Two Major Acquisitions - A Pearl From My Dinner and SPICY KETCHUP

We had a good visit for a few days with family.  It's nice to visit family, but I'm beginning to wonder just what those boys are doing when they're out in the field.  We've gone out there for the last three years so Bruce and his cousin can go deer hunting.  So far, guess how many deer they've gotten.  That's right.  A solid ZERO.  It's not that there aren't any deer.  I've seen plenty.  In fact, this trip, I had to dodge a pretty solid buck while driving down the road just in front of their house.  When his cousin's wife and I were heading out, we had to dodge a doe and her twin fawns.  Of course the boys wouldn't have taken the fawns and wouldn't have taken the doe out of season, but there were plenty of bucks around.  That's okay, though.  I had a good time with the family, and Bruce seemed to have a good time with whatever he and his cousin were doing when they told us they were hunting!

But, the weather caught up with us again, and after about a week visiting, we woke early to sleet and freezing rain.  So, we high-tailed it out, heading further south.  This time, once we got into Mississippi, it did actually start warming up, and that sleet turned into rain, all the way to Biloxi.  Bruce likes to gamble, and he used to enjoy gambling in Tunica.  We went there a couple of years ago and were highly disappointed.  His preferred hotel hasn't been kept up, and there aren't many people on the tables anymore.  Not to mention, they took lobster off the buffet!  So, his favorite place now is Treasure Bay in Biloxi.  I generally have a good time on the beach or hanging around the lighthouse and the carvings in the median.  But, most of the time, it looked like this:

It was chilly enough that I felt sorry for the marathon runners on Beach Boulevard.  The room was nice - even nicer since it was comped, and I could definitely use the down time.  I leisurely did my exercises, slept in and loads of other fun stuff, including take a few trips downstairs and playing a bit myself.  We came out about even on the gambling, so it was basically a free stay.  They also comped us the buffet, which was nice, and I did get plenty of crab legs!  One of our nights there, we went to the a new oyster bar on the beach.  Still too cold to eat outside, but it was great to get some oysters on the half shell, and the etoufee wasn't bad, either.  Even better was when the cook came out and brought me the pearl that came out of my oysters when he was opening them.  He didn't want me to break a tooth on it.  It's just a tiny chip, but it's the first time I ever had a pearl in my oyster - as far as I know!  Who knows.  Maybe more of my oysters have had pearls, and the cook kept them!  No way to tell.  I can tell you that at Bacchus Oyster Bar on Beach Boulevard in Biloxi, MS, they bring you the pearls they find in your oysters!

For several years, I have intended to tour the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies, but they always required an appointment, which I never managed to be able to get with the limited time I was in town and the lack of prior planning in most of our travels.  They take in animals that have been harmed in the wild (such as sea turtles) and rehabilitate them for release.  Some of the animals they have cannot be rehabilitated and cannot be released.  Recently, they have built facilities that are more accessible to the public and have opened for visitors without appointments.  Obviously, the animals that can be released aren't on display because they shouldn't be acclimated to human contact.  There weren't a lot of people there, so the docents or other workers had plenty of time to talk, and we heard some cute stories of some of the animals.  For instance, the dolphins like to play with visitors.  It was a game they played before, but staff quit falling for it.  Visitors are new, so they're fresh meat.  The dolphins will hang out at one area of the pool, close to where the people walk by, making movements that encourage the people to get close.  Once you're close, they make a great big splash!  They think it's loads of fun, and before the dolphin show, the guy sitting in front of us was their latest victim.  Fortunately, the docent in the small animal tanks (starfish, crabs, other small fish, coral growth tanks, etc.) had warned us of this.  It was a small, but well-maintained facility, and they say that the income from expanding the visitors areas and gift shop will be a major funding benefit for the rescue and rehabilitation efforts.  The cost of the new build-out has almost been recouped, so they are almost at the point of applying those profits almost exclusively to the rescue and rehab efforts.  I know many of my friends are against animals for amusement, but many of these places do more good than they do harm.  Here are a few shots of Ocean Adventures Marine Park, the public access area of the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies, Inc.

The next day, we set out for our journey westward.  We stopped at a Whataburger, because I hadn't had Whataburger for decades.  Apparently, they no longer sell fries by the pound, like they did in Texas in the 1980s, but they have something even better!  SPICY KETCHUP!!  Some would say I don't get out much, but I found spicy ketchup to be something special that I had never experienced before!

It was dark by the time we got to Houston, so no pictures.  We stopped for the night in Katy, just on the west side of Houston.

Our Lunch Takes a Train Ride

We got out of Texas safely.  Thankfully, the panhandle isn't nearly as wide as the rest of the state!  It was getting dark by the time we crossed into Oklahoma, so we stopped for the night in Elk City.  In Oklahoma, when they build a loop to either go through or bypass a city or town, they don't give it a different number.  So through Elk City (and I have since learned several other cities in Oklahoma), there are two I-40s.  One is the interstate.  The other is the business loop, which goes through the business district of Elk City and tracks the old Route 66.  Our hotel was on the I-40 business loop/old Route 66.  We got off I-40, drove through town, and back on I-40 business loop to the hotel.  When we left the hotel the next morning, we pulled out onto the street, went straight through the light at the corner, and were magically on the non-business loop I-40.  It was a very unique interchange, and we've done some driving.

As we passed Oklahoma City, we waived good-bye to Route 66 because we were continuing on I-40 to Tennessee.

The drive was uneventful through there.  At one point, it was my turn to drive, but the road just rocked me to sleep.  After 15 minutes, I had to pull over and have Bruce take over.

We stopped for lunch in Little Rock, Arkansas, at the All Aboard Restaurant and Grill.  It's lunch on a train - with a twist.  Instead of getting on a train and eating in the dining car, your lunch gets on a train, which drives around a track high on the wall, and delivers your food to you.  It's really awesome!

It's decorated with in a train motif and has tables with those children's wooden trains that have magnets for the cars to attach together for the kids to play on while waiting for their food.

You can even get a hat for your li'l engineer!

The food was excellent, too.  Bruce had a burger, and I had a catfish po' boy.  My po' boy was awesome, and Bruce liked his burger, too.  No hot pepper to ruin his lunch this time!  We were driving so we didn't check how "good" and "better" the beers are, but you can get a "good" beer for $3 and a "better" beer for $3.75!

A little over four more uneventful hours later, we pulled into Bruce's cousin's place in Tennessee for a rest and visit before heading further south.

Running From the Cops in Texas After Buying Meth in Albuquerque

After a good night's sleep, we woke to a winter wonderland in Albuquerque.  Not as heavy as Flagstaff, but still flurries that stuck and made the roads slick.  In fact, the interstate was closed in the direction we were headed. The elevation of Albuquerque is about the same as Seligman, Arizona, so that shot my elevation theory of the weather we were experiencing all to pieces.  It now appeared the colder weather was just coming along for the ride.

It was also here that we met "Buttercup".  While in Albuquerque, we met a friend who lived there.  She gave us Buttercup to keep us company on the road.  I'm not known for my green thumb, but the tag gave care instructions, and the internet said the biggest problem was over watering.  Considering how good I am at neglecting plants, I decided we might just get along pretty well.  When we checked out of the hotel, I tucked Buttercup in in the back seat and wrapped her base in a blanket to help her stay warm.

Because the interstate was closed, we decided to have a leisurely breakfast at Cracker Barrel before heading to our first sight of the day.  Bruce was excited.  He loves Cracker Barrel, and since they don't have any locations in Washington, he hasn't had a meal from there for over a year.

After breakfast, we went in search of that commodity of which Albuquerque has become known, thanks to Walter White and Jessie.  So, we headed to the Old Town, to see the major distributor, The Candy Lady.

The Candy Lady sells fudges and multiple other types of candy (including some that may be considered x-rated in some circles).  In the back room, Walter and Jessie stand by as you inspect and package your special candy.

We picked up a few dealer packs and some smaller user packs.  It's actually cotton candy flavored rock candy.  There's so much more to see in Albuquerque than Breaking Bad stuff, and all we saw was the Candy Lady, so we'll definitely be back.  Because of the snow, we missed what I was looking forward to as one of the highlights of the area - the musical highway - which is a section of Route 66 that still exists parallel to the interstate just east of Albuquerque.

By the time we finished with Walter and Jessie, the interstate was reopened, so we got back on the road, heading east.  We didn't make Amarillo by morning, but we did get there in the afternoon.  Just before getting there, we pulled off the interstate and onto the frontage road for the Cadillac Ranch.  We had picked up some spray paint just so we could add our contribution.

Cadillac Ranch sits probably a little over 100 yards off the road in the middle of a dirt and grass/scrub field.  When we got there, it was still spitting snow and the path to get to the cars and around them was a giant patch of mud.  Knowing we'd be back, we took a few pictures out the window and went on down the road.

At the first cross roads, there's an RV park that is definitely capitalizing on the ranch.  According to information on Yelp (which you have to believe because it's on the internet!!), the RV park is not owned by the same guy or formally associated with the sculpture garden in any way.  But, they make their presence known and sell spray paint in case you forgot to pick some up before coming.  There's supposed to be a gift shop in there, too, but we didn't stop except to take pictures.

By the time we got to the other side of Amarillo, it was still cold, but the snow had stopped.  The ground was still damp, but around the Slug Bug Ranch, it hadn't been churned up nearly as much as at the Cadillac Ranch.  Plus, it's right by the road.  We got out here and used our spray paint.

Be careful if you stop here, the abandoned gas station on the corner is apparently haunted!

Soon after we got back on the interstate, we came across some police cars parked on the side of the road.  It was my turn to drive, and in keeping with the move over laws which are probably in place in Texas, too, I moved over the left-hand lane and slowed down to right around the speed limit.  There was hardly any other traffic on the road at that time, so I slowed down a little more, and we did some rubber necking.  Just as we were getting up close to them, one of the officers reached into the back seat of his SUV and pulled out a shotgun.  I hit the gas when he pumped that bad boy up!  The last thing I wanted was to be in the cross fire if people started shooting at each other!  Especially after seeing the Candy Lady in Albuquerque and having our stash measured out in little distribution baggies!!

Hoping we had gotten far enough away, we pulled of the interstate again close to Grooms to check out the Leaning Tower of Texas.  The story goes that back in the day, there was a little sundries store and restaurant, and people were passing it by.  The owner decided he needed a gimmick to get people into his little diner.  Once he got them in, he could make some sales.  So, he took some concrete and raised the legs on one side of his water tower next door.  Worked like a charm.  People stopped to tell him his water tower was about to fall over, and while they were there, they bought something, even if it was only a cup of coffee. The diner has since closed and been apparently abandoned, but the water tower still stands - or leans.  Definitely a sight to see, but as we were sitting in the parking lot of the abandoned diner, a policeman in an SUV started driving down the frontage road, so we high-tailed it back on the interstate and on down the road to Oklahoma City!

Standin' on the Corner at London Bridge and Eating Roadkill

Contrary to the song, London Bridge is NOT falling down.  It was, at one point, but they dismantled it and moved it to Arizona.  That was our first sight of the day after spending the night in Lake Havasu City.

And yes, that is Santa's sleigh boat being pulled by low flying reindeer.  There was a Christmas boat parade the night before.  We saw it.  I tried to get some shots of it, but we had to park too far away for me to be able to get the camera to focus right on the lights in the dark.  I got a decent video of the Christmas lights on the bridge, though.  Bruce is pretty awesome when I'm trying to get certain shots or videos.  Traffic wasn't really light (though it wasn't bumper to bumper), and he drove over that bridge multiple times.  Something distracted me every - single - time.  This one is the best.  At the end, I was distracted by the boat parade on the lake.  After that, it was all over for driving back and forth over the bridge!

Lake Havasu City, Arizona, is a neat little town that was built around London Bridge.  The developer bought the bridge and had it reassembled to his new real estate development to attract tourists and home buyers.  He was soundly roasted for this scheme, but apparently, he had the last laugh.  The town appears successful, and people (like us) do come to Lake Havasu City to see London Bridge!  There's not much else there, though.  It's one of those towns where everything looks the same, and signs can't be high enough to read.  It's a beautiful lake, and we talked about coming back sometime to play on the lake, but we probably won't.  On the way out of town, we found the local Wal-Mart and got a new SD card.  When I put it in my camera the camera worked!!  So happy it was just the SD card and not the camera itself!

Our next stop was Seligman, Arizona.  We stopped for lunch at the Roadkill Cafe.  This place (both the town and the cafe) will require multiple stops to do it right.  Let's start with the food.  That's how we did it when we were there.  The menu is awesome!  In fact, it's so awesome, I had to pick up a copy of it to take home.  I had the No Luck Buck, which is just a really good French dip sandwich.  Bruce had the Surprise Burger (an Ortega Burger).  According to the menu:  "This burger recipe was smuggled over the border by Mexican bandidos so long ago nobody can remember.  Served on a fresh ciabatta roll, this Black Angus burger is covered with a big Hatch green chili, Havarti cheese and pico de gallo.  Feel free to ad some fresh jalapenos if you dare.  (Rolaids sold separately)."

Big Bad Jerry Bruce Adams has gotten rather complacent with the mild jalapenos we've been subjected to in Washington recently.  He decided to just take a big bite of that green chili!

Can you tell how that worked out for him?

I tried to get the tears that were welling up in his eyes from that hot pepper!  He wasn't able to eat anymore of the burger.  Nibbled on some fries, but mostly, he watched me eat and took his burger to go!

The whole place is really neat.  There is a room off the dining room that houses the bar (the OK Saloon) and gift shop.  I had a bite of Bruce's burger and ate my French dip.  Bruce ate his for dinner.  Highly recommend the place.  We'll be stopping by here again!

After lunch, we explored a little bit of the town.  There are loads of interesting places here, including the Snow-Cap Drive-In, which was closed for the season.  Lots of places to eat and stay, including this tipi!

As we pulled out of Seligman, one of us satisfied from lunch, the weather turned once again.  We went from shirt sleeves to snow and cold in Flagstaff.  What a difference about 1,500 feet of elevation can make!

Back down about 2,000 feet, it was a beautiful day in Winslow, where we stood on the corner for a little while.

On the corner across the street, the one from which this picture was taken, has a store that sells Eagles paraphernalia.  It also plays Eagles music all the time so that it can be heard throughout the square.  They have a squished penny machine outside the door.  Bruce had to have all the pennies!!

And I had to have a bathroom, so I went in to get change.  The guy gave me change, and we searched through all of his pennies to find the shiniest ones.  When I got the change, he pointed to the bathroom, where a tip jar was conveniently placed on the back of the toilet!  I used them both!

While I was actually standing on the corner, some locals came by, and I'm sure it amazes everyone, I spoke to them.  Winslow is the one place I have ever been where they say they love their tourists.  Not only do they say it, but they practice that.  The Route 66 logo is painted in the middle of the street on the corner.  As I was taking pictures, traffic would stop until I put my camera down.  Granted, there wasn't much traffic, but I did stop two cars while I was taking pictures.

There are all kinds of things along the interstate marking Route 66.  Interstate 40 was laid parallel to Route 66 in some places, but in many places, Route 66 was replaced by the interstate.  That makes the portion of I-40 from Santa Monica to Oklahoma City packed with kitschy statuary and things.  We had to stop near the Arizona/New Mexico line to see the dinosaurs eating an Indian village!  It was the Painted Desert souvenir shop, which was cute as could be.

After checking things out here, we ran from the dinosaurs all the way to Albuquerque!

Heading South to COLDER Weather and the Bagdad Cafe

Just days after getting back to Washington from China, Bruce and I took off by car for Tennessee.  I did have an appointment with my physical therapists between times.  I came clean to them that I had not done my exercises the whole time I was in China.  One of the first nights, I started to do them.  I pulled out the red Theraband, hooked it around my foot, laid on my back with my arm at my side, and started lifting my arm, trying to get it to lay on the bed over my head against resistance.  I was so tired, I fell asleep after a few repetitions, not even a full set.  I woke up a couple of hours later with the loop of the band around my ankle.  My physical therapist took measurements, and we learned that in spite of not doing my exercises, my range of motion had increased while I was overseas.  Most likely, it was because of how much I was using it.  I was putting weight on it, steadying myself for all of those steps, using it to lean on Chrissy while trying to keep up with the group, getting assistance from group members who helped pull me up the steps to get on the bus, reaching for things, and many other normal, daily activities.  My therapists also gave me "permission" to rest a few days before starting them back up.  In fact, they encouraged it.

So, in keeping with "resting up", a day or two after my appointment, Bruce and I loaded up the car and headed to Tennessee.  Of course, this trip was a much slower pace.  We had right around a month to get to Tennessee and back, wanting to be back in time to spend Christmas with Chrissy.  Because the forecast was calling for snow in Montana and South Dakota, we decided to go south through California before turning east along Route 66 and miss the snow.  Egg on our faces when we hit Mount Shasta!

They were still trying to clean up from the fires in the Shasta National Forest.  Seeing that they were clear cutting and stripping the areas of the burn, I was beginning to get upset.  I mean, yes, you need to clean it up somewhat, but stripping out every bit of the debris would prevent new growth!

I felt much better when we came upon the section where they were replanting in those areas.  Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of that.  In most parts of the Shasta Trinity Forest, visibility was poor and the roads were getting a little slick, and Bruce asked that I keep the camera down so it didn't take his attention off the road.

We made it just south of Sacramento on the first day.  Until Chrissy moved to Washington, Bruce had not spent much time on the west coast, definitely not enough time to get familiar with the fast food places that haven't migrated east of the Mississippi River.  I knew that and took advantage of it.  I suggested eating at the Weinerschnitzel close to our hotel.  The only exposure Bruce has had to weinerschnitzel is the actual veal cutlets on the menu in German restaurants.  He's not overly fond of German food, but he's a good sport and eats German with me relatively frequently.  He mentioned that he didn't think he really wanted anything that heavy, so I told him he could probably get a hot dog there, so he agreed to go.  I thought he was gonna kill me when we went in and he found out it's a fast food place for hot dogs!!

After a good "gourmet" hot dog dinner and a good night's rest, we headed south again.  It seemed the further south we went, the colder it got!  In fact, somewhere between Bakersfield and Barstow, we stopped for gas.  The wind was whipping, the air was cold, and the raindrops felt like they could have been mixed with sleet.  It was miserable!!  It's been a loooooong time since I've felt so cold!

Fortunately, the weather cleared up by the time we got to Newberry Springs, where we stopped at the Bagdad Cafe.

There was a movie shot here in 1987.  It's one of those "day in the life" type pictures, shot in English by a German film maker.  Along with the German actress, it starred Jack Palance and a much younger CCH Pounder.  It won a few awards in Europe, and it's clear that the movie has a much bigger audience in Europe than the US.  I found it on YouTube and watched it for free.  It was better than I expected, and actually was pretty nuanced with issues about immigration, growth of business, relationships, and how to run a coffee shop with no coffee.  They said this was the actual yellow coffee butler from the movie!

I had the Jack Palance burger, which was pretty good, but nothing really special.  I took lots of pictures, but I didn't get to keep more than a few.  It seems the SD card I had in my camera picked that time to malfunction.  At the time, I was just hoping it my camera hadn't broken.  Most of these were taken on my phone, some of them after I learned that the camera wasn't saving any pictures. The food was average with decent portions for the cost.  Aside from having the memorabilia from the movie, the best part was Mike.  I called him Chef Mike, but he said he's probably better known as "Talking Mike".  Mike had a bit part in Erin Brokovich.  He said his boss gets a little upset when he talks about that movie more than "Bagdad Cafe".  He was planning to go home for the day because there wasn't any business, but then we came in and ordered food. We talked about the movie and the area, and some other folks came in.  Some knew of the movie.  I never quite figured out why the others stopped.  It really doesn't look like much from the outside or the inside.  I would definitely recommend watching the movie and stopping in for a cup of coffee or even a bite.  Here are some of the shots I did get, including us with Talking Mike.  It was such fun, we'll probably stop again sometime later.

After a late lunch, we headed on down Route 66 toward London Bridge.