After the storm

We'd been watching a storm brew up all afternoon, and with a couple good rolls of thunder, the skies opened up and it hailed like a son of a gun! We took shelter under some trees by the side of the road, and watched in awe as barren rocks turned into raging waterfalls. You can see one of them on the far side of the lake behind me, and the fog rolling off the lake is due to the temperature falling from 65 to 45 degrees in about 30 minutes. Brrrrrr!

Yosemite

Yosemite

Just a quick pic or two from yesterday. It took is forever to get through just the first part of the park cause we had to stop at each and every lake.

For those who didn't really believe we just stopped for gas...

Sampling the goods

And if museums aren't your fancy

You can just go straight to the Area 51 brothel itself.

(for the record, this was actually a gas station... It's gets more and more multi-functional as you peel back the layers)

The kind of ecclecticness...

You just don't find in Northern KY. How often can you pose your kids with alien cutouts, at Area 51, in front of the Brothel Museum?

Road tripping!

So, not like steve and I haven't both spent enough time in cars for a lifetime here lately.... But we haven't had an adventure that didn't involve gutting a house for quite some time. So, we're headed to Yosemite for a long weekend! Here's to sunsets I southwestern Nevada!

Reciprocity

Shockingly enough, it really does make a good sun hat

Daily Lowes run

Blinds. And a lampshade. And silliness.

Breaking in the table

We love the outdoor table, Mom! Our first dinner on it: steak and taters!

Seeing double in Winslow AZ

Every single exit surrounding Winslow had double exit signs like these three; I just couldn't get pictures of all the rest.

I'm guessing they were on a "use it or lose it" budget and really couldn't come up with a better use of taxpayer money?

Seeing double in Winslow AZ

Seeing double in Winslow Az

Yesterday morning

This was what greeted me yesterday morning. Beautiful, low ceiling, and a damp chilly morning that felt just like Easter.

I completely enjoyed my few hours in Albuquerque, but didn't so much enjoy leaving. It seems ABQ, lime so many other places, loves giving you one and only one highway sign. In this case, I got one sign to get on I-20 S, then, a mile later, discovered that the tiny little road crossing the rickety bridge was strangely enough, the unmarked ramp to said interstate. Traffic was a mess, and crossing 4 lanes to get turned around was not an option. So, I drove on, hoping to find a calmer spot where I could perform the U turn my GPS was madly insisting on. A few miles down, I managed it, and even worked my way into the proper lane to get the ramp he second time. Only to find that ramp was inaccessible from my current direction. Apparently, there were three ramps (at a minimum) and NoW the southbound ramp was on the same side of the road as the northbound. I. Of course. Was again four lanes on the wrong side.

It took me 25 minutes to get off that stretch of road and out of ABQ and the GPS very nearly launched through the windshield.

Sometimes, that thing just needsto learn to shut up.

I really liked the rain clouds in this one

That rain, however, did drop the temps and I thought I was going to freeze to death!!

Spanish churches

Posies

In a Spanish church courtyard

Out of the "mid" and into the west

Gotta say, it was a joy to get out of Oklahoma. It didn't take more than 20 minutes past the state line of New Mexico for the landscape to really start changing. There were fields and fields of black eyed susans and they sure did look amazing against that blue, blue sky

Welcome to Route 66

Apparently, the theme of this trip for me is going to be "bizarre signs". Here's what was in the first bathroom I stopped at along Route 66. Judging from the filth along the sink, dating from circa '58, I think I'll take my chances with the wet ones in the truck. Thanks Mom!! :-)

And here's the other missing picture

That should have gone with tonight's second post.

Guess my phone's as tired as I am.

G'nignt

My phone is forsaking me...

Here's the picture that SHOULD have gone with tonight's first post...

I wonder if this helps the water pressure?

If you can't see the picture too well, this water tower is leaning enough to put Pisa to shame. In fact, as I drove by, I noticed that the back two legs were entirely off the ground.

No love lost for Oklahoma

It's just really, really depressing when you look at your gps and realize that it's going to be 243 miles before the next turn.

Another Oklahoma moment of brilliance

Arc welding directly beside the fuel tank of a running utility truck. Yup. That seems like a good idea to me too.

But thank goodness they don't make a cell phone call while they're pumping gas. Nay, "real" gas.

...this.

What does this even mean?!

And what happens if I selected the other, unlabeled 87 octane? (yes, there were 2 on the same pump)

And what happens to the percentage of gasoline I'm getting when I exceed the 3 gallons? I needed 18 gallons - that's 5 gallons for a whole lot to go wrong...

Truly bizarre.

Only beat by the truly painful experience I had next door at the McDonalds, where I tried to get a smoothie. The girl who took my order wanted to follow protocol by writing my name on the receipt so she could call me by name when the order was ready. I told her "Tracy" and she asked me to spell it. Which I did. She then asked me to repeat it. So I repeated those 5 letters. She then said, "ok, T-R-A-C... Then what?" In amazement, I Spelled my name for the third time. Wondering why in the world it mattered if it was misspelled on a piece of paper she was going to throw away; wondering even more why she was worrying about it cause, I kid you not, I was the only person in the restaurant; and wondering why we were still debating this when my smoothie was sitting right there in front of me.

Sent from my iPhone

Peculiar

So, I stopped for gas today in a tiny little town in OK. This sign was out front of the Shell station. Granted, I haven't watched tv or really read the news in about a month, but, is there a "fake gas" scheme that I'm not aware of? And since the neighboring Mobil gas station doesn't have one of these signs, what are they pumping up, exactly?

I decided it would be Shell. I got out, ran my credit card, and was greeted with....

Sent from my iPhone

Driving in Memphis!

Well, technically, out of it...

Arkansas is buggy

So, I really should have taken a picture of the windshield before I finished cleaning it.... Last night when I rolled into the hotel, it was all I could do to see through the bugs. This is the side view mirror, which is still fairly impressive!