RT - Day 28 (Nevada to California)

Today I made the final trek home!

I slept sooo good last night at the hotel! OMG...that bed was incredible! The room was cleaned to perfection and worth the $175. It felt like a special treat. And another amazing breakfast in the hotel. I miss home cooked meals and this breakfast felt close to one. I had a cheese omelet, some cranberry juice and like 7 sausage links! hahaha! I milked that breakfast for every penny of the $175.

Then it was all Nevada, all the way to Reno. I was surrounded by mountains, but not a lot of life. People and towns were very sparse and the drive itself was like going in and out of "fight or flight" mode because of the one lane highway. Every time I wanted to pass a truck or a slow car I'd have to play chicken with the oncoming cars. I'd see my opening, switch lanes, and put my foot into the floor and be going 90mph real quick. My heart raced with adrenaline every time and then calmed down when I was back on the correct side of the road. It was an exhausting day for that reason.

Here are some pics of my drive...just keep scrolling. :-)

FYI - This is a Nevada "forest" I suppose. There were NO TREES on this leg. And those cacti looked barely taller than me. And I'm only 5'2". Okay...maybe there were some 6' in there, but that's it.

SALT! Just this little spring of salt!

WATER! Just this little (okay gigantic lake) water in the midst of a desolate drive.
Of course though...no trees or shrubbery around the lake. Or boats...no boats or evidence of people. So weird!

Goodbye Nevada...Hello California! I have finally made it all the way up through Nevada and am approaching the NV/CA line. I'm am totally not kidding you with this picture below. Seriously, I'm like one or two miles form the NV/CA border and this is seriously the view! Nothing in Nevada to trees and greenery in California. It was the weirdest thing!

Nevada on the right - California on the left

Hello!!!! This is beautiful California! I missed this. Donner Lake is such a beautiful lake.

More gorgeous driving in CA, but there is a lot of smoke in the air. I'm on I-80 and getting close to the Alta and Colfax area.

The backroads to my parent's house. One of my favorite drives.

The sun was orange...I'm nearly home.

Hey...that driveway looks familiar!

YES!!!!!!!!!!!! A bed of my own!!!! The most beautiful of beds I've seen in a while. And I get to unpack!

The drive was long, but I got home at 4:00pm to see my Mom, Dad and baby Morgan. We kissed and hugged and about 10 minutes later jumped in my parent's car to drive to Erica and Sean's for dinner.

Hello Family! I love you and missed you!

Look at that sweet little face. :-) Who doesn't want to come home to that?

We just got back from Erica and Sean's and I am sooo exhausted. I can't wait to crawl into a familiar bed and wake up to a familiar home.

What a trip! Holy moly...what a trip!
XO,
Kel

RT - Day 27 (Santa Fe to Las Vegas)

You guys...I woke up and said "I think I'm ready to go home now". I packed, got dressed, planned a full day of activities in Santa Fe and drove to get started with a backup plan of leaving if I wanted. It took forever to find a place to eat because I just can't stand paying for parking to get a decent breakfast. I think they should have 1 hour or less spots. That way spots continue to open up throughout the day. I digress...

I went to breakfast (OMG...another amazing breakfast!) at Dolina Café & Bakery. This croissant breakfast sandwich was the most delicious breakfast sandwich ever! Aside from the freshly baked croissant and fluffy eggs, they put on a layer of this Mexican cheese that made everything melt together. Add bacon and a huge serving of avocado and sprouts...dang...it was work the drive around the city to find this place. My waitress was the sweetest and the entire restaurant was small, but had family style seating so the atmosphere was friendly. One man even brought in his art. Apparently he was a regular. I totally get why. I would be too!

Oh yea...and the spiced hot chocolate was so divine!

Then I went to the Meow Wolf museum and sat in the parking lot (free - LOL) and looked at the long line of people waiting. Nope...I'm going home. The reviews said this place was an amazing, interactive art experience, but I'd rather do something like that with someone I can talk to. I'm a talker y'all. You know that. :-) So...I left and drove back to the Airbnb to say goodbye to J and get the rest of my stuff. J was so sweet and gave me a refund for that night.

I was on the road by 11:00am and put the pedal to the metal.

Bye bye New Mexico!

Thank goodness for car display signals. I pulled over to check my oil and I was OUT of oil! It took a full two quarts. Oops.

Hello Arizona!

It was a lot of the same landscape, but the first place I saw signs for Indian reservations and stuff.

Indian City welcomes me!

 

And a lot of this.....emptiness.

Another display of Indian stuff. It was kinda weird and felt SUPER touristy and out of place.

I drove for 9 hours before finally getting into Nevada. The sunset was beautiful and the roads were clear. I hadn't made it to Las Vegas just yet, but I was nearing.

 

Then to my hotel. A whooping $175!!!!!!!!!!! Geeeezzzzzz! I was used to an average of $35/night with Airbnb. FYI - Vegas was SOLD OUT and I drove an extra 60 miles just to find a hotel. The hotel was overbooked and I got there in time to get a room. They overbooked by 40 rooms! I felt so bad for the Front Desk Agent who had to turn away tired travelers at midnight.

As for me, I grabbed some food, ate in silence in my room, then went downstairs to go sit in the hot tub with the cool breeze around me. It was a perfect way to end a very long day. I can't believe I woke up in Santa Fe this morning and am going to sleep in Las Vegas.

Tomorrow is another long drive, but then I'll be home. I'm ready to be home.

Night!
Kel

RT - Day 26 (My Day in Santa Fe)

Enjoying Santa Fe...MAN! It's chilly!

My car didn't freeze, so that started my day out as a plus! I ate breakfast at a teeny tiny restaurant, was four minutes past my parking expiration time and the Meter Maid must have been hoovering around my car because I got a ticket. Ugg! My $2, one hour parking spot turned into a $37, one hour parking spot. That sucked. Oh well. Part of the typical city driving/parking situation. I hate it when I get tickets and I have no one to blame, but myself!

So I found a chocolate house and ate my frustration. LOL. Just my luck though...as I pulled up so did a small bus full of seniors. About 12 poured out of the bus and filled up the teeny tiny little store. I think it's nice they go on outings and excursions. When I'm old and living in a care home I'll make sure they have day trips to chocolate stores...I'll have to put that in my will for my future children. ;)

This was a little 3oz hot chocolate and a couple truffles. Did you ever see the movie "Chocolat"? Well, this place reminded me of that little chocolate store in the movie. You could see the craftmanship in the product.

Okay - Let's try this parking thing again...I drove around for like fifteen minutes to avoid high parking costs. Went down a couple One Way streets I didn't realize were one way. LOL. But got here. Loretto Church and its infamous staircase.

Here's the story of the staircase in a nutshell...
- The tiny church is built with a choir area in the rafters. The nuns climb a ladder to get there on Sundays.
- The nuns decide they don't want to do this anymore because it's so risky. They need a staircase.
- The church is poor and there isn't much room so they start praying for an answer.
- One day a traveling carpenter shows up and says he will give them a staircase, but doesn't want any money for it.
- He works for 6 months, alone, with only a hammer, saw, and some wood bending tool.
- One day his just vanishes and leaves behind this freestanding spiral staircase.
- The staircase is a marvel to the nuns and engineers for centuries because they cannot understand how this staircase was built and how it could be built without supports.
- It's still a marvel today.
- Some time later though, the nuns didn't like walking up the spiral staircase without a railing so they brought someone in to add railings.
- No one ever knew what happened to the carpenter or how he managed to build this mystery.

I was tired people...so I came back to the Airbnb to take a nap and meditate...OMG...I have to tell you about my host.

SIDE NOTE - Let's call him J. J is so friendly, but he's the kind of guy that gets right up next your face (in the most non threatening way), but just hangs out in your personal space for long conversations. And he never, ever stops talking. He is so smart and knowledgeable about so many things, but man...that man can talk. Not a conversation, just him talking and me listening and nodding. A jolly, organic-looking, chatterbox with the best of intentions. J is 73 and grows his own food at home. Actually, he told me he bikes everywhere and tries not to use his truck so he hasn't been into downtown Santa Fe in months! He's only 12 minutes away via car. Anyway, he had hair coming out of every hole on his head and was odd, and very kind.

Anyway, this was the neighborhood where he lived. Believe it or not, there are actually a lot of homes here! If you zoomed in you'd see a lot. They were all over, but you can't really see them. They all just blend in with the environment.

After I took this pic, I went back for my nap, but ended up FaceTiming with my parents and Morgan for half an hour. They asked, "So what is Santa Fe like?" Here was my answer..."Ummm, well, Santa Fe is like a town that's, ummmm, trying not to exist. It's trying to hide so no one knows it's really there. Hahaha. Really! This entire area is mostly one-story homes all painted various shades of Sand Dune Tan. Even in the downtown area! I saw ONE building that had the audacity to paint their shutters blue. I'm not kidding. Those shutters stuck out amongst the sameness of the city.

I woke up from my meditation/nap/coma in a flurry! I just popped up and realized the day was over and the sun was already setting. I ran outside to the back yard and took a quick pic of the gorgeous sunset. 

View from the backyard. Every house in Santa Fe gets to enjoy these sunsets because it's flat and no one builds two-story homes that would obstruct the gorgeous scenery.

I headed out to downtown for some nightlife. I drove around a bit and then decided the only thing I really had energy for was a movie since the live theatre scene was a little dead. So...I went to the show. At least I was out with people. It was a great theatre. A lot like Sierra Grill Cinemas. It was really, really cold outside. From what I hear the climate can be brutal in New Mexico and now I understand why. I can't imagine what the cowboys were experiencing! Freezing! Did they cuddle with their horses? Honestly, how in the heck could they be warm at night here?

 

Well, I have another day in Santa Fe tomorrow so I'm going to rest up now. This Airbnb said it had a hot tub on the listing...….ummm…….nope, no hot tub. That would have been a nice way to end the night though. However, with the state of this house, I'm not sure it'd be a clean hot tub anyway.

Buenos Noches!
Kelly

RT - Day 25 (Texas to New Mexico)

Hey ya!

Who knew the first place I'd actually be cold would be in Texas?!?!? I woke up to find my car covered in dew and a very brisk chill that lasted all day from Lubbock, Texas to Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Texas was more flatland and chilly weather that carried itself right into New Mexico. It's like the Universe put a large grey, cold blanket over the space between my destinations, with just little peeks at some sky and sun. Other than that, it was a pretty dreary drive.

NEW MEXICO...

Okay...as soon as I crossed the border (at the town of Farwell, no less, and not kidding) New Mexico became the ghost town of forgotten society. I swear to you The Walking Dead could have filmed here. It was that desolate. The general landscape was flat only to be accented by little bursts of trees near ranch houses in the distance. Other than that...no trees, no life, no people, no one.

Hello little tree clump!

Out of sheer boredom I saw a sign for the Billy the Kid Museum and stopped in. I was the only person...of course. I watched a little video documentary and took a "tour" of the stuff from the time of Billy. It was an interesting story and I did get to see his rifle, but other than that...nope. So I drove 2 miles out to his grave site (which had been stolen more than once in the past) and that eeriness of the New Mexico land continued.

It kinda cracked me up that the entire thing was caged from all sides and the stone bolted down. I mean, the place is so abandoned out there than really anyone with a torch could snatch that sucker right up.

THE SUN PEEKED OUT!!!!!!!

Okay, so more driving, more grey and all of a sudden there is this stripe of road that had billboards all advertising the same store (Flying C Ranch). I'm not talking three or four on the right...I'm talking over 25 billboards on either side of the road just screaming at you to pull over for a look. One right after the other, after the other! It was nuts! About a mile out from the store. So, of course I had to stop. It was an enormous, janky-looking warehouse of trinkets and such. The windows were covered in those cheap thin blinds people used in the 80s. Oh dear.

Look at the blinds!!!! LOL

This was from one side looking down and there was a whole other side just as long and with more stuff...and then a freakin' Dairy Queen! Hahaha! DQs are all over the place on this trip.

Okay now, lets dive into the creepiest drive I've ever taken. It was like The Blair Witch Project, New Mexico style. I decided to drive NW-3 through their state park hoping for some trees or something. I saw cacti, trees and bushes and the FOG...dude...the fog was a trip! I drove down into the canyon part and passed through a couple teeny towns with no people, no lights, no nothing! My entire hour long drive on the NM-3 I only passed maybe 10 cars and had no one in front of or behind me the entire time. It was sooooo weird!! Enjoy the pictures.

Hello car!!! I love my car! I just got out and stood in the middle of the straight road before and behind me with not a car in sight and not a whisper of wind in the air...just cold and flat and quiet.

Thus begins the fog...

I pulled over again for my first cactus sighting!

Thus continues the fog...

...down, down, down into the canyon.

In the canyon looking "up?"

And here's a church.

Side Note to NM (aka The Land of the Desolate and Forgotten)
The only buildings that were even nice, at that means they were brick and looked in decent condition, were the banks and the churches. Hmmm....what does that tell you? Literally, the only buildings that didn't look like total shit in these towns were banks and churches. Funny thing about that is they looked really out of place in the desolation and silence.

Last, but not least, I made it into Santa Fe in the evening right as the sun had set after this grey cloud I was under all day. I think these pic are quite beautiful.

 

 

I checked into my Airbnb, which I will tell you about tomorrow...OMG...went out to dinner and had the BEST guacamole EVER and listened to this amazing guitar player. He toured with famous peeps and was in a few Philharmonics. He was jammin' and it was awesome.

I took a terrible picture, but you get the gist. :-)

YUM! Remember that scene from Sex and the City when Samantha is eating gobs and gobs of guacamole while staring at and lusting after her hot new neighbor?...that was me with this guacamole. Holy cow!

My Airbnb host just said he wondered if my antifreeze would freeze in my car overnight. He wasn't sure. Hmmmm...I guess we'll find out.

Night you guys!
Kel

RT - Day 24 (Austin to Lubbock)

Bye Austin! Thanks for the humidity!

So my knee had hurt all morning. Getting in and out of the car sucked! I finally broke down and started on the Ibuprofen. After an hour I could finally forget about the pain and enjoy the rest of the drive.

The drive was pretty boring, as you can see. A lot of wind mills and fracking machines.

Once I got to my Airbnb I could finally put my knee up and relax with a movie after a long day. The bed was soooo comfy! When I started talking to the owner our conversation took a really weird turn...

She is studying to become an RN, but is already some kind of nurse and working in a hospital. Anyway, she talked about 10 minutes on the subject of all the children ghosts that roam the basement halls of the hospital. Apparently, these children run up and down the halls loudly and the patients will call her into their room (not knowing the floor below them used to be the children's ward long ago) and ask her to tell the children to be quiet and stop running in the halls. That's creepy!! Then she goes downstairs and talks to the ghost children to tell them to settle down and all is well again. While I completely appreciate the possibility of spirits and energy realms we cannot see in this physical world, it was a bit of a heavy conversation for a meet and greet. I didn't put that in the Airbnb review though. She was still nice, albeit, a forward conversationalist.

Going to sleep in this comfy bed now. YES! Sleep!
~ Kel