Road Trip

[Michaelangelo]

Hey everyone,

June 3rd I'm leaving on a road trip, that's right... I'm following the TMNT Road trip.  Anyone along the path that wants to meet up, let me know.  Even if you're not going to the event, we may be able to arrange a meet up.  I will be traveling with my sister for the full trip, and on the way home will be taken the north rout.

Please either reply here or PM me if you wish to meet up

[Michaelangelo]

Hey everyone, going to use this for the reviews of the trip that doesn't have to do with Turtles.  Yes a lot has happened already, and I've been so busy that I don't normally get this chance to sit down and say hi right now.  Doing trivia the other night was a challenge all in itself.   

The trip started off with the drive down to St. Louis we were in a rush to get there already missing the first day of the Turtle event... my feet and hands were so sore from helping my sister move... I was in a lot more pain than normal and didn't have any breathing time before leaving on this trip.  Once we got down there we slept at a rest area right before the city.

We went to the TMNT event in St. Louis after the event we went out to eat with some new friends.  Than went and got some sleep.  We came back into St. Louis the next day and went to the St. Louis Zoo.  We ended up parking a little early by mistake but I'm glad we did.  We parked at a place called "Turtle Park" and it was free parking, the zoo parking cost.

We spent the day at the Zoo for Miki's Birthday (June 7th).  I got my snake walking stick there that I use as a cane... you will see in many pictures of this trip. 

Here's pictures from Turtle Park + one zoo picture:

My Favorite time at the St. Louis Zoo

More stories and pictures to come soon.

[Michaelangelo]

After Miki and I left St. Louis we drove down towards New Orleans, passing through a few tourist stops.  We stopped to see Graceland... got a few photos outside there.  We cut straight down through and got to New Orleans late that night, we found a Wal-Mart Super Center to camp at for that night, the next day we got a hold of Miki's friend who lives down there.

We helped her friend out at ARNO  (Animal Rescue New Orleans), where her friend is a full time Volunteer.  We helped feed kittens, give meds to sick kittens, and saying hi to kitties who needed to be held.  Her friend is the main doctor there for the animals, she's there from 9am to midnight daily, only money she gets is from another volunteer who donates $100 a month for gas money with her car.  She is so over worked, we were glad to help out with what we could.   Miki did a lot of house cleaning to help out there as well. 

Here are some pictures from our visit in New Orleans:

Cemetery that we visited


With a kitty who needed to be fed at ARNO


At the French Quarters

There's that leg of the trip, if I get the chance I'll post the trip from New Orleans to Dallas.

[Amicitia]

Because you asked for replies...

I'm just gonna say that this thread caused me to go digging through old photo albums, because I knew somewhere I had a picture of me sitting on a turtle statue. (I found it.)

Hope you're having fun! 

[Michaelangelo]

Thanks for the reply Ami!  Heh cool to know someone else has been to Turtle Park!

New Orleans to Dallas... am I really this far behind?  Wow...

Miki and I headed out of New Orleans to head towards Texas, we did take a detour and went up to the Most Haunted House in the United States, the Myrtles Plantation.  We went in and spent a long time talking Ninja Turtles in the gift shop as the workers were turtle fans and commented about my coat.  I gave them TMNT 25 buttons.

After Myrtles Miki and I went to the first rest stop in Texas to get sleep.  Where we had company for the full night of sleeping right outside our car window as the raccoons made themselves comfy with the trash cans.

Here are some pictures from that rest stop.

Than we drove down to the Golf to see the Ocean... which was a site I really enjoyed.  Here are some pictures from that stop...

And now for my thoughts of... The FIRST Drug Store in Texas!

Next Miki and I drove up to the Alamo and River Walk... 

Here's photos from there.

Hope everyone enjoys the photos... after that we drove up to Dallas and found a Wal-Mart to sleep in.  The next few days was the TMNT event for info on that please go to Review of Dallas, TX TMNT Road Trip 2009

Next Dallas, TX to Denver, CO  - Deers, Bear and Tokka!   

[Amicitia]

Thanks for the reply Ami!  Heh cool to know someone else has been to Turtle Park! 

Ah, no, different statue. It's from the Bronx Zoo.    I've been to Missouri but I'm not sure I was in St. Louis.

[Michaelangelo]

That's cool, I've never seen these big Turtles before I was highly amused in St. Louis


After leaving Dallas Miki and I headed up towards Colorado Springs where we were meeting up with Tokka.  We made a few stops going up there... the rest area's all had the same threat but never came through with it...



We didn't see one!

We hit rout 66 and found Cadillac ranch.  We learned that we can paint with spray paint on the cars what ever we want, so of course you know I added a few Turtles all over the place, my favorite Turtle I did was on the second car, and it got a lot of attention from the other tourist that were there.  Who were posing for photos next to it.  That was fun to see.

Here's some pictures from there:

After that we got back on the road and stopped one last time for gas in Texas... this gas station drove me insane there was one pay station you go there and use your card pressing the number of the pump you're on... than the pump doesn't have the price or how much you're spending it only counts how many gallons you're putting in... not even the normal way of doing it, it turns over at the whole number so instead of 1.5 you either get 1 or 2... knowing how much you're spending is near impossible.   I did NOT like this gas station.  Oh and not one worker in sight..



Again... another warning... but no snakes in sight!



When we got into CO Miki and I decided to get a camp site for our first time on the trip.  So we went and booked a site.  Thought this was going to be great, we'd have power to plug our stuff in.  We could have a camp fire to cook S'mores over.   Oh and a tent... a chance to sleep with leg room outside of the car in a tent yay!!!!!

So we get in the car after doing set up and head to the store.... did a bit of shopping and got back on the road to the camp ground... as driving I see something big in the road up ahead... it's a bear, standing on it's hind legs was taller than my car!!  It got down on all four and heads into the woods, I stop and look at it, as it looks back staring at us before disappearing the rest of the way into the woods.  I'm like "Wow that's so cool!  A bear!!"   Than it hit me.. "those woods lead to our camp ground!"  So did I sleep in the tent that night?  Nope... slept in the car again... and was too scared to enjoy the camp fire cause it was so dark and the camp site we took was right off of the woods.

The next day we drove up to meet up with Tokka, we set up our camp in his back yard.  Tent to hold our stuff, car to sleep in.  To say thanks for saying we made pancakes for him a lot.  He showed us around some of the places out there like this area where you can drink this spring water from these fountains that had an aracade there which had Turtles In Time.

- Photos and more stories from times with Tokka to come next time -

[Michaelangelo]

Wow I got a lot to catch up on this... may focus more on it when we get the photos in orders.  We have tons of photos... but before I can do that, I need a new hard drive... money isn't working with me on that. 

We have lots of photos and more stories to tell, more friends we've met up with and things we're still doing... just can't believe I'm this far behind still.