Cannonball day 6, New Orleans to Ft Lauderdale and airplanes on a stick…

Today is our last day on the road... The end of our cannonball run...  It's going to be a long day, 840 miles or so...

We left the hotel about 7:10.  Our car was held prisoner in the parking garage the valet having not shown up.  A valet from a nearby hotel was summoned and Clifford (the car has a name... I don't think we have addressed that before) retrieved.  We looped around to Canal, then up Canal, passing the cemeteries and onto I-10 East.  Through the Seventh ward, and along the edge of the Ninth Ward, still evidence of Katrina but less with each visit.

We reach Mississippi about 8:00 am...

Eventually, somewhere in Mississippi, we fall into a rhythm, drive right pass left, only occasionally ruined by a truck passing a truck...

We cross into Alabama about 8:45

Now 8:59 got gas somewhere west of mobile, AL.  It's been raining, traffic is too thick for a good hard run.  There is a lot of freeway traffic happening in Alabama.  The slow cars are all scared of the trucks so they're hiding in the fast lane, blocking our progress.

Past Mobile, the Battleship Alabama can be seen to the south...  On a pylon sits a F-4, the forth F-4 of the trip (the others being found in Boron, CA and Gila Bend Arizona on the first day... There was a second un identified jet war bird in Gila Bend as well, and another F-4 in front of a VFW post near Morgan City, LA a couple of days ago, that one a Navy example, painter for Coral Sea)

We cross into Florida at 10:00, only to find a Navy A-4 in Blue Angels livery...   On a pylon in the parking lot of the "Florida Welcome Center"...  Jet aircraft are fast becoming a trip theme.

 In Pensacola, we leave I-10 in search of the Museum of Naval Aviation... It is on the Naval Air Station... You have show ID at the gate... But the museum is free...  It is a very good museum, with an F-14 Tomcat on a pylon out front... (we are not particularly surprised to see a jet fighter at an aviation museum, but it adds to the count, and therefore is noted...)  There is a second F-14 inside, along with a huge comprehensive collection of Navy aircraft... Models of aircraft carriers (they don't fit inside buildings) very well laid out children's areas, and of course a gift shop...  a really nice gift shop...  They offer hourly bus tours of the flight line, but we were pressed for time, so we pressed on... One of the most impressive displays was 4 blue angel A4s hanging from the ceiling in formation, after all Pensacola is the home of the Blue Angels...  Four of the same aircraft, displayed in a way that said more than one could say...

Back to I-10 for our hard run...

A bit beyond Pensacola there is another Blue Angeles A-4 on a different pylon in a rest stop... There is clearly no shortage of old jet fighters here

As we leave Pensacola, it starts to rain... After the second A-4 on a stick it starts to rain heavier, not just cats and dogs, but cats, dogs, hippopotamus and possibly a beluga whale.  At times we turned on the flashers and dropped the speed below 50.  It was really nasty.  This of course extended out travel time, it looks like we will arrive late, after 8pm.  At  1:20, pass into the eastern time zone , somewhere east of Tallahassee... Eventually the rain lets up but never stops.  We stop for gas in Tallahassee and change drivers.

As we enter Suwannee County the skies start to darken again and Steph pulls over in a rest stop to change drivers, Steph doesn't like driving in nasty rain.  We're about 30 miles from I-75 where we hook south along the Florida peninsula.

Off to the side of I-75 we spot another navy plane on a pylon (in this case three posts) in Cannon Creek ? still another airplane on a stick.  Maybe another A-4 but I'm not that good at identifying fighter planes, I'll leave that for my brother-in-law, Sig.

Below Gainesville, somewhere north of Orlando, we leave I-75 for the Florida turnpike... The Ronald Reagan  turnpike, formerly the Sunshine State Turnpike... A toll road which will take us the rest of way to Ft Lauderdale... Gina, being a Florida resident has a "Sun Pass", the local electronic toll payment system...

Somewhere south of Orlando, we stop for gas, and Gina takes the wheel for the last leg...  It is now almost 7:00, and we have about 170 miles, maybe 2 1/2 hours to go.

The road may have once been named the Sunshine State turnpike, but there is currently no sunshine... It's raining... Hard... We are again driving with our flashers on...

Fifteen minutes later, it has stopped raining...  We are once again making good time... I am in the back seat, writing this post, also writing yesterday's post... Yesterday we were all too busy having fun to bother with the blog.

Now 8:00, less than an hour out... We will pause in West Palm Beach to pick up Brian, a friend of Gina's, to drive her home after she drops Steph at our airport hotel... At the hotel, we will meet "other" Brian, my son, Steph's brother. it will be a short reunion, for Steph and I fly early tomorrow... Steph for Washington DC, me for San Francisco, home.

In the end, we traveled 3,246 miles… through 8 states… in 6 days…   We landed in Ft Lauderdale at a Best Western, as Brian, the son drives up… I checked in, we all piled back in cars and went to a dive bar… the owners are former navy SARS swimmers… we had beer and bar food… we talked and laughed… Gina and John drove Steph and back to the hotel… into bed too late for flights too early tomorrow… at least mine is on my precious Virgin America…

Lafayette to New Orleans, Dday 5

We took our time getting up this morning... The road is taking its toll, and Gina has been sick, but is getting better... Getting up early was not really an option.

After a slow start we go in search of food... We found a breakfast place, not specifically Cajun, but breakfast.  Only to discover that Gina isn't really big on breakfast, she doesn't like bacon!!!  Had I known this I might have rethought the road trip.

Having eaten, we head out of Lafayette, along highway 90, through Cajun country... our first stop was carefully planned... A hard target... maybe even on the bucket list... The Tabasco sauce factory in Avery Island in New Iberia, off Hwy 90, through the low country... There is a $1.00 toll to cross onto the island... Up onto a levy, behind which sits a large brick building... We follow the signs around to the front, noting the "no trespassing" signs protecting the residential areas... We park, go into the door marked "visitors" and wait a few minutes for the tour... Really a short introductory talk in a room with artifacts and photos, then a 10 minute film, then follow the walkway past the bottling line (they were bottling Green Tabasco, for distribution in the UK) then into a small museum...

 Their gift shop, called the "Country Store" was just outside... Refreshingly, we were not forced to walk through the store... But of course we did... It was a good, no, a great museum gift shop... There was a rating area, with samples of all the sauces they make... There was Tabasco ice cream in two favors (raspberry chipotle was my favorite...).  There were two potential sauces to taste, and vote for...  Of course there are t-shirts, shot glasses, Tabasco sauce of every size and flavor... Including favors not seen in my local mega-mart... I bought stuff...

The Tabasco Country store may even be better than the gift shop in the Spam museum... High praise...

We retraced our path from Hwy 90, but soon turned off on a wim, to explore
Jeanerette... We drove down the main drag, then followed it out of town as far as it paralleled 90... Eventually we returned to the highway...  It Started to hit rain before Morgan City, got off and looked at an old levee front commercial district, not industrial hardware and warehouses, we never found the Morgan City where people shop, but the rain was putting a damper on our explorations

Back on 90 the skies opened, thunder and lightning, it rained so hard we could hardly drive, there was even a collision ahead of us. We continue slowly with flashers on, nearly blind but with no good place to stop.  eventually the rain let up as we approached new Orleans.  Across the Mississippi across town following 90 through city streets toward Canal St.  At Saint Charles we turned right and followed the streetcar through the garden district, past commanders palace, past mansions, the girls looking out for the real world house, Steph thinks she saw it but we're not sure.  As we approached our hotel we encountered a film crew and closed streets, we ended up circling to try to find a route to where we were going.  Eventually we found out hotel Best Western St. Christopher , checked in and handed our car keys to the valet.  Briefly checked out the room and left in search of new Orleans.

Our first stop was Mulotes where We shared a plate of alligator, I had a beer, Steph had a drink and Gina a club soda and grenadine, trying not call it a Shirley Temple.  Having consumed alligator we headed for the quarter.  We walked to the far side of plaza des Armes up to Royal street where we explored some of the shops and bought a couple of things.  It turns out that Steph, like her mother is drawn to large chandeliers... Gina had her palm read at Lady Gina's   (she will longer than she expected, will have 4 kids, all successful, 2 boys, 2 girls, and one marriage)  We worked our way up to Bourbon street which the girls found repulsive, too wild, too much exhibitionism... We Escaped off down a side street and worked our way down Royal with pausing for Gina to sing Amazing Grace with a street performer, finally finding the acme oyster house where the line was mercifully short.  We shared a dozen raw and half a dozen charbroiled oysters before our entrees.  Having eaten and learning that while alcoholic drinks are ok on the street glass bottles are not, even nonalcoholic glass bottles.  We tried our on street again and this time the girls having a better idea of what to expect dealt with it better.  Steph was seen carrying a sign advertising Big Ass Beer and there may be photos of me carrying a big ass beer.  This time we made it most of the way down Bourbon street and managed to have fun, We didn't come to like Bourbon Street, but learned to have fun.

We had planned to have cafe au lait and beignets at cafe du monde for breakfast but instead decided on desert.  Making our way to Cafe Du Monde, we met Lawrence... One of the maintenance men... We talked... He was here for Katrina...  "The storm was over, everything was OK, then the water came"... He was evacuated, first to Houston, then to Northern California... "They put us in the suburbs, we felt like millionaires"

The cafe was wonderfully uncrowned... We ended up with the corner table... We had our cafe au lait and beignet... I bought beignet mix and coffee with chicory for work on Saturday... (it's our Cajun-Zydec festival)

Walking back to the hotel found a band performing on the street, Ford Theatre Reunion, a really good band with a difficult to define sound.  There was a banjo a bass guitar, an accordion and a clarinet.  For a short while a young kid on a trumpet joined in.  The band defines there sound as circus punk, but to my ear they sounded like a variation on Mumford and Sons… I would gladly pay to see them in a concert if they make it to San Francisco.  Back to the hotel where the girls watch the Olympics and I checked email.  We all went to bed because the alarm clock was set for 6am for our last long day of driving.

Cannon ball, Day 4 San Antonio to Lafayette LA

We are getting a late start... Its 9:30 before we start to load the car... Again, we are headed East on Hwy 10...   If we can find it... In the meantime we are wandering through the streets of San Antonio... It's heritage as a Spanish pueblo reflected in streets that wander, cross, made worst by freeways which disrupt the somewhat organic street pattern...  Some one way, some not... The painted lines on the streets are worn, to the point of missing, adding an element of anarchy...   We find a freeway, get on, in the wrong direction, get off, get on in the other direction...   The phones tell us to head towards Austin, the wrong direction, before turning south... We accept the phone's knowledge... Even though, earlier in the trip it for a time refused to acknowledge  that Hwy 90 extended beyond Langtry...

We drive past the former Pearl Brewery... I spot a Pabst Blue Ribbon ("PBR" in the modern vernacular) sign on the building... This worries me... Pearl, while not a great beer, was a Texas icon, not the equal of Lone Star, but a Texas beer icon… and lord knows, Texas needs its icons... At least the water tank is still painted as a Pearl can...   The waffles at breakfast at the Best Western this morning were shaped like a map of Texas... it is all about Texas.

Now, a bit after 10:00 we have regained I-10...

This part of East Texas is a mix of farms, mostly hay, and field of stubble that is likely some sort of feed, corn or sorghum, light industry, off ramps gas stations and fast food... We just passed a McDonalds with a truck entrance... (New Braunfel in case you want to look it up)... As we get further from San Antonio, there is less industry, more forest...

"It's a Small World" has come up in the rotation, likely from Gina's IPod... The diversity of the music cannot be under estimated...

We have just passed "Tiny Texas Houses",   A business that apparently builds Texas themed garden sheds... Or maybe more... Tiny Texas Houses have been designed and built with 99% vintage salvaged materials. Each hand-crafted Tiny Texas House is a unique piece of sustainable, ...  Small buildings, small houses, from recycled material...   They have a blog... is all about Texas...  http://tinytexashouses.com/category/blog/

Back to the road…. Here in Texas, the trucks rule, or at least think they do... We are in the fast lane, behind an oversize load, on a 17 axle rig, passing other trucks, blocking the road... His lead pilot car, yellow lights flashing many vehicles ahead... The speed limit here is 75... But the effective speed, thanks to the trucks, and the cars that hit the brakes every time they spot a Texas Ranger, is closer to 65 mph...

Now passing Columbus Tx, an old school billboard for "Picket's Bar B Q,  "U" Will Love it... "  Promising, until "U" figure out they are located in the Shell station... A nice clean sanitized shell station.

Now 11:40, 70 miles out of Houston... Light industry along the road again, mixed in with the fields... I hesitate to say farms, for few barns or houses are to be seen... the Billboards are entertaining.... Billboards for Taxidermy... Affordable rates...  "There are no cops hiding behind this billboard". 50 mile out we start to see oil wells...

Gina is coming down with something, likely a sinus infection, so near Katy we peel off the interstate, for a CVS pharmacy, with a "minute clinic" in search of antibiotics...     While she waits, Steph and I go in search of a Starbucks... Coffee for Steph, hot tea for Gina... We go from the CVS in a strip mall, to a Kroger's (with a Starbucks) in a strip mall, past a Dr.'s office, a dentist office and a swim school, all in strip malls... And churches, several churches in strip malls...  Somewhere I read that Houston is the largest metropolitan area in the US without zoning or other land use planning... If this is the result, I would like to go on record as a strong believer in urban planning...

It is green here... A sharp contrast to Texas West of the Pecos... It looks much more hospitable, until you ( or is it "U") open the car door, and realize how bloody hot it is... With the humidity it feels hotter than the desert.

Now, 1:50, Gina has seen the nurse, has her antibiotics (for a sinus and double ear infection) and we are off... It's my turn to drive...

Back on I-10, With me at the wheel it's a hard, fast run to Louisiana... We arrive at the hotel at 4:30... On time (as if that mattered)...

We fuss about... We discuss where to eat, we go "downtown" in search of food... We find cafe Jolie... We dine... It was good... ( beyond good, one of the special meals of my life... I want to bring the Lovely Tina here....)

Gina has gone from "I am on the wagon train to Hell, and I am going to die" to "Life is good, and let's go have fun (not let's party) but let's have fun...."

We explore down town Lafayette, and find Café Jolie and have a wonderful meal… world class in rural Louisiana… as one might expect from Cajun country…

Back at the Hotel... The girls watching TV... The Olympics… Me blogging.... The conversation revolves about dinner... All agree it was was good...

Tomorrow, Cajun country, New Iberia, Morgan City, and sometime early afternoon, New Orleans...

Marfa to San Antonio, Miles and miles of Texas,Cannon Ball Day 3

Marfa to San Antonio, Miles and miles of Texas, Day 3

We are headed East on Hwy 10...   The Ciscos mountains lay ahead... We will cross via Paisano Pass...

Then through Alpine… through Sanderson with its abandoned railroad depot… Pictures were taken... of the depot, a store front, and an abandoned fire station… a sign on what appears to be the new fire station suggested that a fire truck is a “fire extinguishing device” 

On to Marathon and a stop for gas… we are moving fast across hard country…

We had considered stopping for breakfast in Alpine but didn’t…. considered stopping for lunch in Sanderson, but didn’t… we bought beef jerky and candy in Marathon… There are few other options...

In Langtry we stop… visit Judge Roy Bean’s saloon/courtroom… The railroad has bypassed the town, then the highway… the population is now 16…   It is a study in a town left to die, kept alive by the “Texas Welcome Center”, which preserves the Jersey Lilly ,and brings just enough tourist to keep the gas station open on Highway 90.  A sign on a store in town suggested ice cream might be available, but it looked closed...  Back to Hwy 90... back to the hard run

We crossed the Pecos… we crossed Amistad reservoir… and the country changed from vacant range to peopled country… our progress slowed…  east of the Pecos there were traffic lights (we hadn’t seen one since Van Horn)   with its line of cars, its dog, and the question, “are you US citizens” and again were allowed to continue…

We reached San Antonio about 4:00 and went straight to the Alamo… It was 105 degrees… we explored, glad we were there, but with less enthusiasm due to heat and crowds…. It is hard to understand the truth here… there are legends that may overwhelm the facts… There is hero worship.  There is a very large gift shop, with some artifacts tossed into cases in the middle to give context to the Alamo shot glasses, Alamo tee shirts (some with sequins) Alamo post cards, books, children’s books, coloring books, Christmas ornaments, planters, and other “stuff”…. Strangely, for me, I didn’t buy a book… I wanted one that discussed what happened here honestly, and didn’t find it… it may have been here, hiding among the “white picket fence” and “hoop skirt” histories, but I didn’t find it.

In 1947, the Mills Brothers sang; 

Across the alley from the Alamo
Lived a pinto pony and a Navajo
Who sang a sort of Indian "Hi-de-ho"
To the people passin' by…

Today, just across the street you will find corporate tourism of the worst sort…   Ripley's Believe It Or Not museum and Ripley's Haunted Adventure, ghost walks (including a couple of hanging trees…) and segway tours… Tee shirts may be available.  All that is missing is an Imax theater and putput golf…

Having “done” the Alamo, we reclaimed the car, and located our hotel (Best Western, River Walk) checked in and collapsed… The girls were overheated, over tired… the road was taking its toll…

I took a walk… to the river walk… by myself…  I returned to find the ladies refreshed… and ready to explore… we walked to the river walk, found dinner… sitting outside above the river and the walk… enjoyed… 

We returned via city streets rather than the river walk… regained the hotel… Now, at 10:30 are watching the Olympics… 

All are tired… Tomorrow is a light day… San Antonio to Lafayette… Texas has taken portions of three days and two full nights… There are miles and miles of Texas…

Cannon Ball Run, Day 2, Arizona to Texas...

We hit the road at 9:20... Gina is taking the first shift...  A bit later than planned...

Now, just after 10:00, we are clear of town and well into the desert... The ladies are on line, on EBay, Gina needs a new pair of shoes, and the is a pair of Christian  Louboutin's, the auction is lively, and Gina is no longer the high bidder... There is a overwhelming sense of absurdity, buying expensive shoes, while driving across the desert...  With two minutes to go, Gina is once again high bidder...   The bid holds... She wins...

1:00, Mountain time.. We have crossed the border a ways back, and are now in New Mexico... We have crossed the continental divide as well, and any water would, if there was any water to be found would drain to the east, and the gulf...

About 1:40 we reach Deming New Mexico, and leave I-10, headed for Hatch the chile capital of the world... We are in search of lunch, and it seems like a good place to look..  Tony Bourdain visited on his South West show... That by itself is a good recommendation.  Highway 26 to Hatch passes though empty country... Grazing land, with little grass in evidence... It would be a hard land to make a living from.   A little further along we see a modern wind farm... Windmills... Nearby, a livestock tank with an old school aero-motor, broken down.  A new icon for the new west.

We reach Hatch, just in time to make last call for lunch at the Valley Cafe... Tony eat across the street at the Pepper Pot, but the Valley Cafe had better reviews on several web sites...  We all had enchiladas... Gina had chicken with red sauce, Steph had beef with green sauce, I had chicken, half red, half green... We are behind the clock, or would have lingered longer... There were lots of chile shops and such, and other sites... Even a muffler man, repurposed a RV in place of the muffler...  We cross the Rio Grande, then back on the interstate, this time I-25... Headed towards I-10.

We rejoin I-10 in Las Cruces... Then across the border, into Texas... Stuck in traffic in El Paso... Break free, then wait in line at the border patrol check point... Every vehicle stops... There is a dog, sniffing cars... Then a question, "Are you US citizens?"...  We are waved on, or at least not detained...

Now INS approved, we continue east… on the horizon we see smoke… we get closer to find a brush fire on the far side of the railroad tracks… no fire response visible… we call it in to 911… continuing eastward towards Van Horn, and the junction with Highway 90… we reach Van Horn, find Highway 90 and leave the Interstate… some miles down the road some miles from our destination we find the Marfa Prada, an art project… a small Prada store, complete with shoes and bags and appropriate graphics, where no Prada store should be found.  We stop, walk about, take pictures, laugh.  A UP train goes by across the road… we take more pictures, then back in the vehical, headed east, through Valentine to Marfa proper… We find our hotel… a true hotel, the Hotel Paisano, built in the 1930’s, the center of town life,   James Dean and Elizabeth Taylor stayed here while filming Giant…

We checked in, checked the room, and had dinner in the courtyard… next to the fountain… It was a glorious West Texas evening… not too hot, a nice breeze… good food…

Having eaten, we set out for today’s last adventure… night had fallen… Marfa is known for many things… the hotels… its art community… but also for the lights… the Marfa lights… strange unexplained lights seen from the foot of the nearby mountains when looking to the south west.  The Texas Highway commission has built a viewing area…  We drove out of town, found the viewing area… it was crowded… there was a festive feeling… some were laying on their backs, looking at a broad night sky without light pollution… the milky way, and more stars than would be believed by city folk… others were watching the horizon, waiting for the lights, talking about the lights… some were regulars and had seen them before…

We didn’t wait long before a shout went out… there they are… There was a red beacon, stationary on the horizon, presumably a tower, with navigation lights. Beside it appeared lights… some call them orbs… they generally moved in a line from left to right, but some would rise higher,  some seemed to bounce, they would go out them appear…

As a rational person, I suspect car lights along a distant road, but there were never beams, and cars don’t explain the bouncing, and as we approached town, watching the lights, they didn’t seem to act in car light ways… eventually they went away.

We have been to Marfa, and seen the light….

Ft Lauderdale cannon ball run Day 1

5:34 am… Its dark outside…time for sleep but Steph and I are up, showering.

 It is time to leave… check email one last time… stuff a couple of things into the packed bags…

It is time to let the road do its magic. 

Gina is here, we are off at 6:20, a few minutes later than planned, but still early…  We point south on Hwy 101, through San Jose, then eastbound over 152, Pacheco Pass, into the San Joaquin Valley…  We stopped at Starbucks for coffee, having agreed that they were not subject rule 2, “No Corporate Fast Food” rule… Again, headed south, the traffic on I-5 was clumpy, dominated by large trucks, frequently trying to pass one another, blocking the fast lane, then having passed moving over, releasing the cars to surge past.   When you add a the Winnebago tribe (aka, large recreational vehicles), some U-hauls who have no idea how slow they are going (or where) and the occasional fast lane bandit (driving slow in the fast lane because they think we are all driving too fast…) and we not making the progress we expected.  

We spend much time exploring each other’s music… we multiple Ipods and an Ipad loaded with play lists as well as a handful of CD’s…  Gina’s is late 60’s and 70’s rock, interspersed with children’s songs (there was one about a beluga whale) while Steph’s has current rock and stuff a high school student would have listened to 10 years ago, while mine is heavily into Americana, and is organize as albums…  We seem to have sufficient music for any situation.

We leave I-5 to cut across the valley to Hwy 99 at Wasco, where we saw our first train…  down to Bakersfield and the junction with Hwy 58 over the Tehachapi, again, trucks  passing trucks dominating the climb over the top.  We saw a few more trains… across the southern San Joaquin the field hands were harvesting table grapes… white shade umbrellas and structures over white packing tables, grapes being carefully laid into cardboard boxed, placed on pallets protected by white shrink wrap… even the porta-potties were white.  It was a bit weird, a cross between old school hand farm labor and a society party….  Elsewhere, Alfalfa was being mowed, baled and moved…  Tomato trucks were everywhere…

Climbing the Tehachapi, we saw another train, got off the Highway for a bit to look at the Tehachapi loop, an railroad engineering marvel where the tracks in their hard climb loop over themselves.  Sadly no trains passed during our inspection, and we did not have time to wait…   

Downhill now, eastbound again, into the desert.  The road bypasses Mojave, but off to the west we could see the field of stored commercial aircraft , in storage, waiting for an upturn in business, or a new owner.  Most seemed to be in United Airlines paint…

Across the desert, Edwards Air Force bas e to the west, the right, into Boron, a center of Borax mining.  Steph keeps chanting “Borax, the magical element” in an Indian accent, mimicking a (non-Indian) organic chemistry professor…  (Borax being very reactive, facilitating reactions in other elements in marvelous ways, at least if you are interested in organic chemistry, who knew today’s blog would have included a reference to organic chemistry?)  We leave the highway seeking the 20-Mule Team Museum (and chamber of commerce office and visitor’s center)  We discover the desert lawn mower, and a fighter plane next door… We were not overwhelmed, but photos were taken…

Back to the vehicle, back to the highway, soon turning south again, now on Hwy 395, better known as the road along the east side of the Sierra, but here, just a 2 lane black top in the desert.  Down to I-15, through Cajon pass, and into San Bernardino, at the eastern edge of the Los Angeles basin.

Here we stop for lunch, at Mitla Cafe  on North Mount Vernon Avenue… we found it on roadfood.com… It was an old school Mexican place in a Mexican neighborhood near the Santa Fe Station…  

We arrived in San Bernardino about an hour behind our planned schedule… we left about 45 minutes behind… Now on I-10, we are finally headed truly headed east… it has taken us 7 hours to reach the road that will define our cross country adventure.

Climbing up out of the LA basin, towards Beaumont pass the trucks again become an issue… based on trucks and trains seen so far there is an active economy, and based on the number of trains and trucks, possibly a healthy one…

Over Beaumont hill, then down into Palm Desert and Palm Springs, the landscape dominated by wind mills… again in the desert, but to our surprise it rains…not a lot of rain, just enough to turn on the wipers, and open the windows to smell the wet asphalt.  We picked up fuel in Indio, and changed drivers… there were no obvious date milkshakes to be found… then headed up the hill, past Joshua Tree… Past Indio we started to make up time… down into the strip of green which is the Colorado at Blithe… across the border into Arizona… Then we put the hammer down.

We change drivers again an hour into Arizona, by now we have a chance to arrive on time… on to Buckeye, then south away from I-10 towards Gila Bend, for gas, then eastward on I-8 to Casa Grande and I-10 to Tucson and family…

We were greeted by Tina’s brother, his wife, Tina’s sister, and husband, two nieces, one with husband, and 5 great nieces and nephews… a house full… I suspect Gina was overwhelmed… dinner, talk, then to bed… 

Up early to blog with coffee, say goodbye, then on the road again

24 hours out….

One full day from now I will be on the road… eastward bound for the right coast… the Atlantic…

I haven’t begun to pack… I haven’t really thought about it…

I am likely to wait until about 9:00 this evening (17:00 for those of you with who may have served in the military….) then throw some things in a duffle bag, then to bed, to get up too early when the road calls a bit before dawn.

For now, I will go to work, write up a vacation plan, do payroll (due on Monday, but since I don’t plan on being at work on Monday I will do it today) and try to get everything done… or at least enough done to make my absence possible…

At least I have the music together… The Ipad is loaded, and I have three new CD’s… Shovels and Rope, O’ Be Joyful, Bonnie Raitt’s Slip Stream, and Together Again, with Steve Earle, Townes Van Zandt and Guy Clark… I have particular hopes for Together Again…

I need to charge the camera batteries… I need to find my travel journal… 

There is a pile of maps on the table…

In the impmortal words of Elwood and Jake Blues… we've got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark, and we're wearing sunglasses., Hit it