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Today we visited some Route 66 sites I photographed earlier this year during my "40 to Phoenix" motorcycle ride. You can read more details about some of these places in that blog
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Showing Laurie some more Route 66 places I visited on my "40 to Phoenix" motorcycle ride back in the spring. You can read more about some of these places by reading my "40 to Phoenix" blog
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We hate getting into crowds so I thought driving to the top of Sandia Crest at 10,600 feet would be a great place to view the morning ascension of the balloons while skipping the crowds. We were on the road before 5:00AM local time to reach the mountain top before the 7:00AM ascension. The view was great and we watched the sun rise with clouds below us in the valleys.
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We were on the road before sunrise again heading toward Pie Town. I took this route on my 40 to Phoenix motorcycle ride back in the spring and wanted to share it with Laurie. The first stop was the Very Large Array (VLA). The radio antennas are cool and the views are very nice. The air was clear and crisp unlike what we would run into the next day.
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A continental breakfast was included in the campground fee so we had coffee, juice and bagels before we left. Old Route 66 leaves I-40 near Seligman and loops north of I-40 through here to Peach Springs then back down to reconnect with I-40 at Kingman. I've read that Peach Springs was the inspiration for Radiator Springs in the movie Cars. We stopped to photograph a couple of abandoned motels on old Route 66 west of Peach Springs.
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We had high hopes for Death Valley. We planned to stay 2 days and 3 nights in the middle of the park at Stovepipe Wells. We were going to ride Ruby in the mid 80 ° weather that was forecasted and get some great sunrise and sunset shots. The fires in California cancelled our plans. I have been to Death Valley several times and the air has always been very clear. When we arrived the smoke was so thick there was not much to see. I did not take a single photo.
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We had a very nice visit with Cousin Judy. The sky gets dark at night in Smith Valley, NV. Judy and I got some photos of the Milky Way. The photo above is my best attempt. The vertical haze in the photo is the Milky Way. We can't see that from Raleigh, NC.
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Today was all about getting to Crater Lake. We could see the snow capped mountains long before we got to the lake. The weather was perfect and the scenery made up for the sights we missed in Death Valley because of the smoke. I was here when I was 24 years old and it still looks the same.
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Today we headed for the Pacific Coast and actually got a campsite on the beach at Tillicum Beach not long after lunch. On the way to the beach we hit another wonderful roadside cafe in Elkton called Arlene's Cafe. The breakfast was great. The owners were from Murphy, NC.
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Today we continued up the Pacific Coast and ended the day at Laurie's friends home in Washougal, WA. They were the perfect hosts and had wine waiting for us. The next day Kathy treated us to the Pompeii exhibit in Portland which we loved. That afternoon Laurie and Kathy caught up while baking cookies while I took a nap.
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This morning we said goodbye to Kathy and Gary and headed to Olympic National Park. After a couple of hours on the road we stopped for a quick break at a rest area and went into the camper. I said to Laurie as a joke that I would like to have 2 eggs scrambled, bacon and toast. She grabbed her skillet and in a few minutes I had a very nice breakfast in a rest area someplace in Washington. We love traveling in a camper with all the comforts of home.
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As I said yesterday I was bummed that I did not get to drive to Hurricane Ridge in the Olympic National Park to see the snow capped mountains. But we could see some of them from the WalMart where we camped last night. We will just add Hurricane Ridge to our list of places to return to sometime (when I retire). I did not want to drive south and then north again through Seattle to get to the Cascades so we took the Port Townsend ferry to Coupeville. I had called the day before to make reservations. An 18 wheeler pulled in behind me on the ferry. It was a fun ride of about 30 minutes.
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Last night we stayed in a WalMart in Butte, Montana. We stayed in this same WalMart in 2012 during our last big trip with Tucker. It had a very nice view of the snow capped mountains. We were able to hit Hardee's (one of my favorite biscuit places) this morning and they had the loaded omelet biscuit which is no longer available in NC. Oh, it was good.
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Today we went back to Yellowstone under clear skies and moderate temperatures with no crowds. We spotted a wolf walking down the road like he owned it and late in the day we saw a moose. A couple of the roads in Yellowstone were closed because of snow so we could not make the traditional circle loop around the park.
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Laurie had never been to Mount Rushmore so we took US 16A through a couple of tunnels with grand views of Mount Rushmore. With no crowds this time of year we had no problems getting in and parking. Mount Rushmore was nice but we really enjoyed the Crazy Horse Memorial and spent several hours there. They have a very extensive museum.
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This day was going ok until we discovered that both rear tires on our RV had severe wear on the inside. That could only mean the rear axle was bent. I check the suspension often when we are traveling and I had noticed no problem the last time I checked. I did not know if the tire wear happened slowly and therefore we could limp home or if the problem happened in the last day or so and hence we would not make it home. The left rear tire had worn off all the tread on the inside third of the tire.
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