To give Ricco some driving practice, we embark on a 3680 mile roadtrip from Old Greenwich over the Rock'n Roll Hall Of Fame in Cleveland, the Gate to the West in St Louis, along the historic Route 66 through Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas. Then to the mountains of Colorado, and through the Navajo Reservation in Utah and Arizona to Las Vegas, Nevada.
We hit the road on a rainy Friday afternoon on April 3, driving into the night to make some headway through Pennsylvania. Our destination is Cleveland, Ohio, location of the Rock'n Roll Hall of Fame. And it is the Hall of Fame, which literally sets the stage of our Rock'n Roll Roadtrip with the historic induction of Metallica, Jeff Beck, and Run DMC. The show on the evening of April 4 is long sold out, but we have tickets and witness the events unfold live.
The evening culminates in a live session featuring the creme de la creme of rock guitarists. This may be the first and last time that anyone saw Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin), Jeff Beck (The Yardbirds), Ron Wood (The Rolling Stones), Joe Perry (Aerosmith), as well as Kirk Hammett and James Hetfield of Metallica play on one stage. Not to mention the three bassists Robert Trujillo (Metallica), Jason Newsted (Ozzy Osborn and formerly Metallica), plus Flea from the Red Hot Chilly Peppers. Rock'n Roll heaven. We visit the Hall of Fame museum and its many unique exhibits the next morning, you can marvel some of them on the Rock'n Roll Hall of Fame website.
Then we hit the road westward through Ohio, Indiana, Illinois to St Louis. There, at the confluence of Mississippi and Missouri, we officially enter the American West. We can see the gigantic Gateway To The West arching from afar as we approach in rainy weather. Crossing the Mississippi we enter Missouri State and the Ozark region. The "Aux Arcs" - as the french named them - are famous for their blooming trees in spring. We can see the trees wizzing by but we stay on the interstate to escape the dull weather.
Approaching the south-east corner of Kansas we leave the highway and cross over to historic Route 66. We follow the "mother road" first through the tip of Kansas and then diagonally through Oklahoma. The weather has cleared up and the hamlets off the interstate invite with unique restaurants and cafes off the beaten path. But we also see boarded-up shops and diners throughout villages, which are in various stages of desertion.
Crossing into Texas the landscape turns into barren grassland, we drive into a beautiful Texas Sunset and reach Amarillo after dark. A long day's drive is rewarded with Ribeye Steak at Coyote Bluff - but we spare ourselves the Texan cheese fries with sour cream. Before parting from Route 66 Ricco leaves his graffiti traces on one of the burried streetcruizers of the Cadillac Ranch - just west of Amarillo. Within minutes a couple on a Harley and two RVs pull up - and we are surrounded by German tourists. A short chat, "gute Reise" - and the road has us back.
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We take a north-westerly course through Texas and New Mexico heading towards Colorado and the Rocky Mountains. The route takes us through the endless Kiowa grasslands and along the Capulin Volcano. Then the landscape gradually changes until we reach the foothills of the Rockies in Raton on the Colorado border.
Here and in Walsenburg we briefly pass through populated areas, before entering the Wet Mountain Valley beneath the towering Sangre De Cristo peaks. It's an hour's drive through barely inhabited hills to Westcliffe, followed by another 20 minutes over dirt roads until we reach the Rocking K Ranch of Roxanne and Randy. It has been 25 years since I had met Roxanne back home in Stuttgart's Graf Zeppelin Hotel. Now we meet in a much more grandious setting - the view from their living room is breathtaking. Roxanne prepares a special dinner and we catch up on the last 25 years while Ricco visits the neighbors together with their nephew Charlie. The next morning Randy invites us to go target shooting. It's the first time for Ricco and me to shoot a live weapon, and we get to shoot both a Glock 40, and a Chinese SKS AK-47 copy. Thanks to Randy's advise we actually hit some targets, especially Ricco does quite well. The Rocking K Ranch, Roxanne, Randy, and Charlie left quite an impression and we would love to come back.
Then we continue westward to scale and slide down the Great Sand Dunes on the other side of the Sangre De Cristo range. The sand dunes are at an elevantion of 2000 meter above sea level and the sand blows in a chilly breeze. Not a big deal. Further west we cross more mountain passes to Pagosa Springs and Durango. All told our Saturn Aura rental struggles over three passes, each exceeding 3000 meter elevation.
We enjoy dinner at the Diamond Bell Saloon in Durango, with the best steak of the trip according to Ricco, a guitar-cowboy playing jazzy western songs, and a "Saloon Girl" waitress from Durango's mining days. Well, she might be a tad younger. Then we start into the last leg of the drive at dusk. It's another three hours through the desert of the Colorado Plateau. It's pitch black in an area roamed by black cows and we must stay wide awake. Finally we reach our Motel in Monument Valley - and sleep like babies.
The next day our Navajo friend Steve takes us to the incredibly balanced 137 meters high rock formation Totem Pole, and later to his desert homestead and the nearby canyon where he spent his childhood. It has no name, so we dub it White Horse Canyon - Steve's name for his white pickup truck. We learn much about Navajo life today. The Navajo basically live like they did hundreds of years ago. Their houses and trailers dot the desert. Many Navajos prefer to live in Hogans, their traditional mud dwellings. Hogans come in two genders: the long male and the round female version, their doors always opening towards the rising sun. Their cattle roam freely, they grow corn and squash in small patches irigated with what little water trickles through the canyon. They live under third world conditions in the first world - and yet we sense no bitterness.
Continuing on a south westerly course we cross into Arizona stopping at Canyon de Chelly, a place deeply routed in Navajo history. Before leaving the reservation we have lunch in a small pizza parlor where little Navajo Girls can't take their eyes off Ricco's long blond hair and blue eyes. A Heavy Metal gig will go down here in the evening, and it would be interesting to check out Navajo Rock Bands like the "Ethic Degeneration". But we have to move on.
Back on interstate 40 we visit the huge Meteor Crater, which is impressive but too commercialized for our taste. Who cares for a free subway sandwich when you are not allowed to descend into the crater? Heading into the setting sun under blue desert skies we approach the San Francisco Mountains looming high over Flagstaff. They are covered in storm clouds and within an hour we cross from clear desert skies into a snowstorm. The ground is covered white as we descend into Walnut Canyon heading to Sedona. Here we spend our last night of the trip in a room with red rock views.
The next morning the storm has left and the sun is back. Before heading for Las Vegas we visit the Sunset Volcano near Flagstaff, Arizona. Large lava flows still remain from an eruption 900 years ago. The view over the lava to the snow capped peaks of the San Francisco Mountains - over 4000 meters high - is irresistible. As is the view in the other direction: over cinder hills through pine trees into the painted desert. Flagstaff is a special place, which requires further exploration at some point. But not today. The final miles of the drive take us past Kingman through the barren Arizona desert to the Hoover Dam.
We reach Nevada after five pm, and need to pick up our tickets before six pm in Las Vegas' Venetian Casino. It's a race against time. Ricco navigates us through a maze of highways straight to the strip, then we get stuck in traffic just a mile from the Venetian. Eventually Ricco jumps out of the car, races through the buzzling casino, finds the ticket desk and - with only seconds to spare - secures our last event of the trip: the Blue Man Group Show. Quite a strange experience being thrown into the Vegas glamor after a long trip through the wild beauty of desert and mountains. But the show is fun, colorful, surprising, and a worthy conclusion of our Rock'n Roll Roadtrip.
We take a redeye back to JFK where Kerstin picks us up at 7:30am. She is bright and early - the same cannot be said about Ricco and me. It takes us a few days to recover from sleep deprivation but we are soaked with unique memories, which will stay with us for the rest of our lives.
Long live Rock'n Roll!
Pit Burkhardt, April 2009