California Antiques Road Trip Part 2

In my last blog post I explained how we found ourselves on a California Antiques Road Trip in a 26-foot U-Haul truck to deliver a very large order of antique furniture to a customer.

As we left Amarillo, TX, we set our goal to reach Williams, AZ, by the end of the day. As I started researching hotels on the laptop, I realized that we would be one hour due south of the Grand Canyon! How could we be that close and not stop!

So even though it would add a few hours to the drive, we decided it was worth it.
We got up at 5 am on the fourth day and headed out to the south rim of the Grand Canyon.

I couldn’t resist doing a few yoga poses on the rim with such a beautiful background behind me – I crossed off that bucket list item!

And then we turned the truck toward Monterey, CA, passing through the Mojave Desert on the way.

It was interesting how you could feel the dryness in your eyes, on your skin, and at the back of your throat while in the desert.

We were exhausted by the time we stopped – 2800 miles in 86.5 hours from Newberry, SC to Monterey, CA. All of the pieces were delivered into a storage unit, as the customer’s home is currently under renovation, but she was pleased with her purchases.

After the delivery was completed, we decided to visit the Winchester Mystery House in San Jose. Greg remembers seeing this house on “In Search Of” in the 1970s! Built in 1884 by Sarah Winchester, heiress of the Winchester Rifle fortune, this quirky 24,000 square foot house has stairs and doors that lead to nowhere and windows in the floor. Rumor has it that Sarah kept builders employed 24 hours a day for 38 years as a way to appease the spirits of those who lost their lives to the “gun that won the West.” It was definitely entertaining!

We also took a six-hour bus tour of San Francisco, which included views of the Golden Gate.

And we took a jaunt over to Muir Woods to hug a redwood.

We spent our last day at Alcatraz and wandering around Fisherman’s Wharf hunting for more cheesy magnets to add to our growing collection.

Finally, we headed to the airport and caught the red eye flight home.

It was a busy nine days, but we really had a lot of fun too. And we were delighted to get  our customer's big order of fabulous antique furniture to her on time.

We'd already shipped those incredible antiques across the Atlantic ocean from Europe to the USA, and now we'd driven them right across the American continent to deliver each piece ourselves.  Did I mention that we pride ourselves on our customer service? 🙂
As Greg joked afterward... "You need a truckload of antiques moved across the country on short notice? I’m your man."