Ladee's Travels

We left the gas station. Drove twenty feet. Heather saw the In-N-Out. “Pull over,” she said. “We have to stop.” I did. She told me she buys In-N-Out shirts for her kids. From every place she finds one. Mostly California so far. Maybe there are others. She said she’d find out. “I’ll buy you something,” she said. “What do you want?” I said I’d take a cheeseburger. I wasn’t hungry. I’d been snacking on the drive. She lit up. Talked about shirts. Stickers too. I didn’t ask. I’m not into In-N-Out the way she is. But I’m curious now. I want to see the shirt. And stickers.

  We made it to Flagstaff. I pulled into a gas station. The tank was only down a quarter, but I filled it anyway. The sun was hot. The sky was blue and clean. A few white clouds hung over the mountain, like smoke that didn’t move. I felt the heat on my arm as I opened the door. It was 5:24. I filled the tank. It wasn’t much. Six and a half gallons. Cost me $20.39.  I remembered the early road trips. I remembered my parents. They always watched the gas. Wrote it down. How much it cost. How much they got. They filled up before they had to. That way they never ran out. It was good to think about. Those old road trips. The way it used to be. I have one of their logbooks from a 1990 era trip to Phoenix.  

I drove to San Francisco Street to see the shops and cafes.  Some have names on the fronts. This is a "Historic Brewing Company" with indoor and outdoor patio dining.  I decided to go to Whyld Ass Cafe.  Nice double front layout with snacks, brewed coffee and teas.  This was a spicy chipotle brownie.  I was admiring the macrame plant hanger.  The Tinderbox Restaurant  Separated by a patio, the Urban Kitchen is owned by the Tinderbox.  Nice to know that this exists. It is a little grocery store, coffee shop, tea store.  Nice to stop here before heading out for a hike to grab some to-go lunch food.  I saw the clouds reflected in my (red) jeep window.  Pretty cool.  Ambiance and old buildings.  Saw this cow on a building at a red light!  Route 66 buildings.  This is a great "Rou...

Specialty of Mike and Rhonda's. We drove into Flagstaff and I wanted to stop at a little place that I remembered from the travel hockey days. We found "The Place", owned by Mike and Rhonda on the west side of the street, the main road into Flagstaff. It actually used to be called "Mike and Rhonda's" so this must be the new image. Well, it was pretty worn inside with the chair stuffing exposed, but the restaurant was packed. I wanted the breakfast that we used to get: Fried eggs, hash brown potatoes, and bisquits and gravy. When the waiter delivered the meal, it was the whitest meal that I had ever seen. I think that my recent fascination with colorful and vibrant foods has tainted my appreciation of the colorless foods. It tasted okay, but it was heavy...soooo heavy, and I couldn't eat all of it.