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.  

Day 115-118: Las Vegas, Nevada

As Christmases go, this one ranked bottom barrel for me, as it did, I know, for many others. At least, I was able to zoom into our church's Christmas Eve service. I listened to our wonderful pastor Rona's comforting voice, sang the hymns softly to myself, and flipped back and forth between mini-images of Sophia and Anna on the banner of attendees. But, the best part of Christmas Eve was our zoom watch party of Rudolf the Red-nosed Reindeer. 

Christmas, itself, was a work day for Greg. While he was at the stadium, I caught up on some blog posts and took a long walk on the Las Vegas Strip. It was late afternoon and a few folks were milling about, taking in the sights. Unlike our usual white Christmas in Vermont, this one featured blue skies and neon.

Finding reasonably healthy, tasty food on the road has been a major challenge for us all season. So we were grateful that Fox decided to order room service Christmas dinners for the crew. The turkey and fixings were delicious -- and I didn't have to cook, so that was a bonus. 

Our long driving days tend to take a toll on our bodies, especially our backs. We try to take breaks to walk around and stretch, but sometimes the demands of the "miles-to-go" take precedence. That happened on the long journey from Green Bay to Las Vegas. And Greg ended up aggravating a previous back injury. So, in addition to the regular challenges of his job, he had to deal with pain, as well. 

He was managing it fairly well -- limping along (the theme of this year, that's for sure) until game day morning when things took a turn for the worse. Greg took a wrong step and was suddenly in excruciating pain. After several horrible minutes, we came up with a plan -- the hotel staff lent us a wheel chair and helped us find a nearby urgent care. The doctor there gave Greg a shot in his back and set up a medication regimen that enabled him to recover enough to do the game. Phew! Below are some shots from game day.

 Las Vegas's space-age stadium.

(Above) Greg on game day and with cameraman Jesse Liebe and producer Mark Teitelman.

If you saw the 12/27 Dolphins vs. Raiders game, you'll know that, even with his injury, Greg did an amazing job. I watch enough football to recognize when the crew goes above and beyond. In this case, they certainly did. If you didn't watch the game, you should google the video of the final play. Here's how Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes described it. 

With the game in the rear view mirror we had one thing to look forward to in Las Vegas -- a socially distant family visit. As it turned out, Greg's mother, sister and brother-in-law were in Las Vegas visiting Greg's niece and her family.  Sue (Greg's mom) has a house in Montpelier, but she wasn't able to come home this year after wintering in Hawaii with Sharilyn and Roy (Greg's sister and husband) because of Covid. It had been a year since we'd seen her. We braved the relatively chilly weather and sat, chatting happily, for a couple of hours. It was so wonderful to connect! 

 

Sue, Greg and Sharilyn                        Sharilyn, Sue and Me

On the field: NFL Week16, 12/27/20,  Miami Dolphins @ Las Vegas Raiders --  In an up and down game, the Raiders appeared to have clinched the win with a touch down in the final minutes. Then a last second throw from Dolphins back-up quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick (whose face-mask was being yanked at the time) stole victory from the jaws of defeat. Final score: Dolphins 26, Raiders 25.

On the map: distance from last week at Green Bay, Wisconsin to Las Vegas, Nevada -- 1,848 miles.

The map is getting pretty dog-eared (above). The journey from Green Bay to Las Vegas starts in blue at the upper right corner and ends in blue at the lower left corner (below).