Of Ice and Men

With the entire world closed, it looks like it may be awhile before I can do any traveling. With that in mind, I’m re-posting from my original blog. This section follows me and my son's trip from California to Washington DC for a temporary assignment. 

Day 5:

We slept in a little today, did not get up until almost 9 am. We woke to a drizzling New Orleans morning. We went to the French Quarter in search of breakfast. At one point, I said something to Kenny about not seeing any real eating establishments on Bourbon St. Kenny pointed out that there were several strip clubs, a brothel or two and bars galore. He also pointed out the gentleman losing his breakfast in the street. As he put it, Dad, we’re in the middle of the freaking red light district at 11 in the morning, what do you expect to see?

New Orleans

We left the Big Easy and headed North East. On the radio the disc jockey kept going on and on about the horrible weather. They announced all kinds of businesses and schools that would be closed today and tomorrow. It started to rain a little bit, but was nothing to get real concerned about.

As we moved out of range of that station, we switched to another station that kept talking about Snowpocalypse 2010. Kenny and I both were thinking “ you must be kidding.”

Later, once the sun went down, we realized that the roads were turning into a sheet of pure ice. We ended up driving at about 20 mph for several hours. When we approached one of the several accidents sites and realized that a police car had run off the road, I told Kenny it might be time to stop. We looked for a place to stay, but there were no hotels along that stretch of highway. I have to say, it was one of the more scary drives I have had.


We made it to Georgia and the roads instantly got much better. We made it to the hotel at a little after 12 pm. Tomorrow we should complete the last leg of our journey and arrive in Alexandria.

Texas Legends, Flat Tires and the Big Easy

With the entire world closed, it looks like it may be awhile before I can do any traveling. With that in mind, I’m re-posting from my original blog. This section follows me and my son's trip from California to Washington DC for a temporary assignment. 

Day 4:

We got up at a decent hour, considering the time we arrived in San Antonio. When I took the first bag to the car, I noticed the driver’s side front tire was low. I asked at the desk and they directed me to the nearest gas station. For some reason I had a tough time getting air into the tire, but we got it filled and went to the Alamo.

I had been warned repeatedly not to get too excited about the Alamo. All of my friends who have been there let me know how small the site is. Even with the warnings, I was amazed at the scale of the site. Now, you have to realize, most of the fortifications have been destroyed, and the Ripley’s Believe It or Not “museum” and all the other businesses around the current site all used to be part of the Alamo. That said, I still was in awe at the thought of what transpired on that piece of land and the effect on the American experiment.

The front of the church at the Alamo

We left the Alamo in a slight drizzle. I had looked closer at the tire, and decided to take the car to the nearest Sears and have the tire replaced (I had noticed some cracks in the side wall). We checked the GPS and headed off to the nearest Sears store. Unfortunately, it must have closed. We checked again and headed to the second choice the magical GPS provided. We found this one pretty easily. I told the clerk I wanted to replace the two front tires on the car, and we headed over to the adjacent mall to buy a couple of CD’s to listen to when the radio stations failed.

San Antonio's famous river-walk, sans water.

We looked around the mall for about 40 minutes and headed back over to the auto center. As we approached the auto center, we noticed the car had not moved (the clerk told us it would take about one hour to change the tires). We went inside and heard the clerk tell the mechanic that he had 35 minutes to finish up our car. Without a word, we walked out and went next store to “Freddies” for some chili fries (which by the way I highly recommend).

After about 30 minutes we went back to the auto center. We went inside to the waiting area, which has a view of the service bays, and I immediately noticed they had removed the back tires from my car. I went out to the clerk and asked him what they were doing. He told me, they had decided my rear tires were worse than the front tires and were replacing them instead. Needless to say, I expressed my dismay at the total lack of common sense they displayed. In the most polite way, I can assure you.

I asked the dumb shit what they could do to make up for the fact they had completely ignored what I asked them to do. He told me that he could do nothing except charge me full price for all four tires. After they finished, and I had paid, I asked DS if the manager was in. He told me the manager would be in the store in about eight days. He said the assistant manager was unavailable (which was funny, because there is a picture of the Asst. Manager in the waiting room and we saw him several times, he was working with a person from their alarm company on the alarm system). So I asked for contact information on the regional manager. Amazingly DS was suddenly able to refund part of the cost of my tires and he gave me credit for the remaining wear on the tires they removed.

After the great tire ordeal, we left San Antonio, and headed to New Orleans. Because of the delay leaving, we landed in Houston during rush hour, which added a little time to our trip. Amazingly it was the first heavy traffic we had seen in four days. We did not arrive in the Big Easy until about 11 pm. We tried to check into the Marriott, unfortunately, there are about four Marriott’s in a few blocks. We were in the JW Marriott, across the street from the one we tried to check into. Turns out to be a very nice place.

The view from the room at the Marriott

After checking in, we asked at the front desk where we should eat, they suggested Daisy Dukes across the street. Great choice, first because it’s open 24 hours, second, because deep fried breaded shrimp rule. Now its time to get some sleep. Tomorrow we are expecting to hit some bad weather for the first time since leaving home.

Aliens, Big Caverns and Long Drives

With the entire world closed, it looks like it may be awhile before I can do any traveling. With that in mind, I’m re-posting from my original blog. This section follows me and my son's trip from California to Washington DC for a temporary assignment. 

Day 3:

Woke up this morning in Roswell, New Mexico. Roswell looks like just about every other small to medium town in the mid-West. In fact, we noticed that most of the towns we drove thru are laid out the same. Main Street, city hall in the center with a park in front and business’ all around. The big difference in Roswell is the businesses around city hall all have an Alien theme. Also, as Kenny pointed out, the whole town smelled slightly of Methane. We shot a few pictures and went in search of breakfast.

We finally found a restaurant (not fast food) the next town south. Not bad, a little family run place. As we started to drive again, we discovered the source of the gas smell. There are hundreds of cattle ranches and dairies just South of Roswell. That solved one mystery, but still unresolved was how the can of gravy got into our luggage; I suspect extraterrestrial pranksters provided us with that sample of the finest of liquid refreshments.

We drove for several hours on a two-lane highway nothing but cows and oil wells on either side of the road. Finally we came to Carlsbad. We decided to take a side tour to the Carlsbad Caverns. Turned out to be a good idea, the caverns were really interesting.

The thing that impressed me the most about Carlsbad Caverns was the US Forest Service employees. Every one of them said hi to us and asked if we needed anything, or if we had any questions. The real star was the woman who helped us at the ticket window. She asked if we had any kind of discount cards, we didn’t. I mentioned to her that I should have one, because of my VA disability. She asked why I didn’t have the card, and when I explained that I haven’t been able to find out how to get one she gave me the paper work and we filled it out on the spot (Every time I asked the Forest Service they said I had to go to the VA, the VA said the Forest Service had to help me). I now have a lifetime pass to all of our National Parks, Yea!

From Carlsbad, we drove to San Antonio, Texas. We knew this would be the longest leg of the trip, but I thought it would never end. We finally arrived at the hotel at 11:30 PM. Now to get some sleep and tomorrow head over to the Alamo.

Gunfighters and Ghosts

With the entire world closed, it looks like it may be awhile before I can do any traveling. With that in mind, I’m re-posting from my original blog. This section follows me and my son's trip from California to Washington DC for a temporary assignment. 

Day 2:

This morning we were up early and on the road around 7 am. We started down the 10 freeway and made a detour to Tombstone. Now, anyone who has ever met me should know my fascination with the “Town to Tough to Die.” When we got there it was still early and very few of the shops were open. Turns out there is only one gunfight each day at the OK Corral, and it’s not until 2 pm. So we shot a few pictures and headed over to Bisbee.

The Famous Bird Cage Theatre

The Office of the Local Newspaper, the Tombstone Epitaph

I had driven past Bisbee 20 years ago when I was stationed at Fort Huachuca. Didn’t stop, but I really liked the way the town was built into a ravine. Today I wanted to go into the town and see the Copper Queen Hotel. The Copper Queen was featured on a episode of “Ghost Hunters” one of my favorite shows. Only got to see the lobby, the folks working didn’t seem too friendly, so we left.

The Town of Bisbee Arizona

The Haunted Copper Queen Hotel.

Spent the rest of the day driving to Roswell, New Mexico. Got here about 9 pm, hope to spend a little time looking around before heading to San Antonio tomorrow.

And So It Begins (again)

With the entire world closed, it looks like it may be awhile before I can do any traveling. With that in mind, I’m re-posting from my original blog. This section follows me and my son's trip from California to Washington DC for a temporary assignment. 

Day 1:

Today we reached Tucson Arizona. Not much of a story. We left home at the crack of noon, after Pauline fixed us breakfast. The first attempt to leave the house was a trip to the end of the driveway. As soon as we reached the first turn we realized we did not have the gps Kenny bought me for Christmas. We still have not found that one, so we took Pauline’s. Kenny and I drove pretty much straight to Tucson. Re-examining the next few days plan, we have come to the conclusion we needed to make some changes. So tomorrow night we will stay in historic Roswell New Mexico. As Mao said, “No Plan Survives Contact with the Enemy.” And so is goes.

Me Standing Next to a Saguaro Cactus on the Way to Tucson

Prep (a look back at my 2010 trip across the US)

With the entire world closed, it looks like it may be awhile before I can do any traveling. With that in mind, I’m re-posting from my original blog. This section follows me and my son's trip from California to Washington DC for a temporary assignment. 

Pre-departure:

It's a new year, and I'm ready to take off on a temporary assignment to Ft. Belvoir, VA. My son Kenny and I will leave Sunday for a five, maybe six day trip across the United States. The weather channel is telling us there may be some real trouble ahead, but we plan on pushing on despite the dire warnings.

More to follow.

Epilogue

With the entire world closed, it looks like it may be awhile before I can do any traveling. With that in mind, I’m re-posting from my original blog. I created the blog to keep family informed while I took my mom on a cruise to Greece.

Epilogue:

We had big plans for our final day in New York before heading home to SoCal and our normal routine. We were going to visit a couple of museums, see Central Park and just spend the day at a leisurely pace.

Unfortunately, mom woke up not feeling well and spent the day in the hotel (thanks to the Courtyard Marriott, Times Square for letting her stay in the room well after the required check out time).

I wandered to the Metropolitan Museum and wandered Central Park with and took some pictures.

One of my favorites is of the Gapstow Bridge in Central Park. That photo is the basis for one of my paintings.