Boston to Vegas Road Trip - Part 3

Day 5- Amarillo, Texas to Winslow, Arizona We were on the road at 0630 am, but it was pitch black. Amarillo is at the far western end of the Central Time Zone and sunrise didn't occur till close to 8 am. We did, however, have a chance to view a colossal full moon. Everything's bigger in Texas!

Paul suggested we stop at the Cadillac Ranch, an unusual road sculpture of 10 vintage caddies buried nose-down in a field by the highway. It was still dark as we approached the short trail leading to the sculpture, but with the help of flashlights, we appreciated what we could in an eerie sort of way, then traveled a little further down the road for a look a the Cadillac Ranch RV Park and the giant 2nd Amendment cowboy.

We crossed into New Mexico, Land of Enchantment, and the Rocky Mountain time zone and gained an hour. The terrain changed from flat plains to mesas and arroyos and rugged hills. Scrub, sage and prickly pear replaced the prairie grasses. We really like New Mexico. We've visited several times before, but this time it was just a drive-through. We did, however, take a pit stop in Tucumcari to take a look at the “rat-rods” on display.

We were traveling through Indian territory … Zuni, Hopi, Acoma, Apache and Navajo among others.

We passed up several enticing offers en route … “Buy 16 railroad ties, get 3 free” and “Buy 2 mortars, get one free” as well as petrified wood, snakeskins and genuine Indian moccasins for the whole family and, of course, an endless stream of casinos.

A stop in Santa Rosa, New Mexico at the Route 66 Auto Museum seemed to be a “must” for the guys. I enjoyed the Route 66 memorabilia, but the cars were definitely not of interest.

The railroad runs parallel to US 40 and long trains of graffiti'ed cars traveled with us for what seemed like never-ending miles.

We stopped at the 50s style WOW Diner in Milan, NM for a good old-fashioned diner lunch … patty melts and French dip for the guys... blah old salad for me … but a welcome change from the fast food chains, plus we love the whole local diner ambiance.

We were getting our “kicks on Route 66”, enjoying the Mother Road, but were pleased when we finally arrived in Winslow, Arizona. We had entered the Pacific time zone and picked up yet another hour. The clock said it was early, but our bones said it was time to quit for the day. We planned to “stand on the corner” … right after dinner. The Rodeway hotel was an old, tired, loser of a place, but we survived. We drove through town and past the corner quickly … too many tourists and the sun was in the wrong direction. We bought supplies for a room picnic and planned on some “standing on the corner” action in the morning.

Day 6 – Winslow, Arizona to Las Vegas

We were up early and being in the eastern part of the time zone, the sun was up with us. We were only too happy to depart our seedy hotel and head to downtown Winslow. Winslow is a small, western town … population about 10,000. It's does not smack of growth or industry and probably the “corner” which happens to be on Route 66 is its only tourist draw. We took turns posing on the corner while humming the Eagle's tune. We took a closer look at the “flat bed Ford” parked on the street nearby. We put a couple bucks in the donation box to help with the upkeep of the corner. There are a couple Route 66 shops on the opposite corners which were open for early business. We looked, but didn't buy.

The 6-block First Street Pathway meanders along the rail side and provided a good morning walk. There are Burma-Shave type jingles posted along the way and an interesting carved totem pole by Peter Toth. Mostly, it was a chance to stretch our legs before climbing back into the car for the remaining 300-mile drive to Vegas.

The “free breakfast” at our hotel consisted of watery coffee, packaged mini-muffins and donuts and bread for toasting. We passed on it and figured either Denny's or Mickey D's would suffice. Then we saw the Falcon Restaurant, aka El Falcon, and did a u-turn into their parking lot. This local place was friendly, served up good portions of adequate food and was reasonably priced. Their green chile, however, was nothing compared with Mary's homemade recipe.

We were back on the road, listening to tunes and thinking about our “to-do” list in Las Vegas. Believe it or not, it's a long, long list. Some things never change. We stopped in Flagstaff and Kingman, Route 66 hot-spots, for quick breaks and ended up in Las Vegas by mid-afternoon. Home at last!

Hmmm … exactly where is home these days?

Road Trip to Dolan Springs

According to a lottery executive and the Chicago Tribune, the U.S. Powerball lottery jackpot is the largest, single ticket jackpot in world history. We were deciding where to buy our out-of-state PowerBall tickets when Mary came across a thread about the tiny town of Dolan Springs, Arizona for purchasing tickets as an alternative to the 3-5 hour queues just over the Nevada-California border in Primm. We googled it. Dolan Springs was only about 80 miles south of Las Vegas, just down US93. What the heck? Road Trip! We piled into Mary's car around 8AM and headed down Boulder Highway. Dolan Springs … here we come. Just on the other side of the Hoover Dam, we saw the Welcome to Arizona sign.

It was a cool, clear, blue-sky morning. The Mojave Desert spread out before us. The Black Mountains, the River Mountains and the McCullough Range lined our route and provided an interesting contrast to the bleak, flat desert land. It's easy to see how this area was once the bottom of a warm inland sea millions of years ago.

We passed by a couple of small stops along the way … Rosie's Den Cafe, usually a lazy, convenient stop on US93 on the way to Grand Canyon, was inundated with cars and serpentine lines extended to the far reaches of the parking lot and into the desert.

We turned off the highway onto Pierce Ferry Road and headed east about 5 miles to Dolan Springs. There were a few cars, but not all that many. A bus was heading towards the Grand Canyon. Dolan Springs proved to be a one-horse, one road kind of town, just what you'd expect in the middle of the desert.

We pulled into the Wishing Well Saloon and Restaurant, touted on FB just hours before as an outlet for PowerBall tix and a great place for breakfast … selling tix from 6am-midnight. This had been our Dolan Springs destination. The empty parking lot and the big CLOSED sign on the door was a surprise and a disappointment, to say the least.

Luckily, across the street was the town's only other restaurant, the Canyon Cafe. A much-harried waitress told us to find a table wherever we could and handed us menus. The service was slow; the food was mediocre and pricey; and they did not sell lottery tix. Conversation with a couple of locals, however, pointed us to the only gas station in town which did sell PowerBall tix. We finished breakfast and headed to the Dolan Station, just down the road.

We hadn't even noticed the station on the way past earlier, but the lines and full parking lot caught our attention this time. Comparatively speaking, the line wasn't all that long; but it was growing. We weren't really sure of the rules of play, but veteran players were happy to give us pointers. Quick picks ... computer-generated numbers … were easy. We had a couple of “custom” orders to fill for friends which required blackening dots on a lotto card which were then fed into the PowerBall machine by the counter attendant. We waited in line.

We found lots to entertain ourselves while waiting. We chatted with other folks. We took turns standing in a Western miner themed“face in the hole” board. That took up 5 minutes.

I'd noticed a fun mural on the side of the nearby Double D Market and popped out of line long enough to get a photo.

After about 40 minutes, we finally stepped into the general store. Once inside, there was all sorts of interesting stuff to check out.

There were rubber band guns with extra ammo, dream catchers and coyote ceremonial headdresses ($225 … Do not remove or put on!). There was Indian jewelry and cactus candy, gold nugget gum and tequila lollipops complete with encapsulated worm. We bought nothing, but appreciated the amusement value of the local souvenirs.

Finally, it was our turn. We bought our tickets, convinced that they were the winners, and walked proudly back out of the store. We noticed the line had expanded and stretched quite a ways further back. Timing is everything.

We waited with bated breath for 7:59pm Pacific Standard Time on Wednesday evening. We watched the balls drop and the numbers immediately displayed on the screen. The bad news? Hard to believe, but we didn't win… nada … nothing at all, but someone did! The good news? Luckily, we've saved ourselves a trip back to Arizona to cash in the winning ticket plus all the angst and aggravation associated with having to figure out what to do with all that money. Whew!