July 2006 Archives
We left fairly early on Monday and headed on our way to the Grand Canyon. On that route was the Petrified Forest and the Painted Desert in the East of AZ. Unfortunately my Check Engine light was still on so in Gallup, NM I made the decision to get off the highway for some food and to try to find a Ford dealership. Gurley Ford in Gallup, NM was great. They took my car and reprogrammed it (probably because of the environmental change associated with a cross country trip) and that took care of the check engine light. Life is good again.
Gallup, NM is the mecca for Native American Crafts including dolls, necklaces and other tribal art. I recommend stopping at some of the small shops along Route 66 in Gallup. Might I also say that we missed the ceremonials by a few days. We are going to try to make those another year.
We arrived at the painted desert and the petrified forest and danced around several thunderstorms and were treated to some breathtaking views. I can't imaging something more majestic than the painted desert, but if there is anything that can match it is the Grand Canyon which is our destination tomorrow.
Type to you later.
OK, I'm not sure what is up with Mapquest, but they said this day would take approximately 9 hours. BOY WERE THEY WRONG. We left Tulsa, OK at 10:00 AM and finally arrived in Albuquerque, NM after several hours of bobbing and weaving through mountains and 18-wheelers at about 11:45. That sounds more like 14 hours to me, not 9. And before you say it, no I didn't set the clocks so actually local time it was 10:45.
The highlight of the day was an unexpected stop at the Oklahoma City National Memorial which commemorates the events surrounding the Oklahoma City bombing in April of 1995. We also stopped at the Western Hemisphere's Largest Cross in Texas. Interesting little stop. We had to stop at the Largest something-or-other in Texas, since everything is larger in TX.
By the end of the drive, I was effectively psychotic with the only thing keeping me going is the desire to get to a nice comfy bed. When we finally arrived at the hotel, my Ford Focus check engine light came on. A perfect end to a perfect day hopefully its just the gas cap that wasn't fully tightened yesterday at my last gas stop.
Night everyone, we deserve it tonight.
We left this AM after checking out the view from the top of the Gateway Arch. The ride up in those tiny little elevator pod things was a little on the sketchy side but all and all it was a great experience. Things are going really well on the drive and we are making really good time. It looks like we are still slated to arrive in LA on Wednesday evening. The drive today was long and while OK had our first experiences with Armadillos, we didn't see any alive to take photos of. Apparently these little critters like to meet untimely fates with the front ends of vehicles on route 44.
En route to Tulsa, we got off in Vinita and followed historic Route 66 from Vinita to Tulsa. Not a real noteworthy experience. The few small towns we went through were moreorless ghost towns with very few businesses open and even fewer that looked appetizing enough to even stop in.
Aside from those adventures we are looking forward to the rest of the trip. We are entering the midwest and really don't have any major stops in mind until the Painted Desert and the Petrified Forest on Monday afternoon.
That's all for today.
We have arrived in St. Louis, MO at the "Gateway to the West." We have crossed the Mississippi River and have arrived in the Central Time Zone. Woohoo to gaining an extra hour...kind of. Tomorrow morning we are going to be hitting up the Arch tours early on and then heading on our way to Tulsa, OK via Route 66 between Vinita, OK and Tulsa, OK. We have been having a great time, got lost a few times and had some good laughs.
Here we go...we have finally done it. We have packed up a lot of stuff (some of which I didn't even realized I owned) into the back of an ABF trailer as well as my Ford Focus and hit the road. We left Rochester, NY around 11:00PM on Thursday, July 27 and will be making stops in Toledo-OH, St. Louis-MO, Tulsa-OK, Grand Canyon-AZ, Kingman-AZ and finally Burbank-CA. We will be starting a whole new life in Southern California. While I will be continuing my tour of duty at Apple Computer at the Glendale Mall, Kim will be beginning her search for work in the motion picture industry. We will miss all of our friends in Rochester, NY and we look forward to reuniting with some old friends in California.
