Here we were, on midday Friday (or evening Friday if tracking our “home time”) and 2000 miles from home. We had done the math when planning this trip and knew it would be ridiculously hard to get home in 2.5 days. So, we made our bosses super happy by taking six days off of work, instead of just a solid week. Even with the extra day, we had some hard driving ahead. The previous driving had some cumulative effects…and we were about to lose all those hours we’d gained through the time changes. We still had some beautiful scenery to get us through the drive, including a view of the Colorado River heading towards the Grand Canyon.
Since we didn’t picnic at Lake Mead, we headed over to Route 66 in Kingman for a bite to eat at Mr. D’z Route 66 Diner. We’ll call it lunch, but time was in flux; we lost an hour going into Arizona by moving to mountain time, but then the state didn’t recognize daylight savings time (but then some reservation lands did follow it). Whatever meal you want to call it, our meal was so good. They made in-house root beer which I had. Thom upped the ante by having a root beer float, which also featured their homemade ice cream. I had a Harley Davidson Dog, which was topped more like a hamburger, including some special sauce. The diner was themed with all your typical Route 66 memorabilia, but we were also there during the Route 66 Centennial celebration. So, we got to watch all sorts of awesome cars drive by while eating.
We thought we’d be able to catch the sunset from our spot for the night, but the sunset was an hour earlier than expected due to the time shenanigans. We enjoyed watching the colors change ahead of us instead, and then we watched the moon rise as the clouds built up.
Our stop for the night was in Winslow AZ. No, we didn’t go to the corner, but we did that on our last big trip…you can go check out those obligatory (but fun) pictures from then. We arrived to La Posada in the pitch black evening, but even so, it was a beautiful property. It was part hotel, part history museum, part art museum, and (still) a train depot. Our room even had a bookshelf with all sorts of old books, so we wound down that night perusing books and reading poetry. Such a sweet moment.
The next morning, we had breakfast in the highly-rated Turquoise Room while watching trains come and go. We got to check the property out a little more and I lamented that we couldn’t stay longer. Nothing new there, I wish I could stay longer and explore more just about everywhere we go. But, at this point in life, we just get snippets of time available to travel. We try to hit the big points, and I always hope to someday circle back and savor things a bit more.
Speaking of circling back, our next stop WAS somewhere we went in the past. We were going past the Petrified Forest National Park (aka the Painted Desert), which we had thoroughly enjoyed a few years back. I think it’s still my favorite NP of all that I’ve been to. It doesn’t translate at all in my pictures, but this place is magical. This is one of those places where you have to get out and let the view soak into you. We didn’t have time to drive the whole route, but we got to see a little of it and stop in the visitor’s center. On my first trip there, I had no idea you could purchase some of the petrified wood. I lamented not getting any, but didn’t want to just order some online…I wanted to get the real thing from a source I trusted to harvest it responsibly and sustainably–the national park. So, I finally have a little piece of petrified wood. :)
As always, I took delight in not just the land, but also in the trains. I can’t really explain my train fascination, but it’s just somehow magical to watch them wind through the land. As we crossed from Arizona to New Mexico, we once again crossed the Continental Divide of the Americas (aka the Great Divide). We first crossed it in Yellowstone, near Old Faithful. This time we were in Thoreau NM…quite ironic since we were reading Thoreau’s poetry just the night before. Seems like I must take a moment to share one of his poems: “Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads.” We certainly experienced that truth on this trip.
Traveling through New Mexico, we stopped in Santa Fe this time. This stop was so I could see Claudia!! She’s one of those friends that transcend time or location. We’ve been friends since 1995, and she’s one of those people you can never have enough time with. Sadly (for me but great for her), she moved to New Mexico last year. We had a delightful lunch together…with the cherry on top being that the restaurant had those amazing Navajo tacos. Lunch flew by too fast, and soon we had to say our goodbyes. ‘Til next time!
After leaving Route 66 for the interstate, we zipped through the rest of New Mexico, enjoying the last of the unique, desert landscape. Entering Texas, we also entered the land of windmills. Our long lunch meant another night arriving after dark. Thom blessed me with a quick pull-off at sunset just before we entered Texas. After the sunset, we were entertained by the synchronized blinking red lights (as far as the eye could see) of windmill aviation reflection lights. It was a little cool and a little bit spooky.
I hate to say that we smelled our next stop as we approached. I don’t know what was going on in Amarillo TX but it smelled awful. It was an oppressive concentration of cow poo smell. We certainly didn’t recall this experience from coming through here before, but that had been during the day (stopping briefly at Cadillac Ranch), so maybe it was a night thing. We thought we had a really fun stop planned, as we were spending the night at the very touristy Big Texan Motel. It turned out to just be a run down old motel with fun paint outside. The old toilet screeched off and on all night, the air conditioner wheezed and rattled, the bed was most-assuredly the lowest price point mattress available in bulk, and we had the soundtrack of semis on I-40 a mere 100 feet from the door. Maybe don’t pick a hotel by it’s fun online appearance.
We survived the night but certainly weren’t rested. Breakfast saved things a little as we devoured steak and eggs at the adjoining Big Texan Steak Ranch. That place was wildly themed, much like the outside of the motel. Thom remarked that he felt like we were at the Hoop-Dee-Doo-Revue at Disney. I thought it was quite funny that the theming had guns everywhere and we were in Texas of all places, yet there were several signs stating the no patrons were allowed to carry guns on the property (open or concealed). Well, while we were visiting over-the-top places, we topped off gas at the new-to-us Buc-ee’s Amarillo. Then we high-tailed it out of (the still stinky) town.
We were set on making time, so Oklahoma only held one real stop for a picnic at Wes Watkins Reservoir. Fun fact, it was near Zelda Lane (but I didn’t find any triforce pieces). It was a beautiful day, and we mostly had the place to ourselves. We didn’t take advantage of the picnic table since it was surrounded by tall grass…but we also needed to stretch our legs anyway.
Arkansas was all about making time. We’d had a good drive through the Ozarks last time we drove through, but this time was all about making the miles home. It’s a pretty flat landscape along the interstate, but I did enjoy the view going over Lake Dardanelle.
Our last hotel stay was supposed to be an upscale, nice last night on the road. Well, I believe the pictures of this place were from a decade ago and under a different owner. The Hu Hotel in Memphis was a worn out, dirty, disappointing stay. The on-site $22 parking was not on-site and was $37. The $10 breakfast was the typical hotel chain breakfast (that comes free in the typical hotel). The free drink was somehow no good. The rooftop was dirty and tattered…but the nighttime view was nice at least. The best I can say about this stay is that the staff was friendly and the bed was comfortable. It was just such a bummer to end on this note. Should’ve stayed at the Peabody…
Our last stretch home was a southern-style scenic drive. The blue skies in Tennessee reminded us of the classic skies of Montana and Oklahoma. The lush greenery through Mississippi was a stark contrast to the rocky landscape out west. As we crisscrossed the Tennessee River in Alabama, we were reminded of the other big rivers we crossed on the trip (particularly the Ohio, Mississippi, Yellowstone, & Colorado). We did have an amazing last meal in Alabama at a Michelin recommended BBQ restaurant called Salt Smokehouse. It was simply amazing! And last, but definitely not least, we felt at home seeing those rolling Georgia hills and roads that hinted at our memories of the stunning mountains and roads we experienced during the trip. While we spent many days and nights remarking that we could envision just staying wherever we were, it is certainly true that there is no place like home.
It’s almost hard to fathom that in our 10 (plus a little) days, we traveled through 21 states, all four continental time zones (plus the nonsense time stuff in AZ), 9 national parks/monuments, 85 hours of drive time, and over 5200 miles. We experienced so much on this trip: temperature extremes from icy mountain roads to dangerously hot desert trails, valleys and mountains and caves and all the in-betweens, tornado warnings to snow showers to blue skies, the only super volcano on land (that also features hundreds of geysers), the highest concentration of hoodoos in any one place, a modern marvel of sound and visual technology (paired with an amazing concert), and last but certainly not least…an amazing time together with the love of my life.
I can never find a good ending when writing about a journey like this. So, instead, I’ll just quote Rocky: “Amaze Amaze Amaze!!!”
Standing Strength 