A West Coast Trip - Segment Maps

Here's the itinerary for a really wonderful west coast trek. I'm including a few maps here. The first is the entire trek. Then there are three segments. I designed and did this trek a few years ago.

The yellow rectangles are stops along the way and I have photos for each of those, and points in between. In all, about 1,500 photos. This trek is 2,392 miles, per the odometer. It requires a minimum of 12 days. I broke it into three segments, or "legs."

I'l be posting more on this in the coming days and weeks.

National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum

I'm just about caught up with this trek!

During our stay in Tucson, we mentioned our return itinerary which included Oklahoma City. Our neighbors suggested we stop at the National Cowboy Heritage Museum. So we altered our return trek to include this. We spent a morning there.

That's one of the joys of trekking in a camper van. Meeting other travelers and sharing knowledge. One can also take alternative routes as the weather or desires change. So, on our return we altered our itinerary and off to the museum we went.  It was impressive. Our Canadian acquaintance was spot on with her recommendation.

The museum includes impressive art, a full-scale replica of a 19th century western town (Prosperity Junction) and extensive exhibits of the history of the cowboy in film. In all, more than 28,000 Western and American Indian art works and artifacts. We found the volunteer guides at the museum to be very helpful and talkative. We discovered a lot about the contents of the museum and really enjoyed our conversations. Overall a really informative, educational experience.

I am including only a sampling of photos. The exhibits include authentic western and Indian clothing, tools, and certainly the best barbed-wire exhibit on the planet. I never knew my nearby town of Dekalb was so linked to the cattle industry.

After Tucumcari, Samosa's for Lunch

One of the delights of travel is a variety of cuisine. We do a lot of cooking and I have a propane BBQ which we take on our treks. The Roadtrek has a two-burner propane cooktop, and a microwave convection oven. We added a small toaster as we are very particular about our english muffins in the morning; we prefer them crisp. Balancing this with a variety of restaurant stops, we are well fed and quite happy on our treks.

One item I have on my "to do" list is a carbon steel dutch oven. I like to do some cooking over hot coals, and that includes cobbler, stews and so on. Corn bread baked in a dutch oven is scrumptious. For an outdoor treat, I like to make donuts in a wok.

An urge for samosa's 

A samosa is a fried or baked pastry with savory filling, such as spiced potatoes, onions, peas, lentils and also with ground meat (lamb, beef or chicken). After leaving Tucumcari, we headed northeast and were hungry. G spotted a billboard advertising Indian cuisine at a truck stop ahead and had a desire for Samosa's. So in pursuit of a samosa lunch we went. They were delicious.

After our snack we continued on our way.

Oklahoma City - Cattlemen's Steakhouse

Our trek included some business in Oklahoma, and a brief stay in Oklahoma City. After a day of honest labor we decided to sample local hospitality and we were both hungry. So we headed to Stockyard City for an evening of good food and fine wine. We proceeded to the Cattlemen's Steakhouse.

What a fabulous meal! I have spent a lot of time in Texas, Montana, Oklahoma and Nebraska and in addition I'm a decent cook. I know a thing or two about good food, steak,  and I can hold my own when it comes to grilling.

We enjoyed a really fine meal and great hospitality. Our server, Miranda, made this end to a long day a wonderful one.

It had been a somewhat chilly day, so my spouse began the meal with a cup of hot tea but I went directly to a cabernet sauvignon and we toasted a successful day, each other and our wonderful trek. We then settled into a marvelous steak dinner (I had steak and shrimp) which ended with our sharing a homemade blueberry cobbler a' la mode.

Here's to a good life, to good people and to Miranda who was the perfect server!

Route 66 and Tucumcari

Taking a long distance trek provides opportunities and requires decisions. We decided to travel to Tucson using both U.S. Highways and the Interstate system. Of course, if one is going to travel the U.S. Highways from Chicago in a south-westerly direction, one should consider Route 66, and we did!

As the sign above implies, there is the current iteration of Route 66, and then there is the "Historic" Pre-1937 route. We traveled portions of both.

Travelling Route 66 took us to Tucumcari, NM and we stayed in a campground nearby so we could see the town and its famous murals in the morning. At this time of year, there aren't a lot of vacationers, and so we had a quiet stay. We arose in the morning, had breakfast and then prepared to see the murals and continue our trek.

We were not disappointed and enjoyed the murals. Of course, this being winter many tourist establishments were not open, but no matter. Our Roadtrek is very self-sufficient with the larger 5 cu. ft. refrigerator, generator for power and bath facilities. And, there are any number of eating establishments nearby. So we toured the town and weren't disappointed. The murals were everything we expected.

I had presciently purchased a Route 66 hat so I could do this in the appropriate style.

Here is a sampling of the murals, I suggest the interested traveler schedule some time in Tucumcari, NM so all can be seen.

There were a few surprises in Tucumcari, but I leave these for the traveler to discover. I don't want to give it all away and the trek was worth our while. I was impressed by the pride of the local establishments and a school. Definitely a lot of home town pride.

Rain, Rain, Go Away

During any long distance trek in the winter months winter will do what it does. As should be expected, travelers need to deal with the weather.

In this trek we experienced snow, ice, frigid weather, rain and also abundant sunshine. While we experienced an unusual rainstorm, back home in Wheaton there was an unusual 20 inch snowfall!

I can say we enjoyed the rainfall more than we would have "enjoyed" the snow.

Tucson - The Desert Museum

This is another in a continuing series. The mornings are cool but as the day progresses the temperature increases. Layering is the standard approach, and we peel clothes as the morning progresses and then put on the vest, etc. in the evening.

There is a lot of wildlife in and around the museum. We spent an entire day there.