techimoto mama finds her RV feet
By DesignGoddess on May 17, 2008 in Travel Blog
May 17 Thoughts
We’ve been on the road one week and I am finally finding my groove…still read the LA Times online but I’m not addicted ( I swear) Not much in there except more killings in South Central and blame blame blame on the political scene. We will have a moment of silence for the passing of Robert Mondovi and another Robert, Robert Rauschenberg. Both artists in their respective fields, Mondavi in wine and Rauschenberg known for brilliant and innovative collage type works that mixed painting,sculpture and cast offs from American and European societies. Google him or check out latimes.com/ news/obituaries.
Techimoto Mama: Ipods “On the Road”
By DesignGoddess on May 17, 2008 in Travel Blog
Prior to this trip, Max told me I would never fill up the 4 GB of space on the iPod with my music. He had no idea how eclectic and massive my collection was. So when I reached 881 songs the iPod loading system (I’m not sure that’s what it’s called) asked if it could delete some songs and randomly place the rest in a playing order determined by Apple or Steve Jobs or some computer magic. Read the rest of this entry »
Techimoto’s Mama Speaks Out on Mothers Day
By DesignGoddess on May 17, 2008 in Travel Blog
So here it is, the Head Geek (HG) of Techimoto, Max Wilson, has a technologically challenged mother. HG’s mama, aka DesignGoddess, has decided to come out of the shadows and blog about her experiences on the road with two techies. So here comes the random musings from the female perspective…
Route 66:Day 7 – Too Brief in the Lone Star State
By JamesW on May 17, 2008 in Travel Blog
I never thought I’d say this, but our time in Texas was very pleasant. I liked Amarillo, it had a nice “rhythm” to it, and everyone we came into contact with were great. Even with our “day off”, we still didn’t get on the road until late morning. Just goes to show you the subconscious pull of the place.
Route 66: Day 6 – Like an Armadillo in Amarillo
By JamesW on May 16, 2008 in Travel Blog
Armadillo: any of a family (Dasypodidae) of burrowing edentate mammals with an armorlike covering of bony plates, ranging from the S U.S. to Argentina: they are mostly nocturnal, and a few species roll up into a ball when attacked.
Instead of bony plates, we have metal and fiberglass. Instead of rolling up into a ball, we are rolled up in our bunks. In otherwords, on day 6 we did a whole lot of nothing. Our comfortable campsite resulted in a 3 to 0 vote to stay put for a day, without 1 revolution of a wheel. So, after making a number of minor repairs on the RV, and a stint in the exercise room, we visited the “Cadillac Ranch” amidst light rain and an El Greco like cloudy sky. See pictures in the Image Gallery.
We also had a TV hookup. I don’t have a dish, so occasional TV becomes a pleasure. The only problem is that the only cable news channel they get in Amarillo is “Fox News”. The people from Texas, as many may have noticed, are a little different – especially their politicians. Could it be the result of a steady diet of Fox News and Bill O’Reilly (the almost daily recipient of Keith Oberman’s “Worst Persons of the Day” award) ? That would explain a few things!
Route 66: Video – Gallup, NM Timelapse
By MaxW on May 15, 2008 in Travel Blog
This was filmed just outside of Gallup, NM with a Nikon D300 set to 10 second interval. It was high on the dash on our camera mount.
Route 66: Day 5 – On a Rainy Day, You Can’t See Very Far
By JamesW on May 14, 2008 in Travel Blog
When exiting the Santa Rosa area, you drive through the town of Santa Rosa itself. The feel of the town is old, somewhat run down, but hanging in there! We drove past a few Mexican restaurants that look like they have been there forever, and I bet put out a terrific Huevos rancheros breakfast! I love towns like this, and wonder what it would be like to reside there.
Route 66: Day 4 – On a Clear Day, You can See Forever
By JamesW on May 14, 2008 in Travel Blog
We left the KOA relatively early, before the management sent out the doggie violation detective (just kidding of course – we always bag our doggie’s dodo having ourselves been well trained in a big city environment). Having been away from a big city for all of 3 days we decided to get our city fix in Albuquerque by stopping at their local CostCo to fill a few prescriptions, and buy a few food items (eggs were still $!.29 a dozen! Remember those days!). I love the big parking lots. Also, right next door, a Home Depot. I went into replenish my supply of velcro (I love the stuff. I don’t know how any RVer exists without it). From there we kept the journey short (still tired from our escape from LA I think), and make it to a nice New Mexico State Park in Santa Rosa. The park is about 9 miles off the 40 interstate, but it seems you are in the middle of nowhere. It was very quiet, uncrowded, and a bargain for $14/night (electric only). In the middle of the night, we were bombarded by hail stones, then a downpour of rain until dawn. We slept in kinda late again (lingering LA fatique?), and headed out for the grand state of Texas mid-morning.
Route 66: Day 3 – Flagstaff to Gallup, NM
By JamesW on May 14, 2008 in Travel Blog
Nothing eventful here, except for the near heart attack when racking up a $179 gas bill at a gas pump in flagstaff, AZ (see below). Still, it beat the $4.50 a gallon in Needles, CA. For some reason, we were all exhausted, so kept the travel time short, watched a video, and called it a night. We stayed at the town’s KOA, which is usually a no-no to me. Those campgrounds can be expensive, and usually pretty “vanilla” if you know what I mean. In other words, it’s a place to stop if you’re tired, and you want to know exactly what you are getting into (albeit clean, safe, convenient, etc.) I.e., no surprises.
Route 66: Day 2 – Needles,CA to Flagstaff, AZ
By JamesW on May 14, 2008 in Travel Blog
The RV Park in Needles was a welcome respite after blowing a spark plug on a busy freeway. LA did not want us to go, and ran some of its best defensive block plays in it’s playbook, until we were almost at route 15. We finally escaped her gravitational pull, and had relatively clear sailing, arriving in Needles about 9pm. We were exhaused, so had a quick bite to eat then to sleep. In the morning, we found we were within a few yards of the RV Park’s pool, so took a refreshing dip. We then packed up the Beastie, and hit the road.