Adventures on the Road

On to agenda Item #2 – Adventures on the Road….but first I will digress just a little (warning: always be prepared for digressing when reading this blog)

One of the things that we really enjoy about northern Arizona is the cooler temps as compared to the Phoenix area. It can be in the 30’s in the morning, as it has been this week, but by noon it is in the 50’s or 60’s and the sun is so warm it is back to summer type clothes. But while we are here in the winter, it is never in the 90’s or 100’s but many of the days in the 70’s and 80’s, which is just perfect to me! Another thing that we enjoy is the view right from our house. I took two pictures this morning while walking Max — both from our driveway — the first is Mingus Mountain and the other is the city of Jerome — just so great to see the snow on the mountains!!

Now for some adventures on the road to Milwaukee, then MN, then back to AZ — we always seem to enjoy some little laughs along the way!!

GPS

Some may think that our first “adventure” was a bad omen to start out trip. We stopped at a nearby gas station in Cottonwood to get gas and road trip munchies….not dill pickle chips yet!! As we drove out of the gas station the GPS screen in the truck went black. Now let me explain…we traded in our Camero last summer for a 2019 Ram 1500 with the large 12 inch screen to display the GPS, radio, climate controls, etc. You can even set it up so half has one type of screen and the other half has something else. So you can imagine that there is something on the screen at all times….but most important is the GPS. But let’s talk GPS….you need to understand how important the GPS is to the person that is usually the driver in the truck!! (hint: David) We use the GPS to drive from the grocery store to our house — only a couple of miles and we have driven it a number of times…really slim chance of getting lost…and both grocery store and house are really on the same road…89A! All of our kids houses (that we have driven to a number of times) are listed in the Favorites of the GPS and we ALWAYS use the GPS to get there and back home. (Just in case we would get lost on 169…LOL) Now David’s sense of direction is kind of lacking….but you can see how this GPS is the king in the truck!!! Oh, another example of GPS kingdom…last year when we were pulling the camper, we had the GPS that was built in the truck and a secondary GPS (that was truck specific, so would warn of low bridges, etc.) suction cupped on the top of the dash. We could not leave for the next destination until the address was entered in to each GPS. It was so much fun to hear directions almost in stereo along the road “prepare for your exit in 2 miles” and then another commanding voice on the other GPS saying “prepare for your exit in 1.5 miles”!! At least they did not usually try to talk at the same time!!

But now you can understand the magnitude of importance this GPS in our new truck plays in our traveling life. Now needless to say, the path to Milwaukee is pretty simple at least for the first 961 miles — take I-17 to I-40 in Flagstaff about 800 miles to Oklahoma City then decide if you want to go through Chicago or not. So you would think that the need for panic was at a minimum….but remember how I described this GPS freak that I am married to! LOL So we pulled out of the gas station, the GPS went blank and panic set it. Unfortunately in these new Ram trucks there is an issue where the GPS goes blank so we do know the little tricks that sometimes bring it back. We immediately pulled over…mind you we are 2 minutes from home! We tried both tricks with no luck. I quietly suggested well we know the way from here! You would think a blindfold had been pulled over the driver’s eyes because “knowing the way” would not do it at all!!! So I plugged in my phone and we got Apple CarPlay which provided access to Google Maps and we were thankfully on our way with no chance of getting lost on the road we have traveled a number of times to the I-17 freeway!! Mysteriously at one of our next pit stops, the GPS started again without any more issues along the trip there or back!! Although “we” did call the car dealer back in Minnesota to complain about this on going once in a while issue.

FOBS

I am sure most of you have those keyless fobs that you use now to start and get in to your vehicles. Really great because they can be in your pocket or in your purse and not have to pull them out to start the car….that is until you have an issue!! We stopped to get gas and I took Max for a walk, but it was kind of strange that my keyfob would not lock the door. I kind of dismissed it, used the key lock in the door and went inside. Now let me preface this story with this observation (to prove I think we must have been in Roswell or something). There was a guy beside his car, and the car alarm would keep going off — he was sitting on the curb. So he would pull out his key and stop the alarm. That happened at least 5 times and he had such a puzzled look on his face why the alarm kept going off. It was kind of strange! So we get back in the truck, David goes to start the truck and the message comes up “the key fob must be near by”. His key fob was in his pocket, mine in my purse on the floor. He tried about 4 times, with the same warning message. Now we are sitting at the gas pumps not having any idea what to do next. We do have the driver assist panic available and that was our next option thinking where in the heck would be the nearest Dodge dealer. David decided to pull out the key fob and tried to start it again with the keyfob in the same hand as the button to push start and it worked!! So crazy!! I did google and later read that can be an issue and people have found if they hold the keyfob up to the push button that it will start as expected and it recognized the keyfob. Now you know if it ever happens to you!! This never happened again on our trip….weird things seem to happen to us that we can laugh about later. I still think there was some type of vortex hovering over us in that gas station with our keyfobs acting up and that other guys car alarm going off and on.

Hotels

We can encounter our share of interesting hotels on the road. And since we need to have a dog friendly place it can sometimes be a challenge to find one especially in a small city. La Quintas are our usual preference and they, on the most part, are fairly nice — there will be one here and there that is not the best. But we found a Days Inn that was pet friendly so we stopped there mostly out of desperation not to have to drive any longer. Let me just say it was “interesting” and the elevator was beyond interesting. In fact, I was not surprised that I could not find the normal elevator inspection certificate in this elevator!! This would not be one that Caley or Jenny would be willing to ride in. I mostly took the stairs to take Max out, but sometimes had no option other than the elevation.

But that is not the strangest thing about this stop. Next door to the hotel was an IHOP. And the road in front of the hotel was the frontage road of the freeway. In both Texas and Oklahoma, the frontage roads are one ways, with the one direction on the one side of the freeway and the other direction on the other side of the freeway. So this frontage road was 3 lanes of fast moving traffic. Max and I were walking and I noticed a truck with 4 way flashers stopped between the IHOP and the hotel, blocking rush hour traffic and making other cars go around them. I was thinking that is a dumb thing to do. Then I heard an ambulance with the sirens and flashing lights and it came off the freeway and slowed down next to the 4 way flashing truck. I thought on no someone must be having a heart attack in that truck!!! So the ambulance slowed down next to the truck and I was prepared to witness a scene right out of Emergency where Johnny Gage and Roy DeSoto jump out of the truck ready to administer D5W to the sick person in the truck (sorry for the reference for those of you too young to know the show Emergency) Instead, a long arm reached out of the truck and passed a cup of coffee to the long arm out the passenger side of the ambulance!! WHAT??!! After getting the coffee, the ambulance left, still with lights and sirens going and got back on the freeway! And then the truck pulled away!! Things that make you go….hmmmmm!!

That is probably enough road adventures for today….agenda item #2b will include more road adventures: police chase, Kansas turnpike, snow back in AZ for a few tidbits! Not many pictures here but some good memories that I like to store away because you know as we get older that storage space gets more precious so I may need to remember by reading my blog! LOL

TIFN

Time for a couple of grandchildren pictures!

Friday we often do family selfies…Jenny and her girls are more regular participants than most of us….and Erin always has to make some type of face in the picture!