Haven’t posted for a while, but that will happen … I just don’t have enough to say daily I suppose….

Today we embark on our next trip – 10 days of Scotland and Ireland – mostly Ireland. This trip is built primarily around a Glasgow music festival – featuring The Cure. Show is Friday night – today we fly ATL-BOS-DUB and the spend overnight in Dublin before flying to Glasgow for the show.

We’ll return to Ireland and spend time in some old haunts and new…more in those later.

Off on our jaunt! From 96F in Atlanta to highs in low 60s and rain…

Santa Monica to Tucson 520 miles; Tucson to Fort Stockton TX 540 miles; Fort Stockton to San Antonio 310 miles; San Antonio to Hammond LA 500 miles; Hammond to Peachtree City 450 miles and home!   2320 miles, down the Pacific Coast Highway, through the desert, skirting the Mexican border, no extended stops this time, but a couple of great steak dinners on the way.  Our stop over in San Antonio was a nice break – although very humid  for taking in the Alamo and the Riverwalk.  

Collected pics from the journey – again the desert can’t be adequately be captured with an iPhone camera, but the cacti pictured only grow in the Sonoran desert in Arizona, and can live to be 200 years old…

Spent the day laying low and recharging after a late night at the pub, but we did get out to the pier for the final endpoint shot and then out for a fantastic Italian meal in Santa Monica with friends – long-time and new. A great close to a great trip out.

Tomorrow we start back to Atlanta – more miles per day planned and straight interstate driving.

Our last day on the road – started chilly, ended in some rain (“sunny California” say what?) but we have made it! Total of 2324 miles and we will now enjoy Memorial Day on the California coast before heading back to Atlanta on Tuesday.

Today we crossed the last stretch of California from Barstow through Victorville, San Bernardino, LaVerne, Pasadena, Hollywood, and Beverly Hills to Santa Monica. Got in a little late and in the rain so we will hit the pier for the official endpoint pic tomorrow. Tonight we went immediately for a margarita, some chile rellenos and then a few pints of Guinness to celebrate completing the journey.

Shorter mileage plan for today, so a little bit later start. Excellent breakfast at a fun 50s/Route 66 diner (admittedly, not hard to find in this trip – but these guys nailed it). Several stretches of pure highway driving today, as we crossed Arizona and California desert either on a very well maintained 66, or sections of I-40 that now cover it. The day took us from Kingman AZ to  Oatman and Topock, then into California through Needles, Goffs, Fenner, Ludlow, Newberry Springs, Daggett and Barstow.

The highlight of the day though was definitely Oatman, and the Oatman Highway (not in that order of encounter)…the road from Kingman to Golden Shores AZ (yes, it is on the shore of open water!) winds through the Sitgreaves Pass – and by winds I mean winds…~14 miles up then down, dozens of switchbacks, 15-20mph max on most of it and no guardrails. Kristen likened it to nail biting sheep tracks we’ve driven in Wales and Ireland…nerve wracking to be sure, but the Shelby handled well and my nerves got a needed break when we arrived in to Oatman AZ. Completely a tourist-driven town – one street lined with shops full of leather goods, t-shirts, Route 66 trinkets, and littered with donkey dung. Yep – about a dozen wild donkeys roam the town looking for handouts and finding plenty. We were also there long enough for two street gunfights (staged of course).

The rest of the day was those wide open vistas after crossing the Colorado River into California – fast driving through vast desert – a good piece of it The Mohave National Preserve – into Barstow.

Pics below – as with prior days – camera can’t do much justice to the sheer magnitude of the horizon- but below you may spot: more hotel/gas station signs, a hot mama in a hot car, amazing desert scenery, ridiculous curves, a lot of ass(es), outrageous pricing, and another movie location.  Pics of Barstow tomorrow, before we head out to the beach!