Day 38, july 22: Albuquerque to Oceanside California

Always at this point in the trip we think of the old saying “the horse can smell the barn". We’ve tried at various times in the past to split the last long day home into two or three shorter driving days. We can both feel the draw if we push on a little further, we can be in our own bed tonight.

So that was the order of the day. Be up, breakfast and drive. The drive would be over 800 miles in about 14 hours. We took turns driving, we listen to books on CDs as well as played a National Parks Trivia game. We talked. We took pictures. And mostly reflected on the amazing trip that we had. Patti pulled up songs from the concerts we had heard these past several weeks. It was amazing.  We were exhausted. The direction of the drive today was west west always west sometimes a little further north mostly headed south.

Near the Arizona California border we hit the hottest weather that we’ve had so far on the trip. Stopping for gas near Lake Havasu the temperature reading was 113°. It just took your breath away even getting out of the car to put gas in and running in to go to the bathroom. This crazy ,crazy hot weather is the main reason that we decided to cut our trip short. Being out even for a few minutes and it confirms: this is not the type of weather to do sightseeing.

We did make one brief stop at a historic site: Poston Japanese-American Internment Camp in Arizona. We have visited various internment camps from the World War II area throughout our travels, but had never been able to go to this one. There wasn’t too much to see here, except a couple of memorials that were dedicated to those who had suffered there. It was very very sobering and sad as we pictured the suffering that happened to these people out of fear and prejudice. We did want to take a little time to stop and remember horrible time when American citizens of Japanese descent were arrested and taken to isolated concentration camps. Although we were tired, and it was hot, hot hot, we were glad to be able to stop and remember the suffering that happened on this site. As we drove to see the memorial  the land mostly looked very desolate. It was dry and hot, hot hot. We checked the temperature as we went along. It was anywhere from 113 to 118°. This would have been the type of temperature experienced by the 18,000 people who were incarcerated here. They had to deal with it for months on end, every year during World War II. We were happy to be able to leave after 20 minutes in the heat.  How hard it must have been to have been trapped there against your will.

And now, time to be home. When we pulled in around 9 PM. It had been a long long day. It is always good to see our house. We went in and immediately turned on the whole house fan to get rid of the stale air. It would be great to sleep in our own bed tonight. Tomorrow will be soon enough to check the plants and really unpack. We just took a few things in and had such a sigh of relief. As the song says, “hey, it’s good to be back home again.”

Day 37, July 21: Amarillo, Texas to Albuquerque, NM

We were up early appreciating the coolness. It actually was 69 degrees, which felt great  We appreciated the passage of a cold front. We had breakfast and hit the road. 

Before we got too far out of Amarillo, we had to stop at what was called an epic roadside attraction: the Cadillac Ranch. This was on the edge of town in a field, where a wealthy investor had paid quite a bit of money for some hippies from San Francisco to create an art experience of about 10 buried Cadillacs halfway buried in the dirt. The artists noticed soon after putting them in the ground that people wanted to come and do graffiti on them with spray paint. Rather than fight this, the artists just allow this to be part of the process. So when we arrived at 9 AM. There were a dozen cars there and individuals, couples and families, busy taking pictures, looking at the cars, and putting their own spray paint magic on a car. Patti was thrilled when a mom and two daughters handed her a bag of spray paint and said it had been given to them, and that we should enjoy and then pass it along. There were layers and layers and layers of paint on the cars. Kind of an odd site, but worth a stop. We had to get our picture taken in front of the Buried Cadillacs.

Part of our drive was along the historic Route 66. We had lunch at a very 60s diner called Lisa’s Grill. We sat in red vinyl booths with formica table tops. This food was fine, the french fries were amazing. It was fun just imagine all of the people on road trips on route 66 was the best way to get across the country. Dick had been on route 66 two times before I-57 and I-40 were built. Together, we have driven much of it in the past, but it’s always fun to see the historic Route 66 signs. 

We arrived in Albuquerque in the early afternoon . The main event for today was meeting up with Patti‘s dear old roommate from graduate school. Over 40 years ago they lived together. We hooked up with Tomi and Hank her husband. The afternoon was spent with Tomi and Patti having a good long time to catch up on everything. Then Dick, Tomi and Patti had a nice dinner at Cracker Barrel.  

Glad to have a little time with Hank also before the evening ended. And we’re so pleased to receive the gift of plants that Hank has been cultivating and preparing to hand off to us. We went home with some wonderful plants, including one that is nicknamed the Dr. Seuss plant. All of these will find good homes in our garden back in Oceanside.

We wish there was more time to stay, but we both feel the draw to get home and be in our own home in our own bed. Good night sleep, and then tomorrow heading home. 

Day 36, July 20: Dallas, Texas to Amarillo Texas

Very nice breakfast, and final goodbyes with Patti's sister and brother-in law. Then we packed the car and headed about five hours northwest to Amarillo, Texas. We decided to break the drive up a bit and not push so hard to get to Albuquerque in one day.

The driving was hot hot hot. When we had to get out to go to the bathroom or fill up with gas....it was hot!. We went through a lot of cool drinks on the drive.

Our trusty Roadside America app gave us a couple of great tips and stops today:  First to The World's Largest Bowie Knife in Bowie TX.  This town spent $170,000 to create a replica Bowie knife out of Steel and Wood.  It was twenty feet tall.  The advice on the app was to try to get your picture taken in a way that it looks like you are being stabbed by the knife, so of course, Patti had to try this.

The next attraction was a family of dinosaurs at a truck stop, right next to the Tesla electric car charging station.  Very nice group of dinosaurs, AND the truck stop had great smoked BBQ,  Delicious!

And finally, we just had to stop at the world's smallest skyscraper, only 4 stories high.  It seems that a conman came into the town of Wichita Falls in the 1920's during the oil boom and talked the town council into signing a contract for a 480"  skyscraper...only to later find out that the council members had misread the plans which were actually in inches rather than feet. Having just been in the New York City, we couldn't miss seeing this smallest skyscraper. Not that impressive, but intriguing. 

We checked into our hotel,  and then Dick chaired a US Servas board meeting. And, a little while later did a mentoring session with doctoral student that he works with. Dick is having a sense of some of his normal responsibilities coming back to him. In between, we had dinner at a Somalian African restaurant.  We were the only non-Africans there, and did our best to be good guests.  The food was good, and it was fun to see another side of Texas.

Patti is beginning to think about her work responsibilities. It won’t be too long before we’re back in Oceanside.

Day 35, July 19: Dallas TX

Today was a resting "day off."  All of the family we were visiting had to work, and although there are many cool and interesting things to see in the Dallas Fort Worth area, both of us decided to sleep in, catch up on photos, and just would be just what we needed to do. Because Patti's sister, Peggy was working from home, we got to see her while she was taking breaks.  Patti also slipped out and took an early afternoon swim in their pool.  The temp was still over 103 and very hot.  It was fine to mostly stay in and rest in the air conditioning.

After work time, we went over to our nephew, Drew, and his wife', Toni's new home.  We had seen photos, but is was great to have happy hour there and see how they have been decorating it and making it their own special home. 

Then, everyone except Drew went out for a great sushi meal, including a very cute boat.  There were lots of interesting discussions about work and the use of Artificial Intelligence.  This is a great group of very smart people.

Then, back to the house and to be pretty early.  The long drive home really starts tomorrow.

Day 34, July 18: Branson, Missouri to Dallas, Texas

So our sense of heading home continues on. We got going out of Branson and had a uneventful although increasingly warm drive as we drove in Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. We were headed to Patti’s sisters house in Dallas.

It is daunting as we’ve been watching the weather and following the maps of how hot it is in much of the southwest. Some temperatures of 105 and 110°. 

We were glad to arrive at Peggy and Rob’s lovely home with good air conditioning and a swimming pool. Our nephew Drew, his wife Toni and our niece Amanda all joined us for dinner. Lots of good visiting and great food.  So nice to see them all again.  We had seen all except for Toni in Minnesota earlier in the month at our other nephew's wedding.  So much luxury to be together again.  We settled in for a little rest before we are on our way back to San Diego.

Day 33 July 17 St. Louis, Missouri to Branson, Missouri

Having made the decision last night to trim things down for the end of our trip, we had a kick back morning. Breakfast, time for social media, and working pictures for our blog. We reorganized the car and then took off for a 3 1/2 hour drive to Branson. We skipped a visit to a Ulysses Grant site. No presidential history visits at the end of this trip.

We made a quick detour to Saint Clair, Missouri in order to see again a pair of water towers labeled "hot" and "cold". Dick remembered this from a previous trip and it really tickles us. How funny.

Branson is a town in the middle of nowhere that grew into a musical destination. Almost immediately after checking into the hotel, we went and got some local barbecue at "Gettin' Basted". Patti was thrilled that they featured on the menu "burnt ends" of pork roast. Exactly the way she loves her meat cooked. It was delicious. Then, we had a little bit of a rest before heading out for the evening.

We had some time to go to downtown old Branson to stop at "Dick’s 5 and 10". This is a nearly hundred year old variety store. It was full of all kinds of treasures, trash and trinkets. We had to get a couple of photos of Dick with the shop and with the signs. It is rare these days for the name "Dick" to show up on printed material. Kind of a old fashion name. Both of us especially enjoyed looking at the old candy, including candy cigarettes and cigars and wax mustaches and red lips. Oh, those were some cool candies when we were growing up.

We then went to a show in the evening: Anthems of Rock. This featured many songs that we recognized. Our nephews would call them “classic”. We enjoyed the show. Most of the songs we’re ones that we could sing along with including songs like “We Will Rock You” “Rocket Man “, “Hey Jude”, “We are the Champions”, and “That Old Time Rock and Roll.” And there were some really hard rock songs that neither of us recognized. It was really clear the audience was primarily people in their 60's and 70's, many of whom were singing along happily to all the words. Of course they were all being sung by young singers and dancers in their 20s and 30s. Were we ever that young?

Had we planned on several days in the town, there were many more shows that would’ve been interesting. Also, some that were definitely not our cup of tea. But, fun to catch one.

After the show, we went back to our hotel and sought out the free ice cream that Patti had seen a sign announcing. While we were starting to eat ice cream and cookies, Dick struck up a  conversation with three guys asking them whether they were real beard Santas? We both know that is an important distinction rather than the ones with the fake beards. They said yes they were and that they were doing a training for Santas. Patti came over and together we shared that we were friends with a real beard Santa in Los Angeles, Santa True, also known as Robert Seutter. Patti knew that he had been here in Branson and did a training as it turns out for the school that one of these guys runs.

We spent the next hour with the three of these guys they walked us back to where the conference was happening and we went into the show room where all of the Santa and other Christmas performers props and costumes were there. Patti bought a wonderful book about Mrs. Santa’s Closets, and Santa Spangle gave her this cute little glasses holder that says "Believe". We know that Christmas performers are very generous good people, and it was such a serendipitous thing to be able to talk with them and share the love of performing. Patti does some Mrs. Claus work, as well as other storytelling performances. Sometimes you literally are in the right place at the right time. What a blessing.