Last Wednesday HWD and I flew to LAX. On arrival we hustled down to the arrivals level and found the stop for the Flyaway bus to Union Station. The bus arrived shortly after, and it was about an hour ride to Union Station. Then we found the platform for the Pacific Surfliner (many platforms at Union Station! I guess because there are a lot of commuter trains that go through there). We had an hour to wait so HWD went off in search of snacks. The train arrived...I was trying to hustle HWD to get on, he didn't understand that there weren't assigned seats. So we were almost the last in line and it was a challenge finding two seats together, but eventually somebody switched so we could sit together. It was about a three hour ride with MANY stops. Finally we pulled in to Santa Barbara and were greeted by his parents' smiling faces on the platform. We went back to their place, had pizza and salad for dinner and then pled exhaustion...so they drove us to the hotel they had reserved for us in Carpenteria, about 15 miles south. HWD got to drive his new (used) car. Better him than me! I would not want my first experience in an unfamiliar car to be on a California freeway after dark!
We got settled and then treated ourselves to hotel sex. 😁 Amazingly this was the first time we had stayed in a hotel together. The next morning we slept in a bit and then headed back to the parents'. We got the grand tour of the senior complex (they just moved there recently). Very swanky, smaller residential buildings interspersed with beautifully manicured gardens and landscaping. Swimming pool (HWD's mom does water aerobics there almost every morning), hot tub, fitness center, dining room, snack bar, game room, library, small medical office. I think it's a huge relief for HWD and his brother that they're settled in to someplace where they can stay for the duration, so to speak.
We had a lovely Thanksgiving dinner in the dining room and then headed out in the parents' new car (a Tesla!) for a little exploring. Visited Santa Barbara beach - very pretty!
HWD took off his shoes and socks and contemplated the waves for a while.
Then a field trip to drive by the house they lived in when they were in Santa Barbara many years ago. Back to their place for a casual dinner of sandwiches, we played games for a while and then we headed back to the hotel to turn in early for an early start on Friday morning. So it was a very short visit but I was happy to get to know them better! I almost feel like I have parents again (mine have been gone since 2000 and 2010).
Not a lot to say about the road trip. Three very long days in the car, no time to sightsee. At one point we were seeing signs for the Grand Canyon - I looked it up and it was about 75 minutes off of I40. We were debating - then I looked up the sunset time and it seemed touch and go whether we'd even get there before dark so that settled it.
The first day we left at 6:50 (original goal was 6:30 but it took 20 minutes to get settled in the car and get HWD's phone connected so we could listen to audiobooks and get navigation over the speakers). We stopped about two hours in to get sandwiches and bagels from a Panera, proceeded on to Barstow, then much later went by Flagstaff. I had been warned about this part of the route since it's through the mountains, but weather was excellent. We continued on and got into Gallup, NM about 7:30 pm (one hour added for time change).
We listened to Arsene Lupin, read by Phoebe from the Phoebe Reads a Mystery podcast, and finished the whole thing.
Day two we left a bit later since the hotel didn't start serving breakfast until 7 am, and then I decided I needed a cup of decent coffee and ended up waiting forever at a Starbucks. We went through Albuquerque and then since the weather was so good, decided to go north past Santa Fe rather than slightly south through Tucumcari. We listened to the audiobook of Wicked. I read it a LONG time ago, but didn't remember most of it, so that was fine.
The afternoon was lots of very long desolate stretches that reminded me of my home state, North Dakota. Pretty clouds though!
Our goal for the day was Salina, KS but we revised that and pulled into Great Bend, KS about 8:30 pm. Too tired to go find food, and we'd been snacking all day anyway. I ate a protein bar. We didn't sleep well, so there was some middle of the night sex in which HWD knocked over a glass of water whilst flailing around. Had to turn on lights, he was frantically trying to dry off the remote with one of his socks. 🤣
Day three, the rest of the way home to St. Paul. The first hour or so it was very pretty - fog and mist, bare trees, sun coming up on the right.
More Wicked listening. Starting to get really tired of gas station food. The stretch from Des Moines on in was very easy since I had done that drive a number of times, but I did get sleepy (three nights of poor sleep) and had to turn over to HWD. We made it home about 6:30 pm.
No issues with the car (it's a 2020 RAV4 with only about 25K miles) but we did pick up a rock chip in the windshield that expanded to a crack. 😭 Mainly I'm really pleased that we got through five straight days of being together 24/7 and got along the whole time. I guess we're still on good behavior, haha.
Here's our route for the map nerds. Sorry about the semi-crappy photos taken through car windows.
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31 comments
Good road trip. That is a sweet beach at Santa Barbara. Enjoyed it there. Nice pictures
I’d love to get back to visit them during the summer. 😊
Having driven from coast to coast on a few occasions I can appreciate your feelings towards being with someone in a very compact space for several days straight. Even better is that the two of you and the vehicle made it safe and sound.
After my dad passed my brothers agreed that his car (a Kia Soul) should go to my son. So.. I drove from Rancho Cucamonga CA to Hampton Roads area of Virginia. Then in a year and a half, he wrecked the thing. Sigh..
I sure am hoping this car survives with the windshield crack being the first and last damage. HWD isn't used to driving a nice car...
Such a nice trip. Did u have to use the lidocaine patches ? This is moving right along...uve met the offspring, the ex, the parents...lol Glad u both survived and are still getting along. Love these stories. The pics look good too !!~
I did bring the patches along, but my back held up OK. It's so weird - I really was suffering for about a week there, then it gradually subsided and I haven't had any issues since. 🤷🏻♀️
I had actually met his parents briefly last spring, when they were in town for granddaughter's HS graduation. Apparently I got the thumbs up at that time. 😂 But it was nice to spend more time with them and get to know them better. His mom is a quilter and has a beautiful quilting corner set up for herself in their bedroom. So I felt a crafting kinship.
Congratulations!! 5 days of best behavior is getting harder as I get older, LOL. I shrug more off but I get silly more often too. Which is not always 'best behavior', LOL.
Hugs!!
Silliness is great. We definitely descended into some middle of the night silliness on the night that neither one of us could sleep.
Sounds like quite a road trip. Surviving such a trip is a good sign for a relationship. Congratulations!
Sending you a hug with best Holiday Wishes.
Thank you! happy holidays to you too.
Congrats on surviving the long drive 😁
Too bad you didn't get to do much sight-seeing, tho.
Yes, it would be more fun to do an actual sightseeing trip. I'm bummed that I went right by Santa Fe without being able to visit Ten Thousand Waves (spa with private hot tubs with views of the mountains).
Thanks for the recap...it's always good when you can be together for an extended time and still like each other! Lol. I felt that way about my kids and the pandemic. No one was harmed.
I'm not much of a long-distance driver at this point, even though I did drive to Montana a couple of years ago. I just have to be sure I get enough sleep and don't drive more than 8 hours. I'm just old now...it's endless what I shouldn't do anymore. Lol.
If I were driving alone I definitely wouldn't have tried to do this in three days. It helped being able to switch off with driving. Probably helped him more than me, since he sleeps super easily and would crawl into the back seat and drop off for a while. I'm not the same way so I didn't do much napping.
What a fun road trip, I'm so glad you guys "survived!"
Lucky not to hit any bad weather too!
"Fun" might be stretching it. 😂 (you should have seen the disgusting rest stop we stopped at near the CA/AZ border). I'm just glad there were no accidents and the relationship is intact.
Have you got wonderful time
I've done that Kansas City to LA (and back) drive with my MO friend ... in Dec. We were lucky with the weather, too. We were a day behind a huge snow storm heading home.
Did you manage it in two days, or were you sane and took three or more?
I've done some driving in snowy weather, but as I get older I'm much more cautious and wouldn't want to be in the middle of nowhere if I went off the road. I'm glad we didn't end up having to push through bad weather.
It’s good to hear that overall, everything went well and you didn’t encounter bad weather.
Good thing you are compatible otherwise that long road would have been intolerable!
This is true! Books on tape and podcasts help a lot too. You don't have to scrounge up things to talk about for 30 hours haha!
Glad it all went relatively well. Kc had some pretty wicked snow in the middle of all that but didn't last long so hopefully you dodged the bad weather days just right. I love traveling but I don't think I could do the 3 straight days of driving thing... even with hotel sex thrown in.
We did see the signs of a recent snowfall when we drove through Kansas City but luckily it was all cleared off of the highways by the time we went through.
If I had my druthers I would have much rather taken a week or so and had the chance to maybe visit my sister in Phoenix and/or do a stop in Santa Fe. But, HWD is still in his substitute job where if he doesn't work, he doesn't get paid, so he wanted to try to be back on Monday. He's on track to get a "real" teaching position and hopefully will have some paid vacation time once that starts.
Well I am glad that whole thing went so well with you two! I am sure you’re glad to be home, though.
Very happy to be back in my own bed on Sunday night! Hotel beds are so variable. And the new thing seems to be, instead of giving you two full size pillows, they give you four teeny pillows that are half the size. I could not get comfy on those dang things.
You're quite lucky. Road tripping that route through AZ and NM that time of the year can result in major winter storm encounters, mostly meaning ICE, not just snow. Glad it went well for you, and you two passed the time stuck in a car together test.
Yes, I was kind of nervous about whether we'd be able to do it in three days, since a FB travel group had said the same thing to me about winter weather issues. HWD actually did arrange to be able to have Monday off if we had any snafus along the way, but we lucked out.
Woah, sounds like you are prepping for the two far-away vacation trips in the new year. Three long days of driving and it sounds like the two of you handled it well. Glad the trip went well and you made it safely home.
Those two trips will be much different. Well, I suppose there'll be quite a bit of driving, but I won't be doing it! 😃
If I had my druthers it would have been maybe, 450-500 mile days instead of 650-700 mile days. But we were trying to get him back to be able to work on Monday, and also to avoid the expense of one more night in a hotel room.
You described a cute road trip. I expected him to be taller, but I like his shirt. His parents were probably very happy to see you.💕
It must have been disappointing to miss the canyon. But very wise of you to avoid Utah.
And, HWD has a really decent ride now. "Wins," all around. 🤗
... wonderful pics and map... 👍
We're the same height when we're sitting down. 😉 (he must have a long torso or something).
I did see the Grand Canyon on an earlier trip...the North Rim, not the South Rim, but how different can it be, haha?! So that added to my instinct not to do a three hour add-on to our drive.
And yeah - now I have the old, crappy car! At least in comparison to his. He did have a shock when he went to register it on Monday and the registration fee was about $450. He's never paid more than $80 or so for the annual registration fee, with the old cars he's been driving up until now.
@smartasswoman
True. Aren't we all the same height in bed?🤗
Oh, about Utah...
Dead Horse Point Park Cliff is the last scene in Thelma and Louise. That flic, popped into my head as I read about your travels. There's nothing better than a partner.💕
... i'm sure they gave him gas money... no?👍
@Paulxx001 I think that's the second time you've mentioned Thelma and Louise. Do you subconsciously want me to drive off a cliff? 😳😂
@smartasswoman
Geena and Susan survived. And they were marginal drivers.
You'd be fine. 🤗💕
@Paulxx001 are you sure? 🤭 That's not what I remember, but then the old girl's brain ain't what it used to be.
@smartasswoman
Susan went on to make notables like "Lorenzo's Oil" and won an Academy for "Dead Man Walking."
Geena went on to "A League of Their Own" and then got married, and did "Stuart Little." Oh, and "Commander In Chief." She claims she's happy with her family. 🤗
Great pictures. Its always great when you can travel and go places.
I should do more road trips. Just need to sit down and do the planning...
That sounds like a great plane/train/road trip with HWD give-or-take. I now realise more than before how big America is.
It must be heart-warming for you, HWD and his parents that you all get on.
PS. Did you think of the English band Prefab Sprout when you went through Albuquerque?
Yes, we had our own version of the movie Planes, Trains, and Automobiles!
I had to look up your Prefab Sprout reference - I wasn't at all familiar with that song for some reason! Mainly I was remembering a trip a long time ago where I flew into Albuquerque and then joined a friend who was in Santa Fe for a conference. That was 30 years ago and both cities seem much more highly developed now, along with the highway between them being way bigger.
Enjoy your trip and drive safely on your trip home. One never knows what this time of year can send for a monkey wrench. Every part of the country has its own unique beauty in it. Easier to enjoy when you are not alone to get another perspective also. Have a great holiday
Thanks, but this was the trip home.
And we did make it safely.
That's all that matters. Hopefully you enjoyed the scenery all the way home