June 27 - July 6, 2018:
The travel day was going perfectly (the woman across the aisle from me who warned the flight attendant that she might get sick actually didn’t) until I received a text on arrival in Denver about a three hour delay on my scheduled noon time flight to Newark. I attempted to fly standby on the next flight but didn’t make the cut. After hours of boredom, much walking around the airport for something to do and a nice lunch the plane departed around 4 PM only to be held on the runway for another 3/4 hour of air traffic delay blamed on Newark, NJ weather. The good part was that due to the delay, many passengers had changed flights and the plane was half empty. As a result, I was able to change seats to an open row and stretch out a bit. The flight was then put into a holding pattern about an hour from Newark due the Newark weather or traffic congestion. After landing at 11 PM, getting my luggage, catching the Air Train to the Train Station, taking the train to Princeton Junction and then a cab to Hightstown, it was 2 AM when I arrive at the house, it was a long tiring day.
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| The only thing I like about flying is the view |
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| The drainage patterns in the mountain and the crop circles and fields in the valley were special |
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| The sunset light in the clouds was special too ! |
I have no car so I take a short walk to downtown Hightstown for lunch at the Hightstown Diner, make a stop at Quata-pan for my favorite Guatemalan bakery items and take a walk along the shores of Peddie Lake. I am thinking that the town is looking especially good, with everything being so lush and green, flowers blooming, birds chirping and even water flowing.
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| A little monsoon like rain shower in front of the house |
I was here last at the end of February so get my 38 Dodge out of storage and drive it back to Tucson. That was another quick visit where I didn't have time to do much else but prepare the car for the trip. On that trip I drove a more southerly route to avoid winter weather, on this trip I will angle southwest on a shorter route. My general route will be route 95 south to I-40 to I-30 to I-20 to I-10.
I pick the rental truck up on Friday afternoon and then the fun of loading the truck starts. It’s a difficult load of odd furniture pieces, lots of boxes and plastic containers and far too many heavy old Dodge parts and tools. The majority of the loading takes place on Saturday with the help of my son Jeremy and granddaughter Sierra. I didn't take any photos, don't want to be reminded of that. The Budget rental truck seems a little rough, has a burnt oil smell in the cab, many scraps and dents, it doesn't appear to have had any prep or cleaning before giving it to me. It does seems to run well, but I don't have a lot of confidence in it.
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| Happy to report that it made the 2,340 mile trip without incident |
I spend the balance of the weekend at the house of my son Jeremy’s girlfriend, Christine, in Old Bridge, New Jersey. We went on Saturday evening to Asbury Park for dinner on the boardwalk, it was nice to see the ocean, nothing like it in Tucson ! We also went on Sunday to dinner at Bahrs Landing Restaurant in Atlantic Highlands. The New Jersey beaches, beach towns and boardwalk areas are pretty special and I will miss them. A good excuse to make frequent trips back to see family in the future.
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My son Jeremy, granddaughter Sierra, Christine and her three
children on the Asbury Park Boardwalk |
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Christine has a very nice pool complex in her development
and we used it on Sunday as it was almost 100 degrees |
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| Sierra is loving the water |
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| Jeremy and Sierra in the pool |
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| Bahrs Landing Restaurant in Atlantic Highlands, NJ |
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| Jeremy, Sierra and I on the dock |
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| Sierra, Jeremy and Christine on the dock |
I actually get on the road about 9 AM on Monday taking the NJ Turnpike to route 95 south and routes 495, 66 and 81 to Roanoke, Virgina. It was a stressful 438 mile drive in heavy traffic with a couple of added road delays due to accidents and construction.
I made a hotel reservation along the route at a Days Inn in Roanoke. The hotel looked great in the photos on Expedia, but once there it looked more like a welfare hotel. There was a police car leaving from the back parking area, a guy was at the desk asking what they were doing about his wallet that was stolen from a car a day earlier, a woman was in the parking lot screaming obscenities at someone for taking her car, a few sleazy types were walking around and the first room they gave me had a toilet that wouldn't flush. If I wasn’t so exhausted, I would have left to find another place. I was more concerned with the security of the truck so I parked it in plain view under a light for the night.
In almost every bad situation, there is something good and in this situation it was that I could walk a half mile to the downtown area. Downtown Roanoke is actually pretty cool with several pubs and restaurants, impressive buildings and shops. I went to a popular local chain called Jack Browns Beer and Burger for a burger, it’s a college hangout and the burger was excellent. Around the corner at another cafe, the Fork in the Market, a few musicians were playing outside and they were really good, I hung out for a while to listen, but needing to get an early start in the morning soon left. Unfortunately, it was a nervous restless nights sleep with near by doors opening and closing throughout the night and the sound of people talking outside.
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Downtown Roanoke is nice, the H & C Coffee
sign lights up at night |
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| The Fork in the Market cafe |
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| Roanoke is a old railroad town with much history |
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| Inside Jack Browns Beer and Burger Joint |
Day 2 and I don’t feel as rested as I wanted to be as I get on the road at 7:15 for the 424 mile ride on routes 81 and I-40 to Mt Juliet, TN. The ride parralells the Smokey Mountains for a ways, it was a beautiful ride with dense morning fog in the valleys. I pass so many historical and scenic places I want to explore, but no time for that, I have a schedule to maintain and must be in Tucson by Friday PM.
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| Visibility was limited in a few places |
Mt Juliet is a superb of Nashville and I really wanted to drive downtown for a quick tour but it’s not easy driving and parking the rental truck. I had reserved a much nicer Quality In and Suites Hotel which happened to be next door to a favorite comfort food restaurant of mine, the Cracker Barrel. The dining crowd there is always interesting, usually on the heavier side and pretty folksy. Afterwards, I realize that I had left my iPhone charger cord at the last motel and my phone is almost dead. The clerk at the hotel desk tells me there is a Best Buy across the highway so off I go to buy a very overpriced charger.
After a good nights sleep and a quick continental breakfast I am off at 7 AM on day # 3. Today it’s from Mount Juliet for 509 miles on routes I-40 and I-30 to Texarkana, Texas. The ride is all Tennessee and Arkansas bypassing both Memphis, TN and Little Rock, AK). Again there were so many places I wanted to stop along the way and couldn’t, it kills me. I stay at a good hotel located right on the border between Texas and Arkansas. Texarkana is another interesting town straddling the Arkansas-Texas border with several tourist attractions.
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| Unfortunately, I had to bypass both Memphis and Little Rock |
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| Going over the Mississippi River |
On day # 4 I take I-30 and I-20 across Texas and around Dalles for 519 miles to Odessa, Texas. The last 100 miles is increasingly oil field country, mostly barren and ugly. I wanted to continue past Odessa to Pecos for the night but when I checked for a hotel the prices were crazy expensive. The prices in Odessa were also high, it seems like the area hotels are taking advantage of the oil boom business workers. The Fairfield Inn and Suites was very nice, a better hotel than I normally spring for just to sleep overnight. I was also able to walk about a 1/2 mile to a restaurant called "Twin Peaks eats - drinks - scenic views", The scenic views appeared to be the scantily dressed young attractive women bartenders and waitresses who were displaying much flesh. My salad was very good, the beer was cold and I liked the scenery.
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| Seems a little sexist to me ? |
I start my 5th and final travel day with 607 miles to go on routes I-20 and I-10, I seem to be traveling more miles every day. The Permian Basin oil field area in this part of Texas is huge, it just keeps going on and on, it’s about the size of the state of New Jersey. Yesterday I rode about 100 miles along it and thought it would end outside Odessa. No way, it continues another 100 miles and there is new drilling everywhere along the route. The highway, I-20 is congested with oil field work trucks. It’s a dirty, nasty business that should be phased out, sooner than latter, but there are a lot of people and politicians making barrels of money prolonging that today. Future generations will someday talk about how stupid and greedy the people of the early 21st century were, similar to the people who cut most of the old growth forests down in the 1800’s. That’s a strong statement from a nostalgic person, like me, who loves the sound of the internal combustion engine. I was happy to leave this area and start climbing into the mountains of New Mexico and leave the oil stench behind. I wanted to get some photos of the oil fields and associated trash but no time for that on this trip.
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| A full service drug store in Odessa |
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| I would have liked to see the Meteor Crater |
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| But all I saw were hundreds and hundreds of miles of oil fields |
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Somewhere along the route I took an exit and found this crazy
flame paint job that might improve the buildings appearance ? |
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I rode through Sierra Blanca, Texas where I had made an
emergency repair on my 38 Dodge on the earlier cross country
trip back in February |
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| I parked with the big rigs at this Arizona rest stop |
It was a relief to get safely back to Tucson in this rather beat rental truck. The highways are jammed with aggressive drivers these days and it’s a bit scary at times. The lyrics to Bruce Springsteens "Born to Run" song always come to mind; "The highways are jammed with broken heroes on a last chance power drive". Going through El Paso, Texas at mid day through miles and miles of construction activity with everyone running a 60 MPH in narrow, curvy, congested lanes was especially white knuckle experience. I did what the profession big rig drivers do, get in a middle lane and stay there driving at a reasonable speed to avoid all the lane changers.
After almost six years of full time RV travel, which was an incredible adventure, I am pretty much done with the full time RV thing. I am actually starting to dislike the big rigs, the crowded campgrounds, the reservation systems, it becomes a grind after a while.
That being said, I still have many roads and towns left to explore and plan to continue doing that in the future, but in a downsized form, yet to be determined.
Hasta la vista,
Twinkles and Slick
