All good things must come to an end, right? I like to think this proverb is true, because it means bad things won't last for ever either
. This past summer Mrs. Madone59's and my time in California came to an end so we said good bye to the ocean and said hello to the humidity of the South. Feel free to pile on the "You're leaving San Diego???" and "Are you nuts?!" comments - I have heard them all. Unfortunately California was just too far from family for us, and seeing that we welcomed a little mileage runner into the world last month closer to family is exactly where we needed to be.
So with the house sold, and car impressively packed - if i do say so my self - I enlisted the help of
SANdEhGo and we hit the asphalt. Because I was still drawing from my former employer in San Diego my goal was to leave as late as possible while still arriving before the moving truck. We took possession of our new home in Charlotte on June 20th, and the truck was scheduled to arrive June 21st so we would be on the road early June 17th. The trip was broken into three hard days and one half day. The three hard days were: 1. San Diego to El Paso, 2. All of freaking Texas to Shreveport and 3. Shreveport to Atlanta. On the fourth day, the half day, we would sleep in a little and would get to Charlotte in the afternoon.
The night of the 16th
SANdEhGo and I were generously treated to a toast of my time in California which I will admit was worth the delay getting started the next morning.
Car packed to the point it was ready to bust, the gas tank was topped, Bruce Springsteen was on Pandora. We were ready to ride (or die).
A picture of us departing, seriously!
Bye Bye San Diego!
Rocks.............
Hello Arizona....that was quick. Only like eight more hours to go today
When driving through Arizona there was NO WAY I was going to miss a chance to see
Pinal Airpark in Marana Arizona. I may or may not have completely lied to
SANdEhGo about "How close" the complex was to the highway and in the end it was kind of a bust. We were on too much of a time crunch to really explore some of the legal back roads, and the car was way too loaded down to put up with any bumpy off roading of any kind. One thing we did see from afar, which was really cool was
supertanker 944 - the fire fighting 747. That is a great looking bird!!
This is the only shot I got, and I'd do it all again to see the endless rows of tails off in the distance even if they didn't photograph well.
Shortly after getting back on the highway we saw what looked like a train engine storage facility. The line of engines was staggering!
Google says there were originally 1,200 or so parked out there, but now they are down to about
300 in storage. What a sight.
Almost six hours in it was time for lunch, and a second fuel stop. Being Jurassic Park fans it was only natural that our McDonald's had a velociraptor
Full of gas and fuel we were back on the road where we began to get bombarded by advertisements for something, though I can't put my finger on what it was.
More rocks
Fire
Train
Peace out Arizona!
Needing to stretch out legs we stopped at the legendary I-10 "A-MAZ-ING" tourist trap
"So many things we can't buy in California!!"
12 Gauge cross
I bet my new neighbors in North Carolina will like this one
New Mexico.
OK. Enough junk shopping, and
SANdEhGo looking to buy a knife
we need to get back on the road. After a bit more boring as toast I-10 we caucused and decided to take 146 South to US 9 along the US Mexican boarder. A fantastic decision!
Good Ol' 146 to Hachita
Hachita, NM.
After a few minutes of wondering around the flea shop and not seeing anyone I got really twitchy asking
SANdEhGo if he had seen the movie The Hills Have Eyes, and walked back to the car. We did eventually meet the owner of the "store" which didn't really put me at ease, especially because
SANdEhGo was feeling extra talkative and I wasn't.
Leaving Hachita.
To anyone that lives in the area, or is making this drive in the future I can not recommend route 9 enough. Our circuitous path to El Paso we rewarded with a fantastic sunset.
Once the sun was down, and we had been given a talking to from boarder patrol for stopping in a spot where a lot of smugglers arrange pickups of "illegals" we were back on our way. As beautiful as US-9 was with the sun up it was the road of choice with the sun down. Aside from my Hills Have Eyes fears that someone was going to pop out of the bushes with a chainsaw we had no cell service, and an overloaded car on bumpy roads. Had we have gotten stuck..............you know what. We didn't, so let's just be happy.
Blurry eyed and weary from almost 13 hours behind the wheel it was dinner time. I had a room booked at the El Paso airport Marriott but we were passing the highly [yelp] ranked
State Line BBQ. It was dinner time.
2nd to last shift got to drink...why oh why did I offer to pull last!
The bread. Oh, the bread! It was like eating clouds. Like when you are a kid and you wonder what clouds feel like to touch but you grow up, start flying through them and notice they have no tactile property other than wet. This bread is what childhood you hopes clouds felt like. Got it?
Dinner!
After a short 30 minute drive to the hotel it was time to crash. Day one; done!