Show Me the Way to Go Home

You know that song that Brody, Hooper, and Quint sing on the boat in Jaws? Call that our theme music for today. Well, except for the drinking part...

Show me the way to go home.

I'm tired and I want to go to bed.

I had a little drink about an hour ago,

And it’s gone right to my head.

Wherever I may roam,

On land or sea or foam,

You can always hear me singing this song.

Show me the way to go home.

Today's route: 460 miles

There's not much to recount for our journey today. Before leaving Williams, we stopped by the Grand Canyon Railway depot just to check it out (and get smushed pennies). There were lots of folks here getting ready to depart for their train ride up to the Grand Canyon this morning. It was pretty cool to see some restored Pullman cars, especially since we had visited Pullman National Monument in Chicago at the beginning of this vacation.

Then it was just drive, drive, drive. We made a pit stop just across the Arizona-California border in Needles. It was so hot that it felt as if my skin were crisping up just like Peking duck! Ugh. Welcome back to California...

The roads the rest of the way were very familiar: I-40 west to Barstow, then I-15 south to Victorville and a late lunch at Steak 'n Shake. Because of construction, we had to take a detour off the Pearblossom Highway a little further south through Phelan, then back onto CA-138, CA-14, and finally CA-118. None of those names are as catchy as Route 66, though!

All told, we put just over 3000 miles on the rental minivan, from Chicago (with a side trip to Champaign) all the way back to California. Now that M and J are older, I'm not sure how many more family road trips we will be able to take, so I'm thankful for our time together on this one. Every hot, melty minute!