Bloomington, Saturday night

We have arrived in Bloomington IL, and finally also seem to have an internet connection that works!

Part of the way today, we drove on a different routing of historic 66, one that bypassed Springfield. We came upon a very pleasant country fair in the little town of Elkhart, IL. One of the things going on there was that ice cream was being made with a little engine-driven machine.

Tonight we will go to the game, and then we will start the final leg home tomorrow (Sunday) probably going by the gravesite in Sycamore. We did buy some flowers that could be placed there.

Barbara's birthday

September 30th is Barbara's birthday. She would have been 64--same as me now. I hope we can find a way to honor her somehow.

Friday AM

Woke up here in Joplin, me earlier than Connie. Probably the best night's sleep I have had, though. Much less cough/breathing difficulty.

We don't intend to push down the road very hard today. There is a restaurant in Springfield MO on 66 that we hope to visit. Then we expect to travel north through the Ozarks, hoping to find a pretty route.

It has been really hard to use the computer! Between problems of its own, and then also problem's caused by the hotels' security systems, I haven't been able to get on email!

Our trip is nearing its end. Connie says that is always very hard for her.

Thursday

We drove across almost the entire state of Oklahoma today, and the corner of Kansas that is clipped by route 66. Now we are in Joplin MO.

It was an interesting drive, and the short segment in Kansas was especially nice. It is so amazing to think how many people drove all the way to California, on a narrow strip of pavement, in cars that were so much less reliable than ours are now.

Tomorrow night probably we will be somewhere over by the Mississippi.

Wednesday night

We are at the "Northwest Inn" in Woodward OK. We got here on Route 60, which did go through "cowboy country." Lots of cattle in huge pens. Some oil wells (a few). In Texas, we saw Halliburton's trucks! Spooky--even more so than the UFO stuff around Roswell.

This is kind of off the beaten track. Route 66 and also the interstate are quite a bit to the south. But we will intercept 66 tomorrow, and follow out a porition of it that we missed before.

One of the main sights for today was the Cadillac Ranch, near 66, which is a bunch of cars half buried in the dirt!


Re sleeping. I'm still not doing really well, and have a cough, etc. This morning, I went back to bed after a light breakfast and slept until 10:30 or so. That helped!

Anyhow, Connie and I are trying to take it easy, as best we can.

Tuesday--two weeks on the road

Tonight we are in Hereford TX, which is the center of cattle activity in the state. We saw many large feed lots as we left New Mexico and approached here, going through Roswell NM, the flying saucer headquarters, and Clovis NM, where Buddy Holly recorded Peggy Sue. Another interesting industry we saw was the center of pistachio growing in New Mexico, just outside of Alamagordo NM.

Now we are on US Route 60 (which runs south of 66). Very likely we will also follow it much of tomorrow, up into Oklahoma.

Roswell

Today we should pass through Roswell NM, famous for flying saucer sightings. Now, seeing the proximity between White Sands and the airbase there and Roswell, my guess is that most of the flying saucers were unusual or secret aircraft. But it will be fun to look around a bit and learn a bit more.

http://www.iufomrc.com/incident.shtml

White Sands

Today we came south and visited the White Sands national monument. It is a spectactular desert landscape!


Tomorrow we will travel northeast, really starting "back home."

computer troubles

The connection here at the motel is fritzie, and all of a sudden my computer froze. Fortunately I have a "backup" with me, but I am really not sure that I will be able to handle email or blog postings very easily. If you don't here from me, that is the reason.

Over to Albuquerque

Today we drove from Gallup to Albuquerque, following the old 66 route much of the way. It is such a pleasure when we can get away from the interstate!

Part of what we went through was a winding rock-lined road that included "dead man's curve." It was totally lovely, and seemed perfectly save to us now.

This is the fourth time we have cross the continental divide.

Tomorrow we expect to head back south, to White Sands, which Connie's son Paul thinks we will really enjoy. We are free to take some new routes, because we have covered nearly all of 66 out to the Painted Desert, with the exception of a section near Kansas that we skipped in order to see Fayetteville Arkansas, where my parents met.