The state line, that is!
But I am getting ahead of myself.

We slept in our FREEZING cold room under piles of blankets.  This is the little cot we brought for Katriel.  We found out on this trip that she can sleep through a LOT.

I was up earlier than the rest, so I scooted out for some coffee and sunshine.

This little Best Western, in Kingman, Arizona, was probably our favorite stop of the trip.  This fabulous breakfast didn’t hurt its rating.

We spent a lot of time on Route 66 this trip, though we didn’t join it from it’s starting point in Illinois.  The businesses along this route tout it left-right-and-center.  It’s understandable, given it’s the only claim-to-fame many of these once thriving communities have. 

We headed out to Oatman, Arizona.  A  town that looks a lot today like it would have 100 years ago when it was a thriving mining town. 

We only had a one hour (construction ridden) drive from Kingman to Oatman.  About 25 minutes into this drive I suddenly realized that I had left the camera battery and charger plugged into the wall in the motel.  We knew we had to return to get it as.  Bummer.

The drive was – um – remarkable.
Remarkable = terrifying. 

Just like our Yellowstone drive, I don’t have adequate photos.  A still image can not quite capture what it feels like to drive inches from the edge of a cliff on a narrow, rapidly curving road.  I didn’t have the guts to take a video until it was almost over.

This is a good representation of the curving nature, though I was more level at this point. 

Oatman is also known for it’s wild burros.  As we drove into the community, the steep, barren hillsides were dotted with the occasional burro.  Once we parked in town, we saw some of the town-friendly ones out and about in the street. 

Now – think about this…

If there are donkeys in the street, there is donkey p_ _p in the streets, too.  Watch your step!

There are fees for this and fees for that.  They are nominal and we paid for some and not for others.  We like this kind of place and want to see the business owners make it.  We shopped a little, but had the cloud of driving back to Kingman lingering over our heads.

Marie was one of the first to pet a burro.  She started gingerly, but by the time we left she knew many of them by name. 

Had we not had the drive lingering over us, I would have liked to have spent the time getting an old time photo taken AND supporting this business I’d read about online.

(*next time.)

We snaked our way back out that dastardly highway, slightly less fearful as we had the inside lane on most of the mountain hugging curves.  Heading to California directly from Kingman changed the plans for the stops we would have had from Oatman to California.  We also used up two hours of time in the process. 

We drove and drove through dry desert.  While I loved the hot hot weather the arid landscape started to grate on me.  I didn’t verbalize this, but when we pulled off at one point to look for a restroom, we had a sudden, unexpected glance at the Colorado River.  Multiple people from the back van rows called out, “Look! Water!”  I clearly wasn’t the only one affected by the parched scenery.

We found a gas station and after recovering from the sticker shock…!

took turns using the bathrooms.  This took forever and was one of slowest stops throughout the entire trip.

Finally we made it across the line.

If one thing was a given on this trip, it was that we were going to make every effort to visit the Grand Canyon.

We woke up early and packed up like it was our purpose in life.  Yeah – we were that good.

Of our eight hotel nights, this is the only one that did not include a hot breakfast.  We went to McDonald’s and it cost a ridiculous amount of money.  And it was gross.

We drove through town, filled up with gas, and drove one hour north to the Grand Canyon.

Five hours and almost 300 photos later, we realized our camera was on some whacky setting that made all the photos black, white and, pink?

We discovered this problem with our late lunch and incredibly enough, I did not fall into tears.  Now, this is most likely because I had already had every fiber of my anxious being tormented by the harrowing edges and the six children I was keeping my eyes on.  Seriously, this is not the place for an anxiety-plagued person to visit.  At one point I had to speak tersely to my less-anxious offspring.  While their enjoyment of the canyon might, in fact, increase, say 10% by going past the trails and barriers, my enjoyment drops no less than 100% with every move they make past these markers.

Once we discovered the problem, over that standby Grand Canyon meal of – pizza – John determined the best option was to go out to the one trail we had not yet investigated and take more photos there.  Nan opted to stay in Grand Canyon Village and we thought we’d be about 45-60  minutes. 

Almost two hours later we met up with her again.  We couldn’t catch one of the buses that came by because it wasn’t permitted to stop; a van was parked in the bus drop-off/pick-up lane and the bus only lingered a moment to see if the van would move before sped right by.    We waited close to 30 minutes for our ride back.

We headed to our hotel in Kingman, which was “only” a Best Western motel. Well, it turned out to be a rocking good choice.

We enjoyed a swim under an Arizona sunset.

And the hot tub was so welcoming.

We walked over to a restaurant a few doors down …
It made much of its Route 66 location.

We were welcomed in… and warned they only had a few items on their menu.

Turns out their supply truck had not come in two days prior, and they were cooking what little they had left.  The restaurant was large, but there was only one other party in the establishment.  There were two gentlemen working, and they were doing all the jobs. 

Given it was after 8PM on a Sunday night, we had little choice but to just find something on the mini-menu to eat.

It’s too funny how places have not had food twice on our trip.  Who knew that was a thing?

While yesterday consisted mostly of miles upon miles of getting further west, today we did a lot of sightseeing.

We were a little better at packing up from our second Homewood Suites, and got on the road fairly promptly.

Today’s breakfast wasn’t as amazing as yesterday’s, but it did the job and we didn’t have to cook or do dishes.

Our first order of business was to scrap the idea of visiting the mining museum I had penciled in as a maybe, but it was easy to dismiss.  If there is one thing we have learned so far, it is less is more.  We just are not as fast as we should be and we need to operate as such. 

We headed west about an hour to Grants, NM.  We traveled down a somewhat winding, desolate, desert road to an area with a few newer homes, two older log buildings, and a parking area.

We paid our entrance fee, looked around the shop, used the facilities and headed out onto the first trail.  We opted to visit the Ice Cave first, which proved to be an excellent choice.  This trail is shorter, and is downhill to the cave and uphill back to the starting point.

The climate and terrain are just so different from home.  The ground here was littered with lava stone from the defunct volcano.  The same lava stone I have paid $40 per cubic yard for my yard. 

The Ice Cave remains around 31 degrees Fahrenheit all year round. 

We headed back up to the host building and cooled off for a moment before heading up the old volcano.  This was a little more work, but it was good to know our trek at the end would be all downhill.

Back down the hill we bought a souvenir or two, and found our water bottles and headed back out to the main highway to continue on our way.

We drove just a short bit to the Continental Divide.

And then to Walmart for lunch provisions.

Everyone plugged in to some media while we headed north to the spot where four states come together. 

It was hot.  Like well over 100 degrees.  We had to queue in a line where they requested you take just three photos and move on.  Our math said we were welcome to take 27 photos at the most, but we didn’t come close. 

I had no idea how windy the desert was. 

We headed into Arizona and back south/southwest toward Williams.  I had done a lot of research on dining options between lunch and dinner.  The desert is, well, deserted.  And we have to navigate food allergies and find some places more willing to make accommodations than others.  I really hoped to get some decent regional food, too. 

I found Amigo Cafe on TripAdvisor and contacted them about food allergies.  They confirmed they could work with us, so we stopped for dinner in Kayenta.

MY food was AMAZING.  And the photo did not come out.  Those not eating Mexican had poor American food.  But in the end we were all fed and were able to continue on.

It would be two days until we realized AZ matched PST and not MST…  It caused a ton of confusion.  Truth is, I have no idea what time we left the restaurant.

We saw more rock formations than you can shake a stick at and marveled at God’s creativity.

We rolled into our Motel 6 in Williams too late to swim.  Our sparse accommodations were fine, if not bland, and we all fell asleep as our heads hit the pillows.

We woke by 6 A.M. and got ourselves mobilized.  It was our first morning of the re-pack/re-load process and it wasn’t pretty.  What was fabulous was the massive breakfast they offered.  Every palate was pleased as we ate and ate.  It was awesome.

We got started – later that we wanted – (this will become a repeating theme) – and headed from Fort Smith, AR to Albuquerque, NM.

It is essentially a straight line through Oklahoma, the Texas panhandle, and into New Mexico.  Sights thrilled us as we took in places we’d never been before.  But we didn’t stop, per se.

We played some games, read some books, watched some movies, and just kept moving.

We stopped at Walmart for more food at lunch time and enjoyed crispy fried chicken, potato salad, and cookies. 

West, west. west.  We just kept moving west.

We drove directly to Dickey’s BBQ pit in Albuquerque for dinner.  Dickey’s BBQ Pit is a chain we’d discovered on our last road trip to Oregon in 2015.  We were eager to eat there again.

As we approached the building, other would-be patrons warned us they were closed.  The manager popped his head out the door to explain they were closing because they were out of meat and most of their sides.

We tried to find something fast… and it wasn’t fast.  We asked our cell phones to help us find a Longhorn Steakhouse, but it said it was 13 miles away.  We could see an Outback Steakhouse from where we were, and with a little finagling, found or way to it.  In the end we spent WAY too much money and time for a so-so meal.  We barely got to the hotel in time for a quick swim for a few of us. 

Katriel fell asleep as we headed to the hotel.  She stayed asleep through bed changes and well into the morning.

After breakfast at Brother Junipers, we headed about 15 miles down the road to Graceland.  We all knew we were going.  We’d talked about it for months.  None of us were prepared for how fabulous it was. 

TCB stands for “Taking Care of Business” – one of Elvis’s mottos.

The admission prices are ridiculous, but we knew that going in.  Thankfully, the cashier reminded us we could have a AAA discount with a valid card.

As it was shortly after opening, the incoming crowd was steady.  We were instructed to head to a theater which showed a 7 minute movie on the life of Elvis Presley.  I got a little teary as Elvis always reminds me of my dad.  We exited the theater and followed the directions of the staff to an outdoor queue.

They then took a photo of us they offered to sell to us for $35 an hour or so later.  We queued for a bus over to the mansion.  Upon entering the bus we were all handed headphones and mini iPads for our upcoming tours. 

We boarded the bus for the mansion and again had to queue to enter the mansion.  It was at least 95F and we not only had to wait for the bus in front of us to get the front-step-spiel, but a bus of VIP package guests also got to enter before us.  We finally entered the mansion, and for the rest of the day we had no more waiting.

The iPad system is really cool.  It occasionally didn’t detect where we were on the property, but for the most part it was fabulous.  Major facts and cool tidbits were narrated by John Stamos.  You could spend as much time as you wanted in each room, and there were little extra links on the iPad that you could hit if you wanted to.  For example, when you were looking into a certain room, if you hit one of the camera icons, you might then see a photo of Elvis sitting on the couch in front of you playing his guitar.

Elvis designed this room on the first floor for his parents, including a walk-in closet for his beloved mother.

The narrator said Elvis would position himself for a grand entrance into the foyer when guests arrived. 

This TV, though… LOL

The stairs to the basement.

I want this rec room!  There are plenty of seats on these couches!

After we exited the mansion, we rode the bus back over to the main complex.  We then realized we had barely scratched the surface of what was there.  We spent the next few hours looking through his cars, clothing, and other memorabilia, including a section devoted to his military service.  We also enjoyed the wide variety of shopping experiences.  They sincerely enjoyed the shopping and Nigel had a very hard time deciding what to treat himself to. 

I smiled to myself as I took this photo next to the Johnny Cash outfit in the area of people who were influenced by or worked with Elvis.  Nigel had no idea where we’d be going later.

We thought about grabbing some ice cream, but decided instead to just get ourselves over to a Walmart for lunch food. 

We enjoyed our first car lunch:  sandwiches made at 75mph, with macaroni and potato salads, chips, and — cookies!

From there we lazily drove to Dyess, AR.  No one under 46 knew where we were going.

Our GPS indicated we would get there at 3:05 P.M. 
The website said the last tour left at 3:00 P.M.  I called them about 10 minutes out and explained we were coming from NY and were likely going to be 5 minutes late.  They joyfully offered to hold the tour for us!

Nigel saw the sign about five miles before we got there:
Johnny Cash Boyhood Home

This area boasts a rich history of swamp-land-turned-family farms. 

From Wikipedia:
Dyess Colony was established in Mississippi County, Arkansas in 1934 as part of the New Deal efforts of Franklin D. Roosevelt to provide economic relief to ameliorate suffering in the Great Depression. The experiment was the largest such community-building experiment established by the federal government during these years.

Basically – families who met the criteria and were willing to take on the arduous work of converting swamp land into farms were given a house, a chicken coop, and a small barn.

 The old theatre still stands

and the colony center administration building has been turned into a museum and meeting space.

They still have the original projector from the theatre house.

Can I tell you how much I love the fact that Nigel just happened to have on his Johnny Cash t-shirt?

After watching the movie that explained both the New Deal effort and how the restoration was completed (including oversight by Johnny Cash’s sisters) we looked around the museum before getting on the bus to head over to his house on Plot #266.  We were joined by one other couple.  The woman’s mother was raised in the house next door to J.R. Cash and she was eager to see what it may have looked like.

Our bus driver was the former mayor of Dyess.

We left Dyess around 4:30 P.M. and headed west to Fort Smith, Arkansas.  We had planned to grab dinner at a KFC buffet, but we wanted to swim.  A few miles out we called in pizzas, so after we got to our Homewood Suites, we unpacked the van, gobbled up pizza, and hit the pool and/or showers. 

By the time we hit the bed, most of us had been up well over 24-hours except for some nap time in the van the night before.

Let the good times roll.