Day 4: Drove Through the Desert in a Car with No Name

Today was supposed to be our shortest day driving, but turned out to be the longest. Even though we were just there a few years ago, we just couldn’t resist the lure of the Grand Canyon. So we took a slight detour (an hour in the wrong direction) for lunch. We stopped at the El Tovar, a beautiful historic hotel, and had lunch in the restaurant. Got lucky and scored a table right by the window. Just can’t beat the view!

Afterwards, we strolled along the Canyon ledge for a few minutes. Last time we were here, there were Elk all over the place. This time we didn’t see a single one. The weather couldn’t have been better, though. Like Flagstaff, the temperature was in the mid-70s and, of course, there was a great breeze.

You just have to marvel and praise God for His handiwork every time you look out over the Canyon. It’s one of those things you never get tired of seeing. Absolutely amazing! You just can’t do it justice with a picture, though I’ll admit you can do a better job these days with the iPhone’s panoramic feature. That one turned out pretty good.

Then it was back in the car for the now longer drive to LA. As predicted, cell service in this part of the country was spotty to non-existent. Luckily, I’d put aside some projects that didn’t require internet. Though I did have to reschedule one conference call.

Once we left the lush greenery of the Grand Canyon, it was back to the desert. Scrub brush, rocks, plateaus, and long, long trains. It didn’t take us too long to get out of Arizona before we finally crossed into California! Which was a route we’ve never taken before. Our two previous cross-country trips included a jaunt up to Las Vegas. No time this trip!

Now, people talk about New York and LA being the meccas of urban living. Which is true. But you can drive out of NYC and in less than an hour it’s as rural as they come: mountains, forests, and small towns spread far apart. I’m here to tell you that California is exactly the same, if not more so.

We drove for hours, and hours, and hours through the desert. Not a sandy desert, but rocky and dry with lots of good-sized hills and scrub brush. We finally reached the end of 40 in Barstow (I expected to see a mile marker, but didn’t), which was our first sign of civilization. And we were only around 90 minutes outside of LA. We were less than an hour from Glendale before we were finally out of the desert for good.

The sun was just going down when we reached Victorville, the next town. We swung through In-N-Out Burger (shockingly, our very first time) for a quick bite before making the final leg. We were stunned at just how busy that place was. Even after 8:00 pm, the drive through line went all the way around the parking lot (and it was a BIG parking lot). We were going to get some gas next door, but when we left, we couldn’t turn into the gas station because of all the cars. By then they were lined up down the side street.

The upside of our detour to the Grand Canyon was that had we stuck to our original schedule, we would have gotten to LA around 6:00 pm when the traffic was the worst. Even close to 9:00 it wasn’t too busy, but still crazy. I wasn’t going slow by any means, but people were flying around us left and right. It was quite a relief when we finally got off the highway and pulled into the City of Angels.

After four days, many hours, and nearly 3000 miles, we finally made it to LA! Tomorrow we start apartment hunting!

Day 3: Standing on a Crater in Winslow, Arizona

Today was our longest day on the road, which was partially remedied by the fact that we crossed two time zones (sort of). We left Shamrock around 9:30 and it didn’t take us too long to reach New Mexico and Mountain Time.

The landscape soon gave way to wide-open vistas of rocks, plateaus, desert, and tumbleweeds. The towns got further and further apart. And smaller.

We took a quick detour through Tucumcari, where we’d spent the night 18 years ago on our first cross-country trip. The main road is part of historic Route 66, so it was cool seeing some of the old motels and shops, some of which are still open. Others the ghosts of days long past.

We sort of crossed another time zone when we reached Arizona. Technically, it’s still Mountain Time, but they don’t practice Daylight Savings Time, so right now they’re the same as Pacific. Therefore, when we actually change time zones again tomorrow (Pacific), the time will still be the same.

Even after we crossed into Arizona, we still had many hours of driving to go. Marsha contemplated driving up to the Grand Canyon for dinner at the El Tovar, but it’s 90 minutes in the wrong direction. And they didn’t have any tables available until after 9:00 pm. Now she’s thinking about going there tomorrow instead of straight to LA. So much for the shorter drive tomorrow.

We were almost to Flagstaff when we kept seeing billboard after billboard for Meteor Crater, which is “the largest and best preserved meteorite crater in the world.” We were a little tired after all that driving, but decided to stop anyway. Since our goal is to just get to LA by Friday, we haven’t taken much time for sightseeing and diversions. So, we stopped to check out Meteor Crater.

They have a great little museum all about meteors, how the crater was actually determined to be from a meteor impact (and not a volcanic crater), and how they’ve studied it and used the data to identify other meteor impact craters. And reclassify some that were actually volcanic.

After we checked into the hotel (the nicest Hampton Inn we’ve ever seen; it reminds us of the Wilderness Lodge) and then drove to downtown Flagstaff for dinner. The main road there is also a part of historic Route 66, but the complete opposite of Tucumcari. It’s a thriving thoroughfare with a good selection of old motels still in business, mixed in with chain restaurants, a giant Barnes & Noble, and more.

We loved downtown Flagstaff, which is very quaint and filled with lots of great shops and restaurants. We had an excellent dinner at The Market Place, then checked out an old historic hotel (also a restaurant and bar) from the late 1800s that still had much of its original charm.

The thing that really surprised us, though, was the temperature. It’s been averaging about 99 degrees every day (it’s a dry heat), and cooling down just enough at night to be comfortable. But Flagstaff was borderline chilly. It had dropped to the mid-70s. Warm, but just barely. Especially after we’ve been sweating all day.

Tomorrow is the final leg! We’ll see if it involves a big detour or not.

Day 2: The Stars at Night Are Big and Bright

We are officially halfway across the country!

This morning we were a little slower getting up than we’d planned. We’d thought about going by the giant pyramid, but spent too much time looking up Disneyland tickets (next week!), and left the hotel later than we’d planned.

Leaving Memphis, we stopped for breakfast at McDonalds and were surprised to find one of the early ones with the arch built into the building. The inside was completely modern, but the outside was so cool I had to get out and take a picture. I kept expecting Michael Keaton to run out and urge me to buy a milkshake.

Traffic today went from good to great to nonexistent. Mostly just us and a lot of trucks. Today was our only four state day. We started in Tennessee (just barely), then drove through Arkansas where we experienced our only hiccup. I was in the wrong lane when the highway split in Little Rock and couldn’t get over because of the trucks. We went off in the wrong direction and had to backtrack a bit to get back on I-40. It was rather confusing, so thank goodness for GPS!

The rest of the day was smooth sailing. We marveled at the many windmills in Oklahoma (as we always do in this part of the country). Lots of flat farmland and the occasional hill. Just beautiful.

Last cross-country trip I noted in which states the farmers rolled their hay as opposed to baling it in rectangular blocks. Thus far, I’ve only seen rolls. But I also haven’t been driving the whole time either, which feels odd. Managed to work a full day again, though we hit our first patch of poor cell service. Tomorrow I’m planning some tasks that don’t require internet.

Our stop for the night was Shamrock, Texas. We’d thought about going to Amarillo, but thought it might be too far. Probably not, but we were still ready to stop for the night. We’d wanted to eat when we got here (steak in Texas!), but didn’t want to eat that late, so we just ran through Taco Bell. Not quite the same thing.

The billboards for Shamrock boasted their link to the movies (Cast Away), so we looked up their most famous landmark, the U-Drop Inn, which is a historic landmark from Route 66 and the inspiration for a building in Cars. It used to be a gas station and cafe (sadly, no longer an actual cafe), and was lovingly restored to be a visitor’s center. What I thought was most interesting was that they had old-fashioned gas pumps on one side (like the cafe, just for show) and Tesla charging stations on the other. How times have changed.

We’d rerouted our trip to the hotel just to see it. Turns out it was right next door to our hotel. We could have walked!

Day 1: Go West, Young Woman

Madison graduated from college (ahhh!!!) and, just like one of her idols, Walt Disney, she’s heading to LA with “a suitcase and a dream.” Plus a car full of stuff and a six month internship.

She needs a car in LA, since to be without “is like having your legs cut off,” to quote Joe Gillis. We thought briefly (very briefly) about shipping her car, but with all her stuff, too, we ultimately decided to just make the drive.

This is our THIRD time driving across the country, but our first time where the goal is just to get there. And in less than a week. I plotted it out multiple ways, but we finally decided to just break it up into four equal 9-10 hour days. The challenge is that the further west you go, the smaller the towns. And further apart. The easy part is that we just get on I-40 and keep driving to the end.

We left this morning about 9:30. We’d considered leaving earlier, but I didn’t want to rush out in a panic and likely forget something. For that reason, departure went very smoothly.

Marsha and I are both working in the car to conserve vacation days for when we get there and go apartment hunting. We look a bit like the Beverly Hillbillies (and heading to the same location, no less!) with so much crammed in the car.

We’re also taking turns driving, so that makes it more of a challenge to work. Day 1 went well, but I suspect we’ll have to take a half day or two when we get out West and the cell service isn’t as good.

The drive itself went well today. We drove in a monsoon through Nashville and lost some time having to slow down. Plus there was the Nashville traffic. But I managed to keep up with every time the highway split off (chock that one up to experience) and was glad.

We made it to Memphis around 7:30 and had dinner at Rondezvous, which is famous for its dry rub ribs. And I do not exaggerate on the famous part. They told us people driving down 40 pull off to eat there (we did) and I think there was a bus load leaving when we did, too. We’d eaten there many years ago on a previous trip to Memphis and just had to go back!

Afterwards, we walked down to Beale Street for just a minute. They had it blocked off for a car show. It reminds me a lot of Broadway in Nashville. Then we strolled through the lobby of the Peabody. Too late to see the ducks, but that is one beautiful hotel!

And we were stunned to see a giant, life-size pyramid which is actually a Bass Pro Shop! Marsha had to look that one up. We were tempted to stop just out of curiosity, but it was getting late and we have another long day in the car tomorrow!