Tuesday, October 7, 2008
There's No Place Like Home!
We finally made it home Monday, October 6, 2008 at about 3:30. We were so anxious about the yard and my poor birdies and flowers, but were pleasantly surprised to find that our dear neighbor, Gene,had cut part of the grass for us around the driveway and the right of way out by the road, so it didn't look like an empty house and the flowers survived and the climbing roses that I rooted were looking great as was the wisteria, but the trumpet vine failed to root, but that's okay, my Petunias on the porch were a little leggy, but still in bloom and the mums, hey, you really can't kill them and they are in bloom. I had to get a manicure and pedicure because it's been 4 weeks and my nail specialist said to just wait because it's not a good idea to go to an unfamiliar salon and I totally took her advice. She was so glad to see me because I got the "works" and they need the business. I then got my teeth cleaned. Oh, I was so bad on vacation. I ate what I wanted and although I practiced dental hygiene I didn't take the pains that I do at home so they had to dig pretty deep but I now have clean choppers! We finished unloading the car this afternoon and couldn't believe the stuff we had forgotten that we had bought along the way. We have a good many souvenirs; a rock from Sioux Falls,SD, a rock from Death Valley, various and sundrid tee-shirts from Sturgis HD to "We Got a Kick on Route 66". John is planning a long weekend hunting trip on October 30 and I am going to put together a scrapbook of our trip so those of you who are coming for the Nix Family Thanksgiving will have the opportunity to see it and I will bring it to the Garner Family Christmas at Wayne and Jeri's this year. It's your year, right? That's all for now and I am going to take a break from blogging until we get back into our normal routine. (Reading the paper, working the crossword, checking the sale papers, etc.) America is truly beautiful and we are a very strong people and don't let anyone tell you different.
Sunday, October 5, 2008
October 5, 2008
Sunday night and we are in Selma, Alabama. We were not sure what to expect, actually. Since this is such an historic town and has a rich and varied past, we just couldn’t imagine what it would be like. But, as with all the larger towns in this country, there is a Domino’s Pizza, a Holiday Inn Express and high speed internet. All of the history is ensconced in the “historic district. Anywho, we left Shreveport this morning headed east on I-20 barreling down the road determined to get home on Monday afternoon. I miss my birdies and John is convinced we will have to hire a bushhog person to cut the grass. We should have a ton of junk mail to go through as well as bills to pay. We did note the poor roads of Louisiana and Mississippi. I-20 is a rough, bumpy, dippy highway in these two states. But they have a lot of water and everything is lush so I guess there is a tradeoff of sorts. We veered off I-20 in Cuba, Alabama and we are traveling on U.S. 80 now. The cattle ranches and catfisheries are abundant in this area. I guess this is where the catfish we buy at Kroger comes from. We just watched a replay of the 4th quarter of the Auburn/Vanderbilt game and were totally satisfied with the outcome. John predicts if Alabama beats Auburn this year that Nick Saban will certainly get a raise. It’s time you know (forgive me Emily Garner) but Alabama is due to win this year. My observation throughout the past 4 weeks is that this country is amazing and the people are strong and resilient and just need someone who understands the basic needs of the people to take charge of the country. I don’t think a person who has never lived paycheck to paycheck can understand the plight of the majority of the American middle class. John and I are blessed because we have a fixed income that covers our needs but there are millions of Americans who are having to cut back so far to pay rent, mortgage, power bills and sacrifice nutritious meals for the 99 cent fast food menu for their children. We must closely examine the motives of our candidates and choose the right man for the job in November. So, having said that, we are so happy to be back across the Mississippi and will be home tomorrow.
Sunday night and we are in Selma, Alabama. We were not sure what to expect, actually. Since this is such an historic town and has a rich and varied past, we just couldn’t imagine what it would be like. But, as with all the larger towns in this country, there is a Domino’s Pizza, a Holiday Inn Express and high speed internet. All of the history is ensconced in the “historic district. Anywho, we left Shreveport this morning headed east on I-20 barreling down the road determined to get home on Monday afternoon. I miss my birdies and John is convinced we will have to hire a bushhog person to cut the grass. We should have a ton of junk mail to go through as well as bills to pay. We did note the poor roads of Louisiana and Mississippi. I-20 is a rough, bumpy, dippy highway in these two states. But they have a lot of water and everything is lush so I guess there is a tradeoff of sorts. We veered off I-20 in Cuba, Alabama and we are traveling on U.S. 80 now. The cattle ranches and catfisheries are abundant in this area. I guess this is where the catfish we buy at Kroger comes from. We just watched a replay of the 4th quarter of the Auburn/Vanderbilt game and were totally satisfied with the outcome. John predicts if Alabama beats Auburn this year that Nick Saban will certainly get a raise. It’s time you know (forgive me Emily Garner) but Alabama is due to win this year. My observation throughout the past 4 weeks is that this country is amazing and the people are strong and resilient and just need someone who understands the basic needs of the people to take charge of the country. I don’t think a person who has never lived paycheck to paycheck can understand the plight of the majority of the American middle class. John and I are blessed because we have a fixed income that covers our needs but there are millions of Americans who are having to cut back so far to pay rent, mortgage, power bills and sacrifice nutritious meals for the 99 cent fast food menu for their children. We must closely examine the motives of our candidates and choose the right man for the job in November. So, having said that, we are so happy to be back across the Mississippi and will be home tomorrow.
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Saturday, October 4, 2008
We put the pedal to the metal this morning to get us to Shreveport in time to watch the 4th quarter of the Alabama/Kentucky game and we just did make it on fumes I might add. We didn’t want to stop until we absolutely had to and we are now comfortably settled in the HI Express with a full tank of gas and the ballgame on. Hey, it doesn’t get better than that, right? We thoroughly enjoyed our ride today since we began to notice the change in scenery as we traveled northeast through Dallas/Fort Worth. We began to see pine trees and oaks and knew that we were getting closer to home. We finally stopped for lunch in Terrell, Texas at Carmona’s Tex-Mex and Cantina. It was authentic Mexican fare. We ordered the especial Asada, grilled steak with onions and peppers and it came with rice, pinto beans, pico de gallo, guacamole and of course salsa and chips. We wolfed it down because it was so good and spiced just right and not too hot for me. We decided that we could make this at home just as well as we had it today when we are in the mood for Mexican. That’s something we eat only occasionally. We got back on the road and the area began to become more populated. We passed a couple of large ranches; one had a herd of CAMELS and the other had a herd of BURROS. We saw a porcupine on the side of the road as well as a fox. No armadillos until we reached the Louisiana border. We are trying to get home by Monday evening, so we will not stop and take any pictures unless we come upon something we just have to snap. Sunday, we are shooting for Meridian, Mississippi, where we will catch U.S. 80 through Selma to Montgomery, hit I-65 to Wire Road and U.S. 80 again to Columbus then Macon, and finally Bolingbroke. What a fantastic trip this has been and one neither of us will ever forget, especially the time we had with family along the way.
We put the pedal to the metal this morning to get us to Shreveport in time to watch the 4th quarter of the Alabama/Kentucky game and we just did make it on fumes I might add. We didn’t want to stop until we absolutely had to and we are now comfortably settled in the HI Express with a full tank of gas and the ballgame on. Hey, it doesn’t get better than that, right? We thoroughly enjoyed our ride today since we began to notice the change in scenery as we traveled northeast through Dallas/Fort Worth. We began to see pine trees and oaks and knew that we were getting closer to home. We finally stopped for lunch in Terrell, Texas at Carmona’s Tex-Mex and Cantina. It was authentic Mexican fare. We ordered the especial Asada, grilled steak with onions and peppers and it came with rice, pinto beans, pico de gallo, guacamole and of course salsa and chips. We wolfed it down because it was so good and spiced just right and not too hot for me. We decided that we could make this at home just as well as we had it today when we are in the mood for Mexican. That’s something we eat only occasionally. We got back on the road and the area began to become more populated. We passed a couple of large ranches; one had a herd of CAMELS and the other had a herd of BURROS. We saw a porcupine on the side of the road as well as a fox. No armadillos until we reached the Louisiana border. We are trying to get home by Monday evening, so we will not stop and take any pictures unless we come upon something we just have to snap. Sunday, we are shooting for Meridian, Mississippi, where we will catch U.S. 80 through Selma to Montgomery, hit I-65 to Wire Road and U.S. 80 again to Columbus then Macon, and finally Bolingbroke. What a fantastic trip this has been and one neither of us will ever forget, especially the time we had with family along the way.
Friday, October 3, 2008
Deep in the Heart of Texas
October 3, 2008
Whew! We made it to the east side of Abilene, which is about half way across the widest portion of Texas and what sights were there to behold! We took a picture of Juarez, Mexico last night and you really can’t see anything but the lights, but that is for sure Mexico! So we went from the Canadian border and the Mexican border in one trip! We thought that was cool. For about 30 miles east of El Paso, the Rio Grande runs alongside I-10 and immediately it takes you out in the middle of nowhere and we could see Mexico for all that way just a couple miles to the south of us. We the happened upon a road block set up by the border patrol and every vehicle was stopped and this very polite border patrolman asked us our country of citizenship and of course John said “U.S” and then the border patrolman asked “Ma’am how about you, country of citizenship?” I told him “U.S.”. WTF?? We never left the U.S. and then we realized what was going on. Since that 30 mile stretch of desert bordering Mexico has no fence or barrier except for the Rio Grande, they have to make sure we weren’t sneaking anybody into the country illegally. However, we could have had a Mexican or two hidden amongst our extensive wardrobe in the back seat……But it was a little exciting for us. We crossed many miles of desert and then climbed up into the mountains of Texas, which are not as steep as the ones in New Mexico, but our ears did pop a couple of times. We then reached Pecos, Texas and were astounded at the number of oil wells pumping steadily and the oil rigs with guys drilling for more. Also noted were the number of “Help Wanted” signs and the vitality of the whole area at this point. Then we began to get into greener pastures and massive farms of cotton, sugar cane and hay. This land is completely flat and I dubbed it “the big empty” because you can see literally for 10 or 15 miles in each direction. We caught sight of some tall white structures way off in the distance and could not imagine what they could possibly be. We guessed, oil refineries??? But upon closer inspection we discovered they are windmills! Remember our trek from Yosemite to Carmel, CA and passing the windmills? Well, these are the same type but there are thousands of them for miles and miles. There is absolutely no resistance since there is not a tree in sight, so they were all turning and churning out the power. This state is doing what we all need to do, find alternative forms of energy. You will see an oil field in the foreground and windmill fields in the background, then crops and cattle and many horses and a whole bunch of big ole honking pickup trucks, brand new, most of them. We traveled over 400 miles today and we have over 7,000 miles on the Xterra. We are ready to be at home, so we are going to finish traveling across Texas tomorrow and spend the night in Shreveport, LA and then we are going to try to make Meridian, MS on Sunday evening. We can jump on U.S. 80 in Meridian which is a straight shot over to Montgomery and then to Macon via I-85/U.S. 80. John thinks we can get home on Monday, but we don’t have to be home until the 8th, which is the 30th day of our trip and the day the Post Office will burn our mail if we don’t pick it up. They gave a stern warning on our stop mail form about only being able to hold it for 30 days. I am really anxious that they will throw it away or burn it or something awful. BTW, if you stay in the Holiday Inn enough, you will get all sorts of complimentary upgrades. You ought to see our suite. It even has a ceiling fan! You gotta love it.
Whew! We made it to the east side of Abilene, which is about half way across the widest portion of Texas and what sights were there to behold! We took a picture of Juarez, Mexico last night and you really can’t see anything but the lights, but that is for sure Mexico! So we went from the Canadian border and the Mexican border in one trip! We thought that was cool. For about 30 miles east of El Paso, the Rio Grande runs alongside I-10 and immediately it takes you out in the middle of nowhere and we could see Mexico for all that way just a couple miles to the south of us. We the happened upon a road block set up by the border patrol and every vehicle was stopped and this very polite border patrolman asked us our country of citizenship and of course John said “U.S” and then the border patrolman asked “Ma’am how about you, country of citizenship?” I told him “U.S.”. WTF?? We never left the U.S. and then we realized what was going on. Since that 30 mile stretch of desert bordering Mexico has no fence or barrier except for the Rio Grande, they have to make sure we weren’t sneaking anybody into the country illegally. However, we could have had a Mexican or two hidden amongst our extensive wardrobe in the back seat……But it was a little exciting for us. We crossed many miles of desert and then climbed up into the mountains of Texas, which are not as steep as the ones in New Mexico, but our ears did pop a couple of times. We then reached Pecos, Texas and were astounded at the number of oil wells pumping steadily and the oil rigs with guys drilling for more. Also noted were the number of “Help Wanted” signs and the vitality of the whole area at this point. Then we began to get into greener pastures and massive farms of cotton, sugar cane and hay. This land is completely flat and I dubbed it “the big empty” because you can see literally for 10 or 15 miles in each direction. We caught sight of some tall white structures way off in the distance and could not imagine what they could possibly be. We guessed, oil refineries??? But upon closer inspection we discovered they are windmills! Remember our trek from Yosemite to Carmel, CA and passing the windmills? Well, these are the same type but there are thousands of them for miles and miles. There is absolutely no resistance since there is not a tree in sight, so they were all turning and churning out the power. This state is doing what we all need to do, find alternative forms of energy. You will see an oil field in the foreground and windmill fields in the background, then crops and cattle and many horses and a whole bunch of big ole honking pickup trucks, brand new, most of them. We traveled over 400 miles today and we have over 7,000 miles on the Xterra. We are ready to be at home, so we are going to finish traveling across Texas tomorrow and spend the night in Shreveport, LA and then we are going to try to make Meridian, MS on Sunday evening. We can jump on U.S. 80 in Meridian which is a straight shot over to Montgomery and then to Macon via I-85/U.S. 80. John thinks we can get home on Monday, but we don’t have to be home until the 8th, which is the 30th day of our trip and the day the Post Office will burn our mail if we don’t pick it up. They gave a stern warning on our stop mail form about only being able to hold it for 30 days. I am really anxious that they will throw it away or burn it or something awful. BTW, if you stay in the Holiday Inn enough, you will get all sorts of complimentary upgrades. You ought to see our suite. It even has a ceiling fan! You gotta love it.
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Land of Enchantment and Big Ole Texas
Thursday, October 3, 2008
We tried to put a lot of pavement under us today as we are officially headed home and are at a HI Express on I-10 east of El Paso. I do want to tell you more about New Mexico, the Land of Enchantment since we have had absolutely no internet service since yesterday outside of Santa Fe. This is probably one of the more diverse states as far as scenery is concerned that we have travelled through. There are mountains of red rock and pinion trees (bushy conifers), the concreted they use is adobe colored because the gravel is ground down from the local rock, therefore, the bridges are adobe colored and the rails are painted turquoise! This is the way it is done throughout the state, at least on Interstate 25, which is how we traveled throughout the state until we got to El Paso, where we hooked up with I-10. There is serious flooding in the deserts so there are “washes” or dry streambeds that carry the flood waters away and to the Rio Grande or the Rio Puerto rivers. There is a lot of gambling on the Indian reservations and horse racing is huge out here. Everybody has a horse or horses and live on ranches of thousands of acres. Another thing we noticed is how pristine everything is. There is no trash to speak of on the rights of way and we passed several teams of inmates cleaning up the side of the road. The air is dry and cool at night. Last night we sat outside until sunset and it was kinda like San Francisco in the summer of 2004; no screens on the windows, no bugs and no humidity and it dropped to the 40’s at sundown. We decided to treat ourselves and go out and have a fancy dinner. We have up until now just grabbed anything or ordered room service because we were so tired. But yesterday we did not go all the way to El Paso and stopped early enough to rest and get a good meal. John ordered Wild Boar! I got the all you can eat Rib-eye Steak dinner and we got some decent wine and had a wonderful time. While we were waiting for our table we sat in the bar and the bartender was so friendly and we talked with her the whole time we were waiting. She wanted to know all about our trip and we just had a lovely and wonderful evening and best of all, we were able to walk there and back from our hotel which was incredible since it was a cool night and the stars were out and brilliant. We got to El Paso today and were going to take a picture of the border but we were astounded at the nastiness of the area and at the number of people WALKING back over the border into Mexico. I was afraid to stop because the people we saw on foot didn’t look like anybody you would want to meet in a dark alley. I mean, rough looking folks. So we skedaddled on out of town and we are back in our comfort zone in a new, clean HI Express with internet service (Yippee). Tomorrow we are planning on making Abilene, TX and then on Saturday, we hope to make Shreveport, LA, Sunday hopefully Meridian, MS, Monday to Birmingham (sweet home Alabama!) and then to Bolingbroke on Tuesday. We will keep you apprised as we go along of course. We are just now ready to get back home as we have done and seen all or almost all we set out to do.
We tried to put a lot of pavement under us today as we are officially headed home and are at a HI Express on I-10 east of El Paso. I do want to tell you more about New Mexico, the Land of Enchantment since we have had absolutely no internet service since yesterday outside of Santa Fe. This is probably one of the more diverse states as far as scenery is concerned that we have travelled through. There are mountains of red rock and pinion trees (bushy conifers), the concreted they use is adobe colored because the gravel is ground down from the local rock, therefore, the bridges are adobe colored and the rails are painted turquoise! This is the way it is done throughout the state, at least on Interstate 25, which is how we traveled throughout the state until we got to El Paso, where we hooked up with I-10. There is serious flooding in the deserts so there are “washes” or dry streambeds that carry the flood waters away and to the Rio Grande or the Rio Puerto rivers. There is a lot of gambling on the Indian reservations and horse racing is huge out here. Everybody has a horse or horses and live on ranches of thousands of acres. Another thing we noticed is how pristine everything is. There is no trash to speak of on the rights of way and we passed several teams of inmates cleaning up the side of the road. The air is dry and cool at night. Last night we sat outside until sunset and it was kinda like San Francisco in the summer of 2004; no screens on the windows, no bugs and no humidity and it dropped to the 40’s at sundown. We decided to treat ourselves and go out and have a fancy dinner. We have up until now just grabbed anything or ordered room service because we were so tired. But yesterday we did not go all the way to El Paso and stopped early enough to rest and get a good meal. John ordered Wild Boar! I got the all you can eat Rib-eye Steak dinner and we got some decent wine and had a wonderful time. While we were waiting for our table we sat in the bar and the bartender was so friendly and we talked with her the whole time we were waiting. She wanted to know all about our trip and we just had a lovely and wonderful evening and best of all, we were able to walk there and back from our hotel which was incredible since it was a cool night and the stars were out and brilliant. We got to El Paso today and were going to take a picture of the border but we were astounded at the nastiness of the area and at the number of people WALKING back over the border into Mexico. I was afraid to stop because the people we saw on foot didn’t look like anybody you would want to meet in a dark alley. I mean, rough looking folks. So we skedaddled on out of town and we are back in our comfort zone in a new, clean HI Express with internet service (Yippee). Tomorrow we are planning on making Abilene, TX and then on Saturday, we hope to make Shreveport, LA, Sunday hopefully Meridian, MS, Monday to Birmingham (sweet home Alabama!) and then to Bolingbroke on Tuesday. We will keep you apprised as we go along of course. We are just now ready to get back home as we have done and seen all or almost all we set out to do.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words
October 1, 2008
As we excitedly drove to Santa Fe this morning I was hit with the thought that I might not recognize Darwin as I hadn’t seen him in many years. Well, I should not have worried because he is as handsome as he always has been and is really doing well. He chose the Railyard Restaurant for lunch, which is located in the “artsy” section of town. We got to meet his new girlfriend, Haley Ritchey, who is a dentist and has a 7 year old daughter. Haley is delightful. She is certainly a positive influence for Darwin. The meal was great, but the company was greater and we are planning on flying out next year so that we can explore Santa Fe when we have more time. This month has really flown by and we need to head down to Roswell, then El Paso, take a picture of the Mexican border and then head on home. I wanted to go ahead and get this posted because I wanted everyone to see how good Darwin looks and of course introduce you to Haley.
As we excitedly drove to Santa Fe this morning I was hit with the thought that I might not recognize Darwin as I hadn’t seen him in many years. Well, I should not have worried because he is as handsome as he always has been and is really doing well. He chose the Railyard Restaurant for lunch, which is located in the “artsy” section of town. We got to meet his new girlfriend, Haley Ritchey, who is a dentist and has a 7 year old daughter. Haley is delightful. She is certainly a positive influence for Darwin. The meal was great, but the company was greater and we are planning on flying out next year so that we can explore Santa Fe when we have more time. This month has really flown by and we need to head down to Roswell, then El Paso, take a picture of the Mexican border and then head on home. I wanted to go ahead and get this posted because I wanted everyone to see how good Darwin looks and of course introduce you to Haley.
Grand Canyon and Winslow Arizona
September 29 and 30, 2008
We got an early start Monday morning, so excited about seeing the Grand Canyon! We finally got out of the desert and began to see more and more vegetation and conifers. We decided at the last minute to top off our gas in case we got up there and wanted to make side trips. We rolled into the first station we found and were pleasantly surprised that although the pumps were self service, a service man appeared to wash the windshield and check the oil, water, tires, etc. They were a full service station with mechanics, the whole nine yards. Just like the old days. Well, we were on Route 66 after all and the town of Williams has kept is frontier charm and there are at least 100 bars within a 12 block area. Curious. Anyway, our friendly service man pointed out that our tires were starting to come apart!!! Yikes!!! We have over 62,000 miles on the Xterra and the original tires were on it and we had been traveling at 70 mph in the desert for a couple of days. Thank God we stopped there. He got us back on the road in 45 minutes with new tires and a new sense of just how harsh the conditions are out here. We headed north to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, approximately 50 miles away. We passed by ranch after ranch of sheep and actually saw a herd being shorn. Too cool. We arrived at Tuscayan, AZ, which is just outside the park and found the Red Feather Inn and snagged the last King Suite for Monday night and learned that the wireless internet service is so slow that we decided to wait until we got to a larger venue to post this blog entry and the pictures from Vegas, the Mojave Desert and the pix from the Grand Canyon. We took off again and got to the Canyon about 2:00 or so and let me tell you, the pictures, videos, movies or whatever that you have seen are not anything to compare to the real thing. It is surreal and beautiful, and amazing and astounding, and all other adjectives that describe nature at its best. We ate lunch at the Angel Lodge Restaurant which is right on the rim of the canyon. We toured the history museum and here is the scoop. A certain Fred Harvey came to the canyon in the late 1800s and realized that tourism would be more lucrative than gold or silver mining and built the first Angel Lodge. His family more or less had a monopoly on the tourism trade until the 1930s when others came in to get a piece of the action. Harvey hired Mary Colter, a female architect (almost unheard of in the day) to renovate the lodge and design other structures for the area. She combined the Indian heritage and the forest scenario in her designs and the structures remain as she designed them over 70 years ago! The Lookout Lodge is on the precipice of the rim and the Rangers give lectures on the Condors and their habitat, one of which is the grand canyon. We were just looking out over the grandeur when all of a sudden this spotted squirrel came within inches of my left arm! Scared the bejesus out of me. I was able to get pretty close to the edge where there were retaining walls or fences, but there were some areas where my vertigo basically paralyzed me and I just waited on John to finish his look see over the edge. The people that we encountered on our trek around the rim were from almost every nation in the world. I heard French, German, Russian, Asian of different regions, British English, Spanish and of course English. Everyone was as one in the awe and almost spiritual feel of the area. It was very cool. On our way out of the park we spotted a couple of mule deer. Oh yeah, we saw another dead coyote by the side of the road.
Okay, so I get up Tuesday a.m. and go to breakfast as usual and I encountered some of the people who were at the Canyon; German, Russian, French, Asian, British and Spanish visitors to our nation. It was a totally different feel in the room from what I had experienced on Monday. It was as if I wasn’t in the room at all because they pushed, shoved and broke line and basically showed me a very rude side to their personalities which disheartened me and brought me totally down. I had this warm and fuzzy feeling yesterday as if we were all as one and our diversity vanished. So much for warm and fuzzy. Reality sunk in! We decided not to stay another night there and set our sights on Route 66 and Winslow, Arizona! I wore my Eagles T-Shirt for the occasion as we sped as fast as we could to make it to Albuquerque by day’s end. We did stop in Winslow and again at the Continental Divide where we celebrated with a Nutty Buddy. We haven’t eaten ice cream in decades, but it was just right for that moment. The scenery changed from forest to red mesas and adobe homes of the Pueblo Indians. The store we stopped in for the ice cream was on the Navaho Nation Reservation which also sported a 10-story hotel and casino. The women that we encountered on the reservation were so sweet and polite and were genuinely appreciative when we thanked them for something. I guess some of those “ferriners” had preceded us. We did get to Albuquerque and plan on driving up to Santa Fe on Wednesday to meet Darwin for lunch. I spoke with him on the phone and he sounded just great and actually wanted us to spend the night with he and I think he said Haley, his girlfriend. We aren’t going to stay over there as we want to turn around and try to make El Paso by Wednesday evening, take a picture of the Mexican border and then head home. We need to be back at least by October 8, 2008 as that’s when the post office will stop holding our mail!
We got an early start Monday morning, so excited about seeing the Grand Canyon! We finally got out of the desert and began to see more and more vegetation and conifers. We decided at the last minute to top off our gas in case we got up there and wanted to make side trips. We rolled into the first station we found and were pleasantly surprised that although the pumps were self service, a service man appeared to wash the windshield and check the oil, water, tires, etc. They were a full service station with mechanics, the whole nine yards. Just like the old days. Well, we were on Route 66 after all and the town of Williams has kept is frontier charm and there are at least 100 bars within a 12 block area. Curious. Anyway, our friendly service man pointed out that our tires were starting to come apart!!! Yikes!!! We have over 62,000 miles on the Xterra and the original tires were on it and we had been traveling at 70 mph in the desert for a couple of days. Thank God we stopped there. He got us back on the road in 45 minutes with new tires and a new sense of just how harsh the conditions are out here. We headed north to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, approximately 50 miles away. We passed by ranch after ranch of sheep and actually saw a herd being shorn. Too cool. We arrived at Tuscayan, AZ, which is just outside the park and found the Red Feather Inn and snagged the last King Suite for Monday night and learned that the wireless internet service is so slow that we decided to wait until we got to a larger venue to post this blog entry and the pictures from Vegas, the Mojave Desert and the pix from the Grand Canyon. We took off again and got to the Canyon about 2:00 or so and let me tell you, the pictures, videos, movies or whatever that you have seen are not anything to compare to the real thing. It is surreal and beautiful, and amazing and astounding, and all other adjectives that describe nature at its best. We ate lunch at the Angel Lodge Restaurant which is right on the rim of the canyon. We toured the history museum and here is the scoop. A certain Fred Harvey came to the canyon in the late 1800s and realized that tourism would be more lucrative than gold or silver mining and built the first Angel Lodge. His family more or less had a monopoly on the tourism trade until the 1930s when others came in to get a piece of the action. Harvey hired Mary Colter, a female architect (almost unheard of in the day) to renovate the lodge and design other structures for the area. She combined the Indian heritage and the forest scenario in her designs and the structures remain as she designed them over 70 years ago! The Lookout Lodge is on the precipice of the rim and the Rangers give lectures on the Condors and their habitat, one of which is the grand canyon. We were just looking out over the grandeur when all of a sudden this spotted squirrel came within inches of my left arm! Scared the bejesus out of me. I was able to get pretty close to the edge where there were retaining walls or fences, but there were some areas where my vertigo basically paralyzed me and I just waited on John to finish his look see over the edge. The people that we encountered on our trek around the rim were from almost every nation in the world. I heard French, German, Russian, Asian of different regions, British English, Spanish and of course English. Everyone was as one in the awe and almost spiritual feel of the area. It was very cool. On our way out of the park we spotted a couple of mule deer. Oh yeah, we saw another dead coyote by the side of the road.
Okay, so I get up Tuesday a.m. and go to breakfast as usual and I encountered some of the people who were at the Canyon; German, Russian, French, Asian, British and Spanish visitors to our nation. It was a totally different feel in the room from what I had experienced on Monday. It was as if I wasn’t in the room at all because they pushed, shoved and broke line and basically showed me a very rude side to their personalities which disheartened me and brought me totally down. I had this warm and fuzzy feeling yesterday as if we were all as one and our diversity vanished. So much for warm and fuzzy. Reality sunk in! We decided not to stay another night there and set our sights on Route 66 and Winslow, Arizona! I wore my Eagles T-Shirt for the occasion as we sped as fast as we could to make it to Albuquerque by day’s end. We did stop in Winslow and again at the Continental Divide where we celebrated with a Nutty Buddy. We haven’t eaten ice cream in decades, but it was just right for that moment. The scenery changed from forest to red mesas and adobe homes of the Pueblo Indians. The store we stopped in for the ice cream was on the Navaho Nation Reservation which also sported a 10-story hotel and casino. The women that we encountered on the reservation were so sweet and polite and were genuinely appreciative when we thanked them for something. I guess some of those “ferriners” had preceded us. We did get to Albuquerque and plan on driving up to Santa Fe on Wednesday to meet Darwin for lunch. I spoke with him on the phone and he sounded just great and actually wanted us to spend the night with he and I think he said Haley, his girlfriend. We aren’t going to stay over there as we want to turn around and try to make El Paso by Wednesday evening, take a picture of the Mexican border and then head home. We need to be back at least by October 8, 2008 as that’s when the post office will stop holding our mail!
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