Road Trip 2 , Day 1, Tuesday 5/4/10

TUESDAY


NL woke up with a Zen attitude.
Ommmmmmm. Feel the Zen?

We'd take our time packing, not get nuts and get to our first stop (Flagstaff, AZ) whenever. We had our reservation at the wonderful Radisson (you'll remember from our first trip).

The weather was going to be great, and whatever we couldn't fit in the truck, we'd get when we came back in the summer.

We hauled everything out to the curb to try to fit it all in our rigs. It became clear quickly, that we had too much stuff for our trucks. Plus we needed to save some room in the backseat of Ned for my sister, Celia...

NL, Mama Maye & Celia
...who we were picking up in Albuquerque, NM and taking with us to OK to see our family. So good thing we had already decided it was going to be okay to leave stuff behind. Just as we started to play "Sophie's Choice" with our stuff, NL's cousin, Rachel, came jogging up. Not kidding, she was out for a run and stopped by to say good-bye one last time. Turns out, Rachel is a master packer. Seriously, she could win a game show with this skill if there was ever a show that involved packing skills.

She took a look at the boxes, bags, cases, etc., still sitting on the curb and went to work. Another gift of amazing timing... Rachel got everything in the trucks with the exception of a couple of cases of wine, which went back in the cellar, and two coolers. Looks like Maeve is ready to host a party at the clubhouse. Thanks, cousin! There's a cocktail or three with your name on it in New Orleans.


James packed to the gills.

During our Monster Truck Pack-a-Thon, another moving truck pulled up and parked in front of our house and began to unload "Maeve's house" into ours. Talk about timing. As Maeve orchestrated yet another move we put the last of our stuff in Ned and got ready to say good-bye AGAIN. In the chaos of move and sleep deprivation and joking about being the Judd's on their farewell tour which is still happening (NO JOKE), we had neatly avoided any real and final good-byes with Maeve. And then it was upon us -- while Ned was idling and movers rolled furniture back into the house, there was a tearful good-bye. We mean a get down and sob in the front yard for the world and neighbors to see. But then this probably wasn't nearly as interesting as most of the stuff that has gone on at the "Clubhouse" in the last 4 years. But those are stories for another time filled with and are for mature audiences only.

We jumped into Ned and glided the rig away from the curb, down the block and around the corner -- without running over the curb, we might add.

So, after a couple of rough starts and 3 hours behind schedule we were finally starting our adventure. Wooo!



The first day of our drive, was the same route we took on our mini move a couple of months ago.


It's Miller Time somewhere.

The Pink Kong -- still guarding Victorville along
the I-10 for all God's creatures who dare to be different.

Thank God we're not going there.

We're goin' to the bayou!!!






This place seriously needs a drink of water.

And voila! The Colorado River!







Aaaaaa-rizona!! Not sure that's right.


Oh, thank God we made it to the giant golf ball.





Got some driving to do.

We were looking forward to our stay at the Radisson in Flagstaff, AZ, which we had road tested on our last trip through. Great beds, room service and easy parking was in our future. This time we had no rain or snow, but we did not count on being their after dark (3 hours later this time....). Hot Tip for those of you traveling to Flagstaff in the future and land on a Tuesday night - the town effin' closes down at 10PM. Including the hotel bar and room service!! When it appeared that we would be there 10 minutes after 10PM we called to inform them and plead for wiggle room. However, the night desk clerk was less than helpful. Instead of assuring us we'd be fine, or taking our order or suggesting ANYTHING helpful. She just kept repeating the information.

We squealed into the Radisson at 10:05PM only to find the restaurant and bar manager turning out the lights and closing the kitchen. We couldn't even negotiate a salad. She was very sorry, and wondered why we didn't call in our order in advance. At this moment the months and weeks leading up to the move, the lack of sleep, and basic road weariness hit us like a ton of bricks. But rather than go postal we just shut-down. We shuffled to the front desk, with the very kind and helpful restaurant manager on our heels, to confront Miss-Information. When it became clear that there was no food to be had at the Rad -- the phone book came out and the local restaurant search began. The ONLY dining establishment (and we say that loosely) open after 10PM in a town full of (our beloved) Applebees, Chili's, Coco's, and assorted steak houses and restaurant chains was Denny's. Too tired to drive another inch, we called a cab to go 3 blocks. Which BTW the cabbie turned into 6 blocks and a 10 dollar fare.

There's a Denny's in our Burbank neighborhood that has served us well over the years, so how bad could it be? Awful. That's how bad. It was the Zombie Denny's, really... 6 tables were occupied at the late late hour of 10:30PM. A table full of teen punks and punkers who were avoiding going home.

A date that had gone on too long and
there was nothing left to say to each other...

Two gamers who were hopped up on coffee
talking too fast and too loud...

Another road weary family...

Some employees ending their night...

And us.

We opted for breakfast -- how could they wreck breakfast, it was how they made their empire.

What we got was a slightly more gray-ish version of this picture. Apparently, the breakfast "chefs" only work at breakfast time. We took a couple of bites, asked for the check and opted for sleep vs. sustenance.

Another 10 dollar cab ride (transportation now costing more than our meal) and we were in the room. The travel God's had one more trick to play -- our sleep number bed was broken! Oh cruel world. We were forced to sleep on the number of firmness/softness chosen by the last guest in room 211, which was like four hundred.

On the bright-side, we got to sleep more than 3 hours for the first time in a week... We woke refreshed and were greeted by the lovely Kelsy at the front desk who sent us on our way with a cheerful and efficient attitude. She redeemed the Radisson for us.


Thanks, Kelsey!


We were ready to head to Albuquerque, NM. Wagons, Ho!