Friday September 22, Day 66

Starting trip meter: 13380
Starting time: 11:30 AM
Starting Location: Lost Wages, Nevada

Coffee in our room, uploading the web site, making a few phone calls and checking out of our room filled the morning. We waited in line forever to cash in our few credits and then had to go back to the hotel desk and start the check-out process all over again to apply the credits. We finally, got on the road late morning.

Drove past Lake Mead and across Hoover Dam. The land just southeast of the dam has little to no vegetation, and it resembles what we think the planet Mars must look like, nothing but dark red rocks as far as you can see. Once beyond the dam a few miles, the land flattened out and it was nothing but desert most of the remaining day. The only area that was sceneic was around Flagstaff.

The entire day we were buffeted by extremely gusty winds that at times would actually move the van around in the lane, and made the driving a little stressful. We found a place to spend the night in Navajo, AZ.

Today’s weather: Strong winds, clear and cooler. High low 90s/Low 60s
Miles driven today: 403

Saturday September 23, Day 67

Starting trip meter: 13783
Starting time: 8:00 AM
Starting Location: Navajo, AZ

We drove almost 500 miles today as there aren’t many things to look at nor reasons to stop between Navajo, Arizona and Amarillo, Texas. The highlight of the day may have been the 10 planted Cadillac automobiles in a field just west of Amarillo. We found Wal-Mart in Amarillo where we bought a roasted chicken for our dinner. Near the Wal-Mart we found a nice in-town campground and we spent the night there.

It was cold and spritzing rain all night but we were nice and warm in the van.

Gasoline is getting cheaper the further east we go. We paid $1.439 here in Amarillo.

Today’s weather: Windy and cool. High near 60 and low near 50.
Miles driven today: 497

Sunday September 24, Day 68

Starting trip meter: 14280
Starting time: 9:30 AM CDT
Starting Location: Amarillo, Texas

Started down route 287 toward Fort Worth. It was overcast, with occasional showers. The only thing of interest was a tree every hundred miles or so. We did see some camels in a field, which seemed very appropriate based on the arid conditions that they experience in Texas.

We arrived in Fort Worth at Brenda (Barney’s middle daughter) and Terry’s home, around 3:30PM. Barney’s grandson David and his daughter Alyssa were also there, and along with Brittany, we all went to Joe’s for our long awaited spaghetti dinner.

Spent the rest of the evening visiting and watching the Olympics.

Today’s weather: High 57/Low 47
Miles driven today: 375

Monday September 25, Day 69

Starting trip meter: N/A
Starting time: N/A
Starting Location: Fort Worth, TX

We got an early start this morning by having breakfast at Braum’s, then stopped and visited with Tom Claxton, a long time friend and caught up on all the recent happenings. From there we drove to see Barney’s great grandson Tyler, who just turned one year old, and has been undergoing chemotherapy. He entertained us royally, and it was wonderful to see him looking so well. What a great little guy!

In the evening, all of the family got together for a pizza party. The only ones that could not come were Barney’s brother Pete and his family. That was a total of 9 adults, 4 grandchildren, and 1 great granddaughter. Since Erik’s 16th birthday was the next day, we had him blow out candles on the pineapple desert and we all had a great celebration.

Today’s weather: Cool, clear and sunny. 64/48
Miles driven today: 0

Today’s Pictures

Tuesday September 26, Day 70

Starting trip meter: N/A
Starting time: N/A
Starting Location: Fort Worth, TX

The aroma of bacon drew us downstairs to find Terry preparing a breakfast fit for kings and queens! He also fixed eggs, biscuits and gravy, juice and coffee. He loves to cook, and we love to eat.

Went to Costco to sign up for their promotional free membership. It is a wholesale club that we have seen everywhere we’ve gone on our trip, including the farthest reaches of Alaska, but did not use because of our lack of membership.

Stopped by to see Francis and Jeannette Beaty, who are the friends that helped us so much with their experiences and tips in planning our trip to Alaska. We wanted to thank them personally for all of their help, and to share our wonderful times with them. We had a really nice visit sharing the places that all of us had been to, and were happy to see them looking so well. Hello Ed Knezek, thanks for keeping the Beatys informed of our travels.

No trip to Fort Worth would be complete without going to Don Felipe’s for fajitas. We have never had any that can compete with this small but mighty Mexican restaurant. They were as wonderful as we remembered, and we will always be looking forward to the next time.

Today’s weather: Beautiful! Sunny and mild. 70/52
Miles driven today: N/A

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