Cross Country Adventure - Day 15 - Joshua Tree to Los Angeles

 Day 15. We'd driven more than 4,000 miles through 14 states and had just one more National Park to visit and 132 miles to drive before we would arrive at our final destination in Los Angeles. Apart from a tornado scare on the second day, the trip had gone without a hitch. Unfortunately, our luck didn't quite hold.

Cross Country Adventure - Day 14 - Flagstaff, AZ to Joshua Tree, California

 Day 14 was to be our last full day on the road before we reached Los Angeles, a day of driving through the desert, across miles and miles of uninhabited countryside. We'd planned a couple of rest stops but weren't expecting too much in the way of sights along the way, until on a whim, we decided to change our route for the latter part of the journey. With additional stop-offs the six-hour drive took us eleven hours to complete but it was well worth it.

Our first stop was only an hour out of Flagstaff in Seligman, Arizona.

Cross Country Adventure - Day 13 - The Grand Canyon

Day 13 started very early with a ninety minute drive from Flagstaff to the Grand Canyon. Our hope was that we could spend several hours at the South Rim before the worst of the heat of the day. An extra benefit of our plan was that while there were other people who had the same idea, there weren't the crowds that we had been warned about.

Cross Country Adventure - Day 11 (Part 2) - Canyonlands, Utah

Having spent the afternoon recuperating from the morning’s exertions in Arches National Park, we decided on the spur of the moment to visit nearby Canyonlands and try and catch the sunset.

Canyonlands is at the heart of the Colorado Plateau, the canyons carved by the Green and Colorado Rivers.

To our surprise, the park was almost empty. We must have come across no more than about 20 people in total during our visit. Perhaps that made it even more special as we could enjoy the grandeur without the crowds.

Cross Country Adventure - Day 8 - Raton to Evergreen, Colorado

Raton, New Mexico is so close to the southern border of Colorado that within ten minutes of leaving our motel, we had crossed into Colorado. The scenery ahead changed dramatically with rocky crags and mountain ranges looming large in the distance. 

A three hour drive north on I-25 brought us to the town of Pueblo at an elevation of 4,695 ft. We found a parking lot which must rate as one of the prettiest I’ve ever seen.  

Cross Country Adventure - Day 6 - Ozark to Elk City, Oklahoma

Given our late arrival the previous evening we decided to start the day with a quick look at the town of Ozark in the daylight. Our AirBnB was in a beautiful residential neighborhood about ten minutes from the center of town. With a population of just over three thousand, Ozark really is a small town. It only took a few minutes to walk around. 

Cross Country Adventure - Day 5 - Memphis to Ozark, AR

Day 5, we got off to an early start as we planned to spend a few hours in Little Rock en route to Ozark, Arkansas. After driving through an industrial area west of Memphis we crossed the Mississippi into Arkansas. Flat farmlands stretched for miles in all directions. Needing to fill up the gas tank we came off the I-40 at Forrest City, where we spotted an interesting looking cafe and decided to have a breakfast. 

Charming Small Towns - Watkins Glen, NY

As mentioned in an earlier blog, my visit to Watkins Glen in upstate New York was planned solely to see the Gorge. I knew nothing else about the town so imagine my delight to discover that there was a lot more to it than also just being a reasonably convenient place to stay for two nights en route to and from Niagara.

September Road Trip No. 4 - Chatauqua Lake and Route 17, NY

While our outward journey to Howell, Michigan from New York offered the delights of Brookville, PA, we also had to contend with hours on interstates so busy with trucks that often it seemed as if we were the only car. Pennsylvania is a wide state to drive across and, after several hundred miles of driving on relatively straight tree-lined roads, the scenery, while initially attractive, began to get a little monotonous.

September Road Trip No. 3 - Brookville, PA and Gold Eagle Inn

One of the joys of travel by road is chancing on some place that you never knew existed, whether it is a small town, a restaurant or a sight worth seeing. Of course, there’s also the possibility that you will be disappointed by your choice of stops, and I’ve certainly made a few mistakes in the past, but fortunately that wasn’t the case on my third road trip in September which took us from Westchester, New York to Howell in Michigan.

September Road Trip No 2 - Blue Mountain Brewery and The Skyline Drive

One of the pleasures of taking two-lane highways rather than interstates is the opportunity to stop on a whim because you have chanced upon something that you would have missed entirely on the interstate. On my return trip from Greensboro, NC to New York, I found several reasons to do just that.  

September Road Trip No. 1 - Staunton and the Blue Ridge Parkway, Va.

Some people might think that spending eight days on the road in one month was not their idea of fun, especially when other faster options exist for getting from A to B, but for me the journey is an integral part of the experience of travel and whenever possible I would chose land over air travel. Of course, time and cost factors always play a part in the calculation of which is the best means of getting to any destination, but in September I was lucky enough to be able to indulge in two road trips.

Remembering Childhood Passions

When was the last time you tried a favorite childhood activity that you’ve ignored since reaching adulthood?

Recently I went for a bike ride, something I had not done for many years despite it being my major form of transport in my early/mid teens when I used to cycle to school, to friends’ houses and to the beach. I don’t remember any conscious decision to stop cycling but I guess as college replaced school and socializing became geared towards evening entertainment in the city, cycling became less practical. As is the way in big families, the bicycle, which had been passed onto me from an older sibling, was then passed onto a younger sibling, and I never felt the need to buy a new one.

Roads Less Traveled

In the New York Times last Sunday, the travel section featured an article ‘To See America, Be a Traveler, Not a Tourist’, which focused on the pleasures to be gained from leaving the interstates and taking the back roads.

Woodstock Middle Bridge, Vermont - you wouldn't see this on the interstate!

As someone who often takes back roads rather than major highways even while doing daily chores, this article resonated with me.