ALABAMA 3

We are in Phoenix. Had a real nice dinner with Jeanne & Karie. Last night there was thunder & this morning there are heavy dark clouds.

On the trip over yesterday we had rain while driving through the desert. Temps most of the day in the 90's. Phoenix went over 100. After the car was parked for 30 minutes it read 111. It was reading 107 before we parked.

On the way again this morning.

Alabama 2

Great trip south. We were on the road at 0630. Just after getting on I-80 my wife tells me that the MP3 player is still at the house. So 15 minutes later we were on the road again. This time with a stop at Starbucks for a vanilla latte. We decided to come down SR 99 & have breakfast at Apple Annie's in Tulare. We pulled off of the freeway at about 1015. Had a good breakfast, fueled the car & were back on the road at about 1115. We arrived at the Yniquez home at about 1430. We had a very smooth trip, some traffic on I-210. Considering we were in the greater LA area, the traffic wasn't bad. Today we are all going to church with my sister Susan & family.

Alabama

The car is ready to pack. The tank is full. Early tomorrow we will depart, Lord willing. One long trip made up of many shorter trips. First stop is La Puente to see kids, grandkids & a son-in-law. We need to start early to beat the valley heat. A heat wave is here.

Well, the car has been bought, now we need to pay for it. We bought a used (18,750 miles) Nissan Quest. It is white & super clean. A light grey cloth interior, power doors on both sides & the rear gate. Betty has a very hard time reaching the door handles & pulling them is worse. So that power gate was very important. What we didn't get was automatic heat/air, dual control heat/air. What we saved over new with those features was about 10-12 thousand dollars. We can live nicely without them.
We went for a drive Saturday, a little over 200 miles, it rides very well.
For pictures check Betty's blog at http://anewdaywithbetty.blogspot.com/2009/03/2008-nissan-quest-s-minivan.html

We've been looking at new cars. Mini-vans, actually. What a tiring endeavor. I think it's down to a Nissan Quest. Although, I'd like to drive a Honda Odssey. We did look at some used ones, they had too many miles. Hertz does have a couple used Sienna's I'd like to look at. Then, again, maybe just fix the old Ford & go another 100,000 miles.

Anniversary Travels #1

Well, it's time to hit the road again. We're heading to Pacific Grove for the weekend in celebration of our 28th anniversary. Weather is looking like we'll have some rain. It's raining here too so we might as well go & have fun. More later.

The Trip South

About 0530, August 29 we were on the road south. We had a very nice, uneventful trip down I-5 to La Puente. Checking the mileage after we got home, this part, before the the 'Ridge', was our best mileage. Cruise was set at 65 & the road is basically flat with a few rolling hills. Our average for the entire trip was just under 27 mpg. I think this is very good for a Taurus wagon with 95,000 miles. Our worst was the trip to San Diego. When traffic allowed, the cruise was on at 65 on the freeways. We stopped at the Apricot Tree Restaurant to eat. We're not stopping again. We arrived in La Puente early afternoon. Next trip down we will take I-210 again but stay on it & exit at Irwindale Ave which becomes Sunset Ave. We left this way & it was easier than all the freeway interchanges getting to Joyce's.
We had dinner with all of our SoCal girls & George at a local Japanese restaurant. Good food.
We stayed at Joyce's house in Geraldine's bed so Geraldine went to Aunt Wendi's.
Saturday, about 1020 we left for San Diego. Miserable trip in 'rush hour' traffic most of the way until we crossed the San Diego county line. Very nice service for Mary Jo & a good visit with Reuben. We had gone down I-5, we came back on I-15/I-60, a much better trip.
We left about 0930 for the trip home. We stopped at a local Chevron to fill up & got the car washed while we were there. We were on the road at 1010 with a very clean car. We arrived home at 1810. We stopped in Tulare at Apple Annie's to eat. We can stop there again. We filled up in Lodi. I could have made it home without stopping, although it would have been close & Betty was getting nervous.
A very good trip & lots of time to play with our Yniquez grand kids & visit with Joyce, George & Wendi.