California, Here We Come!!!

Here are the Chronicles thus far of our Journey Westward.  Days One and Two.

On Friday, March 19, James and Prosper and I set out for California and the Collie National Specialty via Route 66.....Well...It is actually I-40 these days, but most of the miles the two either parallel or they are one and the same. Historic. Lovely. Amazing. Every mile seems to hold something more spectacular.

We left Tahlequah around 8 am, and our first stop was at the Cherokee Trading Post somewhere west of Oklahoma City.

They had pretty good coffee, and a couple of buffalo for the visitors to see up close.

Prosper watched them a while, then decided, as Prosper always Does, that it was time to pee.

And, we took the photo opp and posed under a painted buffalo....

We kept heading West, and stopped at a thrift store in Amarillo. While there, I overheard someone talking on her cell phone, and she was saying that Amarillo was going to get 8 inches of snow in a few hours. Instead of bedding down in Texas, I decided to keep driving, and we wound up in Santa Rosa, NM for the night.

TERRIBLY cheap motel (one of the ones leftover from the old Route66), with no hot water and a heater that barely worked (they gave me that electric one you see on the shelf beside the microwave). No wifi, either. THAT's why you had to wait until tonight to get this blog entry....

I looked outside, thinking I would drive somewhere for a bite to eat, and THIS is what I found.....

It was beginning to SNOW! Big, huge flakes. Underneath that was sleet. By the time the sun went down, we had about 2 inches of the white stuff, covering Everything. I had emptied my van of "winter" necessities, so no ice scraper.....NOT to worry! Being the Collie-lover that I am, I Always have grooming tools in my van....A wide slicker brush worked just as well!

Next morning, we went out to hurry up....

Prosper posed on this high wall, surveying the state of New Mexico.  He'd been told that it was a "hot" state....

Loaded the van and went looking for a cuppa coffee, only to discover that I-40 was CLOSED!

Yep! Po-lice were parked at the on-ramps, turning folks away. Something about "black ice" towards Albuequrque....So, I cruised the Route 66 in Santa Rosa, and finally found something open that served breakfast.

Welcome to Joseph's Bar and Grill! Est 1956. I ordered biscuits and gravy without the gravy, and the waitress kept the coffee coming while I studied the maps and wondered what it would BE like to spend yet another night in Santa Rosa.

There was snow on the Cactus!!! James seemed a bit regretful that he'd had a few too many the night before....

Prosper was just thrilled to be out of the crate....

I bought a warm sweatshirt w/Route 66 written on it, pulled it on over my tee-shirt, and tried again to head west. Looked like the traffic was Moving on the big slab, and sure enough, we were able to point our van away from Santa Rosa! Albuquerque, here we come!

The roads were dry and clear....that is, for a few miles.....Then they turned to ice and packed snow. Traffic was slowed to 30mph, and there were cars and trucks stuck in the ditches every few miles. Go figger....first day of Spring, and we are driving thru New Mexico in SNOW and ICE....

The sand that they used to help melt the snow is dark garnet-colored. Not the beige sand we see back home.

The approach to Albuquerque is absolutely breathtaking! What a beautiful city set amongst the mountains and mesas. Their overpasses are made of adobe colored concrete, and the sides are painted turquoise....I think this must be their "icon" color.

I entered "beads" in my Garmin, and he took us straight towards Old Town. I paid for 2 hours of parking, and bought $50 of beads....stones of all sorts. I got the boyz out and took them for a walk, ending up at the

church of

 

Once again, the boyz posed for a photo.

And then a nice lady offered to take all three of our picture.

That's my blue Route 66 sweatshirt.....

Stopped at a gas station, tried to figger out their carwash thingy, but wound up cleaning the windows with their squeegie. Heading West again, parallel to Route 66, saw a sign for an old bridge that was part of the path back in the 50's.

I didn't think that the scenery could get any prettier, but, well, I had some trubble keeping it "between the bar ditches" (as my friend Roger would say), because every inch was filled with amazing geography.

Aren't the Clouds just Wonderful!!!

A few more miles, and we were in Arizona. At this point, I decided that God was just plain showing off! We entered the Painted Desert about 5 pm, and I wanted to be everywhere at once.

Heading straight for the Petrified Forest, a sight that I have wanted to see ever since I first saw it in my Weekly Reader in Elementary School......

How could it get any better??? Getting to actually Touch the petrified wood I have always dreamed of  AND with my dear Collies in tow....

I used the "timer" feature on the camera to capture this one.

Here's James beside the biggest tree in the forest. Old Faithful. Good name for Both of them....

Here's another I took with the timer....

The boyz ate their supper in the Park, and then a ranger drove up and told me that it was time to leave. That the Park had been "closed for 30 minutes."   Sigh.....I want to come back, bring Rob and his bicycle.....

I stopped at a rock shop right on the other side of the gate, and bought some petrified wood for Brenda and a snowflake obsidian marble for grandson Isaac (he LOVES marbles). It was dark by then, and my cell phone was not in range, so I drove down the 2-lane towards Holbrook Arizona until I could get a tower and called Rob. He'd been a little antsy, after all it was nine o'clock his time, and I'd been out of touch in amongst the rocks....

The lady at the rock shop suggested I try the "America's Best Value Inn" in Holbrook. She even had a coupon and called to find out if they accepted dogs. It's a very nice place. Built in 1966---another Route 66 structure, but with nicely updated amenities.

We're all pretty tired....Collies crashed everywhere.....

Yeh, that's where I found him.....

Even King James decided that the day should end.....

Tomorrow, we'll head towards Kingman, but first take a detour to the Grand Canyon.