Monday, October 23, 2023 – Hitting the Road

My humans have been running all over.  I know something is up.  Oh, they are putting me in the little house that moves.  We are going somewhere.  I think I will nap.

We had a gazillion things to do to get ready for this trip.  We got as organized as we could and got on the road at about 2:30. We figured we would at least get out of town and stop at a rest stop or something for the night.

We are heading to Moab, Utah.  Moab is a hub for outdoor fun.  Varying degrees (from easy to suicidal!) of canyoneering, rock climbing, hiking, biking, off roading, river rafting, fishing, equine activities and more are all here for the taking.  And Spouse has been watching off road recoveries on You Tube…  here we go!

Normally, we would take a few weeks to meander to our destination.  But because of the circumstances with getting Artee ready, and Spouse’s cataract surgeries, our time got cut short.  So we headed the most direct route.

We used to take the 14 to the Pearblossom Hwy.  But that has gotten so crowded.  There are so many lights to get into Victorville, and it is a pain in the behind.  So now we take the 14 to Mojave and catch the 58 to Barstow.  It is a little bit further, but, oh so much easier and quicker.

Since it was time to eat, we decided to stop at Peggy Sue’s 50’s diner, which is a wee bit east of Barstow.  When I took of my sunglasses, one of the rubber pieces covering the arm got caught in my hair.  And of course… it has to fall in the most inaccessible place in the truck… between the seat and the console.  We got a flashlight and I saw it… I tried to get it with my hand, and I succeeded in pushing it under the chair rail.  Crap…  now what…  Spouse put some tape on a screwdriver for me to wedge in there and maybe get it to stick.  And it did!  I rescued it!  Let’s see how long I can keep these sunglasses together…  I have another pair just in case.

Peggy Sue’s is truly a relic of the past.  Our booth had torn naugahide seats.  We decided to split a meatloaf dinner.  It came with mashed potatoes and gravy (I am sure they were just out of the box) and the best canned string beans ever…  Now, the blueberry pie and ice cream were really good!  I am not complaining.  It was pretty much what I expected and it was fun.

Back on the road, I was nodding out as Spouse drove.  He finally pulled into a rest stop east of Baker.  We could pull along the back fence so we didn’t have to be with all the trucks, and we could open Artee up.  The freeway noise was like white noise so it wasn’t bad.  We actually got a good nights sleep.  Rudy did not like it here.  Diesels are not his friends.  He was very clingy.