Final entry for Kleinbub road trip to Florida, 2012

Well, one last entry from our long and tiring road trip to Florida.

We traveled 6248 miles from Santa Monica to Clearwater FL and back in 27 days. We passed through 11 states (some more than once). We visited 6 capitols and 2 National Parks. We ate at 5 Waffle Houses and one Huddle House (a Waffle House wannabee). We also celebrated 4 birthdays. We had delightful visits with my sister, Dee Curran and her daughter, Colleen; with my niece, Christy Dombroski - her husband and 3 sons, and with my friend Hildie Matheis and many of her friends. The rest of the time it was just Don, me, and our dog Mickey. But, we got along just fine and had a wonderful trip. I hope you have enjoyed sharing it with us.

Thursday, November 1, 2012 – All Saints Day otherwise known as Dios de la Muerta

We had a nice quiet day in Laughlin. We enjoyed the buffet breakfast at the Riverside Casino. After watching the ducks in the River and looking for fish, we headed over to the Premium Outlet Mall. We checked our email and spent a couple of hours shopping. A lot of my favorite shops are gone – business is really down, but I still managed to find some things to buy. We decided to stay and watch the 2:30 movie, “Frankenweinie”. It was really cute. Then we headed for the Avi Casino for their buffet dinner, another gastronomic extravaganza!

Then it was back to the campground to watch “Farscape” on our computer and collapse. We leave tomorrow and hope to be home by late afternoon, so this may be my last entry until our next trip. Thank you for staying with me!

Wednesday, October 31, 2012 - Happy Halloween!

I have been enjoying wearing my Halloween jewelry off and on during this trip. I decided to bring mainly orange and black to wear, so it has been fun and today is my last day to get decked out. I have been surprised that not too many places seem to be decorating for Halloween. Our waitress this morning was wearing orange, and one of them had sprongy ears on.

We started our trip by getting back on I-40 and driving through Flagstaff AZ. I found out that the town is named for an actual flagstaff that was installed in the late 1800s as a landmark for travelers heading for California. I wonder where it went? We got off the Interstate to drive through Flagstaff on historic route 66. I don’t believe we have ever done that, we usually go around on the Interstate. It is a smaller and quieter town than I had imagined. We saw a lot of older buildings and businesses. The vintage train depot has been turned into a visitor center, but we didn’t stop to look at it.

The rest of the trip to Laughlin was rather mundane! We saw lots of sand, desert plants, and interesting craggy hills and mountains. Mt. Humphries, outside of Flagstaff, is the highest point in Arizona – over 12,000 feet high.

We arrived in Laughlin around noon. We went to the Riverside Campground and got a lovely spot on the third tier (which gives us a good view of the town and the Colorado River). We even have a tree in our backyard! The weather is lovely and balmy. We spent the rest of the day doing laundry, taking showers, resting and eating. Yummy, yummy!
 

Tuesday, October 30, 2012 – on our last legs!

Well, Don got the heater to work – thank heavens, we needed it! We were up early this morning to start on the final long leg of our trip. We want to spend a couple days recuperating in Laughlin NV, so that is where we are heading. However, Don did not want to stay in Flagstaff – too cold, so we picked somewhere in between, namely Winslow AZ.

We got here pretty much straight through on I-40. We started out heading for Albuquerque NM. We decided to drive through town on Central Avenue which, low and behold, went by a Waffle House. Guess where we had breakfast? 

As we drove along I was studying the map and the tour book desperately looking for something interesting to do besides driving straight through this beautiful desert country. As I read I remembered former trips through these very same towns, as far back as 1989. Every time I spotted a National Park on the map, Don reminded me when we were there in the past, and I confirmed it by looking at my trip journals. Oh, well, no new passport stamps on this leg of the trip. We did stop in Gallup NM where I had shopped in the past and found lovely jewelry, handmade by the local Indians, mainly the Navajo. I bought a couple pieces again before we got back on the road.

Winslow is a small town on former Route 66 (isn’t every town along here?). We drove through the main street looking for a restaurant for dinner and saw several Mexican restaurants that seemed popular. We chose one and had a nice dinner. We also realized that we had gained another hour, and we are now on California time.

We’re tired so it is early to bed tonight.

Sunday, October 28 & Monday, October 29, 2012 – driving and driving!

Today was my brother, John’s, birthday – so Happy Birthday to you! We tried a cell phone call in the evening, but Allen’s conference call failed, so we didn’t get to talk.

We left Monroe about 9 a.m. and got breakfast at an IHOP off the freeway. We were back on I-20, heading for Shreveport LA. I found out in my guide book that a Mr. Shreve spent 5 years breaking up a 165 mile log jam on the Red River in the 1800s. The citizens were so grateful to have their river navigable that they renamed the city in his honor. We wonder how that could have happened?

Then we were in Texas and traffic was pretty light. I guess the truck drivers are taking Sunday off. We got off the Interstate at SH 287, which also turned out to be a pretty good route. We ended up in Wichita Falls and called it quits for the day. This part of Texas is pretty flat – it is cattle and oil country. There was a 5 foot falls on the river running through Wichita (which was pretty impressive in this flat country), so the people started calling it Wichita Falls. A flood on the river washed out the falls, but the people eventually built an artificial falls on the river, and they kept the name. Aren’t people funny?

On Monday we were back on the highway heading for Amarillo TX. Things were starting to seem familiar, so I eventually looked at my former trip reports and found we had traveled this same route in 2007. So, we remembered the good restaurant in Tucumcari, NM and decided to get on I-40 and head for that city. Everyone seems enamored of Route 66 and a lot of places advertise the route. Tucumcari was a popular destination on Route 66 until it was decommissioned. The last time we were there it felt like a ghost town. It is a little livelier – some new restaurants and motels have been built on the edge of town. We drove into town and found Del’s Restaurant. It was as good as we remembered and I am glad we supported them. We also found a painting that we liked, so we bought it.

We had gained an hour, so decided we would continue driving until we couldn’t stand it anymore! We ended up in Edgewood NM where we are recovering from all that driving. It has been quite cold – especially at night, so I am glad I brought along a variety of clothes.