Relay for a Cause Route 66

Day 24

relayroute66 — Wed, 26 May 2010 06:18:15 +0000

Today was our final day walking, we were dropped off ouside of Hollywood CA., and walked down Santa Monica Blvd. through Beverly Hills into Santa Monica all the way to the end of the pier. We saw lots of fantastic sights, neat stores, and people along the way. Bryan kept asking everyone he saw if they knew where his uncle Jed Clampetts mansion was, however everyone blew him off, yet it was funny, we got so involved in sightseeing that we really had to hustle to make our 2:00 pm meeting at the pier with the media. After walking 18 miles and finally arriving we were met by the media taking pictures as we walked the peir and they interviewed us along the way, it was a great way to end our trip. We met a Route 66 vender that owned the end of the road memorbilia on the pier and we had heard about from our stay at Seligman AZ. Angel Delgarda had told us to look up Dan Rice and deliver a message to him in which we did, it was neat finding him and it was great talking to him about our trip. Dan had great knowledge of Route 66 and had traveled it on several occasions having all the same pictures that we had taken, we talked to Dan about an hour and it was great. We met with our host Sgt. Jay Trisler of the Santa Monica PD. and he had us rooms at the Double Tree Hotel, what a beautiful place to stay for our last night. We later went out for supper at hamburger joint called My Father’s office, it had specialty hamburgers that was only prepared one way, their way, and they were wonderful. While eating we heard of a bar that we had to visit called Chez Jay’s, it was built in 1950 and stars Lee Marvin, Frank Sinatra, Astronaut Allen Shepherd were patrons back in it’s heyday. We found the bar and of all things that have happened on this trip, the original owners daughter Anita Flondella was in the bar and she gave us all the history about her dad and told us that since the big draw was the peanuts that were served at the bar, that Allen Shepherd took a peanut from the bar and took it with him when he flew to the moon, which it is now in Anita’s safety deposit box. What a wonderful stay in Santa Monica, we plan on sleeping in and doing more sightseeing tomorrow.

Day 23

relayroute66 — Wed, 26 May 2010 05:22:43 +0000

Today we were picked up at our hotel and was escorted out of Barstow CA. enroute to Rialto CA. by Jeff and Linda Eason, it was raining, it was about 60 degrees and the wind was blowing about 20 mph and we thought we were going to have a miserable walk. As we went over the mountain leading into Rialto it was snowing and visibility was terrible due to a low lying fog and then as we went down the mountain and closer to or drop off point the sun was shining, the fog was gone and it was about 68 degrees, just perfect for a walk. We walked 20 miles today and on the way Bryan and I spotted our van parked in Lowes parking lot, Ron had stopped to see if there were any items he needed from the West Coast, so while Ron was inside shopping Bryan decided to hide in the van and wait, when Ron got back into the van and began leaving the parking lot, Bryan jumped up from the back, pretending to be a robber and demanded money, Ron got so scared he threw his cell phone and knocked his sun glasses off, now that’s funny. When we arrived in Rialto we met with Sgt. Gibbons of the Rialto PD. and then found O’Leary’s Irish pub on Route 66 where we had some great sandwiches and had a great time with the bartender Mary and the patrons. We decided to drive to Hollywood CA. to do some sightseeing, we saw the Hollywood wax museum, walk of fame, finding our hero John Waynes signed square, and took lots of pictures.

Day 22

relayroute66 — Wed, 26 May 2010 04:20:04 +0000

Day 22, Today we left Vegas after a great rest, Bryan and Ron both won money playing Black Jack so it was a good night. I spent the night in Vegas and never gambled, I met an old friend from Evansville Bob Mortimer who I hadn’t seen for thirty years and we just walked around enjoying the sights and talking, it was great seeing Bob again. We arrived at our drop off destination 16 miles outside Barstow CA. It was very windy today and walking was difficult, the wind was blowing rock debris and sand on us all day, plus Bryan had a hard time keeping up with me because he was ailing from the 2:00 am open face turkey sandwich with extra gravy. We arrived in Barstow and met with my contact Sgt. Tm Heiden and Linda Eason and after pictures we were escorted to our hotel and invited to Strawhat Pizza for supper and also owned by Jeff and Linda Eason. We had plenty of time to rest at the hotel, so I was able to catch up on our trip on the computer. We met at the pizza place and Linda was a great host, she fixed pizza, wings, and deep fried green beans that were awesome. Sgt. Heiden and his wife Lynna arrived later and we sat and talked for for hours about police work and the things that they were doing in Barstow to feed the needy on Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas programs for kids. We had a wonderful time and we thank them for their hospitality.

Day 21

relayroute66 — Sun, 23 May 2010 06:01:35 +0000

Today we had a rest day so we decided to leave Kingman AZ. on our own and visit Las Vegas. We drove to Oatman AZ. first and traveled Route 66, up through the mountains that consisted of 122 hairpin turns and steep grades. Oatman is an old mining town, population of 100 people with wild Burros running the streets, and a great tourist attraction with staged gunfights in the streets. we continued on and visited Boulder City and crossed over Hoover Dam, possibly for the last time before the new bridge is opened up. The Bridge is unbelievable, it is 900′ above the river and once opened later this year they will no longer allow traffic across the dam. We received a call from Justin McVay, Public Relations Manager of the Golden Nugget in Las Vegas and he donated three rooms for us to enjoy ourselves while in Vegas, what a wonderful way to relax, we had a blast, the lazer light show at night time was worth the drive to see, the lights were programed to songs from Queen and from Kiss. We also saw the worlds largest gold nugget on display, it was 61 pounds and had 875 troy ounces of gold in it, unfortunately Justin wouldn’t let me take it home with me. We want to thank the Golden Nugget for their generousity.

Day 20

relayroute66 — Sun, 23 May 2010 04:43:12 +0000

Today we were escorted out of town by Sgt. Wachter, we first had to stop for a big breakfast at a local diner and then traveled Route 66 enroute to Kingman AZ. After dropping us off at our destination we got side tracked and found a golf course called Valle Vista Country Club and we played nine holes of golf before starting our walk. Today we walked 15 miles into Kingman, it was hot and the winds were howling making it seem like 20 miles. We finally arrived and met with my contact Sgt. Bob Fisk and Lt. Rusty Cooper of the Kingman PD and they showed us around the PD and interviewed us for a local paper. Sgt. Fisk then introduced us to Scott Lander a local contractor who volunteered to let us stay in his guest house for the evening. I rode with Scott as he took us up the mountain about ten miles out of town to his house that was built overlooking a valley and the view was beautiful. Scott welcomed us into his house and when hs wife Candy got home they invited us to eat supper with them and fixed us snacks to hold us over until that time. We then rested for awhile until supper was ready and then we had a fantastic meal of Mexican Chicken Casarole, sampled canned jellies, Candy had made, and apple pie with ice cream, what a night, Scott and Candy are very special people and they treated us like we had known them for years. We thank everyone in Kingman for being apart of the relay and a special thanks to Sgt. Fisk for checking on us through out the evening and for introducing us to the Lander family.

Day 19

relayroute66 — Sat, 22 May 2010 23:38:31 +0000

We left Flagstaff AZ today enroute to Seligman AZ. we were escorted out of town by Lt. Ken Koch of the Flagstaff PD, we deciced to take a detour off Route 66 to take on the sights of the Grand Canyon and was it worth it, what a beautiful place, it would have been a shame to come all this way and not see one of the seven wonders of the world. We also got to see a herd of Elk that was standing on the side of the road, Bryan thought they were fake statues to trap poachers, however when he got out of the van and made a stupid moose call, they began to run off. We began our walk into Seligman and about four miles into the walk my contact Sgt. Hal Wachter of the Yavapui Sheriff’s Dept. showed up at our location and he stated that he figured we were enroute because he had seen our van in town. Sgt. Wachter was super nice, he gave us the keys to our hotel room and then told us that there was a cooler of cold beverages, cheese and crackers, and fruits in our room waiting for us when we arrived, now that’s a great way to be greeted. We again started walking and what a crazy day it was, first of all we were in the middle of nowhere and we saw what we first believed was Ron riding his bike towards us, however as it got closer we found out it was a he/she, an older man, Pushing a bike loaded down with bags of clothes and water jugs strapped to it, baby blue womans clothing on, with the name “Mary” on his floppy hat. Bryan tried to strike up a conversation, however he/she just kept on trucking without ever saying a word. Bryan stated that this would probably be the craziest thing we would ever see on Route 66. Well he was wrong, about ten minutes later we again observed something coming up the road at a distance, we couldn’t believe it when we found out it was a person rollerblading, we stopped and met “Ken” a sixty-two year old from Japan who had left California enroute to Cape Cod. He told us he was doing this in honor of his deceased wife and his age, he spoke very broken english, he probably weighed 120 pounds, and was carrying a fifty pound back pack, he stated that he was going to cover about 4,000 miles in six months. Bryan and I shook Ken’s hand, took pictures with him, and then watched him rollerblade away. I turned to Bryan and said ” now that is the craziest thing we will ever see on route 66″ and realized that what we were doing was nothing compared to what Ken was doing. We finally arrived in Seligman and our day got better, we met the Godfather of Route 66 Angel Delgada who is 83 years old barber who led a crusade to get old route 66 declared Historical and to get all the other connecting states to join in to raise the amount of tourism that was take away from them when I40 was built. We all three got our haircut by Mr. Delgada {which he doesn’t do very often anymore} he signed all our memorbilia we bought, and we took pictures with him, it was an honor hanging out with Mr. Delgada. We thank Maorna who is the daughter of Mr Delgada for the gifts and Marcio for treating us like family as we visited Seligman. Sgt. Wachter later picked us up and we went to his house for the best charred steaks we had ever tasted, he grilled, made a bean and rice dish and homemade bread that was out of this world, we were like three stuffed ticks when we finally got back to our motel, we had an awesome time.

Day 18

relayroute66 — Sat, 22 May 2010 14:07:57 +0000

Today we were picked up at the tee-pee’s and escorted out of Holbrook AZ. by Navajo County Sheriff’s Deputy C. Davis [Hollywood]. Deputy Davis is a K9 Deputy for the department who had just recently returned home from his second tour of duty in Irac. We were dropped off at our destination outside Flagstaff and the view was unbelievable, we could see San Francisco Peaks out in front of us with snow on top. The name was given to the mountain because on a clear day it is claimed that you can see all the way to San Francisco from the top, now we didn’t climb it to find out so we just have to take the locals word for it. We walked 16 miles today and it was miserable, we had 20 to 30 mph winds in our face and it was uphill all day, Bryan wore a big hole in his socks before we arrived in Flagstaff. We finally met with Ron at the Home Depot parking lot where he informed us of the bad news that our van wouldn’t start. Bryan, knowing a little about cars determined that the fuel pump was out and the van spent the rest of the day in the shop being repaired. We ate lunch at Miz Zips Diner, which was on the show Diners, Dives, and Drive-ins. We were able to make contact with our host Lt. Ken Koch of the Flagstaff PD and he transported us to the police department where we met with about 40 members of their department, they had a tent set up for us to meet, drinks,and snacks. We were interviewed by channel 12 newscast, this was a difficult interview for me, besides dedicating the relay to the fallen officers killed in the line of of duty, I also dedicated this leg of the event to Sgt Michael Terrin, my contact person who passed away before my arrival. I was notified by the Flagstaff PD just four days into the relay of this horrible news, I’m sorry I never got to meet Sgt. Terrin.

Day 17

relayroute66 — Fri, 21 May 2010 06:12:47 +0000

Today we were picked up at the El Rancho Hotel by our host Deputy Chief Allen and he said he had a surprise for us and he took us to a diner called La Barraca where we met with Chief Robert Cron, and Sgt. Scott Montoya for breakfast and of course Papapilla’s. We were escorted out of town by Sgt. Montoya a 16 year member of the Gallup PD. His father was also a 19 year member of the force before being killed in a car crash as he left the police department. Sgt. Montoya also has a brother Daniel who is on the Sheriff’s Department. Today we took a little detour off Route 66 to visit the Petrified Forest, it was pretty interesting and we met a couple that was fromYorkshire England and they donated $10 to our cause. We were dropped off at our destination and started our walk into Holbrook AZ. We had to walk I40 today for 12 miles because Route 66 ended into the interstate, however a much as we were uncomforable, it turned out great because we were able to pick up about 25 pounds of petrified wood that we found along the highway. We finally exited back onto Route 66 leading into holbrook and eventually walked 16 miles today. We stopped at Joe and Angies Cafe which was depited in the movie cars, the owner donated $10 to our cause and we took pictures. We arrived at the Navajo County Sheriffs Department and met with my contact personCommandor Cheryle Powell, Sheriff Kelly Clarke {KC}, Sgt. Bob Price, Lt. Kent Bradburn, and Chief Deputy Randy Weems. The Navajo county Sheriff’s Department donated $150 to our cause challenging other departments to do the same, we visited with them about an hour in Sheriff Clarke’s office, it was great. We learned of an Annual event called Hashknife, this is where the mail is delivered by horseback from Holbrook AZ. to Scotsdale AZ. and in it’s 53rd year. Sheriff called the organizer of the event Mark Reynolds and when he arrived we were given posters, pins, and a flag of the event. We were very grateful of the time they spent with us, they treated us as if they had know us forever, it just shows that again I picked the perfect host for our relay. Sgt. Price escorted us to where we were staying and of all things it was the Tee-Pee Motel, also where the inspiration came from for the motel in the movie Cars, Ron Boren was like a little kid, he was so excited. The local newspaper interviewed us at the motel and then we were take out to dinner By Deputy Chief Weems and Lt. Bradburn, thank God it was Italian and not Mexican. We had a great time in Holbrook and met some fantastic people.

Day 16

relayroute66 — Fri, 21 May 2010 05:15:25 +0000

Today we left Grants NM. enroute to Gallup NM. we were escorted by our host Sgt. Castaneda, it’s Sunday morning, a beautiful day for a walk. Sgt. Castaneda went out of his to make our stay in Grants special, he has a great family that he shared with us, and we learned the Grants handshake. We began our walk into Gallup and it was a fairly easy day because we couldn’t get on Route 66 so we were only able to walk eight miles total. We visited several unique stores that lined the streets, one being Gilbert Ortaga’s Indian Jewelry and Gallery. They had all kinds of bronze statues and custom made jewelry that was one of a kind. I hope my wife is happy with my purchases. We arrived in Gallup and were met by our host Deputy Chief John Allen and his wife Jessica, they put us up in the famous El Rancho Hotel built in 1937. The hotel is as rustic as the day it was built, all the movie stars stayed at the El Rancho when films were made back in it’s heyday. We stayed in the Presidential Suite (named after Ron Boren’s namesake Ronald Reagen} at it was an amazing knowing that we probably stayed in the same room, that hasn’t changed since the opening of some of the most famous stars of Hollywood. We had a special day, Sgt, Castaneda and his family came into Gallup and met up with us again and took us over to Mama Castaneda’s house to teach us how to make Papapilla’s, she showed us step by step on how to make them so that we could make them for our families when we return home, it was awesome spending time with such a great family again. We later met with Deputy Chief Allen and Jessica again for dinner at the El Rancho Restaurant, we had a fantasic meal with Marquritas and great conversation. We really enjoyed the time spent in Gallup, they were a great host for our relay.

Day 15

relayroute66 — Tue, 18 May 2010 05:49:02 +0000

Today we were escorted out of Edgewood NM. by Trooper Hal Cage of the New Mexico State Police Department. Trooper Cage has been with the Department for nine years and spent fifteen years with corrections. I got to talk with Trooper Cage about his career in law enforcement, however I was more impressed that we had so much in common, we mostly talked about school days, growing up, marriage at an early age, and family. Trooper Cage is a very dedicated father and grandfather, it was my pleasure spending time with him. We walked 18 miles today, Bryan is definately having withdraws from fishing now because we just can’t find any lakes. Ron has been a great asset to the trip, he keeps us on schedule, and contacts our host as we get nearer to our destinations. We arrived in Grants and were met at the edge of town by Lt. Maxine Spidle of the Grant PD and she informed us that the state police were out looking for us to escort us to the memorial wall, we then were met by Trooper Santiago Grijalva of the New Mexico State Police, Cibola County Sheriff’s Deputy Steve Shutiva, Mike Maxey of the Grants Fire Department, Lt. Cory Allen Grants Police, and my contact for the relay Sgt. John Castaneda of Grants PD. We walked the next three miles to the Memorial as the squad cars and fire trucks escorted us, blocking both lanes of the road with their lights and sirens on. We felt as if we were in a parade, we had two teens from the J.O.L.T program {Junior Officers Leadership Training } walking with us as we made our way down the street, they were Shanise Castaneda and Desiree Serna. We were interviewed by the local media and stopped for pictures at the Memorial wall. Sgt. Castaneda was our host for the evening and after getting checked in at the Best Western, he and his wife Tracy took us out to a new Mexican Restaurant in town where we were introduced to “Sopapillas” a white flour tortlla mix, deep fried, with honey that was absolutely incredible. After supper we were given a tour of the Grants PD. and then we were advised by Sgt. Castaneda that he had contacted his mother in Gallup { our next stop} and he had made arrangements for us to meet her at her home so that she could teach us how to make the famous Sopapillas. We can’t thank everyone enough in Grants for making us feel so welcomed and for treating us like family