March 06, 2009

By the Time We Get to Phoenix

Those of you who are putting up with these road trip reports (on what's supposed to be a health blog) may recall we started off our cross country trip with some scenic coastal camping. Well, it gets even better!

While visiting San Diego, we noticed a new light on our dashboard, in a rather festive orange color. It seemed to be an abstract drawing of something, but we couldn't quite make out what it was. So we took our abstract art in for a professional appraisal, and got to spend the day at this lovely establishment!

It's even nicer inside!


Kah-ching! Kah-ching!* Such a pretty sound. And they had free peppermint candies.

By early evening we were on the road again. Heading east from San Diego there are lots and lots of excellent options when you're looking for accommodations. We carefully considered all the choices, stopped in El Centro for the night, and woke up... here!

And it was quiet! Really!

The next day brought much excitement and lots of things to see! Mostly highways and gas stations. There was one here:


(If you enlarge, it says "1700 Friendly People and 5 Old Crabs.
Whoops, better make that 6!)

By the time we got to Phoenix**, we were really wishing we could get that damn Glenn Campbell song*** out of our heads, but we arrived safe and sound and managed to have a great time along the way. Pizza and salad and two buck Chuck taste just great in a Walmart parking lot. And, we figured if we hadn't spent a day in El Cajon waiting for our transmission to be fixed, we might have spent the night here instead!

Yep, it's ugly. When it was prettier, the camera wasn't handy.


Further adventures to come (assuming we have any adventures, and are able to get enough wireless to post pictures).

Thanks for indulging me. I'll be back to health and fitness posts soon, but not quite yet!



*There was no actual Kah-ching sound involved in our auto repair transaction; we used a credit card. But there's no way to spell the sound of hefty charges being put on a credit card.

**We were not actually going Phoenix but to Scottsdale. The Lobster wants to catch the Giants in spring training.

***I know "By the Time I Get to Phoenix" was written by someone else but I grew up to the Glenn Campbell version.

17 comments:

  1. When I was a kid, we did lots of road trips as a family. It looks like you are having an interesting trip.

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  2. Fun FUn! Hope you guys have a great weekend!

    ~rupal

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  3. come oooooooooooooooon Austin!

    I may not be around sunday but CALL.
    (coupletime :) sitter)
    monday? I should be semifree!!

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  4. Crabby,
    There isn't anything better than vehicle problems while doing the coast to coast trip, is there? Getting to know the local people and spending considerable time in a waiting room is just heaven. I hear it ranks right up there with root canal.

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  5. Oh dear - I hope you don't have any more abstract art decorating your dashboard!
    Loving the updates on your trip - it's still really freakin' cold and wintery here.

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  6. Have a good weekend! Thanks for sharing your trip!

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  7. Scottsdale is much MUCH better than Phoenix. And that sign is a classic - you need a replica!!

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  8. Heh, sorry to hear about the transmission. Glad things have been running smooth since then! Enjoy the rest of the trip.

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  9. I quite liked your boring road photo. It looked open and empty.
    Love the road trip.

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  10. The sound of plastic swiping large sums of money?
    Zzzzwooopsllrk! Not as pronounceable as kah-ching, but I've heard it enough lately to be able to spell it.

    If you must have transmission trouble, better somewhere warm than somewhere cold.

    Mary Anne in Kentucky

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  11. I had the same reaction as Leah -- there's a kind of fascination in a landscape that empty.

    So... are you going to be standing on a corner in Winslow Arizona?

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  12. Zzzzwooopsllrk! That's perfect!

    And Merry, you succeeded in getting the Phoenix song out of my head... "there's a girl my Lord in a flatbed ford slowin down to take a look at me..." that will be with me all day, thank you very much!

    And leah, yeah, lots and lots of open and empty to come, too--unless they've redesigned texas since our last time through.

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  13. I'm enjoying your road trip very much.. particularly since it's not my charge card used for the Kaching sound effects. Stay safe. :)

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  14. Waking up in the parking lot of Walmart is part of the American Experience.

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  15. ah we've made that trip a few times. I think we too had two buck chuck in that parking lot! enjoy and take lots of photos, they are great!

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  16. And Tucson is sooo much nicer than Scottsdale or Phoenix!

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  17. Lovely road views, I like the no snow factor. Too bad you had to melt some plastic to deal with the abstract art.

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