Road Trip – Day’s Twelve, Thirteen, Fourteen HOME!!

Today Brother Mike reminded us that we had dropped off the radar. In fact, we had gotten lazy after Santa Barbara. After flying back into LaGuardia Airport (that was especially re-opened for our return after an evacuation because of a bomb scare), we quickly dropped back into our busy non-blog world.

California was beautiful, relaxing and much cooler than the rest of the country. After temperatures above 100 degrees from at least Texas to Southern California, Santa Barbara north had temperatures in the high fifties in the morning and sixties through most days. We succeeded in our mission to deliver the relatively clean car to our youngest, who was in the midst of union elections running literally from before dawn to very late at night. Nevertheless, we were toured around San Francisco and the Bay area, including outstanding Italian cooking wherever we went from downtown to suburbs to crossroads.

We recommend a cross-country trip every half-century or so!

Road Trip – Days Ten and Eleven

During the night, the CRICKETS invaded our ground floor room at Casa Grande, Arizona. In the morning, we learned that not only the temperature was about 110 degrees, but a field adjacent to the motel had been plowed thereby removing the vegetation of sorts that had provided shade for the CRICKETS. The CRICKETS sought any cover available, which included any air conditioners and certainly the Cronin’s room with sufficient space at the bottom of the door!

The drive to San Diego was a reasonable 330 miles usually at high speed and with a remarkable variety of terrain. First, desert through Yuma, including giant cacti, into California along the Baja border, then the Sand Dunes in the California desert and high mountains covered by piles of huge boulders with steep climbs and drops. The intense heat remained all the way to the peak of the California mountains — I believe the Coyote Mountains, with one peak over 4000 feet — and then the temperatures dramatically dropped as we approached San Diego.

We turned north to visit Ted and Pam in their attractive home in Vista, where we enjoyed their hospitality. While we relaxed on their patio, we were entertained by the resident humming birds who protect their bird feeder from all uninvited guests. Pam produced gorgeous photos of the humming birds catching the speed of their wings in remaining in place to survey their territory.

We proceeded north, primarily along the Pacific, starting with Camp Pendleton — with tank maneuvers going on off the right lane of I-5 — Laguna Beach (beautiful but crowded), Newport Beach and huge open beaches at Huntington Beach. A detour of Route 1 into the western part of LA resulted in a massive 3:30 PM traffic jam. We headed back to the coast at Santa Monica, into Malibu and up into the Santa Monica mountains, providing dramatic views of the coast.

We concluded our current drive at Santa Barbara and enjoyed a meal out on the wharf. This morning, with morning clouds and temperatures in the 60s, we visited the Mission up on a hill over the city and found that it is much larger and active than we realized so we’re staying one more evening.

Eventually on to San Francisco!

Road Trip – Days Eight and Nine

Our drive to El Paso — slightly more than 500 miles — was the longest one-day segment of our trip. The “West Texas Desert” that we expected to be rough terrain most of the way to El Paso turned out to include both extensive hill country and mountains. Once I-10 turned north on the final run to El Paso along the Rio Grande valley, the land was more green.

We enjoyed a rest at a village-like Holiday Inn complex in El Paso that permitted us to avoid the car and instead to walk that evening and the next morning. Kathy asked the desk clerk which way was Mexico and she was advised that she could go either way on the adjacent main road to reach Mexico because El Paso is almost surrounded by Mexico. We attended Mass in a beautiful new church on the north side of El Paso that had both Mexican priests and largely Mexican or Mexican American parishoners. Many of the cars parked at our Holiday Inn had licenses from Mexican states or districts. The city’s economy and society appears well integrated with Mexico.

We entered New Mexico minutes after leaving El Paso and found more intense desert with more sand and sand storm warnings. We soon encountered mountains that continued to grow as we moved across both New Mexico and Arizona. Toward the end of New Mexico we found a self-serve car wash and recovered our car from a serious air attack by a flock of birds in San Antonio.

The temperatures have been over 100 degrees since at least El Paso and while we have enjoyed this evening in a small Arizona city — Casa Grande, referring to a large building constructed by Indians in the 14th Century — the temperature was 109 at 9 PM.

On to San Diego!

Road Trip – Days Five, Six and Seven

We toured parts of Memphis — learning how key and vibrant the city is — and crossed the Mississippi. Driving diagonally southwest across Arkansas, we found Little Rock to be an attractive old town, while our memories had been limited to a small girl needing protection from the Army to go to school. We stayed at a comfortable hotel in Texarkana, AR/TX, another border city, like Bristol, VA/TN. When visiting the Texarkana Federal courthouse, the only Federal court that actually sits in two states, we found several large abandoned buildings in the downtown area with a Starbucks-like coffee shop in the middle of them.

We drove down East Texas to enjoy the hospitality of Cynthia & George and Kevin in Houston. Then we began the straight West trip on I-10. The first stop was San Antonio, probably best known for the Alamo, a small but inspiring place. The city is also a New Orleans-like party town, particularly on the Riverwalk. We highly recommend the Pesca On The River restaurant.

Into the West Texas desert heading for El Paso!

Road Trip – Days Three and Four

In western Virginia and eastern Tennessee, we drove more without visits to family or friends, but the country is beautiful and we met friendly and helpful people. The Interstate Highways, usually surrounded by thick forests, remind us of Merritt Parkway. Nashville is a great city to visit; with a palatial Public Library built with Carnegie funds around 1900. As Northerners, we were surprised by the size and variety of Tennessee, from Knoxville to Oak Ridge and Nashville and the smaller towns we stayed in, Bristol and Jackson. On to Texarkana and even Texas!

Road Trip – Days One and Two

We started at a bustling beer garden in Williamsburg, Brooklyn introduced by Luis and his friend Heiny (Spelling?) Ahmed, who drives more aggressively than most NYC taxi drivers. We were joined by Esther and Sandy & Ricky.

The next stop that evening was Les Halles on Park Avenue South in Manhattan where we met Rico & Ceil, but we got only one picture due to battery issues.

The next series of photos were taken in Hoboken culminating on the steps of Luis & Esther’s beautiful home.

We took the last group of pictures on our trip to Herndon ending with Mike & Linda, Mollie, Sean & Erin and their handsome son, Tyler.

On to Tennessee!

Beginnings!

Pictures for Friday!

Here’s our road trip car!