Day 126: Kansas City, Missouri to Akron, Ohio; Day 127: Akron to Middlesex, Vermont -- We're home!

Well, it does not seem possible, but we have been home one month now. Sorry for the long delay in getting this post written. Reentry tasks (including 17 weeks of expense reports) loomed large when we got home. But, since the NFL football season officially ended last night with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers defeat of the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl VI,  it seems like the right day to finish up this blog. 

First, here are a couple of random pictures from Kansas City. 

(Below left) When a storm dumped snow on KC and the hotel staff were clearly not on top of it, a visiting Vermonter had to take matters into her own hands. It was late afternoon and we had to get our car out so we Greg could drive to a hotel across town to take his Covid test. Luckily, I'd only been shoveling for about 15 minutes when the plow guys showed up.  (Right) our final dinner in KC. We celebrated the season's end with Tex-Mex takeout -- quite delicious. 

On our way out of town, we said "goodbye" to KC and set our sights on home.

When we started our NFL road trip back on September 3rd we suspected that it would likely be a short term thing. The NFL would probably cancel the season midway through or at least postpone until the pandemic eased. The odds of the league managing to play a full 17-week season seemed remote. And even if the games continued, life on the road might prove too challenging. Maybe flights might have to be considered. 

But, as the NFL refined their system and got the hang of covid testing and quarantines and roster management, we refined our system, as well. When we started the long trek toward San Jose, California for that first game -- Arizona Cardinals @ SF 49ers -- our rented SUV was packed with a tent, a sleeping pad and sleeping bags, a lantern, cooking gear and a camp stove along with canned goods and other foodstuffs. Somehow, we were under the impression that, after driving 10 hours in a day, we'd have the energy and inclination to set up a tent and sleep on a thin pad in the great outdoors. Needless to say, none of that happened. We quickly learned that our systems needed to support our goals. 

Goal #1: get to each week's game site safely and with the minimum wear and tear on our bodies and mental health. 

Goal #2: See a bit of the country, safely, when time and location permit.

As time went on,  we figured out what was essential to have in the hotel each night and we worked out a system using carefully packed roller bags to keep the schlepping to a minimum. A key item was our travel fridge and handy roller cart to move it in and out of hotels. It's now living in our garage, ready to be of service for our next road trip, whenever that may be. 

So, now that we've made it through the whole season here are a few final pictures and stats. Thank you for coming along for the ride. Sharing our adventure helped us to feel connected to the people and places we left behind. 

(Below) Our trusty rental car, back home in the Burlington Airport. When we picked it up it had about 7500 miles on it. 

When we started out it was late summer. 

By the time we were a few weeks in, the weather was changing . . .

 . . . we experienced fall in different places and .  . .

. . . by the time we were close to wrapping up, winter was in full swing. 

Here is our map marked with our 2020 NFL journey:

18 weeks

17 cities

31k driving miles

0 plane rides. 

And, at the end of it all . . . back home!

Day 122-125: Kansas City, Missouri

This town really knows how to show off for the holidays. Buildings are outlined in bright red and green.  They even managed to deliver the white Christmas -- a little late -- that we missed in Las Vegas. But, our eyes are on the prize -- Greg's last game and the chance to head home. 

The Plaza area near our hotel feels a bit like a mid-western cross between New Orleans and New York with a little bit of Miami art deco flair thrown in for seasoning. It has a distinctly Spanish feel with lots of public art like we saw in New Orleans combined with an upscale meets downscale shopping vibe like New York, where Lulu Lemon and Tiffany's are few steps away from Starbucks and The Cheesecake Factory. Struggling through the mushy snow with icy patches galore made me miss home -- snow management is definitely not up to Vermont standards.

Our hotel's decoration scheme fit right in with the eclectic artsy vibe. It's a bit of Norman Rockwell old-fashioned Christmas combined with art deco. I discovered the mural (above) tucked away in a stairwell.

On the field: NFL week 17, 1/3/21; Los Angeles Chargers @ Kansas City Chiefs. Since the Chiefs had already clinched the division title and a bye in the first week of the playoffs, Patrick Mahomes and many other KC stars watched the action from the bench. That gave the Chargers a chance to showcase their hotshot rookie quarterback Justin Herbert in a record-breaking win. The Chargers threw it in and ran it in. Even the defense scored a safety. Final score: Chargers 38, Chiefs 21.

On the map: Distance from last week, Las Vegas to Kansas City-- 1,350 miles. You can see our route below starting in pink at lower left and finishing in blue.

Tomorrow we start the journey home!

Day 119: Las Vegas to Gallup; New Mexico, Day 120: Gallup to Amarillo, Texas; Day 121: Amarillo to Tulsa, Oklahoma; Day 122: Tulsa to Kansas City, Missouri

As the season winds down, Greg gets his assignments with less and less lead time. The folks who decide which team goes where are juggling last minute changes as different teams emerge as play-off contenders. So, we found out late Sunday night that Greg's last game of the 2020 season would be in Kansas City. The assignment came as bitter-sweet news to us. We had thought that we might be staying in the west which would have given us a chance to visit Nadia in Lone Pine, California. As it turned out, we weren't able to make that detour. But, as we packed up and headed out of Las Vegas on Monday morning we had the consolation that we were, at least, headed in the right direction for our ultimate destination -- home.

Heading east, we retraced our steps -- and followed the lyrics of the route 66 song --for the first few days. That meant more stunning vistas and skies.

It also provided a few more opportunities to seek our some quirky attractions. Below are some scenes from old Route 66. We found the "muffler man" below at a used car lot. His bent arms, typical of these statues, probably originally held mufflers (hence the name).

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We remembered passing a sign advertising "Meteor Impact Crater" on our way out west. It piqued our interest, so when we saw it again we got off the highway to investigate. As 2020 luck would have it, we drove the five miles on a bumpy dirt road to find that the site was just closing. Greg took some shots of the rim, but it certainly doesn't do it justice. 

Thank heaven for wikipedia!

 

There are moments when the beauty of the open road makes me forget for a small time about the huge problems our country is facing. Then I hear a news story or see a care-worn town . . . or billboard or person. . . and the magnitude of the challenges we face in 2021 comes roaring back into my consciousness. When we pulled into our hotel in Amarillo, the lobby was full of people -- mostly women of color wearing brightly colored head-scarves -- these were health-care workers, answering the call to care for Covid patients. The hotel clerk told me that her hotel, as well as two others nearby were full of such workers. Texas has been hit hard. I am grateful that there are so many compassionate, skilled workers doing what they can to help.

The next morning, we were up and out and headed east again.

On the last travel day before we were due to arrive in KC, we fitted in a couple of stops to explore some sites from my family history. My father was born and raised in Kansas and, even though our family traveled a lot when I was growing up, we'd never done a trip to trace his roots. After we grew up, my siblings and I talked about making such a trip with our dad -- but we never quite accomplished it before he was gone. The Kansas scenes below feel sort of locked in time to me, like dad might recognize them.

The house my dad and aunt grew up in (above). Their high school (below). Below that, the cemetery where my grandparents are buried. 

Tomorrow is Greg's last game of the 2020 season. And then, we start the drive home.