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.