there used to be a pace picante sauce commerical that was talking about pace salsa being made in san antonio, tx & they had some that would talk bout salsa being made in NYC & they would shout new york city... get the rope. so I always say that line when I mention NYC.
Well i havent been doing a nightly blog of our travels & adventures while we are here in NYC, but im sitting at Drakeston's photoshoot and have some time, so i'll update now.
its been wild & crazy & fast. weve been here almost a week & we leave tommorrow. I booked our flight first & then hotel, wish i had known I was staying at Newark airport. We flew into Lagurdia airport. the flight was good, quick & easy, the next part not so easy. We spent 3.5 hrs on a plane nonstop from DFW to LGA, then we sat in baggage claim for an hr trying to figure out what i was gonna do. I forgot to book a car service for pick up. I found there was a shuttle between airports, we board that. We had a transfer station at Grand central, i wish we wouldve stopped & looked around, but a bus driver rushed us to board. I couldve boarded a later bus. We landed at noon. We got on bus & headed to Newark airport. i didnt know which place to get off at, so we got off at the 1st stop, which was wrong. so then we had to figure out where to go from there, we reboarded the bus & got off at the right place finally. Then we had to take a shuttle to our hotel. A plane, a bus, a shuttle, a bus & and another shuttle & 4 hrs later after getting off plane we make it to our hotel. We didnt do anything else that day. the next day I think we saw a lil bit of Central Park.
I ended up leaving my camera in Dallas in my car & My sister mailed it for us. While walking in Central park we came to a part of the park that I had seen many times before in my dreams. Ive never been to Central Park before this. I've had a dream for many yrs maybe 7-10. the dream is always gray except some green grass & green treetops a lil bit of sunshine popping through the treetops. & lots of tall buildings above the treetops. I walked right into my dream scape. We went back & later got some pics of the location.
The next day idk why but I decided to be very lazy. We stayed in the hotel all day, but I was trying to plan the next few days with the bus & subways & what should be seen. I finished reading a book I had on my phone.
& the days are starting to blur. weve done a lot of walking & a lot of bus & subway riding. Our commute from Newark to the city is any where from an hr to 2 hrs. Weve seen a lot of stuff in time square, a lil bit of Madison Square garden. We met with our manager at MMG NY our reason for our trip. Drakeston did excellant as he says. We've had a hard time getting him to talk & show his personality when we've met with agents & managers in the past. We couldnt get him to stop talking at this visit.
We got to see Newsies the musical which is what I was looking forward to the most. It was a movie that came out in the 90's. One of my favorites. I went to a dance camp every summer for many yrs & one of my dance instructors played Specs in the movie. This is the debut season of this musical & it was on broadway. I loved it. The theatre was awesome & I loved the sets & how they portrayed NYC. Drakeston didnt like it so much, he wanted to leave half way through. They did kinda change up a character or 2 but the story still went through.
We went to a famous NYC bowling alley called the bowlmor. It was pretty cool.
Wednesday, June 5, 2013
The ultimate rd trip 2013 Drive day Nashville, TN to chicago, IL
The Ultimate Road Trip 2013 drive day Nashville, TN to
Chicago, IL
June 3 2013 We got on the road about 9:15 am Today we have
driven in TN, KY, IN, and IL. While we were in TN we were confused on how long
it was going to be. We couldn’t figure out the time zones. The part where we
had been staying was central time, but other parts of the state are in eastern.
We knew that IL is central time. We knew that it should’ve been about 3 hrs to
Louisville, but it was showing arrival time of 4 hrs. We realized it was the
time changing. We went from central, to eastern, then back to Central time zone.
Dusty kept trying to get me to turn the RT 66 trip into a
baseball trip. I just laughed each time he suggested it. I did however look at
the teams that played in Chicago, St Louis, AZ, and CA on Rt 66 to see if we
could squeeze in a game. Every team was either playing the day before or the
day after we would be in that city, except for the Anaheim Angels, but to see
them we would’ve had to give up our beach day. I asked him if he wanted to do
beach or baseball. He opted for beach (the best option in my opinion.) We
realized we could go through Louisville, KY and see the Louisville slugger
museum and factory. Louisville sluggers is as much baseball as any other part
of baseball is. This was an awesome stop.
We parked on Museum row and the 1st museum we came
across was the Fritz museum of history. They had a sign up for Mythic Creatures
exhibit. Drakeston asked if we could go there instead. We said we could see
about going to both. We went inside and got general info and pricing. Eric,
Drakeston and Jen went inside the Fritz and saw the mythic creatures exhibit. I
was reading the signs to find out what we would be looking at and to tell
Drakeston. Before I would be able to finish reading he would tell me the
creature and what it did. He was correct on all of them without reading. We
breezed through the british history and civil war and American history parts
and then went across the st to the slugger museum.
At the slugger Museum you start with a tour thru the actual
factory where they make 3000-5000 bats a day. You see how they hand made the
bats when they first started. It took about 30 mins to make 1 bat. Each player
would order a dozen bats at a time, times each player on a team times all the
teams. They progressed to a laser lathe
with a template. There are 25 different templates that could be used. The laser
lathe can produce a bat in 30 seconds. They use a different lathe for the pro
bats. The factory has 2 of those machines. It takes 50 seconds to do a
professional bat for more specifications. In these machines there are over a
1000 templates. The bats that were used in early baseball history are very
heavy. Drakeston couldn’t hold it up on his shoulder to bat. It almost knocked
him to the ground picking it up. We are arriving in Chicago as I was writing this, but now have spent a whole day in Chicago right now and about to head out for another of sight seeing. so stay
tuned
the ultimate rd trip 2013 our nashville adventures
The Ultimate Road trip 2013 our Nashville, TN Adventures
June 1 We started our day by going to the Country Music Hall
of Fame. The building itself tells a story, every detail represents something
about country music and American history. The windows are designed to look like
the keys of a piano. When looking at the building from above, it looks like a
bass clef. The wood floors, remind you of barns and farms or rural areas where
a lot of singers and songwriters come from. There is a rotunda that is
graduated in size represents the changes of how music is stored from the large
vinyl records to the lp’ s, the 45’s and then compact discs. There is a tower
that represents the radio towers that music is played on. There is much more
but I don’t have my information guide with me right now. It houses every album
that has gone platitnum or gold in country music.
We kinda split up as we walked thru, some striding
leisurely, others taking a brisk pace, then meandering back thru to catch up
with the others. It’s a 3 story museum of country music history from costumes,
personal belongings, guitars, cars, letters, and etc. They were having a
special Patsy Cline exhibit.
There is a tv show that came out this yr called Nashville,
Nana and I watch it every week. They had costumes and props from that show on
display. The pilot’s script. I think
this show must’ve been playing in the background each time I set out to plan
our road trip. I wanted to go a completely different route to get to Rt 66 and
somehow Nashville, TN became my pre Rt 66 destination. I thoroughly enjoyed
this place.
We then had to find a place to eat, Drakeston wanted food as
soon as we went inside the country music hall of fame. We ended up walking to
an area of town called The District which is food venues that showcase live
music. We ended up at a place called Paradise Resort and had some burgers. We
started walking down the District and a rain storm came in. The weather was
changing as each block was walked. We made it back to the car with just a small
bit of rain. Eric and I got slightly more
wet than the others cuz we stopped to wait for traffic before crossing
the st by the time we got the car out of the car garage it was a gray thick
mass of pouring down rain that could barely be seen thru.
We attempted to go to Opryland but we missed the part that
was not a part of the Gaylord resort. We decided we would just go back to our
host’s house. We spent the rest of the night hanging out with them. We learned
a card game, the boys jumped on the trampoline in the rain(it was much lighter
rain at this point) Jason grilled us some brats and dogs, Laura cut up some
watermelon. The kids ate it all up before the adults got any.
June 2 We started our day with a visit to Berry’s Chapel
Church of Christ. The bible lesson was on Joy, Joy for God, living with Joy in
God’s kingdom. We then went back to Nashville. Rain threatened to end our 2nd
sightseeing day as well. We arrived and it was raining on us. We walked to a
store with Umbrellas but ended up not getting any. We walked some in the rain.
We walked around the Ryman auditorium but did not take a tour so we didn’t get
to see much of the inside. We headed back to the district. This time we ate
before we started exploring and had white castle. We walked around inside the
Hard Rock Café and in Downtown. We walked around the river window shopped some
of the stores, saw some funny and famous saloons. Eric liked one called Country
that kicks and laughed and laughed at it. He said it made his day. They had a
funny horse statue in front of it, standing up. The Coyote Ugly was next door.
The day before I had seen some stars on the sidewalks but
couldn’t get close enough to see what it was, Drakeston wanted his food. We
walked back towards the area where I had seen them. Its close to the country
music hall of fame. It is a walk of fame that was established in 2006. It is
similar to the Hollywood Blvd walk of fame with stars on the ground. These
stars are red and black and have the name of the star and a guitar.
Drakeston was now tired of walking so we headed to the car.
We then drove down music row, me not really knowing what it was but knew I
wanted to see it. It is a st that has old houses turned into recording studios.
It has Studio B which is where most Nashville singers record their work. It’s
also the RCA/Victor studio with the RCA dogs. This st has painted guitars. As
we were driving around I remembered I wanted to see the parathion, an exact
replica of the parathion that is in Greece. We got there about 4:20 and they
closed at 4:30. They let us run inside and get a look of the statue of Athena.
By this time it was time to head to the Bluebird Café and
meet the Millers. We knew we would have to wait in line, seating was first come
first served. The line usually starts at 5pm and doors open at 6:30pm. The
bluebird Café is a 31 yr old listening Venue that showcases songwriters. It’s
the jumping off point for people to get signed or have singers by their songs.
Elvis Presley and Garth Brooks, Faith Hill, Vince Gill, Taylor Swift, Leann
rimes are just a few of the people whove performed there. It’s a small intimate
venue but plays a major role in Nashville and country music, only holds 100.
Its featured in the show Nashville, and some of the stars from the show still
perform there. It is becoming more popular of course cuz of the recognition
from the show. We got to the door and were told they just seated the seat, and
we couldn’t get in. They said we could wait and see if anyone left for the 8pm
show and then we could see if we could get a seat then. The Miller’s didn’t
wait they have small kids. They went across the st and had The California Pizza
for dinner. At this time Alex went with them. Drakeston and Eric walked to
Mcd’s we were going to wait and see if we got an opening. The door guy gave us
some umbrellas to block the sun off of us. Drakeston got tired of waiting, so
when The Millers came out from the pizza place he went with them. They ended up
going bowling. They bowled from 8pm-12midnight. We left the bluebird café about
11:15 or so. We got inside and heard a good show. There were supposed to be 10
writers but was more like 13. Each one was to sing 3 songs, and the closing
feature writer got more. It was the start of The CMA festival week which is the
country music awards and festivities leading up to them all week. The lines
were longer than usual due to this. We stopped at Walmart to get the Millers
some groceries for letting us stay with them and get some gas. We all got to the Miller’s house about the
same time. Dusty and Eric went straight to bed. The boys and Leia Miller played
some cards. The younger kids finally went to sleep. Laura, Jen and Alex stayed
up til 3am just chatting and visiting.
June 3 we packed up and started a drive day. We went from
Nashville, Tn to Chicago, Il with a stop in Louisville, KY. When this blog was
written while riding in the car between Louisville and Chicago we have driven
1300 miles.
the ultimate road trip leg 1
The Ultimate Road trip: leg 1 Stillwater, OK-Nashville, TN
May 30 we officially started our rd trip. I had to work that
day in Lawton, OK and the boys met me there in the evening. We were thinking we
weren’t going have enough room in my car or Eric’s car. My car is a Pontiac
sunfire midsize car, He drives a chevy cruze compact car. The small drive
between Lawton, OK to Stillwater, OK we only had 4 people in the car and there
were 2 suit cases in the backseat. When we got to Eric’s house we put
everything that was going on trip on a tarp, pulled everything out of Eric’s
car. We managed to gte us, our belongings, and carry on stuff into his car like
sardines.
We set out the next morning to Nashville, TN. We drove 678
miles. We went thru OK, Arkansas, and TN. We arrived at a friend’s house that
we would be staying for the weekend. We caught some traffic in Arkansas which
delayed us a lil. The Miller ’ s were are hosts and they had grilled us some
bbq chicken.
We got settled in and talked for a bit then headed to bed.
We started driving in the morning about 8am and arrived around 9:30pm. We
thought we would be changing time zones when we got to Nashville, but it
doesn’t change til further in TN. It was a good drive. While we stopped at
chick-fil-a the cashier said “it’s nice to see families come in, where you can
see the resemblence of traits in each person. Yall all look alike. I can see
you in each of them.” He said that to me while Alex and Drakeston standing next
to me. Dusty was close by and the guy goes he looks like you to, but not as
much.
Saturday, June 1, 2013
the ultimate rd trip 2013 the 1966 car story
The ultimate rd trip 2013
On a date night in Tulsa OK with Eric Tollison driving thru
Drumright, OK an idea was born. This idea was to drive the complete Rt 66 the
mother road in a 1966 vehicle for 6 days and 6 hrs starting on 06/06. At this
time I just put the idea as a bucket list item to do some day. When I got my
tax refund I decided this was the yr to make this happen. I started looking at
1966 cars on Ebay 03/15/2013 within the 1st week of looking I saw a
car I wanted to bid on. I made my bid testing the waters to see if anybody was
watching it, no other bids came. On the same day I did the same thing on
another auction, they ended within a few hrs of each other, and I didn’t want
to lose out. Auction 1 announced me as the high bidder, but not the winner. I
asked the seller why I didn’t win, he said there was a reserve. We then went
into discussions on a price that both of us would be happy with. While this was
going on auction 2 announced me as the high bidder and the high winner. I liked
the car in auction 1 better than auction 2 and went ahead and let the car from
auction 2 go to the next highest bid.Both of these cars were 1966 mustangs. Ive
always wanted a classic car and a mustang, so I thought I was getting 2 cool
things in 1. The seller and I talked back and forth all the way thru
04/12/2013. The car started knocking so he took it the mechanic. They thought
it was something minor, turned out to be major and they took the car apart and
it was no longer driveable. Everyday thru this I was still on ebay looking at
1966 cars. We went to the DFW area to zipline on April 13 and looked at a
seller of classic cars that was close by. I decided that car was a no go.
Shortly after that I found what I thought would be the perfect car. A teal and
crème colored 1966 Pontiac Grand Prix delux. It met my criteria for what I was
looking for in a car, was within my budget and it was nice looking and in good
shape with the paint and the looks.l I bid and won!
I was looking at the most cost effective means to get it
home. The car was in South Carolina, I was in TX. On ebay it gave a shipping
estimate of $500 to get it home based on the 2 locations, when I clicked on it
to reserve it, the shipping jumped to a $1000 quote. I had spoke with the
seller, he said it was driveable. The seller had a guy who he left responsible
for making arrangements for the pickup or shipping of the car. I was in contact
with him every day. I asked him if I could get to SC if I could just drive it
home. He said yes. I made arrangements to do so.
That turned into its own little adventure full of mishaps. I
decided to take a greyhound bus. There was snow in Amarillo, TX on the day that
I was to board the bus in my hometown. This caused our 1st delay of
1 hr. I get on the bus at 4:30pm on Thursday afternoon. We had a stop in Ft
worth, TX and Dallas, TX. At Dallas we changed drivers. The new driver was
actually a very new driver. This was his 1st route and 1st
night on the job. He didn’t know where any of his bus stations were, we got
really lost in Shreveport, LA. This put
us 2 hrs behind. So from every stop we were 3 hrs behind. It didn’t affect us
too much until we got to Atlanta, GA it caused us to miss the connection. I was
originally supposed to arrive in SC around 8pm Friday night. I didn’t arrive
until 11pm at night. I was gonna drive the 1966 Pontiac home on sat and Sun and
be back at work Monday morning. The car and GOD had other plans. I got stranded
in SC and made it home by bus on Tues late night. I missed 2 nights of work.
The car is still in SC!!!
Everyone asks me why I wanted to go in a 1966 car or why I
had to have a special car for the trip, to me driving in a 1966 made the trip
more Americana, more nostalogic, more unique, more route 66. Anyone can drive
in an everyday normal car, but not everyone can go in a classic car. To me the
car is what made the trip. We are taking our route 66 trip in a 2012 chevy
cruze eco. I had a friend tell me well look at it this way 6+6=12 so in a weird
kinda way I do have a 66. I was trying to see if I could get a 66 with the yr
the road was made 1926 and the yr of the car 2012 but that came out to 86. My
everyday driver is a 2002 Pontiac Sunfire. The trip will still be fun, but that
extra something will be missing. On this particular leg of the trip we’ve seen
several 1966 cars just out & about,but I think there are several car shows
going on this weekend.
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