Get Your Kicks on Route 66 is the classic 1946 R&B tune about motoring west from Chicago to LA, written by Bobby Troup and first recorded by Nat King Cole. Most of Route 66 has been replaced by the interstate system, although some original segments of the road remain, in varying conditions of drivability. The towns along the old route 66 are proud of their heritage and vestiges of earlier times – gas stations, motels, diners – remain alongside the interstate.
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We last visited Sedona in 2017 to see our long-time friends Malcolm and Judy, not long after they had retired and moved from New Jersey to AZ. They showed us around their new hometown and the surrounding areas, and, just as we always have, we looked forward to the next time we could get together. Then, in May 2021, Judy passed away. Her death was sudden and unexpected and very difficult for all who knew her, and we were deeply concerned for Malcolm, who’d lost his life partner of 49 years. Malcolm visited with us in VT later that summer on an east coast tour of visits with friends and countless private celebrations of Judy’s life, as he began to heal.
We were excited when we learned that Malcolm had met a wonderful woman, that they’d fallen deeply in love and were embarking together on a new chapter in their lives. Malcolm and Lita were married in May 2023, and we were eagerly awaiting our visit to meet and get to know Lita! Oh, and also Lita’s dog (now Malcolm’s step-dog) Cali.
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That unanticipated schedule change that resulted in our visit to Palo Duro Canyon SP on our way to the blues jam in Albuquerque also changed our route. Getting to the park in TX took us straight across OK, instead of heading north to Colorado as we’d planned. Now, my jamming partner Gary and I had been exchanging emails and we had a few phone conversations to decide on a list of songs to do at the jam, but we’d never met and we’d never played together. Well, Gary lives in Weatherford OK and it turned out that we’d be driving through there on I-40, so I asked him if we might stop by (for a few hours at least) so we could run through the songs we’d talked about. He said sure, and his wife Gayle suggested we stay for dinner to have more time to play. I asked if there was room to park the motorhome, which there was, and it was a done deal.
Continue reading “BGU/ABQ, The Prequel: Weatherford, OK”
The subject of this post is the seminal event around which our whole trip was planned. I’ve been an active member of Griff Hamlin’s Blues Guitar Unleashed for a baker’s dozen of years, and much or most of what I can now do with a guitar is a result of that. Our blog has a bunch of posts about visits with friends from the BGU forum and we’ve previously documented a couple of these Blues Guitar Unleashed student blues jams (here and here). A year ago, BGUer Larry H. announced his intention to host a jam in his hometown of Albuquerque the following fall (i.e., now). I was interested. Sue and I agreed that a fall-to-early-winter tour of the southwest would satisfy several of our needs, so I upgraded my response to officially ‘very interested’ and when the ‘who’s coming?’ poll opened I was the first one in.
Continue reading “BGU/ABQ: Jamming in Albuquerque”
Our change in plans afforded us 4 more days in which to choose a new adventure en route to Albuquerque. We spent three of them in Palo Duro Canyon State Park and loved every minute.
Palo Duro Canyon is the 2nd largest canyon system in the US, after (what else?) the Grand Canyon. Really? In the Texas Panhandle? Yup! It’s 40 miles long, averages 6 miles wide and drops 600 feet from the rim to the canyon floor.* The Prairie Dog Town Fork of the Red River cut the canyon over millions of year leaving behind caves, hoodoos and colorful rock and sandstone formations. Unlike the Grand Canyon, most of the action at Palo Duro takes place on the canyon floor.
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Our plan was to head northwest from Tulsa to meet our friends and fellow travelers Mark and Linda who were going to be in southern Colorado. Unfortunately, their motorhome had a mechanical problem which forced them to skip their rendezvous with us in favor of a visit to the Sprinter dealer, way up in Denver. Though we were sorry to miss our friends, a consolation prize for us was that, if we weren’t heading to Colorado, we could slow down on our push to Albuquerque. We started by extending our stay in Tulsa to take care of a couple of necessities (like laundry) and see a little more of the city. The Arts District we talked about in the previous post is adjacent to, and partly within, the Greenwood section, which was once known as Black Wall Street. Over the past few years, along with many others, we learned for the first time of the history of that area – in particular, of the horrific events that took place there a little more than a century ago, hidden and suppressed for most of the ensuing years. To learn more, we visited the Greenwood Rising History Center.
Continue reading “Tulsa, part 2 – a difficult history”
We had a couple of free days between St Louis and our next destination in Colorado. We were trying to decide between a couple rest days – just hang, read, play piano/guitar – or swing through Tulsa, OK to visit the Bob Dylan Center we’d read about. When Suzy told us that the Woodie Guthrie Center is adjacent to the BDC and those rest days evaporated!
Continue reading “Tulsa, part 1 – music appreciation”
When we get close to St Louis, we feel a magnetic pull to our regular RV parking spot where we’ve visited a few times with my father’s brother Jerry and his wife Suzy. Much closer to my age than to my parents, these were my cool and fun aunt and uncle who lived away from the family homestead in New England (though they visited often). They hold the distinction of being the first of my extra large family that Doug ever met, back in 1984.
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One of the reasons for this fall trip is that another Blues Guitar Unleashed member jam will be in Albuquerque, NM, early in October. Now, the shortest, most direct route between our home and Albuquerque goes through Cincinnati, OH. Regular readers are aware of our reluctance to take the shortest, most direct route to anywhere. Well, sometimes we make exceptions to that rule and we did for Cincinnati, because that’s where my piano-playing buddy Honghong lives!
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In the years past, we’ve traveled during the warmer seasons and wintered back home in VT. This year, following 2 short-ish trips to Maine and Toronto, we spent the rest of the summer at home, and we’re heading out now on a fall trip to the Southwest. This is definitely a part of the country we can’t visit in the summer as we’re heat wimps. Also for the first time, the trip is open-ended. We’re not sure when we’re coming back – presumably, we’ll know when it’s time.
Of course, what’s not changing is seeking out adventure, friends, and music along the way. But first, we needed to get a few things in order…
Continue reading “Home! And on the road again…”