Two Recent Road Trips

Dubbed Coronavirus Challenge I and II (CV I and CV II)

While I have never in these past 2 years made light of this pandemic, I have refused to change my whole life or be afraid paranoid of catching it. Last May, I took a 6,500 mile road trip through the Southwest and this month I completed a 5,200 mile trip through the northern west.

Ever since I could drive, I have liked to roam. When I went to school in Virginia, I would pick a new route each time when going across the country. Although with that kind of driving, having to “be there” in a week or so, one doesn’t have a lot of time for sightseeing. Although even 50 years later, I remember one route: US 50 through Utah, then old US 40 through Steamboat Springs and 11,000’ high Berthold Pass. Which if I remember correctly, is the highest year-round road in the country.

I did write some time ago about my “mini lap around America” in 2006.

One thing I did discover on my latest 2 “Mini Loops” around America.

Another Loop of America

“Travel changes you. As you move through this life and this world, you change things slightly, you leave marks behind, however small. And in return, life — and travel — leaves marks on you.” — Anthony Bourdain

I have always loved to roam. Might be in my genes, as I had a grandmother who, in her 60s, took it upon herself to roam the world on her own.

The last “Loop Around America” I did was 15 years ago. Then, I could on the spur of the moment, decide that I wanted to see New Orleans post-Katrina and drive 800 miles from Oak Ridge, TN. I covered 7,500 miles in 14 days, and that included stopping in MN to see my niece get married, and visiting my cousin in Virginia.

Safe on deck

Posted by lex, on May 16, 2006

 

Lord I dislike traveling from west to east. Let my secretary talk me into a 0630 flight out of Sandy Eggo, so that I could get to Norfolk while it was still daylight. Which is supposed to mean something to me, or maybe she’s being solicitious. On account of my advancing decrepitude, like.

Reba’s Most Excellent Adventure

Once upon a time, 3 sisters were born. Since they were all redheads, they were given the names of some famous red-headed country-music stars,  Reba McEntire, Wynonna Judd and Patty Loveless.

They quickly became part of the family.

While redheads in general are pretty rare – these sisters were destined to become redheads.

They were Rhode Island Reds.

As in chickens.

Taking Advantage of Overseas Stations

Today on the F/B page Lex’s post was about being stationed for 2 years – along with the Clan Neptuni – in Japan.

I do wish he had gotten into more detail about what the Clan did in Japan for those 2 years, but I suspect they took some side trips. Of course now that I think of it they had a baby.

But still, I hope at least they took some side trips.

I wonder if they stayed at a Ryokan?  Or took an Onsen? Made any day or weekend trips? Had a meal at a typical Japanese restaurant? Rode the bullet train?

Japan is on my “to do” list.

People Acting Stupidly?

In the upcoming weeks, I will probably get some time off and was going to travel overseas for a coupla weeks.

Always wanted to see Manaus for some reason. It was, before the 1920s, a true boom town . I envisioned seeing the opera house, where the world’s opera companies made the long journey up the Amazon to perform. People would send their laundry to Paris to be cleaned. Although perhaps my imagination was too detached as the population today is over 2 million. But the rubber boom, which died in the 1920s with the rapid development of more efficient rubber plantations in Southeast Asia, made Manaus for a time one of the richest cities in the world. The thought  just came to me that for a time,  Manaus was the Virginia City of South America.

Letters From Iwo Jima

I have a post coming for the 75th anniversary of the Iwo Jima landings set to come out next month. I also watched the companion movie to Letters (they were made simultaneously)  Clint Eastwood made in 2006  –  Flags of Our Fathers. So you had 2 movies of Iwo Jima – from the perspectives of both sides.

It is all too easy to lump a wartime enemy into “they” with monolithic stereotypes and behavior.

Highways Through Time

This stretch of Rt 66 to Holbrook, AZ was active from 1926 through 1958. It was the only section of Rt 66 that went through a National Park. (Painted Desert). Today only the old telephone poles remain, with the pavement under the dirt and sagebrush.

Coming back from my latest drive, I had a number of misconceptions cleared. In addition to a few historical misconceptions, from Judge Roy Bean to the Alamo, a highway surprised me.

Coming up through New Mexico I saw a sign for US Route 60.

Southwest Travelogue

At the start of my drive, I stopped at a deserted town in California that I had visited years earlier, a town on what was Rt 66 that Interstate 40 had killed.

While walking around, I encountered a biker from British Columbia, and I made the remark that “the best trips are those of which you don’t know where you will end up at the end of the day“.

He smiled knowingly, and said that when he is on the road, he didn’t even take a map.

Roy’s Cafe and Hotel Served as a beacon for weary Rt 66 travelers. Now empty and unused for almost 50 years. Shot during my 2006 visit.

A Buzzkill

My sister moved to the Midwest back in the 70s, and never came back to California. She settled in Minnesota years ago.

The one time I visited her and her children in the winter was an eye-opening experience.

She asked me to get a paper, and I walked out the door and….I thought my ears were going to fall off from the sub-zero cold.