Day Nineteen - Wednesday, 9 July - Part II

As mentioned previously, Bill had provided The Tourists with a more interesting route to the one for the RV. What he didn't realise was that Rhiannon wanted to see the Grand Canyon, seeing as how she'd joined the party in Albuquerque when as it was headed east, which meant she'd missed seeing it. Martin tried to tell her that Black Canyon was in some ways much preferable (on a more sensible scale) and I tried to tell her that when Bill and I live in Salt Lake City she and Simon could come across any time and go see it.

Nope, she wanted to see the Grand Canyon now. And why not? It was only about 350 miles out of the way.

We did invite Jane to stay in the RV with us, but she went along with Chris, Simon and Rhiannon to the North Rim. Boy, did she regret it. Turns out she got the job of navigator and so was on duty for the whole day, while others in the car got to nap.


Thankfully, Jane and Chris had a nice comfy hotel room at Ruby's Inn. The youngsters had opted for teepees and just got back in time to find out where they were located before registration closed.

Martin and Helen returned last. They had taken Bill's prescribed tour, but it turned out to be even rougher than Bill described. They had a flat tire and Martin said what with the sharp corners and rough terrain it cross his mind to wonder if Bill was trying to rid himself of an almost-son-in-law. He was so shook up he bought a six pack of bottled beer at the grocery store at Ruby's Inn. He shared them around, but we all agreed it was not drinkable. I wondered if it was a Mormon thing, selling disgusting beer to dissuade people from drinking. I was sorry to pour it out; I could have used it to trap slugs. No, even they would have avoided this dirty water stuff.

And so, another day...



But wait! There are still beds to make -- on the ground -- in the teepees!



Hmmm, I heard it was really cold and the ground was hard...


and someone wimped out...


Looks like it was Helen, the softie.


But they did look fun from the outside, anyhow.

Day Nine - Sunday, 29 June

Bill’s Road Book

Day 7, 29 June: 257 Miles, 5 hours

I-40: 26 miles to Painted Desert, Jct 325 turn right onto R66

R66: 60 miles via Navajo Chambers to Sanders; 20 miles to New Mexico border, turn left onto I-40 East

R66: 25 miles via Defiance to Gallup; 10 miles via Red Rock

I-40: 10 miles to Continental Divide, turn left on I-40 East

R66: 71 miles to Correo, turn off onto R66

I-40: 35 miles to Albuquerque, follow old highway to Albuquerque Central KOA

Well, you know they went back the next morning for more liquefied margarine, this time on pancakes, with maple syrup and coffee (on the side). The KOA people were very happy for the RV to be left in the campsite while they all we went off in the car to see the Painted Desert and the Petrified Forest. I've been to both many years ago and was well impressed by them, more the painted than the petrified parts. Looking at Simon's pictures I'm remembering how amazing it does look.

As usual, Simon managed to snap some of the wildlife

And a few people (Bill, Chris, Bob, Jane). I started to say a few Old Gits, but then I'd need to apologise to Jane.

Simon seemed really taken with this bird and given the number of pictures and the proximity it allowed, I'm thinking the poor thing wasn't very well. Either that or he expected a little payment in return for his patience. Bob tells me it was posing!

There were apparently some interesting rocks,

the latter of which inspired someone to a little creative effort of their own.

They drove to Albuquerque in the rain. I don’t know how much it rains in NM, but it always rains when Bill is there – sheets of rain. I think some of the electrical storms I’ve been in on the flat desert at night are among the most beautiful and frightening things I’ve ever seen. Bill says the whole place was awash and there was a major traffic jam on the way to the airport.

The purpose of going to Albuquerque was to meet the next additions to the group: Helen and her fiancée, Martin, and Simon’s girlfriend, Rhiannon. This meant getting another vehicle, one which Martin and Chris could drive. Also that the RV was now full to capacity, which meant it was no longer going to be that comfortable, so Chris & Jane went off to stay in a motel. Helen & Martin stayed in the motel as well, which they did most of the time. We all agreed they were having their pre-wedding honeymoon.

Anyhow, the motel was handy as it was around the corner from the RV park where they could go straight out and up onto I-40, which all three vehicles did the next morning, eventually.

Oklahoma City

I spent some time weighing all the stuff’ I had acquired and looking at the US Airways website and calculating whether 2 bags weighing less than 50 pounds would be cheaper than posting some stuff home or having one bag that weighed up to but not over 100 pounds, then again how much might I be able to stash into Bill or Bob’s suitcases and what should I carry in my backpack that I kept with me… I had 115 # of stuff, not counting me.

A large part of the stuff was Rita's collection of jewellery. As Rita had mentioned once that she'd wanted me to have it, Jack showed me the 4' tall piece of furniture that was her jewellry box and said to take what I wanted. At first I only took what I thought I would likely wear. Rita was taller, bigger-boned and had darker colouring that suited ethnic styled pieces. I told Jack I had passed over the large rings with the genuine stones, thinking they were too valuable. He said to do what I thought best. As I was dropping off to sleep, the thought came into my mind: That's the stuff she was talking about, silly, not just the costume jewellery. So the next day I went back and collected those. I thought about some of the ethnic pieces and considered I might take them apart and make them into smaller ones; or, they might be sold on Ebay intact. So I took those. Finally there were many sets of earrings, numerous bracelets and the odd craft bead collection. I realised that whatever I left would leave Jack more decisions to make, so I cleared out all but a couple of things that related very specifically to Jack's previous career. This is the stuff that weighed the most.

One thing I noticed was that the Village is more integrated now and that the black people I encountered there were quite friendly and approachable, not like when I lived here 17 years ago. I was at 7-11 getting gas and as I was going back to the pump an older black man came around the corner and just addressed me in passing, “Do you think I could get a tan in this (weather/sunshine)?” I had to smile. I was pleased that things had moved on and seemed to be so much easier for everyone.

I drew out more cash in order to have the money I owed Bill for my part of the RV and to pay towards gas and food for the rest of the trip. By now I had a stack of $20 bills. I put it in a drawer of Rita’s sewing cabinet and later got an envelope from Jack to carry it. I told Jack that I felt certain I must being going to do something illicit, carrying that wad of cash in a brown envelope. For the rest of the trip I referred to this stash as my ‘drug money’ - but I was careful in whose presence I made this reference!

Day Seven - Friday, 27 June

Oklahoma City

In the morning I had an appointment to meet the woman from the property management company at my rental house. It is the house I grew up in that I inherited and never sold. I never set out to become a landlady. I’m not sure whether it’s a smart move or not, but it has been just easier to keep than to sell the house.

I went over to their office to pick up a copy of the bills they’d sent me over the last 2 years for a vast amount of work. The receptionist greeted me as though I were a celebrity of sorts, just because I live in England. She insisted on introducing me to each of the people in the various offices, gushing as we went. It was all rather amusing until I sat down in the reception area to look through the papers.

She was so excited about England that out of courtesy I asked if she had plans to visit. She did not. She was hesitant to travel in these troubled times. Her son is in Iraq, you know, and there are so many terrorists in London. I said I wasn’t aware there were so many terrorists in London, though there were some poor young men who were perhaps easily influenced. She thought I put that very well. Then she went on to talk about the fact that the ACLU was a communist organization. When I expressed surprise, she assured me this was true – it was on the Internet. I forget now what she said about the growth of the terrorist, anti-Christ regime that was attacking morality in America, but I decided to look over the paperwork in the car. This very nicely dressed, friendly lady had obviously forgotten to take her tablets. I was amazed she had a job that put in her contact with the clients.

Anyhow I drove over to the house, met the woman in charge of maintenance, Pat joined us shortly and we toured the house. I was really grateful that he took the time – and spent the gas money – to come down and do this, as I was wanting to assure myself that the work they said had be done actually had.

I thought I might be upset that it didn’t look like when Mom lived there, but I instead I was pleased with the way it looked. It was a much nicer house than when I lived there! The walls and carpet were a cream colour, the kitchen had new counters and cabinets and flooring. There were quite a few ceiling fans and all new mini-blinds. The tenant had nice furnishings and décor and a reasonable standard of housekeeping, and though she was one to find small things to report and demand repaired, this was after all bringing the state of the house back up from the dump that the last tenants left.

We found a few things that needed addressing, particularly the tree trimming that I’d paid for that hadn’t occurred, something I feel strongly about as it damages the roof which then needs replaced or mended.

(picture) Also, I felt a couple of the jobs inside the house could have been done better and asked that those contractors not be used on my house again. It was a very productive visit and well worth doing. I learned that the management company almost never checks the work of their contractors, as they simply don’t have sufficient staff to do so. I shall be giving an opinion to the owner of the company about this situation and possibly about his receptionist’s tablets.

From there Pat and I made our way over to Al and “Ruby”’s. Ruby is her middle name, but her first name, the one she uses, starts with a Z and is so unusual that you would find her easily on the internet. She worked full time until very recently at a call centre. She said customers would often ask her about her name and where it came from. She would need to steer the conversation back as her employer was unhappy about the digressions from the business of the call centre. Z is also cousin to Belmont and to Mom and is in her late 80’s. Al is her oldest son and she now lives with him, not far from Rita’s house.

For all that, they lived near by, the cousins have never spent time together, so it wasn’t just Mom who was out of touch with local family, though according to her letters to Daddy they were all in an out of each others' houses during the war. I saw Al at Rita’s funeral and before that I probably I never said more than half a dozen words to him in total. Al and his brothers spent time around Grandmother’s 4 teens occasionally when they were growing up, but although they all live in Oklahoma City, they don’t stay in touch. I guess that’s just how our family is. Pat pointed out that even the 4 people who were raised together all had different social groups when they were at school and went their separate ways as teenagers.

I was amazed to find that Z looked almost exactly as she did when I last saw her, at a BBQ at John’s house shortly after Grandmother’s death, nearly 20 years ago. She reminds me a lot of Mom, being about 5’4” and thin, with high cheekbones, but with a pointier chin. I thought she looked lovely, though she has been ill lately, having been diagnosed with cancer. In fact, I thought she looked great all things considered. She got out of bed and came to sit with us in the living room. Pat and Al had their own interests to talk about, but I managed to talk a little with Z about family history.

I knew that father, Atmer – also a very distinctive name - had been an electrical engineer. What I hadn't known was that he was responsible for the maintenance of the old Huckins Hotel. Z worked there as well for a while. Mom talked about the Huckins Hotel a lot; I think it was the place to go for an evening’s dinner and perhaps dancing. Grandma and Grandpa, her in-laws, had a nice screened back porch on their house on Pennsylvania; that porch had ceiling fans that had come from the old Huckins Hotel when it was torn down. Another thing I learned was that Z and her husband had lived two doors down from Mom and Daddy when they first built their house in The Village. We stayed for over an hour and I really enjoyed our visit, but I did worry about wearing Z out. Also, I was getting quite hungry.

Pat and I had lunch at Johnnie’s, just about my favourite restaurant in OKC. I always eat there when I’m in town; Rita and I went there often when I was younger. I enjoyed my time there with Pat. It was a good visit with Pat – not ‘Larry’ the actor / politician – just Pat. Anyone who has been around my Uncle will know just what I mean.

Later we went back to Jack’s and Pat headed home to Lamont. I made notes about what we’d seen at the house and made some salad to accompany the huge steaks Jack was going to grill on the BBQ outside. I’m pretty sure I ate 2 or 3 times as many calories that day as I should have, but then that’s what always happens when I go back home to Oklahoma.

Back on the Road…

There is no road book for this day as they stayed a second night there at the Grand Canyon. Everyone basically spent the next day independently (Jane & Chris), (Bob and Bill) and Simon exploring around the Grand Canyon rim, which is of course fairly awesome.

They met back up at the RV, but made a special trip back to the rim to watch the sunset. And so another day.

As always, a big thanks to Simon for his pictures at the Grand Canyon.

Day Six - Thursday, 26 June

I met my cousin (her Dad, Belmont, is my mother's cousin) Joanne and her husband Gene and their granddaughter Leesie (no idea how it's spelled, but that's how it sounds) for lunch at Souper!Salad. It's not the most exciting place to eat but at least it has lots of healthy options. I had lots of healthy options - lots.

They were telling me about their upcoming church mission to Peru. It wasn't going to be the touristy part and a lot of what they knew they would be doing sounded kind of scary to me. For example, eating bread made with some ingredient that if it's made wrong, it's poisonous. I asked who got to test the bread first... Riding in a canoe on a river through the jungle, staying in a village where the water source is a stream. I wished them luck.

Then we went over to Belmont and Mona's for a visit. Mona had just got out of the hospital and Belmont had stayed with her most of the time, so I was amazed to find them looking as well as they did - they are both over 90 years old. I didn't intend to stay very long, particularly after Joanne and Gene left, but every time I got up to go, another strand of the conversation started and I was there for over 3 hours. I don't know what we talked about - family stuff, reminiscences, we just talked. And I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Everytime I see them I am conscious it might be the last time. I did finally have to go as I'd agreed to meet up with Doris and Don across town.

I managed to get on the right highway for a change and so the trip to the Southside went smoothly. Rita's Acura was a dream to drive and I really enjoyed listening to the music stations she had set - classic rock, light rock, western, etc. At one point towards the end of that journey, came on and I just cranked it up and cruised down the road, remembering why it was so great to drive a car in the US.

Doris and I met up with a handful of other old friends of ours, LaQuita, Oneta and Jackie. I really enjoyed that. Afterwards I had intended to take Don and Doris out for a meal, but Don and Doris' brother had already made spaghetti and meatballs for dinner and so we ate in. Doris's 5-year old great-grandaughter, Brooklyn was there. She insisted on showing me her dance repertoire. I stayed at Doris's visiting until about 10 or so -- Donald P was already asleep in his chair... It was a lovely day, but I was glad to hit the air mattress back at Jack's.

*****************************

Bill Road Book:

Day 4, 26 June, 200 Miles; 5 hours.

R 66: 5 miles to Kingman, Cross I-40 at Jct 53; 100 miles via Hackberry, Valentine, Truxton, Peach Spring, Grand Canyon Caverns to Seligman. Keep on R66, do not join I-40 (see Map); 15 miles to I40 junction 139; turn left onto I-40 East.

I-40: 25 miles to Jct 161. See Map. I-40 business through Williams onto 64 North

Hwy 64: 30 miles to Valle. Straight on

US 180: 28 miles to Mather. RV Village

The guys abandoned the RV in a Wal-Mart car park and went in the cars out over the desert again through Seligman Pass to Oatman, Arizona, an old mining town.

They were impressed with the wild donkeys (or burros, according to the website)

(picture from website linked below)

and maybe they have another name.

Classy cars, too.

Bill says Clark Gable and Carole Lombard spent their honeymoon here in the Oatman hotel in 1930-something. I had to look this up for myself - they say the Gables couldn't get enough of the place.

This place was a mining town until the mines closed; since then it has survived as a Route 66 attraction.

Having done Oatman, the guys retrieved the RV at Wal-mart and carried on round the hilly bits on Rt 66 on a good modern road, which had been well maintained … until just before they got to I-40, apparently. Anyhow, they made it that night to the Grand Canyon.

And, as always, many thanks to Simon for sharing his pictures.

Day Five - Wednesday, 25th June

Having made my usual list of things I wanted to accomplish, I sketched a calendar in my notebook of the week (AM, PM, EVE) and spent some time on the phone. I had to push myself to do anything at all, I felt so weighed down with sadness the lethargy was hard to fight. Eventlly, I filled in appointments with family and friends and the realtor who manages my rent house in OKC. I particularly wanted my Uncle Pat to come along with me to the rent house to help me verify that they had actually done the work they said they had.

Then I crawled up in Rita’s attic, over the garage. I’d never been up there before, but Jack reckoned there was stuff up there and sure enough there was. The loft space was only about a third of the width of the garage, which was probably fortunate. There was a variety of furniture, Christmas ornaments and stuff.... I made some notes, took a shower and picked up a few cookbooks to browse.

Rita had an interesting collection of really fattening cookbooks from touristy places they’d visited and from local fund-raising projects. Then there were the low-fat, Weight Watchers, Ultra-low fat cookbooks, which were of more interest to me. Rita apparently believed she was pre-diabetic and had a collection of diabetic cookbooks as well. I don’t know if she was right or not. She certainly seemed to have had virtually every other life threatening illness one could develop, so why not…

*********************

Bill's Road Book:

(do you know, I'm fed up fighting with the table in blogger.com?)

Day 3, 25 June - 270 miles, 6 hours, Note 1

Hwy 138, 16 miles to Cajon Junction. Turn right on I-15 North

I-15, 10 miles to Victorville. Exit hwy 18, bear right onto 7th Street. Turn left at D Street (ca hwy 18)

R66, 30 miles via Helendale, Hodge and Lenwood to Barstow. Keep on E Main St. Do not join I-40. 7 miles to Daggett; cross I-40 to Newberry Springs. 12 miles to Junction 18, I-40. 23 miles, cross I-40, join National Old Trails Highway. 8 miles to Ludlow. 30 miles to Amboy. 30 miles to Essex, cross I-40 onto Mountain Springs Road. 5 miles to I-40 junction 107. 12 miles to Goffs. Turn Rt onto Goffs Road. 12 miles to Arrowhead Junction, turn left onto US-95. 5 miles Junction I-40, cross over and turn left onto I-40 East.

I-40, 13 miles to Needles. 12 miles to Colorado River, turn left at Jct 1, Topock (Map).

Rt 66/Hwy 95, 40 miles via Oatmen and Sitgreaves Pass to McConnico, cross I 40, Continue on old 66 on other side (Map). 4 miles to Kingman.

Note 1 Sitgreaves pass This is a switchback mountain road past Oatman. We have been recommended to go via I 40 with the RV and leave the hedonists to do Route 66 in the SUV

Again, Bill and Bob were up early to go for a run around the woods.

Bill said the drive down the valley on this day was almost as horrendous as the one the previous day. They bought only $50 worth of $5 gas then down to I-15 and then onto Route 66 proper. They stopped for breakfast in Victorfille at a place called Johnny Reb’s (Put some South in Your Mouth), which apparently was an adventure. Bill described it as a square box shaped sort of cafe with rough wood walls. All the windows were different and at odd angles -- no right angles to be found in the place. Also, they seemed to have lots of sound effects: pigs oinking in the bathroom; cows mooing in the kitchen, dogs barking in the yard. Sounds more Beverly Hillbillies than Southern Living. They also had a thing with peanuts. Each table had a bucket of peanuts and in return for those you were to make donations to their chosen charity. Part of that deal is that you throw the shells on the floor. Sounds like an interesting place… Of course everyone had a Pig-Out Pancake breakfast.

Continuing on Route 66, past a cement factory and through Barstow. On the other side of Barstow they discovered a Marine Corp depot where Rt 66 used to be, but was no longer. They had to go back onto I-40 to get around the depot and then off through the desert again.

They were struck by the interesting local architecture,

the long trains

the local wildlife

and a unique species of plant, the shoe tree.

At a place called Essex the road crossed over I-40 and became Spring Mountain Road. They guys took the RV off and and went on the motorway because a big sign said "This road is no longer maintained". But the Tourists went charging merrily along and enjoyed themselves tremendously. They all met up at Kingman, where they stayed the night.

I'm very grateful that Simon has taken and shared such wonderful photos; Bill had managed to misplace his camera early on in the trip; unfortunately this was also a recurring theme. I think he was so excited to finally be on his dream tour, he just sort of lost it all...

Day Three - Monday, 23 June

We all had a buffet breakfast of cereal and pastries in the motel’s reception area. It was lovely to hear Australian accents again. I’m always envious of Jane’s tan, not to mention how thin she is. It's a wonder I like her at all, actually, but I enjoy her company tremendously.

Bill, Simon and Bob went to fetch the Recreational Vehicle (RV) while the rest of us packed up and cleared the rooms. I was due at the airport to fly out to Oklahoma City, leaving the others to begin their Route 66 trek without me. I was just about to get nervous about the time when the RV arrived. Simon helped me with the cases and said he’d be laying low on this journey, given the great debate he’d witnessed over who was going to be the first to drive the RV: “I’ve driven a lorry for over 30 years [Bob]”; “But it’s my Birthday Tour! [Bill]”. I thought Simon was taking a wise approach.

I had a quiet flight to OKC; I rang Jack and he came along and picked me up. I was pleased to be at Rita’s house, though it was strange to be there without her.

Meanwhile, their day was more exciting. Bill's Road Book instructions were:

Day	Road	Mileage	Destination	Action
Day 1 23 June	US 93 US 93 I 40 Hwy 95	25 71 23 16 21	Henderson Boulder City Hoover Dam Kingman Yucca Jct 9 Lake Havasu City	Cross Dam into Arizona Right onto I 40 West Turn L London Bridge KOA	155 miles 3.5 hours

They needed to stop for groceries and Bill pointed them to Von’s Supermarket. Chris was in heaven. He willingly got a store card so he could access all the Wonderful Deals. I later panicked when I watched Chris buy 45 nectarines at WalMart because they were such a Great Offer. I can only imagine what he did in Von’s. Two things I know for sure. They bought two 3 litre jugs of red wine for only $10 and a litre of gin for only $9. There wasn’t much left of either by the time I joined the party, but they were clearly set to have a good time. They also bought lots of soft drinks and food, particularly peanut butter.

Loaded up with food (and drink), Bob and Bill set off down Hiway 93 to Lake Havasu RV park. The others in the car headed for Hoover Dam.

(Simon's picture)

There was a slight hitch when they got to the RV park as it was no longer a KOA, though Bill had booked there thinking it was. Also, the managers had left and so the permanent residents invited the guys to pick a spot, any spot. It all worked out OK, with the managers returning the next day. Just seemed an odd way to run an RV park, but then what would I know about it?