Trip Report Keep your eyes on the road, hands upon the wheel–A South West RT-The End!Bonus Tracks

All caught up! :cool1:

I know that bacon is touching the fruit. :rotfl2: I'm glad you were finally able to see my pics. I knew you'd like my separated tray. LOL!

The deconstructed eggs Benedict is a wonderful idea. I hate how the muffin always gets soggy too. And crunchy Hollandaise? No bueno. Glad Harrah's knows their stuff.

The buffet looks SO good. I'd have been all over that pineapple upside down cake. Bread pudding too. And the chorizo with eggs. That's my favorite hangover breakfast.

Loving the *live* report. Glad you got extra free buffets to use at a later date. :thumbsup2

Mighty hot day there too. Yikes!
 
Great update! My husband loves to gamble so perhaps if I include some gambling in my trip planning I can get to take more trips? Seems like a good idea. It is always fun reading about places I have never been and I am so enjoying the report. The only thing though is I keep thinking "I hope the car doesn't overheat" that is a fear of mine- being in a desert and having a car overheat and being stuck. I am not a hot weather fan and would panic right way. :)
 
Brought back a lot of memories for me of our Atlantic City NJ casino days Man those buffets were to die for Our place was " Showboat " My Dad used to hit the blackjack tables and we hit the slots Always good when you come out ahead :thumbsup2 Haven't gone to any in FL yet..it is on the to do list


Good going with Fran asking if she should take pictures of the food plates

Had to laugh with you re- using the " 's" There was a lighted sign during one of the marathons at WDW " Runner's this way ----> " :laughing: unbelievable !

103 degrees Oh boy :scared1:

Haven't been to Atlantic City, mostly Nevada casinos, but been to a few Ca Indian casinos, fun, as long as you don't lose your shirt!

Fran is getting real good with the food pictures!

Yeah ir was crazy hot.

Great job of coming out ahead on the gambling! The buffet looked pretty good for a casino buffet.

Missouri used to have real riverboats on the rivers for gambling but changes in the law moved them to be surrounded by moats and then just freestanding buildings..way more fun on a real boat!

Jill in CO

We've had some great buffets at casinos as well as some mediocre ones.

That's too bad they changed the laws, gambling on the riverboat sounds fun.

'S a great update. That's/that is some buffet!! Seems like a lot of food; but I guess it caters for a lot of people.

Looking forward to your next updates and the ones of sunset.

Very good use of another acceptable use of the 's! I was thinking that too. They're hitting all the main demographic folks who visit the casino.

I'm trying to keep up on this one because WDW is right on the heels of this trip!

The buffet was lovely, glad I had breakfast before looking at your TR...

Glad you both came out ahead!

It was a really great buffet. I wish I could have eaten more!
 
All caught up! :cool1:

I know that bacon is touching the fruit. :rotfl2: I'm glad you were finally able to see my pics. I knew you'd like my separated tray. LOL!

The deconstructed eggs Benedict is a wonderful idea. I hate how the muffin always gets soggy too. And crunchy Hollandaise? No bueno. Glad Harrah's knows their stuff.

The buffet looks SO good. I'd have been all over that pineapple upside down cake. Bread pudding too. And the chorizo with eggs. That's my favorite hangover breakfast.

Loving the *live* report. Glad you got extra free buffets to use at a later date. :thumbsup2

Mighty hot day there too. Yikes!

I need to get over and comment on your TR. I only finished reading it this morning on the way to breakfast. Evidently all the Navajo people use a certain cell carrier which is the only one with reliable service here.

That buffet was really great! I'm trying to get as many "live" updates in when I can. Once I'm home, I'll be so busy it will be tough and then befire you know it, I'll have my WDW TR as well!

Great update! My husband loves to gamble so perhaps if I include some gambling in my trip planning I can get to take more trips? Seems like a good idea. It is always fun reading about places I have never been and I am so enjoying the report. The only thing though is I keep thinking "I hope the car doesn't overheat" that is a fear of mine- being in a desert and having a car overheat and being stuck. I am not a hot weather fan and would panic right way. :)

That's how I do it. Entice Fran with something she likes to do as well as things I like. Vegas is only four hours from Anaheim plus there are Indian casinos near the Anaheim area.

We're driving the modern car that just had $800 worth of work done to it, so we're not worried about overheating. We are paying attention to the temperature gauge, but it is behaving nicely.
 

I love the way you and Fran embrace life. I do not speak up much but I am here lurking and I do appreciate all of you who write TRs as they are the way I "de-stress" before falling to sleep at night.
:flower3:
Kate
 
All caught up! I'm wondering if we need to schedule a trip to In 'n Out burger when we go out west. That's THE place to be, right? The only thing that concerns me is the west coast's insistence on putting mayo- or salad-dressing-type sauces on their burgers. :crazy2:

I read about a big bridge collapse on I-15 between Vegas and L.A. this morning and thought of you guys. Good thing you went the other way!

Looking at the innumerable choices on the buffet, I can't help but think my sons would look at all of that food and then head straight for the Fruit Loops. :sad2::rotfl2:
 
holy motherlode of food! I was full by the time I got done with the pictures.

As a general rule I am not a buffet person but man, there was something for everyone on that thing.

Though ice cream for breakfast is a bit scary.

What a fun little stay but :sad2: 103?????????????????????????
 
OH geez! Food galore!

Okay I have a question about the Total Rewards. Is that card only good for your stay or can you use it when you go back for a second trip??
 
I love the way you and Fran embrace life. I do not speak up much but I am here lurking and I do appreciate all of you who write TRs as they are the way I "de-stress" before falling to sleep at night.
:flower3:
Kate

Thanks! I'm glad you think that we embrace life. There was a very dark period in our lives, and now that we have come out of it, we don't ever want to go back! I love writing TRs and it makes Fran happy because now I don't take photo albums everywhere and subject our 3D friends to having to look at them! :laughing:

All caught up! I'm wondering if we need to schedule a trip to In 'n Out burger when we go out west. That's THE place to be, right? The only thing that concerns me is the west coast's insistence on putting mayo- or salad-dressing-type sauces on their burgers. :crazy2:

I think you should add it to the list. They do put spread on it, but for years I ordered it without. I know if you like ketchup and mustard on your burgers they will do that for you. Also they are all over your route, you could easily fit one in. I'm sure by now you've checked out their website.

I read about a big bridge collapse on I-15 between Vegas and L.A. this morning and thought of you guys. Good thing you went the other way!

This is actually a big problem. If they don't get the road reopened in five days, we need another alternative because driving home from Vegas on Sunday is always an ugly scene. Driving home from Vegas with the main artery to LA closed will be insanity! :scared1:

Looking at the innumerable choices on the buffet, I can't help but think my sons would look at all of that food and then head straight for the Fruit Loops. :sad2::rotfl2:

:lmao: :rotfl2: :rotfl:

holy motherlode of food! I was full by the time I got done with the pictures.

As a general rule I am not a buffet person but man, there was something for everyone on that thing.

Though ice cream for breakfast is a bit scary.

What a fun little stay but :sad2: 103?????????????????????????

What I found out later (when I picked up my free tickets) is that the Lunch buffet runs from 7:30AM until 1PM, so they probably don't change a lot on there, just maybe swap out a few of the breakfast items for more lunchy things. But this way the people who stayed up all night gambling and needed to sleep it off can still mosey down at noon and get breakfast.

I know, I hate heat like that!

OH geez! Food galore!

Okay I have a question about the Total Rewards. Is that card only good for your stay or can you use it when you go back for a second trip??

Once you sign up for Total Rewards (or whatever casino's slot club) you are in their system for life. If you lose your card, just go back to the desk and show your ID and they'll give you a new one. Harrah's is in the same group as Caesar's and the Rio, so some of the rewards can transfer, not always. However, when we stay at the Rio this summer, if I still have my card, I won't have to wait in line to get a new one. Fran was already in the system. I wasn't which is why they gave me the offer of the Free Buffet if I gambled enough in my first 24 hours.

Sometimes when we leave town, Fran will leave her card in a machine hoping that someone comes up and plays the machine without their own card, and thus getting her more points. :lmao:
 
We were on our way to Flagstaff, AZ. The 180 mile drive was supposed to take a little over 2 ½ hours. I believe that it was around noon and our first part of the drive took us over a mountain pass in Arizona.



These are actually some of the mountain peaks that we could see out our “parking lot” view from the hotel room.



These rock outcroppings looked pretty cool to me.



I had been looking at the map while we were driving and we were approaching Kingman. I read in the AAA guidebook that it’s main claim to fame was that it boasted being the main stop along what is left of the original Route 66. It is the kick off point for an annual ride where over 800 folks drive their antique cars the portion of the actual route which is still in existence. They have always billed the city as “The Main Street of America”. It was also the largest city along our route to Flagstaff, so I suggested that we stop there. I also read in the guide book about Mr. D’z Route 66 Diner. I figured that would be a slam dunk with Fran (because I did NOT want to have a drive through lunch!) and it was. So I set the Waze to route us there and off we went!

This is the original Radiator Springs…



We followed the directions of the GPS and drove by a sign which read “Special Event”. Fran mentioned that we should ask at the restaurant about what the special event was. We were delighted by the nostalgic signs.





No sooner did we turn on the street, that we encountered a sign “Road Closed”. What the F…..?????? :confused3

Oh, I think we found the special event! The parking goddess was smiling on us that day, because there was a spot on the street right where the road was closed, so we pulled over, got the scooter out of the back and we were on our way.



Look at all these cars! Better than a bag of M&Ms!



There were cars of all shapes, sizes, colors, models, ages, and they stretched for blocks and blocks and blocks. I have a fondness for Muscle Cars and Blue ones…



The owner of this car (as you will see there were many) had quite a sense of humor!



You have to look really closely, and I have tried to help you out, but the tow truck is carrying a tow truck who is carrying and tow truck. (Look closely inside the circle).



I especially love the blue Chevys from the 1950s.



These cool oldies were just kickin’ back here.



There’s Mr D’z, at least it was open!



But parking was a little tough.



Like I said there were cars of all ages…there were quite a few from this era.



It really wasn’t that busy.



I thought of you Jill, there were a ton of Mustangs.













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Back to your regularly scheduled programming.

Another Blue Chevy



Another one with a great sense of humor.



There were several cars here similar to the ones that gave us all those problems. This Ranchero is similar to ours, except that ours is all yellow with white trim, no black. I like ours better :)



This Cougar looks similar to the White Cougar alluded to earlier, this one is a 68, ours is a 70.



Another pretty blue car.



This car looks very similar to our 73 Cougar, but this is a 72, otherwise they are identical in color and body style.



We need a kitty like this when we display our Cougars.



This person had an awesome display.



This is about the only good use of White Zinfandel.



Turns out, yes we had timed it just right, we were passing through Kingman during their claim to fame weekend.



For those of you who play the punch buggie game.



Another Ranchero of a similar time period as ours, this one had no tags with the year, but it is made between 1957-59.



Whether or not we made it down all the streets that had cars on them, and they continued to arrive all through the afternoon, I was done. Off to Mr. D’z we headed for some well-deserved lunch. It was a kitchy little place with a typical diner menu, well except for pizza.



But we were only interested in one section.



I was just happy to be sitting down.





Fran went with the Tex Mex Burger which included Green Chile and Jack Cheese.



I went with Mr. D’z Mac Dog



And we split a Root Beer Float




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They also had a few stands selling various items



I wanted to pose for my Cameo, but I was photo-bombed! :sad2:



But! I got photoshop for Christmas last year!



This was the trucks pulling trailers section.



It was getting late in the day and I was pretty tired. I checked my fitbit and this little activity added 5000 steps to my day. But we noticed this car, another owner with a great sense of humor.



Remember those old commercials? “Excuse me…do you have any…”



I saw this little sign and totally cracked up. Fran then told me that she bought the same version at the little marketplace for our Ford Ranchero.



Just so you can see how much the parking goddess loved us, I took this shot of our parking spot. You see the cop car? You see the red SUV parked on the street right behind it? ::yes:: Yup that’s our car. The goddess was definitely smiling on us today.



There was a convenience store and Fran stopped in to get some cold beverages while I loaded the scooter on the back of the car, and soon enough we were on the road again.



Now to help set the stage for this trip, for the past few weeks we have been listening to audio books on CD by Navaho author Tony Hillerman. He gives some great insight into the Navajo mindset and it has really set the stage for visiting Monument Valley which is a sacred place to the Navaho. We listened to the book as we drove through this varied and majestic scenery.



At about an hour away from Flagstaff, we had to switch drivers since Fran was getting drowsy. I made her take pictures while I drove. The closer we got to Flagstaff, the higher the elevation rose and there was more forest around.



We stayed at a Hilton Garden Inn and it was right off the freeway with easy access. Check in was a breeze and soon we were in the room. Fran laid down and was out like a light. I brought in the luggage that we needed for the night and got us settled in. It was almost like a DVC studio without the toaster.







She was pretty much sawing logs and told me that she didn’t care if she was in the room pictures. OK, you are.



Our plan was to hit a Triple D restaurant for dinner, but it was five miles away and after a long day, it may well have been 500 miles. We didn’t get to the hotel until 6:30PM and I needed to give Fran some time to sleep. She even suggested we skip dinner. However, there was no way I was skipping dinner! I hit my 10,000 step mark while unloading the car which meant I was definitely starving. I knew from my research that there plenty of chain restaurants around.

I decided I was in the mood for pasta, and we had gift cards that were good at Olive Garden, and there was one only a few blocks away. Able bodied people would have walked to it, but if Fran wouldn’t go, I was set to ride her scooter there! With a little convincing she agreed to go, but she wasn’t very hungry so she just ordered a salad.



I was served a salad as well, and I got the Taste of Italy which includes Chicken Parmagiana, Fettucine Alfredo and Lasagne.



She picked at my plate, but even with both of us working on it, there was way too much food so we took it back to the room. By this point I was exhausted and don’t remember much about the evening, but I did make it into the bed and slept really well until about 5:30AM, but that’s the next day, and we’ll get to that in the next update!
 
I :lovestruc car shows... Love the Mustang pics you took for me. :). The diner looks like my kind of place too.

Good job on hitting 10k steps!

Jill in CO
 
What a great trip. Love the shiny cars. Love the food. Love, love, love. Love your photobomber. Love the update. Love, love, love.

I can't wait to read more. Did I mention that I'm loving this TR? Love, love love?


:rotfl:
 
I spoke to Ed ( SunDial ) last night he sends his regards to everyone but I told him he really needs to make the time to get over here for your awesome trip report

Route 66 the car show the diner your parking space right near the cop boy the sun was shining on you & Fran that day :goodvibes How fun ! Tell me about your FitBit I have heard good and bad which one are you using ? Congratulations on the 10K steps that's fabulous
 
Love this update, how so very wonderful to get to the Kingman and find a car show? The god were shining on your both.

There were so very pretty cars in that show.

Another day in the books!
 
I just read through all 10 pages! What an incredible trip you have planned! MV is definitely one of my Bucket List trips!

Those sunset pictures as you were leaving LA were amazing but (honestly) equally amazing were the pictures of the In N Out burgers! :lmao:

I cannot believe how much food was at that breakfast buffet. Unbelievable!

That car show in Kingman looks so neat! Talk about being in the right place at the right time! Yay!

Looking forward to the rest of your trip! Thank you for allowing us all to ride along!
 
I :lovestruc car shows... Love the Mustang pics you took for me. :). The diner looks like my kind of place too.

Good job on hitting 10k steps!

Jill in CO

I couldn't believe our luck in coming across that car show! I would go back and eat at that place in a heartbeat, I love retro places like that!

10K steps seems to be a little less uncommon! :faint:

Love all the shiny car pics!

:goodvibes

What a great trip. Love the shiny cars. Love the food. Love, love, love. Love your photobomber. Love the update. Love, love, love.

I can't wait to read more. Did I mention that I'm loving this TR? Love, love love?


:rotfl:

I guess car show was meant to be that day. We skipped the permanent one at the Casino only to find an even better on dropped in our laps.

The food was great, we are having a totally different foodie experience than our normal upscale dinners, but that's OK, I'm loving this just as much!

I'm glad you're enjoying the TR!
 
I spoke to Ed ( SunDial ) last night he sends his regards to everyone but I told him he really needs to make the time to get over here for your awesome trip report

Route 66 the car show the diner your parking space right near the cop boy the sun was shining on you & Fran that day :goodvibes How fun ! Tell me about your FitBit I have heard good and bad which one are you using ? Congratulations on the 10K steps that's fabulous

Tell Ed "Hi" if you talk to him again!

I think we had a lucky, lucky, day. Perhaps we used up most of our luck that day... :rolleyes1

I'm using the FitBit Flex. It's OK, I sort of wish it did a little bit more than it does, but it can't really do all that, it's just a chip you wear on your wrist. I enter all my foods through myfitnesspal.com which can be a PITA especially when you're on a trip with limited internet access and eating things that you have no idea of the calorie counts and such.

It does raise my awareness of my activity level, so that's good. We'll just have to see how it affects my weight when I get home. I've been really active lots of close to 10K step days, but lots of food...just wait until you see the next couple days of updates! :rotfl2:

Love this update, how so very wonderful to get to the Kingman and find a car show? The god were shining on your both.

There were so very pretty cars in that show.

Another day in the books!

::yes:: It was a pretty good one. I hope that we didn't use up all of our good luck on this day!

I just read through all 10 pages! What an incredible trip you have planned! MV is definitely one of my Bucket List trips!

Those sunset pictures as you were leaving LA were amazing but (honestly) equally amazing were the pictures of the In N Out burgers! :lmao:

I cannot believe how much food was at that breakfast buffet. Unbelievable!

That car show in Kingman looks so neat! Talk about being in the right place at the right time! Yay!

Looking forward to the rest of your trip! Thank you for allowing us all to ride along!

First off :welcome:

Wow! You read through all 10 pages! :faint: This is one of those bucket list trips for us, although Fran doesn't believe in "bucket lists". As she has said (and you will find out where later). "I don't believe in once in a lifetime, some things need to be done multiple times."

I'm glad you liked the sunset pics and In-N-Out! That breakfast buffet was really something else, really something for everyone. We did hit the car show at exactly the right time It was great!
 










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