Going SouthWest
November 27th
– December 2nd 2013
Wednesday. 27
New
York City, NY – Roanoke, VA
(482 miles)
Packed from the day before.
Weather forecast: really horrible, rain, snow.
Bad sleeps for both of us. I was up at 4:30.
6.30 move all the stuff to the hallway of the building
(two flights of stairs).
The car was in the garage next door. Light rain.
Pack it pretty quickly and easily.
Leave to drop the keys. Wrong turn. Right turn on red.
Stopped and got ticket (right turn on red not legal in
the city).
Heavy rain. Leave the city – bitter feelings.
New Jersey. Twice wrong turn.
Almost crashed by merging pick up truck (19 seconds of
honking).
Some rain. Some snow. Some sleet.
The weather still pretty fine – not the “Armageddon”
from weather forecast.
New York State, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, West
Virginia. Virginia.
Dark. Cloudy. Really sad.
Lots of large crosses in Virginia.
Really goofy looking squirrel at one rest stop in West
Virginia.
2.99 gasoline in Virginia.
In many ways quite bitter day.
In some/many ways fine day – we arrived safely and can
continue on the road.
Thursday.
Thanksgiving Day. 28
Roanoke,
VA – Nashville, TN
(438 miles)
Desire to explore Roanoke, VA – there was some run and
many streets were closed.
We left. 581 and then 81 freeways.
Cold. Sunny. Blue sky.
Around the road: snowy landscape (thin layer of snow).
Pretty country.
Few practical stops, nothing special.
Giant guitar as a house/restaurant – strange
(Tennessee).
Knoxville – apparently famous Market Square (according
to travel brochure) – deserted and actually smaller city square
with nice park. Oh well …
Driving, driving, and driving.
Nashville, TN – motel, walk to Waffle House for
“dinner” - bad choice.
Nothing special.
Friday. 29
Nashville,
TN – Roland, OK
(523 miles)
Cold morning.
Bitter taste from the last night “dinner” as we passed WH.
Drive through Nashville.
Some interesting parts. Deserted (relatively early morning).
Some less interesting parts, even ugly parts (industrial, abandoned).
All together – nothing really special.
Drive to Memphis. Long and tedious. Drive. Drive.
Memphis – BBQ restaurant. Lunch – very, very tasty.
Less desired areas of Memphis.
Downtown Memphis – Beale street (pedestrian only).
We drove around few times looking for parking. Finally parked.
We saw Mississippi river. Boats. Big river.
Walk along Beale street few blocks – like mix of Las Vegas and New
Orleans.
Again, the description was overselling it.
Main street with a trolley – nice, empty, strange.
Leave. Drive. Drive. Nothing special.
Really long and tedious state.
Quick detour to Little Rock – nothing interesting found.
Again: long and tedious drive.
Cross the state line and finish the day.
We were in Oklahoma.
Saturday. 30
Roland,
OK – Amarillo, TX
(445 miles)
Cooler but finally not freezing (like couple previous
days).
Slow morning – drive Oklahoma.
Few practical stops.
Nothing special – long, tedious, boring.
Oklahoma City.
Botanical garden park – new building (did not go in),
ice ring, big pond, really great place, bunch of koi fish visible
from the bridge (great).
Pleasant temperature. Nice people.
Walk through Bricktown (downtown area). Nice. Relatively
empty.
Banjo museum. Looked pretty new. So many banjos.
Drive by capitol building.
Pleasant town.
Unending drive to Texas.
Texaco – apparently ghost town – just goofy place.
We saw cotton fields.
Boring Oklahoma.
Boring Texas.
Amarillo – looking pretty sad.
Barbeque restaurant – dinner (really good).
Motel – night in Texas.
Sunday. 1
Amarillo,
TX – Gallup, NM
(445 miles)
Normal morning. Ugly town of Amarillo.
Really boring Texas.
Really long drive to Albuquerque.
Just few practical stops. Otherwise just drive.
Time changed.
City of Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Average, nothing very interesting found.
Old town square – apparently “must do” in town.
Found – highly disappointing.
Smaller square (spanish/mexican style). Buildings
around.
Restaurant and shops for tourists.
Oh well …
Kind of sad. We felt disappointed again. And again.
We had plenty of time so we decided to do a detour.
El Morro National Monument.
In the middle of nowhere. Nice road.
Pass Continental divide (I had to turn around for a
picture).
Decent weather.
Cooler and empty. Visitor center.
Two mile walk around inscription in the rock.
To the top of the rock and see ruins (I believe Navajo,
maybe).
Excellent view, quiet and peaceful.
We were happy for this detour.
Finally something pretty and enjoyable.
Another hour on the road to get to Gallup.
Last night on the road.
Monday. 2
Gallup,
NM – Phoenix, AZ
(286 miles)
Not much. Outside by seven o'clock. Motel still asleep.
Leave.
Cold (freezing), foggy, dark – so depressing.
Leaving so early so we could unpack and settle some.
Internet installation as well.
Driving and driving and driving.
About 80 miles, Holbrook – gas and gas station
breakfast.
Left I-40.
Fog again – interesting (spooky) view.
Nothing special – just driving.
J. had to take some test for the hospital.
The landscape changes, hills: up and down.
The city – greater Phoenix area.
Arrived. Paperwork and keys.
No furniture. The place smelled like cigarettes.
Phone calls. Looking around. Waiting.
Apparently some residual smell from the apartment below.
Furniture. Internet. J. lost her test (about two hours).
God bless technology (smiley sad face).
Finally in and unpacked (3.45 pm).
Mexican “fast food” restaurant. Pretty spicy hot.
Groceries. Shoes. Getting dark.
The apartment. Clean up, unpacking.
J. had to do some additional papers etc.
Probably the worst arrival day so far (too bad).
