The Adventures of SuperTank: -- California, Here We Come...Back (Day 2)

We left Joshua Tree Nat’l Park early cuz my mom and dad are so obsessed with the Internet. Apparently the service kinda sucked.

Dad and I started walking while mom to packed up the Supervan. It only took her 30 minutes to catch up with us on the road ... dang -- just when I was onto the scent of something...

Oh well, it was getting hot out there, so the Supervan’s A/C was a good trade-off.

Dad’s hollow leg needed refilling when we hit a town called Blythe. Lots of abandoned buildings in that town, that’s for sure.

So where to eat? The name of this place sounded good to me:

But my mom said no way. I don’t know if it had anything to do with the tractor parked in front or the crappy view of the place when we turned the corner.

Dad suggested Baja Fresh. Okay, I like tortillas. But even that place looked sketchy. So Dad looked it up on the Internet. It had an “abridged menu.” I guess that’s another way to scare off my mom.

How about this coffee shop, Mom?

PASS.

And speaking of coffee, I knew there had to be something off when the local Starbucks drive-thru had zero cars in line.

Dad said there was a BBQ place close by. I’m down for that. Finally, Mom gave us the thumbs up.

Whew.

My mom’s not really that picky about food, but she’s crazy-picky when it comes to eating at restaurants in unfamiliar towns.

Bring on da BBQ

My motto is: as long as the food we eat doesn’t give us the poo-dee-ah-dahs— it’s all good.

Of course, my mom just HAD to start the meal off right when she nagged my dad: "You got your phone, Rich?" My dad does a super job of tolerating my mom when she does this - that’s one of the things that makes him so awesome ... he’s a patient man. "Yes, Sue, I have my phone..." (Okay, full disclosure: I detected a wee bit of sarcasm in his response, but he’s a grown man, Mom, y’know?)

After a yummy lunch (yeah, it was dece), we headed to the Supervan in the parking lot. My mom went back inside the restaurant to refill her Diet Coke and I walked to the Supervan with my dad.

So Mom and I loaded into the Supervan and we headed for Arizona.

About a half hour later or so (I fell asleep as soon as I got into a comfy position), my dad says to my mom: “Sue, do you have my phone?”

Uh-oh...

This of course segued into a series of one-liner tennis-match comments between my parents:

“Why would I have your phone, Rich?”

“Because you were the last to leave the restaurant, Sue.”

“I asked you if you got everything off the table, Rich.”

“Well I don’t have it, Sue.” BLEEP x infinity (expletives deleted for G-rating purposes).

So... we turned around.

... and then we saw this sign:

It's missing the word "back"

And my mom didn't even say "I-told-you-so" to my dad (...but she whispered it to me!)

Ha Ha Ha -- ROFL

Luckily, the nice lady at behind counter had my dad’s iPhone when my mom went back into the restaurant. My mom slipped her a Jackson btw, and all was good. Best of all, my mom got to refill her Diet Coke again.

Then we were back on the road toward Arizona. Whew.

We stopped at a place north of Phoenix called "Lake Pleasant." And the view was rather...pleasant.