Route 66

My computer got infected with something really nasty that changed my wallpaper and wouldn't let me open any applications until I went to the 'Windows website' to register and remove the virus. So, instead I helped JGIB clean his room and he fixed my computer. I headed to Michigan Sunday and stayed at Anne's house when I arrived around 3 AM. After some sleep I stopped over at John and Alison's to pick up the 4 Roadtrip books I'd ordered from Ebay. Three had arrived and the forth got there as we were chatting in the day's mail - how perfect! Again, I have that 'rightness' feeling, like everything is working out in the way it should. I headed over to Dana's to pick up Nothai and begin the next adventure of driving Route 66 to my Dad's house in Colorado. Well, to Santa Fe and then north to Littleton.

August 3rd - Happy Birthday Alison and Jack Borchert!
Nothai and I head out from Michigan. We decided to skip the actual beginning of Route 66, which starts in Chicago since we'd just been there. We start our journey in Joliet, a little southwest of Chicago. We got there about 5 PM and drive by the prison, then take our first and only 'Route 66 sign' picture. We also stopped at the first Dairy Queen which was the first of many disappointments. For some reason, they decided to add plastic Blues Brothers to the top of the dairy queen, which doesn't clearly indicate that it is the first Dairy Queen. I'm not sure why anyone thought that this would be appropriate, but it began the first of many cheesy tourist stops. Also, it is a bit difficult to plan things out well because business attractions have operating hours to consider, or more so limit you on stopping or not. For instance, if there are many things to do in a certain area but you arrive at 5PM your choice is to pass them up or call it a day. We were on a little bit of a time line, needing to get to my dad's by a certain day, so we didn't stop until at least 10 PM usually, even if that meant skipping some neat things. In retrospect, they probably weren't that neat anyway. Yeah, I really decided Route 66 is a bust!

August 4th -
We stopped at a rest area just before Springfield for the night (thought about it, but too late to call Windmill!). This was our worst rest area experience; the car area was in front instead of the rear of the building so the noise from semi's passing was terrible. Also, it was very muggy and buggy outside. Windows had to be rolled down and the mosquitoes were happy about our unfortunate situation. It was so hot and sticky my everything was sweating just laying in the car not moving. After calling off the sleep attempt around 6 AM we drove into Springfield. We had to wait a few hours though until the Lincoln house opened, so we went to Walmart to get food supplies for the cooler. We got trapped in Walmart for about 30 minutes because of an enormously powerful storm outside. I thought we might be in for a tornado treat. I'm not joking or exaggerating.
We went to President Abraham Lincoln's home, grave, giant statue, and Cozy Dogs for corn dogs on the way out of town. We stopped in Collinsville, IL to see the world's largest ketchup bottle (these things actually made the trip worth it!) We stopped just short of St. Louis Missouri for the night and got a little better night's sleep.

August 5th -
We headed into St. Louis to find Samuel Cupples House, located on University grounds. St. Louis University is one of the most beautiful campuses I've seen. We were intrigues with the Masonic Temple for a bit and exchanged ideas about the probability of them being for good or evil before heading out of town to see a rock painted like a frog in I forget what small town. We drove on what the author of my guidebook described as his favorite stretch of Route 66 because of the ghost towns it passed, including Albatross, Phelps, and Carthage. Ghost towns? No, it is just out in the sticks and there are just a few businesses and people living there. Different ideas of ghost town I guess. I told Nothai I'll show him better ghost towns with better ghost town history in Colorado when we get there. We made it into Oklahoma and learned strange interstate history. First, their tolls are pretty confusing, paying an amount ahead of time which is good until a certain point. This makes getting pulling off for gas frustrating if you don't know ahead of time how the system works. Also, there is/was a problem with truckers stopping at rest areas for the night and attracting solicitors, increasing crime...and so sleeping isn't allowed anymore. This was news to us and I finally stopped and got the story from a lady working overnight at a gas station. Seeing my desperation, she said we could pull around the side of the building and get some rest there. This was a great night with no noise and great rest.

August 6th -
Disgusted with everything Oklahoma, we fled into Texas and stopped at the visitor center just past the border. This was one of the nicest visitor's centers I've seen, although it didn't have any tourist information available. The view was great, although I could feel the furnace heat starting to melt my flesh while driving. We stopped to see the Bug Ranch and the Cadillac Ranch; I preferred the Cadillac in Amarillo. We decided to take a side road, 104 west to Las Vegas, NM from Tucamcari, NM instead of continuing along the interstate. This was a great decision and brought us to my favorite part of the trip - red rocks! I love red rocks and sand - it really gets me. I wasn't expecting to see any yet and was taken by the beauty of this stretch at sunset. We stopped through Las Vegas, New Mexico and tried to find a cheap motel for the night. No luck so we kept on and stopped at the next rest area we found for the night.

August 7th -
We started heading north to Colorado today after getting decent sleep. As the landscape got less and less flat today I could feel the anticipation rising in me to see the mountains. We stopped to visit Capulin volcano, a dormant volcano. We chatted with some motorcyclist that was returning from Stergis and said it was starting to get crazy and stinky there so they (three of them) decided to start wandering around. I could dig that lifestyle if it weren't so dangerous I think. We dodged isolated thunderstorms on the way north to my dad's house and arrived 3 minutes late for dinner at 6:33 PM. It is great to see the family, eat good food, shower and sleep in a bed!

August 8th -
My little sister Madison took Nothai and I to Waterton Canyon where she had summer workshops on survival, mud mucking, and scrap booking. It was a nice relaxing day for us to gently trod around and spend some time with my sister before they head out to California on vacation. Nothai and I are looking forward to doing laundry, relaxing and coming up with a game plan for the rest of the week and for when we head out of the state when Dad returns.

Just wanted to mention real quick also that I sorted my pictures into separate albums in Picasa and all pictures are updated!