Route 66 Chronicles - Part 2, The Trip Begins....

The trip log in the form of Route 66 Chronicles begins now.

Well, the trip has been full of adventure so far. I picked up the RV and spent about 3 hrs w/ the owner learning to drive it and how to use all the features. Then went to the airport to pick up the MN friends arriving at midnight. I got them and we were finally on our way to the Grand Canyon.

Only a few minutes into our trip ... while still in Albuquerque we went under an overpass and someone dropped a rock that went thru the windshield. I heard this loud thud and suddenly was covered in glass shards...face, head, clothes, seat. The impact was so intense it sprayed glass shards 7' into the cabin. When I realized we had a hole in the window - slightly to the left of the R-view mirror, I pulled over and immediately called 911. We then called the RV owner and he came out to assess the damage and figure out what to do. This was now about 2am local time. The owner wanted to clean up the RV at his house so we took it there where they vacuumed out all the glass shards.

We finally arrived at a casino at 4am where we parked, did our slide outs and went to sleep. No repairs possible on Thanksgiving so we ate Turkey and gambled at the Route 66 Casino. Lost $.

On Friday we got the windshield replaced. We decided not to go to the Grand Canyon - by this time it was too far away and we lost a lot of time. So we went to Dunkin Donuts to regroup. On the way out of the Black Friday (day after Thanksgiving) crowds near the Dunkin Donuts, I tried to escape from the crowded parking lots - as I was dragging a 29' load with me.... and proceeded to lop off the shower vent on the roof of the RV by going under a low hanging tree branch. Oh dear. I got on the roof of the RV and decided to just strap it down for now. So I taped it up w/ lots of duct tape and we decided to head north to Taos - where we opted to give up on parking lot camping and finally hit a real RV park - to get cable TV, electricity (not on the generator, etc).

We found one 2 miles from downtown Taos that looked like it should have been on old Route 66. Quite "interesting". After tripping over a dog the size of a small horse we went into a smoke infested "office" filled with remnants of 1970's VHS tapes, and ugly crap everywhere. Sitting on an ugly-ass chair - a look-alike to Frasier's dad's mealy old chair - was a weather worn cowboy with a handlebar mustache watching tv with dog #2. Being new to all of this we had a few questions:
1. Can you show us how to connect? "Nope, got arthritis and it's too cold out there fer me. See?"  
2. What's to do in town? "Nothin'. Streets roll up at 5pm. Ain't nuthin' goin on here dollface".
3. This is Taos, there's nothing to do? "Nope. Lived here 30 yrs and ain't nothin' happenin' here."
4. The book says you have shuttles and taxis to town. "Nope. Book's wrong. Dead wrong. No taxis here. Bus stop is out front. Last bus was at 6pm. You ain't goin' anywhere tonite sweetheart."
5. Ok, so there is no way to get anywere here in town other than to walk? "That's correct."
6. I don't believe it. "Well, help yourself to the phone book here and I'll tell ya what, I'll do even better - use my phone and call up rental cars or anything you like." (I used his princess phone ..an ACTUAL PRINCESS PHONE! My call to Enterprise Rentals produced a recording .."sorry, closed at 5pm; will be back Monday. Call Monday"...and this was Friday night. The limo service that I called from the redneck phonebook was "out" and would call back...maybe. Never called.)
7. So now what? "Well, you can come in here and watch movies with me. That would be fun, wouldn't it?"
8. I'll get back to you on that.

So I went back to the RV and had a chat with the girls about the timewarp we landed in here. We decided that maybe a nice hotel would have a shuttle so we called a hotel and they confirmed that the town has no taxi or shuttle services. Hmmmm.... Ok, now it's time for some liquor. So I take the 20 yr old w/ me to "experience" the local "charm" at the RV office.

We go back and ask where we can get some drinks. "Well the Sagebrush Inn is real nice and you can go there".
1. Where is that? "6 blocks down the road."
2. How will we get there? "Walk! Ain't no other way I know to get there."
3....It's too cold and too far...  "Yup"
4. Where can we can some alcohol?  "Well hell, why didn't you say that earlier? There's likker at that there Shell station right next door. Or, if you like you can go 3 doors the other direction to the place that has a lit-up-sign-with-nothin'-on-it and that'll be the likker store. By the way, you better take that water hose off that you just put on. It's gonna freeze tonight and if you don't your gonna break all my pipes and the pipes in your rig. I'll be out of water for a week so you need to take that water hose off, drain it and shut off my faucet. (gads)"

So now we go to the likker store. I have Coco Chic wrapped in a ski jacket and blanket and they said "let's see the baby".... Oh. It's a dog! I don't think they ever saw a "Boca dog" who comes with her own wardrobe.  Damn, it's cold for her too!  We bought 2 bottles and from the quiet stares, I'm sure this is the first time they saw doggy attire...

Whew. We drank some wine, watched a movie in the RV and had a good laugh about being on "the other side of the tracks" in Taos! Oh dear are we BECOMING the Griswolds?? Sleeping at the casino and in the Wal-Mart employee parking lot and now... Redneck heaven. Gawd help us!

It snowed during the night in Taos. It was a stunning snowshower; the flakes were 2" droplets and fell like big soft feathers. I've lived a whole lifetime around snow and never saw flakes that looked like snowballs. The 3 of us from MN looked out and were in awe.... Almost a freak show of snowballs falling from the sky. It was incredible.

The next morning in downtown Taos - where the "real" people go - was spectacular. We got our espressos, our croissants and other familiar necessities in this oh so cute artist enclave on the mountain. The experience from the night before was such a juxtaposition from the Taos we came to see.... We ended up leaving Taos mid-afternoon because more snow was expected and we did not want to be stuck on the mountain w/ that crazy old fart RV mountain man and his junkyard dogs one more night.

We went to Santa Fe and had a wonderful massage and this fabulous little spot. Whew. Back in civilization. Although I will say after night #1 in a casino parking lot and night #2 in a Wal-Mart employee lot, and night #3 in redneck heaven we are feeling a bit Griswold. We are in night #4 and staying in a really nice RV park in Santa Fe. There are several rock star buses here. Civilization again!

The RV is nice and easy to drive. Tomorrow (Sunday) we will drop off the 20 yr old at the airport and Kris and I will find another set of adventures. We are having fun but certainly not what we expected!! It has been a lot of laughs, foibles and bizarre encounters doing this RV thing.

ta ta for now....