New House Blog: Episode CCVII - The Journey

You will recall from our last Episode that we left our heroes on Tuesday, July 16, 2019, just as they were pulling out of their driveway for the final time to begin their adventuresome trek across the country to their Texas House.  Did they make it out of the driveway?  Did they have an adventuresome time?  Did Bish lessen at all in his dislike for the Uhaul?

Let us join our heroes on their trek, and resume the adventure in their own words.

Journey 1

Two trucks; three days; four cats.  Those are the vital numbers.  Four cats; three days; two trucks.  Keep these numbers in mind as you read on.  I had Satchmo and Daisy in the cab of the Uhaul, and Becky had Miles and Edgar in the cab of her F150.  All cats were in cat carriers, and each of us had one cat in the passenger seat, and one cat in the passenger footwell - with towels and blankets for padding and shade.  To facilitate easy, effective communication between trucks, we used Motorola handheld walky-talkies.

Our adventuresome trek began as we pulled out of our driveway for the last time and made our way to the freeway.  By a prearranged agreement, we decided that Becky would get herself some breakfast in the Jack in the Box drive-thru, and I would just drive southward, and we would meet up at the San Luis Reservoir.  Our route started out on 680 south, then transitioned to 101 south.  From 101 south we headed over 152 east to the San Luis Reservoir.  I arrived first and waited a while for Becky to show up.

Unknown to me at the time, Becky was delayed by having to stop and re-secure the tarp in the back of her truck.  Eventually she arrived, we availed ourselves of the facilities, and we resumed our journey, together.

The cats did not like this start to our journey, and they let us know for a while.  Eventually they seemed to calm down, but they were not happy to be cooped up in their carriers.  Fortunately, both Becky and I had downloaded sufficient numbers of old time radio shows, onto various media, that we did not have to listen solely to the cats' complaints, or, in my case, the noise of the noisy Uhaul cab.  Mainly, I listened to High Adventure before our daily lunch stops and Lux Radio Theatre after our daily lunch stops.

After our brief stop at San Luis Reservoir, and a quick readjustment of the tarp on Becky's truck, we continued east on 152 and then turned south on 5.  Traffic was not too bad on 5, and we stopped in Kettleman City for some food for us,  and gas for the Uhaul.  Because of the cats, we had to do most of our on-the-road eating in our trucks, with the AC on.  One positive thing about the Uhaul was its AC - it worked quite well.  Over the course of our trek I was only getting about 300 to 325 miles per tankful in the Uhaul, and I think it had a 30-ish gallon tank.

After lunch we continued south on 5, and at some point we turned east.  At this time I don't recall if we took 58, or if we took Stockdale Highway.  Either way, we bypassed Rosedale by using the wonderful Westside Parkway, after which we continued eastward on 58.  The Uhaul did pretty well going through the hills leading to Tehachapi, and I was not, as I feared I might be, slower traffic.  I pushed that Uhaul pretty hard at times, and mechanically it was sound and never let me down.  On 58 east there is one, single, solitary, random stoplight in the middle of the desert, at a place called Kramer's Junction.  I think I have had to stop for it just about every single time I've driven that way, and this trip was no exception.

After the stoplight, we continued on to Barstow, where we may or may not have stopped for gas - I don't recall.  At Barstow we switched to 40 east, and drove through the hills and high desert all the way to our stop for the night in Needles.

As you can see, it was quite a warm day in Needles, and our sympathetic hotel clerk gave us our room keys and encouraged us to get the cats out of the trucks and into the air conditioned rooms before we checked in.  We had two rooms at each hotel, and in Needles they were not adjacent rooms.  The cats seemed to enjoy being out of their carriers, and they seemed to get used to the strange rooms pretty quickly.

As the cats explored their rooms, we ate at the local Giggling Cactus, where we each enjoyed a wonderful Cuban sandwich.








Journey 2

Four cats; three days; two trucks.  After loading the cats into their respective trucks we set off once more toward Texas and our Texas House.  We started out on 40 east into Arizona, and made a mid-morning gas stop (for the Uhaul, of course).  When I went around to the passenger side of the Uhaul and opened the door to check on Satchmo and Daisy I discovered that someone had had an accident.  It was Satchmo, and fortunately, it was the better kind of accident to have.  Unfortunately, there was nothing we could do at the gas station other than to add more layers of towels underneath his cat carrier so as to keep the Uhaul's seat clean.  As it turned out, this was the only cat accident of the trip, and the Uhaul's strong AC and my strong air fresheners covered up the smell.

This is me at the gas stop.  For the most part, on this trip we mainly stopped at large truck stop type facilities for gas.  They tend to have very clean bathrooms a lot of pumps, and large, well-stocked convenience stores.  I remember that this particular place was having some kind of special hot dog sale because it was, according to the loudspeakers, National Hot Dog Day.

We departed without further incident and continued generally easterly on 40.  Sometime in the middle of the day we hit a large traffic delay due to road construction.  This afforded me the opportunity to take a few photos with my non-phone, real camera.

As you can see, it was a bright, sunny day.

The view from the driver's side mirror.

The view from the passenger's side mirror.

Hmmm...  What's that ahead?

Now we're a little closer, and zoomed in quite a bit.  What can it be?

Extremely zoomed in now, but I still don't know exactly what it is.  Power plant?  Cement factory?  Smelter?  Gold refinery?

At least we weren't outside in the heat doing road work.  And we had our radio shows to listen to.

Eventually we made it through the back-up, and continued on 40 until we turned roughly south at Clines Corners onto 285 south.

A late afternoon gas stop.  There were no regular pumps available for me, so I had to use the RV gas pump.  Eventually 285 south brought us to our stop for the night in Roswell, New Mexico.  No, we didn't see or hear anything about UFOs or aliens or such-like.

We stayed at the Roadway Inn, and we had adjacent rooms, with connecting doors, which allowed the cats to roam freely between the two rooms.  We went down the street to Sonic to pick up dinner as the cats explored the motel rooms, and after dinner I used A LOT of hot water and soap cleaning Satchmo's carrier, and all of the towels and shirts that had been under and around his cat carrier.  Day two ends with me strongly advising all of you to AVOID the Roadway Inn in Roswell, New Mexico.  Stay away!  Trust me on this - you don't want to stay there.  I'm not going to go into details here, but just stay away.  If you absolutely need a pet room in the area, find another hotel, or another town.  DO NOT stay at the Roswell Roadway Inn.

Journey 3

Three days; four cats; two trucks.  Satchmo's carrier was dry in the morning, and we loaded up the cats and got on the road for our third, and last, day of traveling on our adventuresome trek.  I'm not certain, but I think we may have started on 285 south, and then turned on to 10 east.  I am certain, however, that we stopped for lunch, and I had ice cream.

As usual, we mostly ate in the trucks with the AC running.  You can see Becky's white F150 in the rearview mirror.

This is also at our lunch stop.  We  saw quite a bit of wind power as we drove through Texas.

I don't recall exactly where we got off of 10 east, but we ended up on some farm roads, some winding, hilly back roads, and eventually 46 east and some other roads.

Epilogue

We leave our heroes on those other roads for now as we wrap up this exciting Episode of the New House Blog.  Will they find their Texas House?  Will they unload the cats in time?  Will Bish say any more nice things about the Uhaul?  Tune in next time to the New House Blog!

So long, and Happy Landing!
    bIsh