June 13, 1999 Sunday

Arrived at our destination amidst some amazing dessert scenery to explore Mesa Verde.
From the National Park website:
"About 1,400 years ago, long before Europeans explored North America, a group of people living in the "Four Corners region chose Mesa Verde for their home. For more than 700 years they and their descendants lived and flourished here, eventually building elaborate stone communities in the sheltered alcoves of the canyon walls. Then, in the late A.D. 1200s, in the span of a generation or two, they left their homes and moved away. Mesa Verde National Park preserves a spectacular reminder of this ancient culture."
We signed in for the tour and headed out. I had to wonder how easily Grandma and Grandpa could walk this tour, as we all signed up for the "difficult" ladder climbs that sure made for a more interesting tour.

After the tour we visited the gift shop and bought a coffee mug, (we still have it!!) and headed for Durango, Colorado. As we pulled into Durango, we found another Festival, this time hundreds of Kayakers either in the water, racing, or finished and waiting for the completion of the race. We ate lunch and enjoyed sitting outside watching the action before loading up and continuing toward home. 
Bad luck befell us, however, as the motorhome threw its fan belt as we were descending the Mountains. We pulled off at an exit close to Pueblo, Colorado where we were forced to spend the night as it was too late to do anything but wait. 
Early the next morning, Glen drove the Cirrus into Pueblo and bought the belt we needed to repair the motorhome. Sure is nice to have a "handyman" along when you drive a motorhome across the country! 

June 12, 1999 Saturday

10:00
Sightseeing and walking the Canyon for $20 a vehicle. We drove our car in and parked so we could walk to several points of interest and lookouts. Beautiful and awesome scenery, sad that Adrienne couldn't be with us to see this. When we all got tired of walking, we drove back to the motorhome and picked up some McDonald's on the way. (As i'm typing this years later, its obvious we weren't on this trip for the food!)  We packed up the motorhome to drive the East Rim of the Canyon heading for Mesa Verde, a place that Ernest and Eva had been several years earlier and recommended we see sometime.
As we drove the rim, one of the better observation points was our final one called, "The Watchtower"

We got several pictures there and paid 25 cents to walk to the top of the 3 story 1933 tower for some magnificent views. By 3:15 we were leaving the canyon.

5:00
We stopped at a Basha grocery store for food and other supplies. It is approximately 40 miles to the Four Corners, which is on our route to Mesa Verde. We decide it may be worth a stop to say we have been there, but when we arrive there is a fee, so we turned around and continued on. We camped for the evening just short of our destination in Colorado.

June 11, 1999 Friday

Leaving Los Angeles about 11:00 a.m. Kansas time, so much left to see, but ready for the trip home, too. Missing Adrienne and wishing she could have been with us! We travel north on I-15, same as before, only we veer off for the Hoover Dam Highway. It was bumper to bumper traveling miles before the Dam and miles after, but Hoover is impressive! Even though I would have liked to look, longer, I'm excited about seeing the Grand Canyon. So after Hoover Dam, we headed to Kingman, Arizona, shopped for sandwich fixens and had a fun picnic off Highway 40. That evening we stopped in a little town called Williams, Az. whose main street had once been part of historic route 66.The townspeople were having a festival, so we enjoyed live music, sidewalk cafes with partiers and dancing as well as horse and buggy rides. We passed up $1.12 gal gas in Kingman to pay $1.31 in Williams.
We arrived at the Grand Canyon around 10:30 p.m. and camped in the Grand Canyon RV Park for $23. Everyone was tired but we took a walk around the grounds before settling down to read before retiring. Tomorrow we explore the Canyon.

June 10, 1999 Thursday

The weather has been perfect, a little cool in the evening but mild 70's every day. Our plans today included La Brea Tar Pits, Universal City Walk, Venice Beach, then down to Laguna Hills. Devin wants to live on Venice Beach, its a cool place. I couldn't believe how the apartments are stacked right up on the beach. We walked down to the cold water but no one felt like a swim! It was 4:30 LA time when we got to Barb and Chuck's. She showed us their 2 bedroom condo in the exclusive "Leisure World" of Laguna Hills. Chuck is a woodworker and has built lots of wood pieces for their home, plus they converted their patio into a family room. It was good to see my cousin, Barb, who was such a comfort to me during the days following my brother, Randy's death and his funeral. She came all the way from Kentucky with her dad, my Uncle Everett, to stay with us. We were near the same age, 14, and so we bonded very well.
 We spent a lot of time in the car the past two days and Glen got us around like he had done it all his life. We returned to the motorhome late evening, ate at Carl Jr's, shopped at the Super K then the boys left us at the campground and drove back to the same area and saw the sneak preview of Austin Power's "The Spy Who Shagged Me."

Photos from Devin here😉

June 9, 1999 Wednesday

9:00 a.m. LA time
The four of us head west on the 210 for Pacoima and the Van Nuys Blvd to Pierce Street. By 10:00 we were parking near the entrance to Pacoima Elementary School. It was remarkable how familiar some places were yet how skewed my memory of distance is! The school, the Projects, the airport, the market, Hansen Dam, the railroad tracks, and the orange factory...all an easy 15-30 minute walk from point A to point B. Yet they seemed so large and spread-out in my memory. Something noteworthy to add here; my childhood memories of the life in Pacoima persist even though on revisiting the area as an adult, I have made new memories that don't support my childhood memories.
From Pacoima we traveled south to Van Nuys, down Balboa Ave. We easily found Ronnie's school, Stagg Street School just off Stagg Street, but it wasn't until our return trip to Balboa that we spotted Birmingham Trailer Court, our first LA home in the San Fernando Valley area to the north.
Both areas were well kept and landscaped with Pacoima being the most secured...we were questioned as to who we were and why we were taking pictures.

We left the valley and stopped for lunch at Panda Express, ate outdoors, and returned to Sunset Blvd, Hollywood, Beverly Hills, and Mulholland Drive. In Hollywood we walked "The Walk of Stars" found LA's oldest bookstore, drove through Beverly Hills for more sights and returned to the campground for grilled burgers.

June 8, 1999 Tuesday

7:00 a.m.
Arrived in Las Vegas and saw several new casinos like New York New York and others still in progress.

8:00 a.m.
Entered the state of California. Highway 15 from state line has been marred and littered with skid marks, blown tires and car parts. We saw part of Death Valley...otherwise mostly desert and craggy mountains. Just before Baker we saw several squad cars on the shoulder, a cop holding a rifle and an airplane and a helicopter running search patterns in the desert. Breakfast for $2.99 at Bun Boy, maybe we should try it!

12:30 p.m.
Just outside San Bernadino, we can see the smog oozing up from the LA basin. Meanwhile we're stuck in traffic from road construction, (30 min so far). I just spotted an Olive Garden, and most of the shopping looks the same as Denver or KC. It still looks like desert, with highway laid down and buildings springing up from the sand and sage. For fast food I see In-N-Out Burger or Bun Boy. Shortly after 1:00 we're motoring once again. Traffic isn't too heavy yet, we hope theres no 12:00 rush hour (as its really only 11:00 here and we're still a ways from our Pamona KOA). We plan to park the motorhome and return to the Ontario Mills Shopping Center.
We are entering the San Bernadino National Forest and LA is 66 miles!

2:30 p.m.
Arrived in Pamona, found a different campground than the one we originally planned. Sally, the manager, fixed us up with a nice lot near the pool at the front of the park. We have a drive, a patio and space for the motorhome with full hook-ups all for just $18 a night.
After the MH was parked and hooked up we left for some shopping at the Montclaire Mall. It was your basic Anywhere, USA mall, but we called Adrienne from there. Devin bought some shirts and Glen and I bought snacks.
We packed into the car and drove into downtown LA, onto Sunset Boulevard and the Sunset Strip, Hollywood and Beverly Hills, over to Santa Monica Beach up Hwy 1 to Malibu and finally up through the Santa Monica Mts. trying to find the Mulholland Hwy for a scenic overlook of LA. We were all hungry and tired by this time, 9:30 p.m. and sleep-deprived, so we headed to the campground via I-10, a long drive until we jumped into the carpool lane. We ended day one in LA with grilled hot dogs on our patio. We collectively agreed to spend 3 nights here instead of 2, as we each had so many places we wanted to visit. Tomorrow, first priority is to visit my old stomping grounds!

June 7 1999 Monday

2:30 p.m.
Devin and Brandon, Glen and I left Hays this morning at 8:00 a.m. bound for Los Angeles! The motor home is packed full and our Chrysler Cirrus is hitched behind. We left Adrienne home with Mac, both asleep again by now, so they could house-sit. The motor home has great sleeping arrangements and Devin is trying out the back bedroom. While Brandon is napping on the couch. We're driving sixty miles per hour but it feels like we're creeping! It is a gorgeous day, sunny, warm and calm (so far, but this is Kansas!) We are traveling west on Interstate 70 to Denver--will take I-70 all the way to Utah then pick-up I-15. Filled gas at Limon 12:30.
We arrive in Denver approximately 2:00 p.m. CST and climb laboriously thru the Rockies  around 2:30. We are one of the slowest vehicles on the road as we ascend the Mt. D & B are resting as Glen and I enjoy the view.
Lunch was cold turkey on onion buns w/ buffalo style chips (buffalo meaning spicy!)
So far the funniest thing to happen was our car alarm system somehow went off as we entered the Eisenhower tunnel. Devin finally got it to shut off just as we were about to exit!

6:00 p.m.
The next excitement today was actually very scary...I was trying to nap at the back of the motor home when I as startled by a loud pop and rattle-rattle. The tow Dollie for the car blew a tire and we had to limp into a little stop west of New Castle, Co called Silt. Glen and Brandon got the car off the Dollie ok, then we proceeded into town to look for a new tire. That's where this story ends so far. G & B aren't back yet, we've been here about 30 minutes.

7:05
Got the tire fixed in Rifle for $50--back on the road again.

8:30
Arrived in Grand Junction to fill gas and eat at A & W. The food service people complained about our "big-ass order" ( not my words). On the road again and out of Colorado into Utah at 9:00 p.m. So far Glen has driven the entire time. Glenwood Canyon was awesome but far western Co and eastern Utah look pretty desolate! Sign on highway...EAGLES ON HIGHWAY

2:00 a.m.
Stopped in Beaver, UT for a couple hours rest...Glen nor I actually slept! At 4:00 a.m. we're gassed up and on our way to Las Vegas!