Off the Road #2

Road-tripping cross-country is a unique experience. Everyone should do it at least once. I do enjoy a long haul when it's just me and the road. Me and the wife and three kids and the road is about as close to hell you can get without adding a roadside breakdown. My biggest fear was a tire blowing out crossing the desert with nothing in sight for miles. Made my way following Route 66/I-40 back east. Ran the whole way sans A/C so's to keep the engine Hamsters happy. First major stop: The Meteor Crater outside Flagstaff, AZ.

Click for Panoramic

I had always wanted to see this for myself since Starman. Proof there are rocks in outer space and they intend to destroy us.

Me and the Rock. No relation to Dwayne Johnson.

Next day, next stop was at the Famous Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo, TX. I almost missed it until I spotted a group of cars and campers parked alongside a field. Then I noticed the path with the cars nosediving into the Texas prairie. One fast exit later:

The majority of the trip was pretty non-eventful with a few scattered bright spots like the Route 66 Casino, The Arizona Forests with shuttle service to the Grand Canyon, that giant mesa sitting on top of Albuquerque, NM, and the rock-caves on the NM border.

It was good to get home. Even took a quick trip around UNT and got a look at all the new expansions in the past 15 years. If there was a parking lot space then it's covered with a building now. The Flying Tomato and Jim's Diner are gone. A big empty waiting for a brand-new soulless CVS or something else banal. Some new spots on the strip but obviously a page has turned.