Chillaxing

Stay: June 5-7, Litchfield Park, AZ

Not to brag.... but my life is kinda perfectly, wonderful right now.

I'm staying with some of my best friends. Hanging out with their kids. Chillin' by the pool. Hiking a bit... Mostly, just relaxing.

Friday: Relaxing out and a Diamond Backs baseball game - and they totally won!

Saturday: Pretty hair-do and a big ole surprise party for Kristy!

Sunday: Hanging by the pool!

I love these people. This place.

I Was Petrified!

Starting Point: June 4, Bluewater Lake, NM
End Point: Litchfield Park, AZ

Miles: 343

I just lost this blog... stupid technology... So, you're getting the short of it....

I went to the Petrified National Park today - and I'm glad I added an extra day to my trip to go.

Petrified wood has always perplexed me: its a rock... but its wood... but its a rock... hmmm....

The park was well done. Not much to see. Kind of just looked like boring landscapes with weird rocks strewn about. But I'm glad I went.

 A roadrunner posing for me

 Route 66 landmark

 Newspaper Rock - the highest concentration of petroglyphs in the area

 Petrified log bridge... except for the concrete support beam...

After a couple short hikes and pulling over at every pullout - it was time to get to Litchfield Park and return the rental car.

When I did, the guys behind the counter laughed! "Wow! You put some miles on that car!"

I just smiled - yup. 5,334.3 miles in 10 days. Woot!

Time to relax and spend time with some of my favorite people for a few days. Its like a vacation, from vacation!

Route 66-tastic

Starting Point: June 3, Amarillo, TX
Mid-Point: Albuquerque, NM
End Point: Bluewater Lake, NM

Miles: 428

Today was better than I could've possibly imagined! Chad was cute about this day of my trip. When we were checking out the map before I left VA, it was his idea that I take my time this day. He knew I wanted to hang out in Albuquerque some day and saw this day as the perfect opportunity. He also found me the awesome campground I stayed in! I have the best husband ever!

Started off by taking a local's advice - I went to Cadillac Ranch. Another Route 66 classic. According to the lady, this crazy old guy put up this "art instillation" on his property. Then when he died, he wanted it to stay exactly how it was: open to the public and open to the public painting on it aka expressing their creativity. So, that's what it is, its like 9 old Cadillacs sticking out of the ground at an odd angle, covered in spray paint. Like covered covered, glooping and dripping before drying. I even put my own mark on a car using a can I found among the litter.

The next few stops I made were also very Route 66-y. I made a quick stop at Blue Hole, a ground fed, super clear blue lake that is deep enough for scuba divers to get deep water certified. I didn't get all the way in, but I did dip in to my knees - it was VERY cold!

 I found this cool old sign off 66 in a random town... I'm pretty sure its some kind of original.

Albuquerque was up next. I kinda just did all the touristy stuff - Old Town, New Mexico Pinon Coffee Roasters, ate some awesome green chile sauce and sopapillas, and visited the Albuquerque Museum (its free every first Wednesday of the month - SCORE!).

One of the best things about Albuquerque is the Petroglyphs National Monument. Its this wonderful little spread out park - a visitor center in the middle with three hiking areas spread a couple miles north and south. I chose to hike the longest, most southern hike... in the middle of the day... in a New Mexican summer.... weeeeeee.....

That was it for Albuquerque! Afterwards, I just started heading west. I didn't have a plan for where I was going to stay - no destination, no time. Luckily, Chad found me the most amazing place! I camped at Bluewater Lake State Park. I watched the sunset. I had some soup. It was beautiful.

 A view of the lake from my sleeping bag.

Epic Camping Fail

Starting Point: June 2, Alma, AR
End Point: Amarillo, TX

Miles: 515

I need to figure out satellite internet for my computer... otherwise all the sudden I realized its been 3 days since I've updated this and I then have to go back and piece together the last 72 hours.. thank goodness I take a lot of pictures!

June 2nd: Woke up in Alma, AR

First stop: Fort Smith National Historic Site
1st issue of the day: the main road was flooded and closed.

Finally arrived and thank goodness I did! I REALLY REALLY liked Fort Smith! It has the cutest little downtown area around it and the historical site was amazingly well done!

Second stop: Sid's Diner
2nd issue of the day: almost ran out of gas

Driving down the I-40 is a bit monotonous - so often got on and off of it - usually to visit historic Route 66. Unfortunately, this both ate up time... and gas. By the time I started getting hungry, I looked down and the gas light was on and the "miles left on tank" indicator was blinking with '-----' instead of numbers (like 55 miles left on tank). What can I say! My stomach has PERFECT TIMING! So I found this delicious place to eat in weird little El Reno - a place known for the "onion burger." Basically take a glob of ground beef, smoosh it on a flat top, pile on a handful of finely shredded onions, smoosh again, flip, serve on a toasted bun. MMMMmmmmmmm! Funny thing, not only was this restaurant in my "USA's Best Road Trips" book but it had also appeared on Man vs. Food a few years ago - and I had seen the episode!

Third stop: Oklahoma Route 66 Museum
No issue here, thank goodness! Just some good ole fun! Such a cute little place, put together by the local historical society.

Fourth stop: Washita Battlefield National Historic Site/Black Kettle Grasslands
3rd issue: I'll get to this...

So, I wanted to get to this battlefield because it was the first non-civil war battlefield I had seen in weeks! What I wasn't expecting is sharing its visitor center was a ranger station for Black Kettle Grasslands. See, National Grasslands don't ever really show up on any site-seeing radar. They don't usually have visitor centers, they don't have a National Park cancellation stamp, they don't have interpretive trails or maps or any of the fun stuff other NPs have....  Well, the lady at the battlefield mentioned that the Grassland had free camping spots, so I stopped into the station and chatted with them. They seemed SUPER excited to have someone in the building! The Ranger went over the maps with me and showed me the camping areas. I then asked her why Grasslands don't have stamps and the lady got even more excited and ran to the front desk- they had just recently gotten one from headquarters but it had only been used one time and it was months ago. So, I was the second person to ever get the stamp. And yes. I felt special.

Feeling good about having a place to stay for the night, I drove out to the campground... and... yeah... it was a little run down and underpopulated... it was right on the edge of a beautiful lake and there was a bathroom and open spots... but upon closer inspection it was filled with old beer cans and there were people coming and going with jet skis, so it was loud... I even got so far as setting up my tent... then I just decided it just didn't feel right... so I packed up and got back on the road - heading towards my original camping destination just north of Amarillo, Texas.

Fifth stop: Lake Meredith National Recreation Area, TX
4th issue: sunset and wind

Its rare that I hate google... but this night... I hated google... it sent me on a recreational area goose chase... what was supposed to be a 2.5 hour drive turned into a 3.5 hour drive and it was getting dark... I ended up driving all the way around this big lake, eventually finding a site. Got my tent totally set up... and ugh... again... ended up just pulling it right back down. This time it was cause of the wind. SO MUCH WIND! The sides were pushing in... the tent kept bouncing up... the whipping of the fabric was loud and obnoxious... so I finally gave up on camping. Time for a hotel.

Sixth stop: Hotel in Amarillo, TX
5th issue: Jack-hammer, right outside my door, starting just AFTER I laid down

Screw it. Just fits in with the day. Not by any means a BAD day, just a long, somewhat challenging one. And hey, I'm now REALLY good at setting up my tent. I'm going to bed. Thank goodness I brought earplugs. G'night.

Cheese Dip & Fried Pie

Starting Point: May 31, Hopewell, VA
Mid-point: Great Smoky Mountains National Park, TN

End Point: June 1, Alma, AR

Miles: 1,639

Saying goodbye to Chad and hello to road-tripping alone was an interesting transition... Before yesterday, I hadn't really spent a day alone on this trip. Heck, I hadn't spent more than a couple hours alone...

Well, come to find out... being alone ain't all that bad.

Don't get me wrong - spending 2 days (and a glorious night camping) alone doesn't make me want to say "screw you society I'm becoming a hermit!" Instead, it makes me very happy to be who I am. I am very comfortable with myself. I am very happy eating alone. Driving alone. Visiting cool places alone. Because, quite frankly, other than when I'm in the car, I'm rarely ever TRULY alone. Heck, I had a 20 minute conversation with the guy who served me bbq at lunch and spent another 20 minutes happily chatting away with the lady at the AR Visitors Center. Woah... I am getting ahead of myself.

Let's start with all the glory that is the Great Smokey Mountains National Forest! It was only a short 6.5 hour drive from Hopewell, which put me there a happy 3 hours before sunset. Plenty of time to set up my tent and get a good hike in! What I wasn't anticipating was the rain... ooooooohhhhh the RAIN! Luckily, it came in spurts. The first one ended JUST as I was pulling up to my site - so I easily set up my tent - and even had enough time to check out the area.

 Home sweet home!

Then the rain. So much rain. So, I made my dinner and hung out in my tent for a couple hours. When I left to go to the bathroom, I realized it had stopped raining and totally cleared up! Sweet! Another hike it was!

Dinner of champions - re-hydrated macaroni & cheese and pink wine!

I slept so well, I snoozed my alarm for over an hour. I love camping.

My next day was full of "oh! That's not far off the path, let me go there!" and RAIN!

Started off with wanting to get the GSMNP stamp in my National Parks Passport... well those are only at visitor centers... and I was on the butt end of the park... that was an hour plus detour.

Then there was a bunch of rain that kept me from going anywhere near the speed limit.

Then, I wanted to go see the Stones River National Battlefield. On the map it looked JUST south of Nashville... well... it was... as the crow flies... but as the car drives, it was more like 2 hours out of the way... oh well...

THENNNN... I wanted to experience Arkansas on some level! Hello! This is my first time here! So, I spent a half hour at the visitors center. Then another hour eating dinner at this most fabulous restaurant that served everything AK (cheese dip and fried pie anyone?!). Then, just to round out the day, I wanted to stay in AK.... so here I am... 11:30 at night, hopped up on sweet tea.

I only hope tomorrow is as wonderful as the last 48 hours.