We made it. A long day. Time to get dinner. Psyched to be here.
Recently in Road Trip Category
Hypothetical:
The San Diego Miata Club (read: a bunch of annoying octogenarians driving a plethora of convertibles) gets in my way on Route 166 in California. I decide to pass.
Many of them.
Quickly.
Two Highway Patrol Cars appear on the side of the road.
Oops.
One of them throws his lights on and slams his car in reverse into a cloud of dust.
But it is too late. He is stuck behind the octogenarians, I am well ahead, and the windy mountain road will make no allowances for passing.
He never even made it into the road. Just sat there in his cloud of dust as the silver haired and windswept seniors chatted about missing Bob Barker on the Price is Right. It just isn't the same, you know. So, I never evaded. For all I knew he was turning to go to a call in the other direction. Remember this is all hypothetical. Road trips lead to all sorts of imagining, you know.
The San Diego Miata Club (read: a bunch of annoying octogenarians driving a plethora of convertibles) gets in my way on Route 166 in California. I decide to pass.
Many of them.
Quickly.
Two Highway Patrol Cars appear on the side of the road.
Oops.
One of them throws his lights on and slams his car in reverse into a cloud of dust.
But it is too late. He is stuck behind the octogenarians, I am well ahead, and the windy mountain road will make no allowances for passing.
He never even made it into the road. Just sat there in his cloud of dust as the silver haired and windswept seniors chatted about missing Bob Barker on the Price is Right. It just isn't the same, you know. So, I never evaded. For all I knew he was turning to go to a call in the other direction. Remember this is all hypothetical. Road trips lead to all sorts of imagining, you know.
Since we are such road fiends, we decided to skip stopping at Ventura tomorrow and are driving all the way to San Francisco. This is going to be around 570 to 600 miles. Good times.
I'm not worried, we still haven't been passed by a single car.*
*Unless exiting, pulling over, taking a picture, getting a speeding ticket or otherwise stopping.
I'm not worried, we still haven't been passed by a single car.*
*Unless exiting, pulling over, taking a picture, getting a speeding ticket or otherwise stopping.
It seems that a great deal of the trip has come to revolve around Tabor. No, no speeding tickets today. Rather, about ten minutes of footage of me driving down California route 62.
We decided to change plans today. We didn't want to spend more time at the Grand Canyon - way too many tourists and we already got to take in the beauty of it all.
So, instead, we decided to hightail it to Joshua Tree National Park and spend the night at the Westin Resort near Palm Springs. A far cry from Holiday Inn Express (don't eat the cheese omelette).
In between.
Route 62 from eastern Arizona, west into California. The road sign read "Dips." A straight shot. Not so many other cars. Completely in the middle of nowhere.
Probably the most fun road driven the entire trip. So, Greg came up with the great idea of filming me driving the way I drive. In HD. Should be great when it is all edited and done.
Let's just say I know how to drive my car, and it's a damn fine machine.
We decided to change plans today. We didn't want to spend more time at the Grand Canyon - way too many tourists and we already got to take in the beauty of it all.
So, instead, we decided to hightail it to Joshua Tree National Park and spend the night at the Westin Resort near Palm Springs. A far cry from Holiday Inn Express (don't eat the cheese omelette).
In between.
Route 62 from eastern Arizona, west into California. The road sign read "Dips." A straight shot. Not so many other cars. Completely in the middle of nowhere.
Probably the most fun road driven the entire trip. So, Greg came up with the great idea of filming me driving the way I drive. In HD. Should be great when it is all edited and done.
Let's just say I know how to drive my car, and it's a damn fine machine.
Lots of it today.
5:15 a.m. I get out of bed and drive thirty miles to Dark Horse National Park to see the sun rise over the landscape. Thanks to the New York Times for that recommendation. It was beautiful. I was actually planning on taking a run afterward, so picture me out there in running shorts and a t-shirt with a light jacket. Turns out, at 6 in the morning, it's about 29 degrees there plus a major windchill. So, my fingers were numb as I captured the sunrise. I also took some amazing video but I don't know when I'll be able to get all of that up and running.
Coming back from the sunrise, I stopped at this really cool drive up espresso shack and got a "Shot in the Dark." This is a cup of coffee with two shots of espresso, all for $3.25. Thanks again New York Times.
From there, Greg and I took off in the direction of Grand Canyon National Park, a cool 400 or so miles away. Until we missed the exit on Interstate 70 by about 50 miles and decided to take a detour. Well, the detour. Let's talk about the detour. The detour turned out to be this winding mountain pass partially covered with snow. No cell phone reception. No cars. No people. Nothing. 19 degrees cold. I forgot to mention the most important part - at the intersection where we decided to take that route I pointed out that we were getting low on gas. The options were to drive another 33 miles out of the way (66 roundtrip) for an assured gas fill-up or to roll the dice and take Route 72 south. Route 72 it was. Well, it got really close, but we made it without running out of gas.
Once we got past that near-calamity we continued the drive. I have to tell you that we saw some of the most beautiful, amazing, powerful scenery this country has to offer. I was loving every minute of it. To the point where I was hanging out of the car and standing in the sun roof to capture it on video. I can't wait to get it all compiled.
Now for an admission. I can't think of many things that scare me, but driving on windy roads right next to sheer drops instill the fear of God in me. My brother thought it was humorous to pretend we were going to go off the cliff, and came to a very very short stop in a turnoff. Not funny. Some of this stuff is also captured on video.
Well, I'm exhausted. It is just about 8:00 here, I've logged over 700 miles today and all I can think about is sleep. I'd love to write more but just cant do it right now.
5:15 a.m. I get out of bed and drive thirty miles to Dark Horse National Park to see the sun rise over the landscape. Thanks to the New York Times for that recommendation. It was beautiful. I was actually planning on taking a run afterward, so picture me out there in running shorts and a t-shirt with a light jacket. Turns out, at 6 in the morning, it's about 29 degrees there plus a major windchill. So, my fingers were numb as I captured the sunrise. I also took some amazing video but I don't know when I'll be able to get all of that up and running.
Coming back from the sunrise, I stopped at this really cool drive up espresso shack and got a "Shot in the Dark." This is a cup of coffee with two shots of espresso, all for $3.25. Thanks again New York Times.
From there, Greg and I took off in the direction of Grand Canyon National Park, a cool 400 or so miles away. Until we missed the exit on Interstate 70 by about 50 miles and decided to take a detour. Well, the detour. Let's talk about the detour. The detour turned out to be this winding mountain pass partially covered with snow. No cell phone reception. No cars. No people. Nothing. 19 degrees cold. I forgot to mention the most important part - at the intersection where we decided to take that route I pointed out that we were getting low on gas. The options were to drive another 33 miles out of the way (66 roundtrip) for an assured gas fill-up or to roll the dice and take Route 72 south. Route 72 it was. Well, it got really close, but we made it without running out of gas.
Once we got past that near-calamity we continued the drive. I have to tell you that we saw some of the most beautiful, amazing, powerful scenery this country has to offer. I was loving every minute of it. To the point where I was hanging out of the car and standing in the sun roof to capture it on video. I can't wait to get it all compiled.
Now for an admission. I can't think of many things that scare me, but driving on windy roads right next to sheer drops instill the fear of God in me. My brother thought it was humorous to pretend we were going to go off the cliff, and came to a very very short stop in a turnoff. Not funny. Some of this stuff is also captured on video.
Well, I'm exhausted. It is just about 8:00 here, I've logged over 700 miles today and all I can think about is sleep. I'd love to write more but just cant do it right now.
Stuck in Kansas, for a while, still.
421 miles left today. Lots down. 90 mph gets you going on your way.
Tabor can easily hit at least 120 mph. Who knew?
Speed traps successfully avoided: 4.
Time brother spent sleeping in the car: at least 4 hours.
Now, he's driving. Oh Lord. Heavy metal music. Not a fan. At all.
He also stole my sunglasses. Not cool.
More later.
421 miles left today. Lots down. 90 mph gets you going on your way.
Tabor can easily hit at least 120 mph. Who knew?
Speed traps successfully avoided: 4.
Time brother spent sleeping in the car: at least 4 hours.
Now, he's driving. Oh Lord. Heavy metal music. Not a fan. At all.
He also stole my sunglasses. Not cool.
More later.
Stuck in Kansas, for a while, still.
421 miles left today. Lots down. 90 mph gets you going on your way.
Tabor can easily hit at least 120 mph. Who knew?
Speed traps successfully avoided: 4.
Time brother spent sleeping in the car: at least 4 hours.
Now, he's driving. Oh Lord. Heavy metal music. Not a fan. At all.
He also stole my sunglasses. Not cool.
More later.
421 miles left today. Lots down. 90 mph gets you going on your way.
Tabor can easily hit at least 120 mph. Who knew?
Speed traps successfully avoided: 4.
Time brother spent sleeping in the car: at least 4 hours.
Now, he's driving. Oh Lord. Heavy metal music. Not a fan. At all.
He also stole my sunglasses. Not cool.
More later.
Apparently, I'm blogging right now... not too proud of a moment.
Leg # 1, Chicago to St. Louis to Colorado Springs, Colorado. We're going to fly through Kansas (not much to see there) so that we can enjoy more scenic areas of the country at a more relaxed pace.
Leg # 2 - Colorado Springs to the Moab Desert and Arches National Park. This park is supposed to be amazing.
Leg # 3 - Moab Desert to Grand Canyon National Park. We're going to have a half day to spend there, which is great.
Leg # 4 - Grand Canyon to Kingsman, AZ. This is a short drive so that we can have all that time at the Grand Canyon. This is near a cool town that is supposed to be one of the more authentic "Wild West" during the day type of towns. That probably just means too many tourists.
Leg # 5 - Kingsman AZ, to Ventura, CA. This leg will be long and not so fun. It's necessary because we want to drive up the Pacific Coast. So, I got a nice hotel.
Leg # 6 - Ventura, CA to San Francisco! The last leg! A beautiful drive up Route 1 on the Pacific Coast. I can't wait.
Leg # 2 - Colorado Springs to the Moab Desert and Arches National Park. This park is supposed to be amazing.Leg # 3 - Moab Desert to Grand Canyon National Park. We're going to have a half day to spend there, which is great.
Leg # 4 - Grand Canyon to Kingsman, AZ. This is a short drive so that we can have all that time at the Grand Canyon. This is near a cool town that is supposed to be one of the more authentic "Wild West" during the day type of towns. That probably just means too many tourists.
Leg # 5 - Kingsman AZ, to Ventura, CA. This leg will be long and not so fun. It's necessary because we want to drive up the Pacific Coast. So, I got a nice hotel.
Leg # 6 - Ventura, CA to San Francisco! The last leg! A beautiful drive up Route 1 on the Pacific Coast. I can't wait.
I finally spent hours coming up with some potential road trip routes to get to San Francisco. I ended up with five or six but narrowed it down to these three, all of which begin the same way and change in Utah.
The first one (above) is basically a straight shot west on what Road Trip USA calls the "Loneliest Road." This is the shortest distance and could be deceivingly nice because it takes us close to Yosemite and allows for extra time.
The second option starts out the same as the first but heads (in a wacky way) south in Utah to stop at the Grand Canyon, then back up NW toward San Francisco. This one also takes us right near Yosemite, but wouldn't allow for much time there because this is the longest route.
The third option is similar but beelines down Utah and doesn't go SE toward the grand canyon. Instead, it picks up Route 66 and heads toward Los Angeles and then up the Pacific Coast from there. If I had a guess, I'd say we're probably going to do this one.
The second option starts out the same as the first but heads (in a wacky way) south in Utah to stop at the Grand Canyon, then back up NW toward San Francisco. This one also takes us right near Yosemite, but wouldn't allow for much time there because this is the longest route.
The third option is similar but beelines down Utah and doesn't go SE toward the grand canyon. Instead, it picks up Route 66 and heads toward Los Angeles and then up the Pacific Coast from there. If I had a guess, I'd say we're probably going to do this one.
