A Somewhat Boring Travel Log On a Very NON-Boring Trip... Part 1
I'm only home a few nights and already the insomnia is back...that should tell me something...sighing... Its 2am, I've been awake for about 45 minutes already and sleep doesnt appear to be calling me...so perhaps its time to dust off my rusty, trusty writing fingers...and write about something safe and easy....
I have so much process stuff to write about, but I have to get back in the groove first...so I know several of my friends and family really want to hear about the trip tami_186 & I took back home, I will start there...complete with pics...
Monday morning we loaded up, (and I do mean loaded), the Jeep, said sad goodbyes to ldyhawk, boi_moe,srching3, & mandie_wolf in Tucson, and headed up AZ 77 towards I-40. Our plan was to take 77 all the way up to 40, but about an hour outside of tucson, there were signs telling us that AZ 77 was closed due to rock removal... ROCK REMOVAL????
Ok so fine, no big deal. AZ 77 is a prettier, more direct drive than AZ 79, but not a major change in plans. It turned out to be most interesting in terms of climate. We went from mid 90's right north of tucson, down to mid 80's, back to mid 90's and finally down to the mid 70's up near Show Low, AZ. But between there was a wide variety of ecosystems. We went from dry desert scrub, to desert with tons of tall saguaro cactus & some barrel cactus, to bushy-somewhat green, to pine trees, growing grass and cool breezes...and everything in between. I don't think i have ever experienced that rapid change in scenery in one place before. And then...
On US 60, right past superior, we came across a sign I wish I had stopped to photograph. It said, "blasting area ahead, expect 30 minute delays"...and it wasnt kidding! We rounded a curve about 10 minutes later and came to a screeching halt in a line with cars ahead of us as far as we could see... and there we sat for around 20-30 minutes. Chuckle... imagine THAT in the midwest...NOT... Luckily no one, including us, seemed to be in a big hurry and everyone got out of their cars and walked around, took pictures, smoked, etc. The picture below was taken right before we saw the blasting sign.
By the time we got up to I-40, both of us were pretty hungry, and I needed to find a place to stop and hook up the crackberry so we could priceline a hotel room somewhere near gallup. We pulled in to a gas station/restaurant that looked promising and poured ourselves out of the jeep & into the restaurant on somewhat wobbly legs from being in the car non-stop for about 6 hours. When we walked into the building and the lobby/gift shop looked like it had been hit by a tornado, I knew we may have trouble. The second clue was the 4 menu items on a white board behind the counter, and no other patrons...but hey, thats ok, its all about the experience...chuckle...
No worries... I ordered chicken, figuring it would be safe, Tami ordered some type of BBQ sandwich, (which turned out to be a much wiser choice), and I proceeded to 'get connected' to priceline. I had hoped for a hotel on the west end of gallup because boi_moe warned us about the east end, but no such luck. So instead I snagged us a Best Western in Grant, NM for a song...complete with wi-fi internet and free breakfast... By this time the food had arrived and the best thing I can say about the chicken is that it was definitely dead. Not an ounce of life left in it...it was so dry and overcooked I about choked on it. :-S
And then there was the attached gas station... on leaving the restaurant, I decided to fill up...the gas station looked as deserted as the store did, and small wonder... the price they wanted to charge for regular unleaded gas was $3.59...yes that is not a typo... up to that point we had been paying between 2.09 - 2.29 for gas. $3.59? I wonder if anyone ever did pay that! We didn't, but instead tracked down gas a few miles away for a mere $2.49.
That stop turned out to be amusing. After getting gas, we decided to stop in this store that said INDIAN OWNED, (of course it did, it was on a reservation), since it was open and there were no cars...we figured there would bound to be something of interest there...right? Well...kind of... there was not much for sale in the store, but the things that WERE for sale were blankets and trinkets made in mexico, (not new mexico), a couple of things labeled made in pakistan, and some knives made in china. Oh yeah and a chiuahua laying guard on the blankets who thought tami's hand might be its next meal. And we had to be careful stepping over the puddles of pee on the floor... Back pedal slowly away and off into the night...chuckle
The hotel, at first pass, seemed great...clean, large room, decent beds...except that the free wi-fi internet didnt exist. Not in our room NOR in the lobby...the signal was too weak. And my crackberry didn't get a stable signal either. This wouldnt have been a big deal but I had been out of touch with work stuff for over 12 hours already...shrug...a few deep breathes and some cussing and I decided to let it be for the night and worry about it in the morning...
Tuesday morning was a bright and sunny day. Since we had no internet, while tami was in the shower I turned on the weather channel. Found out it was a crisp chilly 43 degrees in Grant, NM that morning. About what I had expected - once we left AZ, the days would top out at between 65-75 and the nights between 35-45. We were headed up to Alamosa, CO and the Great Sand Dunes National Park, so we would be steadily climbing into the mountains. Tami was a bit skeptical when I looked at the shorts she was about to put on and informed her that she might want to consider jeans instead...until I directed her attention to the weather channel.
And off we went...both of us appropriately dressed for a cold, rainy day in the mountains...more later...perhaps now, at almost 3:30am, sleep will come...
I have so much process stuff to write about, but I have to get back in the groove first...so I know several of my friends and family really want to hear about the trip tami_186 & I took back home, I will start there...complete with pics...
Monday morning we loaded up, (and I do mean loaded), the Jeep, said sad goodbyes to ldyhawk, boi_moe,srching3, & mandie_wolf in Tucson, and headed up AZ 77 towards I-40. Our plan was to take 77 all the way up to 40, but about an hour outside of tucson, there were signs telling us that AZ 77 was closed due to rock removal... ROCK REMOVAL????
Ok so fine, no big deal. AZ 77 is a prettier, more direct drive than AZ 79, but not a major change in plans. It turned out to be most interesting in terms of climate. We went from mid 90's right north of tucson, down to mid 80's, back to mid 90's and finally down to the mid 70's up near Show Low, AZ. But between there was a wide variety of ecosystems. We went from dry desert scrub, to desert with tons of tall saguaro cactus & some barrel cactus, to bushy-somewhat green, to pine trees, growing grass and cool breezes...and everything in between. I don't think i have ever experienced that rapid change in scenery in one place before. And then...
On US 60, right past superior, we came across a sign I wish I had stopped to photograph. It said, "blasting area ahead, expect 30 minute delays"...and it wasnt kidding! We rounded a curve about 10 minutes later and came to a screeching halt in a line with cars ahead of us as far as we could see... and there we sat for around 20-30 minutes. Chuckle... imagine THAT in the midwest...NOT... Luckily no one, including us, seemed to be in a big hurry and everyone got out of their cars and walked around, took pictures, smoked, etc. The picture below was taken right before we saw the blasting sign.
By the time we got up to I-40, both of us were pretty hungry, and I needed to find a place to stop and hook up the crackberry so we could priceline a hotel room somewhere near gallup. We pulled in to a gas station/restaurant that looked promising and poured ourselves out of the jeep & into the restaurant on somewhat wobbly legs from being in the car non-stop for about 6 hours. When we walked into the building and the lobby/gift shop looked like it had been hit by a tornado, I knew we may have trouble. The second clue was the 4 menu items on a white board behind the counter, and no other patrons...but hey, thats ok, its all about the experience...chuckle...
No worries... I ordered chicken, figuring it would be safe, Tami ordered some type of BBQ sandwich, (which turned out to be a much wiser choice), and I proceeded to 'get connected' to priceline. I had hoped for a hotel on the west end of gallup because boi_moe warned us about the east end, but no such luck. So instead I snagged us a Best Western in Grant, NM for a song...complete with wi-fi internet and free breakfast... By this time the food had arrived and the best thing I can say about the chicken is that it was definitely dead. Not an ounce of life left in it...it was so dry and overcooked I about choked on it. :-S
And then there was the attached gas station... on leaving the restaurant, I decided to fill up...the gas station looked as deserted as the store did, and small wonder... the price they wanted to charge for regular unleaded gas was $3.59...yes that is not a typo... up to that point we had been paying between 2.09 - 2.29 for gas. $3.59? I wonder if anyone ever did pay that! We didn't, but instead tracked down gas a few miles away for a mere $2.49.
That stop turned out to be amusing. After getting gas, we decided to stop in this store that said INDIAN OWNED, (of course it did, it was on a reservation), since it was open and there were no cars...we figured there would bound to be something of interest there...right? Well...kind of... there was not much for sale in the store, but the things that WERE for sale were blankets and trinkets made in mexico, (not new mexico), a couple of things labeled made in pakistan, and some knives made in china. Oh yeah and a chiuahua laying guard on the blankets who thought tami's hand might be its next meal. And we had to be careful stepping over the puddles of pee on the floor... Back pedal slowly away and off into the night...chuckle
The hotel, at first pass, seemed great...clean, large room, decent beds...except that the free wi-fi internet didnt exist. Not in our room NOR in the lobby...the signal was too weak. And my crackberry didn't get a stable signal either. This wouldnt have been a big deal but I had been out of touch with work stuff for over 12 hours already...shrug...a few deep breathes and some cussing and I decided to let it be for the night and worry about it in the morning...
Tuesday morning was a bright and sunny day. Since we had no internet, while tami was in the shower I turned on the weather channel. Found out it was a crisp chilly 43 degrees in Grant, NM that morning. About what I had expected - once we left AZ, the days would top out at between 65-75 and the nights between 35-45. We were headed up to Alamosa, CO and the Great Sand Dunes National Park, so we would be steadily climbing into the mountains. Tami was a bit skeptical when I looked at the shorts she was about to put on and informed her that she might want to consider jeans instead...until I directed her attention to the weather channel.
And off we went...both of us appropriately dressed for a cold, rainy day in the mountains...more later...perhaps now, at almost 3:30am, sleep will come...