We scored two Matson keychains. You are only supposed to get one, but we were fortunate enough to have TWO Matson “Thanks for doing business with Matson” keychains.  How you ask? Well, on the way out of the wood paneled trailer confirming that our newly waxed and shop-vacced car from Chicago in fact had a reservation for a fabulous three week cruise to Kahului, I picked up a Matson keychain out of the wicker basket on the counter.

Gary, the kind Matson representative showed us where to park the car: “behind the Toyota whatever” and “put the wheel on the white painted line.” We parked behind the Toyota or whatever, Kent got out and a second Matson keychain was placed on our keys. Gary said, “You only get one!” Of course, I blurted out, “But I already stole one from the counter!” Apparently, Gary’s wife similarly blurted out unnecessary information when coming back from Italy, blurting out that she had a plant in her luggage when she wasn’t even asked. We all laughed at my and Gary’s wife’s stupidity. Then he told me that it was illegal to take photos while at a port. I put my camera away, happy I was able to take a second keychain and photos of the port with me. Our car was on its way.

Gary was really helpful and personable. He even knew a trusted cabbie so he called us a cab and we waited, now homeless and carless, for our paid ride to the hotel.

Awesome cabbie took us the long way so he was able to show us the “foodie” part of town. We passed an In-and-Out-Burger (“why would you want to go to the In-and-Out-Burger?”) Carrow’s, Hagenburgers (“best burger in town”) and Francesco’s (“too expensive.”)

Expensive Francesco’s it is! We knew that when we passed the place we had to go there. It has not changed since 1960-something. Most of the staff has been there for 30 or more years. The menu is the same. The decor is the same. Everything is the same. The food was gray, both in flavor and in color. Normally I would say if the food is disgusting I wouldn’t recommend it to others, but if you ever find yourself in Oakland, California near the Oakland Airport, find Francesco’s and park yourself there for the night. Chat it up with your waiter. Get the Spumoni.

Oh, and Axl Rose and Brad Pitt have been there. They were completely unrecognized by the aging staff at first, which I find to be extra charming.

I don’t know the last time I had a mimosa, but it couldn’t have tasted better than on a patio on a beautiful summer Sunday morning.  And could the kids have been better behaved?  Phil and Kristine’s children are such good kids and they are so fin to be around. Bud’s was a great place to spend the morning. A perfect California morning? Should we just stay here?

Our other tasks for this last full day in Linden included washing (and later waxing) the car, giving all of our CDs, sunglasses, and other miscellaneous pieces of garbage to Phil, and making zucchini bread.

Kent spent a lot of time washing, vacuuming, cleaning and waxing the car in the hot California sun. I was pretty much inside for that portion, so all I can tell you is that it looks great now. I think it is perfectly prepared for its three week cruise to Hawaii.

Cooking with their little girl couldn’t be any cuter. Although she does exactly as instructed, she manages to multitask the entire time. While she is measuring and counting cups of flour and half-teaspoons of baking soda, she is constantly dipping her finger in the “dry” bowl. As we worked, she went from dipping just her finger into the sugar to putting her entire hand in. We made two loaves of zucchini bread, from the zucchini plucked fresh from the garden.

Dinner was great thanks to Kristine. Every meal was great thanks to Kristine. She always uses the freshest ingredients from the local market or from her garden. I was so jealous of California tomatoes. They are red, inside and out and so unbelievably flavorful. Wait, SHOULD we just stay here?

Leaving was really bittersweet. We knew that shortly we’d be in the place we have been working so hard to get to, but it was also the last “home” we were leaving. We sort of felt like we were part of the family. Now, we were off, on our own again. Oakland here we come.

We have been having a great time in California. We had a fun day in beautiful San Francisco even though thick fog completely engulfed the Golden Gate Bridge. On the plus side, driving across the bridge in the fog was pretty cool. Tomorrow we drive to the docks and drop off the car with the shipping company. They require the car to be washed, inside and out, so that’s our next task today.

We are having a great time in Linden and will be heading into San Francisco today. Pictures soon. We miss everyone back in Chicago!

As Darlene mentioned, this off-the-beaten-path excursion was our favorite of the trip.

We heard there was a ghost town outside of Wells, Nevada but we didn’t know much more than that. We also knew that this was an unique ghost town because it was not your average old timey cowboy ghost town, Metropolis was founded in 1910 and didn’t make it much past the 1930s so the remaining buildings are more recognizable as “modern” buildings.

Our only hope was to find a Wells local who could point us in the right direction. There weren’t too many locals to be found, Wells is practically a ghost town itself. We found a friendly welder who had been to Metropolis many years ago and did his best to describe the route to the town that has been almost entirely swallowed by the desert.

We got lost almost immediately, at least we thought we were lost because the roads are barely roads and street signs have never existed. We drove deeper and deeper into the void and wondered if we would ever be able to find this needle in the 100 mile haystack. Using the limited information Google maps would provide on our cell phones we found a road we believed to be “Lower Metropolis Rd.” This was a good sign!

We drove and drove and drove for about 45 minutes into the never-changing scenery and were about to give up when we spotted something in the distance that didn’t quite match the surroundings. As we drove closer we saw the unmistakable silhouette of a building. Part of a building at least.

It was truly an eerie place. When we got out of the car I realized I have NEVER experienced silence like that before. It was the quietest place I have ever been. The only sound was the occasional buzzing of a fly, other than that, nothing. No wind, no traffic, no airplanes, nothing. The total absence of sound made this failed town feel even more tragic.

The only remaining buildings are the school and what was once a modern hotel with running water and climate control, the Hotel Metropolis. The whole atmosphere was creepy and somber, in exactly the way you want a ghost town to be. This place felt like it really did have ghosts watching our every move.

As we were following the little blue dot on our phones during the last ten minutes of our cross-country trip trying to find Phil’s house, we both came to a realization about the journey. Four days of driving, 2100 miles and being alone with each other, 24 hours a day, somehow went too fast. We were a little sad as we pulled into the driveway, knowing that our little adventure across the country was over.

But, this is really getting too sappy, eh? EH!? Sorry, I never type eh. Honestly, I couldn’t be happier about our trip. Even though the goal was to just get us, our stuff and the car to California, we ended up having a lot of fun and I think it was the adventure that we hoped it would be. We made it safely to California, we are happily at Phil and Kristine’s house, and the beer and pizza last night made everything feel right with the world again. There are more adventures to be had, no need to wish the trip wasn’t over yet, right?

So, back to Salt Lake City. The Metropolitan Inn was not the snazziest place around, but it did its job. We spent very little time in Salt Lake City after leaving the Inn so we could get on the road. We had 11 hours of driving ahead of us and we wanted to get an early start. Well, what gets momentum going better than stopping? We stopped about 20 minutes out of the city and posed on rocks like high school seniors for their senior photo near the Great Salt Lake. By the way, the Great Salt Lake smelled… like poop.

Wells, NV was our next stop. We planned on getting lunch at the local grocery store, but decided against the sushi. I just had a feeling that it wouldn’t be that fresh. Sometimes, I have to trust my instincts. I went for the beef jerky instead. We were going to need the energy for our next adventure: The Metropolis Ghost Town. I will let Kent take the story about Metropolis from here  – I will just say that we both agree that that our little Metropolis adventure was our favorite of the trip.

After the two hour Metropolis detour, we tried to focus on the drive. We only made one stop between Wells and Linden – in good ‘ole Winnemucca, NV. Don’t ever go to Winnemucca. They believe in the combination of sexy-man-photo borders, sexy man posters and country decor in women’s restrooms, steaming their ribs and don’t know how to fry fries. Come on, can’t fry fries? I am judging all Winnemuccaians based on our experience at The Pig and plan on never, ever going to Winnemucca ever again.

The drive through California went fast and the scenery was stunningly beautiful.

This trip taught us a few things – that we didn’t get to experience nature enough in the city, that we love to spend time together, that leaving family and friends is really hard, and that Winnemucca doesn’t know a gosh darned thing about BBQ.