Today we reach our final destination of Southern California: Westminster, California, to be specific, near Huntington Beach. We logged just over 4,000 miles on this cross country drive along the southern route with some zig-zagging to make this a most memorial family vacation too.

We stayed overnight at an off-strip hotel in Las Vegas, taking in a few of the better sights and sounds amidst the notoriously edgy city known as “Sin City.” The temperature was kickin’ well past 100 degrees, so the hotel pool provided some (albeit crowded) relief. I lucked into a last-minute slot for a 25-minute massage at the hotel spa, my highlight of the day.

After much deliberation over reading a few mixed reviews along with my desire to try something new, we had supper (an early dinner at 4:00pm) at the Bellagio Buffet. My line-waiting reading material of choice was the iconic Mark Driscoll book, Confessions of a Reformission Rev, but the short wait only afforded me a Driscoll one-liner. (cf. a Facebook fan club: Mark Driscoll is my homeboy) The most popular item seemed to be the king crab legs (meticulously pre-cut in half lengthwise so you didn’t have to work at digging out the meat), or it may have seemed the most popular b/c those legs visibly hang over most of the buffeters’ plates. Food was very good, though not quite as dazzling as the first time we went a few years ago.

Afterwards, we view more Chihuly glass sculptures in the Bellagio lobby and the dancing water fountain show — so good that Jeremiah wanted to see it twice. Then a stop by The Venetian. And to top off the night, father and son went bowling just before midnight. (The score was unevenly split: Dad 121, Son 49.)

The sleep was passable on a very mushy soft queen bed.

[update] We arrive at our final destination, Rachelle’s parents place, just before 2:00pm local time. The trip odometer reads: 4,072 miles. Video below is a small excerpt of the last leg of our drive.

It’s been a nearly perfect day on the road. It rained in Dallas for 5 straight days but now we’re driving Route 66 in gentle sunshine. The weather’s been great so far on our trip, not too hot but we might be baking in the stretch before us thru’ NM, AZ and NV. Just stopped in Clinton, OK at the Route 66 Museum and cranked up the volume on our “Route 66” song off the Cars soundtrack to go along with the landscape. Compared with being cooped up in suburbia, the open road before us seems a glorious freedom.

Psalm 119: 41, 45 (The Message)
Let your love, God, shape my life
with salvation, exactly as you promised; …
And I’ll stride freely through wide open spaces
as I look for your truth and your wisdom;

We’re heading to Amarillo to eat juicy steaks at the Big Texan restaurant.

Recommendation: read the Lonely Planet’s Road Trip Route 66 (that work gave me.)

Colors of the Day: The Black and White on the Route 66 sign

We’ve just left Plano proper, and driving north on I-35 to Oklahoma City for lunch. We stopped by Starbucks this morning for our morning fuel: Rachelle was feeling like something different but reverted to the usual tall almond latte, Jeremiah with a vanilla milk, and DJ with his current drink du jour: iced grande Americano in a venti cup [more room for half & half, less cost, less caffeine, less spillability.]

This morning’s Starbucks run is courtesy of a gift card from Rachelle’s previous workplace. Rachelle is driving this morning so that DJ can be blogging. Yes folks, Rachelle is still the effervescent morning person!

Tonight’s destination: Big Texan in Amarillo. This is the notoriously famous restaurant that serves a 72 oz. steak that they’ll give it to you free if you can eat it all with sides in 1 hour or less. I’m not attempting that (thought I have finished a 50 oz. bone-in steak at Trail Dust in Dallas once). But we will eat there tonight and hopefully snag a photo of the main stage — a platform with a table and clock for those who attempt the 72 oz. steak in an hour challenge.

Part of the joy of this trip is rackin’ up our state tally, or you can call it “measurable outcomes” if that pushes your button. According to my rules, your feet have to touch state ground, so just driving through without making a pit stop or sitting on an airport tarmac doesn’t count. Though Dj travels more these days, he lived a fairly deprived childhood and didn’t go anywhere so I still beat him at 34 states :).  I originally wanted to drive through the middle of America, via Kentucky, Missouri, Kansas, etc. so I could tally up more, but alas we’re doing the Southern route we’ve mostly done before.

 For Jeremiah, he is quickly adding more states. He just hit #19 today, TN. Both of us are going to add AR tomorrow. Here’s his state tally roughly in chronological order:

1. NC (born in Raleigh, 1997)

2. CA

3. VA

4. MD

5. DE

6. PA

7. NJ

8. NY

9. NM

10. CO

11. AZ

12. TX

13. IL

14. HI

 Since beginning this trip:

15. SC

16. GA

17. AL

18. MS

19. TN