On the Road from California to MassachusettsM

 

May 25, 2022

Barroooo! It's the joyful beagle bay from Brownie, my next door neighbor. At 7 a.m. he bursts out of the house warning the rabbits he's out. And he's also saying good morning to me who is making coffee at my kitchen sink. I reply, 'Good morning, Doggie Boy!' and he responds with, 'Barrrrooooo!

It's good to be home on these (finally) cool spring mornings. I'm feeling particularly smug because I have made two kinds of chicken and ribs in the oven so I will not have to cook for a while. The cooked food is cooling, some for the freezer, some for the fridge. 

It's wonderful, sitting here listening to the birds chirp their little hearts out. When it gets hot, I'll have to close up the house so I have to enjoy the songfest now. It's almost 10 a.m. and time for a second cup of coffee. A homemade blueberry muffin is calling to me too. After this, it will be more doing battle with my garden of weeds. I'm pretty achy but doing better after a day off. So I thought my coffee break was a good time to tell you about my trip. Here are my notes.

Monday, May 9

Left Palm Springs late -- around 10:30 a.m. but headed out relaxed, having packed the car the night before. Never will I bring so much stuff again!

Arizona Rest Stop

I was really fatigued and couldn't find a lower cost motel so I stopped at El Rancho, "an historic inn." I think I got the second to last parking space in the lot, attesting to its popularity. There was a couple with their dog and a single man having a political discussion in the lobby which was very "old timey" in character. There were heavy furniture made from what looked like a split rail fence, an old player piano, western style rugs, and an 'operate your own' elevator.

To operate the elevator, you had to pull open a heavy metal door and then pull open the brass metal inner gate. I wrenched my back on the first door because the last user had not closed the door upstairs. The poor desk clerk had to run up the stairs to close the door so the elevator would come down. (I had already 'run' up those stairs due to desperately needing the only restroom in the public area.) 

I was informed there was breakfast available to purchase at their restaurant.

Every space on the walls of the second floor was covered with pictures of old time actors. Some of the pictures were autographed.

Needless to say, I was a bit grumpy after the elevator incident. I finally found my room and noticed the light switch was already in the up position, but the room was dark. I accosted a young man who had a hat that proclaimed him "Security" and he calmly pulled the string to the light on the ceiling fan. That and the bathroom light was it for light.

Room Decor

The bathroom was really small!  When I sat on the toilet, my chin almost hit the sink. The creepy shower curtain may be a picture of the actress that the room was named for -- but I forget the name. All the rooms had names of old time actors.

When I finally got into my jammies,  I began to calculate the mileage from Palm Springs to Holbrook,  Arizona. I knew I had stopped at 7:30 p.m. but I was surprised that I had only driven 452 miles. No, for some reason, my phone hadn't adjusted my location and when I looked on the postcard for El Rancho in the room, it told me I was actually in Gallup, New Mexico and I had driven 548 miles.

I have to say that driving in New Mexico was a treat. The scenery was so beautiful and unique. The hills and mountains were many colors and sometimes smoothed from the wind and small round holes in the rock -- from the wind? There really wasn't any place to stop and take pictures. 

At that time, I was heading toward Santa Rosa and I didn't know if I was heading into fire. I wasn't but there were 120,000 acres on fire. People were being evacuated from large areas and one of the few times I found an NPR radio station, they described how all of the cattle feed had burned. Farmers were thinking they would have to just sell the cattle because they had no feed (and no pastures).

 May 10

It's a slow start -- already 7:30 a.m. My sinuses are wreaking havoc.

                        **********************************

I crashed early (4:30 p.m.) at a Quality Inn in Amarillo, Texas. I only drove 424 miles (plus a few being lost which should be added in). This room is wonderful, comfortable, has wifi and is $100 less than El Rancho.

I stopped early because of a predicted thunderstorm. About 10 minutes after I settled into my room, torrential rain fell. There was no hail though. Other parts of Amarillo got 'golf ball sized' hail which damaged cars. Glad I missed that.

Free breakfast with the fewest carbohydrates. 

Wednesday, May 11

Amarillo, Texas to Springfield, Missouri. 544 miles.

Gas prices continue to fall. Now it's about $3.89/gallon vs. $5.89/gallon in California. (Some gas stations are charging $6/gallon in L.A.)

Stopped at Jerry's Cafe on Route 66 after I could not find the BBQ Shed. I had really wanted local BBQ. It was not in the cards. The food at the Cafe was really plentiful and inexpensive, but not very good.

Rest stop bathroom art.

A way to stop the landscape from being trampled.

Took a picture of a Will Rogers statue outside of Tulsa, Oklahoma.

[Editor's note: so many people have asked me if I stop or drive straight through. Um, well, there is the bathroom necessity. And I was doing a good job of rehydrating according to the numerous water bottle caps I found in my car. Some of my best pictures are from rest stops!]

I stopped at the Days Inn since I had such a nice stay in Amarillo. There were two Indian guys (as in from India) doing computer things behind the desk along with two women who seemed to be hotel employees. The two women were frantic because their whole computer system was down. I asked if they had a room and one woman said, "I don't know! The computer is down!" Thinking the computer would be up at some point, I asked the price of the room. "I don't know! The computer is down! We don't write anything down!" At this point I realized that meant no wifi or anything so I went across the street to the Red Roof Inn. Unlike the biscuits and gravy, muffins, Danish, yogurt, and coffee of yesterday's Days Inn, I was told breakfast here would be "muffins, bananas, and coffee."

So ... I walked across the street to the Waffle House which has the happiest crew in Missouri.

They were all very friendly and especially happy because this is the first time they were all together after 'the covid.' After this, I had to pull over and take a nap. It dawned on me that I was heading for a carb coma having eaten too many carbohydrates. I did not eat all of the hash browns nor toast, but I did eat the sausage and eggs ... Not gonna do that again!

Thursday, May 12

Woke up at 6 a.m. which is better than yesterday's 5 a.m. Left around 8:40 a.m. and arrived at LaGrange, Illinois at 6:30 p.m. Drove 497 miles.

Rest stop chandelier on the way to LaGrange.

Alaine was so sweet to buy vodka for me and she and Todd and I had fun chatting until around 8:30 p.m. They treated me to a wonderful Indian food dinner at Karma which is a short walk from their condo. 

Alaine and Todd in one half of the garden that she has created. It's fabulous to sit on their patio drinking coffee and enjoying the gardens. I'm going to have to ask her to send me pictures of the summer garden! (I spent two nights there. They were so hospitable that they almost got stuck with me forever.)

See what I mean? Who wants to leave when they give you a breakfast like this. Todd made the delicious fritata. The good bread is from the Farmers' Market.

Saturday

Hung out in LaGrange and left late -- around 11 a.m. Arrived in Barkleyville, Pennsylvania around 7 p.m.  Had driven 447 miles.

In Indiana was the Starbucks "iced tea."

Notice how my notes are getting smaller? The Iced Tea Incident:

I stopped at a Starbucks (I have a gift card from my birthday) and ordered a large black iced tea and a mini lemon scone. When I got to the other end of the counter, I see a large clear plastic container that is totally white. I look closer and see what the server has done. She filled the cup with ice, poured in cream and stuck an English Breakfast Tea bag on the top. Really. When I said that's not iced tea, I was informed, "That is how we were taught to make it." I got coffee instead. I sure hope that girl is not going to college to learn brain surgery.

Sunday

Am leaving Barkleyville, PA Motel 6 at 7:18 a.m. for home. Woohoo! 

I only drove 260 miles to home but it felt like 400. When I was in NY state, a massive thunderstorm with torrential rains hit. All of the cars and trucks were driving very slowly with their emergency lights on. We crept on for seemingly an eternity until we hit the Massachusetts border and the storm cleared. There was no way to pull off the two lane road or even stop under a bridge. it was very tense! I got to Amherst around 5 p.m. and went for Chinese food before going home and starting to unload the car.

And there you have it, Friends. I was just watching HGTV and they were talking about revitalizing a small town on Route 66. I may have to drive more of it.