Just a Little Further

Scammers are constantly finding new ways to separate us from our money, and they’re getting increasingly sophisticated and creative in the process. The Federal Trade Commission reported that Americans lost a staggering $3.5 billion to imposter scams in 2025—and those are only the scams people actually reported. The real number is undoubtedly much higher. There’s rarely a day goes by that we don’t read about some retiree who just got scammed out of their lifesavings. I’m sure everyone reading…

We’ve whizzed past the big Liberty Sculpture Park sign on I-15 on several trips between Las Vegas and Los Angeles and always meant to stop and check it out, but never did… until our last trip from LA, that is, when we made a concerted effort to exit at Yermo (the iconic Peggy Sue’s Diner exit) and see what the park was all about. We’ve whizzed past this sign on I-15 but never stopped at the Liberty Sculpture Park The park is a 36‑acre nonprofit, non-governmental open-air sculpture park located…

Welcome to the Getty Villa We had planned to visit both Getty museums in just one day and then head to either the Hammer Museum or the Broad Museum and maybe wander through the Watts Tower one afternoon. Wow… were we naive or what? We barely skimmed the Getty Center Museum, and it took an entire day. We chucked all the rest of our plans and headed on Day Three to The Getty Villa. Once more, admission is free, but timed entry tickets must be reserved in advance.

one of the many gems of the Getty Center Museum Once again, we took advantage of all the ‘free’ culture that Los Angeles has to offer. The Getty Museum, located at two separate venues, is world-famous, and the estimated 1.8 million visitors annually make it one of the most visited museums in the United States. Admission is free but requires ticketed timed entry. We originally thought we could visit both venues in one day and then at least one more museum the next day. What a crazy idea! They’re…

Our reason for departing Griffith Park early was to get ready to attend a Jimmy Kimmel Live! taping. The tickets are free, but must be ordered in advance. I found the 1iota website, signed up, completed the form, then waited to hear if tickets were available. It was pretty easy. By the way, there are lots of ‘free’ audience tickets available on request in both California and New York. Several late-night shows, movie premieres, daytime shows, game shows, etc. Check out the 1iota website as well…

This is our second trip to LA in the last two months. So much to see and do! Our first full day in Los Angeles was a very full day indeed. Our hotel in Koreatown was pretty central to everything we wanted to see and do, which was convenient. I might add that, though we liked the hotel for its free covered parking, great staff, and daily housekeeping services, wifi sucked in the upper floors, making it difficult to write or post blogs. (That’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it!).

When we were in LA a few weeks ago driving California’s section of Route 66, we had a chance to visit with John, an old cruising friend. He’s still living aboard ‘Active Transport’ in Marina del Rey. During lunch, John mentioned he had two extra tickets to Gustavo Dudamel’s farewell concert with the LA Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl and they were ours if we wanted them. What an opportunity! We didn’t even consult each other. Without a second of hesitation, we both said‘Yes’. We’ve never…

Our daily summer routine here in Las Vegas starts with a cup of coffee at 4 a.m. while we catch up on the news. Then we grab our water bottles and head out the door by 5 a.m. for our morning walk, taking advantage of what passes for the coolest part of the day. Even then, typical summer

Photo credit: OCWR The more I volunteer for the American Red Cross, the more I learn about everything this organization does for the community. Recently, I was recruited to work on installing smoke alarms in homes that either have inoperable alarms or don’t have them at all. Since I’m married to an electrical engineer, I recruited David’s help as well. Thus far, the two of us have installed about 75 smoke alarms in the greater Las Vegas area.

Because of the heat, we’ve been sticking close to home. We do have another trip to LA planned soon, and you’re invited to come along. More details to follow, but in the meantime, I noticed that it’s World Elephant Day today, which started me thinking about our encounters with elephants through the years. If you’ve ever had the opportunity and privilege of seeing an elephant in the wild rather than in a zoo, it is a gob-smacking experience. During our time visiting South Africa and Namibia…

Blanche, our 2019 Ram Promaster, After several years of adventures, road trips, camping trips, and more than a few nights spent gazing at the stars as we sat by a crackling campfire, we’ve decided it’s time to find Blanche, our 2019 Ram Promaster, a new home.

“Motown was about music for all people – white and black, blue and green, cops and the robbers. I was reluctant to have our music alienate anyone. ” — Berry Gordy, Jr. Last weekend we had the opportunity to take in the ‘Magic of Motown’, a combination history lesson and music concert. Think The Supremes, The Temptations, The Four Tops, Smokey Robinson, Marvin Gaye, The Commodores, The Jackson Five. It’s hard to conjure up an image of a Motown tune without waxing nostalgic… humming a few bars,…

“Mustard is the little black dress of condiments. It goes with everything.” — Julia Child Here’s a new one for you: a holiday dedicated to a condiment. Really? I kid you not. August 5th is National Mustard Day, “a culinary celebration dedicated to mustard, one of the world’s oldest and most versatile condiments.” In fact, mustard is the most popular and widely used spice and condiment in the world, according to Wiki. A Mustard field - Photo Credit: Nafiur Rahman According to the website Serious…

“The freedom of the open road is seductive, serendipitous and absolutely liberating. ” — Aaron Lauritsen We love a good road trip. Sometimes we're on a schedule and have to keep moving, but our favorite journeys leave plenty of time for detours, unexpected discoveries, and places we never knew existed until we stumbled across them. Occasionally we have a destination in mind, but more often we're reminded of the saying attributed to Confucius: "Roads were made for journeys, not destinations."If…

“A library outranks any other one thing a community can do to benefit its people. It is a never failing spring in the desert.” — Andrew Carnegie Our local Clark County Library Photo credit: Clark County Library website

Only 7-1/2 states to go! Having just completed the California section of Route 66, I’m now in the throes of planning out the rest of our route from Michigan Ave in Chicago to Kingman, Arizona. There are guides galore out there. Some you can buy. Some are free. I’ve found that no one guide has everything I’m after, so I’ve been carefully reading and vetting each guide I find, culling the information I want, and creating a personalized guide that fits our travel style.

How many people get to spend their birthday overnight in a concrete wigwam? A night in a concrete wigwam? Weird, right? It wasn’t as weird and novel as I figured it would be. It was, indeed, a concrete conical structure that resembled a teepee, and the inside was tiny and roundish, but we were so tuckered out from a long day of Route 66-ing, it didn’t really register that we were in an unusual, iconic Route 66 accommodation. We didn’t even manage to go out for dinner for David’s birthday as…

In her last blog, Marcie talked about visiting the tiny town of Goffs, California—current population: three. While we were there, we toured the beautifully restored one-room schoolhouse built during Goffs' heyday in 1914. The restored one-room schoolhouse in Goffs, CA Our docent, Chris Wirth, was a fount of information. As our group grew from two - Marcie and me - to more than ten in the large classroom, Chris helped us to imagine what school was like more than a century ago. He shared stories…

The driving distance between Needles and San Bernardino on US-66 is only about 212 miles and 3+ hours if you drive straight through without stops and assuming you don’t hit any traffic snags (or take wrong turns). Our mileage was more since the route is not always well signed through several towns, and the trip was significantly longer time-wise because… well… we never drive straight through and there were quite a few things to see along the way.We arrived in Needles mid-afternoon and decided…

Happy 55th Birthday, Marcie! We interrupt our California Route 66 tour for a special announcement. July 20th is Peanuts’ Marcie Day, and I’m celebrating with my namesake. Over 70 distinct characters were introduced in the Peanuts comic strip during its 50-year run. My favorite, of course, was Marcie. She’s a studious character, known for her appreciation of the arts, nature, and truth, and a best friend to Peppermint Patty. Marcie was first introduced on July 20, 1971, so at age 55 this year,…

Had events unfolded just a bit differently, America's most famous highway might have followed another route entirely—or carried a number like U.S. 60 or U.S. 62. Somehow, I doubt Bobby Troup's song would have been quite as catchy if it had been called (Get Your Kicks on) Route 62.How U.S. 66 got its name is actually one of the more interesting—and surprisingly little-known—chapters in Route 66 history. Here's how it happened.A New Way to Number HighwaysBefore the 1920s, most long-distance roads…

After our usual morning walk, we left Las Vegas early and arrived at Kingman’s Visitor Center, ~100 miles away, around 0930. We’ve stopped in Kingman a zillion times before on our way to and from US-40, and I’ve already written several blogs about our stops there, but we really never tire of seeing it all again. Plus, we’ve never visited Kingman as the first stop heading west on Route 66. We’re excited to be celebrating the Mother Road’s centennial birthday.With 16 Tesla Superchargers, it was a…

One road trip that’s always been on our bucket list over the years has been driving the entirety of Route 66 from beginning to end... Chicago to Santa Monica... but we’ve never managed it. This year, however, is Route 66’s 100th birthday, and it only seemed right to make this the year that we cruise along the Mother Road.

There are several ‘holidays’ to celebrate today. It’s National Kitten Day, Nikola Tesla’s birthday, National French Fry Day, and World Kabab Day among others. So much to choose from. I do enjoy wacky, weird holidays; the more obscure, the better - but Clerihew Day? What the heck is a Clerihew?

Three years ago, I wrote a series of blogs trying to determine which EV would be the best fit for us. I spent far too much time evaluating just about every electric vehicle on the market. Our criteria, however, were a bit different from what Car and Driver or Road & Track considered important. We thought range and comfort mattered far more than shaving a second off the 0-to-60 time, and rear-seat legroom was considerably more important than how spiffy the wheel covers were.Back then, my…

We had a pleasurable 4th of July weekend with a visit from our nephew, Dan, and his family. Fireworks thundered all along the Strip and elsewhere in town; booms, snaps, crackles, and pops could be heard for hours. The night sky was alive, bursting with vibrant, dazzling colors and deafening sound. Random firecrackers shattered the usual evening quiet in our neighborhood. It was definitely an explosive evening.Last Friday night, however, was spent celebrating in a different way. We attended a…

I’ve been reviewing some of our Camino photos, and there were some I didn’t use because they just didn’t fit in with the Camino route or the city we were visiting, or I didn’t have room in a particular blog for more photos. I thought I’d share some of them with you… just because. Cows, chimps, giraffes, bugs, lizards… what’s not to like?In Porto, a life-sized Holstein at the entrance of Ale-Hop, a Spanish retail chain famous for its bovine mascot. If you look closely, the cow appears to be on…

It was 103°F (39.4°C) when we left Las Vegas, and the thermometer was continuing to climb. It’s been triple digits here for days, with more in the forecast. The highest temp so far this year? 109 °F a few days ago, and June is typically not the hottest month; July is. There’s not much to do about it, and we really can’t complain. We choose to live in the Mojave Desert, and deserts get hot in the summertime. Though we can’t change the nature of the desert, we can do our best to cope with the…

When we lived aboard Nine of Cups, we did a lot of baking—especially during long ocean passages. Any store-bought bread was usually gone within the first few days, so baking our own not only kept us supplied with fresh bread, it also helped pass the hours during those long night watches.I made French bread, Italian bread, focaccia, croissants, pizza dough, and pretzels, while Marcie specialized in scones, brownies, cakes, and English muffins. I even tried making bagels—but only once. Bagel…

Trying to break a Guinness World Record? Really? Yup, you read that right. We recently had the opportunity to break a world record… wait for it… “Most People Performing CPR in 12 Hours” using hands-only CPR (chest compression-only, no rescue breaths). Whew… that’s a mouthful. According to KSNV, “The event, organized by the