Technical Difficulties

Thanks for all those who read about our antics across the country and for all your posts. I have heard from several people that they wanted to post comments, however, the blogger system would not display the automated codewords to input to verify the comment as real. In turn, they were not able to leave any of their thoughts.

Nowdays, there is something called comment spam. Like spam we receive in our e-mail inbox, this spam places itself onto people's comment section of their blogs. This system uses a automatically generated image file of several letters you must input with your comment to verify you are not sending any unwanted spam. Appearently, Blogger needs to work out a few kinks.

But the best missed comment from our trip would have probably come from my Mom. She wanted to say that the first time I saw the Grand Canyon, I was so impressed that I pooped my pants (I was only 6 months old). The view of the Grand Canyon still comes close to achieving the same results.

It Was Actually Them

When we were on our vaction, I posted how we strolled down Venice Beach and saw a film crew shooting scenes of some guy with a hot dog hat giving out samples. And in and around the area was what we believed were celebrity look-alikes of Paris Hilton and Kelly Osborne. We were only half right.

In the latest issue of People magazine, there is a snapshot of Kelly Osborne and Kim Stewart (Rod Stewart's daughter) filming the pilot episode of a new reality series on Venice Beach on May 30, 2007. Wow, I was only one degree of separation from the "Prince of Darkness" that day. I guess it was our brush with greatness... another reality series... however great that is.

In this photo, I tried to capture the two of them. Unfortunately, I think Kelly is behind the photographer. But I did get a good picture of Kim.

Route 66: Day Sixteen - Home Sweet Home

Our adventure on historic Route 66 and ensuing travel had come to an end shortly after 3:30pm this afternoon when we finally arrived home. And it was cicadas who welcomed us back after their 17-year absence.

We started to leave Topeka, KS at 7:40am and the rest of the trip was mainly uneventful. We travelled along I-70 through Kansas City until Kingdom City, MO where we turned off on East US 54. I know this road very well as I have taken it many times when visiting relatives.

After we stopped in Pittsfield, IL for some lunch, we put the top down for the first time in a few days for the remainder of the way home.

Though I may from time to time complain about Peoria and the state of Illinois, it is always good to get back home... especially after almost 2 and a half weeks of living out of a suitcase and different hotels, not to mention eating in restaurants every night. And finally, not to be in a car for several hours each day. My car is very nice, but I think this is going to be the last "long" road trip for it. For long road trips, it really needs a little more leg room and storage. But fuel mileage, you can't beat it. We filled up in Topeka last night and I still have just under a quarter tank left here in Dunlap.

It has been a unique adventure this past 16 days. After I roughly tallied up our expenses, I thought "Wow, we could have went somewhere really nice." But we couldn't have stayed as long or have seen as much or have had the experiences we had from getting our kicks on Route 66.

I want to thank everyone who visited this blog to somewhat live vicariously through us as we made our trek across the USA.

Final Stats:
Miles Travelled, today: 438 miles
Miles Travelled, total trip: 4,866 miles

Today's travel time: 8 hrs
Travel time, total trip: 122.3 hrs
Today's avg speed: 54.75 mph

Today's fuel mileage: 31.1 mpg
Fuel Mileage, total trip: 29.9 mpg

Number of States Travelled: 11 (IL, MO, KS, OK, TX, NM, AZ, CA, NV, UT, CO)
Number of Digital Pictures taken: 484 (not including pictures taken w/ film)

Reg Unleaded Gas Price/Gallon, High: $3.99 (Needles, CA... the desert)
Reg Unleaded Gas Price/Gallon, Low: $2.89 (today, western Missouri)

Gasoline Expense, Entire Trip: $628.86
Lodging Expense, Entire Trip: $2,075.59 (or about $129 per night)
Meals, Booze, Shopping, Misc (est): $1,300 (yikes!)

Vacation & Memories of a Lifetime: Priceless... it pays to Discover!

Route 66: Day Fifteen - Road Warriors

As the great American poet Jonathan Cash put it:

"I've been everywhere, man,
I've been everywhere."

Beth awoke me this morning at 6:15am Mountain time right in the middle of a dream. I was completely out, not even realizing where I was. The travel home is starting to take a toll on us road warriors.

Anyway, we started back out on the road at 7:42am from Grand Junction, CO. The western side of Colorado was very scenic riding. We saw many views of the hills, mountains, Colorado River, condos, pine trees and so on. We went past many popular ski areas including Powderhorn, Aspen, Vail, Beaver Creek and a few others. Denver wasn't too bad to drive through as we missed rush hour. But after that, it got to be a very boring drive. Just flat terrain for miles and miles. And then there was Kansas.

What happens in Kansas stays in Kansas and do you know why? Because nothing happens in Kansas. No offense to the fine citizens here, but this has been one long ass dull state. As we've hit the eastern half of the state, the scenery has been slightly improving. But because of this, we don't have much to report.

Tonight, we have set up camp at the Sleep Inn in Topeka, KS... and guess what... this is a SVI property! This is the first and only SVI property we've encountered thus far in our 2 weeks of travel.

Tomorrow, we plan to finally arrive at home sometime late afternoon. According to the Garmin GPS, it is 465 miles away. So sometime tomorrow night, I plan to post the final stats and anything interesting that may happen to us tomorrow. But for now, I'll leave you with some more photos from the two weeks past while we've been on Route 66, America's Main Street.



Big blue whale in Oklahoma.

The round barn in Arcadia, OK.


Leaning water tower; Texas.


Cadillac Ranch; outside Amarillo, TX


Wigwam Village; Holbrook, AZ

The shoe tree; Amboy, CA

Santa Monica pier; Santa Monica, CA

Stats:

Miles Travelled, today: 784 miles
Miles Travelled, total: 4,428 miles
Today's travel time: 12.38 hrs
Today's avg speed: 63.3 mph
Today's fuel milage: 32.8 mpg
Encounter with wildlife: 1 (turtle crossing I-70 west of Salina, KS)

Route 66: Day Fourteen - Eastbound & Down

"Eastbound and down, load it up and truckin',
we're gonna do what they say can't be done.
We've got a long way to go and a short time to get there,
I'm eastbound just watch the Bandit run."

Today has been a long day. It essentially started when we got on the road from the Holiday Inn in Santa Maria, CA at 4:40am, Pacific Time. It was still dark as we started to head eastward towards home. But once the sun started coming up, we were entering the desert and it was very picturesque. Before long, we were encountering Joshua trees, which look really cool. And speaking of cool, it was that in the desert at that time of the day.


In one respect, we came full circle when we reached Barstow today as we came across Historic Route 66. But sadly, we did not get on this route and instead took I-15 towards Las Vegas. We entered back into Arizona, but only briefly until Utah. And Utah was a really scenic state... lots of rock formations and badlands (pictured left is Beth in Utah). In Utah, we got on I-70 and headed on into Grand Junction, CO where we are hold up for the night at... you guessed it... Holiday Inn Express. We stayed at Holiday Inn so much that I've already signed up for their Priority Club.

By now, it seems like its been so long ago when we were in California. But it was just about 17 - 18 hours ago.. or something like that. The voyage home hasn't been that bad as we've had lots to look at while we travel. That will probably change in east Colorado or Kansas. Oh well.


Stats:
Miles Travelled, today: 913
Miles Travelled, total: 3,644
Today's travel time: 14.58 hours
Today's avg speed: 62.6 mph
Today's fuel mileage: 30.1 mpg
Today's low temperature: 50 degrees F
Today's high temperature: 104 degrees F

Route 66: Day Thirteen - The Voyage Home

Well, we haven't made it too far today on our return home... we're still in Santa Maria! Although at different hotel. So I guess we did make it a few miles.

The embarrassing story will get out somehow, so let's get it over with. As I mentioned in the previous post, the party last night carried on at Tom and Kim's, and some of us over-indulged. Actually, it really wasn't over-indulgence, but rather the wine just hit sudden and fast. This morning the hangover was so severe that it wasn't likely that the voyage home would begin. And to make matters worse, the hotel we were staying at was booked for tonight!

I thought about staying at Tom's place, and they had already offered. But Beth's allergies to dogs, and the kids being kids, would not make for a suitable environment. In addition, we really didn't want to impose. We looked into different hotels and many were booked because the Rodeo is in town. Fortunately, the Holiday Inn had availability. So we had to pack everything up, check into the Holiday Inn, come back to pick up the injured and return back to the Holiday Inn.

We expect to return home on Tuesday. As for starting out tomorrow, it will be very, very early.

Stats:
Miles travelled, today... I don't know, 5-10 miles

Route 66: Day Twelve - Santa Maria

Day twelve (Fri 6/1/07) of our trip was very fun. We are staying an extra day in California so that we can see the band Tom Stevens is a part of perform tonight. The name of the band is Midnight Sun and it is a five piece band (Tom plays the drums... here he is with his daughter Megan) that plays a lot of covers from the 50's up to today. They even have a few original songs as well. The gig they had was at the Cottonwood Creek Winery for some type of open house event they had going on.

Tom took half the day off and I offered to be a roady. Meanwhile, Beth went shopping and hung out with Kim while we were getting ready. It was kind of interesting to see how another band is organized and how they set up their set. They were scheduled to play from 6 - 9 pm.

During the show, I worked as photographer and I believe I'm probably the first to video tape them. I hope I did them good. Then in the last set, they invited me up to play with them for a couple of songs. So, having never ever played one note with these guys before, the 2 songs we did were ones I do with Nootril Drop... and in the same key! Brown Eyed Girl by Van Morrison, which I dedicated to Beth and Surrender by Cheak Trick. It was a blast.

While the audience wanted more even after the 2 encores, we had to shut down as the winery wanted to close. The party continued afterwards at Tom and Kim's place, where some folks might have over-indulged.

Tomorrow, day 13, we will begin to make our trek back home. We don't plan to go through South Dakota and see Mt. Rushmore or the badlands, but instead plan to take I-70 through Colorado, Kansas & Missouri.

Later.

Route 66: Day Eleven

Yesterday (5/31/07) we said goodbye to Santa Monica and proceeded up the Pacific coast (at least as much as we could) to Santa Maria to visit Tom and Kim Stevens and kids. The weather was in the mid-60s and a bit cloudy, which was OK with me as I got even more sun from the previous day's walk on the beach. I'm more a "redneck" with a farmer tan than before.

The drive up California Hwy 1 was nice until we had to get on US 101. There were some detours in Oxnard, which was confusing to follow. North of Santa Barbara, we stopped to refuel... and I hate these gas pumps out here in California. For starters, they don't allow the little metal clip that allows the fuel to pump automatically. You have to hold the handle the whole time. If that's not enough inconvenience, there's also a rubber mask that is to fit over your (don't know what to call it at the moment) fuel tank interface so gas fumes won't escape. Of course, this tricks the gas pump that your tank is full, so every .2 gallons that gets pumps, it shuts off. So with my left hand, I hold back this mask and my right hand has to continue to pump fuel. And it's all self-serve now days.

We arrived in Santa Maria around 3:30pm. Kim and her daughter Megan were home along with Ginger the 120 lb. yellow lab. We had a couple of beers and later Kyle and Kevin arrived home next, wondering who's cool car was in the driveway. Later, I dropped Kyle off for a ball game in that really cool car. Tom then came home from work and we had another couple of beers. Kim called the local Radisson and got us a room for a couple of nights.

We checked in and discovered that they have the sleep number beds; two of them. I looked forward to try them as I am not really impressed with the astronaut/memory foam mattress we have at home.

We met back up with the Stevens family and went to dinner at Cool Hand Luke's. Dinner was pretty good as I had never heard of this chain before. The kids really liked it and were the ones that suggested going there. We went back to the house and watched a little TV and then called it a night. Can't wait to try the sleep number bed.

Stats:

Ooops... left the notes in the car. I'll have to check back later.

Update (stats for 5/31/07):

Miles Travelled, today: 168

Miles Travelled, total: 2,731

Today's avg speed: 37.33 mph

Today's fuel mileage: 27.9 mpg