Our big trip for the year turned out to be a cross-country road trip to Tallahassee. Why not fly? Well, my wife's sister and brother-in-law were giving us a high-end telescope, not something I wanted to risk flying or shipping, so we opted to go get it.
We've done the drive to the east coast a few times now, sometimes going straight through. Not really recommended, plus, I can't do that any more. We wanted to make it fun, see some sights along the way and take different routes each direction where it made sense. We also timed the trip to coincide with K's best friend's 60th birthday. Our plan was to take 4 days driving each direction with 6 full days in Tallahassee. Since we were driving, I wanted to take my bike to get some rides in along the way and to check out more of the surrounding area around town as the trails I've ridden in Tallahassee have been quite fun.
We booked all our hotel stays, my work shifts were covered, it was time to roll out. During the route planning, I found a fun website that lists all sorts of roadside attractions, mostly oddities like the World's largest or smallest stuff. Roadside America at it's finest. Check out Atlas Obscura for your next road trip.
As soon as the suitcases came out, Felix knew something was up. I guess he wanted to come along.
Our first night's stop would be in Roswell, NM, a place know for other worldly encounters.
Cool rest area along I-10 in Texas Canyon, AZ.
Some wild west history at the stop.
Our first oddity of the trip: Fraggle Rock outside of Lordsburg, NM.
Crossing over the Continental Divide on probably the least impressive pass of the entire thing.
Giant roadrunner at a rest stop outside of Las Cruces, NM.
Fantastic detail for the size.
Constructed out of recycled materials too.
The roadside attractions kept coming today, a 47 foot chile pepper in Las Cruces, NM.
Mural paying tribute to the space shuttle program. There's a museum here, but we didn't have time to visit.
Our main sightseeing goal of the day was here, White Sands Nat'l Park.
We arrived a bit late and the visitor center was closed, which was a real bummer. I have one of those Nat'l Park passport books and the first time I visited here, well over 20 years ago, I didn't have it yet. I wanted to add the passport stamp and pick up a patch for the coffee table. Unable to do so, we were still able to drive into the park and I knew the lighting would be good as it was now well after 5pm.
Tidal wave of sand!!
Waves in the sand.
It really is a magical place.
Late afternoon light really made the texture pop.
Parting of the white sea.
We arrived in Alamagordo a short bit later and were ready for something to eat. Now the hard part, where to go? While driving around we saw a billboard for Italian food and it sounded good, but we didn't notice the place. We ended up settling on Chili's because it was there and convenient. As we pulled in I noticed a neon sign a street over. It looked like an Italian place and had a fair amount of cars in the parking lot. We decided to give it a try. So glad we did, it was fantastic!!
Johnny Carino's, apparently it's a chain, but we had never heard of it since it's not in AZ.
We still had a couple of hours until Roswell and there was one more quick stop we wanted to check out even after closing hours...
The World's largest pistachio!! There were billboards for this constantly.
We were on the lookout for the Welcome to Roswell sign, but missed it in the dark. I looked on Google maps after we checked in to our hotel and saw it was just far enough off the road that we just didn't see it in the darkness. There was a recreational path that led near it from our hotel, so the next morning I did a ride out to the sign. More on that here. After my ride, we got going, heading east towards Texas. Our next stop for the night would be in Austin, my first time there.
We found the sign on the east end of town on our way out. No UFO or alien sightings.
Well into the flatlands of the midwest now means oil derricks everywhere.
And farm equipment.
By mid-morning we crossed into Texas.
Back in 2016 I completed my 50 state run, I've now been trying to collect all the Welcome signs. I have a pretty good collection. View them here.
Massive wind farms too, not much to stop it out here.
Passing through Llano, TX.
We were on schedule to reach Austin right around sunset. We thought we might get lucky with the timing of the bats flying out from the Congress St. bridge. We did arrive as expected but things were quite crowded down by the bridge on a Friday evening. Not having any idea where to park, we drove around a bit, doing a few laps downtown before resigning to the fact that we should go check into our hotel.
My friend, Kris, hooked us up with the a stay at the Hotel Magdalena, which is only a few blocks from the Congress St. bridge. Parking was going to be tricky, there was a valet, but I figured I'd at least check out the nearby streets. I dropped K off to sign us in, she said the guy at the counter shook his head when she told him I was looking for a place to park. Not gonna happen, he said.
I pulled away and the tiny alley-like street I was on zigged and zagged for awhile, then popped me back out on Congress St. down by the bridge. Ok, back to where I was, near the front of the Magdalena, but I stayed on the main side street. I did find an opening a short ways away. I parked and made my way back towards the lobby area, but on my way I saw another open spot tucked in behind a Porsche. I went back to the car and moved quickly before someone else snagged it. It did take me three attempts to parallel park the car, which I'm normally quite good at for the lack of practice I get. I didn't want to bump the Porsche!! Plus, having my bike on the back made things a bit more difficult in the dark. Anyway, I found K, and we were directed to our room via private elevator...ooohh.
Courtyard was hoppin' when we arrived with live music, quiet here after-hours.
We were up on the second floor and I looked out from our front door and noticed a side gate to the property. I told K, I think I'm parked right outside that gate. We went down, checked the gate to make sure it worked with our room key, and found our car right on the street. Not only did I find parking, $6 for the evening, but it was the closest spot to our room!! Score. It also made taking my bike into the room a whole bunch easier.
Since we were right off Congress St. and now hungry, we were able to walk to nearby establishments. The first place we checked out was so packed and loud, reminded us of college days, but not really our jam anymore. We spotted a burger place across the way and it really hit the spot.
The following morning I set the alarm for the pre-dawn darkness and met my friend, Derek, on the north side of town for a ride at the Brushy Creek trails. Afterwards, I asked for a BBQ recommendation that wouldn't require standing in a long line. He suggested we check out Stiles Switch, but specifically the one on Lamar Blvd. He also told me to get the burnt ends if they had them. Noted.
I returned to the hotel and found another parking spot right in front of where I had parked the night before. What's the big deal, parking was easy... :) We checked out of the hotel and made our way back to the north side of Austin for lunch. We arrived about 10 minutes before it opened and there were only a handful of folks milling about. Soon the manager opened the door and asked if everyone was ready for BBQ!!
This was an acceptable line to wait in.
The fella in front of me ordered the burnt ends and they looked quite good, so I followed Derek's advice and ordered some as well.
Burnt ends, beans and corn casserole were the ticket.
K went with the pulled pork, fries and slaw. Solid choice as well.
Haha, classic.
You're welcome!!
What a great stop, thanks for the recommendation, Derek. Bellies full, we needed to hit the road and make our way towards New Orleans, our next stop. But first, we had heard all this hype about Buc-ee's, so we looked on the map to see where we'd cross paths with one. There was one located in the town of Bastrop, which was on our way towards I-10, bypassing the Houston area. I had joked about it just being a gas station...
It's definitely more than that, a travel center on steroids perhaps??
The mascot was walking around too!!
Yeah, we bought some stuff. Haha!!
Can't miss these signs. Arizona just had our first Buc-ee's open on June 22, it was a madhouse!!
We made it to I-10 before the rains arrived. It rained on/off all the way to New Orleans.
Pitstop for dinner in Lafayette, Louisiana.
Nice little place, Pop's Poboys, with a spicy Nashville Hot sandwich.
It was well after sunset when we arrived in New Orleans. We didn't have time to do anything other than check in to the hotel. We stayed downtown, which meant valet parking and the bike was going up to the room. No issues there. The next morning we had hoped to do a bit of sightseeing and visit Cafe Du Mond, but as we quickly found out on this Sunday morning of a holiday weekend, it was super crowded and every other street was under construction. We opted to just drive on through snapping a few pics from the car.
Bourbon St.
Packed in tight here.
Jackson Square.
Not waiting in that line.
Construction was everywhere, made things a bit challenging to get where we wanted to go.
Joan of Arc statue.
Classic New Orleans look.
Massive trees creating a canopy over the road.
Back on I-10, crossing Lake Pontchartrain.
Another state closer.
We had been hearing how good the BBQ sandwiches were at Buc-ee's, so we stopped at the one in Mississippi to pick up lunch.
We got out of there and pulled over at the next rest area to eat. Gotta say, they are pretty good, definitely worth the stop. We need to try the fudge next.
It only takes about an hour to cross the foot of Alabama, into the Florida panhandle we go.
Pretty much the standard view along I-10 in these parts, note: photo taken at 4:40p.
Also a standard view along I-10 in the panhandle, taken 20 minutes later!!
We arrived in Tallahassee around 7p, my trip odometer read 2079 miles from our door in Queen Creek to here. Doing it over 4 days was a nice pace. We now had 6+ days in Tallahassee to see family, friends, check off some of K's food cravings and get some riding in.
One of the first things we did was to test out the two telescope cases, along with our coolers to make sure everything was going to fit in the car for the drive home. We had to get a little creative with our luggage, but all the large, rigid items fit. We knew we could then fill in the gaps around that stuff and possibly still see out the back window a bit!!
I had planned to take the Memorial Day Monday to drive back over to Alabama to meet up with a friend for some riding there, but the weather never really relented in that area, so it was a wash out. Tallahassee was experiencing a drought, in spite of everything looking extremely green, but they were well over 20" short on their annual rainfall totals. However, this week included 50-70% chance of storms each day. My hope was to get up early, get a ride in before it got to hot & muggy outside, while K slept in. So, Monday, I opted to keep it local and go to the Munson Hills trails, a place that I've ridden a couple of times before, so I sort of knew it well.
Sweat, then rain. I was soaked after the ride and forgot a dry shirt to change into. That won't happen again on this trip.
Later that day, we all drove down to Crawfordville for a family cookout. It was fun to see some of K's family we don't normally get to hang out with.
Most of K's extended family, mine would not fit in this photo. :)
The next morning I met up with some of the Tally Crew for a ride at Lafayette Heritage Park.
We stopped by the Cake Shop to try the famous 'Popped' Tarts that Ryan Gosling had promoted on a national late night show some time ago. They were good, but we weren't blown away. Glad we tried them though.
Later that evening we met up with K's best friend and her family for the Wednesday night chicken wings at Deep Brewing Co.
Low Viz Double New England IPA. This one came home to AZ with us in cans.
You only need four wings when they're whole.
It's a relatively new place, an upgrade from across the street where they started.
A nightcap Skull Splitter sample.
On Thursday, we went out to breakfast at an old favorite of ours: Le Peep. Phoenix used to have them, but they all closed. The last one we went to was in Houston on our last cross-country drive.
That evening we had reservations for K's favorite restaurant: Mom & Dad's Italian up in Thomasville, GA, which is just across the state line. There's one in Tallahassee, but ownership had changed over the years and it was no longer in the family. We had tried it a couple of times, but to K, it just wasn't the same. We had hoped the Thomasville location would bring back the authentic Italian she expected, as this location was still owned and operated by the family.
Add another state to the trip list.
Nice looking place.
I went with the Shrimp Scampi and it was loaded with huge shrimp. I easily cleaned my plate!!
K had to go with her all-time favorite: Fettuccini Alfredo. It lived up to her expectations!!
I suspect we'll be eating here each time we visit Tallahassee and that's fine with me.
Friday morning I met back up with a few of the Tally guys for a ride at Maclay Gardens, a place I hadn't ridden before.
Really fun trails here.
Post-ride pizza. When they say, giant slice, they mean it. Holy moly.
We hung out at Epic Bikes for a bit after the ride and I cracked open a couple of the Pliny's I had brought along. The guys really appreciated it, saving the bottles and caps as souvenirs.
Meanwhile, K and Co. were out getting their nails done for her BFF's big birthday bash the following day. I must say they turned out great!!
Extra sparkles too.
Thankfully, we were done running around town before the skies opened up.
Beautiful visitor to a friend's bird feeder.
We often try to eat here when in town.
Just like that it was Saturday, our last full day in town. One last ride on some social trails with a bunch of the Tally guys.
Cool wildlife sightings too!!
We had enough time to head over to Bradley's Country Store to buy some smoked sausage & breakfast links to bring back to AZ. So good.
On to K's BFF's 60th Willy Wonka themed birthday party!!
Chocolate fountain, of course there was.
Best friends for life.
Afterwards, we began organizing our stuff. I was still confident it would all fit in the car. It actually loaded fairly quick in the morning, much to K's surprise.
Like a glove. Don't forget the bike on the back. Thank goodness for the rear cameras these days.
Still had access to the drink cooler.
Snacks piled on top of the telescope.
We got going pretty much on schedule. We had some Lindy's chicken sandwiches packed for our first lunch stop. Those are mandatory when visiting Tallahassee.
Yeah, we made another Buc-ee's stop, this one off I-10 in Alabama.
Let me tell you, I don't recommend this one. I know we won't be stopping again. It has a really poor traffic design for the high volume it gets. The only reason we were stopping, was to get gas. Should've just gone someplace else. First, the off-ramp was backed up enough that it took 3 light cycles to get on the overpass. Then, that was backed up another 2-3 light cycles to simply turn right onto the side road that led onto the property. Once there, they had 8-9 employees directing traffic through the parking lot, which you had to drive through to access the gas pumps. Really poor design. It took a solid 20+ minutes to get off the freeway and to the pumps. Then, to exit, you had to drive all the way around the building to the one exit. Sit in line again and wait a couple more traffic light cycles to get back to the freeway. Why they thought they only needed two access points to the travel center is wild. Maybe it was one of the first travel centers they built and didn't fully anticipate the crowds it would generate? Yikes.
K snapped a Buc-ee photo while I waited in traffic.
Can't help but think of the movie Biloxi Blues.
Long bridge crossing the Atchafalaya Swamp.
We were ready to stretch our legs, so this looked like a good rest area to stop at.
Free coffee and cool exhibits to look at.
It would be fun to do one of those airboat swamp tours sometime.
Crazy graphic showing all the sugar cane plantations between Baton Rouge and New Orleans.
Swamplands.
Transitioning to oil/refinery country of western Louisiana.
Crossing into Texas, this is the highest mileage marker along I-10. A mere 880 miles to New Mexico!!
Already in our 5th state today, only two more to go...but those are huge!!
I was quick on the shutter to get this one. More roadsign nerdery: 857 miles to El Paso!! Has anyone ever seen a larger mileage sign?? I know there's one for Portland, OR along I-5 in California that is something in the 650 range.
Sunset nearing the Houston area and more refineries.
Houston skyline as our night's goal is almost in view.
We wanted to get through Houston on the first day home, it's about an 11 hour drive from Tallahassee, but we wanted to get to our night two destination with plenty of daylight, that was over at Big Bend Nat'l Park. We found a good taphouse in Katy, TX for dinner, then checked into our hotel. Big day, but we were settled in and it wasn't too late.
We got going early the next morning and noted how muggy it was. The air felt so heavy, moist with humidity. I was more than ready to get back to the dry desert air.
Our decision to get through Houston the night before paid off as we didn't have to deal with rush hour traffic. We made good time getting to San Antonio, then off I-10 as our route now switched to US90 across west Texas. Lunch was approaching, so we poured over the Google reviews for Uvalde, TX and found what appeared to be a good Mexican restaurant.
Uvalde City Hall.
Score!! Fantastic lunch here. We also took note of the drier air. Ahhh, it's coming.
The landscape was slowly morphing into something more familiar.
Still, a vast wide open horizon.
Stop for cooler ice in the tiny outpost of Sanderson, TX.
Seems this town is a bit past its heyday.
Continuing west on US90, mountains begin to take shape.
We were on the lookout for this one!! Haha. Some local artist took the liberty, I saw online it used to be a Target. Completely out in the middle of nowhere.
Hilarious info too.
Seems it does get a bit of a following.
The tiny towns and scenes out here reminded me of the movie: No Country For Old Men.
The outpost of Marathon, TX would be our turn south towards Big Bend.
Heading south now.
We made it!! Plenty of daylight to spare, but we knew the visitor's center would be closed. We'd revisit that the following day.
We added a half day of sightseeing into our return trip as our next day of driving was only about 5 hours to El Paso.
Storm clouds brewing.
Chisos Mountains. One of the park's visitor's centers is near the top.
We stopped by anyway, good lighting and no one else around.
Hedgehogs blooming.
Yucca & Prickly Pear.
A few of the named peaks in the Chisos Mountains.
Lots of Ocotillo here.
Heading west through the park. We'd be staying in the tiny town of Terlingua.
West side entrance.
There didn't really seem to be a town, just a scattering of buildings/homes/businesses.
We found our turn to the place I had booked: Ruins Terlingua. We were curious to see what our place for the night was going to be.
Good thing we were in the Subaru. That's our place, out there on the left.
Thunderstorms all around.
The property next to Ruins Terlingua, I guess you can stay in the teepee.
Our plot for the night. A refurbished RV and boat were the sleeping accommodations.
Our spot was called: Mama Fu's Junk Boat and Charthouse. Beds for 8, sleeps 14 - so bring tents!!
We took a tour before deciding where we'd sleep for the night. Both the RV & Boat were padlocked, code sent to us earlier in the day.
Full kitchen and bath supplies.
Queen sized bed, A/C on the wall.
Another bed at the opposite end of the RV.
Larger, full kitchen outside next to the boat.
Inside the boat the sleeping quarters seemed a bit smaller than the RV, great for kids.
Fully decked out too.
Each one was nicely equipped, but we chose the RV for the night.
Outdoor dining area.
Nice seating area with shade structures.
Same area from the other side.
I really loved the vibe of the place. Very well thought out.
Nice decorative accents as well.
Community bathrooms and showers a short walk away.
A real bathroom, not an outhouse.
Wash station.
Rock sinks.
Couple of showers nearby.
I like how everything here kinda blended in.
This will do.
Overview of the place, we were in space I.
As daylight faded, the subtle lighting came on.
We had some ambient light too.
Used my stargazing app: Stellarium to see what we were looking at.
Dark skies out here.
I woke in the pre-dawn darkness to get ready for one final bike ride a few miles away. I wanted to be riding at first light and made my way to the faint trailhead in the darkness. Kinda surprised myself that I was able to find the parking area in the dark as it wasn't obvious. I had everything ready to roll as light took over.
My goal was to be back to Ruins Terlingua no later than 9a, I made it by 8:45, which is quite the accomplishment for me!!
We packed everything up and made our way back into Big Bend Nat'l Park. We stopped by the Panther Junction visitor center and talked to the Rangers about what to see for a quick stopover. The main road down to the Rio Grande overlook was currently closed, so they recommended we drive up into the mountains to the Chisos Basin visitor center. That was the plan, then we head back towards Terlingua to drive out to I-10 via Big Bend Ranch. That road also follows the Rio Grande River and the Rangers informed us there were good views along that road as well.
On the lookout as we head into the Chisos Mountains.
Blooming Century Plant.
It was a spectacular drive, back up into the tall trees too.
This was as close as we came to seeing one.
Tell me you're in Texas without telling me you're in Texas.
Gas pump stickers!!
We made a quick detour to the local cemetery.
It was quite large and had some character.
There's something cool about desert cemeteries.
Crossing into Big Bend Ranch. Lots of trails here too.
Passed by a movie set location.
There's Mexico and the Rio Grande River.
This was a really fun drive, curvy, rollercoaster types of ups & downs.
We didn't really have any stops planned for the remainder of the drive to El Paso. We wanted to get there early to just relax a bit. In hindsight, there were two quick stops I wish we would have made. The first was the tiny ghost town of Shafter, TX. It came up quick and we blew by it before we really knew what it was.
The other stop would've just been for a photo, but again we flew by it before it registered and for some reason we didn't turn around. It was similar to the World's Smallest Buc-ee's, how about the World's Smallest Prada store?? Prada Marfa. It's another artist who put it together, not an actual storefront. Check the links for both places for some history and pics.
We reached I-10 at Van Horn. Time to stretch the legs and hit the restroom. While waiting to resume our drive west, I noticed a huge storm cell bearing down on the area. A quick check of local radar and I knew we really should get out of there and try to out run it. It's never good to see red on the radar, but what about purple or white?? We didn't want to find out.
Yep, time to go!!
Hmmm, looks like the second storm cell is gonna get us.
And get us it did!! First a massive downpour, then it began to hail. It was so loud inside the car I thought my windshield and sunroof were going to shatter. The windshield was already compromised with a few rock chips courtesy of AZ roads. K took this short video, sound ON.
Somehow the windshield and sunroof survived. We guesstimated the hail was about quarter size.
The roof and hood of my car weren't as fortunate. It's a textured finish now.
We enjoyed a relatively quiet evening for our last night out. I was peering over the area map and realized that White Sands wasn't really too far away. We had missed the visitor center on the drive east, so we altered our plans a bit for the final day. I did what I typically do when not 100% certain of the route I'm taking: consult Google Maps. I had three options: one was mostly an out-n-back drive that I didn't really prefer, one was much longer going around via Alamagordo and the third option, shortest, went between the two. We'd just take that.
Lots of military in these parts.
There's a really cool museum here on the north side of the base.
We were driving along the base for a good 20+ miles, almost through, when we approached a guarded gate. 'Are you active military?' was the question. No. 'Sorry, you can't come through here.' was the response. They informed us that Google often routes folks this way. Ugh. They were nice enough and gave us a slight shortcut to get around, but it meant backtracking those 20+ miles and still routing through Alamagordo. Oh well. We were committed at this point, so onward we went.
Fighter jet in Alamagordo.
Storms brewing to the east.
This time it was open and we were glad we stuck with our plan.
Heading out. The sands literally stop in their tracks near the road. It's a really cool area if you get the chance to stop by, well worth it.
We passed by the NASA Space Shuttle museum once more.
We'll have to add this as a stopping point next time through.
The giant rest area roadrunner on the west side of Las Cruces along I-10.
Lunch was calling as we entered Deming, NM. Found a diner with a fantastic Sonoran Hotdog.
Cool mural in Deming.
Welcome to Arizona...BAM!! Potholes. You can literally see the state line in the photo. Do better ADOT, this is embarrassing.
Home at long last!! 4565.8 miles round trip!!
We arrived home in late daylight and our cat, Felix, was soooo happy to see us!! What a fun trip. Stretching a cross-country drive out so you can mix in some sight seeing is the way to go. It's always good to be home though.
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