A Quick Review Of Our Coast To Coast Trip - Part 2

Since a trip coast to coast involves a lot of driving, Dad decided to break it up by driving two days and then taking a day off and then two more days of driving, a day off and then the final two days of driving.  We drove about 500 miles a day.  We gained three hours passing through the time zones.  Our first two night stay was in Missouri visiting family. The second was in Albuquerque.

On Friday, the folks decided to take a trolley tour of Albuquerque.  The cost was $25 a person and they even allow dogs on their tours.  I didn't go however.  The tour was sold out and there would not have been room for me. 

My folks on the trolley.

The tour is 85 minutes and takes guest all around the town.  Mom's favorite parts were seeing old town Albuquerque and through the neighborhoods where movies and TV shows have been filmed.

Old Town.

Trees is painted.  Mom thinks it is of the Virgin Mary.  They planned to come back to Old Town but there was no parking available.

Many movies have been made here even though visitors think they are filmed elsewhere.  Wild Hogs is supposed to be set in Cincinnati, but the trolley takes guest past the house that Tim Allen lived in during the moving.  Mom's favorite part of the tour was a clip from Wild Hogs.  William H. Macy was riding a motorcycle through a bunch of trees. The clip was shown on a TV screen on the trolley as they were actually driving past the trees and ended where Macy crashed into the sign.  The post of the sign is still there.

Tim Allen's House in Wild Hogs

Fans of Breaking Bad can take a tour that is specific for fans of the show.  However, the tour the folks were on, took them past a few locations from the show.

Jesse's House on Breaking Bad.

Another attempt at Jesse's House.  It is for sale. The cost is $1.6 million.

 They also saw the spaceship house.  It has been on HGTV.

 

Type of house you expect to see in NM.  Notice the lack of grass.  It is very expensive to care for grass lawns. The guide said $800 a month.

This sign is supposed to look really neat at night.  The tail wags.

The "Beach".  It is now a fishing hole because the water was found to not be safe for swimming.  Doesn't seem like the fish would be safe to eat, but maybe things have changed.

 Mom took a lot of photos.  Many turned out worse than these and her memory is bad and she can't remember why she took them. BOL!

After the tour, they ate lunch at The Cube.  It was on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.  The food was good but $28 for lunch is high.  That was for both of them.

Mexican Burger with pico.  It got soggy.  The fries were good.

Beef brisket, Pork Loin, sweat potatoes, onions rings and toasted bread. Dad said the onion rings were the best he ever had.

Saturday morning, we hit the road again.

Let's Go!

 Here are a few of the things we saw driving through New Mexico and Arizona:

This weekend is the big balloon fest, but we still saw some as we were leaving.

This was a rest area in Arizona.

When we crossed into California, we had to go through an inspection station.  They stopped us and asked if we were towing.  Was that a trick question?  Yes, there was a Jeep attached to the motor home.  We were then asked if we had citrus.  Yes, we did.  Mom had to show it to the guy and luckily it was still in the package and showed it had been inspected.  I wonder if he would have believed us if we told him we bought it in Pennsylvania.  BOL!  He looked at it and handed it back to us.  We were free to go.

When we arrived at our campground in Needles, CA we were hit with the heat.  It was 106 fahrenheit, but since was a dry heat, it felt like 102.  It was hot!  We turned on our air conditioning and closed all the shades.  It didn't cool off until 5 a.m. and then it was in the 80's. 

The campground was all but empty.  I think there ended up being five campers and three of those were permanent residents.  I guess most people know not to camp in Needles, CA. 

If it had been cooler, we could have walked in the desert.  

The following photos are from our campground:

Our site.

This is where I hurt my foot.  It was not good.  Mom was very worried about me.  No pictures were taken from Needles, CA to our destination.  The roads were good as far as traffic, but it was a long day.  Dad said the last 100 miles were hard for him due to the roads.  We had a lot of curves and hills and it was just a two lane road for a good part of it. We finally arrived at our campground around 5:15 p.m.  We had left at 6:15 a.m.

We went to the vet due to my foot and then we got home after 10 p.m.  We are all glad that day is over. 

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Is Glad To Be Parked Again

A Quick Review Of Our Coast To Coast Trip - Part 1

We left Freeland, MD on Sunday, September 20th.  We stayed at Merry Meadows.  We never fell in love with the place.  We thought it was quite boring. There was not much activity where we were parked.  Most of the people were not friendly.  I guess we will always remember it as the place that Scout died.  :-(   I also had to have that surgery on my mouth, so not the best memories.  Mom did enjoy visiting Pennsylvania.  They went to Lancaster three times and Gettysburg three times.

Sunday night, we stayed at the KOA in Dayton.  This was a really nice KOA.  The turns to get into our site were not easy, but the park was really clean and nice.  We could see ourselves staying there on a long-term basis.

Nice fenced dog area - no agility stuff getting in my way.

Large ponds

Chipmunk

 The next night we were back in Missouri!  We stayed at the same campground we stayed at in July and we even stayed at the same site.  Mom was a little sad that Scout wasn't there since she was there last time.  Grandpa and Grandma L came over to visit.  Grandpa had been sick the last time we were home, so I didn't get to see him then.  However, they sat on my couch and didn't move when I asked them to, so I just squeezed my way onto the couch and they had to share with me.  As soon as they left, I took my regular spot and slept. 

Life as it should be.

Wednesday, we headed out on the road again.  We spent the night at another KOA.  This one was outside of Oklahoma City.  It was not as nice as the one in Dayton.  There was a pit bull that was chained up outside a fifth wheel that was not friendly.  We avoided him.  Dogs are not supposed to be left unattended, but he was out all night.  It was easy off and on the highway, so it was all we needed for one night.

Thursday, we drove through Amarillo, TX.  The last time we were there, we had so much fun. Remember when we visited Cadillac Ranch?  Mom was sad as we passed through the area remembering our last visit.

Us leaving our mark on Cadillac Ranch.

We stopped in Albuquerque, NM. We stayed at the American RV Park for two nights.  It was a really nice park.

The dog park had rubber mulch.

Our site

See the burger on the billboard? The folks ate at 66 Pit Stop.

In Albuquerque, NM you are asked red or green. They are not talking about Christmas. They are talking chili.  The laguna burger has green chili.  Mom said it was HOT.  She felt it for two days.  Dad said he was surprised that it was that hot.

The folks took a trolley tour in Albuquerque, but we will save that and the rest of our trip for our next post. 

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Is Headed Out For Some California Sunshine

As TomTom Says, "We Have Reached Our Destination!"

Boy, was that a long trip! We traveled from coast to coast.  The last day was the worse because I was injured.  Don't worry, I am almost all better.  I had stepped on something.  We thought it was a foxtail.  Mom pulled it out of my foot but I was limping badly and she thought something was left behind.  I had a hard time walking because it was my driver side foot. That is what Dad calls it. 


So, as soon as we got set up, we rushed to the 24 hour vet.  They looked at my foot and couldn't see anything wrong.  They showed us foxtail and we all agreed it wasn't what was in my foot.  The doctor kept touching my shoulder and then she pinched it. Well, I cried.  What would you do if you haven't slept in over 12 hours and someone is pinching you?  She said x-rays were necessary. X-rays were done and they were fine.  Then, the doctor looked at my feet again and discovered a bruise.  Why don't they listen to Mom when she tells them 1) there is something wrong with my mouth - a bee got me, look in my mouth  2) I had a thorny thing in my foot, check it again?   Anyway, $311 later, I was sent home with my x-rays and instructions to wear my boot for a few days and take my Tramadol as needed.  I am much better today.

Our campground has terrible cell phone service and the Internet is not great either.  It is a pretty campground with lots of activity. 

We will tell you more about our trip later this week.  We cleaned this morning and now we are chilling.  Dad is at work.

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Is Spending Lots Of Dad's Money At The Vet

Have You Noticed....

....that we haven't been around?   Yep, we have been on the road since Sunday and we won't arrive at our destination until this coming Sunday.  Gulp!   We have taken two days off to rest, but it has been a long drive.  Any guesses where we are headed?  We left Maryland on Sunday.

I've been seeing a lot of things.

A buffalo.

A teepee.

A fake buffalo.

Alligators

Nope, he's not real.

Retrieve this!  BOL!

Catching up on my sleep.

Tomorrow, we begin the final leg of our trip.  We will fill you in on our adventure next week after we get settled and rested.

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Is Really Tired