s/v Begone: The Road to San Carlos - a Quick Travelog Part I

The route to San Carlos, Mexico and our little sailboat Begone included a few really great stops...First we loaded our PT Cruiser to the Max (that's my car's name and you can see he lived up to his name!)

Max, Tom and a bunch of sailing stuff at the Grand Canyon

Now, leaving on a road trip on the Saturday before Christmas may be ill advised. But that's what we did. Plans for an easy 8 hour first day trip to Kingman, AZ was met with a real slog down I-5. But hey, we were on an adventure and had enough gasoline to make it to the cheapest gas stations in the middle of the state -- Lost Hills, CA.

And there at the Lost Hills exit Tom spotted a sign for Mexican Food. Sure enough, behind the Pilot Truck Stop and beside the tire store was "El Dollar Taqueria" truck with a covered outside picnic tables and hand-made corn tortillas. We'll never drive through Lost Hills without stopping for tacos!

Back on the road and heading out to I-40 we originally thought we'd stay in a historic railroad hotel in Kingman, AZ...alas, researching on my SmartPhone, we found it was closed. Plan B ... we found a great motel -- The Rio del Sol in Needles, CA and had breakfast at Juicy's. Both recommended.

Driving with Tom is interesting. He tends to want to get just somewhere. I'm the one who wanders. But driving across I-40 in Arizona, he all the sudden needed to go to the Grand Canyon. Only a 3 hour detour (plus time for amazement). So North we went.

At the gate to the Grand Canyon, Tom was quite impressed to learn that if you're over 62, you can purchase a lifetime pass to any National Park for $10. He is now a proud owner of one!

The Grand Canyon is one big hole -- so glad we made the detour. But we had dinner plans with Betty Jo in Albuquerque...so we headed back to i-40 and made BJ's in time for a fabulous dinner at their wonderful home in Corrales, NM just north of Albuquerque.

On Christmas Eve, while Tony slept following his night shift, Betty Jo took us on the 2nd longest Tram in the world for a 13,000 ft. view of that part of the world. Absolutely amazing. Here's a few pictures:

Tom and Betty Jo

We're at the Top of the Mountain -- the other side is the ski slopes

It was a memorable ride up and back followed by a trip to Old Town Albuquerque for a photo opportunity by the Christmas Tree before going back to Betty Jo and Tony's for an amazing Duck Christmas Eve Dinner.

Tony had started preparing dinner but we were able to getaway to attend a Christmas Eve gathering filled with fabulous Christmas music / musicians and warm season cheer. Then home to enjoy an absolutely wonderful Christmas Eve with Betty Jo and Tony.