So much to tell and only one post to do
it. I apologize for my lack of posts here especial right near the end
of the trip. The car is still devoid of headlights so the past few
days have been very busy and a little stressful. With all that said
here is what happened over the past couple of days.
We left Albuquerque at the crack of
dawn so that we could have a chance of making it to my aunt and
uncle's house in Palm Desert, CA. From the distance we had to go and
the time of sun light we had for the day it was going to be close if
we didn't stop for meals so the plan for the day was gas station
food. About halfway through Arizona is where the longest piece of
Route 66 began and let me tell you it was fun to drive. When I think
of Route 66 this road is what I think of. The road was secluded had
some curves in it and some hills. At some points it seemed like you
could see forever. We caught a glimpse of the Grand Canyon at one
point along the road and at another point we were trying to dodge
giant tumble weed blowing across the road. I did my best to take as
many pictures as I could but I think the experience is one you may
just have to be there for to appreciate. After winding through
Arizona we rejoined the interstate where the raise against the sun
really began. Unfortunately we followed suit to the rest of this trip
and fell short of Desert Palm by no more then a hundred miles or so.
As a consolation prize we were able to make it to California, the
last state in our Route 66 journey.We had to stop in a small town for
the night and would have to continue our trip early the next morning.
With the help of some mechanically
inclined family members I was able to deduce that the headlight
switch may be the problem. This is good news since it only cost about
$10 and looks simple enough for me to try and swap out.
The next day (Saturday) we set off yet
again at the crack of daw in hopes to make it to San Francisco before
the sunset. Before heading to San Francisco though was something mch
more important in Santa Monica, the end of Route 66. So the whole
plan was San Francisco via Santa Monica, I thought we could beat the
sun today. We got into Santa Monica at 11am where we met my cousin
Matthew at a local diner for some breakfast. It was nice little break
from the road and it was nice to see my cousin. After a little
relaxing we headed down to the pier where the official end of Route
66 is located. It felt a little anti climatic but I did feel like I
accomplished something. We snapped a few photos for proof of
completion and walked around the pier for a minute knowing that we
needed to get back on the road if we were going to beat the sunset to
San Francisco.
We reluctantly said goodbye to Matthew
and to Santa Monica and started our journey north. As soon as we got
outside of the Los Angeles area and started into the mountains it
began to rain and it hit me at that point that driving from
Baltimore,MD to that piont right there that this was the first
weather of any kind at all that I have run into. Not one drop of
rain, snow, hail, or sleet until arriving in California. Well the
rain didn't last long and the further north we got the better the
weather seemed to getbut it was abvious that the raise against the
sun was going to be a very tight finish. The closer we got to the bay
area the more we realized that making it to San Francisco was out of
the question and that we needed a back up plan. We decided on San
Jose as the the best place to stop before losing sunlight and let me
tell you, it was the best decision we could have made. As we pulled
into the parking lot of the train station we had about 5 minutes
before losing all kinds of light coming from the sun, we couldn't
have made it any further then we did. So again we have fallen short
of our planned destination but we are slowly getting closed each
time.
We parked the car for the night and
took the train into Palo Alto where we made up with some more friends
from high school and were able to do some catching up. One of our
friends who lives here in Palo Alto let us crash at his pace for the
night which brings us to this moment. So you are all caught up now.
Like I said, it has been a busy couple of days and very stressful
trying to plan around sunlight feels like being stuck in the wild
west days.
The Route 66 trip may be over but the
road trip continues.. Now the plan is to get into Spokane sometime
Tuesday morning so that gives us 2 days to get that last $100. We can
do it everyone, almost there.
MONEY RASIED:
$900
Thanks today goes out to Jeff and
Rebecca Stuhlmiller for their generous donation.
Somewhere in Arizona.
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