Day 8 St. Louis Missouri

We started out day in Edmund outside of Oklahoma City with a hearty breakfast at Waffle House. We haven't been to a Waffle House since our 2013 trip when we had our first Waffle House experience in Virginia. It was fantastic and a great way to start the day.

I had a chance to meet up with Mark Zimmerman who lives in the Oklahoma City area. In 2007 Mark and I traveled to New York together to visit John Coffer for the annual wet plate jamboree. It was nice to meet up with Mark again after all these years.

Mark led us on a trip down Oklahoma State Route 66 which follows the old Route 66 roadway. The newer road is wider and closely follows or overlaps the the original road, with pieces of the original road still driveable. We traveled a short stretch of original road outside of Arcadia. We also found pieces to drive on along the way as we meandered the state road from Oklahoma City to Tulsa while avoiding the 4 lane interstate.

Abandoned Route 66 roadway next to present day Oklahoma Route 66.

I am big on living history, and it was interesting to drive on the actual original roadway. It is narrow and wanders tighter curves than our modern roads. The concrete where visible is lined with white concrete on either side of the road. I have nostalgia for these pieces of roadway but can clearly see how this narrow wandering road needed to be upgraded for large vehicles and interstate travel. 

In Tulsa we were snapped back into reality. Bumper to bumper traffic with trucks and congestion as we crawled through town. The trip was diverted to state roads due to an accident on I-44. We hit Missouri and had multiple delays with five different accidents on the highway. Two were really bad, with one parking us on the highway for an hour. The worst traffic of the trip was today- go figure. 

We traveled through the heart of Missouri and made one last stop at the Uranus Fudge Factory in Uranus Missouri.  Fudge packed in Uranus! Talk about a great business!! After a day of stressful driving it was a welcome diversion. They just opened their business a few weeks ago on the historic Route 66 roadway and will fit in nicely with the past and present attractions along the road.

Tonight is our last night of vacation. We are staying in St. Louis and will be visiting the Arch and St. Louis Zoo tomorrow. Mileage should be over 4,000 miles for the trip. It is sad to be almost done but it will be nice to sleep in our own beds tomorrow!

Day 7 Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

We woke up in Albuquerque, NM to a beautiful sunshine day. We packed up the car and headed to Petroglyph National Monument. The visitor center is the anchor for three different locations of petroglyphs in the surrounding residential area. They provide a map to find the parking areas tucked away between houses and gas stations and fence lines.

We visited two of the three Petroglyph canyons: Piedras Marcadas and Boca Negra. The petroglyphs are chiseled into the sides of volcanic rock that is left over from a lava flow 200,000 years ago. The images are thought to be as old as 2-3000 years ago by early native people. Others are younger (4-700 years ago)  and made by newer native people, Hispanic explorers in the 1600's and explorers in the 1800's.

There are some 20,000 images created on the lava flow rocks in these three areas. Some are easy to see while others are harder to find. 

After visiting the Petroglyphs we headed out of Albuquerque. The city sits in a bowl and is visible from

The highway east and west and from the surrounding hillside. It was typical city traffic and I was glad to get back on the highway away from big cities.

New Mexico looks like a blend of Arizona and Utah. Some cliffs and red soil, cactus and scrub trees. As we traveled east the grasses started to take over the rocks and cactus. We crossed the top of Texas and the landscape changed again. It suddenly became very flat and trees started to enter the landscape. Next came crops like wheat and corn and livestock grazing.

Texas turned into Oklahoma and we felt most at home so far. Oklahoma looks like a Midwest state. It could be Illinois or Iowa if you didn't know it.

We stopped at the Oklahoma City Memorial downtown before heading to the hotel for the evening. It is an amazing memorial, dedicated to the victims, survivors and rescuers of the Alfred P. Murrah bombing on April 19, 1995. It is dramatic especially at night. 

A busy driving day, but a fantastic journey. We are at about 3,200 miles for the trip and have seen so much. Sadly the Route 66 gas stations and attractions that dried up when the two lane through town shifted to a four lane road dot the landscape. We wondered what Rt 66 must have been like to travel in  it's heyday. The I-40 eastbound rest stop in Clarendon, TX was not only the cleanest rest stop I have been to, but an amazingly well done tribute to Route 66.

Day 6 Albuquerque, NM

This morning we woke up in Valle, AZ had a crazy overpriced  McDonalds breakfast just outside the park and then spent the late morning and early afternoon on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. It was beautiful with blue skies and cool temperatures as we stopped at lookout points, gift shops, and hiking spots to see the canyon.

The canyon is amazing. I imagine a helicopter trip overhead would be fantastic. Or possibly a hike or trip to the canyon floor to see the Colorado River Rapids would also be pretty cool as well. 

Wednesday seemed to be the best day to visit. It was noticibly empty even when comparing to the day before. We never had to wait for a parking spot and the lookout points were also fairly sparse. It was nice. 

I stopped at a Navajo stand just outside the park and picked up a beautiful turquoise pendant shaped like the state of Arizona. I like simple settings and not the more complicated jewelry set with silver etc. This pendant is just perfect.

The rain we saw in the distance came over the canyon just as we were finishing our last lookout point. It rained from early afternoon and followed us off and on as we traveled south to Flagstaff and then on I-70 East. We saw a lot of lightning on the plains and mountain tops.

A quick side trip to Windslow, Az to visit the "corner" mentioned in the Eagles' song "Take it Easy" and a pit stop for dinner and another for gas were our only diversions in our five hour drive East.

Arizona changed into New Mexico as night was falling. It was dark most of the way through until we reached Albuquerie at 11:00 pm. Mountain Time. This is the first of our three day drive east going home with our next leg an eight hour jaunt from Albuquerie to Oklahoma City. We will be up early tomorrow :) 

Hopefully you take mercy on my writing. It is usually done after long days in the sun and long drives in the car. Tonight is the latest we have traveled at night. As I wrap this up it is 11:30 pm MST and 12:30 am CST. We are on the march eastward towards home, unfortunately. 

Day 5 Valle AZ

We woke up and made the Richfield, UT to Zion National park in about 2.5 hours. While approaching the park we started seeing warning signs for full parking lots and full shuttle parking as well. It was crazy. As we approached the park, traffic was heavy. Cars were parked nose to tail and shoe horned in every cubby hole on either side of the road for miles leading to the entrance. After a fairly quiet two days in Arches and Canyonland this was a shock to the system. We made the executive decision to abandon the overcrowded park before we even entered and headed for the Grand Canyon instead.

A quick four hour or so drive (lol) through lower Utah and upper Arizona brought us to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. Complete with construction in the middle of absolutely nowhere!

Arizona is an amazing state.  It starts out with scenery much like Utah. As we traveled further into the state the plains opened up and the buttes and mesas became the anchors in a vast rolling hillside of red soil, rocks and scrub trees and bushes. 

After climbing from about 5000 to 7000 feet we found ourselves smack in the center of the Kaibab National Forrest. Sparse trees and groundcover gave way to tall pine trees and the lush smell of pine needles. Temps cooled by 20 degrees and there was a whispering sound as the wind came through the pines on the hillside.

We plunged back down to 5000 feet and encountered what I always thought would be Arizona landscape. Dry, arid and hot with barren plains and high cliffs. It was mesmerizing. 

This lasted until we made the climb into the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. The Kaibab Forrest was back along with cooler temps. The entrance on Rt 64 is about 24 miles from the visitor center. We drove and parked, stopped to get our passport book stamped, took in the canyon as the sun was starting to set and then left for the day. 

We are resting tonight about 20 miles south of the park in Valle. Tomorrow we will be up and finish our tour of the park and then start our journey home.....

Day 4 Richfield, UT

We had an unexpected stop in Richfield, UT today. We are about 3/4 of the way to Zion National park. I ran over something on I-70 and it blew out the left rear tire.  We will be getting it fixed in the morning. Meanwhile I am doing laundry and blogging while Tracy is with the kids downstairs as they get a chance to swim in the hotel pool.

We woke up in Moab, ate another crazy breakfast at the hotel and then headed for Canyonlands National Park. 

Utah is one of the most amazing states I have ever visited. The landscape changes constantly with every turn of the road. The terrain, colors, sky, weather change constantly and vary greatly.

A photo of the "Monitor" and the "Merrimack" my Civil War tie for the trip.

We hiked a one mile rim hike at Grand View Point. It was a nice morning hike which ended with us all having a snack at the end of the rim overlooking a panoramic canyon viewpoint from 8000 feet above. One heck of a family picnic.

We stayed on the Island in the Sky portion of the park which with a few side trips in the car is about 40 miles of driving. We hiked 6.25 miles today, with some uphill and semi challenging terrain to navigate. 

Oh the views! From the hiking trails to the pull off areas the views were spectacular. It was almost surreal being so high up and looking so far into the canyons below.

All in all between Arches and Canyonlands we have hiked about 18 miles. Total car miles from Illinois is sitting at around 1,700. As mentioned above Utah is an amazing state and the drive from Canyonlands to Richfield has been everything from mountains to valleys, forests to dry desert and every hue and color imaginable in the rocky landscape. I can't wait to see Zion tomorrow!