Saturday, February 20, 2010

Road Trip: Toronto to Winslow, Arizona


Monday: Toronto - Dayton, Ohio. Winter storm south of Detroit. Crawl to Dayton. Stay at Dayton Airport Holiday Inn, booked 0n Priceline. A smoker's paradise.

Tuesday: Dayton - Rolla, Missouri. Eleven cars and trucks off the side of the highway, including tractor trailers, including one that had flipped on its side; one SUV was bottoms-up. Stayed at Drury Inn, booked directly.

Wednesday: Rolla - Oklahoma City. Celebrated birthday at Chili's Tulsa with the Monroes. On to Oklahoma City and the Oklahoma Renaissance -- extraordinary property awarded at a deep discount on Priceline.

Thursday: Oklahoma City - Santa Rosa NM. Travelling along I-40 at 75 mph. Life is good. Stayed at a tired Best Western Adobe in Santa Rosa. Booked on Hotwire. Had hoped we would be the Holiday Inn Express down the road.

Friday: Santa Rosa - Winslow, AZ. Yes, that Winslow. Couple of early-morning major accidents. Morning sun? Early-morning ice on the road? Inattentive driver? Must. Stay. Alert.

Staying at the extraordinary, historic, La Posada; dining at the adjacent "destination restaurant" The Turquoise Room. Plan to stand on a corner and buy a Route 66 CD at the store across the street. "It's a girl, my Lord, in a flatbed Ford, slowin' down to take a look at me". One of the all-time great lyrics.

The La Posada is a former Harvey House hotel with an AmTrak at its front side and Route 66 at its back; you just don't get more American-historic than this.

If you come, plan on spending as much at the Restaurant as you do at the Hotel. If you can only have one meal, make it breakfast. Two, breakfast and lunch.

Saturday morning. Sinuses draining in the dry high-desert climate. I know, I know. Too Much Information. Just want y'all to know that arriving in Arizona from points north and east has its consquences.

Heading over to snowy Flagstaff and then south to sunny Phoenix. Fifteen bonus points for the first person to spot a saguaro cactus.

Nothing beats a road trip.

Hope you enjoyed my brief travelogue.

And that's the way the desert-bound-Ball bounces.


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"... nothing intellectually compelling or challenging.. bald assertions coupled to superstition... woefully pathetic"