Musings from the Road (Trip)

Exactly what it says. Family road trip to visit friends and do a bit of seeing of the sights. My thoughts, from CA to NM and back....

1) There are NO DONUT STORES in Flagstaff!

2) You can get a Webelo Scout to memorize the Boy Scout Oath,
    Promise, Law, Motto and Outdoor Code if you bet him a buck he  
    can't.

3)  Native Americans are very offended by being called Indians except
     when naming their trading posts, pottery and hand made by Indian
     souvenirs.

4) Native Americans are much more friendly to tourists during a
    recession.

5) It takes 7 pre-sharpened pencils to work Soduko and Cryptogram
    puzzles from California to New Mexico.

6)  After 40 years of age, tourist attire is absolutely appropriate and in no way
     embarrassing.

7) 4 Dogs, 4 Cats and 5 People in one house makes for a very interesting trip.

8) My best friend and I are aging in the same fashion: gain the same amount of weight,
    wrinkle in the same manner, and are losing our eyesight and hearing at the same time.

9)   Long time friends are one of the greatest treasures of life.

10) When four teenagers you've known from the time of their conception roll their eyes
      in dismay at your "old-ness", you can't help but laugh because.... well, because I've
      been there too.

11) A recession is a great way to teach the value of spending time as a family rather than
      money.

12) A $5 paperweight with a scorpion inside is one of the coolest thing on earth.

13) Queen is best played very loud and sounds better at 80 mph.

14) Queen played very loud and at 80 mpg causes my husband's veins to pop out on his
      forehead.

15) I still don't know the words to Killer Queen.

16) It has been proven, without a doubt, that aliens either do or do not exist.

17) A 20lb male dog who has been neutered will try to mount an 85lb (very confused)
      spayed female dog.

18) 15 year old girls are all the same, and their mothers are all perplexed the same.

19) Blow dryers are almost always guaranteed to die no matter where you travel with
      them.

20)  Lack of cell phone reception can be very liberating.

21) Sometimes it is great to leave the camera in the car and enjoy the moment rather
      than try to capture memories to enjoy later.

22) Watching 100,000 bats flying out of a big hole in the ground with 300 perfect
      strangers in total silence is an experience that cannot be adequately described.

23) Walking 800' downhill is killer on the hips. Walking 800' uphill is killer on the calves.

24) A moment of absolute and complete darkness and silence 815' underground is a very
      peaceful moment.  (I only speak for the living.)

25) You can get really bad deli sandwiches 700' underground.

26) 700' underground deli sandwiches are not that bad when surrounded by good friends.

27) When you're taking pictures in the dark and relying on your flash, it is very easy to
      forget to take off your lens cap.

28)  A 5 hour drive and 3 miles of touring Carlsbad Caverns causes caustic foot odor in a
       ten year old boy.

29)  10 year old boy foot odor can clear out a car really really fast.

30)  It has been decided that the next time my son visits Carlsbad he will have children of
       his own, and he will tell them "When I visited here, I actually had to drive in a car!"

31) 5 days away from home is both too long and too short.

32) It is impossible to speed in Phoenix due to photo enforced speed cams.

33) Doing the speed limit on a long haul is weird.
34)  An 85lb dog fits quite nicely in the front passenger floorboard of a Toyota Tundra.

35)  No matter how much you may miss the scarecrow, there's no place like home.

36)  Best rule of travel EVER: Wash your sheets before you leave home.

Author's Note

I enjoy laughing at the irony in life. I rarely laugh at comedy clubs.

Reviews

[Ken Simm.]

Would you mind if I added?
If you are English a ham and cheese sandwich is not the same in Incline Nevada.
When you want a coffee, you want a coffee. You don't care how many brands there are.
Showing an old English paper driving license in a store in Lake Tahoe to change a travellers cheque causes no end of consternation for the entire population of both California and Nevada.
This is/was priceless. Really enjoyable. and oh I so empathise.

[Shelley Holt-Lowrey]

OK - so I don't get the ham & cheese reference so I'll have to ask my friend EMF who is right above us. (He tells me how to cook stuff like that) and even I had to laugh at the paper license. That was great!

Thank you for your comments. Appreciated!

[Ken Simm.]

Hi my name is Felicity how may I facilitate you?
I'd like a ham and cheese sandwich please.read moreHi my name is Felicity how may I facilitate you?
I'd like a ham and cheese sandwich please.
What type would Sir like?
How many types have you got?
137.
And so on...... until
Look I'm English work with me.

[Shelley Holt-Lowrey]

Ahhhh. I see. Yes - we have "boutique" deli's and "coffee houses" where baristas make your coffee. That's just so we can jack up the prices really. The sandwiches were probably all the same. Just smaller the more expensive they became.

We even re-name drink sizes. We don't have small, medium and large. We have "snob", "hoity-toity" and "stick up my a$$". I always just order medium to watch them twitch. In my AMERICAN accent. LOL

[Ken Simm.]

AS would be inevitable it has started over this side of the pond. This happened in 99. It used to be that a ham sandwich over here was the size and consitancy of a small handkerchief curled up at the edges. Ask Chris he will tell you. Faustus used to garrott people who tried to make him a different one.

[Shelley Holt-Lowrey]

Ahhh you are friends with Chris. Well you just earned credits my friend. That man is one hell of a guy. Good friend of mine. CHRIS - I see you reading this!!!

[Coyote Poetry]

I enjoyed these statements. People are more friendly to you when they need your support and money. I love traveling. Haven't done much in 5 years. I like to go to places that are quiet and different. Thank you for the thoughts.
Coyote

[Rosalind Gale]

See your inbox!
Yes - I love this anyway - but even more for the reasons in my message -
-xx-

[Shelley Holt-Lowrey]

Hononred to have had you stop by my page. Thank you Miss R.

[Creepy Swine Guy]

I myself an amused that tourists would expect graciousness from Native Americans. Yes, the same, "Hello, we're here, we can kill and conquer you now and put you in closed places of great poverty where unemployment reaches 80%" people who now call themselves tourists. Are there actually words to "Killer Queen"? Sandwiches that are bad 700' underground get markedly better when the way to get above ground is blocked.

[Shelley Holt-Lowrey]

Well hullo. The name suits. Not much of a review of the work but plenty of thoughtts. Thank you for those I guess. And for stopping by.

[Creepy Swine Guy]

My pleasure. The work was thoughts (musings) ... so I thought return musings would be most appropriate. [Smile]

[Shelley Holt-Lowrey]

And just to be clear, because I ALWAYS take issue with -statements such as these.... I did NOT remove anyone nor did I commit genocide against ANY people. I am many generations removed from those that did and I will not be held accountable for the actions of people whom I neither know or met. I am an entirely different human being in thought, belief and evoloution then they who committed those atrocities.

[Westminster Abbey]

Haha, These taught me some hilarious, yet important, life lessons. I love making lists, and I see I'm not the only one :) Keep writing

[emmajoy]

I've laughed til my eyes begged for m ercy.. learned how it is and IT is now my favourite journey, four wheeled or/and crawled. Many thank yous for brightening my outlook or look-out depending on compass poin t, Shelley.

errrr - if y ou have a really, really old car, travel sharpens the outlook if the springs of your seat want free.

[Shelley Holt-Lowrey]

Oh Emma! Love when you stop in for a chuckle. Thank you for your comments... and for the warning on the old car. The foot odor pretty much ruined the car anyway.

[emmajoy]

Love a laugh, love a friend, love ..

[lee von cleef]

321 miles albuquerque to flagstaff, through all my old stomping grounds,you missed a few spots, but went a long way,washing my sheets today!

[Shelley Holt-Lowrey]

I am sure we stopped or saw what I failed to write though. Only so many things to see between there and there. Petrified Dinosaur Dung? World's biggest ball of twine. A giant teepee and an ancient water buffalo, which I suspect was just a bull with long fur. Thanks!

[lee von cleef]

The big ditch? The plains of san ? the Big array, Pie Town? Lighting ranch? Bottles of "Twister" and "Thunder bird" scattered on the RR tracks. Congratulations on being organized enough to get out of the house.

[Shelley Holt-Lowrey]

No no no!!!!! I have been down that route so many times i just cannot do it again. But i missed that stuff. The meteor crater? That i saw. Big ol freakin hole! Have an ashtray somewhere.

[TLK]

"31) 5 days away from home is both too long and too short."

This is my favourite. There is that tipping point on a holiday where you start to appreciate the fact you are not at home equally with how you look forward to getting back. That's when you know you're enjoying yourself, and will have that 'yay I'm home!' glow on your return.

[Shelley Holt-Lowrey]

Thank you TLK - Bunny with a cookie. Yes - homecoming is the best part of vacation I think. And then the reminiscing. The actual trip... not always the best part.

[Pax]

i really enjoyed the read, the ending is really funny.
this number stands out to me.
11) A recession is a great way to teach the value of spending time as a family rather than money.
~a real say, really true at this times and thinking the funny sides of this..
irony in life is indeed funny.
excellent work my friend.

[Shelley Holt-Lowrey]

Thank you for your kind words and comments my friend. Always appreciate when you stop by and leave your thoughts. Really do!

[Muse]

OMg this is great! I have both native-American and Mexican roots...and everything you say is so freaking true!

21) Sometimes it is great to leave the camera in the car and enjoy the moment rather than try to capture memories to enjoy later.

So true so true...there's been some recitals that I had to hold the stupid camera...I felt like I missed the whole thing.

[Shelley Holt-Lowrey]

Right? The dang camera! Leave the freaking thing at home!

[Shimmerbliss/CAF]

I can just imagine you scribbling in your notebook along the way! Never miss a thing do you! I especially loved the parts about Carlsbad...those bats at dusk were really really creepy. I was young when I went, but I have never forgotten it. The parts about playing QUEEN cracked me up too - Bohemian Rhapsody at 80 mph makes you feel like you will leave planet earth! This was a compilation of memory snippets. You could do spin offs for weeks on this material.

[Shelley Holt-Lowrey]

Of course you've been there... I forget we are sharing one life. I cannot think of another who would be more fun to share it with. Thanks for the comments.

[Shimmerbliss/CAF]

I loved it! Amazing how so many memories get triggered. :)