After months of planning, it’s time to head to Alaska. Of course, there are always ‘last minute’ things to take care of like re-packing the suitcase (remember we’ve been on the road two weeks by this point), checking in, printing out luggage tags, and boarding passes.
We met our friends and set off by Uber to Pier 91 on Saturday morning so we could make our boarding time. Holland America had everything clearly marked and several attendants pointing the way to the various checkpoints, from luggage, passport, ID Photo, and boarding the ship. Of course, I took my own photos, but there are cruise photographers on hand at various points during the cruise to help memorialize the trip. There’s a cost for the professional photos, so you’ll have to decide if you’re going to buy all of them, select a few, or stick with your own.
Holland America EurodamPrincess Cruise ship
The first task was to find our room, get our life vests on, and meet at our emergency stations for a drill. Our room was nicely laid out with quite a bit of closet space, a large bed with drawers underneath, and a pullout couch. The bathroom is small and requires a bit of maneuvering (and is definitely NOT made for two people at a time).
The deskOur ‘view’Our bathroom had one sinkCompact!Russ in his Life VestOne of 2 closetsOur room reflectedWater & Sodas
Then it was time to meet at the Lido Deck (9) to plan the rest of the day. It was a beautiful sunny day and we had a great view as we left port. After we were underway, we moved to the Observation Deck (10) to wave goodbye to Seattle and head out to sea! We spent a bit of time walking around the decks before getting dressed for dinner.
Us on the Lido DeckOur cruise matesLeaving SeattlePier 91Waving Goodbye!
After dinner, we explored some more and found the game room (which also has an espresso cafe & bar!). Several tables were scattered around; a huge storage cabinet housed a large selection of board and card games, and puzzles available for use. We played Sorry! and turned in for the night.
Us at DinnerOur cruisemates at DinnerLearning to play SkipBo!
Our next two days were at sea. As Saturday turned to Sunday, the seas became pretty rough. I’ve cruised before, and have rarely, if ever been seasick, but the seas were so rough the guys were the only ones up for breakfast. The Captain hosted a talk with graphs, charts, and some of the most colorful weather maps I’ve seen showing A MASSIVE storm calling for a complete re-route in our itinerary. The advanced warnings allowed our ship to skim along the outskirts of the storm, even though missed Juneau entirely to avoid all that scary red and pink in the weather system. The Captain’s presentation was fascinating; his experience at sea was evident and it was clear that not only did he know the size of his ship, but trusted his crew, maps, and the tools used to predict the weather.
Captain’s Briefing on the StormRed and Pink are NOT good!Revised Itinerary to avoid the storm
Monday was still a bit rough, but as we continued to cruise along the outer rim of the storm and made our way north, the seas calmed and we were able to see some whales, seals, and a bit of blue sky on our way to Glacier Bay.
A dark sunriseSeals on a buoyA Little bit of a Whale tail
Our first stop is Glacier Bay, John Hopkins Glacier, and Icy Strait Point. Safe Travels and God’s blessings!
Planning for The Great September Road trip started after we sold the house in Redmond, Washington in June of 2022, moved to Edmonds, and began the checklist for the move to Mesa, AZ in June of 2023. As we packed up the house, I had several conversations with one of my best friends (and former neighbor) about what we would do when we moved. We talked about traveling, and she mentioned she ‘had always wanted to go to Alaska.’ Let’s forget about the fact that in the 20+ years we lived next to each other she never mentioned this once; it put a bee in my bonnet, and I began researching cruise lines, sailings, destinations, prices, and excursions the four of us could take.
I’m by no means a travel agent and have respect for those who are, as booking a cruise for two couples, with health challenges, pandemic restrictions, geographic diversities, and economic considerations, was no small feat. The cruise industry is mostly web-based now, so it was necessary to research pricing comparisons through email and I’m still getting ‘junk’ mail from cruise lines trying to sell me their wares. (And yes, we’ll probably go on another cruise in the future, but it’s not going to be an annual thing).
The first thing to decide was whereand when. We wanted glaciers plus Juneau and Ketchikan – didn’t narrow the choices much; but deciding on 7 days vs 10 based on cost checked off the destination box and also narrowed the dates we could choose. Part of the booking process is choosing the stateroom: Inside, Ocean View, Balcony, or Suite. Prices were similar between all the major cruise lines, Priceline and Costco; we ultimately chose Holland America and booked Ocean View rooms across the hallway from each other (our neighbor’s daughter upgraded them to a balcony room a few weeks before the cruise), paid the deposit, and then dug into the ‘paperwork’ which is all online, but required information like full legal names, birthdates, passport or driver’s license information AND photos, medical needs, and packages for meals and excursions. We booked both the cruise and excursions through Priceline, not directly through Holland America. Priceline made the initial transaction pretty easy, however, we experienced issues later when we wanted to upgrade our room plus delays with refunds for excursions canceled due to weather. We’ll cover my thoughts on Priceline vs. Holland America in a later posting.
A basic cruise package includes meals (not ‘specialty dining’), and beverages like coffee, tea, water, and juices. We ate most of our breakfasts and lunches on the Lido Deck (Deck 9), which was buffet-style dining and included beverages like coffee, tea, juices, and water just like the main dining areas. Espressos, carbonated, and alcoholic beverages are not included and are charged to the room if ordered. We took our dinners in the ‘main’ dining room, except for 3 nights when they seated us in the ‘upper’ dining room. Our menu options varied each evening with starters, mains, and desserts included in the basic package, with options for 3 or 4 premium main courses, espresso, cappuccino, and specialty drinks at an additional charge.
We did NOT purchase the ‘have it all’ package from Holland America; packages ranged from US $55 – $60 per person per day. After calculating what we spent on the cruise for Wi-Fi, daily espressos, and the occasional alcoholic beverage with dinner, we would have saved about $100 overall. The savings would have been greater if we had chosen ‘specialty dining’ or premium main courses for our meals.
Anything not included in your package is charged to your room at the various locations (including the 18% gratuity PER GUEST PER DAY), so you’ll need to remember your room number. You can visit guest services and get a printout of your charges at any time during the cruise; I got one just before departing the ship so I had an idea of additional charges to expect. Our final bill for the cruise, excluding excursions, souvenirs, and transportation to and from Redmond, was $3k for the two of us.
Next time I’ll talk about setting off, and our first few days of the cruise. Safe Travels and God’s blessings!
We hit Redmond late on Friday night after miles and miles of road construction and delays beginning in Olympia. I’ll say it’s surreal to drive into a town I lived in for over 30 years (my husband nearly his entire life!), and after being gone for just over 2 months, feeling lost. The amount of construction in Redmond alone was shocking; only intensified the following days when it was daylight; it’s a good thing we knew a few backroads to circumvent the chaos. Projects that were mere foundations when we left in June were nearly complete, businesses closed or relocated, and even more signage for projects yet to be started.
We spent 10 days in Redmond and took care of medical and dental appointments, saw lots of friends, took in some culture, and spent time with the grandkids and kids. We stayed at the Redmond Inn on the east side of town; the least expensive of any of our hotel rooms on the trip – they offer a discount for booking directly from their website (not through a travel site). They also have coupons for a percentage off any meal at the Family Pancake House just across the parking lot. They’ll hand you as many coupons as you like – FPH is open for Breakfast through dinner, has a fantastic menu, and great service. Redmond Inn also has complimentary continental breakfast and loads of parking. Plus, they had laundry facilities – you’ll need quarters and detergent, which they can sell at the front desk – which was really useful after our trip.
We had fun visiting with our friends from Redmond Historical Society as they presented their Saturday Speaker Series with a guest speaker talking about a decades-old unsolved murder. That evening we attended the 75th Anniversary celebration at Camp Gilead in Carnation. Sunday was church and communion with our church family, then an afternoon with all the grandkids and borrowed grandkids at the Outback Kangaroo Farm.
My oldest grandson had requested we make one last trip back in May before we left, but with everyone’s busy schedules, we just couldn’t swing it, so we planned it for our road trip. I’ve taken the kids there every other year since 2013 and they all wanted one last time to pet the ‘roos, tortoises, and llamas. It’s one of the best field trips we’ve taken over the years I nannied, and I enjoy it as much as the kiddos. Even our busy granddaughter and her boyfriend made it!
The weather the first week in Redmond was beautiful, in the mid-70s to 80s, but our last three days were overcast and wet with the PNW mist – we definitely have acclimated to the Arizona weather and missed the sunshine and heat.
With two days left on this leg of the road trip, we made our way inland and north. After a delicious breakfast of crepes just a block from our hotel, we wandered around Monterey for a bit. The Sea Lions were out in force, serenading us with their plea for food, and overpowering the smell of the ocean with their stink.
We filled up in Monterey and headed towards San Francisco. Sun was out until we hit the Bay Area, then cleared again as we crossed the Golden Gate Bridge; we had blue skies for the rest of the trip north.
Driving past Mount Shasta, and through the Siskiyou’s is always a thrill for me; Russ did a lot of driving so I could shoot pictures from the passenger seat.
We spent the night in Grants Pass, OR, and visited family in Rogue River in the morning, before hitting the road again for our last day.
I cannot honestly count how many trips I’ve made between Rogue River and wherever I’ve lived in Washington over the past 40-plus years. It’s such a familiar stretch of road, I still remember where the speed traps are, what hotels and restaurants will be ‘around the next bend’, and of course, where all the fun places to eat are. One of our all-time favorites is a little drive-in place in Rice Hill, Oregon called K & R Drive-In.
My first experience was in high school when our youth pastor took a bunch of us there on our way to an outdoor concert. I’ve rarely made a trip in either direction without stopping by for a shake, cone, or bag of fries; and of course, I’ve introduced everyone who’s driven with me to the wonder of this little hole-in-the-wall place that serves the very best ice cream ever (sorry Tillamook, I’ll have to go with Umpqua for this one).
Russ drove through Portland, knowing how much I LOATHE tall bridges; unfortunately for him, we hit traffic and road construction, which continued for most of the trip north and brought us into Redmond late. I have to say California was pretty rude, with no signs to welcome us nor say goodbye; however, Oregon and Washington politely greeted us as we entered and left the state.
After checking into the hotel, we grabbed dinner at one of our favorite restaurants and settled in for a restful night.
Safe Travels and God’s blessings! You can continue following our adventures on Facebook at Normads (Norman Adventures), or here on the blog.
After spending the night in Marina Del Ray, I called the bank to get the details on our credit card fraud, then made our way to the Santa Monica Pier, one of the two recognized ending points for Route 66 on the West Coast. On a beautiful sunny day with many visitors, even in September, we walked the pier, and listened to the gulls and performers, before heading north up the coast: our destination, Monterey.
Along the way, we stopped at Morro Bay, visiting the Maritime Museum and the stacks of a former power plant.
Hwy 1 CAPismo Beach, CAPismo Beach, CAMorro Bay, CAMorro Bay, CAMorro Bay, CAMorro Bay, CAMorro Bay, CAMorro Bay, CAMorro Bay, CAMorro Bay, CAMorro Bay, CA
Our plan was to take California Highway 1 all the way up the coast, but no matter how much we fought the GPS, PCH 1 was closed for some of the route, so about 30 minutes north of San Simeon, we were forced to backtrack and make our way inland to US101 to get to Monterey! Although we loved the ocean views, we learned our lesson – no more arguing with the GPS! It made for a long day and we arrived in Monterey well after dark.
We stayed at the beautiful Monterey Hotel, built in 1904. Our room was lovely and it’s just 1.5 miles from Cannery Row. There is no onsite parking, but you can park overnight for free or low cost in a parking lot managed by the city of Monterey, located on Calle Principal (behind the hotel building).
Monterey, CAMonterey, CAMonterey, CAAlvarado Street Brewery Monterey, CAAlvarado Street Brewery Monterey, CAAlvarado Street Brewery Monterey, CAAlvarado Street Brewery Monterey, CAAlvarado Street Brewery Monterey, CAMonterey HotelMonterey HotelMonterey HotelMonterey Hotel
The Alvarado Street Brewery was just a few steps away with a fun menu, a vibrant atmosphere, and delicious food.
Monterey, CAAlvarado Street Brewery Monterey, CAMonterey Hotel
Safe Travels and God’s blessings! You can continue following our adventures on Facebook at Normads (Norman Adventures) or on the blog.
So we started Day 2 by driving around Needles a bit, finally landing at the Route 66 Museum. It’s near a train depot and a Harvey Hotel site. Needles is a railroad town, running more than 90 trains daily, most 2-3 miles long. We could hear several from our hotel room, but it wasn’t enough to keep us awake. As we continued on our road trip it was interesting to see trains along the road and wonder if they originated from or passed through Needles.
The plan was to take 66 all the way into Barstow, but on our way to Goffs, the road was blocked (due to a washout from flooding), and we had to backtrack to I40 via Homer which cost us about 45 minutes. The Route 66 app didn’t notify us of the road closure, but we got back on track and made it to Essex, where we saw the highest fuel prices of the entire trip. Fortunately, we’d refueled in Kingman, AZ.
We rejoined Route 66 on our way to Chambless and Amboy. Again, the road to both was partially closed for roadwork and more flood repairs, but we were allowed to pass on the one-lane road along with many other cars (presumably on the same trek). This was another closure/restriction the app didn’t notify us of, but we decided to give it a try (as it wasn’t completely closed) and made our way into Amboy and Roy’s Motel and Café. There’s really not much to the ‘town’ of Amboy except a post office, church, and Roy’s. The motel no longer offers rooms, but there is a gift shop, and a ‘café’ (they had hot dogs, food bars, cold sandwiches, and some cold drinks). The fuel pumps work, although it was expensive.
Next stop was Amboy Crater, which is visible from Roy’s, but worth the drive to the outlook. From there we drove through a series of small towns that were barely blips on the map until we stopped before Ludlow to take some photos of the Route 66 emblem on the road. Getting back on I40, we headed originally towards Barstow, but learned the museum was closed on Tuesday.
From there we traveled to Victorville, taking I15 south. Again, the plan was to visit the museum but it was closed on Tuesday, so we took a side trip to Hesperia, my original hometown. We drove through the city – which was little more than a speck when I grew up there – and navigated to my first home, near the golf course. I also drove to Hesperia Christian School, now a large campus and one of several schools in Hesperia. They even have mass transit and school buses! We drove back to Victorville and had a late lunch/early dinner, before heading into San Bernardino to see one of my favorite parts of this Route 66 trip!
The Wigwam Motel in Rialto/San Bernardino, California was one of several villages built in the 1930s. The “Cozy Cone” from the Disney movie “Cars” was inspired by the Wigwam villages.
It had been a long day and we were tired, so we made our way to the Foghorn Harbor Inn, Marina del Ray ready to rest for the night!
This is the point I realized that my VISA card had been compromised; the card declined at lunch in Victorville, but I thought it was a swipe/chip error, not fraud. When the deposit for the hotel declined as well, we put it on the debit card (we’d prepaid for the room), had dinner, got settled in and I checked the account online. Thankfully, BECU put a hold on the account after four suspect charges on the card. But that’s a story for another post…
Safe Travels and God’s blessings! You can continue to follow our adventures on Facebook at Normads (Norman Adventures), or here on the blog.
One of hubby’s bucket list items was to drive on Route 66. At first, he only wanted to do the Arizona to California portion, but I think I’ve convinced him to do it all; just in smaller bits and pieces. I would say this was our FIRST time on Route 66, but I think we’ve been on it unknowingly a few other times before I even registered it was a thing. Anyone who’s seen the movie “Cars” knows of the road, but at the time I hadn’t even looked into all the different cities along the way. And yes, the song has run through my head more than once during our trip.
As mentioned in an earlier post, we purchased the “Route 66” app for my phone. The download is free, but to use it you have to pay; you can choose a week ($19.99) or year ($39.99). The app works with CarPlay and you can select cities and towns along Route 66 that you want to visit. I would recommend that you select Points of Interest and not cities; we missed a number of things that would have been fun to see by only choosing the place we wanted to visit. The voice was odd, it didn’t always take us where we selected, and it didn’t alert us to current closures.
We also purchased two books EZ66 Guide and Route 66 Road Trips. Neither book were user friendly for us, although we did tab a couple of pages for reference during the trip. The best website I found was Route 66 Travel Guide. State-by-state, city-by-city links and information on the POIs. There’s also a pretty great Facebook page with photos and a community that will offer suggestions on their favorite places. In researching Route 66, I’ve decided there is NO WAY to see everything in one, two, or even several trips. There are just too many things to see!
Road Trips are supposed to be an adventure, and in that spirit, the best method for us was researching the POIs we wanted most, mapping them (printed and/or GPS/App), and getting on the road! I would recommend allotting more time than you think you need if you want to get the full experience. We started later than planned and unfortunately rushed through some of the towns in a hurry to get to our destination for the night.
We made our way from Mesa to Flagstaff via I17. It’s roughly a 2-and-a-half-hour drive, mostly scenic, as you climb from 1100 to almost 7000 feet of elevation. One of the rest areas had the most beautiful prickly pear cactus in bloom! We had lunch in Flagstaff and headed out on our the next leg of our Route 66 journey; Williams, AZ.
Prickly Pear CactusPrickly Pear CactusPrickly Pear CactusRoute 66 outside of Flagstaff, to Williams, AZRoute 66 outside of Flagstaff, to Williams, AZRoute 66 outside of Flagstaff, to Williams, AZRoute 66 outside of Flagstaff, to Williams, AZSo much blue sky and clouds!Miles and miles of clouds
Williams is the “Gateway to the Grand Canyon”, offering train trip packages to the Canyon and back. There are a number of interesting things in Williams, including the train depot park, visitor’s center, and a wall mural denoting it as “The Last Town Bypassed by I-40”. There was also a “Zip Line” attraction, and a new roller coaster park.
Next up was Ash Fork. We did not stop at the museum but found a Route 66 marker, and a monument/park commemorating the history of Ash Fork. It was amazing to see the slices of Americana on the backroads. Spaghetti Dinner fundraisers, water towers, American Flags flying, and all the small businesses continuing to make their living on the lore of “The Mother Road” and its travelers.
On the road to Ash Fork, AZOn the road to Ash Fork, AZAsh Fork, AZAsh Fork, AZAsh Fork, AZAsh Fork, AZAsh Fork, AZAsh Fork, AZBurma Shave Signs outside of Seligman, AZ Seligman, AZ Seligman, AZ Seligman, AZ
We stopped in Seligman (pronounced ‘Sligman’) only long enough for a photo of ‘Mater, Lightning McQueen, and a bathroom stop. The thrill of finding “Burma Shave” signs between Seligman and Kingman added more history to the trip. We refueled in Kingman (which is where we think the fraud on our credit card happened), then stopped at the Ramada Inn, known for its murals and artwork depicting Hollywood stars from earlier days. I fan-girled and had my photo taken with ‘James Dean’.
We missed the Oatman burros, the Topok Bridge, and water tower; making it to Needles as the sun was setting just after 7 p.m.
Safe Travels and God’s blessings! You can continue to follow our adventures on Facebook at Normads (Norman Adventures), or here on the blog.
We started planning this trip sometime in January of 2023, after deciding the dates for our cruise to Alaska. As we planned to be living in Arizona at the time of the cruise, the trip itself broadened to a pretty big deal including annual physicals & dentist appointments, a mammogram, trip with the grandkids to a kangaroo farm, lots of catching up with friends, church, a historical presentation, and a weekend anniversary celebration for a kids camp in Carnation.
That’s a lot to cram into one trip, and as the dates started to come together, we realized we would be packing for nearly a month of travel. Weather and temperatures leaving Mesa and traveling into California would be similar, but moving north to Oregon, Washington, then to Alaska for the cruise, would require packing clothing for 3 separate climates. Our ‘winter’ clothing was in storage in Washington State, and we only brought 3 suitcases with us when we moved. We also needed to pack things like vitamins, shoes, some dressier wear, as well as electronics, charging cables, and other ‘necessities’ for traveling. We purchased an additional large suitcase (thank you thrift stores!) and some other things to make the trip more organized and successful.
Road trip suitcase packing is different than for an airline trip; although we also needed to be mindful of the size of our cruise stateroom and living in a hotel. Regardless, we left Mesa packed with two large and two small suitcases, two laptop bags, a garment bag, a plastic tub, a case of drinking and one of distilled water (for the CPAP), a cooler with ice and snacks, and several boxes of things we wanted to put into storage in Washington.
Sorting, getting ready to packThe suitcase for cooler weather and the cruiseCar is mostly packed and ready to go!
So, for the vitamins, I made the decision to day pack them instead of carrying the individual bottles along with us (Hubby took his bottles). The benefit of this for me was I could throw the pack in my purse along with my collagen and probiotics and take them with breakfast. I bought these little plastic zip pill pouches from Amazon and labeled them for daily use. I stuck them inside these cute little bags I bought from the dollar store. They packed beautifully and I didn’t have to listen to the rattling every time I moved my suitcase.
Pro & Prebiotics, CollagenDollar Store bagsDated so I didn’t lose track!
We also took a cooler with us to keep snacks and water cool. This was handy as most days of the road trip we ate breakfast at the hotel, then grabbed a food bar and water during the midday and ate dinner about 3 or 4 PM.
Being gone for 26 days meant we’d need to do laundry along the way. Fortunately, most of the hotels had a laundry room and sold rolls of quarters and detergent. I found it cheaper to buy a small detergent at the dollar or grocery store and carry it with us.
Trip hacks I’d recommend:
Map your route out using Google Maps or similar, then print the maps. It was helpful to see a broader picture of where we were going instead of just looking at the map on the car’s GPS. I printed one for the entire trip from Mesa, AZ to Redmond, WA, one for each day of the trip, and one for Redmond, WA to Boise, ID, and back to Mesa.
We purchased the “Route 66” app for that portion of the trip; it works with CarPlay and kept us on Route 66 from Flagstaff AZ to Santa Monica, CA. The GPS voice is a bit grating (there are other selections, but they’re kind of goofy). If you’re going to use this app for Route 66 travel, be aware that not all of Route 66 still exists, so you’ll be on other major freeways at times. There were also a couple of times when Route 66 was closed due to flooding or construction, but the app didn’t alert us and we had to back-track to I40 again. I would also recommend if you’re using this app that you select the “A” route, and select Points of Interest instead of city destinations. I found we missed some of the POIs by just selecting “Williams”, “Kingman”, etc.
Purchase an altimeter app, or have one in your car. Yes, elevations are posted on the highways, but there were times we wanted to know the elevation in between those signs. The one we purchased also had coordinates, wind speed, water boiling temperature, and weather. It did not work with CarPlay but was easy enough to keep running in the background and switch back and forth between map and altimeter.
Daily map Grants Pass OR to Redmond, WAAltimeter AppRoute 66 App
Check online to see if you’ll have to drive across toll roads. Some states have a pay-as-you-go function, or you can purchase a pass prior to your trip. California has a toll system you can pay online or by phone app after you’ve traveled through. You can also set your phone GPS to ‘avoid toll roads’ although this may make your trip longer (you should plan that out ahead of time).
Don’t be afraid to stop frequently for photos, snacks, or to just walk around. Yes, it adds to the length of the day, but it also makes the trip more enjoyable. Thankfully we took lots of potty breaks and photo stops, so it broke the day up into smaller chunks.
Russ is very spontaneous; I’m very much a planner. I booked hotels along the way based on how long I thought we’d want to drive, which made me less anxious that we would have a hotel of some quality to spend the night. He would have preferred we stop when we were done for the day. I promised we’d try that on the next trip (and we did on the trip to Albuquerque, NM a few weeks later). There are usually a lot of hotel/motel/inns available and unless you have to be somewhere at a certain time, it’s more comfortable and fun to stop driving when you’re tired of driving.
Try to eat at diners, cafés, or local eateries, not just fast food and chain restaurants. The small businesses will appreciate it, and some of the best meals we had were local places. Ask the hotel you stay at if they have a place that discounts meals for guests, and ask your social media contacts for their recommendations too!
Check that the points of interest are open on the days you plan on being there. Yes, Ms. Planner forgot to check the open days for museums in Barstow and Victorville, CA. Turns out they’re both closed on Tuesdays. Oh well, we’ll get there next road trip!
TAKE CASH WITH YOU! We live in a country with ATM machines everywhere, tap credit and debit cards, and even ways to pay with your phone. I was thankful we had cash with us when our credit card was shut down for fraud on the 2nd day of the trip (Thanks BECU!). Using the Debit card worked for holds at the hotels (we’d already pre-paid most of them), but paying with cash at gas stations earned us some discounts and it was nice to have the cash cushion so we didn’t have to use our checking account until we got the new card. I split the cash up into several places in my suitcases, camera, and laptop bags so I wasn’t carrying around a wad of cash in one place.
If you’re road-tripping, don’t be stingy on the clothing and shoes you take. I should have taken a 2nd pair of walking shoes with me for some of the trails we took. It’s easy enough to toss extra shoes and socks in a bag in the back of the car. We needed ponchos in Ketchikan because the rain was so hard it beat through our coats (in retrospect I SHOULD have taken my coat AND my raincoat). I could have taken another dress or two for the cruise.
Buy a case (or more) of water and take it with you. Water on road trips is EXPENSIVE and there were a lot of times we could pull over to the side of the road, take a short walk (and of course some photos), and drink water that we had in the cooler. We bought ice along the way to refresh the cooler.
Find your favorite snacks and pack them with you. We did buy a snack bar or two if we stopped at a gas station to use the restroom, but otherwise, we ate our own snacks from the cooler. Fruit, jerky, nuts, etc. are all great driving snacks. We did try to stay away from stuff that was too salty (oh jerky, why are you so good?), too sugary (candy bars, so tempting), or too spicy (Spicy Nacho Doritos require LOTS OF WATER).
Grab a container of baby/diaper wipes and throw them in the car. They’re great for wiping the Doritos off your fingers, or your hands after being out in the wind and fine sand.
Most hotels sell small packs of pain relievers at a pretty high charge. It’s cheaper to buy a small bottle at your local drugstore and throw it in the car. Bandaids/First Aid kit is a good idea too (you should already have one in there anyway). Hand sanitizer isn’t a bad idea, and lots of paper towels/fast food napkins/shop towels are useful.
Binoculars. Yes, I have a zoom lens on my camera, but it was nice to have the binoculars to look at things without bringing out the camera.
We just completed a month-long road trip covering 26 days, 7 states, 4457 miles, and several bucket list items checked off. Months of planning were involved, and after the fact, there is always laundry and catching up on other things. Not to mention the roughly 3,500 photos I need to edit.
I’ve kept mileage records for my cars since August 2014, first as a business log; more recently as a record for curiosity. I paid as little as $1.979/gal at Costco in February 2015, and as high as $5.559/gal in July of 2022 (excluding road trips and reward points). The highest I’ve ever paid for gas is $6.09/gal as we moved from Washington to Arizona at a station in Wikieup, AZ.
For this trip, I kept a trip log not only with gas prices but with mileage between some of the stops. I didn’t log every stop we made or the time we landed there, but some of the major stops were:
Mesa to Flagstaff, AZ – 176 miles Flagstaff to Seligman, AZ – 75 miles Seligman to Kingman, AZ – 85 miles Kingman AZ to Needles, CA – 62 miles Day 1 – 398 miles, 10 hours
Needles to Marina Del Ray, CA – 353 miles Santa Monica to Monterey, CA – 216 miles Monterey, CA to Grants Pass, OR – 552 miles Grants Pass, OR to Redmond, WA – 465 miles Redmond, WA to Boise, ID – 503 miles Boise, ID to West Valley City, UT – 456 miles West Valley City, UT to Flagstaff, AZ – 539 miles
Driving time was between 6 and 9 hours a day because it’s a road trip and there were numerous camera, bathroom, tourist, and food stops!
I expected we would see some fairly high gas prices as we hit California, but for the most part, prices stayed below $6 even in Monterey and Santa Monica, CA. We planned on buying at Costco when we could to save a few pennies, but in most cases we purchased at regular gas stations with no rewards or discounts.
Date MPG Miles/Tank Gallons Price Notes 9/3/2023 20.66078 227 10.987 4.369 Costco Mesa AZ 9/4/2023 24.8282 336 13.533 4.899 Kingman AZ 9/6/2023 25.4596 421 16.536 5.199 Santa Monica CA 9/7/2023 26.60092 410 15.413 5.499 Monterey CA 9/7/2023 34.79304 348 10.002 4.999 Redding CA 9/8/2023 27.687 305 11.016 4.539 Oakland OR (Rice Hill) 9/9/2023 19.73982 349 17.68 4.759 Costco Redmond WA 9/15/2023 23.95137 394 16.45 4.799 Marathon Lacey WA 9/26/2023 17.61252 225 12.775 4.799 Costco Redmond 9/26/2023 25.81806 445 17.236 4.499 Loves Ontario OR 9/28/2023 25.54095 373 14.604 4.599 Arimo ID 9/29/2023 25.39208 340 13.39 4.699 Beaver UT 9/30/2023 24.75775 511 20.64 4.599 Costco Mesa AZ
As you can see, our mileage averaged right around 24/25 mpg, although the trip meter in the car averaged 26.5 mpg. With a 22-gallon tank, we tried to fill up when the tank hit 1/4, to avoid paying emergency prices at some station in the middle of nowhere. Even though we were fortunate (due to planning) not to pay high prices, there were several stations along the trip where we saw as high as $7.99/gal! Sinclair and Maverick had the most consistent pricing; surprisingly Shell, Chevron, and Union76 weren’t always the most expensive on the road. Love’s Truck Stops were either painfully high or right in line with Sinclair and Maverick.
Road trips are fantastic for conversations to while away the miles, and this trip was filled with several doozies. We commented several times about Diesel pricing, and I learned there are two grades of Diesel in the US. Diesel was consistently 30-50 cents or more pricier than gasoline.
We also had a spirited discussion about the difference between “motor” and “engine”, which is a concept I’d never considered. If it pleases the court, I maintain that if an “outboard motor” is really an engine, then that’s what it should be called. The words are used interchangeably, but by definition, it’s an engine, and I’d probably be laughed out of the rental place if I asked for an Outboard Engine for my (hypothetical) boat.
Calling out license plates on the trip was fun; the furthest being Florida and Maine. We did try to read or guess the state by the license plate.
Ellensburg, WAMaine License Plate in Page, AZRoys in Amboy, CARoute 66, Ash Fork, AZ (I don’t think these work)Goffs, CAHesperia, CASan Francisco, CAAlaska License PlateAlaska License Plate
Safe Travels and God’s blessings! You can continue to follow our adventures on Facebook at Normads (Norman Adventures), or here on the blog.
It’s been 4 decades since I moved to another state. I’ve moved addresses, zip codes, and counties, but not states, so when we moved to Arizona – even for just a year – I had to consider if I wanted to go through all the legalities of becoming an actual resident or not. Our mailing address is in Washington State, so technically we could say we’re still residents, but…
Arizona considers you a resident if you live in the state 7 months in a year; we will only be here 6 in 2023 and 6 in 2024. I wanted to register to vote, and our insurance requires us to be residents in order to have our cars insured, so I gathered my documents and found a local licensing facility on the AZDOT website. I expected to have a long wait as I didn’t make an appointment.
The building is well marked on the cross streets and from the street, there is plenty of parking (although not a lot of shade). Entering the spacious building, there is a ticket kiosk and three well-marked lanes: “Walk-In,” “Appointment” and “ADA.” You pull a ticket (even though there are no lit ticket counter machines). THERE ARE 26 WINDOWS and all but 6 of them have staff. The lines move quickly, and there are SMILING and pleasant people behind the desks. They have several desks with Spanish-speaking signs; in addition to the tickets they have a color-coded system and call the next in line with a card for the line you’re standing in.
You’ll need two pieces of photo ID and your social security number; I used my Washington State Driver’s License and Passport (They took my Washington State license, so if you are sentimental, take a photo of it before you hand it over for the last time.) You’ll also need two documents with proof of address. You can use a utility bill or anything else with your local address on it. I took in my lease documents but didn’t have additional proof with me so I signed a form that promised I wasn’t lying about my address.
He entered the information and asked if I wanted to register to vote (uh, YES!) You have the option to register a party affiliation (or not), and the option to have a mail-in ballot sent to you. Receiving a mail-in ballot DOES NOT require you to vote by mail, you can go to your voting precinct and vote in person (but obviously no double voting).
After my photo and the $25 feefor EIGHTYEARS, I walked out the door in 40 minutes with a temporary license.
You can also register your vehicle in the same location; cars 5 years and older need an emission test. He handed me a map with several locations and sent me on my way WITH A SMILE.
I drove to the testing facility and for $17 and 15 minutes, received my emission paperwork which I brought with me to register the car. You’ll also need your Title (if you own the vehicle) or registration with the lienholder (if you don’t), your driver’s license (the temporary one is fine), and the driver’s license of any registered owners of the vehicle.
You can choose a one or 2-year registration; the cost to register for one year was roughly $80 less expensive than Washington State, so not a huge savings, but I will be asking for a refund from Washington as I renewed my registration there in March.
You are required to have your license and registration for vehicles within 30 days of residency and I was reminded to notify my insurance agent to send insurance verification to AZDOT within 30 days.
Our auto insurance did go up about $90/month; our renter’s insurance is half of what it was for Washington State.
My temporary rear plate is installed; it’s weatherproof material, so you can install it in the frame while you wait for your actual plate. There is no requirement for front plates in Arizona. I’ll keep one of my Washington plates, putting it in storage with all the other plates we’ve had over the years.
Washington Driver’s License $56 – 4 years Arizona Driver’s License $25 – 8 years Washington Registration $372.25 – 1 year (refund to be determined) Arizona Registration $293.63 – 1 year
Paige's Place 