28 October

San Diego, CA

Being this close to Mexico was just too much of a temptation. The City of San Diego has a great Light Rail/Trolley system that runs all the way to the Mexican border for the princely sum of $2.50. What else could we do?

Mexico, or at least this little corner of it, has the immediate feel of a booming third world economy, although the third world tag may not be relevant any longer for Mexico. It is a rapidly growing country with strong trade relations with the US. Still, the streets of the old city part of Tijuana have the unmistakeable third world feel. Dusty, more than a little shabby and, in the case of the tourist strip in Tijuana – major tacky! However, just a stroll away, in the newer part of town, shopping malls, flash new commercial buildings and clean, garden-lined streets predominate.

Beat-up old pickups ply the streets alongside Mercs and Lexus sedans. Street touts and be-suited business men and women share the sidewalks. Development with a capital 'D' is in full swing.

Despite all the vibrant feel of this small experience of Mexico , as we walked back to the border crossing, the dust blew in from the desert, the traffic at the vehicle crossings was beseiged by touts selling everything from prescription drugs to plastic chooks. “Illegals” (wet-backs) waited in the shadows for their chance at a new life just metres away over the US border. Amidst the noise and bustle, we were instantly transported back to the chaos of the Moroccan border crossing at Ceuta.

Where the First World meets the Third!

27 October

San Diego, CA

Route 66 was our 'mission' in coming to the US this time. We've had a few side trips and distractions along the way, but yesterday we finished the 2400 mile trip from Chicago to LA with a long hard haul through more than 140km of LA 'burbs from San Bernardino to the official end of old Route 66 at the corner of Olympic and Lincoln in Santa Monica. Not much of a spot this 'real end' of Old 66! A bit sad really. The more popular way to end the trip is at the corner of Santa Monica Blvd and Ocean Ave, near the Santa Monica Pier. So we did that too.

The trip from East to West across LA 'overland' (not on freeways) is an experience in itself. Not as difficult a drive as one might imagine, just a slow, 4 hour slog through hundreds of traffic lights, it was a bit like driving from the Valley in Brisbane to Chermside along Gympie Road, for 140kms. Or, for Sydney folk, imagine the same distance along the inner city parts of Paramatta Road!

With a few hours left in the day, we decided to head off towards San Diego, to visit the Wild Animal Park at Escondido - freeways this time and altogether another thing, with seven or eight lanes, packed with traffic, moving at anything from 0 kph to 140 kph! Given that we drove out from LAX north to Sacramento on our arrival, we have now traversed LA from East to West and North to South. Betcha not too many people can say that!

Tonight, we are in a dodgy area of inner San Diego just under the enormous bridge that spans the harbour. We began out day at the Wild Animal Park, a most worthwhile experience, like Dubbo, except we were able to get a bit closer to the animals by taking the guided “train” tour through the Park. Having ticked that, we arrived early afternoon in San Diego, so walked into the city, through an area occupied by homeless people. After a tour of the USS Midway (Aircraft Carrier) and a stroll through the Gaslamp area of Downtown, (Woo! Hoo! – an alive Downtown!) we ran the gauntlet of the rapidly darkening streets and the homeless, who now were setting up their tents, to reach the relative safety of our motel.....

25 October

San Bernardino, CA

On the home stretch!

Tonight we are in a very different motel in San Bernardino, California - really an eastern suburb of LA. It is different because we are in a Teepee – yes - a teepee-shaped room in the Wigwam Motel, a Route 66 icon since 1949. So cool!

Lake Havasu City to LA along old 66 is, sadly, a bit like driving through a 200km long, desert rubbish dump. As the 'burbs' of LA loom in the distance, the highway-side environment becomes littered with wrecked cars, burnt-out shops and the ubiquitous trailer parks that are home to the enormous number of 'working poor'. These are people who will never lounge on their flash speedboats on the edge of Lake Havasu like the hundreds of well-heeled sun seekers we saw yesterday afternoon.

To be frank, if John Steinbeck's Joad family from “The Grapes of Wrath” saw what the edge of the Promised Land of California looks like today, they and hundreds of thousands of Depression dust-bowl migrants would have turned back and taken their chances back home.

24 October

Lake Havasu City AZ

“What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas” is a quote attributed to the 'Rat Pack' - Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jnr. and Joey Bishop. We saw them at the Plaza in Downtown Las Vegas (or four guys who sounded and looked like them). A great show. Beyond that, we won a few and lost more than a few... that's what Vegas is all about.

We back-tracked a bit today to pick up some of Route 66 that we missed as a result of our detour to the Grand Canyon etc. As it turned out, we had seen this part of the Mother Road on a previous US trip, but it was still an interesting drive.

London Bridge is what drew us to Lake Havasu. You know, the one that was 'falling down' in the nursery rhyme. Some crazy, with more money than sense, packed it on a ship and hauled it all the way to the Arizona desert. It cost more to haul it and re-assemble it than it did to buy it! What the hell? It looks great here - probably better than it did in London.

We are almost back in LA, our starting point. On arrival, our first task was to purchase a new GPS system. Our old 'Navgirl' – read Navman - was getting a bit long in the tooth (in tech years!) and the price on these things is just crazy cheap in the US compared with Australia. 'Tomasina', our new TomTom GPS, has been great, BUT, every now and then she comes out with some show-stoppers. Our day was going well today until 'she' prophetically informed us, that ...

“You can not avoid your final destination”.

That threw a grey cloud over our day!!

21 October

Las Vegas, Nevada

The fact that we are in Vegas cannot be blamed for the few days' gap in the Blog. We will probably blame Vegas for any future gap?

The gap is simply explained by the fact that the desert, mountain and canyon landscapes of New Mexico, Colorado, Utah and Nevada defy description. Our 'short' deviation from Route 66 has been full of 'Omigod!' moments at almost every turn. Mesa Verde, Arches, Bryce Canyon and Zion National Parks are relatively close together, but their landscapes are vastly different.

Mesa Verde is essentially a cultural experience. Its eroded canyon walls were occupied by Indians as far back as the 13^th century, when nomadic Utes began to farm the Mesa top. The ruins of the stone villages they created beneath the Mesa remain today, some fairly well-preserved, as they were abandoned in a still not understood exodus about 1370. Once they abandoned the villages the Utes never returned. When they were discovered by ranchers in the latter part of the 19^th Century, the Utes still lived on the plains near the Mesa, but they avoided the cliff villages, believing there were evil spirits on the mountain.

As the name implies, the main attractions in Arches NP are … the arches. Hundreds of spectacular arches have been carved out of the soft sandstone by wind and rain. The best known of these is Delicate Arch which appears on the number plates of all vehicles in Utah. Despite the long, 6 km plus, steep climb to the arch, this is a very popular hike. Hundreds of people trudged, wandered and struggled up the rough trail that is mostly marked only by rock cairns and includes narrow, cliff-side paths (with no guard-rails – no nanny-state here!). Some of these people are extremely adventurous. Or just plain crazy. We passed numerous young couples with small children in “kid-packs”. We had to push fairly hard to make the climb, particularly as we were unaccustomed to the thin air at 8000 ft. We could only sympathise with these young parents who were carrying an extra 6 – 15 kg dead weight!

Bryce Canyon was first discovered by the Paiutes whose legends describe the multi-coloured pillars that guard the canyon walls as Hoodoo - evil animals, that could take human form and were turned to stone by the Coyote God.

At Zion, we encountered the first bad weather we'd had for many weeks. A morning storm covered the ground near our motel in small hail that gave a wintery feel to what became, in fact, quite a warm day. Rain persisted on and off, so we had to limit our hike to one small expedition up a steep cliff side to the Emerald Pools. As it turned out, the pools themselves weren't that spectacular, but the views from the cliff side were well worth the climb.

On reflection, the gap in the Blog may well have been down to the fact that we were just a little weary!

BUT this is Vegas and we are at full throttle again!

17 October

Moab, Utah

Probably not well known outside this part of the USA, the small town of Moab was jumpin' as we cruised into town this afternoon. Seems there is some sort of bike riding event on. Most of the dozens of motels in town were full, so we've had to pay big time to spend the night here.

As boring as it may be to discuss the weather, one must comment on “Fall” in Utah and Colorado. The colours are just glorious. Even though the reds are mostly missing in this part of the country, the yellows are staggering, ranging from citrus to gold and a brilliant contrast to the evergreens. (See Facebook pics for further evidence of our love affair with the trees of “Fall”). While cool in the mornings, around 0 C, by mid-morning it's warm and, with the deep blue skies and clear air, the days are just fantastic. The good visibility is also important for the other big event this weekend - the opening of the hunting season for elk, deer and a staggering array of other critters.

Hunting seems to have almost the same status as the constitutional right to bear arms! The 'good ole boys' are free to take to the beautiful Utah and Colorado hills, armed to the teeth in pursuit of the elk and deer mentioned already as well as, moose, mountain sheep, bear, pigeon, grouse, partridge, prairie chickens, crane, rail teal, and crow. Yes, even the annoying crows have to take particular care as they peck at road kill. They could be next!

Things are not all the hunters' way though. They had better be well-heeled if they want to hunt big game like bear or elk. The permits for these cost more than $500. More rare game like mountain goats, moose and bighorn sheep will set the gun-happy back around $1800. Plains turkeys, on the other hand, are a bargain at $21 - a bargain but not much of a challenge.

We saw a few elk yesterday. They seemed blissfully unaware of the fate that was about to befall them! Or maybe they were just teasing the hunters by showing themselves before they hid away for “The Season”!

16 October

Durango, Colorado

John Steinbeck wrote an essay some time in the 1940's called “America and Americans”. One day we'll buy it and compare views. On the whole, Americans at home, particularly away from big cities, are just fantastic - friendly, welcoming and extremely polite. Today, this notion was seriously tested as we took the Durango to Silverton Railroad day trip.

Those who know us will be aware of our strong aversion to group tours, cruises and the like. Even a day trip like this, confined with 'others' and on a schedule out of our control was bound to be a bit of a test of our patience. AND it was.

The trip was fantastic with the Colorado mountain scenery that inspired John Denver, an historic old railway, a steam train and an old mining town. What more could we ask? Answer. A lot fewer loud Red Necks.

Why are the noisy people on any trip like this seated near us? For almost 7 hours we silently, with gritted teeth, put up with constant LOUD comment on everything from river water to President Obama. To be fair we suffered in the company of 30-40 other Americans who just grinned and bore it.

Long live independent travel!

14 October

Blanding, Utah

With a bit of time up our sleeves, we decided a couple of days ago to take a bit of a detour. Tonight, we are just outside the Navajo Nation which covers three states and is bigger than 10 of the states of the USA. The Navajo Reservation is mostly desert, but what a desert!

The Grand Canyon is probably one of the “wow!” locations on the planet. This was our second visit and it was still “WOW”. Words cannot describe it and the photographs that we are able to take cannot do it justice. Even professional pics you see of the Grand Canyon cannot convey the absolute awe this geological phenomenon inspires. Last time we were here, it had snowed and was more than a little cool. Yesterday was a beautiful, clear day and fairly hot, so the crowds were a bit of a shock to us. Parking was a problem and so, after circling the carpark, like vultures, four times, we scored a spot, then walked about 4 kms of the canyon rim before catching the free shuttle bus back.

Driving through the reservation areas is a bit of an eye opener! The towns are much like small outback Australian towns - a petrol station or two, lots of dirt streets and little else. The Native American settlements are very poor. Set in open, desert landscapes, they are less than attractive.

On the upside, the Native American tribes here, the Hopi and the Navajo, manage their own affairs very much as a state within a state, their independence being something they treasure.

Monument Valley in southern Utah was another 'WOW' event. As kids, we called this Mesa landscape 'Road Runner territory'. On a clear, sunny day, the desert demanded photos! Between us we took almost 100 shots!

Our 'little' detour will continue over the next week or so before we return to Route 66. It's a bit like driving from Brisbane to Sydney via Longreach, but what the... we will see some new sights and .. oh yes, hit Vegas again!

12 October

Flagstaff, AZ

Another couple of side trips to off-66 sites slowed our progress to just over 100 kms today. Side trips to Meteor Crater Park near Winslow and the Slide Rock and Red Rock State Parks near Sedona again overwhelmed us with the beauty of the desert landscapes of the USA. We took so many photos they could easily be woven into a video!

Flagstaff, our home for the night, is a small mountain city. We have been here before, but much later in the year. It was warm (very) during the day but, as soon as the sun disappears, the altitude and the lateness of the season pull the temperature down to close to freezing – but in our motel room we are isolated from all of that!

And, no, we didn't forget Winona! (Check the “Route '66” song!) But we could easily have done so – not much there – it sort of forgot itself!

Speaking of motels... it is probably about time we wrote a little about US Motels.

Tonight's domicile is probably a good place to start. This is a Knights Inn, one of the smaller chain motels that dominate the US accommodation market. The basic rule of thumb with motels is – you guessed it – you get what you pay for. This Knights Inn is costing us about $50 AU per night. For that, we get a clean room, cable TV with 50+ channels, free Internet, in-room coffee machine, a queen bed, hairdryer, air-conditioning and a spotless bathroom. Breakfast in the morning is free but it is likely to be coffee, a range of donuts and bagels and a choice of two sugary cereals.

This is one of our cheapest nights. More upscale chain motels like Hampton Inns or Comfort Inns here in Flagstaff would probably set us back $80+ AU. The rooms would be bigger, with a king bed or two queens. There might be a fridge and microwave. The lobby would be far nicer and the front desk service staff would wear suits rather than T-shirts.

Our most popular chains, Motel 6, Super 8, Days Inn and Travelodge are generally priced between $50 - $60 per night. On a good night, they might have all the services of the upper range motels, excluding the suits! The difference is usually all about location. The Budget range motels are usually near the Interstate and the railway line! The flash motels are closer to town.

A few times to date, we have tried the “mom and pop”, privately owned motels, which have been pretty much on a par with the others. What usually directs us, however, are the coupons in the magazines that we pick up on state lines which offer great savings on rack rates.

We haven't even mentioned the Very Top of the line, Hiltons and Ramadas. Their prices are well beyond the wallets of long term travellers like us. We just don't see the point of paying for super-flash lobbies, cool-suited staff and rooms that are generally only marginally better-appointed than the budget chains. These joints will cost $200+ and then all the tips and valet parking traps that go with the “High Life”.

One last tip. In Vegas, you can have all that the Hilton offers and more for $50 per night! Just stay away from the Casino floor!

10 October

Winslow, Arizona

To standing on a particular corner in Winslow Arizona is why most people doing Route 66 stop here. The 1970s Eagles' classic is immortalised in this fairly sad strip motel town with a small monument, a mural of “the girl in the flat-bed Ford” and “Take it Easy' blaring out most of the day and night.

Over the past couple of days, we have had a fair degree of exposure to American Indian culture, both ancient and modern. In New Mexico we visited a Cultural Heritage museum in Albuquerque and enjoyed a native dance show. A little repetitive, but interesting all the same. Our exposure to modern Indian culture was in one of our favourite locations in the US – a WalMart in Gallup, New Mexico. It was Saturday afternoon and the place was packed! Packed with dark-haired dark-skinned Zuni Indians from the largest Pueblo in New Mexico. It was really strange to be among the VERY few non-Indians in the place.

Just over the state border in Arizona, we headed off Route 66 to visit Painted Desert and Petrified Forest National Parks. Every time we visit one of the US National Parks, we find another scenic gem. These parks were no exception – desert scenery at its best on a sunny – even - hot! day. It was also windy most of the day so Paul's face is as scarlet as the shirt he wore today!

8 October

Santa Fe, New Mexico

Pecos Indians (as they are known today) were a nomadic people who roamed the area of northern New Mexico (as we know it) over 1200 years ago. About 1000 years ago, they gradually developed a farming culture and settled in the Pecos River valley. In the early 17^th century, Spanish Conquistadors rode into the Pecos Indian Pueblo. By this time the natives had evolved a complex society and system of belief. Their town was a fortified adobe structure of four and five storey buildings.

By the time the Spanish arrived, the Pecos Indians had been trading and warring with their Great Plains neighbours, the Comanche, for several hundred years.

With the Spanish came the missionaries and their religion. Change was inevitable, rapid and not always welcome. In 1688, the Pueblo Indians all over northern New Mexico revolted and drove the Spanish out. But not for long. Within 3 years, the Spanish had returned to control their empire for another 200 years.

White settlers and traders arrived in the area around 1821 as the Santa Fe trail brought land-hungry Americans into conflict with the Spanish colonialists who were at the very outer limits of the Spanish Empire. By this time the Pueblo was a virtual ghost town. In 1838, the last family left the settlement that had survived for more than 800 years.

As we found when we visited, not much is left, but the extent and sophistication of the settlement is still evident.

Today, we travelled north to Taos Pueblo, an Indian community that has survived for around 1000 years. An amazing place.

All this history has a modern day parallel. The Route 66 town of Tucumcari in eastern New Mexico, has undergone a similar, though far more rapid transformation. The late 19^th century Downtown area has been dying since it was bypassed by Route 66 in the 1930s. The Motel and Gas Station strip that attracts Route 66 devotees today may survive because of the current '66 Trend'. Its 1940–50 2 km long street is dotted with closed motels and gas stations. Why? Thundering along within eye sight and ear shot of the Tucumcari Strip is the 1980s I-40.

History repeats!

Just as a point of interest, the daytime temperatures in the last couple of days have ranged from 2 to 27 degrees. Today, in the mountains, we encountered snow flurries, but by the time we we back in Santa Fe it was T-shirt weather again!

5 October

Amarillo, Texas

Bad weather has put a bit of a dampener on our past couple of days. We probably shouldn't complain. In close to two years on the road over the past 30 years, we have probably had no more than a couple of dozen rainy days. Never mind. All was well by this afternoon when the sun broke through and the temperature climbed into the high 20s.

Much of the history that surrounds Route 66 is linked to major internal migrations across the US. Two of the largest were the Dust Bowl/Depression flight from Oklahoma and Texas to California and the movement of troops and equipment to the west during World War II. Along with these, since the 1960s and 1970s millions of Americans (and others -including us!) have taken nostalgic holidays along the “Mother Road”.

Steinbeck's 'Grapes of Wrath' and the subsequent movie immortalised the 'Oakies' who made the desperate trek to California along Route 66 in the late 1920s to escape starvation during the Great Depression.

Since we left Oklahoma City, the ghosts of the 'Oakies' have been all around us- the stretches of old concrete highway and bridges they crossed, the small towns where they camped and the photos in the local museums. The countryside is vastly different now, but some of the same desperation can be seen in the back blocks of the hundreds of struggling towns that dot the old highway. Trailer Park homes are the new refuge of the poor of America. They are depressing looking places which bring to mind Steinbeck's descriptions of the transit camps of the Depression years.

Tonight, we are by the Interstate in Amarillo. This is a big cattle town. And it smells like it! The stock sales are tomorrow so the yards must be filling up and the rain has added to the fragrance. The city has no real downtown – like St Louis and Oklahoma City -and what there is is more than 50% car parks. But there is a Mega Mall out on the Interstate with prices that would rival the clothes markets in Saigon.

2-3 October

Oklahoma City

Oklahoma City “.. is mighty pretty..” so goes the line in the Route 66 song. And it sure is. But it is also deserted!

As in many other western cities, Downtown is a ghost town. Today being Saturday, it was even worse. Without a word of a lie, we could have lain down at the intersection of the two main streets with little or no risk of injury. Even the network of Interstates that ring the centre of the city were relatively free of traffic.

Domestic Terrorism came to Oklahoma City in April 1995. The Oklahoma City bombing left 168 people dead and a nation shocked. More of course was to come, but this was an enormous shock to this peaceful heartland US city. The monument that stands on the site is a moving reminder of the tragedy and its impact on the city and the country.

There is plenty of room out here in the west! Cities like this use space even more lavishly than we do in Australia. The State Capitol Park is enormous. Public buildings sprawl over a park with gardens and lawns that make it almost impossible to see one building from the next. And! The Capitol is the only one in the US with oil wells on its grounds!

Who could come to the west without visiting the largest Cowboy Museum in the world? Not us! Cowboy boots, hats, saddles, chuck wagons and a reconstructed old western town on a scale that could only be managed in the US of A had us a bit worried about the blurring of the facts and the Hollywood cowboy image. But what the... it was all good fun!

1 October

Tulsa Oklahoma

In the early 1900's the Coleman brothers were drilling for water near the town of Miami Ok. A dark tinge in a drill core turned out to be Lead. Good timing lads! World War I pushed the price of lead sky high and the then elderly brothers became extremely wealthy! Not averse to the high life, the older brother and his wife hit the high spots in New York, Chicago and even Paris! It was the age of Vaudeville and silent movies, but their small home town of Miami was a long way from New York and Paris in more ways than distance.

Miami had no theatre and definitely none that could attract the biggest acts of the time. So. Money being no barrier, Mr Coleman built the fantastic Coleman Theatre in downtown Miami. Bing Crosby, Doris Day, Bob Hope and hundreds of others played there.

Completed in 1929, the theatre was essentially a Silent Movie venue. Bad timing this time. “Talkies' were coming and silent movie houses were sent into decline. By the '50s it was all over for the old theatre. It fell into decay and the quality art works with which the wealth of the Coleman's decorated their theatre were sold off or looted from the, by now derelict, theatre.

By the 1970s the city was preparing to level the building and turn the site into a carpark. At that point a group of local citizens stepped in and won the right to restore the old theatre. Today it is back to its original glory – and what a glory. All the style and class of the 20's and 30's have been faithfully restored using many original materials and items.

We were outside taking pics when the managers walked by, on their way to opening up. They asked if we'd like to look inside. Oh, yes!we said, little realising the treat in store. An hour or more later, we'd been taken right through the magnificent theatre, including one of the pipe rooms for the organ, on-stage and into the star's dressing room, regaled along the way with the tales of the restoration process.

A real Route 66 highlight!

29-30 September

Miami, Oklahoma

More back-street USA has taken our time over the last couple of days. Driving through three states, we have seen little change in the landscape of rolling hills and meadows studded with cows. The corn that lined the road through Illinois has all but disappeared. We keep to country roads, way off the Interstates.

Small towns have become even sadder. Many small mining towns in this area are actual ghost towns. A Post Office, a few Lawyers offices, the odd antique shop and that is often it in a main street that was once lined with thriving businesses. The curse of the Interstates! About all that keeps some of them alive is the popularity of Route 66. In some towns, like Galena, Kansas, an old restored Gas Station – and gift shop – is all there is.

This is the first time we have travelled in the US (or Europe for that matter) in the late summer – fall. It is great to wander about in T-shirts and shorts (and thongs!). The trees are green, rather than sticks. And the sun has real heat in it.

26-27 September

St Louis Missouri

“It winds from Chicago to LA, more than 2000 miles all the way” - so the classic Route 66 song goes. Winding through hundreds of small communities, the original Route 66 became, literally, the main street of the USA. It simply joined up the “dots' of sealed roads that ran through each of the towns in a wide southern arc from Chicago in the north to LA on the Pacific coast.

Going up the St Louis Arch today, we met a family with a couple of kids who had taken 8 hours to drive from Chicago to St Louis. We have taken three days! On the way we have seen some of what travellers in the 1940s and 1950s would have seen. Sadly, many of the small towns along the way have suffered as the result of the Interstates that progressively replaced the single lane highway of the '30s and '40s. Dwight, Odell, Atlanta, Williamsville and many others have become almost ghost towns.

On the other hand, towns closer to bigger cities have done well. Springfield IL. is a good example. Abe Lincoln was elected from here and the great man is buried in a fittingly magnificent tomb in the city. Museums and other attractions associated with Lincoln and the Civil War attract tourists to this progressive little city. (If you ever go there, don't miss the Lincoln Museum and the “Ghost of the Library Presentation” - How do they do it!!?

Our Sunday afternoon ride into St Louis was easy and we found our downtown motel immediately. The Green Bay Packers (football) were in town to play a local St Louis team so there were plenty of people in the city. We wandered out for a late afternoon recce and came across the Gateway Arch. WOW. One of the many jaw dropping sights the US offers! You can actually ride a VERY small, 5 seat, enclosed, pod, 630ft to the top. So why not? What a view!

St Louis is a city of about 2.8 million people. But unlike most European cities of that size, it is very manageable and it is easy to drive, even in the centre of town...well, so far.

22-25 September

Chicago Illinois – Bloomington Illinois (Route 66)

Our kind of Town... Chicago!

Unusually, the weather has been less than kind to us over the past few days. Low fog and mist shrouded the spectacular Chicago skyline. We were lucky for a few hours each day as the fog lifted just long enough for us to get some idea of the scale of this, the third largest city in the US.

Judy and Marty Crowley, who we had met 7 or 8 years ago in Brisbane, put us up and showed us around their home city. Their hospitality and generosity made our short visit a wonderful experience. There is nothing like being shown around by locals!

Before we reached Chicago, we really belted out the miles. Now that we are on Old Route 66, we are taking it a little slower. Old Route 66 winds through the main streets of hundreds of small towns and cities as it snakes from Chicago to LA for over 2000 miles (3200kms). Today we made well less that 200 kms, pottering along from one retro site to another. Old diners, gas stations and more Main, Maple, State, and Elm streets than we can remember AND this is our first day!

21 September

Winterset, Madison County, Iowa

During our last trip to the US, we had a chat with a couple of fellow travellers in a bar in Atlantic City (where else?). When we told them that we planned to drive Route 66, they commented “... have you ever seen 2000 miles of corn?” Well, we haven't even started on Route 66 yet and we've probably already seen ENOUGH corn. Never mind. The scale of it all is interesting in itself.

Why Winterset? Remember “The Bridges of Madison County”? That's one reason. The second is that John Wayne was born here in a small house on South Second Street in 1907. A must see!

20 September

Sioux Falls, South Dakota

The small town of Wall, SD, where we spent the night last night, is famous for just one thing. The Wall Drug Store.

It was the depths of the depression when Ted and Dorothy Hustead bought the Wall Drug store. “Tin Lizzies” chugged along Route 16A, loaded with suitcases and everything else families could load on as they searched for work. Business was slow until, one day, Dorothy figured out that travellers would make a stop for cold water. Free ice-cold water. That was in 1936. Today, the Wall Drug store boasts more than 2 million visitors a year. It is the main industry in Wall. Aside from motels! If the whole population of the town checked into a motel for the night, there would still be over 400 vacant beds! Sure, many locals complain about the hundreds of advertising signs that litter the Interstate advertising the Wall Drug, but you've got to admire their spirit. And their prices. We had an all you can eat breakfast for $7.00 each!

Leaving Wall, we headed off to the Badlands of South Dakota, a moonscape of grey and pink rock canyons that, in the morning light, kept our shutters clicking!

19 September

Wall, South Dakota

Deadwood, South Dakota, is famous for at least three things. Gold, Wild Bill Hickok and Casinos. The TV series of the same name might also have added to the attraction of this 'tourist trap'? What is left of the old, late 19^th century, gold-mining town has pretty much disappeared behind the razzle dazzle of casinos and T-shirt shops. The saloon where Wild Bill was shot in the back of the head, is now a dress shop. Or at least the building that stands on the site is now a dress shop! Up in the old “Boot Hill' cemetery, the graves of Wild Bill and Calamity Jane have attracted tourists and souvenir hunters for over 100 years. Poor old Bill has had his grave marker replaced so many times that, at one stage, the grave remained unmarked to discourage trophy seekers.

Later in this trip, we plan to seek out “Big Things” (like the Big Pineapple) down Old Route 66. Here in South Dakota, there are a couple of world class “Big Things” - right up there with the Pyramids and the Sphinx. Well, so the local advertising goes. Of course, we are talking about Mt Rushmore and the lesser known Crazy Horse Memorial. Both are Very Big things. Mount Rushmore is so iconic that it is one of those places where you feel that you have been here before. The four Presidents, Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and Roosevelt loom out of the rock in what will probably forever remain an unfinished work. (The original plan was to carve them out at full body height, not just as busts.)

Crazy Horse's Memorial is a much more recent and far more ambitious project. It was commenced in 1948. Mt Rushmore was started in 1927 and finished in 1941. To date, Crazy's head is all that is complete. To give some idea of the scale, his head is bigger than all four Presidents combined. And, he will finally be a half-body, horse-mounted sculpture.

18 September

Cody WY – Gillette WY

Museums are one of our favourite things when travelling. Many are must-see and well known – like the Louvre! - others, like Trail Town in Cody WY, are probably locally revered but not on the same plane as many of the grand museums of Europe. It all depends on what you are looking for. In 1969, Paul Newman and Robert Redford starred in one of our favourite movies, “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid”. We've lost count but we must have seen it more than 50 times? So you can imagine how enthralled we were with a museum that featured buildings that our 'heroes' actually lived in or visited.

Sited on the outskirts of the old cattle town of Cody, a small village of original buildings from the late 19^th century has been gathered in a street that could be right out of the 1880s. The Mud Spring Cabin where Sundance and Kid Currey (Butch's predecessor) planned their raids was balanced on the other side of the street by the Hole in the Wall cabin where Butch, Sundance and others hid out between robberies. Fantastic! AND..complete with wild rabbits bounding about amongst the ruins.

The more well-known Buffalo Bill Museum in Cody was large, well laid out and full of authentic western memorabilia focused on the life and times of the bigger than BIG hero of the Old West – Buffalo Bill Cody. Interesting but, for us, not a patch on the far less pretentious Trail Town.

The drive from Cody down the eastern slopes of the Rockies was a mix of hundreds of kms of rolling grazing land and spectacular rocky canyons.

17 September

Cody Wyoming

Cody is about as close as we have managed to get to the Old West. Buffalo Bill (Cody) is associated with this town. Yet it's hard to get the same frontier feeling one gets in towns in Western Queensland. The town's facade is all too new and well maintained to be a real western town. It all comes close though. Our motel is called the 'Big Bear'. It has all the normal trappings in the room, but the outside is comfortingly rural - dirt fore-court, rabbits bounding through the rough dry grass behind the units and the owner's kid wandering about on her pony. There is even a corral for visiting horses out the front!

Most of today we worked our way around the Yellowstone Grand Canyon. Between us, we must have taken a hundred photos. It was the sort of place where we finally had to call a halt and declare, 'not one more photo!'.

Yesterday we only saw individual bison. Today we saw whole herds out on the meadows between the mountains. A truly majestic sight!

15-16 September

Jackson Hole – West Yellowstone

In the latter part of the 19 century the American Bison (Buffalo) were hunted to the brink of extinction. Mounted hunters on horseback were more than a match for the buffalo in this uneven struggle. Today, it's Buffalo v cars in a much more evenly matched contest. It must be called at about evens. We saw buffalo close up beside the road through Yellowstone today and we'd rather not tangle with them, even in our rented Nissan.

The buffalo fared better than the first wildlife we encountered. Somewhere in the back blocks of Idaho a poor unfortunate coyote bolted out in front of us. A much more uneven contest.

Another uneven contest occurred as a daredevil driver turned across the lanes in front of us. An incensed Paul reached carefully for the stalk in order to flash this recalcitrant.... and washed our windscreen!!!! Hilarity ensued in our Nissan, specially as this was a repeat of an incident in Brisbane. But back to more serious matters...

Yellowstone was exactly as advertised. Spectacular! Good weather, clear skies and temperatures in the mid 20s only enhanced the experience. Old Faithful blasted off on cue for our arrival, several other geysers obligingly spouted as we walked past and the pools were spectacularly beautiful with their rainbow of colours created by the mineral salts.

The crowds in the National Park were far greater than we have experienced on previous visits to the US. Hundreds of RVs filled the parking lots and the traffic crawled along the roads between attractions. Overwhelmingly, our fellow travellers are American 'Grey Nomads'.

14 September

Salt Lake City Utah

Who said deserts were boring? Over 1000km of Nevada and Utah deserts have kept us interested through the long haul from Reno to Salt Lake City. Interstates in this part of the US are in the sort of condition that we remember from previous trips. With speed limits of 75 mph (120kph) and super smooth roads, it's a bit like flying at ground level!

It is hard to believe that a country with over 300 million people has this much open space. Europe is much the same physical size and there never seems to be more than a few kms between towns. Out here, it's more like Australia, where 200kms between towns is the norm in isolated areas. Storms and rain showers out on the desert added to the interesting light on the desert landscape.

Just over the Nevada – Utah border, the Bonneville Salt Flats are blindingly bright, even in the half sun of this partly cloudy day. It's here that the world land speed records are regularly broken. The current mark is somewhere above 600 mph. How do they keep on the ground? The Interstate here runs for 20 or 30 miles in a straight line through desert brush and salt-encrusted flats. Semi-trailers pour west in a steady stream while the traffic in our direction is extremely light.

As is our custom on road trips like this, we have been using our portable kitchen to cut back on costs to cook in motels. Sounds cheap skate we know, but on long trips, eating meals out can easily double the cost of a trip. Wal-Mart supermarket allows us to equip a full mobile kitchen with cooking plate, saucepan, toaster, frypan and eating gear for well under $100. To give some idea of how cheap cooking equipment can be: we paid $7.00 for the toaster!

This afternoon, when we did an early recon of Salt Lake City, we got lost walking downtown to pick up our dinner supplies. Like most US cities, (LA and NYC excluded!) it is very open with broad streets, gardens and well-managed traffic, so, once we'd realised we were heading in the wrong direction after a couple of blocks, it was easy to find our way back – a big contrast to European cities and towns whose streets meander all over the place.

Tomorrow we'll have a wander around the Temple Square of the Mormon Church and head off for another long drive to Jackson, Wyoming, on the edge of Yellowstone National Park. Wonder if we'll see Yogi and Boo Boo!

10-13 September

Winnemucca Nevada

We have a good excuse for being so lax with our blog. The past couple of days we've been visiting with Paul's cousin Michael, his wife Courtney and their family in Roseville just outside Sacramento. We had a great time meeting some of Mike and Courtney's family and friends, but we still managed some 'tourist time' in Old Sacramento, a restored part of the old town. Not much of Old Sacramento is original, but it shows what the city would have looked like in the late 19^th, early 20^th century, when the railway was king.

Tonight we are settled in our favorite US cheapie motel – Motel6. The northern Nevada desert surrounds us for hundreds of kms. Contrasts on this trip so far have been spectacular. A couple of days ago we were wandering by the beach and pottering around old Monterey harbour front. Earlier today we drove through the Sierra Nevada mountains, stopping off at the small town of Truckee before heading off into the desert just beyond Reno. The Interstate improved significantly once we crossed the Nevada State line; speed limits of 120km/hr made the day fly! The nothingness of the deserts is reminiscent of our travels through western Queensland. Petrol (Gas) stations are few and far between, as are motels. We have more hard miles ahead tomorrow as we head through Utah towards Yellowstone National Park. This part of the trip was an after thought. Apparently the long haul to Chicago along I-80 through Wyoming and Nebraska is deadly boring, so we've elected to take a small 1000km detour!

8-9 September 2009

LA to San Simeon

Flight delays aren't a rare event in this day and age, but we've mostly been lucky in our travels. Not this time! Our flight from Brisbane was delayed more than 3 hours. A long day later we were in Santa Barbara, both in somewhat of a trance! Never mind. The weather was warm and sunny and even LA traffic was manageable. US highways are legendary. However, the legend is becoming a little tarnished, at least in California. In the 'land of the clean and the home of the green...' rubbish lines the Interstates and some surfaces are so bad that they would be closed down on European motorways.

Wild fires have ravished much of Southern California. It is dry here. Extremely dry! A smoke haze hangs heavy over the northern suburbs of LA and the country is tinder dry for hundreds of kilometers. Recession seems to have bitten hard here. The state of California is basically broke. Infrastructure is beginning to crumble and, in comparison to our recent memories of Europe, if California is any indication, the US is in a deep recession.

Highways US-101 and US-1 follow the Pacific coast north from LA to San Francisco, winding through small coastal cities and towns that are 'classic California'. Laid back and extremely friendly, these towns have a feel of home. It might be the ubiquitous eucalyptus trees, or the sun and heat, or the casual dress styles, we're not sure? Whatever! It feels great! Today we saw a restored 'woodie' surfer van parked at Pismo Beach. No bleached blond surfer dude, this lad. Instead, a grey -haired retiree, young, or at least younger at first glance “surfer chick” in tow. The Californian Grey Nomad?

Pre-departure

Off again!

8 September.

LA to San Francisco, SF to Chicago, Route 66 back to LA. Doesn't sound like much if you say it quickly does it? Over 8000 km in 7 weeks through the old west and America's 'Heartland'. We can hardly wait!