Day Nineteen/Twenty: Shipping Her and Flying Ourselves Home

Truly the last day of our trip - shipping the car home. Here is one final look at her parked at the hotel from our room. The truck driver couldn't get very close into Santa Monica so we had to meet him out by the freeway. We called a cab to lead us, but ended up losing him on the way to meet the driver. We found the meet up point on our own though and called the driver to meet us.Ryan drove the car up on to the truck himself.

Loaded up and ready to go - ETA in Minneapolis, Tuesday afternoon. Three weeks to get here, five days to get back.

It felt weird being without the car. Ryan and I walked around and went out on the pier for lunch.

Which consisted of a giant pitcher of margaritas and fish tacos - we ended up getting completely trashed (Ryan drank most of the pitcher and was worse off than me). It was awesome walking around on the beach, drunk, and seeing people in suits working - I forgot it was even a weekday.

We went out for Indian food for dinner downtown and then I met up with my friend Emilie and her new husband, Brad for a couple of drinks. Ryan was still hurting from the margaritas, so he went back to the hotel.

All in all, this trip completely exceeded our expectations. We really learned a lot and came to appreciate how much history there is in America. I think in the past, I always thought of Europe as the place with a lot of historical sites, but a lot has happened in our country, from settlements in the 1300s, to railroads and civil war and all the changes that come with a quickly developing infrastructure.

It was also incredible to spend so much time together and see the sites and talk and laugh as it's happening. We both really appreciated everything each other did to make the trip fun and it will be weird to stop spending every second of the day together.

We are sad to see it end and are actually sitting at the airport as we post this (delayed 3 hours). We have definitely talked about how much this trip made us appreciate our home and friends more. We saw a lot of interesting places and met some great people - I'm glad we did this blog and spent the time thinking about each day and writing it down so we can remember it. Thanks for reading!

Day Eighteen: Barstow, CA to Santa Monica, CA

We headed out of Barstow on our last leg of the trip with the car still purring like a kitten (or our fat black and white buddy back home). Here we are on a stop at Elmer's Bottle Tree Farm.

From what we could tell, this is Elmer's house and yard that he lets people wander around. It is folk art at its best - each "tree" is uniquely designed with something different on top and different arrangements of bottles and glass insulators. Ryan was soaking up ideas to use in our backyard.

See if you can spot me hiding in the trees!

Then we started the long crawl into LA and Santa Monica. It was actually interesting taking in all of the shops and the urban life - not the same kind of suburban sprawl that you get entering some of the other larger cities along 66.

Getting close!

And here it is! A bit anti-climactic - no fireworks or parades. Just the corner of Lincoln Blvd and Olympic St. in Santa Monica, CA. We drove through, took some pictures and headed to our hotel.

The Bayside Hotel - actually a really good deal. The room was pretty cheap and really nice, overlooking the ocean. We even had a little kitchen.

Here's Ryan getting ready to longboard on the boardwalk as we explored a bit of the town and got a bite to eat at Cha Cha Chicken.

Awesome sunset over the ocean - the sun goes down so fast. We walked across the beach and watched it slip away.

Walking around down by the pier at night.

Dinner at Chez Jay - a TINY place that felt kind of like eating in the hull of a ship - open since 1949. They had a bunch of magazine articles up about the various celebrities that eat there - no one famous while we were there though.l The seafood was smothered in too much sauce, but the steak was excellent.

Day Seventeen: Las Vegas, NV to Barstow, CA

We showed up at 11.30 sharp to enter The Star Trek Experience. Here we are with Quark, a Ferengi - he was greeting everyone as they arrived.

With no breakfast and still hung over from the night before, Ryan went straight for the Borg Sphere. Needless to say, he was drunk before noon.

This Klingon, Torg, came around harassing people - he ripped on us for having an old digital camera - "Nice technology, did you beam that up from 1994?". Awesome.

We went on rides - the 4D Borg Experience and the interactive Klingon Encounter - both were great. I really got into them, totally freaked out by the Borg - I was the last in the group and the Borg was slowly coming up behind us. People weren't moving fast enough and they were getting close! I shoved Ryan behind me and tried to push forward.

I also got emotional at the Klingon Encounter when Capt. Picard was talking to us at the end - I asked Ryan if he got goose bumps too and he looked at me like I was crazy.

Back on the (very hot) road again through the Mojave Desert. This is the world's tallest thermometer. We're always excited for the world's record anything. This is showing 94 degrees - so the car had to be more than 100 degrees.

Another pull over in the desert. We were sad to see how much trash people had thrown into the desert - reminded Ryan a lot of India actually. This was really the first time we saw a lot of trash near the road. California really needs to improve the roadside cleanup effort.

You can see the trash all over here.

Disturbing!
Here I am driving for the FIRST time on the trip (remember the Borg Sphere) - anyway, I realized how much I appreciate the fact that Ryan drives. When you're the passenger, you can move around and put your feet up to cool off a bit, but as the driver, you have to really be on it and pay attention. This is not a modern car - you have to have both hands on the wheel, be braking way early if you see something, watch the road for potholes or bumps and fight the wind to stay in your lane. I much prefer reading the maps and guidebooks, providing snacks and drinks and relaxing and watching the scenery - all things that Ryan gets bored with. So we're the perfect road trip couple!

We pulled into Barstow, CA a bit later than usual due to 4 hours spent at the Star Trek Experience. We originally planned to stay at the Route 66 Motel, but decided against it when we realized the hotel was filled with freaks - drugs were being sold openly and obviously out of the rooms and we watched a parade of people come through in just 10 minutes to buy drugs. There was a weird, drunk German woman and her husband who descended on us and tried to convince us to stay, saying she would take responsibility for the car. All the while, more toothless, slick haired, whiskey drinking weirdos kept approaching the car. We just got in the car and left - one guy asked Ryan to pull back into the parking lot to take a picture and Ryan told him that reverse doesn't work in the car and we just pulled out quickly.

We stayed down the road and had Chinese food for dinner and just rested after Vegas.

Day Sixteen: Kingman, AZ to Las Vegas, NV (DETOUR!)

Since we didn't go to Roswell, NM, and couldn't get in at the Grand Canyon, we decided a trip to the Star Trek bar in Las Vegas was a worthy side trip. It is about 100 miles off the main road, we ended up missing some of the last cities in Arizona, but we decided it was worth it. I bet some people would have made the trip themselves as they were driving out to California.

We had breakfast at the Roadrunner in Kingman and gassed up at the Canada Mart. Not sure why it is actually called the Canada Mart - you do get a 5 cent per gallon discount if you pay in cash though - nice!

We were driving through the Mojave Desert up to Vegas - not a lot of options for pulling over along the way. The Black Mountains literally look like giant mounds of dirt - there is very little vegetation on the hills.

We drove over the Hoover Dam on the way to Vegas. This is so crazy! You spend all day driving across the desert and then come to this massive feat of engineering. It was so impressive to wind down into the canyon and cross over the dam.

Us at the Dam. As we drove through, it was funny to see the hundreds of tourists stop looking at the dam and turn to hoot and holler and give us the five millionth "Nice car" comment we've heard on this trip. Honestly, we've had everything from motorcyclists to truckers, even a train went by and blew its whistle and conductor gave us a thumbs up - everyone loves this car. It is definitely the star of the road.

And another new state!

We drove up the Strip into Vegas, which was definitely a mistake. It was the height of the afternoon heat - easily 95 degrees or more in the car, and the traffic was heavy. We were worried about the car overheating so ended up pulling off and trying to figure out an alternate way around. It was a little hectic. I just think the Venetian looks cool.

We originally wanted to stay in the Stardust - not realizing it was actually demolished earlier this year. This is the pile of dirt that was once the Stardust. Guess we're not very up to speed on the Vegas landscape.

We ended up staying at the Sahara, since the sign has two camels on it, we realized the camel has been a strange reoccuring talisman for our trip.

The Sahara was actually perfect because it was the northernmost stop on the Vegas Monorail. For $9 each, we were able to get an unlimited pass on the Monorail for 24 hours. We wore that thing out - we went all over the place that night, had lunch at Caesar's Palace, coffee at New York, New York, drinks at Mandalay Bay, dinner at the Venetian. So much fun - not a lot of gambling though. I'll have to go back if I want to get my poker fix - Ryan wouldn't let me get close to it, he knew I would be checked out for the rest of the night if I started playing.

Sidenote: Our plan was to spend the night getting liquored up at the Star Trek bar and asking humans to play damjat. So, we explored other hotels for several hours and then got all ready to head over to Quark's around 10.30, only to find out that the Star Trek area closes at 10. Ryan dropped to his knees, looked up at the sky and yelled "Khaaaaaaaaaannnnnnn!". Unbelievable that the one thing we wanted to do actually closes at a reasonable hour in Vegas. Not to worry though, we were determined to go.

Day Fifteen: Williams, AZ to Kingman, AZ

We had some breakfast at Smokey's Pancake House in Williams and set out for the day - it was Sunday, so we weren't sure if things were going to be open. Passing through Seligman, there were tons of people in the streets and some of the local shops were decorated with mannaquins.

We stopped and had some ice cream at the Sno Cap - a fun little place with old cars decorated out back and old ad signs and street signs in the garden. The original owner liked to play practical jokes on people so they keep up the tradition today.

I even read about how this place likes to play jokes on people, such as fake mustard squirt bottles and slightly used napkins. So you would think I would be prepared - but no. As we were waiting for our sundaes, one of the guys came around the corner and asked if we wanted mustard on them - as I was thinking, "why would we want mustard on our sundaes?" - he squirted the bottle on me and a long yellow string shot out onto my shirt. I gasped and was genuinely shocked - Ryan, my big supporter, laughed and said "Ha, ha, you got tricked!". Good times.

I love how small towns have these combination businesses - Mini Mart and Cafe (for Oriental Food).

We may have found where Sir Old ScHool is currently employed...

Driving - taking advantage of the bench seat...

We stopped in at the Grand Canyon Caverns. Not nearly as pretty as the Meremac Caverns, mainly because this is a dry cavern and nothing is growing. Most of the rock is actually covered with selenite crystals, which are kind of a plain, white, gray color. It is still impressive to be in these giant caverns though.

We had a great guide, just an old guy who had lived in the area for many years. He told a ton of stories about the place in a thick Southern accent.

In the early 60s, local officials decided to make the caverns a fallout shelter and brought down these barrels of water, boxes of crackers and some other things - it was supposed to sustain 2,000 people. They never had to use them and they never cleared it out, so this stuff is all still down there. Apparently the stuff is stale, but still usable - they even used to give some water and crackers out to guests as recently as 8 years ago.

We drove into Kingman and stayed at the Hill Top Motel with a great view of the valley and the sunset. The owners were nice and had two giant dogs running around. We sat out by the pool for a bit and relaxed.

At the room...