Fantastic Trips That We Have Stumbled Into - Jerome

We have already written about our trip to the Amalfi Coast but before that we did quite a bit of impromptu traveling in the good old USA. It wasn't unusual for us just to throw some clothes in the car and start driving and then see where we wound up. In other words, we didn't research the trip before hand ... once, about this time of year, we took a day trip up to Oklahoma and wound up in Kansas. Mr. Bobby said he was looking for the "Grassy Knoll Mountains" ... never did find them but he didn't stop until we got to the Rockies. Another time, we flew to Las Vegas and spent a couple of days, rented a SUV and drove to the Grand Canyon. After that, we just kept on driving south. I don't remember the town we were in but realizing that we had to get back to Vegas, I was hard at work pouring over a not very detailed map and thought I saw an easy and quick way back ... through some small town we'd never heard of called Jerome, Arizona. Trip planning is an under-rated art form. Thinking back, I'm still not quite sure how but we survived Jerome and I really think that we deserve a T-Shirt. And why not? ... we got one when we drove to Hana on Maui! A different time, a different place ... a drive to remember! The road was just a narrow lane going up a mountain, sometimes wide enough for two cars I think. Too far to the right and you were off the mountain into the valley far, far below. Finally, finally we got to Jerome ... an old mining town precariously perched on the side of that mountain. It was old hippieville. A few shops, some restaurants, etc. Mr. Bobby had had it. He pulled into a parking lot and demanded that I drive down the mountain. I was real hungry too! We got out of the car on a perfectly flat parking lot and both had attacks of vertigo ... something neither of us is prone to do. Well, I started trying to drive but wasn't doing well. I'll let Mr. Bobby finish telling the story ... Miss Carol does have a good memory and a way with words too ... I don't remember no trip like that ... dang! I do remember something of her finding a short cut to where we wanted to go ... then driving through residential areas in this town looking for little posted signs indicating the way to this Jerome place ... almost turned around twice, thinking we had missed the signs and were lost. The danged road seemed to go straight up but it was so curvy, it almost seemed like a switchback ... had it not been for my outstanding skill and adroitness as a driver with nerves of steel, we would have never made it ... her having hysterics and beating me on the arm didn't help much neither! Like she said, we finally, finally made it to the top ... I knew she was hungry and suggested we have a nice lunch at one of the many restaurants housed in the old mining shacks but she was having none of it! Yes, I pulled into a parking lot just like she said ... but her memory is totally different from mine. She claims that parking lot was on a level but I suwannee, it was on at least a 45 degree incline probably more like 60. We could see the shacks, the shops, and the restaurants across the way ... and they were all on a slant too! Like she said, we had taken this route in an effort to save time ... and as pretty and interesting as it was, we really did need to continue on. I was real tired and my arm was still sore from the trip up so I suggested that she might consider driving down the mountain, at least part way until I was a bit more rested. Surprisingly, my charm won the day ... she agreed, and we got out of the car so we could switch seats and she could drive. A nickel fell out of my pocket ... I chased that sucker half way 'cross that "level" parking lot ... before giving up and watching it continue down the mountain, plum out of sight. I don't know what that "vertigo" stuff is ... but I was plum tuckered ... dizzy and couldn't keep my balance. It was time to go, and so we did! Now I don't want you to get the wrong idea ... Miss Carol is an excellent driver, especially on level, straight, four lane roads in the daytime with no traffic ... she keeps even that exciting so there's no chance of becoming road hypnotized. Like I said, she's good! It's all coming back to me now ... compared to the road we had traveled up the mountain to Jerome, the one going down was much easier ... wider and fewer curves too! But, boy, that baby was steep ... That really didn't bother me much for the SUV had five gears ... just put it in "low" or "double low" then sit back and enjoy the ride ... right? Wrong!!!! Our "Miss Know It All" is real smart, that's for sure ... but one thing about which she knows nothing is "gears," especially how to change them ... 40, 45, 50, 60 ... she was in a hurry, that's for sure. As the smell of burning brake pads increased, I calmly suggested she put it in a lower gear ... then shouted, demanded too ... I explained exactly what to do and how, time and time again, to no avail. She was frightened ... and I don't mind telling you that I was too ... 65, 70 and finally I prayed! She wouldn't listen but I think the good Lord did. She continued tightly gripping the steering wheel with both hands, but while she braked, I lowered the gears for her and we somehow survived ... set a new speed record to boot ... wound up on old route 66, methinks! I agree that we deserved a T-Shirt (No doubt they now have some) ... needed one too ... had to change me clothes after that ride! No doubt word of our adventure reached the authorities ... I understand the road is now safe and easy to travel ... and as a result, it's now a very, very popular place! No, we didn't file no report though I would have liked to get my nickel back, a 1937 buffalo. No, it was them hippies who saw us coming up the mountain ... seems they got all cleaned up and fixed a bunch of food ... raised such a ruckus when we didn't stay, the State had no choice but to fix things up!