Downey's Rose Parade Float

This afternoon we returned to the warehouse in Downey where Downey's float for the Tournament of Roses Parade was assembled.  This float titled "The Glass Slipper" is very impressive!

The sections we worked on last night are now complete with beautiful flowers.  This completed float is now ready to be moved to Pasadena at 5:00 PM.

The teardrop shaped pieces, with just one blossom each, turned out to be peacock feather tails on each side of this float. We can't wait to watch the parade tomorrow morning in Pasadena!

Oranges Anyone?

Bill's Aunt Margie is posing above with us in front of one of 3 orange trees in her beautiful backyard in Downey, CA.  Temperatures here in Downey are pleasant in the mid-70's by midday.  We enjoyed 2 of these home-grown navel oranges with our breakfast.

Bill's step-sister in-law, Patti, joined us for breakfast.  Patti, who is also from Michigan, is an MSU alumni in town to root her beloved Spartans to victory in the Rose Bowl game.

California Here We Are

Today we woke to cold but crystal blue skies yet again.  We wondered what to expect at the Agricultural Inspection Station at the California border, but we were waved through without stopping.  Scenes like the one above soon became common as we passed through the mountain ranges before reaching the Mohave Desert.  It was a delightful warm 50 degrees at the Mohave area rest stop.  The southern sun simply has a way of warming the body even if the thermometer says otherwise.

As we traveled the LA freeways we soon saw this truck transporting oranges.  Further evidence we were in California.

One thing we have always marveled about the LA freeways, is the extent to which the roadsides are landscaped with flowers, plants and even trees.  Being December now, there are few blossoming flowers but the landscaping is still green and plush.

We were invited to help decorate the City of Downey Rose Bowl Parade float.  As of 9:00 PM, there is much work remaining to be completed before the judges arrive at 8:00 AM to judge this entry!

In the above photo, single flower blossoms are being glued to each tear drop shaped petal. Silver Dollar flowers surrounding the single blossoms will be glued on later. 

Workers above are applying chopped up yellow straw flowers to freshly appied white glue.  This is the task we were asked to do later.  We did this for only about 30 minutes.  It was back breaking work because there was nothing to lean on while reaching over to apply the glue and straw flowers because all of the green painted surfaces were wet paint!  Every square inch of Rose Bowl Parade floats are required to covered by organic substances.  Paint is used to indicate the color that surface will later be covered with.  The green in this photo will be covered with evergreen branches.   

The Mountains

This morning we saw three hot air balloons in flight as we drove through the heart of Albuquerque.  It was quite surprising as the temperature was about 40 with very high winds.  We just now realize as we update this blog that we forgot to take pictures of the balloons.  

As you can see in the picture of the beautiful western New Mexico landscape above, we had another delightful blue sky day for travelling. There have been a surprising number of trucks on the road this weekend.  Perhaps making up for time lost during the holidays.  

Immediately upon entering the state of Arizona the mountains began to loom large.  

As we headed towards Flagstaff, AZ, we could view Gray Mountain (below) for many miles and enjoyed admiring its majestic peaks.  The elevation in Flagstaff to peaks at just over 7,000 feet.  

  

We stopped for an early afternoon dinner in Flagstaff and ended up making an excellent choice eating at the Lumberyard Brewing Co. Taproom and Grille in downtown Flagstaff on Route 66.  The picture below shows Gray Mountain as viewed from the parking lot of the restaurant.  Flagstaff was bustling with young college age people.  We decided that they were likely enjoying the nearby ski slopes.

Tonight we are lodged in Kingman, AZ.  Signs throughout Kingman describe Kingman as "The Heart of Route 66".  We drove Route 66 from one end of town to the other.  We are not sure why they believe the moniker is appropriate.  Kingman appears typical of many towns from Illinois to Arizona where remnants of Route 66 remain.  In many respects, much of what remains along the old Route 66 has sadly deteriorated and are now eyesores. 

The pictures below depict the view behind our Kingman motel and across the street respectively.

Land of Enchantment

Today was another glorious big blue sky day as we traveled easily through western Oklahoma, the "High Plains" of Texas and "Little Texas" otherwise known as New Mexico.

Shortly after we entered Texas we pulled off onto an I-40 exit ramp and spotted the bird above.  Is this a Road Runner?  

A little bit past Amarillo, TX we passed a huge cattle stockyard.  Guess what Pam thought of the odor!

In New Mexico, the Land of Enchantment, we began to see snow on the northern facing mountains.  The picture below shows the southern visa from our motel parking lot on Route 66 near downtown Albuquerque.

We spent a very enjoyable evening socializing with good friends Larry and Paula James who have lived in Albuquerque 2 years.  They have a beautiful home nestled in the mountains approximately 20 minutes from town.  They worry about black bears and rattle snakes when they let their cute little dog, Barclay, outside.  Both have recently been spotted in their heavily wooded yard!

Get Your Kicks on Route 66

Today we enjoyed a cloudless bright blue sky while travelling from Greenville, IL to Chandler, OK (just east of Oklahoma City). Temperatures started below freezing but reached over 60 degrees by mid-afternoon.

Pam did a wonderful job capturing the above picture of the famous arch in St. Louis as we crossed the Mississippi River.

A short while later we began to flirt with famous Route 66.  Alongside both sides of I-44, the road we are travelling, are 2 lane roads with many interesting Route 66 icons. It made for very entertaining sights as we rolled through Missouri. 

We were startled to discover today that our Garmin Nuvi GPS had no turn-by-turn directions for roads west of the Mississippi River!  Turns out ours came only with the Northeast US region factory installed.  Fortunately we had printed Google turn-by-turn directions for our entire trip to California.  We find this is smart to do as the Garmin can sometimes make weird turn suggestions and it helps to have the Google directions for a sanity check.  Santa Claus also gave us a 2014 Rand McNally Road Atlas. This evening we were successful installing the balance of all 49 continental US states after some frustration with the Garmin website. 

In Oklahoma, I-44 is a very confusing toll road.  We paid our first toll ($4) and didn't collect the receipt.  Later when we left the toll road to purchase gas we were asked to produce a receipt so that we could receive a refund!  The toll booth agent had us sign a waiver and told us to pass through red light.  After filling our tank with gas we returned to the same toll booth.  Seeing cars ahead were retrieving tickets from the machine we did the same.  Upon reading the ticket we determined that the tickets were for eastbound travelers only and that we had violated state law and failed to pay the toll to travel westbound!  Confusing!

Tournament of Roses Parade...Here We Come!

Well, the zero percent precipitation plan went out the window before we left home early this morning.  Snow was falling steady and caused multiple accidents from our home in Michigan, in Ohio and even in Indiana.  We encountered a closed road before we reached the expressway.  That said, once we drove out of the snow, we managed to cover 500 miles today without mishap ending up in the quiet little town of Greenville, IL for the night.  We plan to hit the greater Los Angeles area Monday afternoon.

The Fancer Pony Truss bridge in the picture above is 118 years old and was in service for 88 years before it was reduced from 16' to 8' wide and then moved 70 miles to a rest area in eastern Illinois where I snapped a picture this afternoon.  The Trout brothers, who lived 5 miles from this rest area, built about 150 bridges of this design. It was kind of weird seeing this bridge to nowhere in the middle of a rest area.

One of the challenges of this trip was how and what to pack for a 3 month journey.  Hopefully our strategy works!


 

Travel Outlook

Well it was 9 degrees (F) and sunny when I took the beautiful picture atop this page outside the back door of our Orchard Lake, MI home late this morning.  For sure we'll have a white Christmas.

We look forward to enjoying warmer temperatures soon.  The www.weather.com forecasts for each of the cities we'll be stopping overnight on our way to California, Thursday through Monday, indicate a 0% chance of precipitation and temperatures in the 50's as early as Friday.  Yippee!

Trip Preparation

The date of our departure is fast approaching.  The day after Christmas we begin our 3 month journey that will take us from Michigan to California to see the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena on New Years Day.  We are praying for good weather.  Right now the forecast for each leg of our driving journey looks clear and sunny with little chance of precipitation.  Of course that could easily change.

Today we began packing our bags and tried to develop a packing strategy.  Don't want to lug everything into the motel each night and we need to figure out just how much clothing is practical to take with us.  We're opting for a small suitcase each and boxes and duffel bags for the rest.  

Planning to do lots of reading I guess.  One whole box is devoted just to books!