Route 66 - Albuquerque to Barstow/Bakersfield - 11.10.22

California has gifted me one hour for my efforts of chasing the sun today. I wake up in a new time zone… I’m actually in Bakersfield, CA this morning but pinned Barstow because it’s a fork in the road and a pause point in the story.

I left Northern New Mexico in a hurry. I stopped in Ohkay Owingeh to drop off my PO Box keys at the Post Office. I intended on keeping that mailing address indefinitely… I also was going to plop a school bus somewhere in the Embudo canyon area for a landing pad. The universe will throw much in the spokes of the wheels of life… but change is inevitable… and that we should gladly accept.

I have made more friends in Albuquerque than in any other place in NM to this point. I only had moments to spare and had to skip visits with the exception of a delish Poki lunch and chats with Ms Dawn. This town is the proverbial starting point of this adventure... and I’m leaving much behind from this point… and pick up on a road called Route 66.

I have this romantic notion of following a path that Kerouac had taken. I’m not even sure if he traveled Route 66 or just mapped it out to do so. I’m a sucker for nostalgia and vintage things… but at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter who walked down this road… the story is mine to write, and today, and at this moment, it’s highway 40 to Los Ángeles.

One variable in the equation to pick this direction is simple… I’ve never been on this road. It took some reflection in my distant past to verify that thought. I took a road trip to Laguna Seca when I was 19. It was to be the first Motorcycle Grand Prix Road race on American soil in 30 years and we were to witness that. I went with a coworker and his friend. They were in their early 30s and I was along for the ride. I sat in the back seat of 70 something Toyota Corolla… and we drove straight through from Denver to Monterey. No shit! You get one guess on how that marathon was fueled. It was my first time in California and we spent nearly the entire trip at the race track and I was dissppointed that I didn’t see much else. There will be other times for me and CA.

There’s much more to that story but I remember we were on highway 50 and that officially validates that I had never been on Route 66. How’s that for a tangent?!?

Anywho, lots of driving ahead of me and I have a warm Welsh song to hear in San Francisco on the 12th and I’m skipping the side trips (and it hurts… it hurts something awful).

I pulled into Flagstaff, AZ at dusk and had just driven through a storm. Rain and snow storms in the desert. Crazyness. Flagstaff was a pleasant surprise… ponderosa pine forests and rich with the footprints of the first peoples here. It was 16 whole degrees in the morning but I stopped by the Elden Pueblo site for some walks, respects, and heart building. The ground was frozen and my fingers were numb in short order.

One lunch stop at Nany’s Tacos in the town of Williams, AZ. The people are dolls at the restaurant and I enjoyed, ‘practicar me español. Aprendo!!’ The town is cute and oozes nostalgia and is the gateway to the Grand Canyon. I stopped at the rail yard and groaned because I so wanted to jump on that train and explore the Canyon in these cooler months.

I eventually hit Barstow, CA… there’s a fork in the road. Stay on the 40 to Los Ángeles, or go right… towards Mojave. I had a pull towards Los Ángeles for some reason… a very peculiar feeling to me… but I have a route set and LA will have to wait… or I will have to wait to see what is pulling me there.

Very surreal sunset through Mojave. A wee on nature break at a Joshua tree forest (if that’s such a thing). Total Dr Seuss trees… I dig. More surreal moments descending into a cloud bank in Tehachapi at dusk. And finally into Bakersfield for snacks and snores.

I’ve been to CA but it feels so new. Maybe it’s this town. Maybe I hope Bakersfield is full of bakers. Like the ones that make pastries. Hmmm… I like that.

I have a few more hours of driving today and I have nothing else specific on the agenda but to be grateful for my moments on planet earth. Maybe a pastry… a pastry in this land of bakers.