Tag Archives: Travel

My Western Trip~Part 4

28 May

A Slice of Life

Bill Lites

Bill Lites

After walking the streets and meeting many of the 1880s town characters at the old west “Calico Ghost Town” it was just a few miles down I-15 to Peggy Sue’s Nifty 50s Diner in Yermo, CA. Peggy Sue’s Diner really brought back a lot of the 1950s memories of the good times we had as teenagers at our local diners in Albuquerque, NM. To compliment the cozy atmosphere at Peggy Sue’s Diner, you can “Eat to the Beat” with good homemade food and great 50’s music. Then after a burger, fries and a milkshake, you can explore the extensive collection of movie and TV memorabilia that Peggy Sue has on display.

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The next stop was Barstow, CA where I visited the Route 66 “Mother Road” Museum and the American Railroad Museum, both located in the original 1911 Casa del Desierto (The Harvey House) Railroad Depot. The historic structure is an elegant presence in the Mojave Desert and is still used and often referred to as the Barstow Amtrak Station. This famous depot was, for many years, what unofficially became known as the “Crossroads for Travelers,” where the Old Mormon Tail and the Santa Fe Trail came together. Early 1900s travelers, following winding wagon trails across this area turned it into what was later called The National Old Trails Road. Then in 1926, when the Federal Government instituted a new highway numbering system, The National Old Trails Road became U.S. Highway 66, and the rest is history. DiVoran and I became well acquainted with the portion of Route 66 between Las Angeles and Albuquerque in the first several years after we were married, but that’s another story for another blog.

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The next day I had planned to visit the U.S. Naval Armament Museum at the China Lake Naval Air Station just outside Ridgecrest, CA. But, when I signed in for the security check, I was told that their computers had been down for several hours, and they didn’t expect them to be back on-line for another 3-4 hours. There were several people ahead of me, to be processed, and I didn’t have time to wait around in the “hope” that their computers would be restored anytime soon. So, I headed on over to Boron, CA to visit the Saxon Air Museum and the 20 Mule Team Museum. Borax mining and unusual desert rock formations are the big interests in this area. I had made several Space Shuttle recovery trips to Edwards AFB when I worked for Lockheed, and had been introduced to Domingo’s Mexican Food Restaurant there in Boron. So, after checking out the museums and the rock shops, I treated myself to a great lunch at Domingo’s. Nothing had changed since last I had eaten there, including the model train that runs around overhead, inside the dining room, while you are enjoying your meal.

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                        —–To Be Continued—–

 

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My Western Trip~Part 3

21 May

A Slice of Life

Bill Lites

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On the way back to Las Vegas, it was suggested that I take the scenic route through the Valley of Fire State Park. This area has some of the most unusual desert rock formations I’ve seen. It made for a beautiful drive, as the sun was getting low, making the red hue of the rock formations glow like they were on fire. Maybe that’s where they came up with the name for the state park. You think?

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The next morning I started the day off with California Eggs Benedict at Marie Calendar’s (yumm), on my way to meet Bob at Nellis AFB. Bob had agreed to escort me on a tour of the Thunderbirds Museum, located there on Nellis. What a thrill it was to visit the home base of that great demonstration team, and view the planes and all the memorabilia tracing the team’s history over the years they have been in operation.

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Then I headed West on I-15 toward Barstow, CA. My first stop was at Goodsprings, NV to check out the 1913 era Pioneer Saloon of “Things Are Tough All Over” movie fame, staring Cheech & Chang.   The saloon has been operating continuously since opening in 1913, and the building and many of the saloon furnishings are original (including the pot-bellied U.S. Army Cannon stove), giving it a rustic and well used appearance. Part of the old west history of the Pioneer Saloon includes five bullet holes in one wall, and a hammered copper picture next to the bullet holes tells the tale of how they got there. The Saloon’s original bar was built in the 1860s by the Brunswick Company of Brunswick, Maine. The story of the arduous trip that brought that bar to Goodsprings, and the Pioneer Saloon, is typical of the transportation routes of the early 1900s. Made of fine quality Cherry wood, even after all these years, it shows no real signs of wear and still maintains its high gloss.

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As I continued West on I-15, I experienced a gentle climb until just after I crossed the border into California, when I started noticing what appeared to be a rainstorm heading my way. Just as I entered the Clark Mountain Pass (elev. 4726), I ran into SNOW flurries. I had just stopped for gas in Jean, NV and it hadn’t seemed that cold there. I just couldn’t believe I was driving through SNOW in the middle of a bright sunny day. Of course, the flurries didn’t last long, but it was still a thrill just to have driven through them. Down the road a ways, I stopped in Yermo, CA to visit the historic Old West Calico Ghost Town.   Located just 3 miles east of Barstow, Calico was founded in 1881 as a silver mining town, and today has been converted into a county park named Calico Ghost Town.  Silver mining and the population of Calico, supported by the Zenda Mining Company, peaked in 1887 and has steadily declined ever since. Walter Knott (of Knott’s Berry Farm) purchased Calico in the 1950s, and architecturally restored the town’s builldings to look as they did in the 1880s. 

 

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—–To Be Continued—–

 

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Time is Going By Fast

19 May

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My Take

DiVoran Lites

 

I’m surviving Bill’s being gone surprisingly well. I’ve only had a couple of moments of wondering what to do with myself. As you know, I enjoy solitude and I love being at home. I’m getting some blogs done and perhaps a bit of de-cluttering, though that isn’t going as I hoped, but who cares?

2Bill’s having fun too. He calls each night and gives me a report of his day’s doings and plans for the next day. It’s cooler in California than it is here, he layers his long sleeved shirt and his jacket. He’s taking notes for his blogs, so we can look forward to hearing all about his adventures.

Jacob is in Japan. He’s having a good time. He’s sending blogs and Face Book entries, though I’m not sure I’m either catching them all OR replying so that he hears back. His mother says the blogs make her laugh and cry. We may be extraordinarily well disposed toward Jacob, but we think he’s an excellent writer with a gift for humor.

Bill will be home on the 16th. By Thursday he had listened to unabridged books on his car C. D. At this rate the seven he took with him in especially purchased holders won’t last. Maybe he’ll get some music on the radio now that he’s near big cities in California and that will make his CDs last longer. He has developed a fondness for classical music. I’m not surprised, though I know he’ll always love Herb Alpert, Jackie Gleason, and Chet Atkins. He has such a good ear for music that when he started to take violin lessons as a child he could play by ear—that is until he fell out of a tree and broke his wrist. Did he really hate practicing that much?

The time is going by fast. I may “let” him go for this long again, though on the way to the airport I told him I wished he’d cut back to seven days. Neither of us has changed since we were eighteen. I always preferred a book, and he always preferred to be on the move. It’s wonderful that at this time of our lives we can pursue our passions while still having good times when we are together.

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My Western Trip~Part 2

14 May

A Slice of Life

Bill Lites

Bill

 

 

After I got checked in at the hotel, I walked a couple of blocks over to the Mob Museum which is set up as a history of the “Mafia” and organized crime during the early days in the U.S. and especially in Las Vegas. The Museum is housed in the former Las Vegas Post Office and Courthouse, built in 1933, and has restored the second floor courtroom where many of the Kefauver Committee hearings to expose organized crime were held in 1950 and 1951. They even have a portion of the garage wall from the 1929 St. Valentine’s Day massacre that was relocated from its original location in Chicago’s North Side.

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Next I strolled a few blocks to the “Fremont Street Experience” which is a 5-block covered pedestrian mall known for years as “Glitter Gulch.”  It reminded me of the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II shopping mall in Milan, Italy, except for all the noise and flashing lights. It has open-air bars and shops, street barkers, male and female photo shops, all brightly lit with flashing colored lights and lots of loud music. The place was mobbed with people.

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The next day I drove out toward Bolder City and took the very interesting Hoover Dam tour. The dam was built during the Great Depression, with what today we would consider fairly primitive equipment. Construction began in 1931, and at times, with as many as 5000 workers laboring 24 hours a day, for almost 5 years, they completed the project, and productive dam operations began in 1936. Just think about that! That massive structure was completed two years ahead of the projected completion date and under budget. There is so much interesting information about the actual building of Hoover Dam that there is not room to share it all with you here. If you are interested in the details, I think you will find it fascinating to Google “Hoover Dam” and read all about this massive project.

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Hoover Dam spans the border between Nevada and Arizona at that point, so after the tour I drove across the “Hoover Dam Bypass Bridge” to the Arizona side of the river and then back across to Nevada side, just for fun. Then I headed Northeast into the Moapa River Indian Reservation to Overton, NV to visit The Lost City Museum. This unique museum traces the Anasazi Indians and their ancestors who have inhabited this area from as long ago as two millennia. Then in about 1150, evidence suggests that a severe drought hit the area and the Anasazi Indians disappeared, to be replaced by the Paiute Indians between then and about 1800. Evidence shows that the Paiute Indians then called this area home until around the1850s, when Anglo farmers moving west pushed them out of the area. The Lost City Museum was built in 1935, to house artifacts from the Pueblo Grande de Nevada, which was to be partially covered by the waters of Lake Mead as a result of building Hoover Dam. The museum now includes artifacts from many of the ancestral inhabitants of this area, the Mojave Desert and other archaeological sites in Southern Nevada.

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                                                            —–To Be Continued—–

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Flowers and Gardens

14 May

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

JUDY

One of our favorite things to do at Disney is go to EPCOT for the Flower and Garden Festival every year.  They do such wonderful things with flowers and topiary.  I have known what topiary is for quite a while now, but when our son-in-law asked what it was, I told him that I couldn’t describe it, but there it is, right in front of you!  The shapes and designs that Disney artists make with wire and vines is simply amazing!

I’m not going to write much about this event, but I do want to post some of those amazing and beautiful pictures – just in case you aren’t able to see them for yourselves while attending this Festival.  Each year Disney adds some topiary they have been working on, and the theme is new each year, as well.

So, with that in mind…………ENJOY!

 

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My Western Trip~Part 1

7 May

A Slice of Life

Bill Lites

Bill Lites

Bill Lites

Being an airplane enthusiast, one of the places I had always wanted to visit, was the Pima Air & Space Museum in Tucson, Arizona. My friends all told me it was a magnificent place to see, and the aerial photos I had seen on the internet proved it. The museum itself is on 80 acres, and then there is what is called “The Bone Yard” which is another 300 acres of U.S. Airplane storage. Wow! I couldn’t miss seeing that.

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So, I started looking in my Aviation Museum Guide for what other aviation museums I could manage to see in the Southwest, and that’s how I came up with “My Western Trip” route. Now you might think that makes for a long trip, but the way I look at it, once I’m in an area, I like to see as many different kinds of museums (not just aviation museums) as possible. In addition, I really enjoy the planning of a trip, and as a result of my research, my list of museums began to grow. Since my initial plans were to start and end my trip in Los Angeles, I wanted to include a visit with DiVoran’s brother and his wife Susan, in Vista, CA and our high school friends Jim and Charlene in San Diego. Then, while in California, there was the Edwards AFB museum tour I wanted to take. That tour was only given two days each month and had to be scheduled 30 day in advance. Once I selected a date, I had to work my travel days (from my initial point) around that date. So, you can see some of the many factors I had to deal with to make this trip work.

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When researching rental car prices, I discovered that the same car rented in Las Vegas was $300 cheaper than that same class of car I had planned to rent in L.A. or San Diego. That savings would pay for most of my gas on this trip, so now my trip was going to start and end in Las Vegas. See how fast these kinds of trip plans can change. Knowing how hot it could get in the Southwest desert at times, I had planned this trip for the first part of April in hopes the weather would not be too hot. After much fine tuning of my travel itinerary, I was finally ready to go. I had never been to Las Vegas, and when we landed, my first surprise was that the Airport was actually landscaped with Saguaro cactus, Mesquite trees and Tumbleweeds. That made for a very unusual landscape theme.         

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Then, on my way to Baggage Claim, I passed thru several areas filled with gaming machines, many of which were pinging away like pinball machines. The Baggage Claim area was surrounded with gaming machines and huge screens loudly advertising what was currently being feathered at each of the showplaces on the “Strip” that week.

 The rental car process went as smooth as a breeze, but then at the Downtown Grand Hotel, where I was to stay the first two nights, I had to thread my way thru a large Casino filled with all manner of gaming machines to get to the Check-in desk. I was overwhelmed by the whole commercial scene.

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                                                                        —–To Be Continued—–

 

 

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A Time To Be Alone

5 May

Kitty

My Take

DiVoran Lites

Bill got to the airport by 6:00 a. m. We talked all the way there so the forty-five minute trip went quickly. I have been encouraging his sixteen-day trip because I want him to feel free to do what he wants to do, just as he encourages me. But on the way, I let him know that I wished he wouldn’t go for so long. He said he wouldn’t always; he thought about ten days would be good in future. I think so too, though I must admit I am looking forward to being alone, but not alone during this time.

Being seventy-five and seventy-six, and having been married fifty-six years—being first-born perfectionist, control-freaks requires a lot of discussion, and a great deal of give and take. Brush fires flare, but are soon snuffed out by love and forgiveness. Above all we know how blessed we are to have had each other and our family for all these years without any major disasters. But still…we’re both independent and we both like things to go our way. It’s the little things.

After I got home I spent time with my journal, reheated the coffee I took along, had an egg and toast and went back to bed for an hour. The first thing I did when I got up was to take all Bill’s pills off the dining room table and put them in his room out of my way. I set up my book prop and a couple of books as a reading station for meals, moved the large rug in the studio to a spot I like, and started a new shopping list. Some things I want to buy myself but he’s so efficient at taking the list and going to the store that I find them delivered before I even go out. What I want right now and have been wanting for a long time is a new kitty litter scoop, chosen by me. See what I mean about it being the little things?

I had to laugh when I sat down at the computer. There are a few things that bug Bill no end, so he left me this:

DiVoran—Please use this checklist while I am gone-Thanks.

  1. Lock all doors at bedtime.
  2. Lock all doors when you go for your walk.
  3. Turn off the water after you water your plants &flowers.
  4. Make sure refrigerator door is closed before you go to bed at night.
  5. Take out the trash on Friday mornings-No recycle until I get back.
  6. Turn off coffee-tea makers & cup warmers before bedtime. (I guess that means I’m allowed to forget and leave them on all day.)

Love ya,

Bill

So for two whole weeks now we are free. He will drive, drive, drive in the deserts and mountains of the Southwest and I will write, write, write in my comfortable house that I love.

Ecclesiastes three is a popular chapter and I use it a lot. I believe there is a time for everything. I like it that in our marriage there is a time to be together and a time to be alone. I’m glad also that there is more time together than alone and that we still have each other after all these years.

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A Memorable Trip Across the Desert~Part 2

30 Apr

A Slice of Life

Bill Lites

Bill

So we headed down the road, as fast as the old flathead “V8” would take the Mercury, and safely pull the trailer, all the time watching the temperature gage closely. If we didn’t come to a “Trading Post/Filling Station” before the temperature gage reached “Hot”, we would pull over and pour the two bags of water into the radiator and take off again. Somehow, we managed to limp from station to station, across the remaining (?) miles of desert and into Albuquerque the next afternoon. I didn’t have to worry about falling asleep at the wheel that night. Whew! Was that ever a stressful trip! Wouldn’t you know it, our friend Leon, thinking we would get into Albuquerque in plenty of time for some rest, had set us up to attend a New Year’s Eve party that evening. Remember, we had not had any sleep for over 30 hours. But, we got cleaned up, left the Mercury dripping in DiVoran’s folks’ driveway and went to the party in Leon’s can. DiVoran’s aunt commented as we walked out the door to our last party for a long time, “Oh, I’m so glad I’m not young anymore.” We managed to stay awake until midnight, and had a great time, but then we slept until almost noon before DiVoran’s dad, Ivan, woke us.

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 That afternoon, after a diligent search for an open auto parts store, Ivan helped me replace the leaking water pump. We added antifreeze to the cooling system since the temperature was below freezing in Albuquerque at night. After I drove the Mercury around several blocks to make sure everything was working right, we discovered the antifreeze had eaten thru the seals in the second water pump, and we had to drain the system and replace that pump too. That finally took care of the water pump problem, and we installed the proper thermostats so DiVoran would have a working heater during the winter.

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The rest of my leave was spent having a great visit with my folks, my aunt Jessie and Granny. DiVoran and I had a T-bone steak dinner with all the trimmings at our favorite “Mom & Pop “ restaurant down town, and a superb lobster dinner at our favorite seafood restaurant uptown in the Nob Hill area. When my leave was up, I said goodbye to friends and family, left DiVoran with her folks and took the train back to San Diego and my ship. That was a lonely trip, but as usual the U.S. Navy found lots of things to keep me busy for the next eight months.

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When I look back at some of the things we did as “Young Adults”, it’s hard to believe we had the nerve to strike out on adventures like that, thinking nothing of the possible challenges we might come up against. Oh well, that was back when we were all young and indestructible. Remember those times? Back in the “Good Old Days?”

 

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A Memorable Trip Across The Desert~ Part 1

23 Apr

A Slice of Life

Bill Lites

Bill

 

 

Our last day in San Diego was December 30, 1957. DiVoran and I were in our shorts and tee shirts loading a 4’x 6’ trailer and our 1950 Mercury Sedan with everything we owned. As usual, I had waited until the last minute to finish the last of the packing and we were working up a sweat trying to get on the road before dark. A thick fog rolled in around 5:00 PM, which made for eerie working conditions. As it turned out, it was almost midnight before we left San Diego, headed for “Route 66” and Albuquerque, New Mexico. The U.S. Navy had given me ten days leave before I was to ship out for Japan, and I was taking DiVoran to live with her parents, and attend beauty school while I was gone.1                                               

The first few hours passed without a hitch, but as we got into the Arizona Mountains, the outside temperature became frigid and the temperature gage in the car crept over toward the “Cold” peg. Evidently, the previous owner of our Mercury had removed the thermostats from the cooling system, and I didn’t know it. Guess what?   No heater. We started covering up with everything we could lay our hands on, but were still freezing cold. As we entered the desert, on the eastern side of the mountains, I noticed the temperature gage had started moving off the “Cold” peg, and was slowly climbing toward “Normal”. That was not a good indication. That’s when I started looking for one of the many “Trading Post/Filling Stations” that were spaced at intervals along Route 66 back in those days.

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Lucky for us, we came upon a “Filling Station” just before the needle reached the “Hot” peg. We stopped to see what the problem was, but the station was closed. We were on our own. Here we were out in the middle of the desert; it was pitch dark, and we hadn’t seen a car on the road (going either way) for miles, and now, no mechanic to help diagnose the problem. Did I mention it was freezing cold?   Well, once I lifted the hood, it didn’t take long to figure

out what was wrong. One of the two water pumps had sprung a leak. What could we do?

The station had a water hose that we used to fill the radiator, and we always carried two full “emergency” water bags slung over the front bumper.

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—–To Be Continued—–

 

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A Small Serendipity

13 Apr

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

JUDY

                                                    

I really love the serendipities that happen in our lives at times. Some are so large they just overwhelm us when they happen. Others are just sort-of average, but just enough different to make us sit up and take notice. And then there are the small ones. Those that just happen in a flash…and then are gone, leaving us to wonder how/why did that happen?

Fred and I experienced that just recently when we went to Disney’s Magic Kingdom. Busy day – lots of high school bands around – lots of Senior Trips around – kids in the same color t-shirts. We usually enjoy seeing these groups. Most of them are not terribly rowdy, and are just having a great time.   Occasionally we see them doing the “flash” thing – breaking into song or the “wave” or something like that.

We had just finished a ride and were on our way to lunch, when a young man caught up with us and said, “would you be my stand-in parents?” We stopped and I asked why? He said his parents had just gone on a ride but he couldn’t get on, so….. I began laughing and ask him what we could/should do. He hesitated a minute then said, “how about a hug?” And so that’s what we did – a group hug for the three of us – all of us laughing at the same time.

And then he was gone.

I told Fred he was probably dared to do that by some of his classmates, but that was okay. It was a fun thing.

MUCH later, I told Fred we should have told this young man that we couldn’t be his stand-in parents, but would stand-in GRANDparents work? Nothing slow about me!

Disney

 

 

 

 

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