THE 2006 ROSE BOWL TRIP: TRAVEL DIARY

Sun 1 Jan 2006
(Austin :: Las Cruses)
Starting a 1,500-mile trek to Pasadena, Calif., with less than three hours of sleep is not exactly optimal. But that's what happens when you have neighbors who insist on ringing in the New Year with The Longest and Loudest Display of Fireworks Ever.

I confess. I hate fireworks. Always have. But what possesses people to shoot off fireworks in the city limits (illegal always, mind you) when it hasn't rained in months, there is a county burn ban in effect, and the northern portion of the state is burning from errant grass fires? My brain cannot comprehend this logic. Anyway, I couldn't sleep from all the noise and from being a Nervous Nelly. Calling 311 at 12:30 a.m. made me feel slightly better, but the only thing that put an end to the festivities and let me get some sleep was -- it started raining.

Needless to say, we got a very late start on the Rose Bowl adventure. We pulled out of the driveway at 11 a.m. Onward...

The challenge of driving to L.A. from Austin, in my opinion, is having the tenacity to make it out of Texas. The highway across West Texas is long and boring and populated by the sight of not much more than dead deer carcasses and plastic shopping bags. Today's drive was even more challenging given that we were driving into a 40 mph head wind that didn't let up until sundown. The wind turbines near Fort Stockton were really spinning.

Despite the events of the day, we pushed on and made it to Las Cruses, N.M. We were rewarded for our tribulations by a beautiful crescent moon rising in a violet sky that guided our evening drive. Try as I might, I could not adequately capture this lovely sight on film.

A tumbleweed blew across I-10 in front of the car in downtown El Paso.

We encamped at the Las Cruses KOA and found a site that overlooked the city and the Organ Mountains. When we crawled into bed, it was like we were at a drive-in theater watching a film of twinkling city lights spread out across the desert.

Oh yeah, did I mention the purpose of our trip? We are going to a little football game on Wednesday, Jan. 4, between The University of Texas and the University of Southern California. Something about a national championship. Go Horns!

Mon 2 Jan 2006
(Las Cruses :: Phoenix)
I just saw my first billboard for "The Thing?". I have the opportunity to see the "mystery of Arizona" in only 138 miles. Apparently it is "a mystery worth seeing." I also see things have changed since I last made this trip across the desert. Seems "The Thing?" has picked up a corporate sponsor. It is now "Bowlin's The Thing?". What a sad commentary on our beloved roadside attractions.

We ended up not stopping to see the The Thing? (sponsored by Bowlin's), but the landscape in that area was quite nice -- big red rocks and tall cactus.

We had decided not to stop in Phoenix since the Tostita's Fiesta Bowl between Ohio State and Notre Dame was being played there today, and to push on to Joshua Tree National Park. We didn't quite make it. In the suburbs just west of Phoenix as Yours Truly was driving, the Eurovan's battery warning light came on. Hmmm, this can't be good, but at least the temperature gauge is normal. Let's take the next exit. OK, the temperature warning light just came on. Wow, that's a lot of steam pouring out from under the hood. Let's turn into that parking lot. OK, no power steering now. And now we're in the parking lot of a closed Brakes Plus with coolant pouring out of the van. This is not good.

After everything cooled off, Kris poked around in the engine with a flashlight. Couldn't find the serpentine belt. This is probably the cause of the problem. No belt = no alternator = no water pump = no power steering = you get the idea. What ensued immediately after this is not terribly compelling, but suffice it to say it involved figuring out exactly what our location was so we could call AAA. That involved a walk across the parking lot to the WalMart, getting the address from their friendly greeter and borrowing a phone book for VW dealership, hotel, and rental car agency phone numbers.

Highlights of the night after this include:
(1) The tow truck driver trying to convince us to go to another repair shop instead of the VW dealership;
(2) Waiting over an hour at the VW dealer for a cab (after seemingly calling every cab company in town before finding one that would take a credit card), only to get to the hotel and be told by the driver that he wouldn't take a credit card. We gave him every cent we had (literally) and barely were able to pay the fare. He'd have done a lot better with a credit card.
(3) Walking across the hotel parking lot to Mimi's Cafe and having many drinks in the bar. John, the bartender, was a friendly guy that likes Austin, so we had a nice conversation with him. Larry, the manager, also came by to chat and upon hearing that we had never been in his restaurant before, gave us four of the biggest muffins that I have ever seen. What a friendly place for corporate food! (And the quesadillas weren't bad, either.)

Tue 3 Jan 2006
(Phoenix :: Pasadena)
The short of it all: The van won't be fixed today. The part that broke -- the tensioner, which as its name implies, keeps tension on the serpentine belt -- is not in stock at the VW dealership and will have to be shipped in, ironically, from L.A. We will be renting a car to finish our trip to the Rose Bowl.

Finally headed out of Phoenix about 1 p.m. MT. We estimate the trip to Pasadena at six hours. Got a call from Janet while on the Road to Hell that is IH-10. Oddly, she and John were at the Phoenix airport awaiting their connecting flight to Ontario. Somehow it seems we will all arrive in Pasadena at approximately the same time. And we did just that. The next call from Janet was from the hotel bar -- they had just arrived at the Sheraton and were checking on our travel progress. We had, quite literally, just exited the 210 and were filling the crappy rental up with gas just a few blocks from the hotel. Next stop: dinner.

The night before the biggest game in college football and Pasadena was -- dead. It was unbelievable. Nine p.m. and we couldn't find a restaurant in or near Old Town Pasadena that was still serving except Hooters. No thanks. We wandered around long enough until we finally stumbled across Nonya, which turned out to be unbelievable. As an added bonus, about a dozen Rose Bowl floats were paraded down the street while we were having dinner, and the restaurant's floor-to-ceiling windows afforded us a great view of our own mini-Rose Parade.

Wed 4 Jan 2006
(Pasadena)
Game day! And Pasadena has already rolled up the sidewalks before noon. Today, we couldn't find any restaurants open for breakfast. Ended up back at the hotel restaurant for an overpriced, undercooked buffet. Ewwwwww.

Pregame activities: Sneaking into the ESPN hospitality tent. And no one seemed to notice. Or care. Open bar and great food. Fun was had by all.

Game recap: 41-38, Texas. What more can I say? Oh! Here's two words for you: Vince Young.

Last Pasadena food story: Postgame meal hunting was just as unproductive as the other two meals we've tried to eat in this city. Ended up back at the hotel bar and asked for a recommendation from the bartender for any open restaurant. Wokcano was the best delivery food I have ever eaten. Or perhaps I was just starving.

Thu 5 Jan 2006
(Pasadena :: Phoenix)
After a very late night/early morning of celebration, Janet and John had to catch a 4:30 a.m. PT shuttle back to the Ontario airport for a 7 a.m. flight back to Dallas. Ouch! Luckily, they were great friends and let us sleep in. We took advantage of the late morning and left just before check-out time. The extra sleep was appreciated because we had to drive six hours down the Coma Inducing Interstate back to Phoenix. We thought we had it timed to get to Phoenix just before the VW dealership closed, but we didn't take the time zone difference into account. Oops. So we got to Phoenix exactly one hour after the dealership closed. So we spent one more night in a crappy Holiday Inn Express. So we ate bad corporate food. So what. Texas is still the 2005 national champions. Nyah, nyah.

Fri 6 Jan 2006
(Phoenix :: Davis Mountains State Park)
On the road again: Pick up the van at the VW dealership, return the rental car, and away we go. We're ahead of schedule on the return trip, so we decide to spend the night and the next day at Davis Mountains State Park and salvage what was supposed to also be a camping vacation for us. (As you can tell, it's a little hard to camp without a camper van.) Well, that was a great plan except by the time we made it to DMSP, I was coughing and feverish and miserable. Super. We were without any medicine and the nearest store was an hour away. I couldn't sleep, so consequently Kris didn't sleep. The most memorable part of the evening was walking to the bathrooms from the campsite and casting star shadows. It was a gorgeous night -- the moon was half full and the sky was clear. Too bad I was too sick to enjoy it.

Sat 7 Jan 2006
(Davis Mountains State Park :: Austin)
Nothing to do today but drive home. So let's recap: broken van, good times spent with old friends, national championship, flu-like symptoms. It's not hard to pick out the highlights of the trip.