I certainly hope that I am not the bringer of doom and
destruction. Somehow, each time we take
a road trip we manage to visit places that soon find themselves in peril. Example, for the most recent trip, Missouri
experiencing massive flood, while Texas is hit with tornadoes. The last trip we took the bad weather was
just a step behind us, this time we managed to stay ahead of the curve as
well.
After spending a night in Kansas City and visiting two
states within a matter of minutes we head south to Lebanon, Missouri.
Kansas City is right on the border between
Kansas and Missouri.
As you drive
through Kansas you enter and leave both states more than once.
We made it to Lebanon and the next day spent
the majority of the afternoon with my cousin and her family.
We had a great time finding her place outside
of Falcon, Missouri and thoroughly enjoyed our visit with her and her family.
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| Mia and I with cousin Dorothy, her son and grandson. |
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| Their homestead is amazing |
The next day we moved on, heading further south with our
destination, New Orleans.
Our route took
us through Arkansas, Mississippi and Louisiana.
We ended up spending several nights in
downtown New Orleans.
Our hotel was
within walking distance of the French Quarter as well as an easy trolley ride
to other destinations.
In New Orleans,
businesses are shut not closed.
While we enjoyed New Orleans but I think we both agree that we
were there and we really don’t have any further need to go back. We aren’t the party type folks who tend to
frequent the city. While everyone was
friendly, there is something that just doesn’t seem right. I never could put my finger on it. Several of the folks we talked too, still
bring up the flooding of the city, as though they still expect it to happen
again.
We moved from New Orleans, west to Houston, Texas.
We spent a couple of days in Houston and
went to the Houston Space Center, which we both enjoyed.
I said in an earlier blog that looking at all
we have accomplished in space; I wonder why we can’t do more here on earth.
After Houston, we had one thing left on the agenda. I wanted to visit a friend in Kingman,
Arizona and after doing some research I found out that the longest remaining
section of Old Route 66 goes from Seligman, Arizona to Kingman. So, we stayed in Seligman and went to Kingman
via Old Route 66. Since the road has
been preserved it isn’t a bad ride. They
have even install Burma Shave ads along the highway just outside of
Seligman. From Kingman, we started our
trip home.
This trip started out with catching up with family while
doing a little research into the history of the family and where we came
from. Many of my cousins, on my dad’s
side of the family, share an interest in the same thing. Originally we had intended to go to Chattanooga,
Tennessee but after discussing the weather issues and the distance traveled, we
chose to forgo that trip this time around.
As it is, the car is right at service time again.
I have to say, overall, that I do enjoy road trips. When we had the RV, it was nice to have
clothes, food and bed in one place.
Setting up and taking down the RV was a bit of a pain as you
travel. With going from motel to motel,
living out of a suit case there are issues as well. Packing and unpacking the car each time you
stop to name one. But, overall, I think motel
to motel is much easier than campground to campground. You always have clean towels and bedding, the
rooms are, for the most part, clean, you still have a private bathroom and
there is free breakfast most everywhere you go.
Some of the breakfast’s suck, while others are full of all kinds of good
stuff.
Both Mia and I managed to lose a couple of pounds during our
trip. After talking with one of our
cousins we have decided to change our eating habits and cut down to two meals a
day. Breakfast and a big meal around
mid-day and some health snacks later in the afternoon.
Our Subaru Forester performed impeccably.
I had it serviced before we left, checked the
oil often and didn’t have a stitch of a problem with it mechanically.
On long drives, the Forester seating isn’t
exactly comfortable for my 6’4” frame but I made do.
Unfortunately, it is in bad need of a detail
since the back roads in North Dakota did a job on the interior with the fine
dust that is common in farming areas and the bugs, some very large, committed
bugicide on every front facing surface.
I suspect there will be a lot of elbow grease required to clean it up.
One final thought.
We
decided to stick pretty close to a couple of hotel/motel chains during our
trip.
One primary reason was the fact
that many of the locations within the chains are dog friendly with a slight
extra charge.
The charge isn’t uniform
form state to state and some of the places didn’t even charge the fee or chose
to charge less.
We were very happy with
our stays and the Choice Hotel group as well as La Quinta inns.
Both provide rewards programs that allow you
to use points for free night stays.
We
used a couple during our trip.
As I said above, the hotel/motels were clean and usually
priced under one hundred dollars. It
depends on where you are as to the amount being charged. Rooms are comfortable with all the amenities
you would expect to find at home. WiFi
is not generally protected so I suggest bringing your own hotspot. Reservations are easy online and at most
there was very little time required to check in. Check out was easy as most just slipped the
bill under the door at night. We stayed
and Sleep Inn, Comfort Inn, Quality Inn and EconoLodge within the Choice group
and with the exception of the one stop at the EconoLodge we would recommend
Choice group. We would also recommend
the La Quinta Inns as well, however, you should expect to pay a little more for
your stay with this chain.
That is all for this trip. Off to work on the family tree with some new information while I await further information (I hope) from the Dunn Center Historical Society.
Hope all is well.
