Here's our potential route home; we're leaving sunny Hermosa Beach Monday morning.  Highlights for the route home include Tucumcari, NM, which has amazing '30's through '60's architecture and neon; Cadillac Ranch, outside Amarillo; and Shamrock, TX which is the town the movie Cars used for inspiration.  Also, a stop in Memphis for some of the best BBQ in the country.  Not sure which BBQ joint yet, but almost any place in Memphis will have the best BBQ in the country.  

And today we had cupcakes, and they were very good.  More photos to follow. 

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More photos!

Gorgeous day here in LA, of course.  Hot, but not too hot, very blue sky, a bit of wind off the ocean...perfect day for running!  So while everyone else hung out at their house, I went for what turned out to be a six-mile run/walk, down a nice greenway from Hermosa Beach to Manhattan Beach, to Peet's Coffee for iced green tea and some coffee for our friends, then back along the Strand, next to the beach.  After walking for about 6.5 hours last night at Knott's Scary Farm, we were pretty wiped out, so we mostly just hung out today.  Had excellent Thai for dinner, with Pinkberry yogurt for dessert.  The one in Hermosa Beach just opened last night, and I can see why it's so popular.  Good stuff, really tastes like frozen yogurt and not ice cream.  Dan got his eyebrows threaded, which was kind of traumatic, but looks very nice.  Actually, his eyebrows don't look much different. 

Knott's was lots of fun - we went on a huge rollercoaster, the Ghost Rider, and I actually really enjoyed it, went on a couple of other rides, including a log flume that was pretty soothing except when it wasn't, and went through 13 different haunted houses/mazes, each with a different theme.  In between all of the rides and mazes, costumed characters, mostly variations on zombie clowns, walked around and jumped out at people.  Fog machines pumped out fog, and the whole thing was lots of fun, and very crowded after about 9 pm or so.  

Photos!

As promised last night (earlier this morning?), here are a few photos.   The first is of the two of us in New Mexico, on I40 at a cheesy tourist stop.  

The second is huevos rancheros, one of the best breakfasts ever, at the Rt. 66 Diner in Santa Rosa, NM.  It had hash browns, refried beans, a corn tortilla, red chile sauce, cheese, fried eggs, and lettuce.  Heaven on a plate, especially on a cold foggy morning.  The last photo is our first campsite in Missouri, west of St. Louis.  It was pretty foggy and cold that morning, too. 

We're here!

Just a quick update, because it's nearly 3 am/6 am depending on which time zone you follow.  We're in Hermosa Beach, at our friends' house, after a marathon session of driving.  Our itinerary looked like this:

Sunday - Hobart, Indiana to approximately Sullivan, Missouri, pulled in to campsite around midnight. 

Monday - Sullivan, MO to Branson, MO where we met Dan's parents for dinner.  Followed by a scenic route through the Ozarks back to I-40.  Realizing we wanted to get to LA by Wednesday evening, and had a lot of mileage to cover, and were still essentially in the Midwest, we decided to drive through the night and into the next day.  Also, Dan discovered Braum's Ice Cream. States covered on Monday: Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. 

Tuesday - New Mexico and Arizona, as far as Winslow, where we found a nice state park to camp.  It got quite cold at night, and the sky was so clear we could easily see the Milky Way.  Also, we had s'mores made with dark chocolate.

Wednesday - Arizona and California.  We crossed the Mojave Desert.  Very windy, and mountainous.  And now we're in LA.  Photos etc to follow tomorrow.  

On the Road...almost...well, out of Indiana, anyway. For now.

So the trip has nearly begun.  We're one state away, in Illinois - Lincoln Park, Chicago, specifically.  Dan is playing two gigs with Duke Tumatoe at Kingston Mines, and another at an orchard in Northern Indiana (keeps pulling us back!) and then, finally, then we'll get to leave.  It's Saturday night, so Dan's playing gig #2 of 3 a couple of blocks away while I take advantage of the hotel's free WiFi.  This is an interesting neighborhood.  DePaul University is here, so there's lots of students strolling around with cups of coffee or smoothies, listening to their own private soundtracks, and lots of shops to cater to them.  

It's nice to wander around in an urban neighborhood,  and just people-watch and see the sheer variety of everything.  Indy's come pretty far in the last few years, but it still doesn't have much in the way of truly dense neighborhoods.  Blocks, yes, but not really whole neighborhoods yet.  Dan and I wandered in and out of record stores, vintage stores, bookstores...ate lunch at a fantastic place called The Counter.  Build-your-own burgers, sweet potato fries, and Fat Tire Amber Ale.  Yum!  Dinner (or breakfast?  It was 2 am) last night was at a place called the Smoke Shack, a few doors down from the club.  Best BBQ I've had outside Memphis, and mac-and-cheese almost as good as my dad's, which is saying something because my dad is the mac-and-cheese master. So, the record for finding good restaurants is 2 for 2.  That's a good start.  And tomorrow, the vacation really begins - after Dan's gig. So, about 3 pm.  Not sure how far we'll get, doubt we'll get past Missouri, but we'll be moving!

Counting down and packing...

Just a few more days, and we're on the road! I keep looking at the calendar and the clock and thinking, "This time next week I could be in New Mexico!" or wherever. We're leaving early Sunday, so New Mexico by Monday might be a bit of a stretch, depends on how many distractions we see along the way. Maybe Tuesday?
Dan and I hauled out the camping bin last night to check our supplies. After one or two chaotic, messy camping trips, we consolidated everything and put it in a giant blue plastic bin with a lid, that fits handily in the back of the Golf. Sleeping bags, bug spray, lanterns, propane, things for cooking stuff over a fire, things for starting fires, tarps, the tent, chairs - all except the tent goes into the bin, and the tent is pretty compact. I also packed my backpack - it's one of those external frame hiking bags, so I can't pack a lot. This was done on purpose. The Golf is a small car, and there seems to be a law that states that what you absolutely must bring is directly in proportion to the size of the bag you carry. This also applies to purses. If it's a small purse, I can get away with just wallet, phones, and lip stuff. Bigger bag, and add more lip stuff, sunglasses, iPod, camera, Moleskine notebook(s)...you can see where this is headed. So, a relatively small backpack, although I did cheat a bit and threw my running gear into another small tote bag. But, hey, that's exercise clothes. Don't want those in with my regular stuff. And you get to a certain point in packing where you think, "Ok, if it's not in there somewhere, I either can get along without it, or I'll just buy another one when I get there." The only tricky thing is the weather. Our altitude is going to vary by about 7,000 feet over the course of the trip, from mountain foothills with the possibility of snow, to desert with blistering sun. You can always add layers; there's only so much you can take off without being issued a ticket. So there are a lot of layers in the backpack. I may look like a scarecrow at the higher altitudes, but, hey, it is nearly Halloween.
So now the camping gear is packed and my backpack and running gear are packed, and it's all sitting in our front room, waiting for Friday morning when we load it all into the car and leave. Makes it more real, that we are actually going on this epic Roadtrip.