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…

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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 Four - Tuesday, June 24

I spent most of the day hanging out with Jack in between his running errands. He told me what he really wanted me to do was to go through the house and tell him what things I would be upset about if they were got rid of. Rita collected a lot of stuff in her lifetime and while she was a master at organising it all, the house still was quite full. I had written him earlier about a number of items that came from Grandmother's house that I would be sad if they were lost. My mission this week was to identify other important items. Being given permission to 'snoop' probably would have been fun had it not been so sad. As it was, I found a number of things I didn't know still existed.
The other thing I did on this particular day was go through a basket of cards and letters Jack indicated had to do with Rita's death. Needless to say I soaked several handkerchiefs, but was rewarded with being reminded how special she was to so many people.

I hadn't realised that Rita was an organ donor. There was a letter from the organ donation people saying that a 67-year old mother of 7 children in California was Rita's recipient. They sent Jack a medallion in recognition of her donation. Seeing all this and talking with Jack made me decide I should be an organ donor as well, something I've always shied away from. My niggling worry was that doctors might try less hard to save me for the benefit of potential recipients, but after talking with Jack this seems less than likely. My sorry photographic skills are again highlighted here, but if you can't read the letters, it says

Give Hope Give Love Give Life

Now, back to the exciting part...


Bill's Road Book:

Day	Road	Mileage	Destination	Action
Day 2 24 June	hwy 95 hwy 62 I 10 hwy 210 hwy 18	20 17 20 22 55 15 10 8 10 23 20 7 16	Parker Vidal Junction Rice Jct hwy 177 Twenty Nine Palms Joshua Tree Yucca Valley Morongo Valley Palm Springs Beaumont Redlands San Bernardino Lake Silverwood	Turn Right Cross US 95 Bear Right Map1 Turn Right onto hwy 210 Map2 Turn Right onto hwy18 NP Campground	245 miles 6 hours

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.

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Bill and Bob were up at the crack of dawn to go for a run. This might not have been quite as awful as it sounds as the jet lag would have been in their favour, but you should be well impressed all the same. The temperature difference will have been as bad or worse than the time change.

As you can see from Simon's pictures, everyone had to fiddle with their technology a bit, and pose doing it. This is a continuing theme, I'm afraid.

I chose to go on to OKC because of this family business, but also because I've seen most of this countryside before. It's great, though, looking at Simon's pictures and seeing what grabbed him.

The wide open barreness is strikingly different to the usual English scenery.

As are the straight roads going off into the heat-induced haze.

And the license plates are different, though Bill tells me that ZBB on a UK license tag indicates a car from Newcastle. But so much for the Tourists, which became the name for anyone in the cars; the guys in the RV were having some high adventures of their own.

According to Bill they didn't know what was the lay of the land between San Bernadino and the next campsite. They got through SB with a quarter tank of gas and pulled into the first gas station they could find, only to learn it had no fuel to sell. They thought they could make it to the campsite and could tackle this problem the next morning. What they didn't realise was that they would have to go all the way up this mountain and back down again


Bob was driving down the steep pass, watching the fuel light blinking, knowing that without power they had no steering and no brakes. He told me it was about the worst driving experience of his entire life. Bill said the road was only 7' wide, but the camper was 8.5' wide. Whilst I'm fairly sure this is a slight exaggeration, I'm pleased I missed that part of the journey. In the week and a half that I was in the RV, I asked frequently how the gas gauge was doing.
They did obviously make it to the campsite without falling off the mountain. Simon was sent to find gas and came back with a can at the unheard of price of $5 a gallon. They had missed the turnoff for the campsite and gone about 40 miles beyond, but Lake Silverwood apparently lived up to its name (except that Bill tells me this was, in fact, Lake Havasu...oh well).

Thanks again to Simon, for his great photos.

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?

Day Two - Sunday, 22 June

We were up early ready to get to the Manchester airport where Simon magically appeared behind us at the check-in line. I wanted to take pictures then, but figured that would upset the security people. I was pleased to learn that US Airways permitted each person TWO suitcases, as I fully intended to be bringing STUFF back with me.

Checking in and getting through security gets increasingly complicated:

• Two carry on bags allowed now (to be fair to guys who don’t carry purses).
• Suitcase packed and guarded by you with nothing in that anyone else asked you to carry.
• Any liquids up to 100ml amount in the original containers, including lipsticks, creams, perfumes, in a ziplock plastic bag (no greater than 20cm square) to be shown to security personnel.
• Remove coats, sweaters and vests and put into a box to go through x-ray.
• Show security personnel any electrical items, ie laptop computers, cameras, etc.
• Remove shoes and place in a box for the x-ray.
• Place all metal objects in pockets or on person into a box for the x-ray.
• Walk through the portal and when the thing squawks, allow someone to search your person.

Besides the work of deciding what goes into which bag and remembering not to wear holey socks, juggling all these things, remembering what things to show to whom when, particularly when there are queues of people waiting everywhere and lots of shouting and instructions, it’s all a bit dizzying. I felt like a puzzle that had been taken apart and needed re-construction a few yards away on the ‘other side’.

Our first flight was from Manchester to Philadelphia and then from Philly to Las Vegas. I wish I could say good things about US Airways other than they were the cheapest airline. Unfortunately, I found the food fairly disgusting – it was half warm -- (I usually like airline food) and the staff were not just unfriendly, they were downright surly. We all agreed this would be our only trip with that airline. Oh yes, new rules: no congregating in the aisles or galley (ie waiting for the toilet to be free). Bill made the mistake of following me and speaking and we got ordered out of the galley. Fortunately I’d already been to the loo.

When we arrived at Vegas, we picked up the first vehicle at Dollar rentals, a 2007 Chrysler Pacifica.

They made us wait for it about an hour and we were a bit concerned that they hadn’t done their own inventory of damage and dings from the previous user, but we were ready to be out of there and get to our hotel.

Bill’s main problem with automatic vehicles seems to be the emergency brake. We had to get help from the Dollar guy to find out how to release it, which is a little embarrassing. I kept quiet so he'd think I was foreign, too. Then again, I couldn't really say anything, since I couldn’t figure it out either, right? I closed my eyes in the back seat while everyone got used to driving on the right side of the road.

(Simon's picture)

We'd made no arrangements for where and when to meet Jane (Bill’s sister) and Chris but knew they’d arrived in Vegas a couple of days earlier. Fortunately they remembered where we were staying – another Travel Lodge – and were staying there that night, too. We ran into them in the parking lot. They’d eaten, so we (the UK 4) went out to get some dinner at Coco’s around the corner. Simon wandered off to take pictures of Vegas (copy Hooters). Imagine what he found interesting... (to be fair, he did snap a lot of other pictures).

(Simon's picture)

Day One - Saturday, 21 June

OK. I'm probably going to confuse myself here as everyone else counts the first day of the holiday as the first day in the US, but for me, the first day is when the journey begins.

Our journey began about noon on Saturday and the first step was to meet up with Bob to travel to Manchester on the train. We trundled our suitcases onto the Metro and phoned him to let him know we were in the first car, where he duly joined us as we passed the station nearest him. Bill and I each has a modest sized suitcase (after lots of deliberation about taking a big, largely empty suitcase or just buying -- yet another -- one at WalMart); Bob's was slightly larger. We three with our cases hogged a lot of space -- but seeing the big smiles on our faces people didn't seem to mind.

When we got to Newcastle Central Station, the guys were hungry. I'd had a snack earlier and was more interested in finding something to read on the journey. WH Smith usually gets a wad of my money when I'm on holiday, but strangely enough I couldn't find anything in there that I wanted. It was so unlike me it was almost worrying.

There was no food on the train, as usual, and I tried popping out at York during our 10 minute stop, but two other women beat me and the salesgirl was so lethargic I left my sandwich and coke at the counter, feeling the minutes passing all too fast. Bill came out and interrupted me at the vending machine, fiddling with my coins. He said there was a food trolley on the train after all, but if there was I never got a sniff of it. I should have got something in Newcastle - hope I remember this from now on.

We got the shuttle bus to the TravelLodge at Manchester and gave Simon a ring. Shortly thereafter Simon came around and picked us up. We went down Wilmslow Road to an Indian Restaurant. Bob's not big on spicy foreign food and so I tried to steer him to a safe choice, a Tandoori chicken tikka, which I also got. Unfortunately I found it quite hot, but he didn't complain, so I guess it was OK.


Simon returned us to the TravelLodge and we made plans to meet up at the check-in desk at the airport the next morning!

Olivia Ruth has Arrived!!

Just had a quick chat with Steve to get the news!! Vickie had an emergency C-section at the RVI on Sunday afternoon, the 22nd of June. Steve said he was sure it was going to be a boy and so was astounded when he got a baby girl. Fortunately he's discovered he really wanted a daughter. She weighed around 7 lbs at birth, a good weight if I remember rightly. At 3 weeks she's doing fine. They've had lots of company - grandmother and great-grandmother - and things haven't settled down yet. The dogs (2 Rottweilers) haven't proved to be too much of a problem; Buster -- the biggest baby -- is unsettled when Olivia cries but Harley, the relative newcomer, seems to be taking it more or less in stride.

I kept looking at baby clothes in the US, but didn't buy any as I wanted to indulge myself in getting to buy pink or blue clothes and they chose to keep it a surprise for everyone, themselves included. We had a brief discussion about disposables and cloth, flat or fitted, but I'm out of my league already. I had no idea they made fitted cloth diapers now. A marketing ploy if I ever heard one. I recommended they find some flat sheets and practice the old-fashioned origami-style folding... but that's easy for me to say, right?

Can't wait to see the little tyke. The way I'm dribbling on, you'd think I just loved babies which isn't particularly true. However I do like Vickie and Steve, so I'm prepared to be enthusiastic about their new lifestyle / project / acquisition. I'm sure they have no idea quite what they've got themselves into, but maybe it's just as well.

I'm Baa-aack

Just arrived Saturday yesterday after 3 weeks in the States. Of course I’m going to bore you to death about it. Bill’s son, Simon, has already downloaded some amazing pictures from their first week – the week I spent in Oklahoma City – and I’m hoping to borrow some to illustrate their journey as well as tell you about mine.

As always, my body clock is confused. I'm just today getting past the sickening jet lag and slept through the whole night (bliss!) with some help of Valerian. The temperature contrast has also been a shock, though it is relatively warm here, which translates to pleasantly cool after the 100+ (I still think in Farenheit) in and around LasVegas, Arizona, southern Utah.

As prelude to the story, it is useful to know that this was a journey Bill has planned for several years – I kid you not – to mark his 60^th year. It was originally to do with the Old Route 66, with which many Brits are fascinated, but also involved things like the Grand Canyon and Mesa Verde and other amazing things he’d discovered on his previous trips with me to Salt Lake City and Oklahoma City to visit friends and family.

In 2001 he’d seen a 4^th of July parade in Sandy, a suburb in the south of SLC. He loved it so much he wanted his family to experience an Independence Day celebration in small town America, so that set the general date for the trip, not his actual birthday which was in March.

Bill spent hours and hours over several months poring over all the Recreational Vehicle options before choosing the 31 foot RV that slept 8 (5 in comfort, the others not so comfortably) and included a full kitchen, toilet, shower and tons of storages space. I can only tell you that it cost $2,500 to rent for the 3 weeks because a gas station attendant in Cortez (CO) asked me that question and I retrieved the info for him.

In addition to the RV Bill thought 2 other, more mobile, vehicles would be necessary to accommodate the group. Everything from buying an old Camaro to renting a Corvette convertible or an old hippie VW van was considered over the months and months of planning, but in the end, 2 SUV-type cars were selected for their capacity and price.

The original idea was for Bill’s family to join him on this trip, but his youngest daughter, Sarah, was going to just be finishing up at University then and besides the timing there was the matter of money. On the other hand, a good friend from the running club was keen to join us. We’ve traveled a lot with Bob and knew that he was good company as well as an experienced lorry driver. Bob is almost compulsively organized and as such a good balance for Bill’s and my scatty approach. Jane, Bill’s sister, lives in Sydney, Australia with husband, Chris. They are both now retired and traveling the world anyhow, so of course they would join us. Then Helen, Bill’s eldest, went and got engaged. Martin already appeared to be a permanent fixture as of last Thanksgiving, so he was added to the list as well. For Rhiannon, Simon’s girlfriend, to going to dinner on Friday is a major commitment, so we wondered how to get her to decide whether she was going. Paying up front for the RV and car rental seemed to be the trick; in or out, decide by April. So, there were 9 of us: Bill, Shelley, Bob, Helen, Martin, Simon, Rhiannon, Jane & Chris.

Bill designed the route, studying distances and highways in detail for whether the RV could use them. He prefers small roads – in some places the very smallest dirt roads – but adjusted the route for the RV where necessary. Each vehicle had a copy of the detailed road instructions which everyone remarked how easy they were to follow. Bob had a holiday in Vegas in February and was able to recce part of the route to confirm Bill’s suspicions about suitability of one particular section near there. Some RV sites and motels were pre-booked where Bill found that they were quite busy. Others were booked en route. The pre-planning was one of his major preoccupations for a very long time. I suspect he will need to find a new hobby now to fill that time – or plan the next expedition for a major birthday perhaps?

In addition to the group who would actually do the tour, my family in Oklahoma were quite excited about the trip as well. When we were there for my Aunt Rita’s funeral, I discovered she had bought two Route 66 bags that I’m sure she intended to mark the occasion of our trip. Jack and Pat wrote to say how much they were looking forward to our arrival. A distant cousin in Perth wanted a copy of the itinerary as did other friends in OKC.

Much of the route planning involved singing of “Get your Kicks on Route 66”, a song I never heard of before coming to the UK, in spite of being a Stones’ fan. Apparently, much of the way Brits think about the US is linked to popular songs about place names. Also, Joshua Tree in California had significance for Simon (I'll have to remember to ask him why) and so this was included in the itinerary. Bob came over to the house a couple of times to review the driving plans, an excuse for food and drink as well (and quoting the lyrics, if not actually singing).

I noticed that the tour ended up including 9 people and covering 9 states: Nevada (NV), California (CA), Arizona (AZ), New Mexico (NM), Texas (TX), Oklahoma (OK), Kansas (KS), Colorado (CO) and Utah (UT). I’ve undertaken a small survey: What was your favourite state? I can tell you Oklahoma didn’t win the popularity contest, but more about that later…