Thursday June 25, 2010

I haven't had the Internet for a few days so I will try to catch up on the trip so far. We are currently in Clarkdale AZ having arrived last night (one day early). We checked in to our family owned motel because the entire family (well the cheap ones) will be staying here also. Mike and I have the handicapped room on the bottom floor at the end. It is a typical room, 2 queen beds with slick shiny bedspreads (never lay on top of the bedspreads of a hotel/motel because you don't know what has gone on there because they don't get washed...ewww). Our bathroom has the big shower for wheelchairs and a flip down padded seat in there to boot! Now we are talking! The bathroom is also equipped with a frig and microwave....now that isn't always a good combo if you know what I mean...it can smell like rotten eggs in there when you are trying to find something to eat! But all in all it is a decent room with an extremely LOUD air conditioning unit!

Okay back to Tuesday morning....we stayed a very nice Holiday Inn Express....great beds...great nights sleep. Mike let me sleep in and we hit the road around 9:45 am. Now I am starting to like this new guy that is wearing my husbands clothing! He is laid back and chillaxing! We get on the highway and drive just a few miles down the road and low and behold there before us is the infamous Lucky Star Casino!! Can you freaking believe it? We had spent all that time on Monday looking for the silly thing and it wasn't there before Tuesday morning!! We took it as a sign and went in to play! We spent and hour or so and played in a nearly empty casino...it was great. I unfortunately had an upset stomach so I spent most of that hour in the bathroom...there is nothing to do in a bathroom....shouldn't they have slots in there too?? So I ended up leaving a little 'piece' of myself there. It was probably a really "Lucky" thing that we stopped there....I was thanking my "lucky Stars'!!

Back on the road we go....heading to who knows where...my husband on a trip w/o a plan...can it be true? I love this guy....why hell I even liked his music! We stopped to get gas at a Love's gas station (no Quik Trips out west)...I went in to take advantage of the free pee break. I was standing waiting for Mike and right in front of me was a display of funny glasses!! Oh my talk about a jackpot!! I was in heaven. And only $5.99! I bought only one pair though I was trying to hold back. They are very tropical and fun AND my DH wore them for a long time while we were on the road!! Can you believe it? He actually smiled and laughed with them on!

We continued on our trip and for the first time I really paid attention to the scenery. There are lots of wind turbines in the state of OK so they were pretty cool to see. We decided that if we put a wind turbine up in our back yard we could probably afford the pool during the summer! We have so much wind at our house we could probably take care of the town of Raymore! It seemed as though every new terrain we came across looked like it should be a 500 pc puzzle in a nursing home somewhere. We saw flat lands, cactus, hills and mountains...so pretty.

As we entered the state of Texas we passed the famous truck stop where we were stranded on our roadtrip 2 yrs ago...it brought back many horrid feelings...I saluted as we drove by. We were talking about how glad that trip was behind us when all of a sudden the truck lost power! I felt it and a saw it on Mike's face...both of us got this sick feeling and our hearts sunk to our feet. Nooooooooooooo not again! Finally Mike realized his big ole clod hopper shoe had hit the brake pedal and the cruise had kicked off! It was really funny but not really funny!

Now the state of Texas is an interesting place....I think in a prior life I must have been a cowgirl....well okay maybe I worked in a brothel...anyway...I LOVE TEXAS! I love the cowboy boots, hats, belts, purses... you name it I want it! Mike and I stopped at another Love's to buy more gas and he offered to buy me a bright green cowboy hat for our anniversary! Now is he something or what? I turned down the offer but came out with red flamingo sun glasses...and I LOVE them! A young man saw me try them on and he said you look good in those "Maam"! OUCH!

There are tons of stores along the way selling Indian stuff...jewelry, blankets, toys, you name it they got it and I want it! It all makes so much sense when you are here but when you get back to the MidWest you look pretty silly in all of that stuff. Now I seriously think I could live in New Mexico but my family doesn't live there so forget it!

We have been amazed at the miles we have driven and not seen any accidents. Well just one later on down the road. It was a motorcycle with a man and woman that we had been following for quite sometime. I don't know what happened but the emergency vehicles passed us and when we got to the scene there they stood in the middle grassy section of the hwy....their bike was a mess but they were standing looking at it. Hope they were okay...of course no helmets. Not a lot of police out either. The speed limit in Texas and New Mexico is 75mph...so no real need for speed.

We drove through areas called safety corridors???? What the hell does that mean anyway? Sometimes there would be fences along side of the highway. If you are caught speeding in a safety zone the fines are doubled! Now does that mean that when you are not in that area that it is unsafe but okay to speed? Not sure if I have figured that out or not.

We drove all the way to Albuquerque on Tues without meaning to...now is that even possible? Mike told me it takes 3 days to drive to his parents house and we are to be there on Thursday....so if we left on Monday...won't that be 4 days? Do you think he planned all along to arrive one day early? Hmmmmmmmmm

Driving into Albuquerque we saw signs for the opening of a new Hard Rock Casino Hotel! We were excited. We really like the Hard Rock. We couldn't get our bearings so Mike had to stop to use the restroom and get this....ask for directions!! Yep you heard it here first folks...a MAN asking for directions!! The Hard Rock is having it's opening this weekend so it wasn't open yet. We are going to hit it on the way home. We were going to stay at the Sandia Casino and Resort but at $179.00 per night I opted out of that one. We have stayed there twice before so we decided to move on down the road. We ended up at the Route 66 Hotel and Casino for the night. This is one of our favorite stops. The decor is really cool and the room was great! Only $79 per night and no taxes! The Indians are getting us backing for invading their land. Mike and I were worn out and after taking our bags upstairs we went downstairs to eat. We weren't able to go out for our anniversary because I was sick so we decided to have a nice meal, drink, gamble and stay in a great room. Well....we tried.

The steakhouse wasn't quite finished yet so we opted for a sit down place with menus instead of the $6.99 buffet. Now the casino was so busy it was unreal....people and kids everywhere! Seems that they were have a progressive drawing that night so everyone brought the family to see if they hit the big one. The buffet was more than crowded so sitting in a quiet restaurant was a good thing. I ordered an Amaretto Sour and Mike a Jack and coke....I asked the waiter what he recommended and he pointed out a couple of items that were "delish". Of course, I didn't order the 'delish' items I ordered the Steak and garlic mashed potatoes. Mike ordered the shrimp basket. My steak although ordered medium was a little overcooked, my mashed taters were over garlicked, and the frozen greens beans were nasty. Oh well, it was the thought. We played a few games in the casino and then off to bed for the night. Happy Anniversary to us!

Weds morning Mike woke up early as usual. He slipped out and went to the Dairy Queen casino next door...yep you read that right a Dairy Queen with a casino! He ended up having a cup of coffee and winning $200 bucks....now that is the way to start your day. When we left at 8:45 am we didn't make it too far down the road when the Dancing Eagle Casino jumped out at us! WooHoo...and they are off to the races! We stayed and played and Mike's lucky streak continued. It was a great time. We were hungry so we headed to find a Cracker Barrel...oh yeah finally real food! We had a great down home cooking meal for a change...what a great day.

Back on the road we go...wait what do I spy? The Fire Rock Casino! Hey what's one more stop? We go...we play...oops...not such a good idea after...we left a little money for them at that one! But it was still a great time. We leave with our pockets at little lighter but we saddle up again and decide to head straight on to Clarkdale AZ to Mom & Dad's a day early. I kinda think my sneaky DH had that planned all along don't you??

Gotta go before I lose the Internet...I will continue when I get a moment to myself...

Until then happy trails to us...so far!