July 25, 2018

Gallup, NM to Oceanside, CA

We went to bed very early last night, like about 8:30. Both of us woke up several times in the night; it was not time to get up yet. At last it was 5:15 and we were ready to roll. We had the car packed, ate breakfast, and we were on the road by 6:15 mountain time. 20 minutes down the road we crossed into Arizona and Pacific time so now it was only 5:30 AM. Guess we were really ready to put in those last 650 miles and get home. We stopped at the Arizona Welcome rest stop and were greeted by a sign warning us about poisonous snakes and insects.  Of course, Dick had to note that the picture was a scorpion not an insect.

The day rolled-on without incident. We took turns driving and watched the landscape change. Arizona.  From the high desert we climbed to the shoulder of Humphrey’s Peak, the highest point in Arizona where the ponderosa pine forests dominated.  It was easy to see that the tall peak was an ancient volcano, especially with the volcanic cones arrayed around it.  Then we started the long decent to the Colorado River.  The land dried out even more as we lost altitude.  Then we could see the canyon with the river.

We really had this sense of progress when we crossed the Colorado into California.. The weather was hot, hot, hot. Places where we could see thermometers reported 105. We were very pleased to look at the weather and see the projected high at home was expected to be 82.  Definitely time to head home. But first we had to stop at the California Agriculture Inspection Station.  We had no fruit to declare so were waved through.

We feared the eastern LA Metro area traffic would already be building to rush hour proportions but we slipped through without serious problems.  It was even hotter here, 107.   We had spent the day driving, talking, napping, and listening to some podcasts. There's nothing like seeing the exit for our house. We're so appreciative of the young neighbor who looked after our yard and water the plants. Can't wait to settle in back at home.

I guess we can say that this was another successful grand adventure for Patti and Dick.

July 24th, 2018

Oklahoma City OK to Gallup, NM

We woke up today knowing we were going to drive about 650 miles. A 10 Hour drive, but headed to home.

We headed west on interstate 40 and watch the land changed in Oklahoma From field to grazing land. From rolling hills to flatlands. We crossed into Texas.  We were crossing the Texas panhandle. We drove about three hours across Texas as the land continue to dry out. We were already missing the green and trees of the east.

We rolled into New Mexico and we're still on the plains for another 100 miles. We had noticed for much of Oklahoma, Texas, and New Mexico, the old US Route 66 was either parallel to I-40 or the new highway covered the old.  Dick remembered riding the original Route 66 twice, once in 1959 and again in 1965.  On the second trip, parts of the old highway were already being replaced with the "new" Interstate Highway.  Standing on the old highway brought back many memories.

Then we finally begin to see mountains, the southern reaches of the Rocky Mountains. We made it through a pass and then we were quickly west of the Rockies and driving through Albuquerque. New Mexico is such a beautiful state with lots of rock formations and sometimes some of the red the red earth and rocks beautiful storm is passing over some storms passing over some of the plateaus but we didn't get rained on. 

We drove on to our night stop in Gallup . If we hadn't had a hotel reservation we might've driven a little farther. We were ready to stop however. We had a good evening meal in a Middle Eastern restaurant.  That was a surprise in far western New Mexico.  Then to bed early because tomorrow we are headed for home.

July 23, 2018

St. Louis Missouri to Oklahoma City OK

We woke up refreshed and ready to go on a bright shiny blue-sky day. We were so pleased to arrive over at the Gateway Arch before 8 o'clock and for a period of time as we walked through the newly landscaped and re-opened park around the arch’s base.  We had the whole place to ourselves. The arch is so huge you can see it from far off but as you came closer it became clear how really, really large it is. It is 630 feet high and 630 feet from base to base. It was built in three years in the early 1960s. And recently the whole area had a multi-million dollar update. It is beautiful!

So one can hardly resist taking pictures of the arch from every angle as you continue to see how beautiful it is. So, we shot a lot of photos.

We didn't have time to visit, but we had the chance to see the outside of the old courthouse in St. Louis. This was particularly notable as the place that in 1857 Dread Scott made his case to be freed from being enslaved due to his living in free state.  The Supreme Court decision that he had to remain a slave was a dramatic reinforcement of slavery, even in the northern free states, and was an important step to the Civil War just four years later.

We went down into the visitor center for the arch which is underground. It is very modern and beautifully done. We had reserved tickets for a tram ride to the top of the arch which we were able to do beginning at 8:30. On that tour we learned much more about the arch and then had a chance to get into cars that were rather a combination of an elevator, and escalator, and Ferris wheel carriage. It's cabin had five seats in it and it took four minutes from where we started below ground inside the base to get all the way up to the top.  The tram had to follow the curve of the arch which meant it was frequently adjusting to keep us in a normal position.  These movements were a bit disconcerting to Patti but she survived well.

Once we were in the top there were spectacular views where you could see for miles to the east and west. We enjoyed looking around, as well as chatting with other visitors. It was a little disconcerting to be so high up. This monument is much higher than either of the Washington Monument or the Statue of Liberty. It is tall!

The ride down was a little bit quicker, three minutes. And then we were back in the museum. We enjoyed looking around at the museum which focus not only on the arts but also on the story of St. Louis and of westward expansion. We have a chance to see the movie made in 1967 about the making of the arch. It was a highly impressive engineer Feet! The movie was still good after all of those years and really told the story well.

There were lots of interesting exhibits at the museum about pioneers in for trappers and Native Americans and steamboats send the rail road. Lots of stories and cultures came together in St. Louis. Are you somewhere else

We especially appreciated the native American perspective in the exhibit. There was an especially effective map that evolved to show how all the land, in what became the US, was originally native land and how rapidly white people force them off the land. Very sobering. They noted that over 1000 treaties made with native people and everyone was broken.

We could have stayed for much longer in St. Louis. It's clear that there were a lot more interesting things both of the gateway park as well as other museum and cultural sites, but we had to get on the road. Because we needed to get all the way to Oklahoma City that night.

The drive was long and beautiful.  We soaked in our last blast of eastern green before going out on the much drier plains.  

We were making great time when suddenly we came to a halt.  It took us over an hour to go the next four miles.  We finally past the cause of the jam.  A tractor trailer had burned to the ground along the side of the road.  As we passed it we could see the remains of its load which appeared to be celery.  We wondered what could cause such a fire when carrying vegetables.

As we reached the Oklahoma border the land was already drying out.  Gone were the forests, replaced by scattered trees and grassland.

 We were glad to reach Oklahoma City and our hotel. I am super glad to have a restaurant right next-door after last night’s experience. We enjoyed a good hot meal and spend some time reflecting on our next several days .

Our original plan was to spend another four days and arrive home on Friday. However, there is a saying Dick often quotes, “the horse smells the barn,” when it's time to go home. We got out our maps and our hotel reservations. So we rerouted and plan to have two more long driving days and be home by Wednesday evening. Both of us went to sleep feeling happy about this decision.