What a trip!
What an adventure! It was
my mom and me and two dogs, in a hatchback, driving across the country from New
York City to Los Angeles. I had
predicted that it would be an “epic journey,” and either totally fantastic or
an utter disaster. Ultimately, it
was the things that went wrong that made it a smashing success!
We were unexpectedly delayed three times. Once because of a late start and
exhaustion and twice due to snow storms.
The unplanned diversions led to adventure.
Our first planned stop was in Ohio to visit relatives. We were supposed to hit the road at 2pm
but we couldn’t bear to end the visit (such a lovely and long overdue visit)
and finally started driving again at 4:30pm. This made us totally exhausted by
the time we got to Memphis at 2:30am AND the news of Whitney Houston’s death
kept us up watching the news almost until dawn. Not wanting to rush through Graceland and miss the Grammy Awards,
we decided to stay there an extra day and relax. Graceland proved to be amazing and especially poignant given
the unexpected loss of Whitney only the day before. (See more on this in the previous blog.)
The next day we hit a snowstorm. After it took us three and a half hours to drive forty-five
miles, we decided to stop in Gallup, NM rather than continue on to Flagstaff,
AZ. Fine. As a result, our arrival at The Grand
Canyon was later than we expected the next day, but we enjoyed it immensely
just the same. BTW, if you have
never been to The Grand Canyon, you MUST try to get there sometime. It is breathtaking! It is much larger and more majestic than
you can possibly imagine anything could ever be - simply awesome. By the time we left, the roads were
very slick and icy, and although we imagined that they would only improve as we
drove down the mountainside on our way to Las Vegas, they did the exact
opposite and got much worse.
Soon we were forced off the road due to a road closure and
found ourselves in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by tractor trailer trucks
at a little gas station that I’m not even sure was open. I thought we would have to sleep in the
car and pee outside in the snow.
Thank God for the iPad and the 3G network!!! After searching for a nearby,
pet-friendly hotel without luck, I finally happened across one that was
supposed to be only two minutes away.
They turned out to indeed be pet-friendly and had a vacancy. Not knowing or even caring what to
expect, we followed the directions down the road a few miles. It sure wasn’t the Taj Mahal, but we
were grateful anyway. The nice
woman who checked us in told us that for breakfast, we could just continue down
the road to either “West Side Lilo’s” or “The Roadkill Café.” ALRIGHTY THEN! The room was kind of shabby but clean
enough. There was an old Packard
in the parking lot (with plates) and an old muddy pair of boots outside the
door of the room next to ours. An old
space heater on the wall took a while to kick the heat up, but we had the dogs
to keep us warm too. There was no
phone in the room because a puppy had stayed there once and chewed up the
cord. The manager told me that she
just never bothered to get a new one.
The road closure, she informed us, was due to a big accident involving
four trucks and had closed the interstate in both directions.
How could we not eat at a place called “The Roadkill
Café?” Their motto is “You kill it, we grill it.” In the morning, mom ordered
“Creamed Quail” and I got the “Awesome Possum.” (It was really an egg sandwich and an egg and bacon
combo.) The interstate was still
closed and we heard tales from the truckers sitting next to us over
breakfast. The town proved to be
somewhat odd but that was part of its charm. It turned out that we were on the old historic Route
66. We had thought we were on it
already and had even stopped at the Route 66 Museum earlier the day before, but
this was the REAL DEAL. The shops
were quirky, eclectic, and a little run down – but they were living historic
tributes to the past glory days of Route 66 – pre-interstate. We were forced off the interstate and
onto the original historic Route 66 where all of these original stops were, on
the road running parallel to the interstate. We loved it!
The Interstate seemed like a sad shame of a thing that was robbing the
local commerce and choking the life from this little struggling town. The effect was probably exaggerated by
the fact that we were there during the “off season” and tourism was at an
annual low.
We continued on the historic route, passed Burma Shave signs
and our favorite rest stop EVER which was the “Hackberry General Store.” It’s an interesting little place that
makes you feel like you stepped back in time. Perfect!
So we arrived in Las Vegas later than we expected, but that
was fine. We still saw the
fountain at the Bellagio, the volcano at The Mirage, the sinking ship at Treasure
Island, and the gondolas at The Venetian.
We even had time to enjoy a wonderful Italian dinner too.
All in all it was a great trip! We were glad for the delays and the unexpected
adventures! We could’ve been
crabby and upset for the changes, but then how could we have appreciated all
the surprise delights?
xoxo
