November 22-23, 2009 --- Ghost Towns along Route 66
Sunday morning we took a run up to Oatman, Arizona. The 25 mile road was quite narrow, steep and twisty, we were glad we left the MoHo behind and gave the Prius a good run This is a two block long vintage mining town, big on the Ass Theme. Many donkeys roam the area; we saw a momma donkey and her two new babies up on a near-by hill. We had breakfast at the 1902 Oatman Hotel, the location of Clarke Gable and Carol Lombard’s honeymoon in 1939. The décor of the old restaurant/bar was highlighted by the $65,000 of single dollar bills that are stapled all over the walls, and ceiling. We added our touch, along the bottom step leading from the bar into the restaurant. We joined back up with our home on wheels and headed west across more of the Mojave Desert and on to California. We stopped for the night in Barstow.
Monday was another Ghost Town tour; we spent our morning touring the old Calico Silver Mine Town. This had been owned by Walter Knott, of the Knott’s Berry Farm fame, until early in the 1960’s. Mike remembers coming here when we was a kid about that time. We also visited it back in the early 1970’s, camping in our old VW Van. A fun re-visit, beautiful weather, and only a few others doing the same. This marks about the end of our sight-seeing on this wonderful trip. Tomorrow we head west toward family and Thanksgiving Celebration in Long Beach, CA.

November 18-21, 2009 Route 66 West Trek continues….
Wednesday and Thursday we took it easy in our camp in Albuquerque. We were in a holding pattern, while the little green Prius got her treatment at the local Toyota Dealership. Too many $$$$ later she is a new “gal”, our wallets are a bit lighter, but we are ready to get back on the road. We have been off the trip itinerary for over a week now and are itching to re-start the trip.
Friday morning bright and early we left Albuquerque and headed towards the last part of New Mexico seeing Gallup and the sights of the beautiful old El Rancho Hotel. We stopped for coffee and a mid morning donut at the Eagle Café, a family run diner on Main Street, a sort of “down and out” town, but everyone was very friendly. The road heading toward Arizona was heralded by an area of beautiful red rocks, a nice contrast to landscape of sand and sage we had been seeing for many miles. We made camp mid-afternoon in Meteor Crater just east of Windslow, Arizona (famous for the Eagles song). We made a mad dash up the hill to catch the last tour of the day of the Crater ---- wow it was quite a hole that was made some 50,000 years ago, can only imagine the “BOOM” it must of made. This crater is some 550 feet deep and about ¾ of mile across. We took a hike out along the rim, with a very informative tour guide who explained the difference between volcanic craters and the meteoric craters. The old folks continue to learn new things every day. This location continues to provide NASA Astronauts with a realistic training sight and a great film location as well.
Saturday we drove through Flagstaff and onto a fun stop in Williams Arizona. Williams is where the train can take you to the Grand Canyon, think this could be a fun trip to take some time. A few more miles down the road we stopped in Seligman for lunch, what a “Kitchy” town—Route 66 is the theme. We ate lunch at the famous Sno-Cap drive-in. The owner/wait guy was a real “wise guy” Every possible joke and pun were in his repartee as he took our order. This was our choice over the other tourist dive the Road Kill Café. We went a few more miles to Kingman for our night’s stay.

November 10-17, 2009 – a short break from our safari
Tuesday morning, November 10th, we flew home to Ashland from Albuquerque, New Mexico. It was a sad trip, Mike’s mom had died the night before and we didn’t get to say good bye. We knew at the onset of planning this adventure that this might happen, but none the less it was difficult to deal with. We took the week to make the necessary arrangements, make plans, deal with paper work and gather up loose ends. Mike was able to spend some quality time with his brothers Steve and Chuck, to remember their mom. The family will be together for the holidays this year and we will set some time aside to remember the senior Wraights and what they meant to our families.
Monday, November 16th we flew back to Albuquerque – long day, but we were glad to get back to the MoHo and restart our adventure
Tuesday morning we bailed the “Boys” out of their kennel and discovered that our “Towed”, the Prius was ailing and in need of some TLC. A visit to the local Toyota shop revealed her in need of a new fuel pump, water pump and some work on the hybrid system. Not good news. We know that she has 93,000+ miles on her, with over 3,000 we have put on in this trip, and we have had to do little to no work on her, BUT the timing could have been better. Oh well with our familiar mantra “it is only money” we left her for the needed repairs and went to rest up at the campground in Albuquerque. Hopefully we will be back on the road in a day or two. Our plans are still to be in So. Cal. for Thanksgiving. Stay tuned for next installment: “Will they make Turkey Day?”

November 7-9, 2009 -- Route 66 the adventure continues through Oklahoma, Texas, and into New Mexico
Sunday morning we drove through Tulsa, Oklahoma enjoying the sights, sounds and eats along Route 66. We arrived in Oklahoma City mid afternoon and went into town to have a look around. We made our way to the Oklahoma City National Memorial - an incredible place of remembrance of the bombing of the Federal Building; April 19 1995. We spent quite a bit of time walking around the grounds, absorbing the events that must have occurred there; the reflection pond, the walls that mark the boarders of the bombed facility, and the 168 chairs that sit looking over it all. We both think that this was one of the most moving sights we have visited on our trip. From this solemnity we walked around through some of the downtown, enjoying the sights of the old and new buildings intermingled between each other. Dinner was in an area called Brickstown, old brick buildings that once were factories and warehouses have been retrofitted to be a fun and active dining and entertainment area. We ate some more good southern cooking – barbequed brisket, pork, ribs….. What a feast.
Monday morning we left OKC (Oklahoma City) could definitely have spent more time there. We continued west, stopping in Arcadia to see a 100+ year old round barn, which has survived many tornados, due the design. The afternoon was spent traveling to and going through the Route 66 Museum in Clinton, OK. We enjoyed the displays – rooms with themes for each decade since the 1920’s. Each decade featured a sound track, vehicles and many collectibles of the time. The MoHo then motored on into Texas. We stopped for the night in Mclean – quite a stop to remember, rural and nothing to see or do. Oh ya, it is Texas

November 4-6, 2009 -- Heading West Along Route 66
Wednesday morning was our day in St. Louis Missouri, a return visit for Mike and I after visiting there 41 years ago as part of our tour with the Kingsmen. We remembered walking around the block from the Greyhound Bus Station where the corps busses were getting worked on, and seeing the amazing Arch that had just been finished in June ‘08. Today was “SPECTACULAR”. The weather was perfect, sunny and warm and the stainless steel arch sparkled from top to bottom. We walked through a park to the base of it, such an incredible view. The official name for this land mark is the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial established to celebrate the roll that St. Louis and the Mississippi River played in the westward movement. The ride to the top of the 635 foot span was an experience in itself. You ride in these small little pods that zip up the arch much like a basket on a Ferris wheel. The view from the top was fantastic, the windows are quite small, but the town down below was quite a vision. We were able to see the Mississippi River, Illinois, Busch Stadium where the Cardinals play, the Rams’ Football stadium, and much of the varied architecture of the old and new down town. From the arch we walked a couple of blocks to the St. Louis County Court House, what a beautiful classically styled building. This was the location where the initial Dred Scott Trial (he was slave who believed he should be freed) was held and where he and his wife finally received their freedom some 11 years later. We enjoyed a great lunch at a local eatery named Calicos, and followed the day up with Ted Drew’s Frozen Custard—they call it concrete because it is so thick. Pretty darn yummy!
Thursday saw the MoHo and the 4 of us heading west through some of the Ozark Mountain Region and along the Historical Route 66. It is really quite a challenge to actually drive for any length of time along the famed road. We spent the day going back and forth from US Hwy 44 to the “66” and back again. After we left St. Louis we headed to the Merrimac Caverns where we took a nice tour of the caves. They had some amazing geological structures in this big ol’ limestone hole in the ground. The most beautiful area was the “Theater Room” Where the stalactites looked much like theater drapes, with the addition of lighting and music it was quite a show. From there we drove through the town of Cuba, seeing their interesting colorful murals on many building this small town. With a few more stops to enjoy the Route 66 feel, we stopped for the night in Marshfield, MO.

November 1-3, 2009 More roads through Kentucky all the way to Missouri
Sunday- We left the Bourbon Trail area after 3 wonderful days and continued east toward the Mammoth Caves. Leaving Louisville, and the rolling hill horse country we stopped and visited a National Historic Site – the birthplace of Abraham Lincoln. One generally thinks of Illinois as the place of Abe’s birth, but he was born on February 12, 1809 on the Sinking Spring Farm near what is now Hodgenville, Kentucky. There has been built quite a remarkable replica of the Lincoln Memorial that holds a replica of the Lincoln Cabin. From Hodgenville we headed to Cave City where we set up camp and headed to the Mammoth Caves. There are over 365 surveyed miles of passageways. The Ranger that led our tour thinks that there could be more than 1000 miles. We went on two tours, the 1st being the Frozen Niagara tour – it was area in caves with quite a few stalactites and stalagmites, flow stones and what we think of when we tour caves. There was one wall that really looked like what Niagara Falls might look like when frozen over. Our next tour was the Mammoth Passage , about ¼ of a mile into this huge limestone cavern. No stalactites or stalagmites but still pretty impressive none the less. We enjoy touring caves, and plan on visiting some more in Missouri.
Monday we continued west through more of Kentucky, our itinerary was to reach the area known as the Land Between the Lakes, but the navigation system, both Karen and the GPS were not very dependable and we somehow missed the turn off and ended up miles away from our intended destination. We were tired and decided not to back track and stopped for the night in a small burg called Murray Kentucky. The evening was pleasant, we had a nice campfire, barbequed burgers and made s’mores -- real enjoyable camping evening.
Tuesday we woke early, the change off Day Light Savings Time and moving from the Eastern Time Zone to Central has messed with our sleeping patterns. We continued the eastward push, finally leaving Kentucky, briefly crossing into Illinois, crossing the mighty Mississippi River that showed some signs of flooding from the recent rains, and finally into the state of Missouri. We headed north aiming for St. Louis and the beginning of our tour west on historic Route 66. We made camp in Eureka, MO about ½ hour out of St. Louis.