Gettin' Our Kicks

Day Nineteen/Twenty: Shipping Her and Flying Ourselves Home

2007-10-05T10:45:00.001-07:00

Truly the last day of our trip - shipping the car home. Here is one final look at her parked at the hotel from our room. The truck driver couldn't get very close into Santa Monica so we had to meet him out by the freeway. We called a cab to lead us, but ended up losing him on the way to meet the driver. We found the meet up point on our own though and called the driver to meet us.Ryan drove the car up on to the truck himself.

Loaded up and ready to go - ETA in Minneapolis, Tuesday afternoon. Three weeks to get here, five days to get back.

It felt weird being without the car. Ryan and I walked around and went out on the pier for lunch.

Which consisted of a giant pitcher of margaritas and fish tacos - we ended up getting completely trashed (Ryan drank most of the pitcher and was worse off than me). It was awesome walking around on the beach, drunk, and seeing people in suits working - I forgot it was even a weekday.

We went out for Indian food for dinner downtown and then I met up with my friend Emilie and her new husband, Brad for a couple of drinks. Ryan was still hurting from the margaritas, so he went back to the hotel.

All in all, this trip completely exceeded our expectations. We really learned a lot and came to appreciate how much history there is in America. I think in the past, I always thought of Europe as the place with a lot of historical sites, but a lot has happened in our country, from settlements in the 1300s, to railroads and civil war and all the changes that come with a quickly developing infrastructure.

It was also incredible to spend so much time together and see the sites and talk and laugh as it's happening. We both really appreciated everything each other did to make the trip fun and it will be weird to stop spending every second of the day together.

We are sad to see it end and are actually sitting at the airport as we post this (delayed 3 hours). We have definitely talked about how much this trip made us appreciate our home and friends more. We saw a lot of interesting places and met some great people - I'm glad we did this blog and spent the time thinking about each day and writing it down so we can remember it. Thanks for reading!

Day Eighteen: Barstow, CA to Santa Monica, CA

2007-10-05T10:03:00.000-07:00

We headed out of Barstow on our last leg of the trip with the car still purring like a kitten (or our fat black and white buddy back home). Here we are on a stop at Elmer's Bottle Tree Farm.

From what we could tell, this is Elmer's house and yard that he lets people wander around. It is folk art at its best - each "tree" is uniquely designed with something different on top and different arrangements of bottles and glass insulators. Ryan was soaking up ideas to use in our backyard.

See if you can spot me hiding in the trees!

Then we started the long crawl into LA and Santa Monica. It was actually interesting taking in all of the shops and the urban life - not the same kind of suburban sprawl that you get entering some of the other larger cities along 66.

Getting close!

And here it is! A bit anti-climactic - no fireworks or parades. Just the corner of Lincoln Blvd and Olympic St. in Santa Monica, CA. We drove through, took some pictures and headed to our hotel.

The Bayside Hotel - actually a really good deal. The room was pretty cheap and really nice, overlooking the ocean. We even had a little kitchen.

Here's Ryan getting ready to longboard on the boardwalk as we explored a bit of the town and got a bite to eat at Cha Cha Chicken.

Awesome sunset over the ocean - the sun goes down so fast. We walked across the beach and watched it slip away.

Walking around down by the pier at night.

Dinner at Chez Jay - a TINY place that felt kind of like eating in the hull of a ship - open since 1949. They had a bunch of magazine articles up about the various celebrities that eat there - no one famous while we were there though.l The seafood was smothered in too much sauce, but the steak was excellent.

Day Seventeen: Las Vegas, NV to Barstow, CA

2007-10-02T23:03:00.001-07:00

We showed up at 11.30 sharp to enter The Star Trek Experience. Here we are with Quark, a Ferengi - he was greeting everyone as they arrived.

With no breakfast and still hung over from the night before, Ryan went straight for the Borg Sphere. Needless to say, he was drunk before noon.

This Klingon, Torg, came around harassing people - he ripped on us for having an old digital camera - "Nice technology, did you beam that up from 1994?". Awesome.

We went on rides - the 4D Borg Experience and the interactive Klingon Encounter - both were great. I really got into them, totally freaked out by the Borg - I was the last in the group and the Borg was slowly coming up behind us. People weren't moving fast enough and they were getting close! I shoved Ryan behind me and tried to push forward.

I also got emotional at the Klingon Encounter when Capt. Picard was talking to us at the end - I asked Ryan if he got goose bumps too and he looked at me like I was crazy.

Back on the (very hot) road again through the Mojave Desert. This is the world's tallest thermometer. We're always excited for the world's record anything. This is showing 94 degrees - so the car had to be more than 100 degrees.

Another pull over in the desert. We were sad to see how much trash people had thrown into the desert - reminded Ryan a lot of India actually. This was really the first time we saw a lot of trash near the road. California really needs to improve the roadside cleanup effort.

You can see the trash all over here.

Disturbing!
Here I am driving for the FIRST time on the trip (remember the Borg Sphere) - anyway, I realized how much I appreciate the fact that Ryan drives. When you're the passenger, you can move around and put your feet up to cool off a bit, but as the driver, you have to really be on it and pay attention. This is not a modern car - you have to have both hands on the wheel, be braking way early if you see something, watch the road for potholes or bumps and fight the wind to stay in your lane. I much prefer reading the maps and guidebooks, providing snacks and drinks and relaxing and watching the scenery - all things that Ryan gets bored with. So we're the perfect road trip couple!

We pulled into Barstow, CA a bit later than usual due to 4 hours spent at the Star Trek Experience. We originally planned to stay at the Route 66 Motel, but decided against it when we realized the hotel was filled with freaks - drugs were being sold openly and obviously out of the rooms and we watched a parade of people come through in just 10 minutes to buy drugs. There was a weird, drunk German woman and her husband who descended on us and tried to convince us to stay, saying she would take responsibility for the car. All the while, more toothless, slick haired, whiskey drinking weirdos kept approaching the car. We just got in the car and left - one guy asked Ryan to pull back into the parking lot to take a picture and Ryan told him that reverse doesn't work in the car and we just pulled out quickly.

We stayed down the road and had Chinese food for dinner and just rested after Vegas.

Day Sixteen: Kingman, AZ to Las Vegas, NV (DETOUR!)

2007-10-02T22:29:00.000-07:00

Since we didn't go to Roswell, NM, and couldn't get in at the Grand Canyon, we decided a trip to the Star Trek bar in Las Vegas was a worthy side trip. It is about 100 miles off the main road, we ended up missing some of the last cities in Arizona, but we decided it was worth it. I bet some people would have made the trip themselves as they were driving out to California.

We had breakfast at the Roadrunner in Kingman and gassed up at the Canada Mart. Not sure why it is actually called the Canada Mart - you do get a 5 cent per gallon discount if you pay in cash though - nice!

We were driving through the Mojave Desert up to Vegas - not a lot of options for pulling over along the way. The Black Mountains literally look like giant mounds of dirt - there is very little vegetation on the hills.

We drove over the Hoover Dam on the way to Vegas. This is so crazy! You spend all day driving across the desert and then come to this massive feat of engineering. It was so impressive to wind down into the canyon and cross over the dam.

Us at the Dam. As we drove through, it was funny to see the hundreds of tourists stop looking at the dam and turn to hoot and holler and give us the five millionth "Nice car" comment we've heard on this trip. Honestly, we've had everything from motorcyclists to truckers, even a train went by and blew its whistle and conductor gave us a thumbs up - everyone loves this car. It is definitely the star of the road.

And another new state!

We drove up the Strip into Vegas, which was definitely a mistake. It was the height of the afternoon heat - easily 95 degrees or more in the car, and the traffic was heavy. We were worried about the car overheating so ended up pulling off and trying to figure out an alternate way around. It was a little hectic. I just think the Venetian looks cool.

We originally wanted to stay in the Stardust - not realizing it was actually demolished earlier this year. This is the pile of dirt that was once the Stardust. Guess we're not very up to speed on the Vegas landscape.

We ended up staying at the Sahara, since the sign has two camels on it, we realized the camel has been a strange reoccuring talisman for our trip.

The Sahara was actually perfect because it was the northernmost stop on the Vegas Monorail. For $9 each, we were able to get an unlimited pass on the Monorail for 24 hours. We wore that thing out - we went all over the place that night, had lunch at Caesar's Palace, coffee at New York, New York, drinks at Mandalay Bay, dinner at the Venetian. So much fun - not a lot of gambling though. I'll have to go back if I want to get my poker fix - Ryan wouldn't let me get close to it, he knew I would be checked out for the rest of the night if I started playing.

Sidenote: Our plan was to spend the night getting liquored up at the Star Trek bar and asking humans to play damjat. So, we explored other hotels for several hours and then got all ready to head over to Quark's around 10.30, only to find out that the Star Trek area closes at 10. Ryan dropped to his knees, looked up at the sky and yelled "Khaaaaaaaaaannnnnnn!". Unbelievable that the one thing we wanted to do actually closes at a reasonable hour in Vegas. Not to worry though, we were determined to go.

Day Fifteen: Williams, AZ to Kingman, AZ

2007-10-02T21:55:00.001-07:00

We had some breakfast at Smokey's Pancake House in Williams and set out for the day - it was Sunday, so we weren't sure if things were going to be open. Passing through Seligman, there were tons of people in the streets and some of the local shops were decorated with mannaquins.

We stopped and had some ice cream at the Sno Cap - a fun little place with old cars decorated out back and old ad signs and street signs in the garden. The original owner liked to play practical jokes on people so they keep up the tradition today.

I even read about how this place likes to play jokes on people, such as fake mustard squirt bottles and slightly used napkins. So you would think I would be prepared - but no. As we were waiting for our sundaes, one of the guys came around the corner and asked if we wanted mustard on them - as I was thinking, "why would we want mustard on our sundaes?" - he squirted the bottle on me and a long yellow string shot out onto my shirt. I gasped and was genuinely shocked - Ryan, my big supporter, laughed and said "Ha, ha, you got tricked!". Good times.

I love how small towns have these combination businesses - Mini Mart and Cafe (for Oriental Food).

We may have found where Sir Old ScHool is currently employed...

Driving - taking advantage of the bench seat...

We stopped in at the Grand Canyon Caverns. Not nearly as pretty as the Meremac Caverns, mainly because this is a dry cavern and nothing is growing. Most of the rock is actually covered with selenite crystals, which are kind of a plain, white, gray color. It is still impressive to be in these giant caverns though.

We had a great guide, just an old guy who had lived in the area for many years. He told a ton of stories about the place in a thick Southern accent.

In the early 60s, local officials decided to make the caverns a fallout shelter and brought down these barrels of water, boxes of crackers and some other things - it was supposed to sustain 2,000 people. They never had to use them and they never cleared it out, so this stuff is all still down there. Apparently the stuff is stale, but still usable - they even used to give some water and crackers out to guests as recently as 8 years ago.

We drove into Kingman and stayed at the Hill Top Motel with a great view of the valley and the sunset. The owners were nice and had two giant dogs running around. We sat out by the pool for a bit and relaxed.

At the room...

Day Fourteen: Holbrook, AZ to Williams, AZ

2007-09-29T21:34:00.000-07:00

So, full disclosure, our original plan was to detour up to the Grand Canyon from Holbrook and spend the night there, then drive to Williams the next day. Since we never really had a schedule for the trip, and since we've never had any trouble getting in anywhere, it never occured to us that we would have any problem with that plan.

Well, I called the Grand Canyon to make reservations before we made the 80 mile detour to see it and found out that all 6 Grand Canyon hotels were fully booked - not only that, but apparently you have to make reservations months in advance. Bummer. So we skipped it and continued on with 66.

Breakfast at Joe & Aggie's in Holbrook - this is a truly family run restaurant and the food was excellent. I could seriously get used to Mexican food for breakfast.

Another excitedly awaited stop - Ryan loves this rabbit and the sign is great. This is the Jackrabbit Trading Post. Basically a souvenir shop, and actually a lot smaller than we expected. We bought a bunch of Jackrabbit stuff though.

And I rode the Jackrabbit - if you ever see pictures of cowboys on Jackrabbits, this is where that comes from.

We visited the Meteor Crater (where else but in Meteor City, AZ). This is a lifesize replica of an Apollo life pod. This is the part of the rocket that breaks off and the astronauts actually ride in to reenter the earth's atmosphere.

Unfortunately, the wind was completely out of control this day - sustained 75 miles per hour and more - so they closed the guided rim walk tour of the crater. The crater was formed about 50,000 years ago when a 150 lb. meteor hit the earth. The crater is about a mile wide and as deep as a 60 story building.

Check out this wind! I was almost knocked over at one point walking around the corner of the observation building, I've never felt wind like this before.

So, we went through the museum and learned a bunch about the different types of meteors and what happens when they hit the earth and other planets. My first question when I heard about this place was where is the meteor? Wouldn't it be sitting right in the middle of the hole still? Well, they answered that question and more - very interesting. This picture is us with the largest piece of meteor rock. It looks like metal up close.

For the first time so far, we actually saw a street sign directing us to LA. Yikes - we're not ready to be done yet!

Williams was a nice little town - the busiest small town we've been to actually. I think it's because it's a stopping off point for Grand Canyon visitors (60 miles from the rim) and there is a train that leaves from there to the GC as well. Our camera batteries died as we entered town, so no documentation of our room or anything. We had some pretty decent pizza and walked around for a bit.

Day Thirteen: Gallup, NM to Holbrook, AZ

2007-09-29T21:15:00.001-07:00

The road out of Gallup passes through the mountains on a pretty narrow road. The landscape is breathtaking. I have never really spent a lot of time outside of cities and this trip has really opened my eyes to all the different types of places that are out there - from cornfields, to forested mountains, to wide, dry deserts. Although we haven't really camped on this trip, I think we are definitely more open and excited about doing that in the future.

As we neared the border into Arizona, there were a bunch of these trading posts along the cliffs - this one had some murals painted on the cliff and some weird fake animals set up on the plateau part above the shop.

And another new state!

At one point, Route 66 actually went through the Painted Desert, which is now a national park. We did the loop through the park, which was seriously incredible.

Not hard to see why they call it the Painted Desert - these striped hills and cliffs stretch out as far as you can see. It's not hard to imagine the millions of years they took to form - I wouldn't have been surprised to see dinosaurs walking around or something.

This was an old car rusting away in the desert in tribute to the old 66 road - they left up the old phone poles too.

We also decided to detour through the Petrified Forest - Route 66 never went through here, but I bet some families would have driven through just to check it out.

It's so trippy to see these stone logs strewn all over the ground. Some of them are still in long pieces that really look like fallen trees and some are chipped up so it looks like stone mulch.

It's funny - when I heard "petrified forest", I imagined a kind of burnt out forest, like old blackened trees still rooted in the ground. But the theory is that these trees were actually floating in a long gone river - uprooted by storms or something - and then the river dried up and the trees dried and heated and turned to stone.

The colors in the wood is really beautiful, even without being polished like the pieces you see in the stores and souvenir shops. It was cool to see this "in the wild".

And here we are at our most anxiously/excitedly awaited motel - the Wigwam Motel in Holbrook. This is actually owned by the son of the guy who built them and he keeps these classic cars in front of the teepees to give it that old time feel.

It was strange to see our car parked with so many old vehicles - for the first time, it didn't really stand out in the lot. I love this picture - it's like being transported back to the 50s.

We hung out in front of our teepee, chatting with the neighbors and having a couple of drinks. We were befriended by the local kitty - black and white, just like our buddy! She was a real sweetheart and Ryan snuggled with her for awhile before she abandoned us for some people down the way.

Lovin' our teepee!

The sunset was insane - the whole sky was on fire and we watched it move across the sky changing practically every few seconds. Best one so far.

Awesome picture - so surreal to see these teepees.

We had some BBQ at Bubba's and then walked over to a nearby bowling alley. We weren't quite sure what to expect after we asked the Wigwam proprietor about local options and he mentioned this place and said he hadn't been there since he was a teenager - which must have easily been 40+ years ago (we found out it was built in 1954).

Once again, we were the only ones there and this place was pretty ancient. No computer scoring and the shoes I had on had to have been several years older than me.

Even so, I held my own and came within 4 points of beating Ryan - ugh! Ryan says: Ha Ha!

Day Twelve: Albuquerque, NM to Gallup, NM

2007-09-29T20:42:00.001-07:00

We headed out of Albuquerque relatively early.

We were driving near and on a lot of Indian reservation land and taking pictures was prohibited in certain areas.

The roads twist and turn around the hills - this is us approaching the famed Dead Man's Curve.

Route 66 is littered with these old defunct gas stations, which are good places to take a break and stretch your legs.

In Grants, NM, we stopped at the Uranium Mining Museum. This is actually a drillhead!

We walked around the museum and then opted to pay $3 to go down into the mine. Check out the sweet elevator.

We were the only ones down in the mine - it was actually really well done. It was a recreation of a mine where you go around to the different stages and press buttons to hear old miners tell about what they did at work and how the different tools are used.

This is Ryan drilling the holes they would use for putting the dynamite charges in before blasting.

In the miners lunchroom, they had these cool old work posters.

So true!

We learned so much! This was a lot of fun and really interesting - I knew nothing about uranium mining, or mining in general, and the people that worked here were friendly and helpful.

We passed over the Continental Divide - nerdy tourist photo #327.

Muffler Man Alert! Love the cowboy but they need to give him something interesting to hold - we like muffler men.

Our hotel for the evening - El Rancho = Relaxo.

The main lobby is a giant lodge - like straight out of the 1950s, completely kitsch. During the 50s, at the height of the western movie craze, Gallup was often used as the backdrop, so many movie stars would come through here and stay at this hotel. So it was definitely pretty swanky.

Each room is named after its most famous occupant - such luminaries as Kirk Douglas. (across the hall from us)...

Of course, John Wayne - to the right of us...

the comic legend and humantarian, Jack Benny, to the left of us...

And our room, no explanation required - we could really go on and on about his films, his philanthropy, his inspiration to the early beginnings of rap and hip hop - a definite highlight of our trip. God bless you, Sir Old ScHool - wherever you are.

After getting unpacked, we were going to head into town for some dinner and our car was buried amid about 50 Harleys. We managed to squeeze out and had some Mexican food at Jerry's before settling in for the night.

Day Eleven: Santa Fe, NM to Albuquerque, NM

2007-09-29T20:24:00.001-07:00

We spent the morning in our expensive hotel room and had an excellent breakfast at Cafe Pasqual. We headed out for a short drive day to Albuquerque.

We stopped at the Coronado State Monument to see the ruins of a pueblo built in the 1300s. There wasn't much left of it, but it was interesting learning about how the pueblos were built and set up and we were able to walk around for awhile in the desert and down by the Rio Grande.

This is me in front of a kiva - it is a ceremonial room that the men would use for meetings. Women traditionally were not allowed in them, but this one was open and you could go down inside and see the ancient paintings on the walls. Apparently these are the oldest kiva paintings in the world (you aren't allowed to take photographs).

This is the old theater in Albuquerque - the KiMo. It was designed to incorporate the different architectural styles of the city and the tile work is great. This is the downtown part of the city.

We stayed near the Old Town in the Monterey Non Smokers Motel. It has always been specifically for non-smokers - I love that that is up in the neon as well.

The rooms were great and the place even had a laundry room (very necessary at this point in the trip).

We went to eat at the Church St. Cafe in the Old Town. They had a pretty garden out back with a koi pond and waterfall. Very nice.

Day Ten: Tucumcari, NM to Santa Fe, NM

2007-09-28T18:02:00.000-07:00

In the morning, before leaving Tucumcari, we stopped over at the Teepee Curios shop. There are alot of souvenir shops along the way and we've definitely been buying some things, but we have been selective about where we go. It was lucky we stopped in because we bumped into Johnny Vee - president of the New Mexico Route 66 Association - we actually met him the night before at the Blue Sparrow, but we talked to him in more detail about places to go in New Mexico. Johnny Vee is also a writer for such magazines as Kustom Kulture Deluxe, Route 66 Magazine, Hot Rod, etc. He is a cool dude who gave us some tips on where to stay and the conditions of the road ahead. Thanks, Johnny!

He recommended stopping in at the Route 66 Auto Museum in Santa Rosa, which we did. They had some great vehicles and lots of 1940s and 50s pictures and memorabilia.

Johnny also said that we should stop by Bozo's Garage, a custom rod shop across the street - we had been having some issues with the car bottoming out on the right rear shock and he said those guys were definitely the ones to talk to. We headed over there and they put the car right up on the lift for us. Bozo has been in the custom car business for almost 30 years and has really original and innovative designs - he's definitely old school and has built some seriously neat stuff.

Turns out not only was our right rear shock collapsed, but the front right shock mount was completely broken. The shock was not even attached to the car anymore. They welded it together and put on some new shocks, so we spent a couple of hours in Santa Rosa.

Sidenote: I wrote up a bunch of postcards while waiting for the car, but I didn't have my addresses with me, so I just wrote down people's names and I was going to fill in the addresses later. Unfortunately, when we got to a hotel that evening, I saw a mailbox and quickly dropped off the postcards and didn't remember until the next day that none of them had addresses on them! I can't believe I did that! I was just so excited to get them written and mailed - bummer!

Back on the road again, after getting the car back from Bozo's, the suspension is much better and we can definitely tell the difference. Sweet. We stopped in at the Comet Restaurant for some excellent Mexican food. They gave us these free desserts that were kind of a warm vanilla custard - not flan, it had a specific name that I can't remember. Tracy/Amy - can you think of what that might be? So tasty.

A lot of the day is driving through the desert - luckily, everything is in bloom, even the cactuses (cacti?). There are also a lot of side roads off 66 in this part of the country, but many are unpaved and rough, so we tend to stay on the main drag. We'll have to come back with an off road vehicle at some point and do this section again.

We wound our way through to Santa Fe and I was completely amazed at how beautiful and different the downtown was compared to anywhere else I have been. The buildings in the downtown areas were adobe and we decided we wanted to stay right downtown rather than out on the edges. It was kind of a splurge, but the room was awesome and the bathroom had all this great tilework.

This is our hotel from the back - the La Fonda.

We were right on the plaza and near the St. Francis Cathedral. We walked all around downtown in the evening checking out the art galleries and shops. We went out for pizza and then had some drinks and listened to some great local music at Cowgirl. Thanks for the recommendations, Brooke and Aaron!

Day Nine: Sayre, OK to Tucumcari, NM (via Texas)

2007-09-27T18:53:00.000-07:00

Just outside of Sayre, in Erick, we came across the Curiosity Shop run by Harley and Annabelle - "The Mediocre Musicmakers" (type in Harley and Annabelle in Google and see what comes up). It's hard to describe, it isn't really a gift shop or anything - they aren't selling anything. They bill themselves as redneck singers and they perform and shoot the shit with people.

This is us with Annabelle - they actually performed a 30 second serenade for us. These people are absolutely nuts and absolutely cool. Two old hippies in every sense of the word.

This speaks for itself -

This is the first ever Philips 66 station in McLean, TX - we drove the wrong way down a one way street to take a look at it. Luckily, we drove through Texas on a Monday and apparently on Monday everything is closed in Texas or people get abducted by aliens or something. Every town we went through was pretty much empty.

We did find this one place open for food - it looks closed, but it was actually the best BBQ place we've been to. Heren (and in most places we found) you don't get the choice between a half or full rack of ribs - a half rack would be too much. Each rib is about 8-10 inches long and enough meat for a sandwich - so you get 2 or 4 ribs or a rib plate here. They also don't cook the ribs in BBQ sauce, you get a squirt bottle of sauce to add as much or as little as you like. Good shit.

And the other aspect of Texas - religion. This is the largest cross in the Western Hemisphere - billed on signs leading up to it as "the most intense spiritual experience you will ever have". Ehh.

Outside of Amarillo, we came across the famous Cadillac Ranch - a community art project burying 10 cadillacs in the middle of a field. It was actually a short hike from the road out to the area, but definitely worth seeing.

There were some not completely empty spray cans laying around and Ryan managed to get an "R" on one of the cars. Apparently they sometimes repaint them for certain events, but within a few days they are covered in graffiti again.

In Adrian, TX, we crossed the midpoint of Route 66! So far the car has been running excellently. We've used less than a quart of oil and about the same of transmission fluid. We are however noticing a right rear shock starting to go and some type of play in the front end. Time to spend a few hours checking everything out tomorrow. Otherwise, it's the closest thing to driving an airplane (according to Ryan) - he spent some time flying planes a few years ago and is frequently reminded of it from the way the engine sounds, the way it floats down the road and the interior (with the split windshield). And that's how we've been treating the car - like an airplane, like our lives depend on it.

Operation Turtle Rescue! We found this guy walking across the road towards the highway and we stopped to help him on his way.

Apparently, it is TARANTULA MIGRATION SEASON! We saw dozens of these guys walking across the road. The first one Ryan spotted at 50 mph going down the road - he thought it looked like a spider, but why would that be - so he didn't say anything at first. And then again, distinctly identifiable at 50 MPH - a huge spider crawling across the road. We pulled over for a closer look and the spider turned and started approaching the car - so we took off. But we kept seeing them - apparently they have been known to jump up to 2 feet in the air, so I'm glad we didn't get too close. Just what we need - a tarantula jumping into the car.

We actually couldn't find a good place to stay in Texas (it being Monday and all), so we drove all the way through to Tucumcari, New Mexico. Best move we ever made. We got a room at the classic Blue Swallow Motel that even had garages for the car. It had this great courtyard where we sat out and had some champagne and talked to the other guests. We didn't know it before we drove in, but Tucumcari was always known as the place to stay on Route 66 - they used to bill it as the city with 2000 rooms. Rolling down the main street, it is completely lined with vintage motels and neon signs - a true slice of the 50s. Amazing that this still exists.

Here is the place we stayed with our car under the giant neon sign.

And this was dinner down the street - that's a giant sombrero on the roof! Great food!

Day Eight: Chandler, OK to Sayre, OK

2007-09-23T19:55:00.001-07:00

It's hard to capture the scenery, but you can kind of see that the ground is red now. It's definitely a different landscape, starting to get a lot more dry and desert like. It's kind of interesting driving this far and really feeling the distance and seeing these types of changes take place gradually.

This is a round barn, built in 1889 and restored recently. We stopped and checked it out - it was huge inside.

This is a former bank building with an awesome gold dome roof. There are a lot of Art Deco kinds of buildings here and there - it's amazing that no one is using this building now.

We stopped in at the National Route 66 Museum in Elk City, OK. They had a giant 66 sign out front.

The museum itself was actually kind of lame though. It really wasn't very informative - it was set up a like a miniature town and you could walk around and look in these different store windows. But there was no information about what was inside and, frankly, we can see this same kind of thing in most towns along Rt. 66 in real life! So many towns have old storefronts that closed, but you can still see how the town was laid out back in its heyday.

Long day of driving again - we finally landed at the Western Motel in Sayre, OK. We knew Sunday night was going to mean lots of closed businesses, but we didn't realize how extensive it would be. We were starving, so we ended up eating at Sonic - our first fast food restaurant, but at least not a chain that we see in Minneapolis. It was not good.

We went over to the Rt. 66 Bar - a complete dive - a played some pool. It seemed OK at first, but the locals started getting trashed and arguing loudly in the back. One of the guys offered us a beer and we turned it down - his jaw dropping open was so great, I don't think he's ever seen anyone turn down a beer before. We exited quickly after that. On to Texas tomorrow!

Day Seven: Baxter Springs, KS to Chandler, OK

2007-09-23T17:13:00.001-07:00

We started our day with a breakfast of champions - hamburgers and fried green beans - at Waylan's KuKu Burger. We found out that we were actually very close (about 20 miles) from the Ghostlights phenomenon, but we didn't know so we missed the opportunity to drive out there the night before. People have been seeing an eerie light floating along in the woods since the 1800s and scientists aren't sure exactly what it is. Would have been cool to see.

Between Miami (pronounced My-AM-uh) and Afton, OK there is a 9 foot wide part of Rt. 66 called the Sidewalk Highway. You can see it in this picture, the pavement is down the center and the edges are gravel. It was a bit rough in the '46.

Classic sign - we did another 170 miles today, so a lot of our sightseeing was from the car.

This blue whale is in a little swimming pond across the road. You can't swim in the pond anymore, but we could just picture kids and families having a blast here back in the day.

Us at the Blue Whale stop.

This is an example of crazy spiderweb pods in the trees across Missouri and Oklahoma - some trees have 5 or 6 of these things. They are actually huge, like big enough to hold a small bird. We have never gotten close to one, but we constantly freak each other out on the road by pointing them out to each other.

We have passed a few old drive-in movie theaters - I read that this one was still open, but I guess the book was outdated. It would be fun to go to a drive-in movie in the car.

We stayed in a great old bungalow styely motel built in 1939. We hung out on our little bench and watched the sun go down with some champagne.

The neon sign at our motel.

We went to dinner at this random BBQ spot in town. It was very unassuming inside - kind of cafeteria style, but the food was incredible. Best meal yet on Rt. 66 at Papa's BBQ. The owner was super nice and Ryan had ribs and I had brisket with a side of tabouli. So, so good.

Day Six: Lebanon, MO to Baxter Springs, KS

2007-09-23T16:33:00.000-07:00

Our day started in Marshfield, MO, hometown of Edwin Hubble, namesake of the Hubble telescope - this is us in front of 1/4 replica of the telescope. I have learned so much on this trip - bring on Rt. 66 trivia at Grumpy's!! We had a great breakfast at Freda's Cafe and then we headed off for something called "Exotic Animal Paradise".

We weren't really sure what to expect, basically the description said that you could drive your car through 9 1/2 miles of land (the land is actually over 240 acres - so the animals have plenty of room) and see exotic animals - we seriously did not know how awesome this would be. There are a bunch of pictures below - we took tons more - it was so much fun. Ryan was a bit concerned about animals scratching the car, so we bought an extra large bag of feed that the attendant told us we could throw to get animals away from the car.

This is the camel we encountered as soon as we went through the gates. We tried throwing feed to her, but all she wanted was to eat out our hands from inside the car.

She came around to my side and Ryan lured her so far in the car with feed she laying all the way across me and her lips were rubbing my face. I was completely hysterically laughing.

When we wanted to move on, we could not get her away from us, so we drove away down the hill and she RAN after us - full on galloped like a horse. Ryan was literally driving and watching a camel chasing us in the rear view mirror. She was no match for the Chevy though.

This is an emu - and yes, it's head is that big. We held food pellets in our fingers and the thing precision pecked them out of our hands. I got my fingers pinched at one point, but it was crazy - we could barely get away from this one either.

This was crazy - the zebra didn't quite eat out of our hands, but he was about 2 feet away from Ryan. So beautiful - he had stripes everywhere, even into the smallest part of his tail. And a super thin mane that stood straight up.

We then visited the donkeys, who were braying really loudly and shoving their heads in the car. Apparently, they have mated with the zebras and there are some zedonks running around the park.
This is an example of one of the animals we did NOT lure toward the car. Awesome though.

There were some buffalo on the trail that were huge and kind of freaking me out, but Ryan really wanted to try and feed one by hand, so he lured it up to the car. It reached in and tried to take the pellet with its foot long blue tongue. I really can't describe this tongue - it was giant and flailing all over the car and drooling all over me. If you remember Jabba the Hut licking his lips in Star Wars - that was the buffalo tongue - except blue! Seriously, this place was worth the trip all by itself.

Afterward we went to the little farm animal petting zoo, we loved the goats and the miniature horses and this awesome pig, who was friends with a tortoise.

OK, moving on (although with difficulty), we visited this little 30s gas station reproduction with the nicest guy working there. He gave us a ton of information on Route 66.

This is a manure spreader converted into a crop duster - called the "Crap Duster". Love the sense of humor on the road.

This was us stopping for ice cream at "Superman on 66", soon to change their name to "Supertam on 66" due to the fact that Warner Bros. called the owner and told him he cannot use the name Superman in his store name. I had the Superman special cone.

We both learned there is a Supercat named Streaky! Who knew?!? We miss our kitty!

Day Five: Stanton, MO to Lebanon, MO

2007-09-21T20:56:00.000-07:00

We started out our day at the Meremac Caverns. We took the tour through the caves and saw all of the crazy formations. The whole place has been set up for tourists and they have this whole spiel about how Jesse James used it as a hideout. At the end, the tour guide does a light show against this formation of rocks, called The Curtain. The hilarious thing about it is it isn't a computer operated a timed light show, it is literally the guide flipping light switches on and off to the tune of 'God Bless America', so you can hear the flipping of switches going emphatically while the lights change. We were completely entertained.

After lunch, we headed off to the St. James Winery - the grapes in this sign are stained glass. We went in and chatted with the super friendly staff. I tried several wines and Ryan had some juice. You can pour your own taste tests from about 25 options, and I had quite a bit before we left.

We tried to cover a bit more distance than usual today and most of our day was spent cruising through beatiful back road scenery with cool old bridges like this one, or tree lined rolling hills and meadows.

There is still a lot of great Rt. 66 stuff to see as we drive by and I keep busy navigating us through the twisting roads. I'm not quite sure how I thought I was going to have tons of free time on this trip. It is work keeping up with the roads and the signs, as well as reading about what attractions are coming up and thinking about where we should stop to eat and sleep. I read from several of our guide books all day and Ryan and I talk about what we want to actually do, or what we can experience just by driving by.

In addition to really seeing the development of America's infrastructure in stark relief (rail road, next to two lane road, next to four lane road, next to freeway in some places), we also get to see the evolution of good old American advertising. This is a set of statues of the "A&W Family" - the father is the only one still holding his mug of root beer.

The neon signs are incredible as well - this is where we stayed, the Munger Moss Motel. We actually slept in the Route 66 room - the walls are covered in pictures of Rt. 66. $45 a night and the room was huge and clean and really felt like part of the whole Rt. 66 tradition. We have definitely felt a "vibe" going along this road - you can see how things are interconnected and certain themes play out over and over.

So, this is a picture of us with Jerry McClanahan - funnily enough, he is the author of the main guide book we are using - EZ-66. We also writes (or maybe wrote) for Rt. 66 Magazine and he has done a series of maps. He was staying at the Munger Moss as well! Talk about living what you write about. He is a super nice guy and sat and chatted with us for awhile - he even gave us some updates he has been working on for the next edition of his book, some of which have already come in handy - thanks Jerry!

After talking with Jerry, Ryan and I walked across the street (well, Ryan long boarded) to the Starlite Lanes bowling alley. There were some leagues finishing up when we got there and by the end of our first game ($2.50 a game!), the WHOLE place was empty except for the couple of people working there! Ryan said it felt like we were rich and had rented the whole place out. He set up the jukebox and we played for a couple of hours - I have to say, my game was terrible starting out, but Ryan coached me and I made a major breakthrough. We went from him beating me by over 50 points to 5 points (although the last game is contested because there was a pin resetting issue and I think I would have won by 4 points - unbelievable that the one time it screwed up it cost me the game).

Day Four: Carlenville, IL to Stanton, MO

2007-09-20T22:03:00.000-07:00

Breakfast outside of Carlenville at this great little place called Sisters. Check out the prices! 99 cent sandwiches (even "bugers"), and they were big! It was set up kind of cafeteria style and we walked around town a bit after we ate.

We stopped in Staunton, IL at Henry's Rabbit Ranch (the yellow rabbit sign is a spin off on the famous Jack Rabbit, AZ sign saying "Here It Is" with a silhouette of a black rabbit). You can also see one of the Campbell's 66 Express trucks in the back. It's a now-defunct shipping company with a camel for a mascot and the awesome slogan "Humpin' To Please". The owner also takes care of rabbits and has many on site, including one little sweetie named Officer O'Malley. Kenny Jo Jo would love it here!

It was actually fairly difficult navigating our way through St. Louis and trying to stay on Rt. 66. We made many wrong turns and sat in more traffic than we had seen since Chicago. The areas we went through were really run down with lots of boarded up buildings and empty lots - definitely didn't want to break down in these areas. The main reason we don't have as many pictures today (and didn't cross very much ground) was due to wandering around St. Louis and sitting at stop lights.

We visited the classic Gateway to the West, the St. Louis Arch, and actually went up to the top. You ride up in these spacy little trams. Each one fits about 4 or 5 people and it ratchets its way slowly to the top. The top of the arch sways a bit in the breeze once you get up there, but the view is spectacular.

On our way out of St. Louis (finally!) we stopped at this classic frozen custard place, Ted Drewes. I think they must have been the originator of the Blizzard because their specialty is something called a concrete. Same idea as the blizzard, fresher ingredients. This really hit the spot and we sat and enjoyed the late afternoon as the heat finally died down a bit - no AC in the Chevy and it had to have been over 100 degrees in the car.

We were exhausted and ultimately ended up in Stanton, MO. We really didn't have a plan about where to stay and we wandered down to Meremac Caverns, a cave open since the 30s taking tours down into the earth. It's a classic Rt. 66 attraction, but we didn't know it had a motel as well. The rooms were so incredible - Ryan loved the 50s/60s style decor, espcially these lights and the padded avocado green head boards. We went for a walk around the grounds and snuggled with the owners cat, Camper, for awhile (we miss our kitty!!).

Day Three: Atlanta, IL to Carlenville, IL

2007-09-18T20:15:00.000-07:00

We started our day by driving into Lincoln, IL and having breakfast at the Blue Dog Inn - we bought a Blue Dog t-shirt and we are going to send them a BlueCat Motors shirt. Check this out - an Illinois specialty (or at least something we see on all the menus here) is something called a horseshoe. It's a piece of bread topped with your choice of meat, topped with french fries, topped with cheese sauce. Awesome! I know Nancy will appreciate that one...

Then it was on to Springfield, IL where Abe Lincoln lived with his family for 17 years. This is me in front of his house (the only one he ever technically owned in his lifetime). The house is actually part of a 4 square block National Park site that is recreated to look like 1860. We took a tour with a great ranger who really taught us a lot. It was very moving to be in the presence of such an important man - especially someone that I have read and studied so much about over the years. It kind of reminded me of how I felt touring the Anne Frank house in Amsterdam. We have tons of pictures of the rooms and the area, but I will spare you the detail - we highly recommend the tour if you ever have the chance.

Another Muffler Man - I just love the kitsch of these things. And it is fun to look for them as we drive through towns. We are loving embracing our inner tourist and stopping to take pictures like these. I'm sure the locals think we are ridiculous, but we are having a blast.

This is one of the longest brick road sections of Route 66. 1.4 miles of brick in a lowered '46 Chevy is definitely interesting. We drove about 15 mph in order to avoid bottoming out. The countryside is beautiful though and there is seldom anyone around, so we can drive as slowly as we want (except for the fact that we are supposed to be driving 2200 miles in less than 21 days and we are currently averaging about 100 miles a day - we do need to pick up the pace).

This is a Ryan shot - we were struggling to read this as we drove down the road and at first thought it said "He Awaits", but loved that it actually said "Hell Awaits". It was on the side of a silo in the middle of absolutely nowhere.

We arrived in Carlenville with time enough to catch the sunset in the town square. It had this great gazebo in the center and we used the camera timer again (Ryan is getting good at it!). We then had a great Italian dinner for $12 total, but then we went out for cocktails and spent more on drinks than we did on food. We have to have priorities!

We spent the night at the Carlen Villa Motel and we walked around for awhile - this picture amuses me because the sign welcoming people to Carlenville says "Where you can choose your own religion!". That is the city slogan! But I guess if you choose to be Methodist, you better follow all the commandments. I saw another one of these that said "Have fun in the Son...you won't get burned!" - much better sign, but the picture didn't come out.

Religion is definitely a prominent part of small towns with churchs on practically every corner and lots of activites going on every day. It surprises me that the smallest little towns in the middle of cornfields will have beautiful stone churches with stained glass and giant spires. Priorities again, I guess.

Day Two: Wilmington, IL to Atlanta, IL

2007-09-17T20:12:00.000-07:00

This is where we woke up Monday morning at the Hwy 55 Motel. You can see the pile of junk to the right and there was an old burned out car in the parking lot as well. It felt like we were travelling in Mexico (no offense to Mexico!). On our way out the door, there was a weird dude sitting on the pool table in the front area drinking a beer at 9 in the morning - cool.

We had breakfast in Wilmington (so cheap - two giant plates of food for $7 - it's cheaper to eat out than to try grocery shopping and cooking for ourselves). After breakfast we relaxed in this park behind the restaurant. We successfully used the timer on our camera for this shot.

Along the way, we passed this old speakeasy, called the Riviera. Apparently Al Capone used to hang out here when he was on the lam. We weren't sure if is was still open for business, but it was closed while we were there. It's supposed to have fake cave stalactite decor over the bar, but we couldn't see in. Easy come, easy go.

Out behind the Riviera, you can walk back to this recreation of a streetcar diner. It's set up with tables and chairs so you can see what it would have been like in the 40s - 50s.

There are a lot of restored gas stations along Route 66 and this is one from the 20s turned into a gift shop/semi working garage. We signed the guestbook and noticed names from people all over the world that had been there in just the past couple of days.

This is a picture of the glass insulation caps from the tops of the old telephone poles along Route 66. Each telephone pole has anywhere from 5 to 25 still left on the pole, which are no longer working. These are great landmarks along the old road and can be used as a sign that you are on the right track. The glass caps shine in the sun and look super cool when you are driving down the road. At first we didn't want to take them as souvenirs because we didn't want to detract visually from the road (if everyone took them, they would quickly be gone). So we searched around fallen poles to take ones that were broken or were on the ground.

And then, literally 2 or 3 more miles down the road, we saw state workers taking down the old poles and rolling up the old wire. We don't know what they are doing with all the super cool old glass tops. We passed dozens of piles like this, some still had a few glass pieces, but most were broken or gone. We're glad we had a chance to see the road before they took all of these poles down and destroy the old view - it's a different road without them.

This is another of the giant "Muffler Men" along Route 66. Back in the 50s they were used as advertisements outside of muffler shops (holding mufflers), but they later changed them to hold other items like the hot dog here (or the space ship at the Gemini Giant from Day One).

We wandered around an old grain elevator museum in Atlanta, IL and I climbed on this old grain car. It was fun wandering around town while it was still light and visiting a couple of bars.

We topped the night off with a few games of shuffleboard on this awesome table. Ryan annoyingly kicked my ass multiple times - he even managed to score a "hanger", where one of your pucks hangs off the end of the board, for an extra point. The last game, I didn't even make it to double digits - but the road is long, and I will beat him at some point, dammit!

Day One: (Plymouth to) Chicago, IL to Wilmington, IL

2007-09-17T19:30:00.000-07:00

Finally on our way!! California or bust! We left Plymouth heading west - said goodbye to all of the Scott's and headed out.

We stopped in Milwaukee at Kopp's for burger. They had these great black and white cow statues in the parking lot (we miss our black and white kitty!).

Here we are crossing the line into Illinois - my goal was to get the car by all of the state entry signs, but it was too hard to stop here. Traffic was really bad on the way into Chicago, so this was the best we could do.

And here we are at the beginning of Route 66 in downtown Chicago. It was a little hectic driving the car downtown, but Ryan had fun bombing the car through the crowded streets. We really had no major problems finding our way to the beginning, I just wish we had a picture of both of us under the sign.

Our first pit stop! Henry's "A Meal In Itself" Hot Dogs. The beginning of Route 66 heads out through some relatively sketchy parts of Chicago (Cicero, Berwyn), but we still found some cool 66 remnants.

This was another neat spot - the Castle Car Wash. It isn't in service, but it's a great building.

We stopped to eat dinner at Dell Rhea's Chicken Basket, which was really off the main road, but still packed (always a good sign). They had a ton of 66 memorabilia up and these great pink neon lights illuminating the ceiling.

After chicken, we could head to the Tap Room for some beer (although we didn't at this point). It was getting dark and we needed to look for a hotel room (and also still hung over from the night before).

66 was hard to find and follow in some places - we got turned around at one point and had to double back, but we did a pretty decent job.

We drove by some cool neon at night - like this state police station. Once we started getting tired, it turned out there were no hotel rooms in sight. We tried a place in Wilmington, IL by the dam ("Best Hotel By a Dam Site"), but they were booked up. A helpful, drunken woman directed us out of town to a hotel by Hwy 55 (as close as we could get to 66!) where we ended up staying for the night. Other than the roach I killed as soon as we got there, it wasn't that bad (although it was dark and we didn't see exactly how it looked outside until the next morning...)

Plymouth Reception

2007-09-17T18:59:00.001-07:00

Bob and Carlene hired a horse and carriage for people to ride in from where they parked their cars. Bas took most of these pictures - he really captured some great shots. It turned out to be a really beautiful day, slightly cool, but ultimately everyone was fine. Ryan's family and friends were so welcoming and nice, I was so glad we had this second party in order to meet everyone.

And Carlene outdid herself with decorations - these are the bride and groom scarecrows that she made for the yard. The bride had incredible cleavage.

Ryan wore his same suit from the wedding and looked great.

My dresses were filthy so I wore something else, but I really like this dress too (thanks to the girls for helping me go shopping before the wedding!).

Ryan's cousin Michael and his wife Karen have three red heads! My first red headed cousins! Oddly enough, no one in my family (other than my brother) has red hair, so this was the first time I went to a family event and saw some fellow gingers!

Ryan and his sister Carly - to be appearing soon on the cover of the next White Stripes album.

Ryan and his brothers and his grandpa, Luddy - Bas's flash was dying at this point, but I feel like this photo could be out of any time.

And this is the whole Scott family, including Ryan's grandpa and his aunt and uncle on the end.

And we capped the night off dancing in the tent with Sergio. He was flipping all of us around and making up dances (although Bretton invented a crazy pole rope dance as well). Great night, great food, great people.

Plymouth and RoadAmerica

2007-09-17T18:11:00.000-07:00

This is Ryan's parents house in Plymouth, WI. Carlene and Bob put up flowers and wedding decorations everywhere.

This is the kitchen - I just love this room and everyone seems to congregate here when we visit.

It was cold enough on Friday for a fire and Ryan relaxed with some TV.

Bas prepared some beef stew that cooked all day. He and Aaron went to Milwaukee to pick up Brooke from the airport, so we set the table and waited for them.

They were so grateful that we waited...

Here we all are enjoying the meal - Bretton and Sergio showed up at the last minute as well.

Happy Birthday Sergio! We found out it was Sergio's 31st Birthday on Saturday, so toasted him with tequila at midnight - which promptly sent Bob and Carlene off to bed. The rest of us stayed up for awhile drinking and talking (and lighting off fireworks!).

On Saturday, before the reception, Ryan and I headed over to RoadAmerica - an international raceway in the middle of farmland - less than 20 miles from Bob and Carlene's farm. You can drive up on the grass and park wherever you want to watch the races.

So we parked overlooking the track and Ryan longboarded down the big grass hills.

And I rode down on my butt (and totally wiped out).

We were there on the day they were doing vintage car races, so we got to see classic British and pre-war cars like this one. We headed back to the house around 2 to get ready for Reception #2!

Leaving Home: Minneapolis to Plymouth, WI

2007-09-16T19:57:00.000-07:00

We got everything packed up on Thursday morning and it took us several hours to get everything organized. We filled up the trunk and the back seat - Amy Saar loaned us some camping gear (thanks, Amy!) and we went light on the clothing, but it seemed like we had a lot more to bring than we thought we would.

We headed out east to Ryan's parents house in Plymouth, WI, but Ryan is helpfully pointing west as we get ready to head out. California or Bust!!

Here we are excited to finally be on the road! It took about an hour to get out of Minneapolis, but our spirits were still high as we crossed the St. Croix into Wisconsin.

AND, pretty much at our first stop for gas, I dinged the inside of the car. I gouged the paint on the dash with my purse (Nay - I totally thought this was going to be our "50 Euro"). Ryan was very good about it and totally let it go - I think he accepts that living in this car for the next 3 weeks is going to create some wear and tear.

We stopped for our first dinner in Osseo, Wisconsin at Moe's "Almost World Famous" Diner. They actually had some Route 66 memoribilia up, which was kind of cool - pretty standard diner fare though.

And we made a pit stop to watch our first sun set together in the car. We weren't necessarily planning to make it to Plymouth that day, but we ultimately drove the whole way and got in around midnight. It was a long day of driving, but we wanted to spend all of Friday with the family and get some things done in Sheboygan.

Mom Update

2007-09-16T19:47:00.000-07:00

I've gotten messages from friends wondering how my mom is doing - so I just wanted to put it up here since I haven't had time to call everybody. She is doing fine, she was in the hospital from Wednesday through Friday and they did a ton of tests. Ultimately, they determined that she did have a blood clot and it cut off blood flow temporarily (probably in a main artery in her neck), but there is no permanent damage. She was sore and tired when she got home on Friday, so she did not make it out to Ryan's parents house for our second wedding reception.

I have a ton of great pictures from our trip so far and from the reception (which was awesome!) - but I can't get the high speed internet access to work at our hotel and it take forever to load pictures up here. Hopefully I can get everything set up tomorrow. We have done a ton of driving over the past few days, so we are going to take it super easy tomorrow.

Talented Friends

2007-09-12T20:41:00.000-07:00

We've gotten a ton of amazing gifts from our friends and family. All of our everyday things, like sheets and dishes and pots and pans, I think pretty much everything we registered for! I'm going to send everyone postcards on our trip thanking them. We also received lots of fancy platters and bowls for entertaining. When we get back from the honeymoon, I want to have a dinner party and use all of our new things!

We've also gotten quite a few presents related to our Route 66 trip - books, t-shirts, hats, snacks, games - all great ideas. I wanted to share a couple of Route 66 related gifts that our talented friends made for us.

This one is a painting done by Nancy Cashman - it's hard to see, but she cut up pictures from a Route 66 book and maps and worked them into the edges. I love the colors and movement - it's going to be such a great reminder of our trip.

We also got this tool bag from Nate van Hofwegen. It fits inside the spare tire and we can keep all of the necessities for working on a 46' Chevy inside. Hopefully, we don't have to use these too often. My photography skills don't do it justice.

We did a gift opening brunch at my mom's house on Sunday with our families and the only awkward moment came opening a present from my friend Kelly Young. She missed my bachelorette party and brought her gift to the wedding instead - the book "101 Tips for GRRRRRRReaat Sex". We'll be bringing that one on our trip too...

Wedding Shots

2007-09-10T21:30:00.000-07:00

I have a few pictures from the wedding! Here we are - it looked like a movie set!

And here we are with our car - love this shot.

Post Wedding Recovery

2007-09-10T14:17:00.000-07:00

We just finished our wedding extravaganza weekend and both of us are back at work today. We are now kicking the honeymoon planning into high gear (awesome pun!), but whatever we can't get done we will just have to buy on the road. I plan to load some wedding pictures as soon as I have them - just running some tests on how this whole blogging thing works before we leave.