Off the main road

There are so many things about America that I love and adore. I love the diversity, the double standards, the greasy food, and the fact that sometimes you just don't know what's around the bend.

I'm really fascinated by small town America. It's as if time stands still in some of those places.

We've seen a lot of odd spots on our trip. One of my favorite... the little town of Alanreed, Texas. It has a motel/gas station/post office/convenience store. The sign in the window proudly proclaims that the town's population consists of: 52 people, 104 dogs, 88 cats, 2 skunks and a few snakes.

When he read that, Jamie got in a hurry and wanted to get out of there as soon as possible. He said he didn't want us to get stuck there. (But if we did, we'd have one helluva adventure!)

Day 7-9 - Speeding through!

The next day we tried to get up as early we could in hopes of once again beating the sizzling heat. Not so easy - we're talking desert sun here! It was only one thing to do - stock up on cold water and fill the misting bottle.

We stopped briefly at the site of the Hoover Dam. Pretty impressive! They're constructing a new bridge there, and it's honestly one of the highest bridges I've ever seen. I'm glad I'm not a construction worker having to spend hours dangling from a rope.

As soon as we drove into Arizona, the scenery changed. Big red rocks, hills, canyons and cacti. You could say it almost looked like Mars!

We booked a room at a cheap motel in Flagstaff. The city was nothing like I had pictured it. For some reason, I had imagined it to be all desert. So much for checking out places beforehand!

Flagstaff was green and lush, with lots of trees. We spent the day in the motel charging our batteries - computers, phones and minds. After constantly being on the road, it was nice to just chill out in a cool room. We went grocery shopping at the local Safeway, and spent the rest of the evening watching the Maury Show (seriously!) and Dexter! I found a link to a site that has all the episodes steaming for free! If you want to check it out, click here.

The next day we rose refreshed and beelined for New Mexico. We stayed one night in Albuquerque. The city was nice, and we tried to find Old Town, but after a long and hot day in the car, my sense of direction failed me. At least we got to do some semi-sightseeing before dusk arrived with Mr. Sleepy.

Moving on... the next day we got up with the dawn once again, loaded up good ole Buddy and hit the highways. We wanted to get to Oklahoma, so we decided to drive through Texas the least painfully way we could think of - through the panhandle with a stop in Amarillo.

Texas... what can you say? It's hot, flat, windy and smells like cow shit. No offense, cowboys. Texans are proud people, and you better not mess with their state. All the commercials and billboards I saw had been modified to directly target the people of Texas. Special treatment, or just a genius way of manipulating people by catering to their strong beliefs and roots? I don't know.
Anyways, we stopped briefly in Amarillo where we ate lunch at the Country Barn Steakhouse. Goodness! We all know things are different in the Lone Star State, but this was definitely a highlight. The restaurant is a barn-turned-eatery, and its inventory can only be described with one word: fantastic. It has animal heads, country boots, door handles made out of guitars, a car mounted inside the wall at the bar, and the bathrooms? Trippy! Lots of mirrors make your potty-trip resemble a scene in a David Lynch movie.
The food was great! I ate a sirloin with sauteed mushrooms and mashed potatoes. Jamie indulged in a plate of ribs. The portions were big, and we only paid $25 total - including sodas! If you ever find yourself in or near Amarillo, you should definitely check the place out.

In the evening, we finally got to Clinton, Oklahoma - our place for the night. Not much to say about that place... I picked up a booklet in the motel lobby to see what things were going on in the area. Let's just say rattlesnake competition with a free ham and bean dinner wasn't so tempting. I HATE snakes. And Oklahoma is apparently notorious for those slithering creatures.
The motel we stayed at, Trade Winds Inn, gave me the creeps. The staff was less than friendly, and the room had a really strange vibe to it. There were some sketchy guests staying a few rooms down from us, who were tweaking out to loud music at 3 am.

We were happy to get the hell out of there in the morning.

Next destination: Sweet Louisiana!

Day 6 - Viva Las Vegas!

After two days in California, it was time to hit the road once again. We got up early in hopes of beating the notorious LA rush traffic. Not so. LA always has tons of cars jammed up on the highways. It was so smoggy we couldn't see past the traffic signs. Oh well. What is there to see anyways? :)

Driving through the Mojave desert was NOT a pleasant experience. By all means, it was interesting to see and I wish we could have taken some detours to see several points of historic interest... but when you have no air conditioning in the car.... we wanted to get to Las Vegas as soon as possible!! We tried as best as we could to keep cool with a misting bottle and cold towels. I drove the last leg, and got the pleasure of trying to locate our hotel. Somehow my google directions scribbled on a post-it finally managed to get us there. We stayed at Bally's - conveniently located on The Strip.

Las Vegas is a city for the rich and famous. For us mortals, it's merely a punch-in-your-face reminder about how poor you are. Sure, it's fun to walk around and see the sights.. but with temperatures in the 100's we preferred to stay inside. There were slot machines everywhere, and surveillance cameras are everywhere so that the managers can pin point who's winning, who's losing, and who needs an extra drink so he or she can spend more money in their casino. We had fun trying out the slot machines, but we didn't win much.... We did, however, score some free drinks!

We also checked out the famous Caesar's Palace and the Bellagio. After a fantastic dinner at the Japanese restaurant Ichiban ,we retreated to our chilled room.

Here's a bit of trivia... did you know that most of Las Vegas Blvd., (aka The Strip) is not technically a part of the city of Las Vegas? It's in an unincorporated area south of the city called Paradise. That means, thousands of tourists going there to gamble spend thousands of dollars on slot machines without ever actually visiting Las Vegas!

Hot, hot, hot!

There is only one word to describe our drive through the Mojave desert: HOT! With no AC, and temperatures soaring (109!) we had to get creative in finding ways to stay cool.
I used a wet towel on my head, and a spritzer with cold water. We took turns driving and misting each other.

Let's just say we were happy to finally get a hotel room with AC.

Day 4-5 - Sunny Southern California!

We left San Fransisco early in the morning because we had a long day of driving ahead - 341 miles. Of course I talked Jamie into stopping in Salinas. I'm a big fan of author John Steinbeck, and in many of his books we get vivid descriptions of his hometown. The town was pretty, but the people all wore cowboy hats. Nothing wrong with that! Just saying... We didn't have time to tour the entire Steinbeck center, but we stopped by and browsed the museum shop. Oh how I wish I could have spent a day there!

Next, we stopped for gas and snacks at beautiful Pismo Beach. The air was clean and the ocean breeze refreshing. The water was so crystal clear we wanted to take a dip, but decided we better get down to Los Angeles before the heat got to us. No AC, mind you!

Along the way we noticed several bells. Originally, these bells were put up by Mexicans and Spaniards at the same time the American colonies were rebelling against England. The bells were called "missions" to connect the places were the soil was most fertile - in areas where large populations of Native Americans lived. Eventually, the mission became a path known as El Camino Real - stretching all the way from Sonoma to San Diego.

When we reached Santa Barbara we got stuck in one of the biggest traffic jam I've ever seen. It was hot, dusty and we were both tired and hungry. In other words - not the best time to navigate through unfamiliar territory. That's why when we finally got to Ventura, we hopped out of the car and sought refuge from the heat under the shade of a tree in a park. There, we googled the directions to our final destination of the day - Malibu Beach RV Park. I've been to Ventura before, but I don't remember it ever being so beautiful. If we hadn't booked our spot in Malibu, we might have stayed there instead.

At first sight, the RV park seemed anything but promising. Large, crowded and tent spaces places next to a sign that said, "watch out for snakes". Great. While Jamie set up our tent, I watched over the luggage in our car, which was parked far away. There were wheel barrows designated for bags. Very primitive.

While setting up the tent, two German tourists approached Jamie, and probably, out of pity, asked him if he wanted to "eat sausage with them." LOL!

I don't know who designed out tent, but I'm not sure if it was made for a person. Maybe a gnome. But by some miracle, we both managed to wiggle our way in at dusk. Need I say we got no sleep? The sound of the ocean waves was soothing, but listening to the snakes rattle in the bushes... pretty much kept me on alert.

Still, we felt refreshed in the morning, and headed down to Starbucks at the Malibu Colony Plaza to get coffee and look for stars. After that, we went down to Malibu Laguna Beach. Jamie did some body-surfing for the first time. Yay!
While he was out braving the waves, I laid down on the towel and started reading. I thought I heard a buzz, and instinctively waved my hand. Then I looked up. A huge swarm of killer bees was flying around me. The whole beach was in panic. Nobody got stung, but a pretty scary experience nonetheless! I ran for my life down to the water and jumped in.

Seriously, how many close encounters with wildlife do I need on this trip?

We didn't see any movie stars. But we didn't see any snakes either!

Day 2 - More trees!

After surviving our first night in the Redwoods, we packed up and hit Hwy 101 again, southbound of course. Mill Creek was alright, very family-friendly and very American. Perfect for those suburban families who want a taste of the wildlife while still being able to keep their precious amenities, such as TV and AC.

The drive wasn't so long this time, but somehow we lost our track. That's what happens when you have two different maps, five sets of directions and two completely different thinking minds. Long story short.... we drove 20 miles past our exit, had to stop and turn around, ask an old timer for directions, arguing for 10 minutes, then FINALLY finding the small hidden sign with a faded arrow pointing us towards the directions of Albee Creek, located deep inside the Rockefeller Forest. The site stems from an old homestead that John Albee set up in the 1800s. We were located right next to his old orchard! Right behind us, there was a little trail leading down to the Albee Creek. Jamie took a dip, but I changed my mind as soon as I spotted two water snakes. Yikes!

In the evening, we went for a walk and looked at the magnificent old trees. Some of them had faces on them, kind of scary. I looked for beer, but didn't see any. While we were enjoying a beer at dusk, we saw a young doe walking right past us. Beautiful! We also saw owls, lots of birds, a caterpillar (yikes!), spiders and a dog (the neighbor's). We took a walk in the orchard, and just enjoyed the quiet of the night and the fresh air. There certainly is something about California.

Day 3 - Forests and vineyards

Second night in the woods went well!!! Woke up at the crack of dawn, and hit the road.


We stopped in Garberville to stock up on supplies, and to grab a much sought-after cuppa joe. The little town of approx. 2000 inhabitants was buzzing with life. There's a rumor that Humboldt county is the pot capitol of California, I wouldn't know much about that... but what I did see was a store called "Hemp Connection", supposedly the first hemp store that opened in the US. When we were filling up at the Chevron station, two hippies tried to befriend Jamie, and asked us if we were going to the reggae fest. Darn it! Who knew Garberville was so happening? Should have stayed there a night or two... :)

On our way out of town, however, we were almost rammed by a 420 vehicle swerving the lanes, beating us to the exit that was conveniently labeled "Exit for special event." Gotta get there before the weed is out, yo!

Anyways, it was time for me to take the steering wheel. The Redwood Hwy is narrow and winding, and Jamie hold on for his bare life. We drove through dark forests, over bridges, through farmlands and vineyards. Mendocino County was beautiful. I wish we had time to stop at one of the many wineries for a taste or too, but that's not really what you do when you have so much driving ahead.



We arrived in San Fransisco around 5 pm. We stayed at Eward II Bed and Breakfast. A pretty cool vintage hotel in a perfect location. After a quick shower, we put on our walking shoes and walked to Fisherman's Wharf. The original plan was to eat at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co., but we were so hungry and crabby that we went into the first and best place we could find -- of all places, an IRISH RESTAURANT! Jamie had a good ole burger, while I tried out Shepherd's Pie that I washed down with the strongest Appletini ever. So random! Overprices and not very good, but at least it kept our blood sugar levels steady for a while. After a stroll along Pier 39, we went back to the inn and crawled into bed.

Next destination: Malibu!