Drove up to the Grand Canyon in the morning and then headed out to Tucson, AZ. It was very windy but we enjoyed the drive up to the canyon looking at the trees and landscape. Wylie loved stopping at the multiple sites along the canyon. The drive down to Tucson was along the high desert and canyon with us arriving in Tucson around 9pm. Day three was Tucson to Tombstone to Carlsbad NM--1,594 miles We drove down to Tombstone in the late morning after a trip to the camera store and drug store so that we could get a filter for the camera and hand lotion for me. We purchased a gorilla tripod and filter for the camera along the way as we realized with the broad vistas and bright sunshine we needed a polarizing filter. The tripod was a hit with Wylie as he played with it continuously for the entire drive. The drive from Tombstone to Carlsbad, NM involved one boarder crossing check (all they did was ask if we were US citizens), one trip to Sonic on the way out of Arizona, and a long 215 mile two lane road but beautiful drive through White Sands and a small village at the top of a mountain in New Mexico. We arrived in Carlsbad around midnight tired from the drive but pretty impressed with the fact that we took almost 2 hours off the drive time while going through the mountain roads. We also opened the sun roof to just marvel at the stars. I don't think I've seen them that clear in a very long while. Day 4 was Carlsbad to San Antonio, Texas. 2,099 miles This was the second shortest distance to travel and what should have been relatively easy. We arrived in San Antonio in time for dinner but ultimately it was the toughest drive and both Wyatt and I had a margarita at dinner. 80% of the drive was on a two lane road from Carlsbad to Ft. Stockton, TX (mile 1,775). The first two lane road was through open range and it might as well have been unpaved. The second two lane road lasted for almost 200 miles and induced the worst case of highway hypnosis I have experienced. The road was orange and open range on both sides. No traffic lights, no other cars, no stores or gas stations. There was nothing. We kept switching drivers to combat the hypnosis. Once on Rt.10 we began to combat serious winds that would push the car into the other lane. Once again there was nothing except massive trucks and mesas. It looked like the mesas were cut in half to make way for the road which ultimately created wind vacuums that would suck the car in and then push it about until you were spit out at the other side. Day 5 San Antonio to Houston/Beaumont--2,309 miles This was our shortest day and the coldest by far. We did a short drive to Houston to visit a dear friend and had one of the treasures of traveling through some odd small towns. It was late afternoon by the time we found lunch at a BBQ place in Columbus, TX that had more dead animals on the walls and throughout the restaurant than I could imagine. We stopped for dinner and hanging out in Houston followed by a 90 mile trip to Beaumont so that our trip in the morning to New Orleans could start a little later. Day 6 Beaumont to New Orleans, LA--2,672 miles (this is almost the exact milage we would have covered if we had driven straight to VA) First rain we experienced as part of the cold front that we were keeping pace with or bringing it with us. We managed this drive pretty quickly and easily as Wylie slept for the first few hours after enjoying a texas shaped waffle for breakfast. We made it into NOLA by noon and we expected that traffic would be easy. Unfortunately it was the first roadwork we hit BUT with the GPS and Wyatt googling the city we were able to create a detour around the traffic. Wylie loved looking at all the houses and the street car. We also found street parking right in front of the house and our car stayed there until 6:30am the following morning.
Day 7 New Orleans to Morganton, NC--3,400 miles
This was our longest day of travel with no stops anywhere fun. We managed over 700 miles and it really didn't feel like the longest day. Wylie again slept for a few hours in the morning and then we stopped for Waffle House and gas. We stopped again in Auburn for lunch. We finally got off the highway in Spartanburg South Carolina and heading north on 221 to Morganton. It was a nice treelined and beautiful drive. We arrived around 7:30pm at Wyatt's aunt and uncle's house knowing we would be leaving early the next morning for VA.
Day 8 Morganton, NC to Burke, VA 3,849 miles
Our final day in the car. Miraculously at this point Wylie still hasn't decided to mutiny the car or have anytype of crazy meltdown. We stopped in Statesville making the decision to get off the 40 and go up the 77 to 81 to 66 route instead of staying on the 40 to 85 to 95 which would be unbearable highway driving in comparison. We stopped at Cracker Barrel in Statesville to visit with a friend for breakfast. We hit our first major traffic issue on 81 in VA where the highway went down to one lane for over 16 miles due to a sinkhole. We tried hopping off 81 and going up Rt. 11 but it seemed like everyone else had the same idea. We managed to get back on the 81 right at the sinkhole which meant we slipped into the line of traffic drove slowly by the sinkhole and then were up at speeds of 75mph again. Once nice thing was we were able to stop in at the rest areas on 81 and let Wylie run wild.
That was our drive. I would do it again for vacation but most likely fly out to a spot and then drive back OR better yet drive out to where we wanted to visit and fly back. All in all Wylie was a trooper and really great travel companion.
1 comment:
Wow -- what a drive! And what a trooper Wylie was!
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