Have you missed us?

We are on our way home, and this has been a wonderful adventure. But as adventures go there can be problems. Going out to the pacific we had a flat tire and stayed in Tulsa to get a new tire since my car has no spare!!

Two days ago we got lost on a Detour off of US 40 and we ended up on a road that only 4x4's or Hummers should go. It shook the fillings our of our teeth and I was very worried about Baby, (the car). It was a old dirt and gravel road that had not been graded in many years and thru the heart of an Indian Reservation. We had NO business on this road. Anyway, that night at the hotel in Albuquerque NM the Top on Baby would not go up. We ask a police officer to keep an eye on her for the night as he drove patrol and he was happy to help. The next day I went to the Albuquerque Lexus Dealership and got the top fixed. He ask me if I had been on some rough roads with the car......and of course I had, he said it had caused the roof to shake over just enough to jam. So if you are going to take a sports coup across the country be careful of the rough roads. We are back on the road.

There are CD's stuck in the CD Player we can't get them out...no more music!

I am on the hotel computer just to give you all a note. My lap top it DEAD. We are in Tulsa again today, I am going to find a CompUSA and get a new computer and see if they can rescue my photos. We have been unable to get online!

Last night we learned about the toll road between Oklahoma City and Tulsa. The things we learned.......have enough gas, don't for a moment think that you are going to find a hotel and there are very very few places to get off of the high speed highway. I figured if I paid money to be on it I should be able to drive as fast as I want.........so I did.

That brings me to my next little bit of news...........I got my first Speeding Ticket.............Doing 50 in a 45! GO FIGURE.

We have lots to blog about, Like my visit to BNI Headquarters and and a great museum, but we have to get a computer.
Talk to you soon.

Hazel M. Walker

Good bye Venice, hello road

We said good bye to Venice on Saturday. Penny and I like it there a lot. We checked out of our hotel, walked to the beach to rent bicycles. Yes, I did say bicycles. There is a beautiful paved path all along the beaches from Venice to Will Rogers Park. The weather was perfect for the ride, about 76 degrees and breezy.

We got our bikes, and off we went. I snapped a few photos of the beach walk, it is a very colorful place and I quite enjoyed the people watching, from the vacationers, the locals, the artist and the homeless. It is quite an interesting place.

We rode our bikes to the Santa Monica Blvd., a completely different crowd hanging out there. Lots of kid, several tourist buses, lots of people. There is a circus like feel to this beach.

Further down the path we came to the Pacific Palisades, again this beach is very different, fewer people, quieter. Here there were people doing yoga on the beach, very few tourist kinds of things available. I suddenly realized, that there were dolphins along the shoreline. Penny and I stopped to watch for a little while as the dolphins continued swim in circles then up and down the shoreline. As dolphins usually are it was mesmerizing to stand and watch them. I only wish I could have been closer.

Lastly we reached the Will Rodgers Park area of the shoreline. This beach is used by a lot of the local residents of Los Angeles. There were volleyball games being played and coolers and grills everywhere.

We turned around to go back to Venice, we road for a little over two hours and it was wonderful. I am glad we took the time out to ride.

Once back we walked back to the hotel to get the car, say good bye to our littel friends and head out.

Funny thing about the heading our, we drove about 40 miles going the wrong way. So it took us a long time to get to San Bernadino, but what the heck, we got to see Hermosa Beach, Rodondo Beach, and lots of other stuff we otherwise wouldn't have. The nice thing about having no agenda, or serious time schedules, we don't mind getting lost, it's part of the adventure!

Headin Home
Hazel M. Walker
Queen of the Road........or not

Mohave Desert

We made it through the Mohave Desert! We drove almost 260 miles today to make up for yesterday complete lack of mileage. We even left the hotel at 9:00am which is a full hour and half earlier than usual. (those beds were not conducive to sleeping late...but hey we only paid $57 for the room).

We got on a desert road and headed out! The Mohave is awesome, the road is long and straight with lots of Dips that make Penny screech! Most of the road is smooth and well cared for. It is a lot of fun to drive and there is little traffic so there is plenty of time to stop and take photos.

It is important to have a full tank of gas and plenty to drink on this leg of the trip.

Here are some of the sites that we saw in the desert. Can you guess what they are?

By the way, check out our friends blog, he is traveling Route 66 too. http://therealwombat.wordpress.com/tag/route-66-in-007/

We are in San Bernadino at the Fairfiled Inn tonight......can't wait to tell you what we do tomorrow.

Gettin our kicks on Route 66

Hazel M. Walker

Queen of the Road

Cowboys, Deserts, and California

I did not blog yesterday because our connection was to slow. We only drove 75 miles yesterday from Kingsman to Needles. We got hung up in Oatman as you can imagine from Penny's post. Puppies, Donkey's and cowboys Penny was in heaven.

This is the GPS system showing the road we were traveling.

She paid the price to get there, because that mountain trip was amazing. I only thought that the mountains the day before were good but these were the best. Penny hates heights, this was not only high but the drops offs were on her side of the car and the roads were old and narrow and they were hairpin turns and old bridges, but it is the only way to get to Oatman and once Penny read about the wild Donkey's and I heard about the mountain roads it was a MUST do.

There is a Vista at the top where you can stop and see Nevada, Arizona, and California. It was pretty hazy, but very cool to look at.

Oatman is well worth the drive, it was very entertaining and we had a great time hanging out there. Penny bought a bag of carrots as soon as we arrived and began the search for the Donkey's, I on the other hand was looking for the cowboys! Fortunately both of us left happy. Mike Fox is the Cowboy he had lunch with us and gave us the history of the settlement of the west and the history of Oatman. He is very, very knowledgeable, he grew up in this town. If you get a chance to visit this little town, find Mike, he loves to share his knowledge and he is very friendly. A good ambassador of the town.

We had lunch in the hotel Saloon, there are Dollar Bills all over the walls, ceilings, doors and any where that you cans staple a dollar. The estimate there are about 30,000 dollars with peoples names or slogans written on them. Now, BNI and the Queen of Networking has one on the wall too! While Penny was donating money to the Donkey food fund, I was writing on $$$ bills and putting them on the wall!!

On our way to Needles, down the mountain we stopped in the desert to look at stuff, you know, Penny and I stop to look at everything. We were amazed by the way that locals use the desert as their dumping ground.

After we left Oatman we only drove to Needles, Barstow would have had more to choose from but it was to far to drive to and there was nothing in between. At least that put us in California. Route 66 goes right through this town and there are many of the old hotels along the route. Most are not kept up and many of them closed. Needles is a small town, not a lot to choose from in the way of hotels so we stayed at the Travelodge Motel, at least it is not in the slums, the room was clean and quiet. It looks like the Days Inn is under some major remodeling due to a storm.

We are in California even if we did only go 75 miles!!! YEA!

Gettin our Kicks on Route 66

Hazel M. Walker

Queen of the Road

Out of Sedona

As much as we loved Sedona, we packed up and left today. Sedona is not part of the Route 66 trip, but it was so close to Flagstaff that we decided to take Route 89A and check out the beautiful Red Rocks. It is well worth the side trip.

Today we took 89A around the Mountains into Jerome. Again, not part of the Route 66 trip but what the heck we are already off the path. Jerome is phenomenal, a whole town build on the side of mountains. Jerome has a rich history of copper mining and when the copper mines where closed the town was all but abandoned. Today it is growing and draws a lot of tourist. It is so different from all of the other towns we have encountered in Arizona. No way could I ever live in this place, if you fell off of your porch it would kill you! If you ever get a chance I would recommend that you take the opportunity to visit the old town!

Now, let me tell you about the mountain drive. It was so exciting, we were climbing up the mountain zigging and zagging, great hairpin curves, uphill, downhill and sheer drop on the drivers side. Baby was a blast to drive on this road, at the top most point we were at 7500 feet. Remember, what goes up, must come down, and we did. Penny did great, she hates heights, but did well, we had the top down on the car and the temperature was wonderful. This was the most beautiful part of the day to me, it was also the most exciting and therefore fun.

We got of the longest portion of Route 66. It is 150 miles of straight two lane highway, the temperature was still below 95 degrees so we kept the top down. That was a mistake......it is not feeling so good now! Much of this part of the drive was interesting but not beautiful.

We went thru this little town called Seligman, Arizona. Very fun, several of the local places have really gone out of their way to create a fun place to stop and buy geegaw's. We went to a little DQ like place, (not DQ) we had hot dogs for lunch....Bob hot dogs...short and fat. Not the John hot dog which is long and thin. Their description not mine. The guys taking the orders where very very funny! Stop here if you get a chance!

We continued on, top still down..........not a good idea, did I tell you were are sunburned! LOL

Tonight we are in Kingsman, Arizona, tomorrow we go thru the Mohave Desert. Our guide books says fill the tank and take plenty of water. We will also ride with the top up!!!! We should be in California tomorrow night!! YEA!

Getting our Kicks on Route 66
Hazel M. Walker
Queen of the Road

Lost in Sedona

We left Flagstaff yesterday. I have to say it is very unlike any other part of Arizona, it is so green, while most of Arizona is desert Flagstaff is mountains and forest. It is a lovely college town and we enjoyed the stay at the Fairfield Inn. We had breakfast at a local place called the Village Kitchen, I promised Penny I would find her a place that made pancakes! Thank gawd they did, and she said they were good.



We left Flagstaff on 89A. What a wonderfully beautiful drive down and twisty curvy mountain. Here are some pictures that I took at one of the parks at the top, it is about 7000 feet here. These pictures do not do it justice.



This is a picture of the roads we were about to drive. I got to try Baby (lexus sc 430) out on the curves and it was great, she handles curves like nobodies business and we did not fall off the mountain. Speaking of falling.............

I saw this sign as we were going down the mountain...........so I thought I would stop and we could take another walk. We are getting a lot of walking in, way more than the 30 minutes on my treadmill. When we pull into our parking place it is about 95 degrees out and the car next to us has a dog locked in it. Penny, the saviour of all animals and nature took the license plate number and gave it to the guard at the front gate, who called for rescue. What kind 0f idiot leaves a dog in a car when the temperature outside is in the high 90s? By the time we got back to our car it was registering 108 degrees.

We walked down this path and came to this site. Look at all of the people sliding down the rocks in this river. What a blast, how fun, it's hot and the water looks soooo cool, and it was such a long walk to get here. And guess what we have bathing suites.........in the trunk of baby, a mile back. Damn, poor planning, look at all these people in bathing suites, except us.

OK, so here is the story, and if you ask me to tell you this story I won't be able to because I cannot stop laughing....ok ok, let me get myself together here. So here is the story, Penny loves the water and she will take every opportunity to get in the water. So here is the wonderful water running over these beautiful rocks. Now, sun, shallow water, and rocks equal slick algae. So, I said be careful just as Penny fell went down on her ass in the water in a denim skirt (skort). I was standing carefully trying not to fall, all the while laughing at Penny as she kept trying to get up on the slick rocks. Soon she was on all fours crawling to banks. finally a gentleman went over to help her as I was tippy toeing carefully to the banks.

So, I decided that we should just sit and watch everyone (wish we had our bathing suites) jump off the ledges into the water. Penny steps into a puddle that went to her knee and almost fell again. We decided to walk further up the river, here is Penny on her ass again. So I made her sit in the cold water to help her knee, toe and hand. "Just sit there for awhile." Ok, time to get up and get started again, she reaches down to get her shoe and gets stuck by a thorn, now her hand is bleeding! I may never ever get her back to the car.

Off we go, back to our car, on the trek back down the river, I see two or three nice round rocks near the water. I thought it would be a good place for us to rest, sitting on a rock with our feet in our water resting. I look over at Penny and she is on her back in the red, red sand and water, feet in the air, looking like a turtle turned on its back!!! How the hell did you do that? What happen? She did not know, she just fell backwards, looking into the sky! I laughed so hard that I wet my pants! I still can't stop laughing.

Needless to say, it was a long long walk back to the car and if you think for one moment I let her sit in my car with this outfit on you have another think coming. She changed!

We drove down the road to downtown Sedona. Here is the problem, we are still here. We have only driven 34 miles in 2 days. We may never ever leave Sedona. Did we say that we were going to be home September 07? It may be "08"

Look where we had to eat breakfast this morning, can you imagine!

Route 66? Where is it?
Hazel M. Walker
Queen of the Road

We're back.....did you miss us?

We took a little break to hang out with some friends in Albuquerque. Gail and Ted are very dear friends of mine, Gail is a BNI Executive Director here in New Mexico and they let me hang out with them during the Balloon Fiesta quite often. Ted loves to tell you the history of New Mexico, and he is a Music Collector. Ted and Gail used to perform in a band across the country and they owned a talent agency until recently, needless to say Ted has a massive collection of music and stock Penny and I up with music. We want to give a shout out and a Thank You to Ted and Gail!!

Currently we are in Gallup, New Mexico. Lots of Indian shops to buy stuff, lots of old 66 signs and old motels all along the route 66 road. We are staying at the El Rancho Hotel, and old hotel that is famous along Route 66. Many stars have stayed here including my favorite, Humphrey Bogart. There are a lot of international guest here to. We have met the Italians, a gentleman from Japan on his second Route 66 trip, and then the French Group. We have met a great many international visitors along Route 66, people from New Zealand, Venezuela, Italy, Netherlands, German, Spanish and French. It has truly been an international experience.

The scenery in New Mexico is both breath taking and sad. The beautiful Red Mountains, the piles of old lava, the breath taking sunsets are not to be missed. But the poverty, many old trailers, run down homes, and closed businesses are sad.

Most of Route 66 runs along the side of US 40 it is wonderful to stay along the frontage road and see the sites, but it is very moving to see how US 40 and major interstates destroyed the small towns and businesses along Route 66 especially when you realize how close the two run along side each other. Beautiful old Art Deco style building abandoned, outstanding neon signs no longer blazing, entire towns abandoned and only now starting to restore themselves for the Route 66 visitors. I cannot recommend enough to anyone that they take the route 66 trip and stay on as much of the old road as possible. The history and stories you will learn are amazing.

One of my favorite places in the last two days has been Midpoint Cafe. This is a little Cafe exactly at the Midpoint of this trip. What a great place, lots of old antiques, like a Hoosier cabinet and kerosene stove. Great staff who love to talk to you, give you information and help you in anyway they can. Check out this sign............this is the place you have to decided, go forward or turn back!

NOW........let me tell you about an exciting part of Route 66 that many people choose NOT to take. It is an 18 mile pre 1930s Route 66, dirt and gravel road through dessert. We met several people at the Midpoint Cafe. We all left about the same time. There were two women about the same age as Penny and I, from Virginia, driving a convertible Jag. They got to the dirt road and turned back, deciding to take the interstate. We passed them as they were turning around. Penny, Baby and I decided to take the road..............I know you are shocked that I would take a little Lexus SC 430 with high performance tires across the desert on dirt and gravel. (some of you will not be shocked at all).

It was a GREAT part of the trip, we drove about 20-35 miles per hour and kept stopping to look at things along the road. Penny said that I needed to stop there were apples along the road, I stopped, looked at her and said "Yea, they must be falling from all of the Dessert Apple Trees that we see along the road!" How the hell could there be apples along a dirt road in 102 degree heat? We stopped next time she saw some, they were gourds, we have in our car. Next we were driving along the road and Penny yelled....stop stop.........back up.......I did. Here is what she found, and this is what ended up in the back seat of Baby.

There was a second one, with teeth on it down in a little ditch. She wanted to go down and get it, but I could hear little rattles all around it which I am certain were rattle snakes sleeping in the heat. So I did not think it was a good idea for her to walk off the road to get a second skull. Therefore, only one hitched a ride in the back of my car on MY PILLOW! That Skull is now being shipped home to Mike.

We crossed the Continental Divide last night, today we will cross the boarder to Arizona and we promise we will blog again tonight. Now, I am off to shower and shop!

Getting our Kicks on Route 66

Queen of the Road

Hazel M. Walker

Day 10 out of Oklahoma

We are now in Texas. Well we really did not plan on being in Texas, we were going to stay in Oklahoma but we couldn't find a hotel in the small towns we were in. So we crossed the Texas boarder to Shamrock. We were getting nervous since there are no billboards on the road in Texas but we finally found a Sleep Inn, only 2 months old so it is very very nice. Flat screen TV's and very lovely rooms. So we lucked out. Maybe we should look for a room earlier in the future, or.........not.

We had a lot of distractions today. We went to El Reno where we saw some lovely old buildings and interesting antiques, like this stove. NOTE the name on the stove is HAZEL....go figure! Then Penny and I saw this collection of "Irons" hundreds of them, we are not sure what you do with them but they were kind of cool.

We found this interesting place to eat, if you go through El Reno's try it out! The name says it all!!!

We spent a lot of time on the original Route 66 today. It was great we discovered so many things. Can you guess how fast Baby could go on this long straight stretch of road? There was LOTS of it. The best parts of Route 66 are on this part of the trip so far......very straight, lots of hills, bridges and scenery. Notice how red the the pond is or how steep the bank of this river is. As I said, we are so easily distracted along this stretch of highway.

We found more GIANTS today! Giant Kachinas and Giant Indians.

And here is one of my favorite photos, it is a collection of windmills.

Tomorrow we start across Texas! I am very excited about Texas and look forward to some BIG adventures as we cross the pan handle.

Getting our Kicks on Route 66

Hazel M. Walker

Queen of the Road