MIA

Oh yes, I have been MIA for a couple of days. I have been at my sisters house in Springfield Mo. On our first full day we took at trip to Branson. We ate lunch at Dick Clark's AB Grill then took a ride on a DUCK! Can't wait to see the photos? Me either... Problem is, I put fresh batteries in the the camera before we left... made sure I had everything I needed in my camera bag... set it on the floor in the middle of the family room so i would be sure to see it on my way out... Which is exactly where I found it when we returned to the house! I have given you links if you're interested. FYI... the food was great and the tour was humorous, informative and had many photos ops... dang! dang! dang! Oh wait! I did take some pictures with my camera phone....

Yesterday we relaxed around my sisters house, I picked my 15 year old niece up from school and took her shopping at the mall. She really wanted this pair of Van's with little green frogs on them, but they were out of her size... she ended up with a pair of Heely's... My sister made a great pork tenderlion dinner, we all loaded up and went to a nearby park so Celeste could practice on her Heely's...

Arrived in Lincoln Nebraska tonight!

Update tomorrow.

Chow

Tri State Drive

Whew! What a day! Three states one day! We left Texas this morning in questionable weather conditions...



It rained so hard we had to pull over a couple of times due to lack of visibility.
We drove all the way through Oklahoma and into Missouri. All the photos I took were taken out the window going 70-75 mph, so quality is lacking... but this is what I have!
In Texas....



More rain in Oklahoma



It's beautiful but does the road ever end?



This lake in oklahoma went on forever... fingers in every direction.. we crossed it three times. Sometimes on one side of the road it would be blue and on the other red, sometimes the other way around... then sometimes you could see the color change in the middle of the lake



In Oklahoma we came across this...



Then a few hundred feet down the road a trooper sat in the divide with is radar gun....a few hundred feet more.. another sign, and another trooper. Imagine if the CHP did this LOL









and that was our second Wednesday!

Missed a Couple

Oh I forgot to let you see the view from our window here in Seagoville... Check it out!



how about a closer look!



Oh yes, it's the Federal Pen.... nice huh?

Off to luch with Auntie Dee and clan...

Rain, Rain and flash flood warnings..

What Day Is It?

First off I have to let ya'll in a a little secret... all day today I thought it was yesterday and I can't even remember what day I thought it was yesterday... did I think yesterday was yesterday and just forgot about it when I woke up and started Friday all over? Or did I think yesterday was Thursday? I have no clue except at some point during the week I lost a day... what a dork!

We woke up this morning in Quanah.... me paniced because I couldn't locate my blackberry. After seaching everywhere, I finally found it in the car, under the seat. DH had left 3 messages. Last night I was sitting in the lobby updating my blog about the time I call DH and thought I had left my phone in the room, so I sent an email to his office so he would get it in the am.... he doesn't use the PC at home. But I figured when he got to work and checked his email he would understand... not realizing it would be 4 days before he went to work. I even left messages on his voice mail at work.... 12 hours with no communication and he went out and bought a brand new car... ACK! I have been talking himm out of this car for over a year now.... this will teach me to go away!

So on the way out of Quanah, I see this



Can you beleive it? Drive through liquor store in the tiny little town!

We head out to Seagoville (Dallas). Our first stop... about 15 miles, in the next town, to by souvineers... lots of yummy pecan items! Then we stopped at a Bowie's Restaurant and had the best service and yummiest soup. Further down the road we saw this:





Camels in Texas? What's up with that?

Then these on the side of the road brought back a childhood memory... maybe I'll share it with you another time.... or better yet... ask me and I'll tell you... it's really rather humorous... about a couple of little girls and these:



We alaso saw some of these.... I have no clue what they are... I just thought they were pretty!



We arrive about 4:30, we get settled (this is when I realized it was NOT Friday but in fact Saturday)My mom calls her sister who comes by to visit:



We went to Denny's for dinner then back to the room.... I gotta tell you.... I'm ready to be home! I miss the comforts of my own home... the solitude I have there... I'm tierd of living out of my suit case... can I get a plane home?

We will stay here again tommorrow the head out to Misourri. I figure we will be there Monday night. My mom wants to stay 4 days max.... I want to stay... uh.... well less than that.... I am sooo home sick

That's it for today... Saturday.....day 5!

Small Town - Big Hearts

I was afraid we were going to have to high tail it out of Quanah before we did what we came here to do because of a lack of rooms... As it turned out, we got to stay...
I got up early, put on my best overall jumper and went bear footed out too the lobby to speak with the manager.... a good'ol boy who moved here to take care of his mother when she became ill and now that she has passed is counting the days until he leaves next month... anyway... I talked to him about vacancy percentages and overbooking percentages.... he gave me a sly smile as the chew washed across his teeth and said "well, I think I might be able to find something for you" . And he did! So today we headed out to the cemetary looking for my moms grandmother.... I was surprised at how large the cemetary was for the size of this town... I believe there are more people in the cemetary than in town. Oh and t here was a huge grave side funeral going on... must have what was left of town! LOL...








Once at the cemetary we discovered the person who kept the plat map and all the records was in town at City Hall... So we headed back to town. I had to chuckle when we pulled up. It would seem city hall is now housed in the old John Deer / farm supply building. We easliy found the person we needed to speak to and she was more than happy to help. She looked up the information, copied a plat map for us and marked it on the map. So we headed back to the cemetary... Sure enough therre she was Josie E. Kidd, burried in the Leonard family plot. Josie's daughter Viola had married in to the Leonard family and Josie was burried right next to Viola and had a beautiful headstone


While tooling around t he cemetary I also took these shots among others:





Once we leave the cemetary, my mom decides she wants to drive around town to see if she can find any familiar sites. My mom hasn't been here for 66 years... so I'll let you guess how many familiar sites she found! But we did meet this adorable couple



Pat has lived here all her life... and they knew some of my mom's kin.

we also went to the courthouse to see if we could find an exact date of death formy mom's grandmother since the headstone only has the year on it. I spoke to the sweetest gal named Tina in the county recorders office. She wasn't able to find any information on Josie, but did fins marriage information for one of my moms Uncles and told be if she still had the original certificate she would give it to me. She went in the back and came out with three bundles of yellowed certificates, unfortunately none for JL and Ruby Kidd... how cool was that of her to look and offer!



This has got to be the friendliest place that I have ever visited. Every single person we see makes some acknowledgement to us, whether it be a wave from across the street or a smile and a hello in passing. And the folks that we have had the pleasure to chat with have been more than helpful, often going far and above what was asked in an attempt to help us. This town is small and getting smaller everyday... but the people have the biggest hearts.

Here are a few more shots from today:



















We did tons more today, but I think I've talked your ear off enough for today... Off to Seagoville, just outside of dallas in the Morning to visit my moms sister... until then ... peace out!

Don't Mess With Texas

Today we drove all the way across New Mexico and the top part of Texas. We have pretty much given up on historical route 66 because when you take the sign off hwy 40... once at the end of the off ramp there is no indication which way to go. We did drive a short distance on a gravel part of it. We stopped at the end of the pavement for a few minutes pondering the gravel and decided.. what the heck it's an adventure... and a rental car! Along the way we saw Pueblo of Laguna

We also stopped in the little Town of Memphis, population 300, where the street were wide and brick... most of the business were closed and those that weren't were housed in old brick buildings that use to serve other purposes. For example the Memphis Hotel, a large grand building is now the senior center, I believe all upper rooms are vacant. And the Masonic building houses a video store.

We ended up in my mom's home town of Quannah Texas population 3032. Another small town. It has one AAA rated motel and you wont believe our luck... they had one room left, it was a double, non smoking room on the first floor. Yippie!

Tomorrow we will check out the cemetery, look around town and see if we can drum up some distant relatives. Since the motel is booked tomorrow, unless the manager is one of those distant relatives, we will head out to Dallas!

Until then...

Don't mess with Texas!

Back Tracking

I told you that i would update you with photos from yesterday and here they are... first, I forgot to tell you that the car we rented on Monday in Napa, Ca had the needs service light come on in it on Tuesday, so Wednesday before we left Flagstaff, we had to take it to the local Hertz place and exchange it for another car. They didn't have any economy cars, in fact, they told the man in front of me that they didn't have ANY cars! We ended up with a Pontiac G6



Photo off one of the balconies of our suite at Little America in Flagstaff



One last photo of cute little Maci before they head back to Phoenix



Ok.. now Meteor City... did I mention that yesterday? Big walled in place with teepee's around and a gift shop at the entrance? The billboards along the road and on the wall advertised woven Indian blankets from $7.77... Inside... the blankets were tagged "Made in China" Hmmm Chinese Indians? I asked the young man in the shop what was behind the wall.... the conversation went a little like this:

Me: Excuse me, I was wondering wha's behind the walls outside.
Him: We live there.
Me: Oh, I thought maybe there was a big meteor Crater or something in there.
Him: No.
Me: Or maybe aliens...
Him: No.
Me: (looking at him very seriously) Are you sure?
Him: Yes.
Not a very talkative fellow.. he was about 16 and I think meteor city was the last place on earth the he wanted to be. Here are a couple of photos:





Then there was the Wigwam Motel. They were booked... can you believe it? And another not so talkative fellow.. this guy older with a bad toupee' It would seem the Wigwam Motel was his fathers invention... his mother lived in Phoenix and he visited her three days a week. I'm wondering who watches the motel when he is gone... Oh did I mention the motel office doesn't open 'till three pm? OK photos:




I think that covers Wednesday!

Day Three

Had a leisurely day yesterday.. didn't travel very far. Visited with relatives. Saw the Wigwam Motel and stayed the night in Gallup New Mexico. Photos to be added later

Day Two

We got a late start out of Barstow this morning... leaving at about 11:30 am. I was going to be a scorcher there today. Mom took the first drive shift again... no tickets today! In fact life was pretty uneventful today as we had family coming up from Phoenix to meet us in Flagstaff. Because we were kind of on a time frame today, we stayed on hwy 40 and only took one Route 66 detour... that was Ludlow.. it looked like this:



Then we stopped in Needles for lunch... Went to Denny's where the gal at the door told us they were temporarily closed because they had no water. We asked where we might find another restaurant in town. The gal started giving directions to a place called the wagon wheel... "turn left over there, go down by Valero..." I'm looking around for a valero and see nothing. She continues. Go under the over pass turn left, go to the (I don't know what) go under the over pass turn left. she is talking so fast I can't understand her and I just start cracking up! I did find it. When we walked in the place was deserted and all the employees were sitting at the counter... Boy life was hoppin' in this town! Lunch was actually good and we were on the road again... I'm driving.... the road looked pretty much like this until we hit the mountains and then lots of straight up....

We finally arrived in Flagstaff at 6 pm... got settled, spent some time talking to my moms half sister Barbara and her daughter Danielle... that was it for today.... Oh I took tons of photos of Danielle's 19 mo old daughter Maci... isn't she a cutie!

We have zero plans for tomorrow, so we'll See what it brings!

So It Begins

Well today was day one of my road trip with mom... I left Yuba City at 6 am, made good time and arrive at mom's in Napa at 7:30... I thought this was a good sign. Once inside mom's house, I found her sleeping... hmmm.. well the car wasn't supposee to be ready until 9, and she appeared to be packed... so I let her sleep... we left for the car at 8:45... the car wasn't ready until almost 10... uh oh.. this isn't a good sign... Did I mention that while doing the paper work for the car I noticed that I had forgotten to put a credit card in my purse? Oh yes.. thanks goodness... for bankcards and plenty of money in the account... ok well it saves me from needing to pay the bill when it comes. Mom chooses the first drive shift... I would have driven 680/580/99... mom choose 12/99... on highway 12 right on the other side of Suisun (about 30 minutes into the drive) this happens


Ok well the only good thing about that was I wasn't driving! We ended the day in Barstow... on the way we stopped at Safeway in Lodi to pick up some Gallo salami for my sis in Missouri because she can't find any there.. then we stopped in Chowchilla to visit the cemetery and discovered this is what happens in perpetual care when there is no family left in the area to visit the grave.

We did get a commitment to have it fixed... make note to follow up....
So at 543 miles we made our first gas stop. As many times as I have driven hwy 58, I don't recall ever seeing California City... but that's where we were... the good new was ... 10.5 gallons... the not so good news... WIND... can you see how windy it was?





Off to Flagstaff tomorrow!