Ahead of time and under budget

Public/private partnership at its best. As you will have gathered if you have been following this Blog, this project has been carefully planned and budgeted for. It has been clearly understood from the outset that an agreed limit is not to be exceeded. That has not always been the case.  In this case, Ireland’s economic woes also meant we postponed the  trip twice already due to uncertainty. This year it was GO or forget it. We met over Christmas and with goodwill all round pressed the GO button. Thanks to all who have helped make the trip possible both at home and at work. For those at home the good news (as of today) is that we are ahead of time and under budget.

This despite breaking today’s journey  and advancing on Needles, CA via Oatman AZ  in two stages rather than one long run. Today was the shortest trip by far: just about 80 miles. We have come as far as Seligman and as you will have deduced got a Motel with WiFi. We are at the Historic Route 66 Motel and the reception could not have been finer. We had phoned ahead at 09:00 to get through , but only to an answering machine.  We  left a message outlining  what we were seeking.  To our surprise when we arrived all had been set out for us and a rollaway bed installed.  Sorted.

We started gingerly this morning and had a relaxed morning in Flagstaff: another nice town.  Even managed to get the lads into Jo-Anne’s and they were fascinated with the range available. Each made purchases.  

I dunno ……

We have been struck by the change in tone since we arrived. In the early days it was wall to wall royal wedding. These last few days it has switched totally to the death of Bin Laden.

After a wander round the town, we headed West once more.  Seamus had the detailed guides – these have been available to him for years but he starts reading them now – and had Jill in a tizzy as he ‘adjusted’ her carefully plotted route. Despite her frequent cries that she was ‘recalculating’ he shouted her down and diverted the car – it just responds to instructions! He had spotted the ‘flaw’ in the planning which had avoided the unsurfaced roads. Hence the opening video sequence. We all agreed it was a worthwhile detour to see the original road. It was astonishing that there were no potholes on the ‘dirt’ road.communications. 

A sign of progress the reliance on GPS? On my first long roadtrip in 1995 I commented (in letters afterwards)  about the fascination I had with maps and the cartographers art and the hope that my children would come to appreciate them. Very few appreciate maps now I suspect. This evening at dinner we were recalling how in San Francisco in 1999 at the end of an earlier cross USA trip (coast to coast by train) we wondered how the Sony technology becoming available then would develop to enable easy communications.Now we are in almost hourly WiFi contact (thanks to Apple!). A far cry from when (also on the 1995 trip) hiring a mobile phone in Dublin Airport for a few weeks was a few hundred £. 

We dipped into the Harley Davidson Roadhouse and, would you believe it, met a group of 14 Dublin bikers on the Route. Mind you they were sampling it  - having started and intending to return to Las Vegas. Sorry, Sinead no pink Sam Brownes here but if you take up motorbiking they have everything else in pink!

Suddenly we were in Seligman, put air in the Left RR Tyre as directed by the onboard computer, and checked into the motel.

Into shorts and out in the baking sun for Seamus. Something about cream of some sort but only a suggestion, not a requirement…as with so much in his life!

Next stop was the RoadKill Café next door for dinner. That proved to be a good choice despite the name. 

Oh yes, still Tuesday here.

A demain.