Sun Moon Stars Girl )-(

Welcome to my little place to vent…

Leg 7 - Bloomfield, NM (the “heart of four corners”) - stop in Gallup, NM - through Flagstaff, AZ - stop in Sedona, AZ

Up early today. We stopped in Bloomfield, NM to camp overnight. It was an early evening, but disturbing night. Somewhere in our campsite there was some sort of domestic disturbance. I know my parents really want to hear about this, but despite the screaming and sounds of violence, they kept to themselves. There was a friend with them they kept it under control too. He was like, “Ok, it’s time to stop it now.” I was scared, but as always, Kris made me feel secure.

On to Four Corners. Somewhat disappointing, somewhat not. We enjoyed being in four states at once - we parked in Utah, walked through Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado. Its actually in Navajo and Ute Native American Territory, so there were a lot of vendors there. So we bought a few sand paintings - much like the ones I’ve now inherited from my father’s parents. I’m looking forward to hanging them up in our new apartment - and so excited that Kris is too.

Down Rt. 666 to Gallup, NM - another mention of the Rt. 66 song. We tried to make a stop for lunch at the Eagle Cafe for a taste of the wild west, and see another route 66 site, but it was closed, probably for Labor Day. Drove quickly through Winona - hardly worth mentioning, especially since it was out of order in the song. Through Flagstaff quickly (we’ll be back) and on to Sedona. My parents also stayed here a couple months ago, so I hope any reservations I try to make don’t get confused with their old ones.

Leg 6 - Tucumcari, NM - through Santa Rosa and Albuquerque, NM - stop in Four Corners, NM (actually Bloomfield, NM)

I knew we had a long drive ahead of us this morning to where we would be camping this evening in Four Corners, but I also knew I didn’t want to be setting up camp in the afternoon heat OR driving tired - again. So we slept in a bit, enjoyed the hot breakfast (complimentary at our hotel), finished some last minute internet updates/email checks and headed out.

Kris completely forgot something he had to do online - after we’d already checked out - so he had to call home and have his family help him out. It was quick, and he was done by the time we’d finished gassing up the car. Out of Tucumcari from Historic Route 66, and back on the main drag, I-40.

Anyway, our first stop was in Santa Rosa, NM at a landmark spot called “Blue Hole.” I wasn’t sure it would be that interesting, but it was fun. I knew that despite the info stating the 61 degrees being “too cold for the average swimmer” it would still be a refreshing place to take a break. We went up with the camera, took off our shoes and stepped in. “Oh, that’s not cold,” I stated to Kris. He decided to go for a swim, but I decided not to (just because we had a long drive still ahead, and since we’re camping tonight I didn’t want to be wet, and then not be able to shower).

On to Albuquerque - and a late lunch. Kris fell asleep while I drove. I wasn’t able to enjoy the landscape that much, but I did notice some. It was better than Texas, but hard to describe, unless you’ve been out to the west and mid-west. Texas was all dry and Tumbleweed, flat. New Mexico is full of plateaus, buttes, mesas. There’s many cuts in the sides of these land features from the past, but it’s still hard to imagine that there was water here a million years ago.

I had to manuvuer through a ton of roadwork. They’re improving I-40 out here - building overpasses and rest stops - where very shady crossovers literally ON the interstate used to exist. When we got to the city, all the highway was made out of adobe, and all the overpasses and sound barriers had different designs and colors on them. Pretty cool.

Lunch at the Route 66 Diner. We’re seeking out the old landmark places for meals as much as possible, Some places are excited that we’re following 66 and from the east coast, going to CA, and some don’t care at all. Unfortunately this place was one of the later, although the food was quite good.

Out of Albuquerque, through Bernilillo, stopping in Cuba, NM to gas up, switch drivers, and on through Farmington and Four Corners. I’m not sure where we’re actually going to be stopping to camp tonight, but I will comment on that tomorrow.

Leg 5 - OK City - though Elk City, OK - Erick and Texola, OK - Shamrock, Groom, Amarillo, Vega, and Adrian, TX - stop in Tucumcari, NM

Out again early this morning for the National Route 66 Museum in Elk City, OK. We weren’t sure we’d be able to find the museum because I didn’t have an address for it. Driving down the business loop for Route 40 (most of the “business loops” for the major highway out here is the Old Route 66) it loomed in the distance. “Kris, I think we found it.”

We took lots of pictures. We got the history spoken to us, and the museum definitely had a lot of cool things. I hope Kris can upload everything I wanted pictures of. We picked up a couple postcards. We tried to send them out, but not only did they not have stamps in the store (! even though they had a little mail box), and the stamps I thought I had in the car were not actually there. Oops.

In our attempt to send the postcards out, I searched the GPS for the nearby towns mentioned on my map, and in my info from roadtripusa.com. I was completely in awe of the towns we passed through. Literally nothing was there, except for the skeletons of buildings from years gone by. Kris and I wondered why it wasn’t torn down, but it’s probably because it would cost too much, and noone out there has any money to do so. The only thing that used to be in Erick, OK was the 100th Meridian Museum, but I didn’t see it so it must be long gone. It had bragging rights to being the border town, before the border was realigned, and also was thought of as the end of the habitable world, west of which was “The Great American Desert.”

We finally DID find the post office - the one that’s for the entire county. We’re driving on the road, and Kris exclaims, “Oh my god, I found the post office.” Inside was a woman old enough to be my grandmother, with her name badge. Like everyone who comes into the PO doesn’t know who she is! “Hey Mary, how’s it going?” The PO was in Texola - on the border of Texas and Oklahoma.

Our next stop was in Shamrock, TX where Rt. 66 and Rt. 83 (The Road to Nowhere) meet up. We stopped at McD’s for a quick lunch (and a Shamrock Shake in August!), took a picture of the restored Conaco gas station, and got back on the highway.

Groom, Texas holds two tourist attractions - a gahuge cross, which you can see for miles outside of the town, and a water tower, on the westbound exit. It must have been hit by a tornado, but it leans like the Tower of Pisa.

You’ll see…Amarillo - which we passed right through. Even this lone city on Rt. 66 through Texas was tiny. We stopped at Cadillac Ranch. Strangely, it’s the biggest tourist attraction in Amarillo. It’s just 10 cars buried in the ground. In the middle of nowhere. Quite strange. What else can I say about it? Of course we took a bunch of pictures. A couple from San Antonio (yes, they know New Braufals) took a picture of us together.

Once again we stopped. We tried to get a piece of pie at the MidPoint Cafe in Adrian, TX. But much like every other part of Rt. 66 in Texas, it was closed! So instead we had to settle for just a few pictures. Perhaps the people went on vacation for Labor Day. Perhaps they just decided nobody would be stopping by. Perhaps, sadly, they are going to be completely closing up shop. Who knows, but I’m really disappointed.

Our final stop was Tucumcari Tonight! I mean, Tucumcari, NM. We stopped at this cute little dinosaur museum right here in town, which I thought was going to be totally hokey, and was surprisingly pretty cool. We’re up and running again on the internet. This will probably be the last time we post for a couple days, since we’re camping tomorrow night. Another disappointment is that Kris’s friend Joe has to work on Sunday and can’t meet up with us as we’d planned - and this is the closest we’re going to be to him - at least for a few months.

Last of Leg 4 - Branson, MO - Oklahome City, with stops in Carthage and Joplin, MO, Kansas, and Tulsa, OK

We drove through Oklahoma to Tulsa, where we made a lunch stop at an old Route 66 restaurant called “The Metro Diner.” The place was very nice, and gave an old the right atmosphere while still in “today.” I know this sounds weird, but after being in Branson, MO for two nights with all older people, and then making a stop at a diner with people my age waiting on me was a nice change. The restaurant has lots of signs from the old highway, or with 66 sayings/logos on them, as well as Mad magazines from the 1950’s, Lucielle Ball pictures and plaques, and even a counter in the front that’s an old chevrolet tail end. It almost seemed like an exploitation of what “used to be” but much like Branson, it was not that at all. It geniunely embraced the fact that it’s an old known stop along the Mother Road.

The final resting place of today’s journey is Oklahoma City, where it’s “oh, so pretty.” We took a dip in the pool (yes, unbelievable as it is for us East Coast natives, it’s been nice pretty much every day of our trip) and went out for a quick dinner at Sonic. “The place that’s got the name of that hedgehog…Kris, I can’t remember it…from that video game…with the rings?” Yes, you’ve seen them on TV, but had no idea where you could find one. C’mon out to the Midwest, because there’s none east of Chicago. It was yummy.

We headed out, off the main highway (44) through Joplin, Missouri (as mentioned in the song) to the old Route 66 so we could head through Kansas. The info I got off the internet on Rt. 66 places of interest mentioned that Kansas held the best-marked road still left. I agree. There’s signs every few turns. There’s the old painted markings on the road. We even went over one of the old bridges (which is now a historical marker, and only one-way). I really enjoyed actually traveling the old route. I’m sad that we don’t have more time to enjoy traveling the WHOLE old road, but Kris said something very true. “The spirit of Route 66 is still there - we’re taking a road trip from Chicago to LA.” He’s great about putting things into perspective like that sometimes.

Anyway, it was a quick journey through Kansas, and once back into Oklahoma we traded seats and got back on the major road in Miami, OK.

We started off the morning quite early because we had a big day of stops planned. Luckily we didn’t drive the car into any “grandma gorges” - what we affectionately named all the valleys that we joked a dozen Buicks rolled into each year.

Our first was Carthage, MO - a town that looks like Hill Valley in the “Back to the Future” movies. It was creepy-deepy. But cool. As a bunch of my friends know, those are among the top 10 of my favorite movies (part II is my favorite of the trilogy). I demanded that we stop there, but I think Kris got a pretty big kick out of it too. He definitely got some good pictures, but it was hard to capture the full effect of the atmosphere the town held for us. The interesting part was that it wasn’t on the main drag through town - not on the old Rt. 66. You had to go down a side street to get to the main “loop” road around the courthouse - aherm, the Clocktower. It was definitely better than any backstage lot tour or setup that I’ve seen before.

Day 5 - A day in Branson, MO

Well, we started off the day by sleeping in a little. We were up late last night finding an internet connection to post and upload our pictures. Our first task for the day was to pick up the tickets for the two shows we’d scheduled to see today.

Problem. We went up to the Americana Theater where the “Stuck on the 70’s” show is playing. See the sign out front… “Kris, why’s it say ‘Stuck on the 70’s, welcome back on Sep 3?’ It’s the 2nd…” Went inside, and handed in my ticket voucher - didn’t have a problem at all last night, the process took like a minute. The girl says, “We don’t have a show tonight, it’s been on the schedule since the beginning of the year.” Obviously, I’d bought tickets!!! I was freaked out, but the whole thing got cleared up, unfortunately we wouldn’t get to see that show, but my money was refunded.

We went to get the tickets for our 8pm show. I thought it was going to be easy. Maybe. C’mon!!! They couldn’t find my name in the computer. “No, I’m not Joyce!” My parents were here last year! They checked seat by seat. They looked for new seats for us. Finally, the other girl got the faxes, and found my reservation. My name was spelled wrong, but we got our tickets - great seats.

We stopped for lunch, did some shopping, stopped to see the Yakov Theater and his artwork, and the Shoji Tabuchi Theater, and the bathrooms. Yup, there was a pool table in the men’s room! (See the pics in our gallery.) We took some time to relax and go swimming in the pool before dinner and the show.

“The Haygoods” were good. Definately very talented. But also kind of creepy. They’re all about god, family, and country. Right. I just feel bad for some of the younger kids because they were born into the show the older ones were already a part of. They also perform almost every single night (ok, not Tuesdays - for some reason). I wouldn’t be able to do that.

Sigh. Off to pack, trip plan, and sleep, again.

Kris and I also made up a song - “Branson, Branson, Branson…Branson, Branson, Branson…” We’ll have to post a video of us singing.

Leg 3 - Bloomington, IL - Collinsville, IL - St. Louis, MO - Times Beach, MO - stop in Branson, MO

What the heck is in these random stopping places - you might ask. Well, Collinsville was a great place to stop and gas up just before St. Louis - and we took some pics of the world’s largest catsup bottle! Yes, it was very exciting.

In St. Louis we stopped and took the tram up into the Gateway Arch. We took lots of pics from both the bottom and top. The little trams were all “futuristic” - you could totally tell they were built in the ’60’s. The things were tiny, Kris could barely fit in, and then at the top of the Arch, the ceiling was just barely 2 inches above his head.

Times Beach has quite a sordid history - there was a huge toxic waste clean-up that took place in the 1980’s, and now it’s the Route 66 State Park. We stopped to switch drivers (Kris drove through the city) and look around for a few minutes.

Onward to Branson - the longest drive for the evening. I was apprehensive on the long drive in the tremendously hilly terrain of both Missouri and then actually in Branson - Mom, why didn’t you warn us of this??? We stopped in our hotel to check in and freshen up before we went to dinner and our first show at 8pm - “Swing, Swing, Swing.” The show was a lot of fun, our seats were great. This places looks as if a spaceship landed and dropped it off in the middle of nowhere (insert Kris’s sound effect here). It’s such a random place to have all these Broadway-worthy shows and theaters, but that’s where they are. I’m looking forward to the shows we’re going to tomorrow.