The Drive . . .

"The Girls" -- Sparky and Bailey are ready to go!

Bob started out driving while I worked on my current rug hooking project. I'll show you a picture of it sometime in a later blog posting.

I started it in September but didn't work on it over the Christmas-New Year holidays.

It is my intention to finish it while we are in California.

Bob drove through all of central and southern Illinois ------------------- p r e t t y b o r i n g. He was still driving when we went through St. Louis, MO.

We saw the Gateway to the West Arch. I saw it once on a family trip when I was a kid living in Memphis, TN. Sometimes something you see as a kid and then see as an adult doesn't live up to your expectations. Not so with the arch -- it is still as impressive as I remembered!!!

From Wikipedia: The Gateway Arch, also known as the Gateway to the West, is an integral part of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial and the iconic image of St. Louis, Missouri. It was designed by Finnish-American architect Eero Saarinen and structural engineer Hannskarl Bandel in 1947. It stands 630 feet (192 m) tall, and is 630 feet (192 m) wide at its base, making it the tallest monument in the United States. Construction of the arch started on February 12, 1963 and was completed on October 28, 1965. The monument opened to the public on July 24, 1967.

The interior of the Arch is hollow and contains a unique transport system leading to an observation deck at the top. The interior of the Arch also contains two emergency stairwells of 1076 steps each, in the event of a need to evacuate the Arch or if a problem develops with the tram system. By 1968 a unique tram system that combined an elevator cable lift system with gimbaled cars functionally similar to ferris wheel gondolas had been installed. Thirty-two small windows (16 per side) measuring 7 x 27 inches (178 mm x 686 mm), almost invisible from the ground, allow views across the Mississippi Riverand southern Illinois with its prominent Mississippian culture mounds to the east at Cahokia Mounds, and the City of Saint Louis and St. Louis County to the west beyond the city. On a clear day, one can see up to thirty miles (48 km).

The interior of the Arch is hollow and contains a unique transport system leading to an observation deck at the top. The interior of the Arch also contains two emergency stairwells of 1076 steps each, in the event of a need to evacuate the Arch or if a problem develops with the tram system. By 1968 a unique tram system that combined an elevator cable lift system with gimbaled cars functionally similar to ferris wheel gondolas had been installed. Thirty-two small windows (16 per side) measuring 7 x 27 inches (178 mm x 686 mm), almost invisible from the ground, allow views across the Mississippi Riverand southern Illinois with its prominent Mississippian culture mounds to the east at Cahokia Mounds, and the City of Saint Louis and St. Louis County to the west beyond the city. On a clear day, one can see up to thirty miles (48 km).

We took turns driving and sleeping and after several quick stops for dinner/gasoline, arrived in Albuquerque at 9 am Mountain Standard Time -- ahead of schedule after driving for 21 hours and gaining 1 hour with the time change. At this point, we had put in 19 hours 56 minutes of drive time and 1284.69 miles! Only 715.16 miles and 8 hours 57 minutes to go . . .

Our ears were popping -- Albuquerque's altitude is 5,200 feet above sea level. Another mile high city -- just like Denver, CO.

We went to breakfast -- yummy western omelet with green chili corn bread muffin and decaf. Checked into our Residence Inn and tried to nap. Couldn't sleep, so we decided to drive around and find a park to walk the dogs. It turned out we were very close to the University of New Mexico so we drove around the campus and saw several statues of their mascot -- a lobo (a kind of wolf).

Saw a very cool artsy building near campus and took a picture as we drove past. It had all sorts of carvings and embellishments.

We picked up some things for dinner, went back to our hotel, watched a few episodes of The Brotherhood (a great Showtime series about Rhode Island politicians and mobsters -- hard to tell who-is-who), ate dinner, watched another episode and went to bed at 7:00 pm!!!

Packing to Go . . .

The plan is to leave St. Charles at mid-afternoon Friday, drive through the night arriving in Albequerque, New Mexico at midday on Saturday where we will spend the night and finish our drive the next day arriving at our rental home in La Quinta, CA in time for the Super Bowl.

So last Friday morning, I worked out, showered, ate breakfast and packed.  Everything.  In the car.  I thought.

Then I made the bed and started folding the clothes in the dryer.  Realized I didn't pack ANY socks.

Threw some socks in the back of the car on top of the suitcases, golf clubs, dog beds, etc.

Started folding clothes again.  Remembered I didn't pack any golf clothes.  Couldn't think of where I had put my golf clothes since the big "stream-line the closet project" which started with one rod pulling out of the wall (loudly and shockingly at 5:30 am last September) and ended two months and several thousand dollars later with the help of California Closets (no connection to our current location).  Right, you only need golf clothes May through October in Illinois, but you might want to remember where you keep them in the "off season" (I know, if you've seen me golf, it's ALL the off season).

Checked Ty's closet since he's usually at UW-Madison and is off to Prague for this semester (check his blog at http://typragueblog.blogspot.com/2009/02/what-place.html ).  Nope.  Checked Ben's closet even though I had thought I put them here originally after the closet event, but moved them when Ben graduated from Eastern Illinois and returned home to live (and look for a job) just before Christmas.  Nope.  Checked Lauren's closet even though I knew I would never put them in there since she returns home from college (Marquette) often and has so many clothes anyway.  Nope.  Hmmmmmmm.  Maybe I have to give up golf for good.  Wait, I only started playing again last April after 15 years off after only playing (9 holes) for a couple of years and I bought all those golf clothes . . 

.

Looked in the closet off my sewing/rug hooking/general craft room in the basement even though I was sure I didn't put them there.  Bingo, there they were -- I can golf on this trip after all!  Grabbed some golf clothes and threw them in the back of the car.

Finished throwing EVERYTHING into the car including Sparky and Bailey (just kidding, no animals were hurt during the packing of the car).

Ready ahead of schedule! and we left St. Charles at 1 pm central time.  Just 1999.85 miles and 29 hours 53 minutes to California!!!

The Journey Begins

I am starting this blog so family and friends can follow Bob and my two month California vacation trip (and because I told Tricia McNally I was going to do a blog of the trip).  Since Bob retired at the end of 2008, he figured, "Why stay in the crazy snow and cold of the midwest for the entire winter?"  He was right!  We had quite enough "winter" during November, December and January!!!  This picture was the view out of Lauren's bedroom window at the front of our house.  Yes, the window is wet!

So, one week ago today Bob and I and Sparky and Bailey (two of the luckiest dogs EVER) set out to drive from St. Charles, Illinois to La Quinta, California.  Mapquest.com estimated a distance of 1999.85 miles and 29 hours 53 minutes driving time!

When our kiddies were small, we sometimes drove long distances for vacations.  I remember one trip in March, 1996 to Destin, Florida shortly after Hurricane Andrew when we were unable to get a condo directly on the gulf because they told us "there are none available" -- which  when we arrived actually translated to "the condos on the gulf were destroyed by the hurricane" --  it looked like a war zone!  They were afraid to tell us that for fear we wouldn't come.  But we were living in cold, snowy western (daily 2-3 inch lake-effect snow) Michigan at the time and couldn't wait to get anywhere warm, even a hurricane ravaged warmth!

Another long trip with the kiddies was a trip from our home in Mequon, Wisconsin to Denver, Colorado to visit Bob's sister Mary, her husband Mike and their kids Kelsey and Kevin on June 17, 1994.  It just happened to be the night of the O.J. Simpson low speed chase.  While most of America watched on TV, we listened to the play-by-play on the radio.  Very weird!!!

So, anyway, what I am getting at here is that during those long-drive vacations we learned that driving through the night was a great way to travel -- Bob and I took turns driving/sleeping (Bob drove 5 hours for every 2 I drove and I knew it was my turn when he starting playing country-western music on the radio -- he hates country-western music, but it keeps him awake), the kids slept (less bathroom stops and less, "Are we there yet?"), and there was much less traffic!!!  So that was our plan for this trip . . .