It was the worst... I mean the BEST ever!

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