And so we begin- 6k miles part deux

[J.Belknap]

You have more long straight roads yes?

Let's see what she'll do. (After they fall asleep of course.)

[lhordmclain]

Thanks for sharing... I will definitely put this as one of my to do's for my daughter.
This year we went to Black Hills South Dakota (x5 road trip ), Sedona/Grand Canyon/few more spots Arizona (plane n rentals) and recently Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Baltimore and Washington (x5 road trip - a bit pricy Ohio+ Pennsylvania turn pike tolls).

Enjoy the rest of the road trip.

[PropellerHead]

After the memorial in Oklahoma, we were off to a Rt66 icon I'd done some reading about. Pop's Soda Ranch. This place supposedly has more sodas for sale than anywhere in the world. I really went for a pic of the huge soda bottle. After all, most of Rt66 is about the offbeat attractions- for me anyway.

On the way there, we stopped at a few other random places for photos and to take a break from a destination-driven trip. We found our trip's best representation in this picture on the back of a building.

And because we had no place to be, when we saw a sign for Scenic View, we turned off to take a look. It was a nice place to watch the sun start to set.

But once at Pop's, my very patient daughter let me fiddle with this pic and that. She knew I'd make it up to her at the soda fountain!

I read that the real fun of the sign is seeing it light up at night. So we took our time and shopped for $2.19(ea) sodas and a way overpriced trinket or two. Her grandfather is know to the children as 'Pop', so this was a fun chance to get him a memento he'll likely throw away.

Once inside, you're faced with the enormity of the place and the unbelievable things people do when they actually do something with their boredom. The selections r=range from as mundane as at any store to the simply difficult to believe.

All soda, all the time.

What would happen if you mixed bacon and maple syrup sodas?

Speaking of mixing.. How would you get this done in just the right way?

We made our selections, had some root beer-enhanced bread pudding and a chocolate shake and we were ready to take on the giant, glowing soda bottle!

Once outside, I just couldn't find the best way to get what I wanted to commemorate the stop. I tried artsy...

Again..

And then finally, I got what I wanted... Both of my 2004 babies on a great cross country ride!

We got back to the hotel really late, but we'd had a great day. She read a book and I buttoned up some things for work. We slept late the next day.

And you know what? Because of that, we were able to be a part of the strangest- and most fun day of our trip. I'll go over that in my next installment.

Hope you are enjoying it!

[x5Alpine]

What happened to the 4.8is wheels?

[motordavid]

PH, Very moving and very well done photos...
Your daughter is beautiful and you are a lucky father to be able to have that kind of experience together.

We need more pics as you and your Fam wind your way around the SW!
Safe and fun travels!
GL, mD

[Ven]

Good stuff PH.

[mam4.6]

Really enjoying your documentation and pics of your trip! Glad you guys are having a great time! +1 for making memories with your daughter..! Let the good times roll on...

P.S. I miss the IS wheels...

P.P.S. Subbed for LOTS more...

[PropellerHead]

Day 2 was probably the best one of the trip so far for my daughter- and a little for me as well. A lot of weird things lined up and we ended up being able to do some things we never imagined we would. The fun of being on the road with no time table and a destination somewhere ahead.

Our first stop on this day was the inspiration for Ramone's in the Disney movie, Cars. Even at 11, my daughter was surprised and thrilled to be there. We shared a root beer in the cafe and chatted about what it must have been like when this was a thriving stop on Rt66.

They even have a 'Mater' tow truck park outside!

The next stop was a fun little part of histroy. The first Phillips 66 station in the state of Texas. It was really small. She found the pumps interesting.

Just down from there were a couple things that I noticed and just had to get some pics of.. First was this cool car with a tree growing through it.

Next was a series of dilapidated small signs. I'd always heard of the successful marketing campaign, but this was the first I ever saw what I think might have been originals..

BurmaShave!

THe craziness for the day started right after this. My daughter was 'texting' on her iPod Touch to her best friend who moved far away to Austin Texas this year. They had known each other since they were little and always gotten along well.

"Daddy! I think we'll be able to see her on the way! They're going North to Colorado and we're going West to Arizona!"

"Well, yeah Baby, but the odds that they're going to be where we are at the same time are astronomical. I think you should be ready for this to be a close call of meteoric proportions."

"No, Daddy! They're going to go through Armadillo! Are *we* going through Armadillo?"

"It's Amarillo, and yes. But we can't wait hours for them and they don't want to wait hours for us. I'll call her mom and see where they are."

"They're an hour and a half or so from amaRILLO. (Insert snarky face and eye roll here)"

"Well, now wait.. *WE* are about an hour from there.. and we have some things to see..."

And so it worked out! We dawdled at the pics above and took our time finding the place we agreed to meet. A reunion was had for the girls and for us, the parents. It was good to see some old friends. And it was a total coincidence that only a couple of totally separate road trips could make happen.

But wait! The weirdness doesn't stop there! We were on our way to see Cadillac Ranch. The trip was about to get weirder.

Cadillac Ranch is a disgusting place. Putrid mud surrounds the cars and the place is littered with used paint cans. I suppose that once someone first defaced the place, the custodians- whoever may claim to be them- just went with it. People write messages all over the cars and then leave their cans for everyone to step around. And dead frogs. An abnormal number of dead frogs.

Nothing is weird about any of that. But when we parked, I did happen to spy a white pre-facelift 3.0 E53. It was filthy. The roundel had delaminated. But it was straight and had California plates. I wondered if they were on a road trip as well. They loaded up and drove away almost immediately after we arrived.

Still not weird, I know.

Well, one of the Cadillacs had a freshly painted hash tag that presented us with great pause. The name on the hashtag was the same as a family member and it said " # Family roadtrip, 2015" Just two days earlier, my daughter had used the exact same hash tag with the '2015' being spelled, '2K15'. Why? Well, '2015' taken! LOL

So my daughter looks them up on Instagram and says, "Hey Daddy! *they* have a BMW, too! It's white!"

Wait. What?

Yeah! Look! And there it was. The delaminated roundel on a white hood. HOLY CRAP! Send them a message! Same car! Same names! We *have* to find them!

While we waited for social media to line up the planets, we made another stop and took some more pics...

The MidPoint Cafe was closed on this weekday.

It's named is derived, as you might expect, from it's place on Rt66. It's exactly half way between Chicago and LA.

Down the way from there was a much more recent, but just as abandoned Phillips 66 station.

Now, in the interest of chronology, I've not yet allowed for the full scope of weirdness. But after the MidWay Cafe is where stars began aligning and we met some really great people.

It was time to let one baby drain and the other one fill. I decided at the last second to head to a station on the other side of the over pass. Who should we see there? The family in the WHITE X5! I pulled up next to them and said "HEY! Are you JOHNNY!?"

The dad says, "Yeah!" with a huge smile. I told him about our coincidence and that we saw his hashtag paint work and then followed him on Instagram, noticed the X5 we'd just parked in front of, and our minds were just fully blown!

It turned out we were both headed that night to Albuquerque, NM. We shared social media bits and got to 'know' one another through my daughter's closed-access Instagram once we were all connected.

For our part, we stopped by one last place before night fall. This was a cool little shop that was also closed. But the building is no less iconic..

From there, we laid our ears back and darted for the Sandia Mountain Tramway. I really wanted to try to get there before they closed. So, in the course of flirting with triple digits, who do you think we caught up with again? Yep! The white X5!

We waved as we passed as did the two kids and the parents. It was on the balance of creepy and cool. But, they lost their escort when my smallest one needed again to process some tea. We pulled away and waved.

But, this did give us a chance to see a rainbow. There's something nice about seeing a rainbow with a child. Even though they 'get' what is going on, it's a magical thing that makes even their own call of nature seem less urgent.

By now, we'd shared cell phone numbers and were in touch without the delay of social media and an 11 year old child. We missed the Sandia Tramway, but we did get settled into the downtown hotel and back out for dinner.

We sat with the family- our new friends- for two hours while we caught up on their road trip. They'd dropped $2k on their X5 before the trip and it hadn't seen soap since they sent the dogs to the Extended Stay Doggie-tel. Of course, they had a window regulator fail on the trip and their tail lights were throwing errors. I laughed and told them these were very common items on X5's and a lot of other Bimmers, too.

They were considering strongly selling the car upon their return home. I did the best to defend the E53's honor. I pointed them here.

We'll see what they end up doing, but I hope they don't let it go. I suppose I am cursed with the emotion of a car that carries me across the country a few times. Some people aren't. And that's OK. You don't have to be car people to be GOOD people.. But it does seem that most GOOD people are car people.

We parted ways and thought we'd probably never see them again. But it's a road trip. Strange things, we were learning... Strange things happen!

[PropellerHead]

Day 3 was to be our last one as a pair. Our third (and my better 1/2) would arrive the next day. We had some ground to cover in order to be in Phoenix and see the things we hoped to see.

Along the way, I saw a sign and thought this would be a new concept for my daughter- The Continental Divide. We'd crossed it last year, but we didn't take the time to stop and let her take it in. This time, we even shopped in the kitchy little gift store.

But she was hungry soon enough and we secured a trip companion much better than last year's dead bird whom she named 'Bob.'

Our first National Park of the trip evened out last year's expense of the annual pass. It was going to great, but we didn't know how much fun it would be.

The vast expanse of The Painted Desert was just enough to take away your breath. She was awestruck. It was at least my third time here, and I loved it just the same as the first time.

These are called the 'TeePee's' for reasons that should be obvious. She'd never seen anything like it.

The National Park features the largest collection of petrified wood in the world. The size of the trees that were around this area when it was a tropical rain forest is just amazing. For a child, considering that a desert used to be a rain forest was just as impressive.

That's a huge hunk of it in front of the X5.

The long road out of the park to Holbrook, AZ looks more lonely than it was. But it wasn't difficult to stretch the 4.8's legs a little. My daughter took a nap.

By the time we made it to our second Cars-inspired stop, she was out like a light. She awoke with the interest to see inside one of the WigWams. They don't do tours.

The place is set up like a lot of Rt66 icons to show what it might have been like in days passed. It was a fun stop once she awoke and we toured the very small 'museum' inside the lobby.

Remember I mentioned that road trips bring strange things? Well who should we meet again at the WigWam Hotel? Yep! Our friends in the white X5!

From Holbrook to Winslow is a short jaunt. My daughter was looking out the window as we sought out the 'park' that was our destination. She said, "Daddy? This looks like a dump!"

Stick with that instinct, honey. You'll need it when you're trying to figure out boys.

But we got our shot and were on our way to the first-biggest destination of the day...

The last time I was at the Meteor Crater, I found it a hokey destination worthy of about 20 minutes. And it was (rightly) free. Now, they have a Subway and they charge $30 for an adult and child. Still, I wanted her to see it, and she loved it. It would have been a bargain at twice the price. We did not eat at the Subway.

As we were leaving, the wind which is already very strong at the Crater started to pic up. Sporadic rain drops that were big enough to 'THUD' on the windscreen put us on the way to Phoenix. One thing about the desert is that you are rarely surprised about what's headed your way.

And, now a full 1/2 day later, who do you think we ran into while in a 45 minute traffic standstill? Yep! Our friends in the white X5!

We shared a good laugh and best wishes for our trips home. We would not see them again.

A short hop skip and jump from Flagstaff, AZ is Phoenix. Specifically Old Town Scottsdale was our destination. We met with some old friends who'd seen my daughter only in pictures. We did some math and figured out we'd known each other for twenty years. In fact, her daughter was the age of mine when we became friends through work. She's married and my once wild friend and drinking buddy is looking forward to becoming a grandmother.

And just because it was hilarious to both of us, I had to take this pic. Yep. That's 100 degrees at 8PM. LOL We love it in Phoenix and want to live here desperately. One day.

Our hotel in Scottsdale Old Town brought a couple rooms and a place to call 'home' for more than 8 hours. It was a welcome break and one that brought with it the chance to be reunited as a family the next morning. Neither one of us could wait.

[motordavid]

Road Trip Junkie, here...
OutfookinStanding pics and commentary, PH!
Keep it under a hundred and between the fences...