Shell Shocked

Unexpected things always come up when you are on the road, they can range anywhere from a broken shock that isn’t, a good deal on a motel room, to a long drive off the highway expecting to see something that is not there once you give up driving and turn around, this trip was no different in the respect that we found a few unexpected things.

On our first day heading out to New Mexico we took a different route than we normally do, we headed out across the desert rather than down 10 through Phoenix, there were a lot of miles of nothing that was actually rather interesting, we did see a tennis shoe tree followed by one growing socks, I am not sure what this is all about but it did catch our eyes long enough for us to pause for a picture.

Tennis Shoe Tree-Amboy, CA

This stretch of highway gives you few options for pit stops but did give us a spectacular view of landscape and old buildings, one café that was obviously closed we took a break in front of, I accused Cindy of appearing to be breaking in but you know how curiosity gets to you sometimes, you just have to peek inside to get the full view.

Peeking Inside Closed Cafe

We made our way to Needles California with me fully expecting to see Spike, you know Spike that would be Snoopys Brother I sure wanted to tell him that Snoopy said Hi since I had seen Snoopy not too long ago, you all remember The Snoopy Incident don’t you? Well needless to say I didn’t see Spike but when we pulled into the gas station/ tire shop/ convenience store a man who obviously worked there walked out to greet us, he held his hand up for us to stop and pointed to a parking space saying we could park there, I pointed to another that was in the shade of the large Shell sign and said I’d rather park in the shade thinking to myself that it was about 400 degrees outside, he said that would be fine and continued to walk around the van, Cindy did her best to not run over him while she attempted to park, once she parked and we got out I found him looking underneath the back of the van:

Me: What are you doing?

Shell Guy: I heard a noise when you backed up.

Me: What kind of noise?

Shell Guy: A loud clunk.

Me: Really, I was inside the van and didn’t hear a thing.

Shell Guy: It’s your shock, look under here it’s completely collapsed.

Me: OK if it’s collapsed then why is the shock still working? (I grabbed the wheel well and lifted the van a bit to bounce it to which it stopped just as it should)

Shell Guy: See look at how it bounced you need new shocks, I can see where your spring has been hitting the axle.

Me: You know how old my shocks are?

Shell Guy: Can’t tell by looking at them so there is no telling.

Me: Just had them installed less than three thousand miles ago, they are brand new and working properly.

Shell Guy: Well they must have only put standard shocks on it when they should have put heavy duty; look at how the back is squatting under the load you are carrying.

Me: Heavy-duty shocks? It’s a mini van for God’s sake and that heavy load is my suitcase, I will give my mechanic your recommendation OK.

I think this must have insulted him because he walked away and never spoke to me again, I suppose you really cant trust a guy in shorts and flip flops with a Shell shirt as his only credentials to know everything about shocks and mini van weight limits in the middle of the desert, but I do wonder how many service jobs he sells to people who are easily spooked into thinking they just may break down before they reach the next town?

Have you ever run into any dinosaurs along the way? I mean real dinosaurs like really big ones with teeth bigger than the new shocks I just put on the van, OK enough about the shocks!! There is a stretch of the road with dinosaurs we have seen a few times in the past and we actually stopped to visit them this time but when I took out the camera they became camera shy or either Dixie barking scared them off, Yes I know they were not real but the experience of getting out and laughing for a while was.

Dinosaurs On I-40

Have you ever spotted a sign along the way that just got your interest? Well a ways out of Flagstaff on our way home we spotted a sign boasting an Arizona information center and also underneath it was a sign that read Museum, I am always interested in this sort of thing and we were needing a break so we followed the signs to the correct exit, made a right hand turn, we followed the road passing an old motel that had very few cars in the large lot despite the advertisement of twenty nine dollar rooms, driving a bit further we still saw no information center then all of a sudden there was a sign pointing our way to the right, I hit the blinker and made a right hand turn and a ways down the road I still saw no museum or information center but what looked like an RV park and a fork in the road, I almost made a u-turn right there but saw on the right fork a sign pointing ahead for the information center, I followed another that said “Straight Ahead” then another that said “Don’t Stop Now” then another that read “You Are Almost There” and there it was on the right hand side of the road a large pad locked gate with a closed sign right under another sign that read “Museum open 8AM to 4PM Monday through Friday” and it was now Wednesday at about 10AM so why would I expect them to be open?

The even funnier thing here is that we were now on the back side of the parking lot of the motel we passed when we first got off the interstate, we watched and waved at several other people who were doing the same thing we had just done, they sheepishly waved back and made their u-turns and headed back to town, I am sure this little town had a whole lot to offer but my first impression said it was time to get back on the road, we got into the van, crossed the parking lot, made a left hand turn and were back on the interstate before the others had even gotten back to the main road.

Rainbow On The Way Home

You always have to make random stops along the highway because there is always something interesting to see or learn but along the way be sure to watch out for dinosaurs and lost tennis shoes as they make for an interesting day, and also expect to get shocked at the shell once in a while or to make more right turns than you want when one left will get you out of there, take chances and enjoy the ride because there just may be a rainbow where you least expect it and all in all the side trips are really worth the adventure.