Hello from Iowa,

Hi everyone,
We are in Des Moines, IA now, heading out to Illinois tomorrow. Since our last note to you (below) we have been to the Holy Family Shrine that we accidentally came upon in Gretna, NE – then we went on to Fremont, NE for lunch with the Vignery’s. Thanks to Joe & Luci we had breakfast this a.m. at McDonalds and thanks to Ann we had lunch at Applebee’s in Fremont.

Then we headed out to Des Moines. There we had Miriam’s crown fixed, the RV serviced, then to Winterset IA to John Wayne’s birthplace and museum, covered bridges in Madison County and ended the day at the fabulous 801 Chop House in Des Moines. The next day went to the Chiropractor for treatment and relief (wow, it really helped - see pix below) then off to Mason IA, the homestead of the Music Man and then to the old ballroom where the Big Bopper, etc. held their last concert in 1959.

You can see the highlighted pictures here but these are just a few. If you know me, by now I have already shot a couple of hundred pictures.

Happy Trails to You and Yours,

Miriam - Mimi, got her crown fixed yesterday (August 3rd) and today was my turn to get my backside tweaked at Yost Family Chiropractic. Thank you Jackie for the idea and Stephanie for setting up the contact for the fixed. WOW, I feel much better. Thanks to Drs. Heather & Sarah, and Katie and Ashley for the welcome, treatments, and encouragement.

Then on to the sites below for the day: Visiting the Music Man's - Meredith Willson's Museum in Mason City, Iowa and the Surf Ballroom - the last venue in 1959 for Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper, in Clear Lake, IA.

Today we are at the furtherest East we will travel before beginning the trip home. In celebration we attended the annual Porzel Family Reunion (Miriam is a shirttail relative cousin). The video has pictures of our gracious hostess and host - and the best shot of eleven takes of trying to get everyone together! We're willing to send on the others if you wish to tweak them. Just let us know.

After the reunion we attend the Vigil Mass at St. Michael's in Sharonville, Ohio. A beautiful church and a great Crucifix over the Altar. Below is a picture. (Afterwards we met and had a short visit with parishioners Ed & Sue and we encourage them to go for it and get an RV and travel before you get too old like us!)

Hello from UH - OH Day!!

Well you are probably wondering where is Uh, Oh Day. Well that is a day that you mess up and your plans change.

We checked out of the Hilton Garden Inn this a.m., where we had been staying for the Porzel’s family reunion and headed out to Chicago to spend the night at Rosemarie’s house. After traveling just under a 200 miles we stopped at a rest stop and realized that my laptop was in the RV but not Miriam’s/Mimi’s laptop. We called the hotel in Cincinnati and low and behold they had the laptop in their office waiting for us.

The short story is we headed back, met the housekeeper Julia who found and turned in our laptop (and who we graciously rewarded) and we are spending another night here.
p.s.: in spite of it all, we (Papa & Mimi) are still in love and married!!!

Today we checked out of the Hilton Garden Inn (hmm, seems like we have done this before) and then set out for Rosemarie's home (the highways along the way were deja vu too - see notes from Uh, Oh Day).

Spent most the afternoon with Rose doing Family Tree stuff and sharing memories, then off to dinner at "The View Restaurant (in Justice/Bridgeview area with an American comfort food menu).

After dinner we headed out on the historic Route 66 to Joliet to spend the night. Back is getting better and Miriam still has her crown intact!!. P.S.: the actual start for Route 66 is at Jackson Blvd. & Lakeshore Dr., Chicago, Illinois.

Today we headed south, traversing Route 66 as it paralleled SR 55 and SR 53. We were as faithful as we could be to the old Hwy 66 in hitting/visiting many of the sites for the history of this highway, like the Gemini Giant guy at the Launching Pad diner/ice cream bar in Wilmington.

Also visited an old reconstructed Texaco Gas Station in Dwight, Ill. Reminds me of the old days in the 1950's working at Gramps gas station in Gardena, Calif. I even remember the price of gas and how much my hourly wage was. The gracious volunteers volunteers there that make the Route 66 such a joy in Dwight, Ill were very helpful, even directing to check out the women's prison in town.

Then on to Pontiac, Ill where we visited the museum and at the Old Log Cabin Restaurant in Pontiac.

After spending last night at a beautiful but limited campground in Rochester, outside of Springfield, Ill, we left Hwy 66 and went to the Lincoln Tomb (thank you Rosemarie for the idea). What a grand monument - took a lot of pictures. [Did have a minor problem with the handle on the TV antenna in the RV. Probably stripped and will take care of when we get back home.]

As many know the Route 66 Highway often parallels the Interstate and U.S. Routes. As we headed towards St. Louis, Mo we came across this historic Hwy 66 attraction. A shrine dedicated to Our Lady of the Highways, near the town of Waggoner and on the old Martens' family farm.

As we passed through St. Louis, of course we just had to take pictures (there were several) of the St. Louis Archway.

As we were looking in our GPS for a Rest Stop to take a late lunch we found one in the town of St. Clair. We just had to stop there in honor of our sister-in-law Claire. Thanks again Claire.

On the way to Phillipsburg (outside of Lebanon) where we are to spend tonight, we came across the town of Rollo, Mo. where the origin gal Pegasus sign went up on Hwy 66, as the official Mobilgas Icon. Just had to stop and take pictures in memory of gramps. Remember, we started his memory with the Texaco gas station in Dwight, Ill. Boy, what memories.

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Another learning experience today was how to distinguish between Interstate Hwy signs and U.S. Route Signs.

Today we followed as best we could Route 66, but there were construction upgrades along the way where we would have to get back on the I44. However, there was a section where we could cut across Kansas (history says Kansas pushed hard to get part of 66 to come their way), and here we are entering.

Upon entering the community of Riverton, Kansas we came across the historic Eisler Bro's. Market. They still make great (and cheap) sandwiches. A nice lunch break.

Continuing on we entered Baxter Springs, where the Civil War Quantrill gang (defined as a gang since the Confederate Army later condemned them) massacred many Union troops.

Can you believe it? As we continue on the I44 in Oklahoma, we came across what used to be the largest McDonald's, that bridges over the interstate highway.

Ahh, arriving in Sand Springs, Oklahoma, we are staying in a Best Western here. It is at the corner of Lake Dr. and Charles Page Blvd. In the late 1940s my grandfather, Charles Henry Page, told me of his Uncle Charles Page in Sand Springs, Oklahoma, and the great things he did for the community there (my Great, Great Uncle). We will be visiting the high school, etc. places honoring him. He was an industrialist and oil fields producer in the very early 1900s, who built hospitals and communities for his "roustabout" workers and their families, and the widows and children in need.

Our first stop was at Charles Page High School where staff there really were helpful in filling us on what books were available to get some more history, as well as to graciously allow us to shoot several photos, more than here, which will eventually be in our family DVD of this trip. Thank you staff at Charles Page H.S.

We went on to the Sand Springs Children's Home, established by Charles Page. Unfortunately we were early and the office was not open. But we met some special people who are responsible for making sure the place looks good. Here are Rob, Lara and companion Henry. They (Rob & Lara, not Henry) gave us some good leads on informational resources. Thank you.

After leaving Sand Springs, we headed out to Shawnee, Oklahoma to pick up of some of grandson's Spencer things from his friends there at St. Gregory's University. So along the way we stopped in Prague, OK to visit the National Shrine to the Infant of Prague and attend the noon Mass. Here is a picture of the statuary outside.

We spent the night at the Elk City/Clinton KOA in Oklahoma.

Making our way into Texas!! we stopped at the little town of Adrian, Texas is the halfway point on Route 66 between the beginning in Chicago and ending in Los Angeles.

We ate lunch at the MidPoint Cafe in Adrian, highly recommended by friends Al & Mary Ann. Had root beer ice cream floats and the sandwiches were too big to finish!

Our literature for Route 66 says that this road in New Mexico is unpredictable and in need of repair, which they are doing but we decided to stay on the I40 which parallels the 66 and you can see it right next to you.

Weather is now in the low 100s but best of all is that the humidity has greatly diminished. We are spending the night at a KOA in Tucumcari, NM.

Tucumcari Mountain could be seen from our campsite at the KOA there. Pretty view in the a.m. But bad news today also. Found that we had a tear in the sewage hose from the RV - patched with duct tape, then headed out. Will see about fixing when we get to Albuquerque.

St. Anne's Parish in Tucumcari was where we went to Sunday Mass. A very personable and friendly people to travelers who visit their area. Then some picture taking. We just had to take a picture of the famous Blue Swallow Motel in town, which has been operational on Route 66 since the early 1940's.

We got off the highway and headed to Santa Fe to visit with old friends Frances Fernandes and husband Gordon Sumner. They graciously took us to brunch at the famous "Bishop's Lodge" originally established by the local Bishop in the late 1800's and now operated as a hotel, casitas, and year round resort by a commercial enterprise. Thank you Frances & Gordon.

After arriving in Albuquerque this evening we were able to get together for a short visit with our dear Chelsea & Marc. Plans are for breakfast in the a.m., then to the RoadTrek for service, and then off, hopefully to Holbrook, AZ.

On Monday morning, before getting our RV repaired, we met Chelsea and Marc for breakfast at the historical Owl Cafe on Route 66 in Albuquerque. WOW what great food but much better company!! Boy you just can't beat a triple egg chili verde omelet.

Like noted earlier, a couple of days ago we found a split in our sewage discharge hose for dumping the holding tanks. Ugh, sorry to bring this up. Anyway we stopped at Vantastic Vans in Albuquerque and thankfully Joe (the boss) and Victor (the tech) fixed the hose so that we can continue camping. Thank you Joe and Victor.

Then on to Holbrook, Arizona. We checked into the old Wigwam #6 (there are several in the U.S.), in Holbrook, AZ. We are teepee #2 and parked out front, lo and behold, "Towmater" the tow truck from the movie Cars, was parked out front.

The view as we entered our teepee. Haven't been here since about 1951. The rooms are typical 1950's. No phone, no WiFi, no coffee pot, no coffee, no hair dryer, no Kleenex tissue, but with a tiny bathroom and even smaller shower. They do have a window air conditioner, but in the old days there was no such thing, but if you were lucky you might get a window or ceiling swamp cooler. Almost just like the old days, except we do have cable TV. Boy, what memories!!

Grand Canyon National Park:
Arrived at campsite in the Grand Canyon National Park on Tuesday. No wifi at site but there is here at the Yavapai Lodge where we are eating a late lunch. Our campsite was in another beautiful location.

We arranged for the Desert View Morning Tour and we were glad we did. The rains from the seasonal Arizona Monsoons came in this afternoon but not in the a.m. when we hit the sites. Here is the Watchtower on the West Rim of the Grand Canyon. We had a great tour guide, Frank Schaefer. Thanks Frank you made our trip enjoyable and provided a lot of historical and geological information that we never knew.

We had a great 2 days at the Grand Canyon (we will probably go again - but next time try out the Harvey Train from Williams, Az). Today we began our trip back on the US 66 and hitting the small towns that are being rediscovered after being forgotten with the I40 Hwy.

We stopped at the Flinstones' Park in Valley, AZ., to take a picture of us with Fred! The last time we were here was in July 1981 and we sat on the same Flinstones wooden log car with all of the 7 Pages. Sure missed the Page kids as we tried to ride this again!

On the way we went by the old Rod's Steakhouse in Williams, then on to Ash Fork - which has quite a history in itself. Then on to Seligman where we stopped at the Snow Cap Diner and had some old fashion malts - Mimi with Chocolate and Papa with Peanut Butter - Yummmm!

We then continued on through Peach Springs, through the Hualapai Indian Reservation, and on to Hackberry - which mainly is just a General Store nowadays. There's a pix of the store in the video (as well as others noted above). Then we continued on to Kingman to the KOA to camp out for the night.

Here we are - Left July 27th and today - August 21st we arrive at the end of the US 66 Highway!!

US 66 ends at Santa Monica Pier. What a great and beautiful day and way to end the 66 experience. What a great trip and birthday lunch. Thank You Dianne!!!

What even made our lunch all the more enjoyable was our GREAT server Shannan. We were at Bubba Gumps and Shannan taught us how to operate the Run Forest Run and Stop Forest Stop instructions. But best of all, she encouraged some old folks to dance the Twist, in order to earn our Birthday Dessert. Thank you Shannon.

And a special thank you to Dianne - our dear friend, family member, and hostess this day. Unfortunately, Papa/Chuck trimmed her parkway tree with our RV. At least it was a clean cut!! (See the video above or we can send you a DVD!)

On Sunday a.m. we got together with Claire, Steve, Matthew and Michele Page, after church for a great brunch at the Chili Pepper in Orange, CA. Boy you just can't beat a triple egg Chili Verde Omelet.

Later this same day we were out to dinner with the Erwins - Ann & Glenn, and came home stuffed from Ruby's Cantonese Restaurant.