Ghost Towns of Route 66.

January 8, 2017 

We wondered, what exactly are the prerequisites for a Ghost Town? Does it need to be totally abandoned or can it house a few die-hard occupants surrounded by derelict buildings?  

                                   

Many sources say that the best way to see The Mother Road is by taking Interstate 40 (I-40).  You can view the original Route 66 (narrow and a bit bumpy in places) from I-40; the two roads meld together at some points and the really cool stuff to visit is on or just a short trek off Route 66.  Signs are minimal, so ya gotta be on your toes to discover the cool roadside attractions.  

The drive from OK City to Amarillo, Texas is long.  Really long. And it's flat.  Really flat.  With huge wind turbine farms drawing your attention to the horizon every now and then.  

                            

Lots of grazing cattle, feed lots, stockyards.  Flat prairie-like lands. Big Sky.  More wind turbines.  More cattle.  More Sky.  We enjoyed the "down time" of buzzing along this southwest path, when all we had to do was follow the super straight road, then veer of I-40 every now and then pull over to investigate some eclectic roadside attraction, gas station or other oddity.  

Isn't this beautiful, ya'll? 

McLean, Tx is listed as a Ghost Town, its population is approximately 36.  Just a hop, skip and a jump from 1-40, McLean has the first of the famous Phillips 66 gas stations.  Over half the buildings in town are deserted or have been closed for many years.     

 

                                            

However, there's plenty of evidence that McLeanites aren't giving up.  Their town is a very popular roadside attraction.  These charming folky murals are dotted all over the town.

The main attraction in town is this:

If only the ghosts of Route 66 could talk.

#ghosttownsroute66, route 66, #firstphillips66, #mcleantexas, #ontheroadwithzuma

Route 66

January 8, 2016

                        

I've wanted to drive a section of Route 66 for many years now.  It's a Bucket List Thing.  Affectionately known as "The Mother Road", it cuts across the country from Chicago, Illinois through the states of Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico and Arizona, ending at Santa Monica, California.  Route 66 is the most famous road in this country and is also known as "Main Street America".

We loaded up the car in the early a.m. and picked up Route 66 just outside of OK City.

We saw a lot of derelict buildings and gas stations along the way.

Several places have been restored, others left to crumble.

  This beautiful (new) bronze sculpture really caught my eye and 

is visible from the highway.

If you look up Ghost Towns of America, Texola, Oklahoma will be definitely make the list.  

Only 36 residents are listed on the 2010 census.  

Abandoned, overgrown buildings adorn every street.  

A tiny cinder block "jail" sits on a lot near the center of the town.  

Being lovers of Ghost Towns, we had to check it out:

Comfortable lodging for those Scalliwags in the photos above:

There was a cool-looking diner at the far end of town named 

The Tumbleweed Cafe.  

                        

We wanted to stop for a coffee, talk with the locals and take a photo of the place but a small, scruffy lone black dog in the parking lot started alert barking in a weird way and suddenly, it was like a scene from 101 Dalmations.  All sorts of frothing, frenzied dogs zoned in on our car and started barking frantically. Two yips and a woof.  They were the dogs from the other side of the tracks, the gangstah dogs.  (Pit-Schnoodles, Border-Doodles, whatever, you know the type).  Zuma, who flops out on her puffy bed and never makes a sound when we're on the road, suddenly sat bolt upright and looked out the window to see what all the ruckus was about. The car-chasing crazed dogs were speeding alongside us and didn't even see Zu.  This is their sport, chasing cars.  And they are real athletes.  I told Doug just drive or they'll jump all over the car.  The dogs were nothing short of Olympic sprinters and they basically, uh, ran us out of town.  It was pretty funny really.  The dogs were having a good laugh, for sure.  I'd have taken a photograph, but I could see the teeth from my window so I didn't.  Zuma laid back down on her comfy bed and blew the whole thing off.  Good thing we weren't planning a breakfast at The ole Tumbleweed Cafe.  

The roadside towns of Route 66 have always offered mechanic/tire or towing services for travelers.  We don't recommend waiting around for a service man here.  That ship has sailed, honey.

                           

I don't know about you, 

but I'm lovin' all the shoes that have been humorously flung up 

into the trees behind this sign.

We crossed into Texas, heading for Amarillo and found Conway, another "Ghost Town".  

This one has a larger population and we stopped to take photos and look into a gift shop.  The owner was sweet and friendly.  We had a nice chat about her soon-to-arrive 13th grandchild, the upcoming baby shower and the weather.  I got the feeling she doesn't have many conversations a day.

We were pleased to find this wonderful Art Deco Conoco station in Shamrock; it isfully restored and treasured as a roadside attraction, one of the multiple old gas stations that has served travelers for decades on Route 66.

                  

"Fill 'er up?"

#route66roadsideattractions, #conocostationshamrocktexas, #restoredgasstationroute66, #conwaytexas, ghosttownoklahoma, #texolaoklahoma, 

168 Empty Seats.

January 7, 2017

Our next destination: Oklahoma City.  We booked a room at Aloft in the historic district of Bricktown.  Unfortunately, the welcome at the Aloft was not friendly like it was in Asheville, but it is a dog-friendly hotel chain and we were really tired so we stayed.

The next day we had a hearty breakfast at Cattlemen's Restaurant, a local's joint.  Outstanding service, Billy Jack was our waiter, he sported a crisp shirt and a bow tie and kept us laughing.  

We enjoyed him and also the hearty cowboy grub! 

Doug has been to OK City before and he really wanted to show me the OKC Memorial.  Nobody can forget that fateful day on April 19, 1985, when Timothy McVeigh detonated a bomb that blew up the Murrah Building and killed 168 people and injured hundreds of other innocents.  At the Memorial, there sit 168 empty chairs, placed in rows representing the floors where the people worked and where visitors were stopping by.  A huge reflecting pool is the central focal point and tributes to lost loved ones adorn the wire fence alongside the site.  

It is impossible to go there and not recall the images on the news and shed tears.  I could barely focus the camera.  The small chairs honor the children lost in the Murrah Building's Day Care Center.   

The large tree in the background is 

the only tree on the grounds that survived the explosion.  

It is honored and respected, as are the victims of that horrific day.

New trees of the same type have been planted nearby and around the tree, showing the resilience of OK City.  Life must go on.

These two solid structures at either end of the shallow pool bear the numbers 9:01 (the time of the explosion) and 9:03 (the time Oklahomans began to mentally rebuild).  It's pretty powerful, ya'll.  

A part of America and its history.  

A part that hurts to remember but one we must not forget.

This is a solemn place, enveloped in a cloak of sadness.  The Memorial area has an eerie silence about it, people silently stroll around the site, slowly and respectfully.  Tears ran down my face the whole time.  Such a waste of human lives.  Such a waste.  The only other place I've ever experienced this same feeling is at the 911 Memorial site in NYC.  

There is no noise here.  

There is no reasoning for what happened here.

168 Empty Seats.

#oklahomacitybombing, #oklahomacity, MurrahBuildingMemorial, #168emptyseats,  #cattlemen'srestaurant, #alofthotels, #rememberingthevictimsoftheokcbombing, #April191985, #travelingwithagreatdanedog

Walkin' in Memphis.

January 5, 2016

                

We chose Memphis as our first destination on the way to Santa Fe via Route 66 and Amarillo, Texas.  Doug drove for 7 hours on a long, lonely highway and we were getting ready to stop so we started calling ahead for a hotel.  Disaster.  Securing a pet-friendly hotel has never been an issue. Suddenly, having a really big dog had become a really big deal.  "No dogs over 40 lbs", "Sorry, no dogs over 60 lbs".  We booked a La Quinta and pulled in, only to learn at check-in that they too had weight restrictions.  Multiple more calls.  No room at the Inn.  No room for a dog over blah blah lbs.  Alas, the perils of traveling with an XXL canine.  Then Doug found a La Quinta near where we wanted to be. Yes, they accept dogs.  They didn't ask the dog's weight and we didn't tell.  Zu never makes a peep, just curls up on her bed and chills out.  There, guilty feeling alleviated.  We'd been on the road for 11 hours and we were knackered. I was seriously wondering if we were going to have to sleep in the car!  We grabbed a bite to eat and fell asleep in a heap.  

Snow fell upon the city and the area during the night, about 3/4" of fine white stuf that virtually crippled the city. Almost nobody has snow tires on their cars and the city has only a meager fleet of snow plows and sanding trucks.  Schools and all events were canceled and multiple accidents happened on highways and in town. Skidding cars flipped over on the side of the road and there were many many collisions.  The news advised everyone to stay home. So we did. Doug was glad to catch up on work at the hotel and when the sun came out just after noon we drove into the city and walked around the Beale Street neighborhood, which consists of a few blocks of bars and music venues, cordoned off for foot traffic only.

There were only a few people on the street, 

mostly crazy tourists like us who are not deterred by icy sidewalks.

We wanted to meet some locals so we stopped in here 

for an afternoon drink.  Friendly folk.  Great energy.

We picked up a couple of souvenirs here:

It felt surreal to have this famous street, the birthplace of many  fine musician's careers, all to ourselves.  

We stopped for lunch at Gus's World Famous Fried Chicken because it's supposed to be the best fried chicken in town.  More like the best fried chicken on the planet.  Lightly breaded and not greasy, it is unbelievably scrumptious.  You'll just have to take my word for it.  We don't usually eat fried foods but this was well worth jumping off the health wagon.  When in Rome ....

BEST.FRIED.CHICKEN.EVER.

Don't be scared off by the humble exterior.

The place was packed with people from every walk of life.  

And everybody was smiling.

After a very late lunch, we drove by Graceland, home of Elvis Presley.  It's closer to a main road than we thought and we felt sad that within the view from Graceland's front gates, you could see Taco Bell and other fast food chain restaurants and tacky gift shops. Marlowe's, a nearby BBQ restaurant was a favorite of Elvis:

Walkin' in Memphis.  

What a fun way to spend a chilly January day.

#Graceland, #Memphis, #BealeStreet, #BBKing'sBluesClub, #BBKing'sCompanyStore, #Marlowe'sBBQMemphis

Returning to Asheville ....

December 26 - January 6, 2017.

This is Doug's incredible view from the 'plane as he landed in New Orleans on Boxing Day evening.  I think we should frame this.  

It rained a lot in the Bayou the week before Christmas and it rained HARD.  Zu and I lay in bed at night, enjoying the thumping of rain on the roof, one of my fave sounds.  Zu doesn't mind it at all.  I guess if I like it, she's cool with it.  It puts me to sleep with a smile on my face.  Zuma too.    
                  
After Doug arrived at our RV Park we laid low for most of the next day; my cold/'flu thing was by then in full swing and my usual allergies were joining the party.  We'd previously decided to return to Asheville after New Orleans, winterize Hula Girl and continue on with my car (faster and easier to get around cities and sites) so I was basically packed up and ready to go.   

The weather was bright and the air felt like Spring in New Orleans as we struck out for North Carolina on the 27th.  We stopped overnight along the way, one night in Atmore, Alabama (where we cruised through a casino after a buffet dinner and spent (and lost) a whole $3.00 just for kicks and giggles .... we're not gamblers!) and
the next night in Atlanta, Georgia.  On the route from Atlanta to Asheville the wind howled and heaved, making driving a challenge for Doug, but we made it safely back to Bear Creek. Good driving, Doug and good clinging to the tarmac, Hula Girl!  Even the transports were getting blown all over the road.  

Zuma was pretty excited to hop out of Hula Girl and find herself on her old familiar Bear Creek stomping grounds the following day. She was truly excited to check everything out and make sure it was all as she'd left it. 

                   

The tree (above photo) near our campsite shows bear claw scars on it.  No gators here, we've left the Bayou and all it's wonderful birds and wildlife, but with this tree we're reminded of the comically curious meandering black bears of summertime.  

We were all happy to be back in Asheville.  And yeh, we honked.
                

We celebrated New Year's Eve and my birthday in Hula Girl with our friends Missi, Rusty and Van.  We had a great time.  Hula Girl needed to be winterized so we could leave her while we carry on .... so we stayed on three extra nights afterwards at a hotel and enjoyed the nightlife and nice meals in downtown Asheville.  Zuma was in her glory as Doug found a super dog-and people-friendly hotel in the heart of downtown: Aloft. 

We're huge fans of La Quinta hotels because they're very dog-friendly but Aloft is now our new fave and we'll plan our route around them (and La Quinta from here on in).  All dogs in this SUPER dog-friendly hotel are given a puffy dog bed (delivered to our room), a Kong tennis ball, dog treats and two fresh bowls.  The hospitality is amazing and Zu was able to join us with several other dogs and their People at the bar for dinner.

Doug got caught up with work:  calls, e.mails, texts, paperwork.  
I researched maps and tour books for the next leg of our journey.  
Zuma lounged on the bed and watched Animal Planet on tv.  Doug and I even went to see a movie, Manchester By The Sea, which is fabulous.  It reminded us of Maine.  We'll be back there soon. 

Now Hula Girl is now winterized and we're heading back on the road again!  2017 is already off to a flying start! 

#ashevillenc, #honkforpeace, #laquinta, #alofthotel, #pet-friendlyhotel, #greatdanedog, #travelingwithlargedog 

The Kindness of Strangers.

January 1st, 2017.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!  May 2017 bring you all excellent health and a bounty of happiness, new adventures, fabulous family moments, fresh friendships and blankets of warmth and love. 

2016 was a challenge for so many of us.  We are looking at the good pieces of the puzzle of 2016.  It was a journey of many adventures, an exciting discovery of new places and faces and we're truly appreciative of all the GOOD that 2016 gave us. 

We are deeply saddened that we lost several dear family members and some good friends and there were many horrible happenings in this world, but when I look back on 2016, I'm so grateful for all we have.  Memories are worth a LOT.  They are reminders to kick "those things" off your Bucket List.  

An old friend of mine used to repeat a mantra each day: "Everything changes, everything changes", she would smile.  And so it does.  Katie Courig said it well on the Today show yesterday: "The days go slowly but the years go fast".  So true.  And so another year has passed.  (Sorry I'm a week behind with the blog and thank you for following and for all your kind e.mails and comments.  I just had to kick the cold/'flu/bug thing and get reorganized)!  

There are coincidences in life that make me stop and think, how could I possibly be so fortunate?  Does that happen to you?  This journey we're taking never ceases to amaze me.  We meet such wonderful people.  I am gob-smacked.

On a recent Uber ride from the New Orleans Airport, Doug met a very special woman.  Her name is Val.  She is a sweetheart, a true spirit, and, we feel sure, a lifelong friend.  We are looking forward to Val visiting us in Maine.  

Val is a Social Worker who drives for Uber on her spare time.  She has also (humbly) been an extra in several movies based in New Orleans and area.  I had the privilege of going on a shopping trip with Val and she kindly offered to help me out while Doug was gone as she lives nearby our RV Park in Slidell, just outside of New Orleans.  I called her one day and she was really helpful.  We hit it off immediately.  

Val is a kind, generous person.  The Finest Kind, we'd call her in Maine.  On our first outing, she learned that Zu and I were going to be solo for Christmas and she offered to bring me Christmas dinner. On our next trip a week later, Val invited me to go for Christmas brunch in her home with her family and friends; people came by all afternoon, it was so much fun!  That's Val on the right. 

                        

Oh My!  This girl can cook!  Val knocked it "out of the Park", as they say!  She created a fantastic southern and traditional Christmas buffet and her beautiful home was filled with the best of everything Christmas dinners have to offer:  A beautifully roasted turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet and savory breads, stuffing (with shrimp), vegetables, salads, desserts and southern delights like Val's Shrimp Etouffe (which I am still having dreams about)!  I wish I could have eaten more!  It was divine! 

I feel so honored to have been invited to join in the festivities.  It was a Christmas I will always remember.  When you can't be with your family for the Holidays, you make a family of friends.

Lorline, one of Val's guests is a writer of children's books.  I was invited to go with Lorline and Val for her book signing the following day in New Orleans, but Zuma was a little under the weather so I missed it.  I was feeling a tad peaked too and the next day the 'flu hit me like a landslide.  

I'll spare you the details.  You're welcome.

Meanwhile, back at the farm in Maine ....

Doug spent a quiet Christmas with Emma (who had bronchitis .... so maybe it wasn't so quiet) .... but they had a nice time and I'm very excited that Emma is coming to see us for a few days this month!).  Best.New.Year's.Event.Ever.    
        
We wish you all the best of everything for The New Year!
Make Memories, don't dwell on regrets.  Just be nice.

Check this out if you have a minute .... especially if you're gettin' all "Resolutionary" and stuff:

http://www.marcandangel.com/2014/03/02/40-regrets-you-dont-want-to-have-in-40-years/

Makes you think ....