Alright!!!! After three days of driving across the country, it was time to get back to what this tour is all about: Rollercoasters
We were in St. Louis. It is the home of the St. Louis Rams, Cardinals and a good portion of the Dnomlas clan. It was sky was filled with dark clouds and the pavement was wet from the previous night’s rainstorm. We almost skipped this park due to the weather but we figured we were already here…we can handle a little drizzling rain.
Check the video:
We left the park satisfied and headed south to Sikeston. Sikeston is home to Lambert’s Café (http://www.throwedrolls.com/). One of the best restaurants I have ever dined at. The portions were huge. The side dishes kept coming. It was almost like family dinner at your Grandma’s house where the food fills the table. They used Travel Mugs as their glasses. This place is tied with the Big Texan for the best restaurant we visited on the Tour.
Check the video:
We made it to Memphis around 7:00 PM that evening. I have a friend from college who lives there I call Moe. She works for a prominent law firm in downtown Memphis and she, along with her folks, were kind enough to open their beautiful home to us, the weary road warriors. We caught up on old times and discussed our BBQ options for the next day.
One other item worth mentioning…Da MF Man met his match in cigarette smoking. Moe matched him round for round while we were in Memphis. Go Figure!!!
Another thing worth mentioning...this was the first park where I have ever seen Marvin the Martian out for everyone to see.
Da MF Man is a baseball fan. He can quote stats about the Chicago White Sox at the drop of a hat. I pay attention to baseball during the World Series and the snippets I catch on ESPN. On this day, we went across town to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum.
I had some knowledge about this part of baseball history but I had no idea how about the number of teams, the depth of the stories, and the true significance of the Negro Leagues. It was amazing, inspiring, and downright awesome. I left the museum with a newfound respect for the game. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take pictures inside the museum so…here are a few shots from outside:
After the museum, we headed towards St. Louis. The drive was relatively quick. We stayed at a Holiday Inn Express. Out of all the places we stayed at on this tour, this hotel gave us the best customer service. We got a discount on the room. They called inside of an hour to be certain we had everything we needed. And the continental breakfast….NICE!!!
Tomorrow…Six Flags over St. Louis (More roller coasters!!!)
When Da MF Man and I decided we were going to take this road trip, we discussed the route we were going to take numerous times. We were excited about the prospect of driving from state to state, riding roller coasters. That got old once we drove from Nevada, through Utah and Wyoming, and ending in Colorado. As the video shows, we finally got a real continental breakfast in Elko, Nevada but by then, I had lost track of the day number when I went through my opening line to start the video:
I should not say that the ride was boring. I did watch two DVD's on my laptop somewhere between Salt Lake City and Cheyenne. I also played a few rounds of The Sims 2 and Pirates Gold, two PC games. Outside of seeing the a few Mormons and the actual Salt Lake of Salt Lake City, there was nothing else to get too excited about. Not a big day for pictures or videos. Once we reached our hotel in Ft. Collins, CO., we were glad to only have one more round of all day driving.
Day 11
We drove through Denver, CO., all of Kansas (The Kansas state troopers have five different versions of their squad cars: Kind of makes it difficult to keep track of which vehicles could be trying to pull us over - Thank Goodness for "Road Dogs), and finally made it to Kansas City, MO. The hotel was fine. We went to a BBQ joint called Grady's. Great BBQ!!! I admit the picture is very dark but...it was a last minute decision to get a picture of the place.
We were at the park at 9:30 am. The theme park layout is the same as Six Flags Great America in Gurnee, IL so Da MF Man and I knew how to bypass all the touristy, baby rides. Straight to the coasters: The Invertigo, Demon, Top Gun, and the Grizzly. I was feeling nostalgic because I haven’t been to the Six Flags in my hometown since I moved to Atlanta nine years ago. We finished the park in good time (Under two hours as the videon states) and ate at this burger joint called Taxi’s.
The plan was to continue north on the 101 into San Francisco, go across the Golden Gate bridge, then head to Elko, Nevada. Why Elko? Because it was four hours away from Reno, Nevada and I knew we would be tired by then. What we did not know was how long it would ultimately take us to get out of the state of California.
I’m from Chicago. I live in Atlanta. I know what traffic is. Northern California has their own version of traffic that is downright maddening. We would get stuck in congestion for about a half an hour then speed up for 15 minutes only to repeat the cycle. Having to cut through the city to get to the bridge only made it worse. MF Man did get great pictures of the bridge with the fog, clouds, and the like. I was happy just to get some sort of forward progress. What should have only taken us seven hours stretched to nine before we reached the hotel. California, a nice place to visit, but I am done with that state for a while.
After gassing the Smokin’ Monkey Mobile, and watching the cops rustle the homeless guys at the gas station in Reno, we headed towards Elko. Driving at night is not one of my favorite things. Driving at night in the mountains where the sides of the roads are really the edges of the cliffs raised my anxiety levels. I do not like edges. Never had…Never will. We did see make it to the Best Western safe and sound. Now, we only have a day and a half of mountain driving to go.
Today is our casual day. Since we have been pushing ourselves across the country, Da MF Man decided to take it a little easy and take a scenic route to the San Francisco area. For us that means taking a drive up the Sunset Strip (Sunset Blvd) in Los Angeles, then head north on the 101 until we reach our destination. Since we are driving up the coast, we would have an opportunity to “dip our toes” in the Pacific Ocean. So with our bellies full with breakfast, we hit the Strip.
California is a land filled with gorgeous homes, expensive cars, and beautiful people. The weather was perfect and for a moment, I almost wanted to extend our time here. That moment passed when we hit traffic. From Los Angeles, Ventura, Santa Barbara, Lompoc to San Luis Obispo, we were snarled in traffic every 30 minutes. I know Da MF Man was getting ticked because he would clutch the steering wheel that much tighter once we cleared a “bottleneck” area. We did take a moment to dip our toes just outside of Ventura. There was a group of surfers riding the waves, enjoying themselves. As the video shows, it was a little too cold for swimming as far as I was concerned but these folks seem to know what they are doing.
Our “Scenic Route” finally ended when we reached Santa Clara. It took us just under nine hours to get here. We did stop to “smell the roses,” got stuck in a number of traffic jams, and one trip to Target (I ran out of contact lens solution). We’re a couple miles away from the park at a Ramada Inn. No continental breakfast but free wireless internet so we’re happy.
Tomorrow…Great America! Then…Golden Gate Bridge Then…Heading East for who know where!?!
Unlike some people leaving Las Vegas, Da MF Man and I left town with our wallets intact, refreshed and we didn’t pawn the rental car. We were off to Six Flags Magic Mountain, the largest of all the Six Flags parks. Da MF Man has been talking about this place for the past 3-4 years.
We got to the park around Noon local time and worked out our plan. Note our excitement:
We only had six hours before the park closed and there were so many coasters to ride (10 roller coasters to ride). We rode them all inside of four and a half hours (You can’t touch the professionals).
Time to check-in to the Best Western, gas up the Smokin’ Monkey Mobile and get some dinner. Tonight – We dine at Denny’s!!! My favorite thing about Denny’s is you can get pancakes at any time of the day…and if you know me, you know I enjoy a good stack of pancakes. Another reason my belly is so big but that’s another topic for another blog. The pancakes were great. The service was fantastic. The only thing left was to relax at the hotel hot tub.
Tonight on Celebrity Hot Tub
You know you are getting old when riding roller coasters causes aches and pains in your lower back, legs, and feet. We were blessed to find a hotel with a working hot tub. The heat from the water worked out the kinks in our bones and relaxed our minds. We had reached the halfway point of our journey and were amazed by what we had accomplished in the past week. All of those parks…all of those coasters…This is truly a vacation to top many of the vacations I have taken in the past.
Today’s guests on Celebrity Hot Tub…
We did have a few visitors while in the tub. A San Diego mother, her 17 year old daughter and their two friends from Minnesota joined us. Waitaminit….I know what you’re thinking…Get your mind out of the gutter!!! This was a group of adults just talking about whatever come to mind, enjoying the soothing jets of the hot tub. Two other guys did stop by the tub but they didn’t stay long. I think they realized that there were not going to get any type of action from the ladies so they went to their rooms.
Let me say this…a little vodka, cranberry juice, and soda will have anyone telling their life stories to any Tom, Dick and Harry that will listen. Da MF Man and I are great listeners, especially when we’re sober. After three hours in the tub, not only do I know their names, jobs, how much they are paying on their mortgages, when their spouses/parents passed away, which ones were in abusive homes as a child, that the daughter had a few raging parties at her home while her mom was away, and so much more…It was like an primetime episode of Oprah, Jenny Jones, and Dr. Phil all at once. We almost had a “Jerry Springer” moment but the two friends did not get to swinging when they had their argument. Don’t know how much they remembered of the past night but they did say hello when we saw them at Denny’s for breakfast.
All in all, Magic Mountain was great. We’re on the West Coast and things are going smoothly. Tomorrow, we take the scenic route north to the San Francisco area. Knott’s Great America has a few coasters with our names on them.
Odometer reading - 2438 (Grand Canyon National Park) Final reading of the day – 2703 (Las Vegas)
The day started a little early for us. Emily had to get ready for school and Susan was kind enough to make breakfast. Days Inn has nothing on Susan when it comes to Scrambled Eggs & Ham. We gave our good-bye hugs and farewell sayings and headed west on I-40. As the video will show, nothing but desert to keep us company. I don’t know how Da MF Man would have made this trip solo as he originally planned. I can see him barreling down the highway, a cigarette in his hand, crushed cans of Jolt cola littering the floor. Something straight out of a scene from “The Road Warrior.”
We made it to Arizona in record time…and yes…more desert!
We did make a detour once we passed Flagstaff. Since we were so close, we decided to go the Grand Canyon National Park. The Grand Canyon has been on my list of “Things to Do Before I Die…” since 1990. That movie with Kevin Kline and Danny Glover inspired me. So after paying the entrance fee ($25.00 – It does cost a little scratch to see the largest hole in the ground), finding a place to park, and hiking 4/10 of a mile, I was able to see one of the most awesome sights to behold. Check the video:
That’s another thing this trip is all about. Being semi-spontaneous!!! Being able to just get up and go across the country, rolling with whatever comes our way, a person can truly feel free.
After the boredom that the desert offered, we reached the Hoover Dam. I don’t believe that I’m a typical tourist. I don’t take a lot of pictures while I’m on vacation. I don’t race to historical landmarks nor do I like to stand in line to visit celebrity homes. I was content to just drive right through Hoover Dam but Da MF Man had a different idea in mind:
Finally…we made it to Vegas. We stayed at the Excalibur Hotel at the south end of the strip and what they say is true: Vegas never sleeps and neither will you if you go all out. Now…I can’t tell you everything that happened to us down there. You know the saying: “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas!” I will say this though…In the first five minutes of our arrival, we were invited to the Excalibur VIP Services room for an upgrade to our room; The Strip is hella long if you are fool enough to walk one end to the other (Yes…we did); The happy people in the Vegas commercials are not the ones gambling their rent checks at the slot machines; The monorail is the best invention Vegas has to offer (There was no way we were going to walk back to the Excalibur); Louie Anderson is really that big; and the kicker – if you do not intend to gamble when you are in Vegas, What the hell are you there for?!?
I was going to provide a video montage of our adventure in Vegas but I think this one sums it up:
