“If you come home as happy as you leave, you have had a good vacation”

Jonesie and Jason on the dashboard

Wednesday, June 15, 2011, California here we come

I woke up this morning around 2:45. The cats were quiet, but I couldn’t go back to sleep. I went to the couch and layed down. Of course, the cats started stirring.

Jason and Jonesie chased each other back and forth. Kaci stayed in bed with Charlie.

Little Girl (Kaci) in her 'happy place' while we are moving
She stays here until we stop for the night

From my place on the couch, I was treated to the “cat show”. As the cats would run through, Sheila also wanted to play with them. She went into her kennel and when the cats ran by, she came out, tail wagging. Jonesie had enough room to get on top of the kennel. When Sheila came out, he swiped at her head and ears. We all finally went back to sleep until 6:00am.

Before leaving the campground, we took some pictures. Since Holbrook is near the Petrified Forest and Painted Desert, there was a big petrified wood log near the entrance to the campground. We took some pictures and also got a picture of the “Cowboy Café” cook and me.

Then we saw a little rabbit stretched out nearby. He was very still. With all of our walking and running around, he didn’t move.

We passed the exit for the Meteor Crater. Information from the internet: It is the world’s best preserved meteorite impact site just minutes from Interstate 40 in Northern Arizona near Winslow. Meteor Crater is the breath-taking result of a collision between a piece of an asteroid traveling at 26,000 miles per hour and planet Earth approximately 50,000 years ago.

Today, Meteor Crater is nearly one mile across, 2.4 miles in circumference and more than 550 feet deep. It is an international tourist venue with outdoor observation trails, air conditioned indoor viewing, wide screen movie theater, interactive discovery center, unique gift and rock shop, and Astronaut Memorial Park at the modern Visitor Center located on the crater rim.

Meteor Crater's "Collisions And Impacts" movie allows viewers to experience the thunderous sound and explosive fury of the meteor's super-heated trip through the Earth's atmosphere. Then, the spectacular result of the collision that rocked the American Southwest with the energy of more than 20 million tons of TNT can be explored first-hand just outside the Visitor Center at Meteor Crater Arizona.

We have been there several times. I’ve always wanted to hike to the bottom of the crater, but it is no longer allowed. Just to see the size of the crater is breath-taking.

In Williams, Arizona, a train takes you to the Grand Canyon. Maybe one day we will come back and do that. We have been to the Grand Canyon a couple of times, south rim, and we went to the north rim once. Both are awesome, but the south is the most popular I think.

Gas prices were pretty reasonable in Arizona, usually around $3.59 - $3.64. When we crossed into California, we stopped for gas. It was $4.79/gallon! Welcome back to reality? If this is the price now, then it means that gas has GONE UP here in California and we found that elsewhere, the gas prices had decreased by as much as $.20/gallon. Go figure. And they are certainly not using the taxes to keep the highway in good repair. We went over some of the roughest roads today—in California.

We have stopped for the night at the KOA campground in Barstow, California. Most of the people we have met, who run the KOA’s across the country, really have been helpful, friendly and seem to really enjoy their jobs. The lady who waited on us this afternoon was “not a happy camper”.

Of course, the temperature here is probably in the 100’s! The office/camp store’s door was open. There seemed to be something running, but probably not A/C. We had to wait for a few minutes to buy some iced tea. It was so warm in there, I thought I was going to have to go outside.

This campground is near the "ghost town" of Calico. They have a nice campground there as well. We stayed stayed there a couple of nights a few years ago. It was in March, so it was much cooler then. Calico is a neat place to go and walk around. It isn't open after dark though. We won't be visiting there this time.

Calico was a working mining town at one time. We still can't imagine what it was like to live there back in the day. No A/C! The heat here is just unbearable.

But, we are happy to be so close to home and tomorrow we will be home. I plan to post from there tomorrow night!

More later……….