Cowboy Hall of Fame






















I really did not know what to expect at the Hall of Fame. But I walked away impressed. The center entrance of the complex featured “End of the Trail” by James Earle Fraser. An amazing piece in itself, a bronze version sits in a western park according to the curator. However, a HUGE vivid image of broken Indian spirit in the center of a celebration of Western expansion does not sit right with me. I looked for an explanation from both a guide and the literature and did not find a satisfactory explanation for its location here – just reverence for the art piece itself. The rest of the museum was very interesting.












I snapped alot of pictures of the displays and art work. You can find the whole set here. I left the Hall of Fame and jumped back on Oklahoma Route 66 to take as far as I could go to Missouri. I amanged to catch a few small towns on the way.





I found a KOA in Joplin MO for the evening and called it an early night.

Everything is bigger in Texas. Including the rocks





I headed out of Towelhead-hater land early. I was hoping to get to Oklahoma City by early afternoon. I stopped off in Amerillo for gas and spotted Cavender's Boot Store.
Of course I had to stop in. I was in Texas after all.
The sales people were all cowboys! Or maybe …they were cowboys moonlighting as retail clerks until the herd came in? Whatver -It was all good to me. I ended up buying a pair of work boots. Wearing shoes without a tread in Upstate NY is a death wish 9 months of the year– so I declined on the cowboy boots. Leaving the store – I noticed my new 2 week old windshield took a rock. Stupid trucks.

I hightailed to Oklahoma City to see the Cowboy Hall of Fame. After some directions on the phone from my sister – I arrived 30 minutes before closing. So I thought. Apparently I lost an hour from New Mexico and I was actually there a half hour after closing. The nice lady said “At least you know how to get here tomorrow” without the least bit of sarcasm.

I headed down to Thunderbird state park for the evening and took some good sunset pics.



Tonight’s dinner – Country Vegetable with extra Ramen pride noodles and chocolate pudding. Mmmm. 21st century cowboy cooking. Now dat’s sum gud eatin’!.

American Hospitality



This was a new one. It was right on the sign. The owner explained it to me on check in by letting me know he HATES “Towelheads” They apparently stink up the rooms of curry and he will not rent to them. “Do you have a reservation?” is his method for weeding out people who hate America and revenge for the government giving them all the 7-11’s so they can run them into the ground. Since they are hiding Osama Bin Laden in India, he does not want them staying at his motel. I was wondering what he thought of Fruit cakes like me. But since I did not walk in with my rainbow pom poms and Go Go boots – I will never know. This is not the first time people felt free to download their prejudice to me. After all – I look like Richie Cunningham – so it is safe to assume Cracker boy will sympathize with whatever issue/grudge/chip on the shoulder.

New Mexico







I tried to follow some actual parts of old 66 where I could find them marked. Some times the route was just parallel to Route 40. I can see why they replaced it. Some of the best parts I drove were extremely twisted. 15mph double curves. But probably one of the best lost scenic parts of the road. I stopped at the Red Rock state park to take pics. An awesome site - Too bad the Rvs were blocking the views.


























The Masonic Temple made of corrugated metal



I ended up following 66 into Albuquerque for a very late lunch and then headed out on 40 to San Rosa. There was a state park there I planned to stay at.

On reaching Santa Rosa I shot down the state park. Driving through a shanty town on the wrong side of the tracks turned me off to the idea – so I went back the main street [ route 66] and found a period motel to stay at with “Free Internet Access” - as in if you can get a signal off the crappy Linksys router in our office – its free!” I took some nice shots.

Jerome / Sedona





I headed out of Phoenix early Monday morning to get a head start on the pending heat. I was planning to head north towards Sedona. My cousin Mike mentioned the town of Jerome as a neat place to check out - So I headed off 17 to Prescott and up through the hills to Jerome. A very winding tourist road [ not another! ] but very beautiful.

































Jerome is billed as the country’s largest ghost town. Which at some point I am sure it was. Now it is a hippie art town set right into the hills. A very neat town. I stopped to walk the town and grab some lunch



































Heading out of Jerome took me right to Sedona. I wanted to revisit after a brief stop with the family back in 2005. Route 89a was closed in summer 2005 due to forest fires. So I took that route to Flagstaff. Incredible scenery. Dead camera battery. Bummer.





















After reaching Flagstaff – I headed down Route 40 /old route 66. I had spotted an Ad for the Wigwam Motel [ featured in the movie “Cars” ] and KNEW I had to stay as part of my trip. I checked in around 6:30 and started taking pics of the motel. A very neat place but not the greatest motel room.
































In the [very] early morning – I was greeted outside by tourists who were taking pictures of the place. I spoke with a retired couple from Ohio and then a group from Germany.
They were enthralled by the motel [ but not enough to stay there apparently…]

A Jones Cousin



After a flyby at the Tempe IKEA Friday afternoon, I drove over to my cousin Mike’s and Julie’s house on the west side of Phoenix to stay for a few days. That evening, we headed over to my cousin Bob and Nicky’s new house for pizza and a swim.



Saturday morning we were up early at Mike and Julie’s for a garage sale / open house that they were hosting that morning at 6am. By the time the garage sale closed up at 9:30am, I was ready for another nap – so we jumped in the pool and then took a pre lunch nap. My cousin Tom came over for lunch with his sons Josh and Zachary. Zachary is 5 months old and quite the happy kid. I had a good time over stimulating Josh with the trusty Uncle tickle lasers.




We took a drive over to my cousin Mary and Marks house later that afternoon to continue the cousin house tour. We met up with Tom, Sheryl, Joe, Julie’s sister Samantha and Mary Ann Milo for dinner at a HUGE sports bar called Mc The place seriously could have worked as an indoor stadium. Afterwards it was off to the Tropicana Sports and Karaoke bar for some serious entertainment. I was urged to take a turn at the mike - but declined due to my chronic condition of no ability to sing along with the chronic inability to ever loosen up. But I took some good pictures.

Welcome to Phoenix



I pulled into Phoenix late Tuesday evening and met my friend Alex at work. Alex had a full work schedule – so I got a chance while visiting to catch up on the blog. [ Along with several loads of laundry :O) ] Alex took me out with to some neat places during the visit including Deluxe, FEZ, The Eagle and the Cellblock. There was some discussion about how my propriety field would work at The Cellblock. Apparently the management and community were notified of my pending visit – as on our arrival –the establishment was deserted and all the lights were turned on strangely enough. I also got a chance to meet some of his friends including Ron, Russ, Chuck, James, Derick and Lavell.
Alex also helped me get in touch with Karl's Custom shop right on Indian school road near his house. The shop graciously squeezed Chilipepper into their busy schedule to try and rececuitate the Van’s Air Conditioning. They tried their best to reassemble the compressor and get the system running, but it appears to require some new parts – so I left with a AC system that now does function but really only makes the inside air a little less hot. Good enough for me, I knew it would be a several step process to get the system back and running again.

A native I am not.

I am spending the entire day driving in desert heat with no air conditioning. Keeping the windows down on the highway bring the relief of 95 degree gusts of wind in the car. SO I pull in to a Burger King to get my favorite junkie fix of a CokeaCola Slushy. I am totally looking forward to a brain freeze drinking this thing and… “we don’t have slushies”

WHAT??!! 110 degree Arizona and YOU DON’T HAVE SLUSHIES?

And to top it off I spot 3 people in the parking lot in shirts and pants. Are these people crazy? I am wearing as little clothing as legally allowable and sweating my face off.

That whole “it’s a dry heat” thing doesn’t mean anything at 110. That’s just HEAT.

Stupid dumb ass heat.

Which gave me delusions of a 60 degree Chill rolling in and watching everyone i see get frostbite.

Lake Havasu



After crossing the Arizona state border, I headed south to Lake Hauvsu. At this point the van was really boiling – so I stopped at the state park by the lake and took a swim. I had the whole beach to myself. The water was bathwater warm – but still a short relief from the van.




After leaving the park – I headed to the big area attraction – Old London Bridge. Neat place.














After poking around some, I headed south along the lake for some great views.





After driving through Parker – I drove down to Route 10 to take into Phoenix. Not a hard drive – but rolling onto Phoenix after a 10 hour / 100 degrees + day – started to really catch up with me. I met my friend Alex at his workplace and then to his house to call it a [ hot hot ] long day.