Route 66 & Beyond

Day 12: 482 Miles Total: 3,801 Miles We got up yesterday morning for the beginning of a new adventure. This one was to be different. Unlike the somewhat planned trip on Route 66, we had no idea where we were headed as we sat eating breakfast. We were in California and knew we had to get back to North Carolina, but not directly. That was never the plan. We had basically narrowed our choices down to three: 1) Drive up the coast to Sacramento and take U.S. 50 across country, 2) drive up the coast to Newport, Oregon and connect with U.S. 20 to drive cross country, or 3) wing it and just make the trip road by road, using a map. We opted for plan number 2 since it takes us through parts of the country we have never been. U.S. 20 becomes Genesee Street in Auburn, New York where we plan to eventually spend a couple of days, so that was convenient. On to Oregon, it is. We called my Aunt Mona and Uncle Jim in Newark, California to let them know that we would be passing close by and to see...

Day 11: 403 Miles Total: 3,319 Miles Well, we made it! I'm a day late (we arrived on Monday) so I'll try to get caught up. We left Needles early Monday morning, before 7:00am, to try to avoid the heat as much as possible while we were driving through the Mohave Desert. It turns out that we needn't have worried. While it was 113 degrees in Needles on Sunday it never got out of the low 80s through the desert. There wasn't too much to look at other than the beauty of the desert, but I did get a few shots in of thinks like spray can art. Lots of abandoned places in the desert too, some restored or partially restored. We came across the site for an old cult movie by the same name. A great museum in Victorville, California. And the third in a series of tepee-style motels. Here's were it got a bit tricky. We wanted to stay here since it would be our last chance, but we made such good time to this point (it was only 1:00pm when we arrived) that ...

Day 10: 192 Miles Total: 2,916 Miles Well, we're in California...Needles to be exact, which is where the obscure reference from a Three Dog Night song in my title comes from. The temperature is 113 degrees and premium gasoline is northwards of $5/gallon, but I'm getting ahead of myself. We had a great evening strolling around Seligman last night. It seems that every business in this small town thoroughly embraces the Route 66 spirit, and they're proud of the fact that they took the lead in its renaissance. We ate dinner and watched some terrific live music at Westside Lilo's last night. Then ate breakfast at the Roadkill Cafe this morning before leaving. Both great places. Here are some additional Seligman pictures I took before we moved on. We drove to another of my very favorite Route 66 icons, the Hackberry General Store, where we spent close to an hour just wandering around. The Hackberry General Store is difficult to describe, so I'll try to d...