One part of our long-planned journey has ended: the packing of the Pack Rat. We packed it completely filled to capacity, and it is off to California! Cathryn and Paul headed out to New Orleans with Billie and Basie at around noon while Micah and I stayed behind to finish cleaning out the space.
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At 2:30 on move-out day, Micah and I have almost emptied the apt. It’s 77% humidity with a 78-degree dew point. It’s humid and rainy! We’re sticky and exhausted and soon have to make a 9.5-hour trip to New Orleans in a packed car with two birds. Onwards to finishing emptying the place!
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Micah and I officially locked the place up and started our trip around 5:45pm. We’ll be getting to NOLA around 2:30am. We are ready to roll! Finally excited that the packing is over, and the Fiat is PACKED. We’re thrilled we won’t ever have to look at the Confederate flag on I-75 again!
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Just past midnight, and we are 3.5 hours from NOLA. We had to stop at two Love’s because the first one declined Micah’s card, and his bank told him to have them manually enter his card number, but we were too embarrassed to go back in, so we drove an hour to the next one, and the manual entry worked! An exciting trip so far.
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Stopped at the super cute Oasis Travel Center in Alabama and picked up some soda (my Shirley Temple is caffeine free!).
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Micah and I did a little bit of looking through the French Quarter today before doing some resting. Basie yowled all night and kept Cathryn and Micah up. Paul takes his hearing aids out, and I go straight into deep sleeps, so we weren’t as bothered. Micah and I drove through the confusing French Quarter but thought it was definitely a charming area of NOLA. We decided to park and visit two famous places: Marie Leveau’s House of Voodoo, located on the site where the Voodoo Queen lived.
We also went by Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop Bar, considered to be the oldest structure in the US to be used as a bar (built between 1722-1732).
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Left NOLA around 1pm and on our way to Dallas! We took the cats with us today, and the birds went with Cathryn and Paul. The cats were not the best kitties in he NOLA Airbnb, so we thought they might have less anxiety riding with us. Here they are on some catnip getting a little more relaxed.
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We got to our Dallas hotel (a beautiful Super 8) at about 10pm EST. But before that, we headed through downtown Dallas to see the 30-foot high Giant Eyeball (“The Eye” by a, of course, Chicago artist). The cats are staying in our hotel room, and the birds are sleeping in Cathryn and Paul’s. On to Shamrock, TX and Route 66 territory tomorrow!
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Heading from Dallas to Shamrock, TX today! We passed an oil field followed by a large wind farm on the way. We should be in Shamrock in about two hours, which will put us, finally, on Route 66.
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We finally got to Shamrock, TX and Route 66! Shamrock is a tiny, quiet town that looks like it’s straight out of the 1950s. We are staying in the Shamrock Country Inn (with beautiful blue, Texas-themed doors). I think we’re the only visitors at the moment.
We didn’t have to travel far to see some of the historic Route 66 sites here, including Shamrock’s Water Tower (built in 1915):
The restored Magnolia Gas Station (1929):
The U-Drop Inn Tower and Café (1936), which was used as a model for Ramone’s House of Body Art in Pixar’s movie Cars:
And this original street light that was in the middle of an intersection at some point:
More of Shamrock to come!
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We drove from Shamrock, TX to Tucumcari, NM today. We made a few stops along the way to sightsee.
We stopped in the tiny town of Alanreed, TX and visited the Alanreed Travel Center and then saw another original Route 66 gas station (1930).
We stopped to see the VW Slug Bug Ranch art installation and then off to Amarillo where we visited the Big Texan Steak Ranch, home if the free 72-ounce steak (if you can eat it in an hour).
We also saw Big Tex Randall, a 47-foot-tall statue from 1959, the Ozymandias Legs (James for the Shelley poem), and the famous Cadillac Ranch where we tagged the cars with spray paint (spray paint cans were scattered all over there). I spray painted “Texas Yowler,” which is Basie’s new nickname, and Micah painted “D+M.”
We then got to the Route 66 halfway point in Adrian, TX and stopped at the Midway Café. We also looked at the old and now-closed Bent Door Café (built in 1947 and constructed out of an airport control tower).
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We drove from Tucumcari, NM to Holbrook, AZ today (about a 5.5-hour drive). The cats are starting to get more used to driving. The landscape has been changing, and there was vast amounts of empty land.
We briefly stopped in Albuquerque to view the “Auto Hawk” art installation made from car doors. We also stopped at an old, working gas station that still uses vintage gas pumps.
We are staying in Holbrook for two nights, so more pictures to come!
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Yesterday, we drove to Winslow, AZ to visit Standin’ on the Corner Park (from the Eagles “Take It Easy” song) and everything is “take it easy” in Winslow, including the WiFi passwords.
We also stopped at the Jack Rabbit Trading Post (one of the original Route 66 stops). I read there was a large, fiberglass jackrabbit you can ride. I thought it would be like a mechanical bull, but it was just one you could sit atop. Still fun. We drove to Flagstaff, AZ where we will stay for two nights and see the Grand Canyon.
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Viewed the East Rim of the Grand Canyon today. Climbed to the top of the Desert Watchtower. Beautiful day!
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Approaching CA border and taking precaution for Esther just in case
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Almost to San Bernardino, which means our last, long leg of the trip is done (took us 6.5 hours from Flagstaff). Lots of beautiful mountains in this area. Also traffic.
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Made it to the super cute Wigwam Motel in San Bernardino today! Definitely my favorite place we’ve stayed as well as Shameock, TX. Tomorrow we move in to our Airbnb in Los Angeles!
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We’re leaving this adorable wallpaper and lamp and headed to Los Angeles!
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