Down the Home (Needing a) Stretch

Bakersfield, CA / Fresno, CA / Oakland, CA

We took our time in the morning and after waking up slowly, eating breakfast and relaxing we finally made our way to the car to set off for Fresno where Clay has a friend who recently moved from Chicago. It turns out we were catching them right in time because in 36 hours they are set to move to Belgium for at least three months.

The trip through California's Central Valley from Bakersfield to Fresno was uneventful along a flat highway bisecting fields of corn and fruit orchards. Just after noon, we turned into a new subdivision in Fresno located across the street from a fruit orchard and parked the car in the driveway. We had a chance to chat with The Merrills about their upcoming trip; the house was clearly packed for immediate evacuation though the pool in the backyard still beckoned invitingly in the heat. Their two children were napping and once they woke up the fun really began. They were shy at first but opened up pretty quickly. Micah is a week away from four and he showed Julayne his ka-poo-da (computer) which was really an interactive learning game encased in a bright, red shiny car. Maia is two and a half and entrusted Julayne with her baby doll for just a moment before reaching out to take her back. When their mom mentioned that Julayne had a baby in her stomach Micah reached out and placed his hand on her belly and rubbed it saying "baby, baby." Maia kept looking around for the baby and lost interest when she didn't see one. We went out to grab lunch with them and after lunch we said our goodbyes.

One of the bottles of water in the car hadn't been in the cooler. Julayne took a sip and declared it hot enough to make tea. Even when the A/C was on full blast it didn't feel particularly effective. We stopped at a gas station to refill the cooler with ice and continue the last leg of our epic journey winding through farmlands, crossing over the Altamont Pass and into the Bay Area where the temperatures were more reasonable.

It felt amazing to travel the last hour or so on well-known roads where the GPS was merely a noise not a necessity. We arrived at Julayne's mother's house just after 8pm and dinner was waiting for us. Over dinner Clay explained how he knew The Merrills and it was noted that he needed to stop using 'here' to refer to Chicago as he was no longer there. After eating, relaxing and talking we retreated to rest our feet and recount the day's adventures. Hours after our arrival we pulled sleeping clothes out of our suitcases and they were warm like they had just come from the clothes dryer.

We thank you for joining us on our trip over 10 days, eleven states and countless stories. Though this particular one is over, let the adventures continue...

Testing Gravity at the Grand Canyon

Flagstaff, AZ / Mojave Desert, CA / Bakersfield, CA

Flagstaff bade us a cool good morning. At such elevation, the air was sharp, unlike the heat of Albuquerque. The terrain looked more like Tahoe or Colorado with tall pines, mountains and fields of yellow flowers.

We had breakfast at the hotel. As we were about to leave a "trucker type" approached us and asked if we wanted any advice from a local. He and his friend smelled to high heaven and Julayne later threatened to take them both out back, hose them down and scrub them from head to toe and burn their clothes. But he was nice enough and shared how we could get into the Grand Canyon for free and not have to worry about parking. We didn't end up taking his advice but had we been around for much longer we might have. 

The last forty minutes into the Grand Canyon were on a one lane highway that periodically opened up with a passing lane. Since we were no longer on a true highway we had to deal with a range of drivers, including those who were content to putter along at a few miles an hour. What was crazy was that so many people were in such a hurry that they were willing to pass over the double line heading into oncoming traffic. Each time they did this we held our breath and hoped they made it back to the proper side in time. 

As we got close to the entrance a long line formed while everyone paid park entrance fees. On the right side we passed a National Park sign reading 'Grand Canyon National Park' where there were tons of tourists taking pictures. The woman in the car in front of us hopped out to get a picture too. Perhaps she thought she had plenty of time since the traffic was bumper to bumper. But then we moved up a bit, and again, and again. Her husband didn't pull over and we looked back and got a bit worried when we didn't see her on her way back to the car yet. Soon the sign receded in the distance and the park entry gates were in front of us and her husband had yet to pull over leaving her to walk quite a ways, possibly a mile. Concern turned into laughter at the fact that her husband drove off and left her. Clay assured me he would never do that to me. I assured him I would have more sense than to have gotten out of the car at that point.

Within ten minutes of entering the park, we were parking in the third lot at the overlook - the first two were already filled though it was only 10:30 in the morning. We walked hand in hand to the most breathtaking view of the Grand Canyon. There are no words to accurately describe this wonder of the world so we will let the pictures speak for themselves.

Everyone was buzzing with energy and some people had a little too much. One guy not too far from us jumped over the rail and walked out on a rocky protrusion to pose for a picture. As we watched in horror he mimed losing his balance or taking off in flight. Mind you there was nothing beneath him but a fall of thousands of feet and a landing on sharp craggy rocks. We had to look away. Finally someone in his party convinced him to come back to the other side of the railing. All we could think about was Superman when the kid at Niagara Falls was playing on the wrong side of the bannister and fell. We were just glad he got back safely.













We spent quite a while taking in the view. As it neared noon, the temperature warmed up considerably, so much so that we were happy to be leaving while many were still arriving and searching for parking in the filled lots. As we got back on the highway, we were still enthralled by the amazing beauty of the canyon. So enthralled that we didn't notice we were headed into a stretch of uninhabited mountainous terrain with only a quarter tank of gas. As we approached the mountains we noticed lightning in the distance and in the mountains we hit a patch of dense rain that dropped visibility to fifteen feet in front of the car. We crept along cautiously trying to ensure we stayed on the road and as we headed down one slope we noticed a patch of sunlight in the distance and focused on it knowing that the rain would be over shortly. When we reached the patch, the rain cleared up and we continued. But the gas tank level continued to lower and we still hadn't spotted a gas station. We desperately checked and rechecked the instrument which stated the number of miles we had left to go until empty and then we continued to wind our way through the mountains with no gas stations in sight for mile after mile. The atmosphere in the car grew quiet and tense. We turned the music off and stopped talking and to conserve gas we turned down the A/C and reduced our speed. Every ounce of energy was spent willing the car ahead to the next filling station. And then we saw it! Not a station, but a sign stating the next station would be found in under the number of miles we had left until the tank was empty. Still we didn't relax until the tank was full.

When we approached the border between Arizona and California, unlike all the other state borders we have crossed on this trip (Illinois to Iowa, Iowa to Missouri, Missouri to Kansas, Missouri to Arkansas, Arkansas to Louisiana, Louisiana to Texas, Texas to Oklahoma, Texas to New Mexico, and New Mexico to Arizona) this one required a complete stop. I turned down the music and took my compression sock-clad feet off the dashboard.

The man asked if we were coming from Illinois.

Clay said yes. 

He asked if we had taken 66 the whole way (as in Route 66, one of the original highways, established before cars went fast, which served as a major path for those who migrated west during the Dust Bowl of the 1930s.)

Clay said we had taken a lot of different highways.

The man said that was cheating and that we would have to go back and take Route 66 this time. I laughed.

Then the man was silent. Clay removed his sunglasses. The man said this was an agricultural stop and he wanted to inspect any fruits and vegetables we were carrying.

We told him that we had eaten everything we had and he waved us on.

A while later we stopped in the mojave desert for a meal. We didn't realize how hot it was until the waitress told us (115 degrees of dry heat) but on the way from the parking lot into the restaurant I noticed my necklace heating up on the back of her neck. We wondered why if it was 115 people were wearing jeans and long-sleeved shirts.

The waitress said you kinda get used to it, you know?

We said we didn't.

She said when she first moved from Albuquerque she wore shorts and t-shirts in the winter but by the next winter she wore a big jacket and thought 80 degrees was freezing.

And on we drove. We stopped in Barstow to fill up and since it was only four in the afternoon we decided to push on. We considered stopping for the night in California City but Clay soldiered on and pushed through to Bakersfield which would allow us an easier day of driving and more time to visit with one of his friends on Monday before heading into the Bay Area. So on we drove - booking a hotel in Bakersfield on the way - winding down through the mountains with our ears popping along the way and the multitude of stars above sprinkling in the dark night sky.
And then...I wouldn't believe it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes. As we were headed downhill winding through the mountains, we saw something jet out from the grassy median and flash by in the glow of the headlights not five feet in front of the car. Something furry and long-legged, standing as high as the headlights themselves, moving horizontally across the lanes. Perhaps gray or tan in color. We both winced and waited for the impact that never came. The last thing we saw was the tail illuminated by the headlights as the coyote loped into the darkness.

Desperately Seeking Cell Service in the Southwest!

Tucumcari, NM / Albuquerque, NM / Flagstaff, AZ

We learned Tucumcari is the home of the space shuttle that English business magnate Richard Branson (Virgin Airlines) is building to take tourists to space for $100,000. Maybe we'll do that next visit! It certainly explained all the huge, unidentifiable parts we saw being trucked in. We got an early start with a solid breakfast in our hotel where we met a couple who was traveling from Florida to Seattle for a wedding.

Before we hit the highway, we made our way over to the gas station to fill up and clean our windshield.  If we didn't mention this before, this is something that any traveler should know when driving cross country... your windshield will be covered by suicidal insects who think nothing of crashing headfirst into glass.  We spent a good 20 minutes at the gas station with the Squeegee trying to get all the marks off the windshield.    

We picked up a hitchhiker at the gas station...a fly. We opened all the windows on the highway to get him out but the sheer force of the wind drove him into hiding only to resurface once we closed the windows. Then he would buzz around frantically and we would open the windows once again. We did this a few times before both sides waved white flags and agreed to ride peacefully together to Albuquerque.

Totem pole w/southwestern motif  next to adobe-edged freeway

As we approached the city, the scrub brush and rocky hills of Tucumcari gave way to boulders and plateaus accompanied by signs of falling rocks. Then we saw adobe structures with rounded edges and artistic freeway interchanges. Regular gray cement for the freeways was not enough. Instead many of them were pinkish adobe with a turquoise trim and the pedestrian overpasses were often decorated with ornate balustrades. So quaint! (So was the fact that Verizon doesn't have good/any service in the city so our phones basically became paperweights.)






We decided to explore an area called Old Town Albuquerque and see all the different sights there.  Albuquerque was founded in 1706 by then New Mexico's governor Francisco Cuervo y Valdes (no relation to Jose Cuervo) and Old Town was the first part of the city which expanded outwards from there. The church, school and boutique shops feature the original architecture and there are lots of opportunities to shop for pottery, jewelry, and artwork. Each block had its own market tucked within a courtyard with hidden paths, gardens and patios.  Clay found a quaint spot for us to eat called Bebe's Cafe on the map.  We had trouble finding it though; we walked down San Felipe looking for the building number 206 1/2, passed 208 and landed on 204.  When we looked at the map again, we saw that the cafe was located down one of the pathways through Patio Market. 

View of garden courtyard from Bebe's Cafe

Bebe's offered organic food and we both ordered sandwiches and salads - the latter which we were thrilled to have after crossing through the plains with limited vegetables save those we brought with us in our cooler. The arugula tasted more fresh than any we had ever had and we spent time savoring our meal and the hibiscus iced tea we ordered. The waitress was not only the waitress but the cashier and the chef too. And the small cafe was pretty busy so it took her a while. She was so thankful that we were patient that she added to our order. While we ate we watched huge bumblebees amble about the wildflowers and a hummingbird flit by, stop in mid-air and zoom off. When we finished we sat for a moment and then headed out into the heat to check out San Felipe de Neri Church and the school a block away though the latter is no longer in use for its original purpose. Construction began on San Felipe de Neri the very same year Albuquerque was founded and it is one of the first buildings in the city and is listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.

San Felipe de Neri Church

Love this wall with its sloped edges and real tree limbs

We shopped around a bit but the heat made it difficult to focus so we hopped back into the car, blasted the A/C and continued on our way. Our plan had been to decide in Albuquerque how much further we could drive and book our hotel for the night then. Unfortunately three cell phones with no service, and no major areas with phone/internet service expected before our last stop for the night, put a kink in that plan. So we drove to Flagstaff, Arizona and arrived in the evening on the Saturday of Labor Day Weekend in the nearest city to the Grand Canyon tourist attraction without reservations. Bad idea!

So we did the reasonable thing. We headed for an area we figured would have internet service while we figured things out. The mall! While we were pulling into the parking lot Julayne said if the mall had a Sears she had been there before. It did indeed have a Sears. Julayne had passed through in 2007 on the way to a weeklong stay in the Navajo Nation; Flagstaff is also the nearest city to that as well. She was able to direct us to massage chairs where we got massages while checking for near non-existent room availability. After some time (the 15 minute chair massages had since ended) we found a room (it was the last one in that particular hotel) and booked it. Since we still had an hour before the mall closed Julayne headed to Motherhood Maternity to pick up some fall maternity clothes and then we headed to the hotel.