Road-Trip!™ Photos - Travelling Along I-40

 Cherokee Trading Center - Oklahoma

 New Mexico

 New Mexico

 Breakfast at the Turquoise Room - Winslow AZ

Safe Arrival -- Phoenix

Road-Trip!™ Day Five: Albuquerque, NM - Phoenix, AZ

                           Image via Wikipedia

We stayed on Central time rather than Mountain time, and went to bed early. Actually, it was more like Eastern time.

This enabled us to get up bright and early and head west with the first morning light and then the rising sun at our backs. The magnificent buttes of New Mexico gave way to Arizona, but the wonderful I-40 speed of 75 mph was maintained in Arizona -- way to go, Arizona!

Got to The Turquoise Room in Winslow just in time for second breakfast. The breakfast meal was indescribably delicious -- perfection. I had the Arizona Green Chile Eggs and my wife had the Corn Maiden. I wrote on the Comment card, "it was worth the 4-hour drive from Albuquerque for breakfast".  And it was!

From Winslow over to Flagstaff, and from there good-bye to our two days on I-40 and the I-17 drive south into Phoenix.

It was -4 C. when we left Albuquerque and +28 when we arrived in Phoenix.

Phoenix - we have arrived.

We've got two new dogs; they love it here!

I'll do a trip summary in a day or so and try to post some pics.

Road-Trip!™ Day Four: Oklahoma City - Albuquerque, NM

We hit the road around 8 am.

Oklahoma gave way to Texas, and we hit Amarillo around noon. Decided to skip the Big Texan, although I'm sure I'll live to regret it -- delicious steaks! Pushed on through to the other side of Texas and into New Mexico.  Central timezone gave way to Mountain time, and the 70 mph Texas highway speeds were bumped up to 75 -- way to go, New Mexico!

The weather warmed up. It got as high as 19 C. before tapering off due to elevation and the late-afternoon sun.

We arrived in Albuquerque at 5pm local time and got a $60 coupon deal at a Hampton Inn.

Dinner at Pappadeaux -- great for seafood; we split a $20 seafood mixed grill plate. Delicious!

Tomorrow, Lord willing, we push on to Phoenix via Winslow Arizona and a must-stop meal at the Turquoise Room in the historic La Posada Hotel.

And that's the way travelling the Ball bounces.

Road-Trip!™ Day Three: St. Louis - Oklahoma City

 Image by Ravencrest Travel via Flickr

Missouri was cold and the freshly-fallen snow blanketed the fields deep and crisp and even. The snow continued on well into northern Oklahoma.

Worst early-morning moment: "If you're going out to the car, could you bring me in one of my shirts?".  "What shirts? I haven't seen any of your shirts in the car".

D'oh!

Oklahoma turned out to be the weather-hinge-state on this trip. When we stopped at the Welcome Center in northern Oklahoma I was still fully bundled for the cold. The next stop, I pumped gas without the coat. The stop after that one I ditched the hat. It was zero degrees C. when we entered the state, and 12 by the time we got to Oklahoma City.

75 mph is a great highway speed -- way to go, Oklahoma!

Worst sight on road: the Missouri driver in the van beside me, who had his lower plate (of teeth) out in his left hand.

We're staying at the Comfort Suites. The ground-floor pipes had frozen and the fire department was onsite figuring what to do about it.

Tomorrow: Oklahoma City - Santa Rosa, New Mexico


Related articles

• Oklahoma storm: Snow possible in Oklahoma City area today - NewsOK.com (news.google.com)
• Massive winter system threatens Midwest cities (cnn.com)

Road-Trip!™ Day Two: Dayton - St. Louis

        Image by afagen via Flickr

An easy day of driving. Two hours west from Dayton to Indianapolis. Indianapolis south to Effingham IL, and then on to St. Louis. Staying at the Fenton MO Drury Inn. Landmark: the St. Louis Arch - gateway to the west!

Restaurant destination event: Steak 'N Shake for 1/2 price shake 2pm - 4pm.  I arrived promptly at 2 pm.  When I didn't get the 1/2 price discount, the guy pointed to the clock on the wall-- it was just past 1pm CST, not 2pm EST.

D'oh!

Most interesting sign:
      
AVOID HELL
REPENT
ACCEPT JESUS

Works for me.

Tomorrow: St. Louis to Oklahoma City.

And that's the way the ball bounces.

Road-Trip!™ Day One: Toronto - Dayton

      Image by joeldinda via Flickr

No big lines crossing at Sarnia/Port Huron.

Today's destination meal™: stopped at Bob Evans in Port Huron for Bob's biscuits and gravy. Reaction: "I'm so glad I'm livin' in the USA!"

Breezed through the burned out husk of Detroit (just kidding  -- see Steyn Online for the latest blow-back on his Detroit rants) and on down past Toledo to Dayton and the fabulous Drury Inn Dayton North.

Drury Inn Kick-Back at 5:30!

Most interesting sign at gas station on way: "Prepay in Advance"

Prepay. O-K. In advance. Yikes!  My head just pre-exploded... in advance!

Don't miss a day in this exciting road-trip adventure. Tune in tomorrow for: Dayton - St. Louis

And that's the way the exploding Ball bounces.