Getting Towards the End

This entry will just catch some of the final follow-up stuff.

Since Breaking the West Wind is going viral on the internet, let me pass on a few instructions for those who are just coming on board.  If you haven't read all of the blog entries, start from the bottom and read up.  I know, it's stupid, but that's the way Blogspot does it.  You may have to click on the November link on the right to get to the first entry.  Click on any picture to get it in large size, then click the back link to continue reading the blog.

This last entry will probably be the last (assuming the planes make it back to Roanoke tomorrow), but I'll be sticking stuff in it, like the pictures we've been taking.

Yesterday, Saturday, was spent returning the truck and getting Ty to the mall to see Santa Claus.  Harry stayed home nursing his cold and watching college football.  Ty spent most of the day as Spiderman.


We took some family photos......

First, the Mike Sellers family of Mike, Amber, and Tyler.......

Did we mention what a lovely home they have in the outskirts of Albuquerque (have we mentioned how hard it is to spell Albuquerque correctly)?  They live in a great, quiet, neighborhood ..................................





We're stealing internet access from some good neighbor.  Mike's hub has a password that's been lost and we haven't figured it out yet.

Dennis has made a real friend with Kokomo the dog - guess which one is Kokomo and which one is Dennis....

And a picture of the boys taken by Amber.....

We did make it to the Al Unser Museum on Sunday, which was a nice experience, one recommended for even NASCAR fans.....

Dennis and the family also went down to Old Town while I stayed with Tyler and nursed my cold.

We're starting to think about getting home and what we'll return to.  Dennis is thinking about cows, Harry about...................

Day 4+ - We're Here!!

We arrived, after 1800+ miles, in Albuquerque about 11:45 AM on Friday.  The ole Penske did great, with the possible exception of the less than 13 MPG (with the windows up).

My nephew, Mike, and his son Ty (pictures to come) were here to greet us as we backed the truck up to their garage with the loot.  They have a beautiful home in a wonderful neighborhood in NW Albuquerque.  After a brief visit, we were unloaded by 2:00 PM and off to a nice lunch at Village Inn.

On something we failed to post:  One of the more interesting characters we met on our trip was our waitress in Tucumcari, NM, on our final night on the road (not what you think).  She is a young community college student who left Michigan with her horse to come to Tucumcari to study rodeo.  She is a barrel racer and goat tier (go figure on that one).  She will be graduating this month and be on the rodeo circuit shortly if she can get her money lined up.  She did a good job waitressing.

Back to our current blog:  On the way from Tucumcari, on I-40 Dennis' wants on this trip were completed.  A guy from Iowa passed us like we were sitting still pulling a 1950 John Deere B restored back to new condition.  Our Penske lost the draft at 75 MPH and we thought we'd lost him - we were needing a picture, but a few miles later when we pulled in to a truck stop in Santa Rosa, NM, there he was still fueling.  So we made acquantence, and took a picture to fullfill Dennis' Christmas wish.

One of Ty's first questions of Grandpa (Dennis) was "where's your girl?"  Hmmmm....good question.  But after a little more investigation it became clear that Ty was asking about Kay, Grandpa's wife.
After the good lunch we had play time with Cocomo the dog, who's energy is unending.  Amber, who was the only one among the whole bunch that was working, finally made it home about 6:30 PM on a Friday evening.  After some visiting, we went to the local Applebee's for dinner.

Everyone sort of slept in on Saturday.  Amber prepared a great back east breakfast (redneck) of eggs, fried potatoes, biscuits, with jelly, and the best coffee since we left home (Beth would have even liked it) - Mmmmmm, mmmmmm.  Even though we had the truck until Monday, we decided it would be a good time to return it, so we declared victory and took it back. 

Nadine, our GPS (I know, it's just wrong to name your GPS), had been a trusty companion on our trip, and she did her job one last time to get us to the Penske return center.  We had developed a positive relationship with the truck, and sort of hated to part ways (Dennis was definitely misty eyed).

We'll add some more family pictures later.  Currently, it's time for Ty to get Grandpa to take him to see Santa Claus and for Uncle Harry to catch up on some football.

Score:  Dennis 2,  Harry 2 - Going in to overtime.......

Day 3 - Breaking Through OK and TX

Minions of followers, a quick update, with more to come.  We are giving our butts a rest in Tucumcari, NM for the evening.  We left Cheecotah, OK this morning, made it to OK City by 9:00 AM and had a wonderful visit of the OK City Memorial Museum.  Truly inspiring. We also hit the Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo, TX, which is not truly inspiring. We crossed Texas and entered New Mexico about 7:30 PM eastern time.  We are in Tucumcari for the evening.  After I get something to eat (already had a nice libation), I'll try to post some pictures and update you on the day.  So stay calm.  We'll be back.

BTW, tonight Quality Inn does not offer refunds for less than 15 minutes in your room. But it does offer a room with a TV remote that works.

Also, note that you can click on any picture (even though misplaced in the blog) and it will come up in full size.

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OK, we're back from great comfort food at Rockin' Y's  Restaurant where chicken fried steak and hamburger steak were abundant.

This morning, we left Cheecotah, OK about 7:00 AM and were at the OK City Memorial about 9:00 AM.  We've been doing whatever our GPS told us, and so far, so good.  She's taken us to all the important places we needed to go.

Upon arrival at the Memorial, we were approached by a guard (after all, we were in a rented Penske truck) who, for about 30 minutes, gave us all the low-down on the Memorial.  It was great, and can't really be covered in this blog.  But it's one of the better museums I've been to and really covers what happened on April 19, 1995.

From there, where we'd stayed two hours and exceeded the time on our parking meter by 60 minutes (no ticket), we continued west on I-40, finishing our trip across OK, and in to the big state of Texas.  But we only went across the top, the panhandle, so it didn't take long.  But as we passed Amarillo, we did stop briefly at the Cadillac Ranch.  Nothing to go back for, but something you're glad you've seen one time.  Another two hours, and we are in Tucumcari, NM, only 3 hours from Albuquerque and the end of our 1700+ mile journey.

Tomorrow, we should be there by noon and enjoy a nice weekend with our son/nephew Mike, his wife Amber, and son Tyler.  We're looking forward to it.

That will complete the breaking of the west wind.  We may do another blog or two, but no guarantees.  Keep your cards and letters coming.  We do appreciate them even if time does not permit us to respond to each one.

Parden the screw-up with the placement of pictures on this blog - it ain't easy.

Dennis - 1, Harry - 1

Day 2 - Travel Day

OK, OK, OK.....we know our fans are waiting on today's update, but you have to give us time to get off the road, into a motel, and start blogging.  So here goes.....

To give you a feel for where we are....our motel had a sign on the front desk that says "If you stay in your room more than 15 minutes, we are unable to give you a refund".  And that is the second motel we stopped at.  We're in Checotah, OK.

Today was a travel day.  We got a decent night's sleep in Nashville.  I awoke to a loud alarm, got up quickly, showered, and headed west on I-40 at about 7:30 AM.  Lots of traffic leaving Nashville, but out of it quickly.  On to Memphis, and in to Arkansas (former home of Bill and Hillary Clinton, some of our favorite politicians) - showers before we go to bed tonight.  That brought up an involved discussion of Clinton/Pelosi, but we're not going there in this blog.  Lots of non-bearing lands in AR and discussion on field sizes, which have increased exponentially as we moved west (that's the farmer in Dennis).

We crossed Arkansas, and headed into Oklahoma (Oklahoma is OK).  We stopped in Checotah, OK, a real toddling town.  Actually, it's dark so we haven't seen anything.

We're a little over 100 miles east of Oklahoma City.  We plan to drive there in the morning and visit the Museum commemorating the bombing.  Then, in to Texas and maybe the Cadillac ranch in Amarillo.  We still look to easily make it to Albuquerque on Friday.

MPG is still dropping, even with the windows up.  We're breaking the west wind with a head wind.

Dennis - 1, Harry - 0