MILE 13021

Day 50.
It's a foggy day on the coast. Welcome home. We head north, making a brief stop for a luncheon meeting with the parents in Brookings. Then back on the road for the journey's final leg. Can't say I wouldn't have liked to just keep heading north to the San Juans. But a promise is a promise. I am including one final picture favorite that has not made it on-line yet. Taken through a window, it was an unusual art piece. That is all.














And we are home.

MILE 11831

Day 44. An uneventful drive across the Colorado River and, after ninety miles, into Palm Desert, where we join Alison and Jim in their condo. Our stay has been earned by their appearance at a ninety minute sales presen- tation. Tennis courts, drinks by the pool, all very surreal in a very moneyed sort of way.


The food and drink were outstanding, the bbq'ed steaks, in particular.















Day 45. Patty and Alison ride the tram to the top of the mountain above Palm Springs, while Jim and I get our manly computer fixes.














Day 46. Off to Las Vegas. We arrive at Bert and Janice's in the early afternoon and immediately hit the off-strip casinos. Home for dinner, then back to the Palace Station casino for a comedy show....Bruce Mickelson, with Buffet Jackson. The smoke just about kills us. But, hey, it's Vegas...

Day 47. More gambling, of course. Patty's success story of the day involves spending one hour at the same machine and walking away with the same two dollars she started with! The economy has taken it's toll on Las Vegas. I have never seen so many people playing penny machines. It is heartwarming. Weather never gets much above the low 70's. The air is clear, (outside, anyway.) The day ends with another great dinner at an italian/greek restaurant. Life is good.

Day 48. Leaving Las Vegas. We say goodbye to Bert, Mac and Marie. The cats are already busy doing their cat things and Janice and Sarah have left hours earlier to cleverly avoid the camera. We meander out of town. Cold is coming so we decide to avoid the Sierras and the Siskiyous. This involves a little backtracking and spending an hour or two on the ugliest drive we have experienced yet. Road is fine, but scenery is unbearable to look at. Empty. Deserted....oh, yeah. Without desert beauty to uplift...oh well, rambling done.
Then we head up 101. Winds are blowing hard, chill is in the air. We must be close to home.

Day 49.
Just another day in the glorious Salinas Valley. The farm workers are out harvesting the lettuce and tomatoes for my next salad, but we don't linger to watch. We are up thru San Jose and San Francisco, then over the Golden Gate Bridge before you can say "cable snap," which apparently happens on the Bay Bridge over to Oakland on this very same day and snarls all traffic forever in this part of the state. Another bullet narrowly dodged! But we proceed north merrily unaware of our near plight.

The redwoods are enchanting as ever. We stop for one last night in Eureka, dining in on bounty from the local natural foods store.

MILE 10861

Day 43. Silver City, NM is the town that places like Sisters would have been if all the money hadn't rolled in. The streets are lined with galleries filled with the quirkiest kinds of art. Most restaurants and coffee shops feature live music. Buildings are mostly brick and stone, a bit old and shabby, but in a funky, cool sort of way. The people are very friendly. We haven't seen this many gray ponytails in one place in a long time. As one local (of ten years) told us, as NM is known as "The Land of Enchantment", Silver City area is the "Land of Entrapment", since he felt he couldn't leave once he'd discovered the place. We are feeling much the same as we escape the spin and head for points west. It was to be trivia night at Isaac's, with spaghetti and bison meatballs......but the road calls. We have places to be and birthdays to celebrate!














And what a road it is. Forty miles and 2000 feet down to the interstate, then heading west. Just a little further, we'll see something.....just past Gila Bend......well, let's try Tonopah. Nothing there except the kind of motel frequented by axe murderers......Quartzite?.....uh, no. It's still 80+ outside as we drive into the sun glaring thru our windshield. We settle on Ehrenberg, AZ, across the Colorado River from Blythe, CA. There we learn that Arizona doesn't turn clocks back and forth twice a year, and that we've arrived an hour earlier than we thought we had.

MILE 10550

Day 39.
Short day in the car today. Our goal is Santa Fe. Georgia O'Keeffe gallery (museum) seems a delightful idea. Wandering the streets looking at lots of expensive looking people shopping for expensive looking things. Lots of young blonds in leather and turquoise hanging on the arms of older grey-haired men. And, an oxygen bar. This is a sprawling city with very little obvious charm.
Day 40.
On the road early with lots of new territory to see. We head north through Farmington NM towards the four corners. Photo Op! It is yet another hot and sunny day. After strolling around in four states and two Indian nations we hop in the car and cruise into Gallup for the night.
Day 41.
From Gallup we head to southern New Mexico by going to Arizona. We follow a spectacular road high into the hills around 8300 ft. And, a shared dessert for mid-morning snacking.













Then back into New Mexico and down into Silver City.
We are both instantly charmed by the historic part of town and we settle into the historic Palace Hotel for two nights. Brian has been anticipating an open mike night in a little town nearby, but soon learns the place is currently closed for remodeling. BUT, he then learns that the eatery across the street from us is opening ITS mike this very night. Brian has a wonderfully successful performance evening. And, we have wonderfully succulent salads.
Day 42.
Today we rise and head to the Gila River Cliff Dwellings. What a road! What a hike!




























What a thunderstorm once we get back to town. The curbs are very high here. Now we know why!
The river definitely runs through the streets of this town, even after a relatively light rainstorm.

MILE 9782

Day 37. Woke up early to the most spectacular lightning storm we'd ever seen. It lasts several hours and drops several inches of rain. People are warned to stay inside. Flash flood warnings abound. Unfortunately, the town survives. Hope floats. And we leave.
The Arkansas countryside is beautiful as we head northwest into the mountains to dig for crystals. Uncertain as to whether it will be too muddy to dig, if we will find the much-lauded "mine," and whether any of them will be open for business today. No problem.
About ten miles out of Mt. Ida, we locate the rural house of Dee & Gee. We pay twenty dollars and are given a map, and assured that our low-riding car will do the road with no problems. We drive three or four miles and turn on to a muddy road and climb thru the woods. At the top of the hill we are greeted by Dee and her assistant, who set us up with bucket and shovel and lead us into the woods to where the digging is done. Accents are thick as banjos play in our heads. Was that a pig squealing off in the distance? No, that is the sound coming from me, as I am in hog heaven! I get to play in the dirt for over two hours! I leave a happy (and thirsty) girl. Actually, everyone is great, and the hunt is very successful.














Growing weary of Arkansas, we head for Fort Smith, expecting to cross into a Oklahoma border town. Well, there is no town, so we cross back in to Arkansas and book a room downtown at the Hojo's. The motel is empty, as is the downtown. Looks like it saw better days a long long time ago, if ever. We are sensing this town's claim to fame is it's participation in the Trail of Tears episode. This town needs to forgive itself and move on.
Dinner was interesting. 30% liquor tax is added to the bill of my $5.44 g & t, 15% beer and wine tax on to Patty's $3.75 beer. Oh, and sales tax.
We sleep well and leave first thing in the morning.

Day 38. A "work" day as we drive across Oklahoma and the Texas panhandle, arriving in Tucumcari NM, stopping only for food, trading post, a brief visit at an Indian casino (hit a $80 jackpot upon arriving and immediately left), and rolling the clock back another hour. Steaks at the restaurant next door to the $30 motel room on Route 66. Good to be back west.

MILE 9070

Day 34. The day started off like any other day. We left Apalachicola early in the day with the temperature already at 86 degrees. We continued down the coast and stopped in at the beach voted Best in America.....This solidified our plan for a "day off."
Up the coast another hour and we are in Panama City Beach.....the belly of the beast. And loving it.
And here we sit and float and walk and smile.
An
area full of Disneyland like mall attractions for adults and kids alike. All in the shadow of 20+ story hotels lining the beach. We listen to a good country band while we eat German food.




Day 35. We are on the road again. It is overcast, which makes the leaving of the water easier. Heading up the gulf coast towards Gulfport, Mississippi. Amazing to still see the abandoned foundations and broken piers from Katrina this many years later.
Moving away from the water, we head toward Zachary LA, looking forward to a rainy night in Louisiana.

Day 36. In the morning we drive to St. Francisville, the home of some of the most beautiful plantation homes in the south. Oh, yeah, and very haunted, supposedly.Heading north through the center of Louisiana on a smaller highway. Saw much poverty and natural beauty all in the same place. Finally climbed into Arkansas and landed in Hope for the night. Jeeez, what a dump. Bill Clinton Drive takes you AROUND town, but not into it. A dry city in a dry county, to boot. Waiting for the heavy rain and thunderstorms to wash it all away.

MILE 8241

Day 30. A morning stroll around Asheville for coffee, then a failed attempt to find the downtown residential area. We find ourselves heading south on the interstate and figure it was just meant to be. Four hours later we are in Atlanta rush hour traffic as we work our way across to Marietta to see Stan. He takes us out to one of his favorite Cajun restaurants, then it's back to the motel.









Day 31. Driving around the Atlanta suburbs is frustrating. We drive on many 45 mph roads with many stop signs (lots of hurry up and stop). Stan knows every road and what's on almost every major street corner. Distances take much longer to cover then they look like they should on the map. But it does make it easy to find a waffle house.













Then it's a drive to the train station for a ride into downtown. Patty visits Margaret Mitchell's house. This is not her. (Although, after getting some history on Ms. Mitchell, one cannot be too sure.....)

















Then we all visit the Cyclorama, a massive painting that depicts (with accompanying narration) the battle of Atlanta.














Then it's back to Stan's trailer park for laundry and sausage....and another long drive back to the motel. Heard on the news this morning that Atlanta has been voted the worst city traffic in the world (or something like that) and I add my vote to the pile.

Day 32. Stan takes us out to Stone Mountain, a large park centered around a big rock. One very big rock. A mini-Mt. Rushmore, confederate style.

More good-byes, and we are off to Brunswick, a small city on the Atlantic coast of southern Georgia.
We soon realize we are in the tropics, and the 93 degrees with 100% humidity drives it home.
We insist on checking into a cheap (yet still over-priced) motel room, then head off in search of Ron and Lisa's house for dinner. First class. We are in for an authentic southern food experience. A low country boil in the home of new friends. Some sporadic rain showers prevents us from using the back yard table, but newspapers spread on the dining room table do the trick.We then head out to Jekyll Island to watch the sunset. Kids wading in the water with porpoises swimming around them, mullet fish jumping all around while we bat at sand gnats.
A driving tour of the homes on the island, then back to the house for the best peach cobbler ever.














Day 33. Southern food. Slaw down and pig out.
The days starts with a walk around downtown Brunswick to see the sights. Then we meet up with R & L, and they treat us to a brunch of more of the real thing: grits, black-eyed peas, BBQ pork, greens, fried chicken, tomato casserole, mac and cheese, peanut butter pie, cornbread, biscuits, gravy, squash casserole, grouper, shrimp...and that's just to start.
Drawling from the buzz, we do a guided car tour of the historic district and are then waved goodbye after we cross the above-pictured bridge.













The drive into Florida and across into the panhandle is beautiful. Tropical and smooth. We hit the Gulf of Mexico where the houses are all on stilts waiting for the next storm surge. We finally settle into Apalachicola and head out looking for the elusive alligator tail. And, we find it. And, steamers done gulf style (lots of peppers and no garlic), conch disguised as a hush puppy (not the shoe), and alligator tail, breaded, fried and served with sweet potato fries. Really DOES taste like chicken.