good idea but we weren't fast enough....right after we took the rain fly off the tent the clouds opened up and it POURED....it was so bad, everything was wet, us, the dogs, the tent (inside and out - see removal of rain fly above), everything INSIDE the tent, blowup mattress, blankets, all our kitchen stuff...it was AWESOME. Mid-way thru the scramble of trying to throw everything we have into the van we looked at each other and just started cracking up....it was hysterical, we were racing toward nothing - everything was already soaked. And poor Marley, she is such a baby and HATES being wet, so she whined the entire time...all she had to do was go under the table. We finally got everything in the van and headed to the camp bathrooms to at least change into some dry clothes, by the time we made it to the bathrooms - about 100 yards away, it stopped raining. I thought Ike's head was going to pop off his body, he was so mad. We decided to get the tent back out to try and get some of the water out, but as soon as we did, the rain started again. It was comical.
After drying off and repacking the van, we headed out to Louisville to go to Church Hill Downs. Apparantly the state budget for sinage in KY is minimal, it took us hours to find it with a GPS and maps and stopping to ask for directions from a very nice, albeit bright-red headed lady at an air-conditionless McDonalds and an old balding guy with 70s style glasses and an attitude like he was God's gift to women at a gas station. We ended up in a not so nice section of Louisville and I kept telling Ike to stop and ask for directions, he would have none of it. I guess we were in the slums, but it didn't look so bad. We FINALLY found it and when we did, I could not believe people could not give us decent directions to get there. It was HUGE, and I mean HUGE, like 5 city blocks and the buildings were all white and gold - how do you live in Louisville and not know where Church Hill Downs is? We decided to forego the tour and just took some pictures. There is a big statue of Barbaro out front. Kinda sad. But all in all worth the effort, I think.
From Church Hill Downs, we raced to get to Jim Beam and got there just as they closed. Par for the course today. But we were allowed to walk around and take pictures. It was a big operation. Much bigger than I had anticipated and pretty interesting looking. We are going to try to get back tomorrow.
We left Jim Beam and headed to Nashville about 3 hours away, but since everything we owned was still wet and shoved in the back of the van, we decided to stop at a campsite along I64 and then our day started to turn around - the campsite was perfect! Clean, cheap, well maintained, free wifi, friendly people and an air conditioned cabin to boot. We were allowed to take over the site next to us and get everything out to let it all dry. Thank goodness! Of course there was a White Castle at this exit too, which totally made Ike's day.
So tonight we sleep in the comfort of an air conditioned cabin and dry clothes and my disdain for KY is diminishing as I type. :)
PS - We finally did go down that other road and it was the SAME one that was 5 mins from our campsite - I guess directions are not KY's strong point.
Happy Father's Day to all you Dads!
Oh, and my friend Alicia had her baby today - she was really early and the baby is only 4lbs, but mom and baby girl are doing well. Thanks for the text, Lauren!
.....So last night we ended up getting fried chicken for dinner at a local grocery store and wanted to pick up some beer to go with our chicken. We searched the store for beer and found none, so we asked at the register and the annoyed teenager at the check out told us we were in a dry county and had to drive 30 mins to find a store that sells alcohol. Great - no wonder the checker was cranky - dry county - yikes. We decided that it was worth the drive and made the 30 min trek to Shelbyville which incidently was exactly where we were earlier in the day. It's kinda hard to explain, but the drive to civilization from where we were camping, was long and windy and not at all a direct path. And we kept ending up on the same road that we turned off of about 5 mins from our camp site - I knew it had to be the same road (how can you have two different roads with the same route number within 5 mins from each other). We stopped a few times to ask and even got map quest directions and it kept taking us the long route. I asked at one of the places if it was the same road and the woman behind the counter, I swear to God said to me, "oh, honey, I don't know numbers"....Really? Helpful. We drove back from getting beer (which had a true window drive thru where you place your order, pay and they get your selections) the long windy way and how we didn't see this before is a mystery, but there was a huge sign on the side of a run down shack "Not for Sale". Ike and I started cracking up! Is this a problem for them? Do people actually stop and ask to buy the run-down shack?I almost couldn't help myself and so wanted to stop and ask how much, but Ike said it wasn't such a good idea.
We slept like ROCKS last night - no sleep for a day or so and some Sam Adams will do that to you - and I told Ike before we went to bed that we should put the rain fly on the tent because there were no stars out and I could see lightening in the distance. Good thing too because sometime duing the night we got one heck of a storm. All was well in the AM, I got up bright and shiny and made Ike a father's day breakfast of french toast and scrambled eggs. During breakfast we could hear thunder in the distance so we decided to pack up and leave right away, which was a good idea but we weren't fast enough....right after we took the rain fly off the tent the clouds opened up and it POURED....it was so bad, everything was wet, us, the dogs, the tent (inside and out - see removal of rain fly above), everything INSIDE the tent, blowup mattress, blankets, all our kitchen stuff...it was AWESOME. Mid-way thru the scramble of trying to throw everything we have into the van we looked at each other and just started cracking up....it was hysterical, we were racing toward nothing - everything was already soaked. And poor Marley, she is such a baby and HATES being wet, so she whined the entire time...all she had to do was go under the table. We finally got everything in the van and headed to the camp bathrooms to at least change into some dry clothes, by the time we made it to the bathrooms - about 100 yards away, it stopped raining. I thought Ike's head was going to pop off his body, he was so mad. We decided to get the tent back out to try and get some of the water out, but as soon as we did, the rain started again. It was comical.
After drying off and repacking the van, we headed out to Louisville to go to Church Hill Downs. Apparantly the state budget for sinage in KY is minimal, it took us hours to find it with a GPS and maps and stopping to ask for directions from a very nice, albeit bright-red headed lady at an air-conditionless McDonalds and an old balding guy with 70s style glasses and an attitude like he was God's gift to women at a gas station. We ended up in a not so nice section of Louisville and I kept telling Ike to stop and ask for directions, he would have none of it. I guess we were in the slums, but it didn't look so bad. We FINALLY found it and when we did, I could not believe people could not give us decent directions to get there. It was HUGE, and I mean HUGE, like 5 city blocks and the buildings were all white and gold - how do you live in Louisville and not know where Church Hill Downs is? We decided to forego the tour and just took some pictures. There is a big statue of Barbaro out front. Kinda sad. But all in all worth the effort, I think.
From Church Hill Downs, we raced to get to Jim Beam and got there just as they closed. Par for the course today. But we were allowed to walk around and take pictures. It was a big operation. Much bigger than I had anticipated and pretty interesting looking. We are going to try to get back tomorrow.
We left Jim Beam and headed to Nashville about 3 hours away, but since everything we owned was still wet and shoved in the back of the van, we decided to stop at a campsite along I64 and then our day started to turn around - the campsite was perfect! Clean, cheap, well maintained, free wifi, friendly people and an air conditioned cabin to boot. We were allowed to take over the site next to us and get everything out to let it all dry. Thank goodness! Of course there was a White Castle at this exit too, which totally made Ike's day.
So tonight we sleep in the comfort of an air conditioned cabin and dry clothes and my disdain for KY is diminishing as I type. :)
PS - We finally did go down that other road and it was the SAME one that was 5 mins from our campsite - I guess directions are not KY's strong point.
Happy Father's Day to all you Dads!
Oh, and my friend Alicia had her baby today - she was really early and the baby is only 4lbs, but mom and baby girl are doing well. Thanks for the text, Lauren!
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Batters up
Steph got to stay in the air conditioned van with the girls while I toured the Louisville Slugger Museum, since I am such a big baseball fan (I'm not really). I ended up walking through the streets of Louisville, with a complimentary mini-bat in one hand and a full sized bat in the other to find Steph blogging at an expired meter.
Pictures will follow...
Pictures will follow...
And we are off.....
Packing up the van and getting the house ready for being gone a month was nothing less than interesting. We spent hours packing and re-packing the van countless times only to realize we had more stuff to pack and then remembering yet more things we needed, topped off with cleaning up the house before we left, I thought we would never leave. But sure enough around 9:30 Friday night we said goodbye to our house to embark on our journey. Unfortunatly, it was a quick trip because we needed ice among a few other things, so after we picked up a few groceries, we came home to drop some stuff off and re-pack the cooler. We left again about 10, but decided we were hungry since we had not eaten dinner. So off to Wawa we go. THEN, we get back on the road and Ike realizes he forgot his baseball hat. Since we had only made it to the Wawa in Pottstown, we came back to the house AGAIN. Thanfully, the 3rd time was charm and we left for good around 10:45.
We drove out to Harrisburg, down thru Maryland and into West Virgina. We were in WV when the sun came up and seeing the clouds/fog "hang" on the trees in the mountains onto the highway was amazing. I had never seen that many pockets of fog/clouds so close to the ground before. Ike, being from Pittsburgh, was not impressed. I thought it awesome each time we passed through a huge patch of fog. Ike found my enthusiasm amusing for about the first 20 mins.
We made Kentucky by 7:30 Saturday am and decided to detour Lexington in favor of Louisville. We stopped for gas at a random gas station /strip mall off of I-70 and was able to pick up a wireless signal. We researched camp grounds, found a few promising ones and set out to find our home for the night. Let me just say that Kentucky is an uniqueness kind of place (that's for you Len). But seriously, the people are friendly, actually very friendly, but there are some scary back woods areas in this state that would scare the pants off you. Suffice it to say that we went to a few campgrounds and decided on a KY State Park off of Rt. 248. Huge site with enough shade and reasonably priced.
Random thoughts on KY:
Men here don't wear shirts. I don't know why. Young, old, skinny, not so skinny - doesn't matter, shirts are just a nuisance to them.
Oh, and we ran into a biker group when we were driving to Louisville. Yes, let's call them a group. There were a lot of them - A LOT. We have pix. We'll post soon. I had never seen that many bikes all together at once. It was really cool. Oh, and just a side note, they don't like it when you stare.
We drove out to Harrisburg, down thru Maryland and into West Virgina. We were in WV when the sun came up and seeing the clouds/fog "hang" on the trees in the mountains onto the highway was amazing. I had never seen that many pockets of fog/clouds so close to the ground before. Ike, being from Pittsburgh, was not impressed. I thought it awesome each time we passed through a huge patch of fog. Ike found my enthusiasm amusing for about the first 20 mins.
We made Kentucky by 7:30 Saturday am and decided to detour Lexington in favor of Louisville. We stopped for gas at a random gas station /strip mall off of I-70 and was able to pick up a wireless signal. We researched camp grounds, found a few promising ones and set out to find our home for the night. Let me just say that Kentucky is an uniqueness kind of place (that's for you Len). But seriously, the people are friendly, actually very friendly, but there are some scary back woods areas in this state that would scare the pants off you. Suffice it to say that we went to a few campgrounds and decided on a KY State Park off of Rt. 248. Huge site with enough shade and reasonably priced.
Random thoughts on KY:
Men here don't wear shirts. I don't know why. Young, old, skinny, not so skinny - doesn't matter, shirts are just a nuisance to them.
Oh, and we ran into a biker group when we were driving to Louisville. Yes, let's call them a group. There were a lot of them - A LOT. We have pix. We'll post soon. I had never seen that many bikes all together at once. It was really cool. Oh, and just a side note, they don't like it when you stare.
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
10 Days and Counting
Packing starts this week. Right now we have a big pile in the back room of the basement ready for Ike to organize so we can pack it into the van. Tetris skills will come in handy. Ike is picking up the van on the 17th.
Hopefully, I can get done my work for this project I am working on and we can leave early on the 19th. Here's hoping!
By the way, we decided that Indiana is a drive-by kinda state. What do people who live there do there in their free-time - it's the most uneventful state ever? And this from someone whose been to Delaware.
Hopefully, I can get done my work for this project I am working on and we can leave early on the 19th. Here's hoping!
By the way, we decided that Indiana is a drive-by kinda state. What do people who live there do there in their free-time - it's the most uneventful state ever? And this from someone whose been to Delaware.
Monday, June 1, 2009
Almost time...
I can't believe it's almost here. We talked about it for so long and we are actually going to do it! 29 Days Coast to Coast - in a mini-van - with two German Shepherd's - it's going to be a blast. :)
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