Well, we’ve returned and recovered from this adventure.  People keep asking what we like best on the trip.  Well, there were so many things it is hard to decide, but after some thought, below you will find those things we thought highly of or discovered on our trip to be really interesting.

Top Ten Favorites

10. Lou Mitchell’s Restaurant (Chicago, IL) – walked here from Grant Park and had milkshakes to start off the Route 66 experience.

9. People we met – Geoff Ladd gave us a tour of an old restaurant (Lincoln, IL); Louise of Munger Moss Motel (Lebanon, MO); Gary and Leana of Gay Parita Restored Gas Station (Paris Junction, MO), a lifeguard who gave us a tour of a period building, now the bathhouse with a turret (Sayer, OK)

8. Standing on the Corner in Winslow, AZ

7. Painted Desert (Petrified Forest Nat’l Park, AZ) and Mojave Desert (Amboy, CA) (we mentioned the hike to find 20 geocaches in about 113 degrees)

6. Chain of Rocks Bridge crossing the Mississippi River (north of St Louis, MO) – we walked across since the bridge is closed to vehicular traffic

5. Iconic wayside attractions: Totem Pole Park (Foyil, OK), sleeping in a tee-pee at the Wigwam Village (Holbrook, AZ); walldog billboard/signs (Pontiac, IL); Cadillac Ranch (Amarillo, TX); Burma Shave signs (Towanda, IL & Seligman AZ); world’s largest rocking chair (Fanning, MO); Midway Café (Adrian, TX)

4. Restored gas stations: Dwight, IL; Odell, IL; Spencer, MO; Baxter Springs, KS; Chandler, OK; Afton, OK; McLean, TX; Vega, TX and more

3. Driving on the Sidewalk Highway (Miami, OK) (one lane wide to make the construction funds go farther; cars had to drive with two tires on the pavement and two on the unpaved shoulder)

2. Seeing the real locations which inspired the movie ‘Cars.’ The town the interstate passed aka Radiator Springs (Seligman, AZ). Inspiration for Sally, the owner of the Rock Café (Stroud, OK). Inspiration for Ramone’s was a restored gas station (Shamrock, TX).

1. Arriving at the Santa Monica Pier for the end of the historic Route 66

Worst or Un-favorites

Mules walking the streets in Oatman, AZ leaving calling cards on the boardwalk

113 degrees in the Mojave Dessert and we still hiked for 2-3 miles

Traffic in California

Other “bests” on the trip!

Best Day: In Oklahoma – Saw totem poles, a whale, bridges, gas stations, old hotels, round barns, ate at Sally’s Rock Café, drove on a section of brick road, drank Route 66 pop and ended with a Priceline hotel that was actually short term apartments for FAA trainees in Tulsa complete with our own washer and drier.

Highest Elevation: Hiked to Cecret Lake (Alta, UT) at 9,800 feet

Hottest Day: 113 degrees in the Mojave Desert

Biggest Relief: Finding the strange sound the Murano was making was an easily repaired wheel bearing (Rollo, MO)

Worst Event: Stolen credit card number with 5 charges that Discover will deal with

Best Photo Ops: Tie between The Grand Canyon and Zions National Parks – both awesome, but quite different

Best BBQ: Tie – Elbow Inn Bar & BBQ (Devil’s Elbow, MO) and The Rib Company (Twentynine Palms, CA)

Most Unexpected Cool Event: Viewing Comic Con attendee costumes on the way to hear Utah Symphony “Video Games Live” (Salt Lake City, UT)

Best Science/Geology: Joshua Tree Nat’l Park including huge boulder fields, meeting of the Mojave and Colorado deserts, Joshua Trees, chance to see the moon in a 14” telescope

Best Milkshake (of 3): Bear Lake, ID – Raspberry and Banana with fresh fruit

Saturday morning in Morgontown, WV and its raining again.  Enjoying morning coffee in bed while waking up.

Yesterday’s post got lost in the ozone.   It went something like this:

We left Jackson MO about 7 AM CT crossing the Mississippi near Cairo IL.  We were in IL for about 30 minutes before reaching Kentucky.

It was a long, long way across KY and we reached WV about 4 PM ET.  We did pass through a lot of small towns, but had little traffic until we reached Lexington.

We were on limited access interstate-like highways most of the trip in order to cover the 670 miles needed so that the final day would miss most of the traffic around Baltimore.  A really long day!

After this leisurely morning we hope to be back in Wilmington by early afternoon!

Late start to the 500 mile drive today.  Departed Saint Joseph around 9:30 AM.  There were still only a few people stirring in town.

We left via I-229 and I-29 and connected to I-435 to get around Kansas City.  Then it was the infamous I-70 (US40).  Finally we got off of the interstate network onto US 65 at Sedalia.  Now we were rollin’ across the hills of rural Missouri.   Beautiful country and little traffic.

We arrived in Jefferson City shortly after 1:00 and found metered parking.  Only $0.25/30 minutes–$1.00 for 2 hours!  Got two virtual geocaches before taking the guided tour of the state capitol building.  Lots of interesting art and facts from the park ranger.

At 3 PM we started on the rest of our journey.   We changed our target destination from Cape Girardeau to Jackson for hotel options.  First time in a Drury Inn.

After Jefferson we were mostly on state highways.   Beautiful scenery and interesting small towns along this route.

Saint James

Steelville

Shirley

Potosi (bought gas, got a cache)

Fredericktown

Millersville

Jackson

So, today we were through midsized towns, small towns, a metropolitan area and rural areas of Missouri.  Makes one start to evaluate the different lifestyles that people in this large country have.  And to compare those possibilities with what we already have and know.  Huge differences in housing, services, job potentials, income, etc.  For me, I’m thinking Wilmington, DE is still the place to be!

We left Sidney, Nebraska this morning at 8 AM-on time for us-to make a run across Nebraska.   Today’s drive was 530 miles total, not the 600 I projected yesterday.  We drove East for hours across the relatively unchanging scenery.

We entered the Central Time Zone in the middle of Nebraska around 9:30 AM MT and immediately lost an hour.  We kept on keeping on until we arrived in Lincoln, Nebraska around 12 Noon CT.  We found a post office near the state Capitol.  Joyce got a few documentary photos of the Capitol.

Then on our way! We took a state highway out of Lincoln (rt. 2) which took us through Iowa.  We had not expected to transit in this state, but a change in our route resulted in a stop at the Iowa Welcome Center.  We got a map, signed the log and found a geocache!  We were in Iowa for about 30 minutes and at least 10 of them were dedicated to extracting a nano geocache container from a park bench.

On to Missouri!  Our night is in downtown St. Joseph.  When we arrived at 5:30 PM the streets had been rolled up.  Checked into the Holiday Inn, edited some photos for submission to DPS competition.  Due by Friday midnight ET.  Joyce’s are in; Gary has to do his before Friday.  Here’s hoping we have better internet access tomorrow night!

Today, Tuesday,  was our departure day from spending 5 days in SLC.  We got a little later start than usual at 9 AM.   And just as we were getting in the car to depart, big raindrops were beginning to fall.

We drove about 550 miles to Sidney Nebraska and arrived about 6:30 PM.   We had mostly rain, heavy at times, to about Laramie,  Wyoming.   After Laramie it was mostly cloudy with just a few sprinkles from time to time.

When we arrived in Sidney, we checked onto the hotel (another Best Western) and then went out to get wine to go with dinner from our supplies in the room.  We found a geocache near the Cabela’s store just across the parking lot.  We also walked around the small lake Cabela’s has for holding classes.

I have to say that of the hotel/motel chains we used on this trip, we have been happiest with Springhill Suites (Marriott) and Best Western.  Comfort Inns (& Suites) have also been pretty good.  They meet our travel needa best at reasonable prices.

Tomorrow is another 600 mile day.  Hoping we can avoid the severe weather we’re seeing on the Weather Channel!

Today, Monday, was our last day in SLC visiting Jeannie, Mark and Riley.  We visited Sego Lilly Gardens this morning in hopes of getting a few good pictures.  It was too windy to get many, but we had a nice walk around the gardens anyway.

After lunch, we decided on a hike to see a waterfall that was a short hike–up all the way (but only 0.25 mile each way).  Once again, gravity works…  The falls were pretty small this time of the year.

Jeannie and Riley took this hike with us.  Riley had some homework for which this hike made a good event.  He is studying to be a computer video game developer at the University of Utah.  He had to make some videos as a class assignment.  I was after the waterfall.

We were just finishing up some photography at the falls when a check of the Raindar app on the smartphone indicated a fast moving rain storm was less than 15 minutes away!  We just barely made it to the car when the rain began.  Lucky, I guess!

We returned to Jeannie’s and decided to go the The Bohemian restaurant and brew pub for a nice dinner on our last day in town.  Then it was time to say our good-byes and get back to the hotel to finish up our return trip planning, work on some photos for competition and organize our packing for tomorrow’s departure.

Another great day on our grand adventure!

Our Sunday continued with a hike to Cecret Lake in Little Cottonwood Canyon.   1 mile each way with a 420 feet elevation gain/loss.  Gravity works in both directions!  Jeannie came along for the fun and enjoyment.

Joyce found a cache up there to no one’s surprise.   We got back to Jeannie’s about 7:15.  We fired up the grill for steaks and enjoyed another nice evening visiting with Jeannie and Mark.

Time for nighty night and who knows what tomorrow will bring for fun.

Missed posting yesterday again!  Just too many things happening to pause for an update!

So, Saturday we had made a plan to take Jeannie, Riley and his girlfriend Tia to see the Video Games Live concert with the Utah Symphony.  This was a 11 AM show and we took the light rail Trax downtown.  The concert seemed to be in conjunction with Comic Con and there were a lot of costumed folks on the train and around downtown.  Very interesting!  And the combination music and video made for and interesting performance.

After the show we returned to Jeannie’s for dinner and a movie (pizza & Wall-E).  Then to the Springhill Suites for the night.

Sunday morning was a great breakfast with Pat & Tim Coffey at the Silver Fork Lodge in Big Cottonwood Canyon near Salt Lake City.  We had great views and conversation catching up in person instead of by facebook and email.

On the way down the mountain J&G stopped to collect two geocaches at the bottom of the canyon. Then we did some shopping I. Walgreens and got a car wash to remove road dirt from the Copper Cache Rover.  We then made a stop at the Sego Lilly Gardens to check on their hours for a later visit.  Closed they were on Sunday, but a geocache we have looked for on two previous trips was still haunting us.  Since there were no muggles around we decided to take make another search.  Success!

On to Jeannie’s to make some plans for the rest of the day.

A delay in posting!

Yesterday we got up pretty early so we could take a ranger led hike to the Kayenta Trail at 9 AM.  We got on the shuttle bus around 8 and made one stop at the Court of the Patriarchs to photograph them in the early morning light.  The better photos were rhe cacti with the purple fruit prominent.   Baxk to the bus to get to the Grotto stop for the hike.

Ranger Kim Diamond arrived at 9 and off we went.  This was the best trail we took in the park as it was not all paved like many of the others. Ranger Kim discussed various plants and animals in a most humerous,  but educational way.  She left us at the top to make our own way back down.  The scenery and light on the way up was nice so we decided to return the same way.  Besides,  we had done the other aide down the day before.

We needed to be on the road at 11 AM for the day’s 350 mile drive to Salt Lake.  Mostly we drove to make time and got to our hotel around 4:30 PM.  This gave us a chance to unload the car and get a few things accomplished before going to Jeannie’s for dinner.  Unfortunately we got absorbed and let the time slip up on us.  Just as we were in the car with motor running,  we received the “where are you” call!

Had a nice visit and dinner of pot roast except that I had a GERD attack that kept me leaving the table.  We left around 9:30 for the hotel.  After about an hour, it was time to seek out an emergency room for treatment-successful avoiding more advanced care.

Friday we had a plan to see the new Mormon temple in Ogden and get a cache in Idaho.  The temple visit had to be canceled because of the late night on Thursday.   So we started a little later for the drive to Bear Lake and on to Idaho.  A beautiful ride with our elder daughter Jeannie!  Some great scenery with leaves just beginning to change at higher altitudes.

Had a great milk shake ( raspberry for Gary & Jeannie, banana for Joyce) made with fresh fruit at Merlin’s diner.

Visited Wyoming twice-once by incorrect reading of signs and maps!   Returned to Jeannie’s about 8 PM for pizza and a movie.

Made plans for Saturday to see the Video Games Live event in SLC at Abravanel Hall with the Utah Symphony.

No photos today!

This morning was an opportunity to photograph the features near the Museum in Zion National Park at sunrise.  The alarm went off at 5:25 AM and we got dressed and drove to the museum parking lot to get their early.  We were the first to arrive!

Tripod, camera and cable release set up and beginning about 6:15 started taking photographs of the well known features at this location including West Temple,  Sundial and Altar of Sacrifice.  One can sense the Mormon influence in the naming of the features in this park.  Also, the Beehive formation later as sun touched the rocks.

Breakfast was put on hold until about 7:30.  The Best Western Zion Park Inn had arguably the best breakfast included in the room rate.  Full buffet and good coffee!

We decided on a couple of hikes for the day.  First up was the Menu Falls (about 2 miles)  located between the Big Bend and the Temple of Sinawava shuttle stops.  The bus doesn’t let people off at that location, so we had to walk (hike) up the road from Big Bend about  mile to get to the short walk up to the falls.  They were pretty small this time of the year, but will make a good image when we get time to download, categorize and process the images from this entire trip!  After photographing the falls, we walked up to the Temple of Sinawava shuttle stop for a ride back down the canyon to the Zion Park Lodge.

At the Lodge we took the hike to the Emerald Pools–both the lower and middle. (  We were disappointed at the findings at the destinations (2.5 miles), but the hike up was very nice.  Saw a couple of falls, although they were smaller so late in the summer.  Have some interesting photos of the spray from the falls being blown by the wind.  This was considered a moderate hike.  Since it was close to noon, we had some crackers and water for lunch.  This after that great (big) breakfast earlier in the morning.

After this hike, we caught the shuttle to the park history museum where was soaked up the air conditioning, got some water refills and watched the 22 minute video about the park.  I think my oboe teacher from Salt Lake City (Holly Gornik) was the oboe and English horn player on the music in the film.  The credits were for winds from the Utah Symphony.

Gary needed a nap after all this effort and the early morning!  We retired to our hotel room for a few hours.  We had made dinner reservations at the Red Rock Grill in the Zion Park Lodge to celebrate Joyce’s birthday.  We arrived just in time and were seated outside on the deck.  Great views and nice weather!

After dinner we attended the Ranger talk on the night sky.  This was so different that expected.  She talked about light pollution, where we could still see the night sky and how some places are working toward becoming a certified linternational dark sky community.

This was a great day in Zion NP.  Tomorrow we plan a few early photo ops and then a Ranger led walk Kayenta Trail starting from the Grotto trail head.  Then we’re off to Salt Lake City!