Apricity West 5

September 21, 2024 - Saturday

It was great having quality time while walking and talking with Sharon today. Our grandsons are good friends - their moms are besties and travel buddies. 

 

September 22, 2024 - Sunday

Today we drove to NY to say goodbye to Rich’s sister, Eileen, and Steve in Queensbury. Then on to Perry’s in S. Glens Falls for a fun visit and goodbyes.

Bald pythons - very pretty…

Bruschetta with fresh tomatoes and basil from their garden…

Father and son… 
 

We were back in Lee for an early dinner with my family at the Morgan House. Nora’s schedule allowed her to come join us. It was a wonderful day - the only two who couldn’t be with us were young Nora (away at college) and Lily (not feeling well, and later tested positive with Covid). 

Me and mine…

September 23, 2024 - Monday

Today was the final day to load the motorhome and clean the house. Neighbor, Eileen, delivered a fresh batch of chocolate chip cookies; dear friend, Dee, stopped in to say goodbye; Mom stopped down to deliver mail. We are very blessed to have such wonderful friends and family in our lives!

 

September 24, 20424 - Tuesday

On the road at 6:45am destined for Erie, PA. The day is crisp and clear; the leaves are starting to don their brightly colored Fall attire. Rich drove the first shift without incident. When I got behind the wheel, the 18 wheelers were in abundance. At one point I was surrounded - front, back and flanks. Then we witnessed the aftermath of a semi-truck head on collision with a guard rail on the other side of the road. Traffic was backed up for miles until the DOT detoured all vehicles off of Interstate 90. It was a little windy, but not hard to hang on to the road. Rich always brings us in to the campground, so he takes the last shift. It started raining slightly, but wasn’t horrible - just a nuisance. Diesel gas - $4.29/gallon. 

 

Hard to believe this is our 5th trip out to AZ!

 

September 25, 2024 - Wednesday

Had a restful, rainy night and hit the road at 7am with good weather conditions. The truck traffic is nothing compared to yesterday. Diesel gas - $3.11/gallon.

Ohio - truck recap tires and deer carcasses along the road. 

Indiana - horrible roads.  

Indianapolis 

September 26, 2024 - Thursday

The magical hour seems to be 7am for getting on the road. We have been averaging 5.5 driving hours a day. Rich did a double shift this morning, allowing me to take pictures of  (and not to drive through) St. Louis. Third shift was calm, quiet and uneventful. Rain during the night again, but a bright  clear day the whole way. Diesel gas - $3.59/gallon. Crossed into Central Time Zone - we are now 1 hour behind those back home. 

Illinois - better roads, lots of corn fields

Missouri -  Chesters Chicken, great roads, many limestone caves to explore, big repetitive billboards 

St. Louis, MO

A motorcycle passed us going 70 mph with a bright neon yellow cover on his back. It turned out to be a dog strapped on to the seat behind him with a colorful coat on. No helmet or goggles, though.

 

September 27, 2024 - Friday 

Left at 6:30am today - Diesel was $3.19 today. Speed limit 80mph.

Oklahoma - construction on I-44 expanding from 4 lanes to 6 lanes between Tulsa and OKC. This is my birth state, but we moved East when I was 18 months old. When I came back to visit my grandparents, I was amazed to see  red soil - so much that I brought a jar back home with me. Seeing a lot of it now. Windmills too.

 

September 28, 2024 - Saturday

Got on Interstate 40 at 6:45am with 450 miles to Albuqurque, NM. I drove first shift today - Saturday means less traffic and no construction workers. I like it like that.

 

Texas - As we went through eastern Texas, the sites were amazing. I will try to paint a picture with words as a photograph can’t capture all that I saw. The span of the horizon is peppered with black cattle, salted with white windmills, on a salad of dark green cotton plants, and a side of amber waves of grain (in this case corn) and sorghum (feed for cattle). The cattle are herded to the feed lot to be fattened up for slaughter!

 

Saw a fleet of power trucks heading East, no doubt to help with the damage done by Hurricane Helene!

 

On a completely different note: 

As a tribute to America's best automobile, a collective of artists called Ant Farm decided to place 10 Cadillacs, ranging from a 1949 Club Coupe to a 1963 Sedan, in a wheat field located west of Amarillo, Texas.

Diesel $2.85/gallon

 

New Mexico - Wild West desert, sage brush, small dingy settlements, sink holes which fill with water to create lakes joined by underground rivers. Now in Mountain time zone - 2 hours behind EST. 

 

September 29, 2024 - Sunday

Leaving Albuquerque at 6am while still dark, the terrain changed dramatically as the sun rose. Plateaus, buttes and mesas of reddish rock and soil chisel a stunning outline ahead. They swell in size as we approach. 

Along the roadside, the solid black lava which was bubbling up eons ago, appears like mounds of rough black rock with tufts of green finding life within it. 

Continental Divide - a boundary that divides the continent's river systems. 

Arizona - Climbing to Flagstaff at 7000 ft. brings an entirely different landscape of Ponderosa Pines;  the wind came up for the first time on this journey; cactus, Pacific Time Zone - (3 hours difference with folks back home).

Petrified Forest National Park, 50,000 acres of protected land, is the only one that intersects with Rt. 66. You can see some samples along the side of the road. If the sun was shining, I am told they would have looked like glitter as they are covered in quartz. 

I really enjoyed Interstate 40 (Historic Rt. 66) - it is mostly a straight shot and the roads were good. Then at Flagstaff, AZ, things change - narrow curvy roads, Sunday traffic very heavy with cold-air-seekers returning to the lower elevations.   

 

We drove through 11 states amounting to 2,618 miles in 6 days… Cocktail time!