USA Road Trip » travel

The Last Post

admin — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 01:54:40 +0000

It’s still Anzac Day here in the US, and it’s the last day of our trip. We’re flying home from LAX tonight and have a few hours to spend/waste/use fruitfully until we take the rental car back to its ‘home’ and check in at the airport.

The day after we saw Jersey Boys we walked up to the iconic ‘Welcome to Las Vegas’ sign. Along the way we dropped into New York New York, Luxor and Mandalay Bay, the last ‘megacasino’ on the Strip. We caught the bus back to our hotel and needed an afternoon nap to recover from the walk! In the evening we took another bus to downtown Vegas to see the older casinos and the Fremont Street experience, which is a light show along several blocks of the Fremont St Mall. As it was Easter Saturday, there were plenty of people and lots to see and hear. There were 3 stages along the Mall, with bands playing covers of popular songs. There’s a lot less glitz and sparkle in the Fremont St casinos than in the megacasinos along the Strip. We walked through the Gold Nugget and found an ATM which dispenses gold bullion! A 1 ounce coin or bar was around $1700. So if a punter got lucky in the casino, s/he could convert his winnings straight to gold. I did win another $10 on a 1 cent machine, but took the paper money and left.

We spent Easter Sunday driving from Vegas to Los Angeles, and today we have been packing, throwing stuff out and checking out the competition (Barnes & Noble and Borders). We dipped our toes in the Pacific Ocean at Redondo Beach, so we can now say that we have travelled right across the USA.

So … after one month, 4 time zones, 21 states, temperatures ranging from -8C to 30C, some fantastic meals and a few utterly forgettable ones, accommodation ranging from a 2-person tent to a hotel suite on the Las Vegas Strip (and lots of Motel 6 rooms with free morning coffee until 10am in between), we have added nearly 8000 miles to the red rental car, had a great tip, gained an extra 30 or 35kgs of luggage …. and hopefully not gained any weight personally!

Thanks for travelling with us, it’s been fun.

Feet in the Pacific

Day 9 Martin Creek State Park to Lafayette Louisiana

Judy — Sat, 02 Apr 2011 14:57:55 +0000

We crossed the border into Louisiana. A couple of miles over the border we stopped at the Tourist Information Centre and picked up brochures and maps, and had a long and very helpful chat with a guide on what to see and do in Louisiana. She told us about Natchitoches, a little historic town south of Shreveport. The movie ‘Steel Magnolias’ was set and filmed there. We changed our plans and headed straight there, rather than going into Shreveport. Natchitoches has a street full of shops and eating places along the Cane River Lake. We had lunch at Papa’s Bar and Grill (which is right next door to Mama’s Oyster House) – Greg had a grilled chicken sandwich, I had a shrimp po’boy, which is the Louisiana version of a subway sandwich. It’s my mission to eat as much local food while we’re here.

We drove a couple of hundred kms south to Lafayette, population 200,000. We’re in Cajun country now, and Lafayette is right in the middle, and the largest town in the region. We are now seeing much more of a French influence, rather than the Spanish that we’ve noticed since we landed in California. Streets are called ‘Rue’, heading east is ‘est’, just little subtle things like that.

We ate at the Blue Dog Cafe in Lafayette. Cafe doesn’t really seem the right word for it – it’s actually a huge restaurant with at least 3 very large rooms full of tables, plus outdoor tables as well. And it’s all tables and chairs, no booths with bench seats like we’ve seen in other ‘restaurants’, which we think of as ‘diners’. Anyway … the reason it’s called the Blue Dog Cafe is that the walls are full of paintings of dogs that look very much like my brother Phil’s blue heeler, Brewster. The waiters wear t-shirts with the slogan ‘Sit. Stay. Eat’. And they serve fantastic Cajun food.

Greg had Blackened Catfish with Angel Hair Pasta and Spring Vegetables, I had Crawfish Etouffee* with Corn Macque Choux and both dishes were delicious. Here’s their menu, so you can see what else they offer, including photos of some of the dishes – click here.

The restaurant was busy, and our meals were a bit slow, which was fine with us – it gave us a chance to people-watch and draw crayon pictures on our ‘tablecloth’, but the waiter gave us a complimentary dessert – Bread Pudding with Pecan Praline Sauce. I had seen recipes for this dish and thought it might be like our Bread & Butter Pudding, but it’s much denser and tastes fantastic! We shared one between us, and we just managed to finish it. The total bill, including 2 local draught beers, was $40.

* Crawfish are freshwater crustaceans which taste like prawns. The guide at the Tourist Information Centre had mentioned that it’s crawfish season, so of course I had to try them. Delicious!

Blue Dog Cafe Layfayette Louisiana

Day 7 Dallas Texas

Judy — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 03:38:35 +0000

We spent the day in Dallas. This morning we went to the 6th Floor Museum, which was The Texas Book Depository back in 1963 when JFK was shot. An excellent museum and tribute to JFK. An audio commentary is provided and it directs the listener around the exhibits. There is a good lead-up to the assassination, with JFK’s personal and Kennedy family history plus what was happening in the US in the early 60s … all building up to the assassination. The corner where the shots were fired is blocked off with clear perspex, and boxes are arranged as they were back on That Day.

We saw a poster when we were at the Silver Moon diner in Santa Rosa, advertising a lunch for JFK and Jackie in Dallas at 12.30 on November 22nd. They never got there because JFK was shot at 12.30 on November 22nd.

There are also film clips of various aspects of the assassination, including footage of the funeral. I always get teary when I see little John Jr saluting his father’s coffin.
The rest of the museum is devoted to the aftermath of the assassination – Lee Harvey Oswald, Jack Ruby, conspiracy theories, Kennedy’s legacy. It was all very well done, and worth visiting (thanks to Greg’s friend Guy for suggesting we go there).
We went and stood on the Grassy Knoll, wandered around Dealey Plaza, and walked up the streets that the motorcade had driven down before the shots were fired.

This afternoon we went shopping – for clothes at Dick’s Sporting Goods and the Columbia Outlet store (that was FUN! I bought a heap of clothes), and then at 2 Half Price Books stores.

Judy on the Grassy Knoll adjacent to where Kennedy was shot

The view up to the sixth floor of the Texas Book Depository where Lee Harvey Oswarld fired his shots from

Negotiating one of the many,many,many freeways and freeway interchanges that run throughout Dallas

Day 6 Archer City Texas to Dallas Texas

Judy — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 03:10:29 +0000

Lovely night’s sleep in the Desert Rose Room at the Lonesome Dove Inn, and a delicious breakfast this morning – French Toast with fresh fruit. We visited Buildings 2 & 3 of Booked Up, just to make sure we didn’t miss anything, but didn’t buy any more books. And then we headed south to Dallas, a huge modern city which was founded by JR Ewing in 1978 … wasn’t it? I wouldn’t really know, ‘cos I don’t watch TV much.

We’re spending 2 nights here at a Motel 6 a few kms from the centre of the city. Until recently, this Motel 6 was a Howard Johnson’s motel, so it’s a bit more upmarket than the usual Motel 6 – fridge, microwave and safe, but sadly no bottle opener, so we had to use Greg’s multi-tool to open our bottles of Mike’s Hard Lemonade (5% alcohol). We visited a Half-Price Books store and Greg bought a few language audiobooks, I bought a couple of McMurtrys (cos his own bookstores don’t sell any of his books).

Tomorrow we’re visiting the Texas Book Depository and the Grassy Knoll

Judy in the Desert Rose room at the Lonesome Dove Inn

Day 5 Wichita Falls Texas to Archer City Texas

Judy — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 02:34:50 +0000

An easy drive today. We visited Three Dog Books in Witchita Falls, which was a mix of second hand books, some new kids books, and antiques and collectables.

Then it was down the road to Archer City about 40km away south. The main reason for visiting Archer City, population 1848, was Larry McMurtry’s secondhand bookstore Booked Up. It’s actually spread across 4 buildings in the main street. Building 1 has the rare, signed, first editions and out of print books, the people who work there (2, i think) and the only cashier. If you want to buy anything from one of the other buildings, you have to take it across to Building 1 to pay for it. The photo of me with Leo the cat was taken in the garage of Building 1. I’m standing in the Political Science section.

Judy amongst a few of the 300,000 or 400,000 books at Booked Up, with Leo the friendly bookstore cat

We also visited Building 4 today – cookbooks, biography, travel, business & finance. We each picked up a couple of books, but have been very restrained compared with previous trips to US bookstores. I bought Christopher Milne’s memoir, Beyond the World of Pooh ( he was A.A. Milne’s son, better known as Christopher Robin), and Feeding Frenzy, by an American who sets out to eat her way around Europe’s Michelin 3-starred restaurants. Greg bought George Stephanopoulos’s All Too Human and The End of Certainty by Australian journalist/author Paul Kelly.

Tomorrow we’ll visit Buildings 2 and 3 before heading to Dallas for a couple of days.

Tonight we’re staying at the Lonesome Dove Inn, which is a gorgeous 2-storey guest house just a couple of blocks from the main street. It used to be the town’s hospital, and we’re staying in the Desert Rose Room which was the operating theatre and delivery room. It’s a lovely room, with big south-facing windows and a white-tiled floor. All the other rooms have carpet, but I’m glad the original white tiles have been left. Mary, the owner, has a policy of letting people who were born here when it was a hospital, stay for free in the Desert Rose Room on their birthday. She has had 3 people take her up on her offer.

We were also offered the Terms of Endearment suite, with king-sized bed and ensuite bathroom, or the Cadillac Jack room with twin beds. The room next door to us is Hud’s Library, with single bed and lots of books, including a shelf full of signed first edition books by Larry McMurtry.

Oh, and Mr McMurtry is also a guest here this evening.

Day 4 Santa Rosa New Mexico to Wichita Falls Texas

Judy — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 02:39:00 +0000

4 days, 4 states, 3 time zones and over 1300 miles. Now we’re just 25 miles from Archer City and Booked Up, the secondhand bookstore owned by Larry McMurtry which is part of the reason for this trip. Ever since I read McMurtry’s Books: A Memoir, about his life as a book scout and seller, I’ve wanted to see his bookshop. And tomorrow I will.

We’re staying at Wichita Falls tonight. We did wonder if it was the Wichita that featured in the Glenn Campbell song, Wichita Lineman, but there are a few places of the same name around the country, so maybe not. We found a great place for dinner, thanks to TripAdviser – Bar L Drive Inn, a burger and barbecue diner where you can eat in your car, or at the picnic benches outside, or inside. It’s a bit cold here at the moment, so we ate inside. I had a barbecue ham sandwich with waffle fries, Greg had chicken-fried steak strips with salad and sweet potato fries. We both had Budwiser beeer. Does it get any more American than that?

Welcome to Texas

No pets in the toilets, that includes rattlesnakes

Day 3 Gallup New Mexico to Santa Rosa New Mexico

admin — Sun, 27 Mar 2011 03:31:44 +0000

We left Gallup driving through the interesting New Mexico landscape. It is very like the area around and north of Alice Springs in Australia. We passed several Indian Casinos on the I-40. The Casinos are built on Indian Reservations, because they are exempt from local and state planning restrictions.

We can travel at a fair speed along the I-40. The speed limit is 75 miles per hour (120km/hr), and plenty of cars (and semi-trailer trucks) pass us when we travel at the speed limit.

We headed into Albuquerque, and the Old Town area. We wandered around the old (and touristy) area. We had a Mexican lunch at La Hacienda.

Albuquerque

Albuquerque is a nice looking town of 550,000. They seem to embrace the desert enviroment with houses and buildings in subdued desert colours.

We left heading east, finishing up at Santa Rosa. We’ll be in Texas tomorrow.

Day 2 Needles California to Gallup New Mexico

admin — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 16:24:50 +0000

We left Needles a bit late, after stopping at the Post Office so Judy could post a parcel. We headed east again, into Arizona on the I-40. We crossed the Colorado River, and stopped for fuel at Kingman ($3.59 a gallon). Further east to Flagstaff, where we got a fuel bottle for our stove.

Between Kingman and Flagstaff there was some old snow still laying about. We spent a fair bit of the day at above 1800 metres altitude.

East of Flagstaff we stopped at Meteor Crater. This is a very recent crater, only 50,000 years old, and much deeper that the meteorite crater we visited at Wolf Creek.

Meteor Crater Arizona

It was then off to Winslow Arizona, which is famous for being in the lyrics of the Eagles song “Take It Easy”.

: Greg standin’ on a corner in Winslow, Arizona

Judy with the flat-bed Ford, on the corner in Winslow Arizona (or, if you prefer ... It's a girl, my Lord, near a flatbed Ford ...)

Here are the relevant lyrics:

Well, I’m a standing on a corner
in Winslow Arizona
It’s such a fine sight to see
It’s a girl, my Lord, in a flatbed
Ford slowin’ down to take a look at me

And here are The Eagles singing it:

The souvenir shop on the opposite corner had a poster in the window advertising an Eagles gig in Winslow, some time in 1975

For dinner we drove into the centre of Gallup, and ate at a little Mexican Dinner called Jerry’s. Great food, great atmosphere and as ‘whitefolk’ we were definitely in the minority. We used Trip Advisor to find out about restaurants in Gallup and Jerry’s was at the top of the list. It’s located in a side street just back from the main street, and we would never have found it by ourselves. I think we’ll be using Trip Advisor a lot from now on, to find places we might not have found otherwise. We do have an old Lonely Planet guide (1999) with us, but the internet is much better for current information.

Day 1 – Los Angeles to Needles

admin — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 16:17:31 +0000

We arrived in Los Angeles about 9:00am, after a long 13.5 hour flight from Melbourne. We hired our car from Alamo, and then proceeded to get slightly lost leaving the airport. We eventually made it to a BestBuy to buy Virgin wireless broadband from Virgin, and a GPS. The it was off to Walmart, guided by the GPS (very easy). We started off with an American voice telling us where we should be going in miles, but Greg found an Aussie voice who can tell us where to go in kilometres, so it feels a lot more familiar!

After getting supplies from Walmart, we headed off eventually joining the I-40 heading east across Mojave Desert to a desert town called Needles, population 5,500. We’re still in California, just across the border from Arizona. We arrived in Needles at 7:30pm. We had been awake about 36hours, so it was time to rest. Our very long Thursday had started in Adelaide at 4.45am, and finished in the US at 10pm.

Judy in the USA road trip car.