American Roadtrip

The Great American Roadtrip

2003

Date Location Comments

6-1-2003 Springfield, Missouri On the recommendation of a friend from the Internet, I went to St. Charles, Missouri, first thing this morning. It turned out that nothing was open for a few hours, but that was for the best since I got a number of photos without cars and people in the way. It got horribly busy there once things got going.
St. Charles was originally a French settlement. At the time of the Louisiana Purchase, it was the last touch with civilization that Lewis and Clark had for the three years they were exploring. Their official jumping off point is marked by the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, but in a very real sense, St. Charles was the real jumping off point.

Anyway, St. Charles is very pretty; touristy, but pretty. I walked around for several hours, had a meal at the local winery, purchased some fabric for quilting (there was a nice selection of fat quarters), more books, and then took off for the Gateway Arch. Broke my glasses at the fabric store, and naturally when I went to get some screws to repair them, they didn't fit. So, my glasses are sort of cobbled together for the moment. I need new lenses anyway, so I'll get them fixed when I get home.

That was spectacular. It really is one of the most amazing pieces of architecture I have ever seen. I went into the museum and watched the movie about the construction of the arch (good, but because it was made in the 60s, it is horribly dated. They should consider taking the archival footage and remaking the film.)

I also went up inside the Arch. That was an odd experience because they pack you five at a time into these little capsules. Eight capsules in a tram. Then they crank the tram up the inside of the Arch. It's sort of like being in a ferriswheel with no view. Very crowded at the top and not much room to maneuver, but I got a few nice photos out of the viewing windows. (One, that I did not post, was of PeeWee parked on the bank of the Mississippi River. My poor boy was parked at such a severe tilt ... but that's how that parking lot is constructed.)

Then I had the drive from St. Louis to Springfield. I didn't leave St. Louis until about 6:30, so I didn't get into Springfield until 10:00. And, wouldn't you know it, the second I opened the door to do my hookups it started raining.

The thing that changes the most from state to state (aside from the accents) is the roadkill. Kentucky and Tennessee were mostly raccoons and possums. In Illinois it was foxes, and in Missouri it was deer. More prayers and whenever I see a cat my heart just bleeds. I'm starting to miss my own kitties so much, I'm actually anxious to get home.

6-2-2003 Oklahoma City, Oklahoma And it rained all night. I find I mostly use the bathroom in the rig when it's raining. It's just too difficult to juggle a bathroom tote, umbrella and flashlight, so I stay inside.
Gypsy (bless her mechanical heart) decided to take me on a little detour today. Therefore, instead of a straight route down Highway 44 from Springfield to Oklahoma City, I went to Kansas first and then South down Highway 2 to Vinita, Oklahoma. It turned out to be for the best because there was an Optometrist there who was able to make some repairs to my glasses. Nothing can help the lenses, they are beyond repair, but at least I can set them on my face without them falling right off again.

I also saw a sign painted on a dumpster that you just know has got one heck of a story behind it. It said (in large letters) "I WILL GO THROUGH YOUR TRASH. I WILL CALL THE COPS. DO NOT USE THIS DUMPSTER." Ooooohkaaay.

Most of the way along my route there were huge storm clouds hanging over the road. They were so dark they were almost purple. In combination with the gold of the wheat fields and the deep green of the corn fields, it was quite a palette. Every once in a while I would pull over to take a few photos, or a nap,with the end result that the trip took me about 7 hours.

I have no plans to see or tour anything in particular in Oklahoma, meaning of course, that if I see something that interests me before I hit the Texas border, I'll check it out. My focus tomorrow will be to get to Amarillo, Texas, and see the Cadillac Ranch.

6-3-2003 Amarillo, Texas Someone explain this to me. An eight lane freeway going through the center of Oklahoma City ... posted speed limit is 60. Narrow two lane highway going past people's houses with stop signs from time to time ... posted speed limit 65.
As I write this, I am at the Amarillo KOA watching the tornado watch on TV. Several have touched down southwest of here and they are reporting hail the size of baseballs, but as for this exact spot, it doesn't look like we'll get anything worse than some rain. There was also some rain on the drive here, but nothing too awful.

The most interesting thing about the trip from OKC to Amarillo was the historic display at the rest stop. And, the most interesting thing about the historic display was the mistakes in it. Two of the displays about Col. Charles Goodnight and his wife Mary absolutely contradicted each other. One had the Colonel making his famous cattle drive in 1876, and had Mary dying in 1926 followed by the Colonel in 1929. The other display (just 10 feet away) had the Colonel dying in 1876 and being survived by his wife Mary who then ran the ranch for several years. I think someone needs to do a little proof reading.

Funniest sign of the day had to be the billboard for the Elk City Hotel which promised "A Free Elk with Every Room!!".

6-4-2003 Santa Fe,
New Mexico
It turns out that Amarillo has a number of sites to see ... it's just that most aren't in the city itself. This morning, I drove about 30 miles south of Amarillo to see the Palo Duro Canyon. The canyon is the second largest in the US (the largest being the Grand Canyon, of course). It was cold and a little rainy ... even a little foggy ... so my photos didn't come out looking very impressive.
After the canyon, I went to the Prairie and Panhandle Museum, which is located in the town of Canyon. There I did a little research on Col. Goodnight, who it turns out did not die until 1929 and was survived by his second wife (not Mary - who died first). I also spent a fair amount of time looking at the dinosaur exhibit. I also went back into Amarillo proper to see some of the Painted Ponies (again, like Cow Parade, but with horses) which are scattered around town.

From there I stopped by the Cadillac Ranch to look at America's Stonehenge. A number of graffiti "artists" have worked on it since it was set up, but it's still a cool sight.

I knew I had crossed over into New Mexico when I stopped seeing a dead Armadillo every 100 yards, the temperature zoomed from 65 to 95 degrees and the sun came out. Then began a long drive through the high desert to Santa Fe. I hit some serious crosswinds on the way. The posted speed limit was 75, but most people (including me) were well under that speed.

Funniest sign of the day was the one for "Bozo's Garage." Yeah, now there's a name that inspires confidence in workmanship.

6-5-2003 Williams, Arizona I suppose I had to have a bad day eventually.
It started out nicely enough, shopping in Santa Fe. Then I drove down to Albuquerque to have lunch with my aunt and uncle. It was there that they gave me the bad news that another cousin of mine (their grandniece), who is a notorious animal hoarder and abuser (as in she made the national news not long ago), was allowed to take her surviving animals with her when she was kicked out of town (literally ... Mesilla, NM gave her two days to get out of town or face charges).

I don't know who to be angrier at .... Mesilla authorities for allowing her to take the survivors with her (where they will be further abused, tortured and eventually killed), or her parents for pressing the authorities to let her have the animals, or the creepy cousin.

I was told that her parents are helping her take the animals to Brevard County, Florida, where they are getting her a house that will be far enough out of town that there won't be any neighbors to complain about the stench of decomposing animals (she's killed several hundred), and the general filth this woman apparently prefers to live in.

I fully intend to contact the Humane Society there when I get home, although I doubt that anyone will do anything to stop her. In most places they seem to have the attitude that "these are only animals, after all."

In a way, I was lucky that the winds on the drive from Santa Fe to Williams were so awful. I had to concentrate on keeping PeeWee on the road and couldn't think much about my evil cousin. Everyone from small cars to large trucks was weaving all over the road. The wind would blow steadily from one direction (causing you to steer one way to compensate), and then suddenly you would be punched by a gust from the opposite direction which would just whip you over either off the road or into the next lane. My arms, and especially my wrists, are sore today from the drive. It was 425 miles of sheer hell.

I have no idea if there were funny signs on the road. I only stopped for gas once and didn't stop to eat or rest (I did stop to take one photo of the storm clouds which were right in front of my face at the horizon). All I wanted to do was get to Williams alive and in one piece so I could hike down the Grand Canyon.

6-6-2003 Kingman, Arizona I was last at the Grand Canyon in 1983. At that time, I hiked (alone) all the way to Phantom Ranch from the South Rim on the Bright Angel Trail. For many reasons (that would take way too long to tell you here), I crawled out of the canyon two days later just barely alive.
Today I hiked down to the spot where my legs gave out on me in 1983 (after hiking 20 miles in mostly 115 degree weather with a 30 pound pack on my back), turned around and walked back up and out of the canyon. It only took me about 5 minutes to walk a distance that took me about an hour to crawl then. It felt good.

I was talking to the ranger about my 1983 hike, and he told me that people have died and continue to die on that trail in the Spring and Summer. Most succumb to heat stroke before anyone can reach them.

More wind and some heavy spots of rain on the drive to Kingman, but the drive wasn't anywhere near as bad as yesterday. However, I got to Kingman just in time to have myself a nice little accident. There were a truck and an RV with a Subaru in tow that were blocking the entry to the KOA. I thought I could get into the camp by going between them, however, I was wrong (and awfully tired from hiking around at the canyon and from the drive), and the end result was that the little Subaru got a very bad gash near the left rear wheel well where my storage hinge caught it. 7500 miles without much of a problem (except the ditch incident) and this so close to home. PeeWee didn't have much damage ... a few scrapes and the cover to the outside power outlet was bent and pulled off ... but still.

6-7-2003 Yermo, California 109. It's 109 degrees here. I drove from Kingman to my current location as early as I could today and got to Calico at about 11:00 am. I spent a little time there doing my favorite things, namely shopping and taking photos. It felt rather hot there, but it wasn't until I got back into the rig and checked out the thermometer that I realized it was 109. Hot.
I'm mostly cleaning, repacking and dumping today. That way it will be easier to get on the road early as well as unload and unpack tomorrow. I'll have a lot of work waiting for me (and boxes of mail to go through), so I need to hit the ground running.

Well, it's been a kick, ditches and accidents notwithstanding. However, I am seriously ready to go home. Seven weeks on the road was enough for me. For anyone who has been reading this, thanks for taking the trip with me. I hope if you ever find yourself taking a great road trip of your own, that it goes as well as mine has.

I will post the last few of my photos when I get home tomorrow. So, if you see photos from Calico posted on the last page, you'll know I got home safe and sound.

Date	Location	Comments
6-1-2003	Springfield, Missouri	On the recommendation of a friend from the Internet, I went to St. Charles, Missouri, first thing this morning. It turned out that nothing was open for a few hours, but that was for the best since I got a number of photos without cars and people in the way. It got horribly busy there once things got going. St. Charles was originally a French settlement. At the time of the Louisiana Purchase, it was the last touch with civilization that Lewis and Clark had for the three years they were exploring. Their official jumping off point is marked by the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, but in a very real sense, St. Charles was the real jumping off point. Anyway, St. Charles is very pretty; touristy, but pretty. I walked around for several hours, had a meal at the local winery, purchased some fabric for quilting (there was a nice selection of fat quarters), more books, and then took off for the Gateway Arch. Broke my glasses at the fabric store, and naturally when I went to get some screws to repair them, they didn't fit. So, my glasses are sort of cobbled together for the moment. I need new lenses anyway, so I'll get them fixed when I get home. That was spectacular. It really is one of the most amazing pieces of architecture I have ever seen. I went into the museum and watched the movie about the construction of the arch (good, but because it was made in the 60s, it is horribly dated. They should consider taking the archival footage and remaking the film.) I also went up inside the Arch. That was an odd experience because they pack you five at a time into these little capsules. Eight capsules in a tram. Then they crank the tram up the inside of the Arch. It's sort of like being in a ferriswheel with no view. Very crowded at the top and not much room to maneuver, but I got a few nice photos out of the viewing windows. (One, that I did not post, was of PeeWee parked on the bank of the Mississippi River. My poor boy was parked at such a severe tilt ... but that's how that parking lot is constructed.) Then I had the drive from St. Louis to Springfield. I didn't leave St. Louis until about 6:30, so I didn't get into Springfield until 10:00. And, wouldn't you know it, the second I opened the door to do my hookups it started raining. The thing that changes the most from state to state (aside from the accents) is the roadkill. Kentucky and Tennessee were mostly raccoons and possums. In Illinois it was foxes, and in Missouri it was deer. More prayers and whenever I see a cat my heart just bleeds. I'm starting to miss my own kitties so much, I'm actually anxious to get home.
6-2-2003	Oklahoma City, Oklahoma	And it rained all night. I find I mostly use the bathroom in the rig when it's raining. It's just too difficult to juggle a bathroom tote, umbrella and flashlight, so I stay inside. Gypsy (bless her mechanical heart) decided to take me on a little detour today. Therefore, instead of a straight route down Highway 44 from Springfield to Oklahoma City, I went to Kansas first and then South down Highway 2 to Vinita, Oklahoma. It turned out to be for the best because there was an Optometrist there who was able to make some repairs to my glasses. Nothing can help the lenses, they are beyond repair, but at least I can set them on my face without them falling right off again. I also saw a sign painted on a dumpster that you just know has got one heck of a story behind it. It said (in large letters) "I WILL GO THROUGH YOUR TRASH. I WILL CALL THE COPS. DO NOT USE THIS DUMPSTER." Ooooohkaaay. Most of the way along my route there were huge storm clouds hanging over the road. They were so dark they were almost purple. In combination with the gold of the wheat fields and the deep green of the corn fields, it was quite a palette. Every once in a while I would pull over to take a few photos, or a nap,with the end result that the trip took me about 7 hours. I have no plans to see or tour anything in particular in Oklahoma, meaning of course, that if I see something that interests me before I hit the Texas border, I'll check it out. My focus tomorrow will be to get to Amarillo, Texas, and see the Cadillac Ranch.
6-3-2003	Amarillo, Texas	Someone explain this to me. An eight lane freeway going through the center of Oklahoma City ... posted speed limit is 60. Narrow two lane highway going past people's houses with stop signs from time to time ... posted speed limit 65. As I write this, I am at the Amarillo KOA watching the tornado watch on TV. Several have touched down southwest of here and they are reporting hail the size of baseballs, but as for this exact spot, it doesn't look like we'll get anything worse than some rain. There was also some rain on the drive here, but nothing too awful. The most interesting thing about the trip from OKC to Amarillo was the historic display at the rest stop. And, the most interesting thing about the historic display was the mistakes in it. Two of the displays about Col. Charles Goodnight and his wife Mary absolutely contradicted each other. One had the Colonel making his famous cattle drive in 1876, and had Mary dying in 1926 followed by the Colonel in 1929. The other display (just 10 feet away) had the Colonel dying in 1876 and being survived by his wife Mary who then ran the ranch for several years. I think someone needs to do a little proof reading. Funniest sign of the day had to be the billboard for the Elk City Hotel which promised "A Free Elk with Every Room!!".
6-4-2003	Santa Fe, New Mexico	It turns out that Amarillo has a number of sites to see ... it's just that most aren't in the city itself. This morning, I drove about 30 miles south of Amarillo to see the Palo Duro Canyon. The canyon is the second largest in the US (the largest being the Grand Canyon, of course). It was cold and a little rainy ... even a little foggy ... so my photos didn't come out looking very impressive. After the canyon, I went to the Prairie and Panhandle Museum, which is located in the town of Canyon. There I did a little research on Col. Goodnight, who it turns out did not die until 1929 and was survived by his second wife (not Mary - who died first). I also spent a fair amount of time looking at the dinosaur exhibit. I also went back into Amarillo proper to see some of the Painted Ponies (again, like Cow Parade, but with horses) which are scattered around town. From there I stopped by the Cadillac Ranch to look at America's Stonehenge. A number of graffiti "artists" have worked on it since it was set up, but it's still a cool sight. I knew I had crossed over into New Mexico when I stopped seeing a dead Armadillo every 100 yards, the temperature zoomed from 65 to 95 degrees and the sun came out. Then began a long drive through the high desert to Santa Fe. I hit some serious crosswinds on the way. The posted speed limit was 75, but most people (including me) were well under that speed. Funniest sign of the day was the one for "Bozo's Garage." Yeah, now there's a name that inspires confidence in workmanship.
6-5-2003	Williams, Arizona	I suppose I had to have a bad day eventually. It started out nicely enough, shopping in Santa Fe. Then I drove down to Albuquerque to have lunch with my aunt and uncle. It was there that they gave me the bad news that another cousin of mine (their grandniece), who is a notorious animal hoarder and abuser (as in she made the national news not long ago), was allowed to take her surviving animals with her when she was kicked out of town (literally ... Mesilla, NM gave her two days to get out of town or face charges). I don't know who to be angrier at .... Mesilla authorities for allowing her to take the survivors with her (where they will be further abused, tortured and eventually killed), or her parents for pressing the authorities to let her have the animals, or the creepy cousin. I was told that her parents are helping her take the animals to Brevard County, Florida, where they are getting her a house that will be far enough out of town that there won't be any neighbors to complain about the stench of decomposing animals (she's killed several hundred), and the general filth this woman apparently prefers to live in. I fully intend to contact the Humane Society there when I get home, although I doubt that anyone will do anything to stop her. In most places they seem to have the attitude that "these are only animals, after all." In a way, I was lucky that the winds on the drive from Santa Fe to Williams were so awful. I had to concentrate on keeping PeeWee on the road and couldn't think much about my evil cousin. Everyone from small cars to large trucks was weaving all over the road. The wind would blow steadily from one direction (causing you to steer one way to compensate), and then suddenly you would be punched by a gust from the opposite direction which would just whip you over either off the road or into the next lane. My arms, and especially my wrists, are sore today from the drive. It was 425 miles of sheer hell. I have no idea if there were funny signs on the road. I only stopped for gas once and didn't stop to eat or rest (I did stop to take one photo of the storm clouds which were right in front of my face at the horizon). All I wanted to do was get to Williams alive and in one piece so I could hike down the Grand Canyon.
6-6-2003	Kingman, Arizona	I was last at the Grand Canyon in 1983. At that time, I hiked (alone) all the way to Phantom Ranch from the South Rim on the Bright Angel Trail. For many reasons (that would take way too long to tell you here), I crawled out of the canyon two days later just barely alive. Today I hiked down to the spot where my legs gave out on me in 1983 (after hiking 20 miles in mostly 115 degree weather with a 30 pound pack on my back), turned around and walked back up and out of the canyon. It only took me about 5 minutes to walk a distance that took me about an hour to crawl then. It felt good. I was talking to the ranger about my 1983 hike, and he told me that people have died and continue to die on that trail in the Spring and Summer. Most succumb to heat stroke before anyone can reach them. More wind and some heavy spots of rain on the drive to Kingman, but the drive wasn't anywhere near as bad as yesterday. However, I got to Kingman just in time to have myself a nice little accident. There were a truck and an RV with a Subaru in tow that were blocking the entry to the KOA. I thought I could get into the camp by going between them, however, I was wrong (and awfully tired from hiking around at the canyon and from the drive), and the end result was that the little Subaru got a very bad gash near the left rear wheel well where my storage hinge caught it. 7500 miles without much of a problem (except the ditch incident) and this so close to home. PeeWee didn't have much damage ... a few scrapes and the cover to the outside power outlet was bent and pulled off ... but still.
6-7-2003	Yermo, California	109. It's 109 degrees here. I drove from Kingman to my current location as early as I could today and got to Calico at about 11:00 am. I spent a little time there doing my favorite things, namely shopping and taking photos. It felt rather hot there, but it wasn't until I got back into the rig and checked out the thermometer that I realized it was 109. Hot. I'm mostly cleaning, repacking and dumping today. That way it will be easier to get on the road early as well as unload and unpack tomorrow. I'll have a lot of work waiting for me (and boxes of mail to go through), so I need to hit the ground running. Well, it's been a kick, ditches and accidents notwithstanding. However, I am seriously ready to go home. Seven weeks on the road was enough for me. For anyone who has been reading this, thanks for taking the trip with me. I hope if you ever find yourself taking a great road trip of your own, that it goes as well as mine has. I will post the last few of my photos when I get home tomorrow. So, if you see photos from Calico posted on the last page, you'll know I got home safe and sound.