What to do when you boss says "Yes. You can take your 3 weeks of vacation at once"

[Gots2pitt.. Jeff 64]

Ok, I am caught up now. Amazing pictures, I really need to get out west some time.

[Katman1356...Jason 1,140]

This is soooo awesome Jason!!! Those big sky pictures speak to me!!!!

It is amazing how bigthe world seems out there with nothin to break the horizon up.

Great updates. Sometimes unplanned detours really are the best.

Absolutely!

The Roswell Museum looks interesting but the Bottomless Lake area is just breathtaking! Great update, Jason!

Of all the places on this trip, it remains one of my favorites.

Great report, Jason! I've travelled out west several times, and I think its just beautiful! I need to get my daughters out there soon.

On a side note, my in-laws live outside Harrisburg. Mere minutes from Hershey. If anyone ever needs a chocolate shake from Hershey, send me a few bucks.. I'll gladly stop and get one for you, and tell you all about it...

Thanks Todd. I am sure Silvia would appreciate that. :rofl3:

I am so enjoying this report! This is something I would never be able to do. I have a difficult time driving an hour and find it hard to be the rider for 2 hours. Can barely make it to the fort and back without going stir crazy. I can read along and pretend I'm there with you!

Enjoy the scenery!

Great scenic shots! You're Roswell photos are out of this world! Sorry, couldn't resist!

Love it!

I love pistachios, and have never seen a pistachio farm.

I am not a big fan of pistachios but she was in heaven.

No, that does not look like a foot! (you told me to say that!) ;D

Thank you for listening and paying attention. :laugh:

Loving your report. We have made that West Texas trip to Roswell and can relate to the lack of gas stations, or anything else for that matter. My DD used to live in Artisa NM, about half way between Roswell and Calsbab Caverns.It was an interesting place to live.

There really is nothing out there until you hit a city or town. Then you have a couple of miles of life before you are alone again. This does make the nightime views amazing.

Wow!! -- a TR of what is a dream trip for me. The rest of my family has talked about going to Roswell sometime (I'm not so big on aliens). My older DS would love the giant pistachio, esp. if he could eat it. He's adicted but pistachios are expensive.

In Hershey did you go on the free ride in the visitor center? Very Disney like with the singing cows. Plus you get a free chocolate bar at the end. We have been known to detour 40 miles or so from our route to go through Hershey and ride it twice.

Believe me Seals, the state park is almost enough for a trip to Roswell. My bumper sticker from there takes it the rest of the way. I will post a pic later.

Jason-

Awesome job!

I especially enjoyed the sunrise over Roswell photo!

Good job on the writing, too. I liked the roadrunner/coyote reference!

I am glad someone caught that.

I love how you crossed the country with just your car and a tent. What a great trip it has been so far.

As part of getting ready for this trip we watched a lot of documentaries on Netflix and other places including the Ken Burn's National Parks one. Silvia was fascinated with the idea of driving and camping our way around the country and since that was what we could afford to do anyway it worked really well.

I will say we originally were thinking about renting an RV for this trip but we quickly decided we could not afford that. Way to many miles.

How many hours a day did you drive?

After the first few days we were typically not driving much more than 8 hours a day. I usually spend about that driving to the different stores to fix them so for me it was not a problem. I also have a rule when driving that we must stop every 2 hours and get up and walk around, use the bathroom if needed, whatever. It helps to keep the highway hypnosis from setting in.

How did you plan for your stops? I saw that you missed one of your planned stops because of that detour. Did you try to make reservations each morning, or did you just wing it?

We had planned out the trip for the most part before we left. I had done this once before back in 2002 and I was calling each morning to make reservations around where I thought we would be stopping that night. Since we were following almost the same path for a lot of this trip I booked the campgrounds that I liked from before and replaced the ones I didn't with others in the area. It also helped that since they were only 1 night stops for the most part The deposit meant a lot of our campsites were paid for months in advance. This particular one was one of the only ones I could not book in advance as they don't have that option so we didn't loose any money on it.

TCD

What an amazing adventure! Thank you for taking us along. Your pictures are awesome.

Like your wife, I've only ever flown to the West coast. Haven't really been anywhere in between! I hope to do something about that someday.

FP4

If you ever get the chance I absolutely encourage you to take it. You will not be disappointed.

[Katman1356...Jason 1,140]

Yes.....definitely a giant foot. Oddly, it looks like the foot from the statue of liberty in ome of the ghostbuster sequels.

I think it is things like that "foot" that made it easy for the native americans and earlier people of the world to look at things like mountains and describe them as sleeping giants. And i agree all it needs is a sandle and some green paint and it would be good to go.

Awesome! Thanks for sharing. :jumpforjoy

Your quite welcome. Glad to have you along.

Jason, what a great TR so far ! I did not know that Roswell had that many people... I always pictured it as a small town with one street and maybe two alleys.. The photos at Bottomless Lake are incredible... So when you were on Route 66, did ya think of the movie "Cars".... come on..... you were looking for the exit to Radiator Springs..... Can't wait for the next update !

Silvia was getting quite the kick out of seeing a lot of the names from the song in that movie. When we get to Monument Valley you will see how much was easily inspired from there in Cars.

Ok, I am caught up now. Amazing pictures, I really need to get out west some time.

It is definitely something I feel everyone should do at least once.

[charitycase20....Charity 10]

Jason...beautiful pictures!! I was right along there with you until you came out of Oklahoma. Every other year or so we make the 26 hour drive to my in-laws in NW Oklahoma, we tend to follow the same route, RT81 in VA to I40 in TN, then on to AK (which I HATE driving in). I would LOVE to drive out west with my kids...who knows maybe we will eventually. :rofl3:

Oh and P.S. - I think its great that you are tent camping along the way. We tent camp but I cannot imagine taking our gear for a road trip of that magnitude. :camp1:

[Katman1356...Jason 1,140]

Ok so when we left off we had made an unscheduled stop at Lyman Lake. It was a beautiful place but we had a date with our first National Park of the trip. So we packed up and headed out around 7 a.m. One thing I have found especially in the wide open campgrounds is that once the sun comes up, its pretty much to bright in the tent to sleep much more.

We got on the road and continued north in Arizona until we finally reached our destination. The Painted Desert and Petrified Forest National Park. This is one of the lesser known national parks but it is very striking.

Heading north

And the road just goes on and on.

At the unofficial visitors center. We were to early to get into the park by about 30 minutes.

We made it!

Last time I was here it was only an hour till we had to be out of the park. Which meant we could enter but we were going to have to drive straight through with a minimum of stopping. As a bonus though the Ranger at the entrance station saw our guitars in the back seat and said she would let us in for free if we played her a song. So my buddy grabbed his guitar and played her Smoke on the Water and we got in for free. It was great.

This time we paid. I didn't mind. For those of you that have not yet visited a national park here is some general info on them that has seemed to hold true to all I have been to so far. You pay for you entrance by the carload. The fee does vary but is usually around $20. Onc eyou have paid to get in you can come and go with your receipt for the next week. If you are staying near a park you can really take your time and visit as much as you want over that week.

If you plan on hitting multiple parks in one year you should check into their Interagency Annual Pass for $80. This lets you into most federal recreation sites across the country for a period of 12 months. If you are senior citizen of age 62 or older you can buy he $10 lifetime pass that gets you and your vehicle and passengers into the parks for the rest of your life. Also includes some discounts on camping and other things.

A link to info on the Interagency Annual Pass: http://store.usgs.gov/pass/index.html

A link to information on the Lifetime Pass, these must be purchased in person: http://store.usgs.gov/pass/senior.html

Moving along now. We stopped at many of the spots along the way and walked some of the shorter trails to see the petrified forest up close.

In some pieces you can see the growth rings.

My first time out here it was later in the day getting on towards night time and a big storm rolled in so we missed out on seeing a major part of the park and thought that this was the Painted Desert.

As you will see later, not even close.

traveling to another portion of the park.

Sadly when the area was first discovered and ongoing even today, people take the pieces of petrified wood home reducing what is left for us to see. This is not as common now as they have put security cameras in place at the walking areas to monitor for that. And if you see someone taking something you are encouraged to inform a Ranger. Unlike the Fort's Ranger these guys are very knowledgable and helpful.

Almost all of the lumps you see are pieces of trees that fell probably due to flooding millenia ago and the water covering them slowly leached out the material of the wood replacing it with crystals until perfectly preserved pieces of fosiilized wood.

Probably getting close so I will continue in next post.

[Katman1356...Jason 1,140]

Jason...beautiful pictures!! I was right along there with you until you came out of Oklahoma. Every other year or so we make the 26 hour drive to my in-laws in NW Oklahoma, we tend to follow the same route, RT81 in VA to I40 in TN, then on to AK (which I HATE driving in). I would LOVE to drive out west with my kids...who knows maybe we will eventually. :rofl3:

Oh and P.S. - I think its great that you are tent camping along the way. We tent camp but I cannot imagine taking our gear for a road trip of that magnitude. :camp1:

Thanks for joining us. Tenting was really the only way we could afford this trip. And in our minds it was part of the experience so many others had when cars first became affordable and the road trip began.

[doodlebug....Cherie 461]

Very cool, Jason! It's been 26 years since I've been to the Petrified Forest and Painted Desert. My kids were just toddlers then. The day we were there it was overcast so we didn't get great pictures of the desert. I can't wait to see yours!

[Katman1356...Jason 1,140]

Continuing in the Petrified Forest.

A close up.

This was a tree that was buried in the ground. Over time erosion exposed it and left it a bridge. In the earlier days of the park service the reinforced it with concrete. Now the policy would be to left it as found and let nature takes its course.

Continuing to another part of the park.

The train tracks run through a part of the park.

And at a certain point Rt. 66 ran through it as well. The have placed a marker where that was and left certain things in place to illustrate its location.

You can see the telephone poles on the right hand side of the picture with no lines running on them. If you look closely you can also see the raised earth that was the roadbed back when 66 ran through here.

Finally we made it to the part I missed last time. The Painted Dessert. In my defense it was as black as night and there are no lights on the road through the park. My buddy is very upset that he missed it though.

It reaches from here almost all teh way to the Grand Canyon.

There are no roads in that part of the park to preserve it so this is as close as you can get. It is amazing though.

And now we are back on the road. I think I will take a break here for a little bit. This was a long day due to the lost time the day before.

[Katman1356...Jason 1,140]

Very cool, Jason! It's been 26 years since I've been to the Petrified Forest and Painted Desert. My kids were just toddlers then. The day we were there it was overcast so we didn't get great pictures of the desert. I can't wait to see yours!

It was a little hazy due to the heat but the picture look nice. Nothing compared to the view in person though.

[Katman1356...Jason 1,140]

Continuing on from the National Park we again turned west. We were going to go back down through Arizona cutting through Sedona and then turning west again on Interstate 5.

Heading down the road.

Driving down into the valley where Sedona is.

The rock formations in Sedona are amazing and in real life the red is very vibrant. The camera just can't capture it.

We didnt get any shots of downtown Sedona as we were just passing through. We had reservations for the next couple of nights made and really wanted to get there that day.

One last shot on the way out of Sedona.

When we stopped at the first rest area after getting back on the highway you could see Sedona in the distance.

There was also some signage that made us keep our eyes open in other ways.

Another view at the rest area.

Purple Cactuses. all the need is a Snarky

As we continued down the highway we saw something Silvia had been waiting for. One of the big cactuses like you see in the movies and cartoons.

Little did she know they would become old hat before long.

We passed through Phoenix, AZ heading for I5.

Mostly took the pictures to remind us where we were. It definitely helped with identifying pictures after the trip.

Yeay we finally saw a sign with our destination listed on it.

Unfortunately that was still a long way down the road. It was about 4:30 and we had about 7 hours of driving till we would get to San Diego.

Yeay a sign with how far we have to go! Boo! it says 171 miles to San Diego.

Driving by the Imperial Sand Dunes in California. Unfortunately the welcome sign was missed since it was the size of a postage stamp.

We arrive at our hotel at about 11:00 thanks to my driving faster than I really should have. When we went to check in though there was a problem. They took out debit card to make the reservation but would not let us use that for checking in. We did not have credit cards so we had a problem. They also would not let us put down a cash deposit. After "discussing" this for a while with the idiot night guy(probably a former Fort Ranger) we left and went to the car to figure out what we were going to do. I did some checking made some calls and found a Comfort Inn that was cheaper that the original place, accepted our AAA discount and did not need a credit card.

We checked in. Ordered some pizza from a local place. ate and crashed. We were beat and had a fun day ahead. Mor on that in the next post.

[caveat lector 181]

"EPIC" might be the only word that carries enough weight to describe this journey.

Awesome pics

[Katman1356...Jason 1,140]

"EPIC" might be the only word that carries enough weight to describe this journey.

Awesome pics

Thanks!

[Katman1356...Jason 1,140]

I interrupt this trip report for some totally awesome news. I just got a phone call that I had one a contest. Unfortunately it was a not a trip to Disney but it was pretty cool. I had one a free night at Mohegan Sun Casino. My wife and I love to go there for dinner and she has always wanted to stay there but I have trouble paying around $200 for a night in a hotel 30 minutes from my house. She is so excited right now. I am glad I entered and won so she can scratch this off her bucket list.

[fladogfan aka Gretchen 259]

What a trip! Colors in the photos are wonderful and you say even prettier in person...WOW!

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

I interrupt this trip report for some totally awesome news. I just got a phone call that I had one a contest. Unfortunately it was a not a trip to Disney but it was pretty cool. I had one a free night at Mohegan Sun Casino. My wife and I love to go there for dinner and she has always wanted to stay there but I have trouble paying around $200 for a night in a hotel 30 minutes from my house. She is so excited right now. I am glad I entered and won so she can scratch this off her bucket list.

What?

That's awesome.

And so is this trip report.

Great job on the photos. You did a great job capturing the majesty of some of those places.

And, of course, I am cracking up at your swipes at the Fort Rangers.

TCD

[Katman1356...Jason 1,140]

What a trip! Colors in the photos are wonderful and you say even prettier in person...WOW!

Absolutely. While we had a nice point and shoot and I do pretty well taking pictures, there is nothing that can capture the images as they truly are when you are standing there. It's one of those things that engages so many senses at once that a picture can not do.

[Katman1356...Jason 1,140]

What?

That's awesome.

And so is this trip report.

Great job on the photos. You did a great job capturing the majesty of some of those places.

And, of course, I am cracking up at your swipes at the Fort Rangers.

TCD

I threw those swipes in just for you TCD. :thumbsup1:

[doodlebug....Cherie 461]

Your pictures are beautiful! It looks like you had a sunnier day than we did.

Congrats on your contest win!

[stefa70 205]

This is the freakiest sh*t I've ever seen!!

Great info on the annual passes.

You're pictures are outstanding! Though I'm sure in your eyes they can't compare to the real thing. This is probably the closest I'll ever get to that area, so I am digging it!

I'd be....petrified to be driving out to the middle of nowhere. Yep, you can always count on me for a corny joke.

:stooges:

I think Clark Griswold traveled some of those same roads on his way to Wally World.

[Heidi-meetsTCD@TSM 5]

Jason,

I am just loving your trip report!!! Since I am still feeling sad that our almost three week road trip is over, your trip report is cheering me up!

Love your pictures at the National Park sign! We do that to! I think my favorite National Park signs is the one at Crater Lake National Park and one of the ones at Glacier National Park. We have noticed that when a National Park has several entrances, some of the signs are nicer than others.

So sad to hear that people have over time taken bits of the petrified wood. I have to admit that I also particiapated in a blunder similiar to that when I was 7-8 years old.....every summer, my folks brought us travleing to the National Parks out west (its where I got my love of travel!) anyway, when I was quite young we visited the Badlands National Park. Beofre we left, I scooped up just a pinch of the strange rock. I didnt know what I did was wrong, I just wanted a souviner. Later that day, I happily showed it to my Mom, who was furious at me...............to this day, I remember what she told me, "if everybody took a piece of the Badlands, eventually there would be no Badlands"..........geez, I felt terrible..........

Keep the pictures coming!!!

Heidi

[mouseketab.....Carol 1,261]

This is the freakiest sh*t I've ever seen!!

Great info on the annual passes.

You're pictures are outstanding! Though I'm sure in your eyes they can't compare to the real thing. This is probably the closest I'll ever get to that area, so I am digging it!

I'd be....petrified to be driving out to the middle of nowhere. Yep, you can always count on me for a corny joke.

:stooges:

I think Clark Griswold traveled some of those same roads on his way to Wally World.

I'm the opposite Stef!! Those views call to me!!!! I can't WAIT to drive out there and be able to see the horizon in every direction!!!!!

[doodlebug....Cherie 461]

I'm the opposite Stef!! Those views call to me!!!! I can't WAIT to drive out there and be able to see the horizon in every direction!!!!!

I'm with you Carol. Give me the wide open spaces any day! Being out on the desert at night feels like you can reach up and touch the stars.

[LORNADUCK 261]

I just got the chance to read this TR, what I trip. Your pictures are beautiful, I hope I can make a trip like that one of these days. I am chicken thou I would have to have my MH.

[4mickey2 41]

Awesome tr! we have been thru roswell many times and never stopped to see the sites - thanks for sharing. the pics are great! I have a chunk of petrified wood sitting by my fireplace. Love how it looks and it is soooo heavy.

Road Trip, Rt 66 and UFO's. Good deal!

PS: When you are in west Texas and on into New Mexico, stop every time you see a gas station. You never know where the next will be. Same goes for the Dakotas. Packing stuff for lunch is also a good idea. You might find a Dairy Queen but that's about it.

I agree-always keep a full tank. where you think a gas station should be-it won't be.

I interrupt this trip report for some totally awesome news. I just got a phone call that I had one a contest. Unfortunately it was a not a trip to Disney but it was pretty cool. I had one a free night at Mohegan Sun Casino. My wife and I love to go there for dinner and she has always wanted to stay there but I have trouble paying around $200 for a night in a hotel 30 minutes from my house. She is so excited right now. I am glad I entered and won so she can scratch this off her bucket list.

How cool is that! Glad you won and have a great time.

[Southern Blessings 4]

What a cool trip! I'm enjoying following along. Great pics!