November 1st - November 3rd, 2024 - The Trip Home

My Blog Reflection

Be yourself; everyone else is already taken. 

Oscar Wilde

November 1, 2024

We left Mountain View, California, at 7:00 a.m. - in the dark. We are took the Southern route home. By driving this route you drive Southeast within California for 500 miles. We got gas in Needles, California, for $4.59 per gallon. A hundred miles into Arizona the price was $3.09 per gallon. I needed gas in Needles and I don’t like to push my luck in this area of the country where it can easily be fifty to one hundred miles between filling stations. It was a good day for a drive but nothing but dessert scenery so no pictures.  We arrived in Flagstaff, Arizona at 6:30 p.m. and stayed for the night at a Baymont Inn. 

November 2, 2024

Breakfast at Baymont was much better than at either Hampton Inn on the way here. After filling the gas tank we hit the road at 7:00 a.m. In Tucumcari, New Mexico, we stopped for a nice dinner at Del’s Diner, a Route 66 restaurant since 1956. The food was excellent. We hit the road and West of Amarillo it started to rain hard. As we drove the rain continued. The speed limit was 75 mph but the trucks were only doing 60 mph. I did good to stay with them because it was really hard to see the lane lines. Once the rain quit we had a beautiful, bright rainbow in front of us.

We wanted to get past Amarillo so while on the road Kelly made a reservation for the night at a Route 66 Motel, The Shamrock Country Inn, in Shamrock, Texas. It was only $55.00 per night. We have always been wary of such places because we have been burned in the past. This place had great ratings on Trip Advisor so we took a chance. Upon check in we received our 1960s room key and the WiFi password written on the back of a cash register receipt.

We were also told at check in, if we wanted heat to turn the black knob under the thermostat - a timer for the heat. You gotta love it.

 I loved the bathroom - brown floor, green fixtures, yellow walls, pink and white tike, and a white toilet seat. 

The room was immaculate, the bed was comfortable, and the breakfast was better than at the Hampton Inns we stayed at on the way out, which is all that mattered. Glad we stopped here.

We left Shamrock, Texas, at 6:30 a.m. and arrived home at 5:45 p.m. Another long day. Some rain through Oklahoma and Missouri but nothing like the rain in Texas. Glad to be home. I doubt I will ever make that drive again.