On the Road

[muon2]

My family and I are on the road for two weeks. I'll check in periodically with an account of the highlights. My signature will keep track of my progress at the county level.

Day 1 & 2 The first two days were generally uneventful. Day 1 was for packing and heading for Peoria to stay and visit with family. Day 2 also was geared for family. We stopped in the afternoon north of KC to visit with relatives. For an early supper we headed for the Crown Center. We stayed there in 2001 and my teenaged children wanted to revisit the scene of their childhood visit. The three key items: the Crayola store, Chips chocolate shop and eat at Fritz's restaurant where a train delivers your order.

[tik 🪀✨]

I heart Peoria. That is all.

[Хahar 🤔]

Have fun!

[muon2]

Here are some political notes along the road.

In IL I passed through IL 14, 11, 18 and 17. No political signs, but the primary was back in Feb and most campaigns wait until Sep to put out their general election effort. There were quite a fw Obama bumper stickers in IL as one might expect for the favorite son.

In MO I passed through MO 9, 6 and 5. US 36 from Hannibal toward St Joseph across the northern part of the state was full of signs. This makes sense since the primary is on Aug 5. Hulshof for Gov were the most common, and I saw a few for Luetkemeyer in MO-9.

In KS I went through KS 3 and 2 ending in Salina in KS 1. Since I was on the interstate, there were few signs out in advance of the Aug 5 primary. I expect more today, since I'll be off the interstate. I did catch a Pat Roberts commercial in my room last night, so he's on the air even though he has no primary opponent.

[Хahar 🤔]

Fascinating. I expect many more of these in the next two weeks.

[MODU]

Drive safe, bud, and have a fantastic time!

[J. J.]

Enjoy yourself.

[muon2]

Day 3 This was going to be a long drive, but we made a stop that turned out to be worth the time. Between Salina and Dodge City we stopped at the Fort Larned National Historical Site. Our goal was to see some preserved wagon ruts from the Santa Fe trail. What we got was a great 1 1/2 hour tour of an 1870's fort that is in great shape due to its long ownership with a single rancher who left most of the buildings intact. The National Park Service has done a super job to mix original furniture with accurate replicas of the equipment and supplies. The tour guide was an extremely knowledgeable student from K-State. And about 5 miles away there was a decent bit of wagon ruts.

The long stop put time pressure on the drive to cross the Continental Divide while it was light and  my kids could enjoy the view. Dodge City became little more than a fast food stop, and we didn't get supper until 9 pm MT (10 pm by our Midwestern clocks) in Pagosa Springs. An hour or so after that we finally reached Durango.

I said I would be on the look out for signs of the political season. Kansas had very little moving across CD-1, with a few signs in Dodge City but really nothing more than county offices. Colorado was a little better as we moved through CDs 4 and 3. There were quite a few signs for county commissioners, and a couple for state representative, but nothing above that.

[Хahar 🤔]

How was the view at the divide?

[muon2]

How was the view at the divide?

Only fair. Dusk was setting in and Wolf Creek Pass is not as spectacular as some of the passes up towards Denver. The crossing of the Sangre de Cristos was more impressive if 1400 ft less high. There was a heavy thunderstorm on the east face adding a dark mystery to the mountains, yet the Spanish peaks just to the south were rain free and stood out. Also since it was the first mountain crossing that my kids would remember it was more impressive to them.

[muon2]

Day 4 We resumed our pattern of sightseeing early in the day and a long drive to get to the evening destination. Our first stop from Durango was Mesa Verde. It's tough to pick from the many beutiful views, hikes and ruins. Since we didn't want to spend all day we went with the self-guided tour of the Step House. It had well-preserved ruins from both the early period (7th century) and the late period (13th century). The ruins were so well preserved it looked like a plaster reconstruction one might see in a museum.

Next stop was Four Corners. It was worth doing once, just to say we'd been there. It's just a marker on a platform with an adjacent photo platform. The rest of the site are Navajo crafters in booths that surround the markers since three quadrants are in the Navajo Nation. The drive from Four Corners through the Navajo Nation towards Flagstaff was spectacular and well worth adding to anyone's driving plans. Democrats Ann Kirkpatrick and Mary Titla had signs up in the reservation in their quest for Renzi's open seat in CD-1.

We got to Scottsdale late in the evening, and the internet connection was flaky so this post was delayed until this morning. We'll be staying in Scottsdale the next few days so I hope the service gets better.

[muon2]

Day 5 This was a down day for the family. I recommend the off days after a lot of hard driving, especially since I came down with a bit of a head cold at the start of the trip. My daughter is into beading and found a bead museum in Glendale, and it was a plus for her.

We have a room with a kitchen so we could eat all our meals in for the first time since Monday. Breakfast came before grocery shopping, and I was shocked to find that our frequent staple of donuts was unavailable. All the nearby Dunkin Donuts and Krispy Kremes have shut down recently, though bagels and bread stores are still prevalent.

Since I'm in Scottsdale, I wasn't surprised to see signs for GOP challengers to Michell in AZ-5. Mark Anderson, Susan Bitter-Smith, and David Schweikert were all visible.

[Flying Dog]

New Mexico is a great state. Unfortunately we only drove through it on our way back from Vegas a couple years ago.


Stay safe and have fun!

[muon2]

Day 6 We stayed around Scottsdale in part to meet a friend in the afternoon, but also in part to participate in the Kabuki theater of timeshares. Our unit is part of a network that we belong to through the timeshare that we used in exchange. Most resorts like to use their visitors as a promising group to sell them additional timeshares. This requires a visit to the area sales office for a 90 minute sales pitch. Regardless of the resort, the pitch is basically the same, starting with an hour spent chatting with the sales rep about the things one likes and dislikes about vacation. Then the rep gets to the particular package that they are offering including the same day incentives. When that is declined the manager comes by with better deal or a more limited offering that might be a better fit based on the discussions with the sales rep. When that is declined, the top person comes by to do an exit questionnaire, that invariably includes another final, better offer. After the 90 minutes, we get our gift for spending the time, and I've rarely found them not to be worth our time spent.

Day 7 We're back on the road, but for a day trip to Tucson and return. We started with the Saguaro National Park (west) which is a great place to see the saguaro cactus forest from dirt roads and hiking trails. Just down the road is the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. This is a must see for any visitor to the area, and it adeptly combines elements of a botanical garden and small modern zoo. The final site to visit was the Pima Air Museum with dozens of Air Force craft of all eras. It was also fascinating to drive by the AMARG Boneyard where the Air Force keeps mothballed aircraft on acres and acres of land. A quote from my son - "There's enough just sitting there for world domination."

[MODU]

Hope you are staying hydrated down there. 

[muon2]

Day 8 Shopping and bopping around town. The highlight was a tour of Taliesin West, the Frank Lloyd Wright school and home east of Scottsdale. Some of you may remember my thread a few years ago from my east coast road trip when one stop was Fallingwaters in PA. Since then Wright sites have been high on my son's list. The architecture at Taliesin was impressive as usual, and is interesting to see its continued use as for 6 months it is an active architecture school. One outgrowth of this are the many "shelters" constructed as one room sleeping quarters by and for the students. The students get the chance to apply their training hands-on and show their interpretation of Wright's style.

[muon2]

Day 9 This was the big one that we were all waiting for - the Grand Canyon. We warmed up with visit to Sunset Crater Volcano and Wupatki National Monument. We weren't initially sure if we wanted the hour detour, but it is certainly worth it. The lava field at Sunset Crater is right against the road and since it's less than 1000 years old, it's fresh in geologic time. I wouldn't mind coming back for the day hike up to the crater. Wupatki has some excellent pueblo ruins, and unlike Mesa Verde, you can climb in and around these ruins.

Then there is the Grand Canyon. I appreciated coming in from the east along the Little Colorado. You can see its canyon get deeper and larger from the Navajo posts along the road, and it gives a sense of what is to come. We spent an hour at Desert View and the Watchtower with a brief hike. Then we traveled to the village for a hike along the rim to Yavapai Point. Not only is the vista unparalleled, but the world knows it and we heard a wealth of other languages along our hike.

On the way back past Flagstaff we took the road through Oak Creek Canyon. This a surprisingly scenic raod as the canyon drops suddenly through cliffs leading to Sedona. The view at Sedona is right out of Hollywood (who knows how many times they've used it?) We had a room in neighboring Oak Creek Village and ended the day there.

[Хahar 🤔]

Where are you headed next?

[muon2]

Day 10 We ate dinner last night in Sedona proper, and got a chance to see the center of town. The main roads are under construction, and we weren't keen about spending time with the dust and traffic. From our unit in Oak Creek it wasn't hard to take the back roads out to Jerome. It sits high up on a mountainside so there's a great drive just to get there. Once there we spent the whole afternoon.

Jerome is a mining town that 90 years ago was one of the largest communities in Arizona, then became a virtual ghost town when the copper mines closed in the 1950's. However, the town was discovered by countercultural artists in the 60's and the town was reborn. It maintains a balance of the mining town and artist colony that, as one of my kids observed, makes it a Galena, IL of the southwest.

From there we took a more western path to return to metro Phoenix and our place in Scottsdale. From here its time to pack up and begin the trek east and north tomorrow.

[muon2]

On the political side today, I saw a number of congressional signs. I was primarily in AZ-1 in the Sedona and Prescott area. Kirkpatrick had a large sign in Sedona, but she was the city attorney there, so some support is expected. In Prescott I saw GOP signs including Tom Hansen, Sydney Hay, and Sandra Livingstone. Livingstone's included her website with the unique url: www.drlivingstoneipresume.com. She's a lawyer, but uses Dr based on her PhD in law from Cambridge University.

[Хahar 🤔]

That's a very good idea, provided anybody catches that reference.

[muon2]

Day 11 We checked out of Scottsdale and began the trek home. Before leaving Arizona we had two more destinations to hit. We took the scenic Rt 87 out of the east side of Scottsdale through the mountains and eventually reached Winslow on I-40. With a little backtracking to the west we got to Meteor Crater created 50 K years ago when a meteor exploded in the desert. It was hard to resist the stop, since we all enjoy things related to space. The crater is really impressive and there's a decent museum and video show as well for the admission. We ended up spending 2 hours and could have gone for three if we took the guided hike along the rim.

The second stop was for the Petrified Forest. The number of petrified trees in various valleys is astounding, and it's even more astounding to see the pictures and descriptions of what it was like 100 years ago before so much of the material was removed by curious collectors. There are also ruined pueblos in the park, but the examples at Wapatki were better IMO. The Painted Desert overlooks were also very good, though the drive in from Four Corners offered some similar views.

Finally we said goodbye to Arizona and entered New Mexico. After a time change, since Arizona doesn't follow Daylight Time, we arrived in Albuquerque at 10:30 pm.

[muon2]

Day 12 Though we're on our way back east, Albuquerque was part of our itinerary. I started the day with a breakfast meetup with prominent Albuquerque Atlasian WMS. Meanwhile, the rest of my family tried one of the famous restaurants on old Route 66.

Most of of the day was spent exploring Old Town Albuquerque. This a a compact mix of art galleries, tourist kitsch shops, museums and eateries. The plaza provided Saturday afternoon entertainment from area musicians while strolling among the shops. The turquoise museum adjacent to Old Town was interesting and took an unusual approach to its subject by stressing consumer education to keep stone merchants honest.

Late in the afternoon we headed east on the interstate. After all the changing topography of Colorado and Arizona, the return to the mesa and ledge plains of eastern New Mexico seemed dull by comparison. I would note that that same landscape looked fantastic when we saw it in eastern Colorado, but it was novel then. After nightfall we continued into Texas to end the day in Amarillo.

[muon2]

Day 13 This was the long leg with over 750 miles of driving. We planned only one stop to see the Oklahoma City memorial. For those of you too young to remember, it recognizes the 168 victims of the domestic terrorist bombing on April 19, 1995. The memorial is quite nice, fitting into the space of the old Murrah federal building, and noting the victims of the attack.

We didn't have a second stop planned, but serendipity changed plans for us. We needed to gas up near the OK/MO line and I chose to exit at Miami, OK. I also noted that we were close to Kansas and some geneological research I did last year suggested that I had ancestors in Cherokee County, KS just after the Civil War. Since that county was immediately north of where we were I decided on a side trip to see what the area looked like.

As we drove towards the town of West Mineral there was a sign for something called Big Brutus. Before long we saw a large structure sticking out above the trees. It turns out that the second largest coal scoop ever operated has become a tourist attraction. It is truly BIG, measuring 16 stories and 5500 tons. The admission lets you climb into the rig and get a sense of its immensity.


After that hour+ diversion, we got back to the road. We ended late in the evening in St. Louis in the Hyatt hotel fit into old Union Station. The space has preserved much of the station's character and our room looks out on the mall that fills the old platform space.

[muon2]

Day 14 Somehow we knew it had to end, but we could at least drag it out for a full day. We spent the morning and midday in St Louis. Of course that included the Arch as well as some time admiring the revitalization work done on Union Station where we stayed. The trip up the arch marked another use of the annual pass from the National Park Service. For this road trip it was a good deal since we used it for Mesa Verde, Saguaro, Sunset Crater/Watapki, Grand Canyon, Petrified Forest, and the Arch. That would have been $87 in total, but the pass was $80 and it's still good  through July of next year.

On the way home we made a stop at our state capitol, and had an early dinner since we had skipped lunch. The excitement came as we approached Chicagoland. While listening to the Cubs, there was an interruption to announce a tornado warning for our town. A consult with the internet on the phone was used to take us through the least violent path but the storm was intense. Fortunately the worst missed our home area and other than some small branches downed by the wind all was well.