Getting our kicks on Route 66

Ted. When we began the southern leg of this road trip, Judy and I did not realize that 2026 is the 100th anniversary of the creation of Route 66, the legendary road that carried millions of dreamers from Chicago and the Midwest to Los Angeles.

The complete road itself no longer exists but parts of it are being rediscovered as “Historic Route 66,” especially in small towns that were bypassed when the Interstate Highway System rolled out in the 50’s. 

Soon after we left Santa Barbara, we jumped on I-15 near Victorville. Ever since, we have driving east along interstate highways that pretty much parallel the old Route 66; often within a mile or two.

Judy and I have been able to get off the interstate at any point along our journey and have a coffee or lunch break in the one of the old buildings and admire the architecture of the gas stations, diners and motels built during the glory days when John Steinbeck dubbed Route 66 “The Mother Road.” The architecture is classic mid 20th century Americana with lots of neon, streamlined walls and eye catching statues such as concrete teepees and dinosaurs. 

Just after merging from I-15 onto I-40 in Barstow a crow flew into our truck, shearing off the driver side mirror. Was that a sign? Don’t look back now? 

After driving across the Mohave Desert, famous for Joshua Trees, we spent the night in barren Needles. The next morning, we crossed the state line into Arizona and passed legendary Route 66 towns such as Kingman, Seligman and Williams on our way to Flagstaff. 

Flagstaff really celebrates it’s Route 66 heritage but we had other interests, like the Lowell Observatory and the gorgeous scenery of Northern Arizona. Spending three nights there allowed us to explore Walnut Canyon National Monument, Oak Creek Canyon and Sedona.

Walnut Canyon Cliff dwellings

Safe, dry and warm!

Incredible red rock formations in Sedona

 

Sedona's Chapel of the Holy Cross

We were also able to swap out our damaged rental truck for another one, with a functioning mirror. As a bonus, this one had 4 wheel drive (that we hoped we wouldn’t need). 

As we left Flagstaff, driving east on I-40 we suddenly found ourselves in the remnants of Hurricane Polo. Yeah, I know, a hurricane in Northern Arizona? What’s up with that? Well it proved to have an impact on our next week. 

We first wanted to explore Petrified Forest National Park to see the Painted Desert but the heavy rains meant it was mostly a drive by. 

We stopped for the night in Gallup, New Mexico. This cool old railroad town was memorialized in the lyrics of the 50’s pop tune made famous by Nat King Cole, Get your Kicks on Route 66. 

We had planned to arise early the next morning and drive north to Chaco Culture National Historic Park, a "Must See" for us. It is only accessible by dirt roads and the hurricane remnants were causing massive flooding so the park had closed. Thus our new plan was to spend another night in Gallup and check the road conditions the next day. 

Surrounded by magnificent red rock formations, Gallup bills itself as “The Heart of Indian Country.” We visited a couple of museums and learned a lot, including the story of the Navaho Codetalkers - bilingual Marines who served in the South Pacific during WWII as radio operators. They used their native language to communicate between units, baffling Japanese eavesdroppers. 

Gallup also has a number of trading companies that deal in Native American handicrafts such as pottery, jewelry and rugs. We were fascinated to learn that this source of revenue to the local tribes really took off with the creation of Route 66 in the early 20th century. The trading companies must be treating the craftspeople right because, for over 100 years, it is still the best way to secure high quality items at reasonable prices. 

We left Gallup for Santa Fe on I-40, again paralleling Route 66. With the dirt roads to Chaco still closed, our new plan was to wait there while the mud dried. Walking along the Rio Grande, we repeated our travel mantra, "Be flexible and patient."

The river was really flowing from the floods

Enjoying the Elements

Judy. Within one week, we experienced the beauty of three natural elements: Earth, Water, and Air. 

Earth—Leaving Olympia, Washington, we detoured to Sequoia National Park to see the trees we’ve hoped to see for years. Climbing into the park, there were a plethora of redwoods, but interspersed were majestic red-barked, enormous, ancient trees: Sequoias. We drove to the grove where the General Sherman tree, 2,200 years old, rose above the redwoods. Both this tree and others around it display marks of forest fires. These ancients can survive all but the hottest of forest fires. As a lagniappe, a mama bear and her cub wandered right through the tourists. Definitely an experience all around! 

There was evidence of many forest fires

But General Sherman survived

Easy to see where they were burned

Mama and baby walked right past us, up close and personal

Water—From Sequoia, we drove to visit our friends Nancy and Mike in Santa Barbara. On Sunday, they took us to a beach restaurant for breakfast, then for a walk along the Pacific (my favorite ocean). Dipping my toes in the surf on this rugged beach was a true joy. 

Love the mountains down to the shore

Mike and Nancy are great hosts

Dipping our toes in the Pacific

Air—Or the Universe. From Santa Barbara, we drove to Flagstaff, Arizona, and went directly to Lowell Observatory, one of the oldest in the country, and the observatory where Pluto was discovered. In the afternoon, we looked through a filtered telescope at the surface of the sun, with its storms and flares. Later that evening, we experienced stars and star clusters and a ring nebula, hundreds of light years away, despite a full moon and scattered clouds. There was even a “moondog” that night, visible to the naked eye, and a close view of the moon through a telescope. 

Some of the telescopes at Lowell

Checking out the Hercules Cluster, half a million stars, 300+ light years away

The moon through a telescope and the rare "moondog" ring around her

Three amazing experiences, all in one week. How fortunate are we???

Quote du Jour

But oh! the blessing it is to have a friend to whom one can speak fearlessly on any subject; with whom one's deepest as well as one's most foolish thoughts come out simply and safely. Oh, the comfort - the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person - having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words, but pouring them all right out, just as they are, chaff and grain together; certain that a faithful hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping, and then with the breath of kindness blow the rest away.

~Dinah Craik 

Girlfriends

Judy. Traveling as we do, I do not have a great many girlfriends in my daily life, but I have developed some beautiful friendships over the past years in various places around the world. Spending time with them is a gift I cherish, whether for weeks, days, or even, on occasion, a few hours.

In the past few days, I’ve had the opportunity to stay with some amazing women. 

Patty and I met in Santiago, Chile, at a church we attended. She is from Calgary, Alberta, a place I knew nothing about. In the few weeks we spent there before returning to our respective countries, we developed a deep friendship that grew over texts and emails in the following years. The recent visit with her was only our second since the time we met, yet despite many different interests, we see like minds in each other. She’s taken me to meet her friends, like Lorena. Seeing Patty is like coming home, with confidences and laughter shared, and a deep understanding as if we’d known each other since childhood. I feel renewed after visiting her. 

Patty (L) and her longtime friend Lorena celebrate Canada Day

We met Leanne and Tony while in Oaxaca, and hiked with them several times, volunteered to feed the refugees, and wandered the city, so we definitely took them up on the invite to stay in their beautiful home in Nanaimo, British Colombia. Leanne and I found time to spend together, and found ourselves pouring out family history and concerns and love. Caught in a traffic jam, we left our fellas in the car and ran to explore the Cathedral Grove of trees, like two kids ducking out of school. 

Leanne is a great friend to hike with and share confidences

Sue and Terry we’ve known for years. They were huge supporters of the drama program I taught, and both their daughters were my students. Somewhere along the line we began to travel together, and Sue and I have shared pride and concern in our kids (the same age), joy in the countries and states we’ve visited (together and separately), and a rising concern for the split we see in our own country. We try to visit them yearly in their present home of Olympia, Washington. This last time, we arrived while they were away for a few days, and they gave us the key and had food and wine waiting for us. There's some trust there.

Years of travel and raising kids

There's Nancy in Santa Barbara, whom we met when going to Iceland. We got along so well that Ted and I drove a couple of hundred miles out of our way to spend time with her and her husband Mike.

Nancy can see right into your heart

These are just a few of the women in my life who make it richer. There’s also Samara in Morocco, Inmita in Spain, Caroline in France, Wakaba in Japan, and Sylvie in Montreal. There's Anne in Vero Beach, Linda in Augusta, and Meghan in Athens. There are Sally and Carolyn in Snellville, and Pam in Gainesville.There’s my daughter, my daughter-in-love, Ted’s sisters, and a plethora of nieces and cousins. Some of my former students come to Athens for a lunch with me. There are the dear women in my Zoom Bible study, several of whom I’ve known in person for years. 

While it’s a lack in my life not to have lots of girlfriends in Athens to go out with for coffee or lunch or cocktails on a regular basis, we do the best we can to catch up when we meet. Girlfriends are a true blessing. 

“Make new friends, but keep the old, One is silver, and the other gold.”

Vancouver Island

Ted. Back in 2018, Judy and I spent about a week in Victoria, the capital of British Columbia but that was the only part of Vancouver Island that we had ever seen. The island is huge; at more than 12,000 square miles, it is larger than Sicily! Most of the people live in Victoria so, aside from a few smaller towns, it is mostly mountainous wilderness. 

For this visit, we chose to focus on a small portion along the southeastern coast of the island. Our first stop was at the home of Tony and Leanne. We first met them on a hike during our visit to Oaxaca, Mexico in 2019. We really hit it off and they said we should visit them at their home in Nanaimo, BC. They made the same offer when we reconnected again in Oaxaca in 2024 which was when we began to think seriously about taking them up on their offer. 

Tony and Leanne live in a gorgeous home with tons of windows looking out across the Strait of Georgia to the mainland of Canada. With a spotter scope in the living room, one can watch passing fishing boats, Alaska bound cruise ships and even whales. 

Our hosts took us on hikes and other adventures “up island,” following the coastal road about a third of the way up the eastern shore. This is a wonderful place with a balmy mediterranean climate so it attracts a lot of Canadian retirees. The trees get really big here and it’s also a good climate for fruit orchards and vineyards. 

Dodd's Narrows

Tony is quite a chef so we ate well and savored delicious BC wines. I especially enjoyed accompanying Leanne to her weekly Rotary Club meeting where I was impressed with the number of service projects that they had in the works. 

During our time with Tony and Leanne we learned about their lives and the issues that Canadians deal with. We spoke frankly about politics and US - Canadian relations. All four of us were deeply saddened by the rift our country’s leaders have created with our neighbor. The Canadian people seem to be deeply hurt by many of the things that have been said and we all look forward to the repair of the bonds that have always existed between our two peoples. 

Leanne, Judy & Tony

The three days with Tony and Leanne flew by and then it was time for us to head “down island” a bit to an Airbnb in the tiny hamlet of Genoa Bay. With about 10 houses, a marina and a small cafe, the community has little to offer except for peace, quiet and incredible views. 

Genoa Bay Marina

The first morning I woke up and walked down to our little dock, I was able to watch a family of sea otters about 20 yards away. They frolicked on the rocks for a bit and then hopped in the water to search the kelp beds for breakfast. 

Sea otters

One day we took a whale watching cruise our of nearby Cowichan Bay. 

Cowichan Bay Marina

We saw many species of birds as well as sea lions (both Stellar and California), harbor seals and tiny 3’ long harbor porpoises. 

California Sea Lions

Then, we were able to locate, and follow a pod of six Orcas for about an hour. It was wonderful to learn about their lives as well as the challenges these magnificent creatures face. 

Orca

Again, we enjoyed more hiking and great food. 

Kinsol Trestle

Genoa Bay Cafe

Eventually it was time to drive to the lovely city of Victoria where we stopped for lunch in our old neighborhood and paid our respects at the statue to local artist, Emily Carr - a favorite of ours. 

Judy and Emily with her dog and pet monkey

Finally, it was time to board the ferry to Port Angeles, Washington. From the deck we said goodbye to Vancouver Island and Canada. Between this trip and our time in Quebec, we have spent about a month in Canada this year. We were able to renew friendships and remind ourselves that our neighbor to the north is an incredibly beautiful country filled with some of the friendliest people in the world.

So long, for now