Whirlwind weekend to home

Labor Day weekend...a time of parties, picnics, rest from work, watching football and other general fun.  Yes, we did partake in all that Labor Day weekend promises, but we drove 1800+ miles round trip to do it.  My rear has never been so numb from so much driving.  In fact, I don't think I've ever been in a vehicle for so many hours in a five-day period.  Here are a few highlights...

• After picking up the kids from school and Carl from an interview, we headed south on the I-84.

• Two hours later, my car, kicking and screaming towards 100K miles on its odometer decided, well, that it was not going to Los Angeles.

• In Twin Falls, after finding the Chrysler dealer at the last minute, we left the car and drove off with a rental car...a Nissan Maxima...a fun car to drive, a not-so-fun car to ride in.  

This was a sign seen at the airport where we picked up the rental car...I was having not having a nice day so I thought this was funny in a sarcastic kind of way.   

Lots of farms dotted the landscape...at least what we could see before the sun set.  Then, our eyes were glued to the side of the road looking for deer.

• We made it to Ely, NV 3 hours later than expected but our hotel room was comfy and clean.

• Leaving the next morning for LA, we took a wrong turn and somehow ended up in the California desert near Death Valley.   We found an oasis in Beatty Junction where we stopped for lunch and picked up a few supplies for the road (gummy candy, water and Pepcid AC).

Saw lots of this...

...and this before we hooked up with the I-15 in Baker, CA

•  We re-entered the I-15 at Baker where we were surprised to find that the large thermometer was not working.  No matter...the number from the dash of our beast of burden flashed the measure of heat...107 degrees Fahrenheit.

• Once we drove about 30 minutes I noticed a little plume of smoke in the distance and said..."Hmm...there's a fire somewhere in the desert."

• Some time later, we came upon signs which told us to take an alternate route as the I-15 was closed in both directions.  If we were locals, we could have found that alternate.  However, we just kept driving looking for other signs which would point the way to our options.  Even the talking heads on the radio had nothing to say about a detour.

View of the fire from the freeway outside of Vacaville.

While stopped between exits for a hour, we were able to see the firefighting helicopters reach down into the canal to replenish their water supplies.

It was a little unnerving to see the helicopters fly overhead as we waited in the smoke with a few thousand other motorists on the detour.  It left us wondering...were we headed towards the same direction as the fire was moving?

A flag waves as the smoke billows before it, as if to say to the fire, 
"I just double-dog dare ya to come my way."

• We finally made it to just outside of Hesperia and spent a little over an hour between exits on the 15.  With no where to go, we finally made it to Main Street and stopped for an In-N-Out meal.  By the way, with no disrespect to the classic hamburger joint and with the knowledge that I'm going to upset a lot of fans out there but...for my money, Smashburger really is better than In-N-Out, especially for part-time vegetarian.

• Following the other lemmings, we took the road towards the 138 and after about an hour and a half, we were able to get around the fire at the Cajon Pass.

• Nearly 13 hours into what should have been a 9-10 hour drive, we made it to L.A.

• We had a great time at the USC game...well, we enjoyed the festivities on campus before the game and the football contest until half-time.  Then, USC disappointed us...at least they won.  It was ugly but it was still a "W."

The boys with Tommy Trojan.

I love the Tirebiter statue!

Had some time to kill so we went to the science museum next to the Coliseum.

Almost game time!

Love the tradition at SC home games!

AHHH!  Giant cheerleaders!  Ok, I jest but look at this screen, especially in comparison to the spectators below...the jumbotron is the second largest scoreboard in athletics and the largest in the NCAA.

Now that Nate plays in his high school marching band, we spent a lot of time analyzing the awesome and famous Trojan Marching Band!

This is Traveler, the team's mascot...and our RV's name sake (yep, we do have an Idaho personalized license plate which spells "TRAVLER" on our 38 foot rolling vacation home).

New large flag this season...I bet that yell leader is going to have some really built up arm and leg muscles by the end of the football season.

Let the games begin!

TMB Pep Squad.

You know the game is "ho-hum" when the largest cheers from the crowd come roaring to life when the Goodyear Blimp shadow momentarily covers people in the blazing heat.

• We drove down to Carlsbad (in three hours instead of the normal two, thank you SoCal traffic) and checked into the Sheraton near Legoland.  I had high hopes that I'd love the hotel as much as I do the restaurant and spa.  Suffice it to say, I was not impressed.

• The highlight of the whole trip (for me, at least) was on Sunday morning when I got to see my favorite altos at St. Margaret Parish at the 8:30 Mass.  I really miss that parish!

• Running, literally, from the piazza at the church, the family got into the car and drove to Legoland where the boys and I attended the annual Master Model building session for Ambassador pass holders.  It was the hardest model build ever but we had the opportunity to complete a model of an actual model in Miniland.  We all agreed that, this year, bringing home the model was like bringing back a piece of the park with us and was especially poignant and meaningful.  Who knows if we'll be able to attend any sessions in the future given the distance between us and the establishment and the time of year that the park schedules these things.  

• Making it to Las Vegas in time for dinner, we decided to stop at the Luxor to show the boys the river "Nile" that runs through the first floor of the hotel and go to the buffet.  Buffets in Las Vegas are cheap, right?  Uhm, that would be negative.  Oh, and that river that runs through the hotel...it's not there either.  It must have found its way to wherever the cheap buffet prices went to.

I do not like Las Vegas, no sir-ee.  The only way I like Las Vegas is to be passing by it
in a car on the I-15 going 65 mph.  And, even then,  the word "like," as is the highway before us, a  long stretch.

Beautiful mountains at sunset on the drive towards Ely.

• Finally nearing Ely, NV after a long weekend of driving, we experience snafu #3, or #12, or, oh heck, by that point I had lost count.  Carl was the victim of a speed trap and got clocked going 66 mph in a 45 mph zone.  We would contest the citation but the officer was very generous...she let us off by marking the citation at 55 mph which would not count towards Carl's driving record nor affect our insurance rates.  Just as long as we pay the $92 fee and not contest the ticket in court in Ash Springs, NV...Yeah, we could contest it but who the heck wants to drive another 9 hours back to Ash Springs to contest a $92 citation.  It would cost me more than that in gas and my car would probably need repairs again.  

• We stayed the night in Ely, NV and spent another 4.5 hours looking at pretty much nothing in terms of scenery.  After sweet-talking the sales guy at the dealership (the service bay was closed...it was Labor Day, after all), we retrieved my now-working car, returned the rental (vowing to NEVER buy a Nissan Maxima...I think we'll all need physical therapy after 36 hours in that thing), and headed home.  

Home.  Ahh....home.  After such a whirlwind trip, Meridian felt more like home than ever.

P.S.  Just so you know, the trip was not hated or even disliked.  Despite the many obstacles and the aching back, I really enjoyed myself.  As did the rest of the family.  This trip was chock-full of experiences that make for good future storytelling!