We have to get in alot of miles today. We quickly stop at Four Corners Monument for a goofy picture and then move along. We were only there for 10 minutes. We drove for 9 1/2 hours to get to a rest area just 3 hours outside of Santa Barbara.
We spent saturday afternoon at the Santa Barbara Brewhouse watching the Kentucky Derby. Then went to dinner that night. Then Sunday we met Ben at autozone to get him a new battery for his car. We put in the new battery and we went to Bens favorite bakery. It is a mexican bakery which means it has different items then the standard donuts. It was delicious. We then went to a movie and then topped off the day with dinner at a chinese restaurant. We were celebratong mothers day a week earlier and I think Bunny had a good day.
We drove around 3 hours today and arrived at Santa Barbara RV park around noon. Its Friday and Scott flys into Santa Barbara at 10:30 am tomorrow. Then Ben flys in at 1 pm tomorrow. We are gonna take it easy and rec9ver from all the driving over the last few days.
So we are playing catch up and still see some sites. We drove from just outside Amarillo to Samta Fe and spent a couple of hours exploring Santa Fe. Then hit the road to get to a spot where ots a short drive to Mesa Verde.
The highlight in Santa Fe was the Cathederal of Basilica of St Francis of Assissi.
Its an old town with lots of history.
We finished the day parked at Fire Rock Navaho Casino just outside of Gallup AZ. We drove 7 hours and 476 miles today. Tomorrow is the Mesa Verde National park.
Its Monday around noon before i get up. Bunnys been up for awhile. We are in Joplin Missouri. Still 2 hours outside of Tulsa OK. We have breakfast restock the cupboards and shoot for Amarillo Texas. I was really surprised how green and beautiful Oklahoma is actually. Rolling hills full of green trees and lots of cattle. We crossed thru Oklahoma into Texas and the scenery changed to scrub brush and even more cows. We got into a Texas Information center in Amarillo around 10 pm and spent the night .. Bunny was going to use the indoor facilities in the morning til I showed her this picture I took of a sign outside the information center.
We hit the road pretty quickly in the morning. Next stop Santa Fe New Mexico.
Originally we were having to go from Chicago to Santa Barbara 2225 miles in 8 days. Now with the weather delays and the wonderful time meeting up with Ben in St Louis we had just under 6 days to do 2000 miles. Thats over 300 miles a day or about 6 hours of driving per day. Our plan Sunday night was to drive a couple of hours and get into Tulsa the next day. As were we driving a warning sign showed up that I-44 was being detoured around a flooded out part of the freeway. The detour would take us about 2 hours out of our way. If we stopped before the detour and did it the next day the traffic on the detour would surely be horrendous. So we made the deciscion to get thru the delay that night. Bunny hit the couch to get some shut eye .. I finally pulled into a walmart parking lit on the otherside of the detour at 4:30 am. It was tough but I know if we hadnt of push on we would have spent the entire next day getting thru that detour and set us back another day which is something we couldnt have happen and still make if to SB on Saturday May 6th.
We got to the arch and the real star at the arch was the height of the Mussissippi river. We were planning to park on a parking lot along side the river. We got there and it was underwater. We actually had to park in a towaway zone with everyone else because there was no other parking. We walked around the grounds arpund the arch. We also contacted Ben. We knew he was coming to St Louis but we werent sure when. Turns out he flys in the Sunday at 1 pm. So we decided to stay another day in St Louis and spend Sunday afternoon with him. Found found a Great RV park locted pretty much downtown St Louis. As soon as we pulled up to the office door of the rv park it started to rain again. We got our spot and it rained and lightning the whole night again. Miraculously the rain stopped the next day at 1pm just an hourbefore Ben showed up. He got there at 2 pm and we were off to some bbq joint he had been to when he was in St Louis begore. The Uber driver was wonderful and gave us a tour. The area around the restaurant was very run down. It was amazing that there were these BEAUTIFUL old homes which had been abandonded for years. It was heartbreaking to see these beautiful homes going to wadte like that. The bbq restaurant was amazing and after the meal we walked some of the neighborhoods around the redtaurant and caught the metro to the rv park. We took ben to his airbnb and had a late snack before hugs and it was time for us to move on down the road amd Nem get ready for a week of visiting the St Louis Federal Reserve.
Well we decided we didnt want to drive into downtown St Louis to see the Gateway Arch on a friday afternoon. We decided to stay at a rest area just an hour north of St Louis. We got to the rest area around 9 pm. We hit the hay. Around midnight the rain started coming down, then the lightning started and then the wind started to rock the rv. It was quite a storm. It continued thru the night periodically waking us up with the lightning. In the morning it continued. It was pouring out and the lighting would roar. That wasnt the bad part. The wind was still gusting and shaking the rv. There was also talk of ha hail storm which would not be good for the rv. Well i can drive in heavy rain and lightning but this rv is like a big sail in the wind. We really had no idea what we were gonna do so we stayed put and waited it out. Finally around 1 pm the weather map showed a break in the rain. The wind was still gusting but not as bad. We headed to St Louis to see the Gateway Arch.
We left portland at 11 pm on wednesday April 26th. Landed in Detroit at 6:12 am on April 27th. Then caught a flight to Chicago at 7:25 arriving at 7:50 (we went back a tome zone). Bunny and I had the task of getting from O’Hare airport to CruiseAmerica. We chose to use Uber our first experience with uber together. We oredered one ride and they didnt show up. Show we ordered another and in no time we were at CruiseAmerica and in our rv and on our way.
We were beat from the overnight flight. We stocked up the rv and on our way to the first overnight stop Hollywood Casino. We had stayed here on a previous trip. It is a great stop for rv’s because they have an rv park with full hookups and showers. We hit the casino and played a couple of machones then retired for the night. They also provide a breakfast in the morning which included eggs (real eggs) and sausage, oatmeal and french toast. We ate and were on our way towards St Louis to see the Gateway Arch.