Journal

The Mohawk Moment is a Route 66 story about finding history and quiet meaning at the abandoned Mohawk Gas Station in Oro Grande, California. Years ago, on one of my “I’m off for a drive” days I had the Mohawk Moment. I left I-15 to catch the old Route 66 alignment near Victorville. I was … Read more

Coffee, Grief, and Clean Sheets is a quiet Route 66 motel story about small comforts that bring grace on hard days — clean linens, bad coffee, and a door that locks. I checked into a little roadside motel years ago. I remember it clearly — the kind of place where the front desk is also … Read more

The Sky Was Doing Its Thing Again is a Route 66 journal entry about an unexpected moment outside a truck stop, where a child’s wonder pulled me out of my phone and into the sky’s quiet show. I was parked outside a Love’s Travel Stop, half-running on caffeine and half-hoping I’d remembered to lock the … Read more

The Ice Machine Was Broken is a Route 66 travel story about an old motel, a faulty ice machine, and a stranger whose simple kindness made the road feel less lonely. I pulled into a little motel just off I-40 — one of those faded places where the “NO” in the NO VACANCY sign doesn’t … Read more

One cup, two chairs and a sky that stayed were waiting outside Room 6 of the Blue Swallow Motel in Tucumcari. She didn’t say much at first, just motioned to the chair beside her and poured a second cup. It was early, the kind of morning where the sky stretches like it’s remembering how to … Read more

What The Burros Know isn’t written in any book — it’s in the way they move through Oatman like they own the place. She said she came for the donkeys, but I think they came for her. They blocked traffic without a care, one even standing in front of her rental car for a full … Read more

The Woman at Roy’s Motel and Cafe on Route 66 wasn’t supposed to be there. Not in Amboy, not in the desert, and certainly not in the middle of Roy’s. Yet there she was, suitcase in the trunk, funeral program still riding shotgun. She had flown out for a funeral in California and planned to … Read more

We Saw Her is a Route 66 story about noticing a young woman in trouble, stepping in with kindness, and remembering that some people just need to be seen. We were somewhere along Route 66, just as the day gave in to evening. That quiet hour when the air cools faster than expected and the … Read more