Lazy day...

Today was a very relaxing day. No deadlines for us to meet, no towns that we had to get to, and no state lines we had to cross. Because of that, we didn’t even get up until 8:30am! It was so nice….

On the map we found a town by the name of “Hector”. That was just too good to miss, so we marked that as our first destination:


They had a hardware store named after us:


A pharmacy:

A football team:


Our own café:


And even a Presbyterian church:


We had to get a (family-1) photo in front of city hall:

After that we drove though the Ozark Mountains, and admired the scenery. For lunch we stopped at a cemetery. Weird, I know, but the neighborhood was quiet:


Someone forgot the can opener, so that meant we had to figure out another way to get to our tuna. My first idea was a shotgun, but dad had better ideas:


Then we decided that we would slowly make our way through the backwoods of Arkansas, on our way to Memphis. One of the downsides of backroads are that you never know who is going to be one them. In this case, we got stuck behind a school bus, which stopped at nearly every driveway. That took awhile:


Coming down out of the Ozarks there were lots of signs warning of steep grades, and other such hazards foretelling the end of the world. Dad gritted his teeth and mentioned something about there might as well have been a skull and crossbones on the sign:


We kept waiting, and waiting, and waiting, for the steep part, but this is all there was:



Yep, they think to much of their downhill grades in their state, our driveway is steeper.

After that, we crossed into Tennessee:


Driving through Memphis we saw very odd things. A pyramid:


A large stone egg:


And the house of Elvis:


Supposedly, Elvis was downtown, playing cards with Bigfoot, and the Loch Ness monster, but we were in a bit of a hurry to get to dinner….

Monday night means one thing, Dancing With the Stars is on. Trip or no trip, that is something that can’t be missed, especially the semi-finals! So, we had to made dinner quick, and this is what we chose:


So, pulling into the RV park, we settled back with a few burgers, and relaxed. It was a good day….

Later.

On this day....

...absolutely nothing happened. Yep, that pretty much sums it up. Hopefully we will slow our breakneck pace down a bit, and then I will have more interesting things to report, but until then there are just not very many interesting occurrences.

We left Gallup this morning. Oh, there is one interesting item, Nic is now terrified of Gallup, NM. He is convinced that it is inhabited by aliens, or something, because on the main road in town, which is only a mile long, he saw eight coin laundries. Yep, that is what he said. I told him that they must be a front for the mafia, and do a lot of money laundering, but he looked at me like I was crazy. Anton said the people liked to be clean. We didn't take the time to look into it, so your guess is as good as ours....

Let's see what pictures we can dredge up. Ah, here is one. The kids are required to write about each day that happens, as a type of mini-blog, (minus my witty remarks, and Matthew's cool pictures). Here is a good example of their writing:


In an attempt to find a church for tomorrow, we needed to find an internet connection. If y'all remember from trips past, that can take some doing, and this was no exception. For some very odd reason, this exact spot was the only one where I could connect, one foot in either direction, and it was gone!


For lunch, Mom and the girls cooked quesadillas, while driving down the road. Fast food just takes on a whole new meaning.

Towards mid-day, we crossed into Texas:


With that, we saw lots of wide open spaces:


And a gigantic cross, which they claim is the largest in the Western Hemisphere. All I can say is, how big is the one in the Eastern Hemisphere?!?!?:


For the end of the day, we decided on Shamrock, TX, partly because they advertised a pool. Well, they had a pool....


The kids were quite disappointed.

While driving through town, we saw an old gas station that looked like it stepped right out of the the Pixar movie Cars. Take a look, what do you think:


When we talked to the very nice lady who ran the RV park, she told us that this town was one of the places that the Pixar people used for modeling Radiator Springs. Since it was bypassed by I-40, this town really as dried up to nearly nothing.

After dinner at a "neon" roadhouse:


The boys decided we would get a little exercise, and walk back through town, and let the rest of the family catch up with us. Matthew decided to get some artistic shots, and this one had to be posted, simply because of Anton's Shakespearean pose:


In order to get to the church we decided on, we have to leave at 7am, so I am going to grab a shower (one thing that Wal-Mart parking lots do not actually have), and call it a night. We'll leave you with another of Matt's great sunset photos:

Later.

Galloping to Gallup....

6am came early, and we quickly packed up, battened down the hatches (literally), and then hit the road. Before getting on the freeway, we sniffed out the closest donut store, and grabbed a bit of breakfast. When on the West Coast, we are a little more willing to find donuts, knowing that as soon as we get a few hundred miles east, there will not be a decent donut to be found, as all the small shops have been driven out of business by the evil conglomerate, Dunkin’ Donuts. Those of you who actually like DD, please know that you have been lied to and cheated. This is a real donut, and it was made fresh that morning, on location:


Thomas, that was also your donut, since we know you like sprinkles. The picture is going to be the best we can do at the moment.

In our quest to take the shortest and fastest route East, we headed for Tehachipi Pass, and through the Mojave desert.

As has become tradition, we took a picture of Hector Road:


Because of how early we were up, I took a nap, which lasted about four hours. This was my exact view when I woke up. Bex scared me to death!


Not quite sure what went on while I was sleeping, but when I awoke, this is what was going on in the back. Looks like fun!


I would love to show you pictures of all the interesting and beautiful views we saw today, but that would take too long. So, I will give you the one shot that sums all the gorgeous scenery:


Yep, that pretty much says it all.

Despite the lack of view, there were a few other items of interest. Like this flowering red plant, of which Matthew said 15 times to mention that he took the photo, and I told him that because of his pestering I wouldn’t mention him, so I am not….


We also saw the Arizona border. Nic, as usual, stretched into the front of the RV, so he could claim to be the first in the state:


Right over the Arizona border the gas priced dropped by a $1 a gallon, there was much rejoicing in the wallet of my father:


We also saw a tank, and the boys wanted to see if they would trade us for the RV and boat:


I drove the mid-day shift, since Thomas isn’t here. (I miss you THOMAS!!!!!!!) This is pretty much what I saw, for 300 some miles:


Mom wanted me to put a photo of myself up, despite my protests that as the writer, I was not required to do so. Of course, as the writer, you can do anything you want to the photos, just before posting them:


A rare shot of Dad, with little Miss Sara:


Sara does find ways to amuse herself, during the long drives:


By the end of the day we made it across all of Arizona:


In the town of Gallop, where claimed he had an abnormally strange desire to conduct a survey of some type, we ate at a Mexican restaurant, knowing that anywhere East of New Mexico, it might be hard to find good Mexican. (Chevy’s doesn’t count….)

They have BEAUTIFUL sunsets in this part of the world:


For the night, we are bedding down at our old faithful. When you really think about it, Wal-Mart is really the only store the United States actually needs, since you can get everything there! Then we would never have trouble finding a place to park the RV….


Tomorrow, we are going to see if we can make it past Oklahoma City, which is about 700 miles away!

ROAD TRIP!!!!!!!

With the commencement of the newest Hector Family Road Trip, which we have christened “God Bless the Broken Road ‘09” (which just happens to be the theme song we have chosen for the trip), I have been reassigned to my normal place as the trip chronicler. Hopefully we can manage to keep this up to date, and that will mean more photos, with less wordiness. My apologies to those one or two people who like reading the words….

Brief outline of today: It was necessary for me to work this week, so I came down to the Valley on Monday, while the rest of “La Familia” stayed home and finished the packing of our 65’ RV/Sailboat combo. The plan was that they would leave a bit after dad got home from work, at 10am, but you all know that was never going to happen! All the last minute stuff was packed, and they headed out at 4pm! Thomas will not be joining us until later on in the trip, since he has to work, but he will fly out and meet us on the road, in about two weeks. Thomas, we miss you already!!!!!

Picking me up in Modesto, we bade farewell to Grandma, who so kindly snapped this photograph for us right before we drove off:

The trip does not start until all crew members are aboard, so the trip officially started at 5:45pm. Our first stop? J.C. Penny’s of course. Don’t all people start their vacations there?

So, we are now driving down our favorite highway: Hwy. 99. We have no idea where we are staying tonight, Nic is already complaining about being hungry, dad is behind the wheel, and the radio is blasting country music, all is normal…. So, sit back, and enjoy the reading, I’ll do my best to keep it interesting; that is never hard in this family….

Alright, I am back with part two of the first day. Because of our late start we didn’t get very far. Restaurants are a big part of our trips, and we often remember towns we visited, just from where we ate. This time, we went to Farnici’s, in Chowchilla, CA. Food was ok, but the service was not great, with Nic and I performing the water glass filling duties. The boy’s gave it a 4.5 out of 10.

For the night, we are bedding down on the side of the road, near a hospital. We got the boat all ready for sleeping, and then headed for the hospital:

This was taken after sneaking into the emergency room to use the restroom:

Matt and I just walked a couple of blocks to the local Denny's, to post this. We love wi-fi!!!

That brings us up to date. We are going to be up early tomorrow, and seeing how many miles we can travel in a day….

Later.

Logged by: BFH