2012 Here is another version of a Route 66 road trip. Mary Anne and I decided to spend Mother's Day 2012 visiting her in-laws (97 & 94 years young) in Santa Monica, CA. We've done 2 week road trips before and have perfected our technique in "sharing" the trunk - ˝ each! We put all our clothes for the trip into 1 suitcase each (& leave them in the trunk) and then share an overnight bag with makeup, shaving stuff and a change of clothes each for the next day. That means when we check into the motels we only have one bag to contend with - works for us. For this trip we even had to pack our "formal" attire (and also flight suits) for a military function in AZ on the return trip. Extra shoes invaded my ˝ of the trunk!
We departed San Marcos and angled up through Lubbock and Hereford to join I-40 just east of Adrian, TX. Adrian is the Midpoint of the 2,278 miles of Route 66 - we turned left with only 1,139 miles to go! . |
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 |  | We then had a photo op at the Magnolia gas station. |  |
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| | On to Santa Rosa, NM to the lovely Rt 66 Museum. There were many great cars on display - like the 1957 Chevy convert, and the red Shark.. |  | |
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 | After numerous other stops along the route we made it to Winslow, AZ [insert 2662] and can vouch for the narrative that Fred and Margaret had in their "trip report" about Winslow! We spent the night in Flagstaff and got an early start the next morning. |  |
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 | Then another photo op in Williams, AZ - for the Twisters on Rt 66. Then on through Seligman, Kingman, and a slight detour to Bullhead City and Laughlin, NV (needed that NV cruiser point) |  |
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Back onto Rt 66 and a stop at the Bagdad Café in Newberry Springs, CA [insert 2682 and 2689]. We had stopped there last year and they had our picture in the Pace car posted on their wall - they remembered us and were very glad we stopped again. |  |
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| At Barstow we turned south on I-15 through Victorville then joined I-10 westward - AND Welcome to the LA traffic - YUK! We finally made it to the motel in Santa Monica and then visited Mary Anne's sister-in-law and husband. Early the next morning (Mother's Day) we drove down to the pier and was able to drive out on the pier to get a photo op at Rt 66's end. |
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 | Then we had breakfast at Bubba Gumps - great food and reasonable prices. Last year the police officer would not let us drive down to the pier (no sense of humor either) - this year we were early enough that they hadn't arrived yet - must have still been at the donut shop! |  |
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Our Mother's Day visit was great and they certainly appreciated catching up on the "goings-on".
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 | Our Rt 66 trip was over but just a couple of snippets on our return via I-10. If you like airplanes then a must stop is the Chino Airport, CA. There are two great museums there: the Yanks Air Museum and the Planes of Fame Museum. You also must stop at Flo's Café there on the airport - we had lunch the first day and then decided to have breakfast the next day too - it's just that good! |  |
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 | ur next stop was the four-day Red River Valley Fighter Pilots Association's annual convention in Phoenix (well, actually in Litchfield Park and at Luke AFB). I had been stationed at Luke in the mid 1980's so got to see my old squadron and even some familiar faces. Lots of tours & parties - some casual and one very formal! |  |
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We arrived back in San Marcos safely but tired. Then I had another 244 miles back to Ft Worth!
PS: 'Twas a great trip for Cruiser points too - numerous cities, counties plus 5 State Parks & 3 National Forests!! |
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