Well, the cats and I finally made it to Maine. It's been an adventure and a half and I think I'm ready to get my life back on track. Between the missing lights on the trailer and the mud hole that tried to swallow my car, I think I'm past ready to get off the road.
The cats have moved into their new home and shoved the dogs off their beds with just a few hisses, scratches and growls. Traveling with cats? Yeah, mine were easy. Jasmine decided to yowl for the first hour of almost everyday and Fisher was still not 100% better so she just slept. She'd curled up into so tight a ball that I had to pull her out of the carrier to prove to the desk clerk at one of the hotels that the carrier wasn't empty.
And the sights I've seen. The grand canyon was the epic highlight to my journey. It's a sight that has been on my must see list for eons. The guide there says that they are running the biggest scam ever. Have you been to the grand canyon? What did you see? He said that nearly everyone if asked will tell you they are looking at the Grand Canyon, but you are really looking at where it used to be. All you are seeing is air. So yes, I paid $25 to see air. And it was spectacular. So many layers and to see what the Earth is capable of... yes it was well worth it.
Meteor Crater-also in Arizona - was a trip in some of my heroes' footsteps. Most people don't know this about me, but I've always been fascinated with space, Sadly, the closest I will probably ever come is traveling to different planets in my books, movies and imagination. But I will always return to Pern, Harmony, Greyson, Manticore, Sphinx and Discworld. My heroes that have traveled to Meteor Crater? Astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson. Astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Sally Ride. Astro-geologist Shoemaker and his wife.
Did you know that Meteor Crater is the best preserved Meteor impact site on Earth? Did you know that it's a small crater? Meteor Crater is the size of the head of a pin when compared to some of the craters you can see with the naked eye on the moon.
Maybe it's something to do with the rocks. Maybe it's the thought of playing in the dirt. I also stopped at a small museum sponsored by a community college in Oklahoma. It was a fascinating walk through but really it wasn't anything too special. It's one claim to fame was that it had its own bronzing facility so it could make bronze replicas of the dino bones. This was a great idea because the museum was a hands on exhibit kind of place.
Then I visited the Fantastic Caverns (FC) in Missouri. They have earned their name. It was a fantastic experience. A little too expensive - a family of four would cost around $100 - but being just me, I enjoyed the tour. FC is the only drive through cave in the US. It was discovered just before the civil war and was first explored by a ladies adventure group. How's that for women lib?
Some of the weirder things? Who hasn't seen strange and unusual things on road trips? This one was no different. Of course there were the usual rubber-neckers who had never seen an Oregon License plate before. One guy pulled off the highway to use the same gas station I did just so he could ask where I was from in Oregon. Here's a shout-out to all the ducks out there and we are everywhere. How ironic is it that the one guy in Ohio that asked me about Oregon was a huge duck fan?
Weird and strange:
Have you ever seen a gigantic rocking horse? I have.
A rubber squid hanging on the side of a boat being towed by a semi? I have.
A giant Teddy bear riding shotgun in a pink convertible? I have.
Lions, tigers and bears in a circus truck? (I didn't know they could do that)
A semi towing a semi towing a semi?
It's really too bad that most of these were seen while I was driving. So many pictures I couldn't take.
But I'm here in Maine now and the door is wide open. I think I'll run through it and see where I land.
Happy trails and happy reading!
