When I first started planning this adventure, the drive west was my biggest apprehension. 27 hours of driving and 1800 miles was a lot…. And I wasn’t sure how long it would take.
And then I invited my friend Cat to join me, and the apprehension lessened, because I had someone to share the driving load with. We thought it would take us two and a half days to get to the Grand Canyon, well, it’s 10pm on Monday night (1am EST), and we left Asheville yesterday at 9:15 am. So in 40 hours, we drove 1800 miles, through seven states. It didn’t feel like we pushed that hard. We stopped frequently, had a couple of sit down meals, and even took a break to get an oil change in New Mexico. We could have stopped at more tourist trap type spots, but the Cadillac Ranch was enough for me (and the New Mexico version of South of the Border we stopped at for a Route 66 sticker for Louise!).
Highlights and lowlights of the journey:
- Stopping for dinner in Conway, Arkansas (I do not recommend this if you are passing through on a Sunday night… everything was out of business or closed!). Discovering that it was the Toad Suck Capital made it worth the trouble. And no, I don’t know what a Toad Suck is, but it made me laugh!
- The Cadillac Ranch was super cheesy, and much smaller in person, but a great place to stretch our legs and get high on the paint fumes.
- There are NO POKEMONS in Oklahoma OR Texas. And I searched for them at every gas station and rest area there was!
- Speaking of Oklahoma, the only ethnic food we found at any truck stop was Indian food.
- Also, Oklahoma was the only state without dozens (millions?) of billboards for “Adult Superstores”
- We slept next to a really cool homebuilt teardrop camper at a rest area in Oklahoma last night!
- The sun was setting as we crossed into Arizona, so I have to wait until morning to smile at the state I grew up in. The weather is perfect, and our campsite, a Wal Mart parking lot in Flagstaff, will be perfect for tonight and allow us to get to the Grand Canyon by lunchtime. My pro-Union self won’t set foot in the store or buy any of their wares, but I appreciate a safe place to sleep!
Teardrops & Ales 