Introduction: Below is a day-by-day review of the Roadtrip my dad and I went on May 10 - May 25, 2008. We drove from Bicknell, Indiana to Anaheim, California. This was my first "real" vacation in almost 17 years. Growing up, my parents didn't have a whole lot of money so a family vacation was rare. Most of the time we would head to the beach at Cataract Lake in Indiana. The only real trip I remember taking with the family was to Memphis to see Elvis Presley's Graceland mansion. I just remember my two younger brothers, mom/dad, and I loading up in the smallest truck in the world (1980s Datsun pickup) at the last minute to go to Memphis. It was a tight squeeze as I had to sit between my mom's legs and do the shifting. That's basically how I learned to drive a manual transmission car. I do remember that the trip was fun and the mansion was amazing. Later on, when I was 10-11 years old, my brothers and I had the chance to go on a Florida vacation with my aunt and uncle. They actually drove to Florida so we got to see other states. I will always remember that Florida trip because we did and saw so many things - Daytona Beach, Panama City Beach, and Orlando. As I got older, I never really had the time or money to go anywhere. Since that Florida trip, I've only been to St. Louis twice for a weekend vacation. Late last year, my aunt Carolyn invited my dad and I to come to Anaheim and stay with them. I figured after getting a divorce and being long overdue for a vacation, that I needed this. My dad also needed this because he had never seen the ocean and he just needed to get away from everything. It was perfect timing. So I started planning and I knew from the start this was going to be a roadtrip. We both wanted to see the country and experience it on the road. While planning, I went ahead and put in my 2 week vacation at work and started looking at all the attractions on the way to and from California. Since we wanted to see as much of the country as possible, we planned on driving the southern route (via I-40) to California and the median route (via I-70) back to Indiana. I would highly recommend this route for anyone taking a roadtrip because you will see so many things. We certainly did! Enough about all that. Here is the review and a few pictures of my trip.....Day 1 - Saturday, May 10th
We left Bicknell, IN at 5am with XXXXX miles on the ticker. Our destination the first day...Amarillo, Texas. Some people would think that is too much driving for a first day, but that was our goal (plus I had already booked our lovely Motel 6 room online). Before getting on the main I-40 route, we traveled on US-41S to I-64W into St. Louis (of course we saw the Arch) and then onto I-44W. While on I-44 we passed through most of Missouri and Oklahoma and finally connected to I-40 in Oklahoma City. On our way to Amarillo, we stopped by Groom where the largest Cross in America is located. http://crossministries.net/ Not only was I awstrucken by the huge cross, I was drawn to each of the sculptures that told the story of Jesus' journey to the Cross. I took so many pictures and shot video of the whole story. I just remember thinking the whole time what Christ did for us. I said a silent prayer to myself and thanked Jesus for his sacrifice and everything he has done in my life. This was undoubtedly the highlight of my whole trip!
We eventually made it to Amarillo after driving about 970 miles and 14 hours. We checked into the Motel 6 and unpacked. One of the things we planned on seeing while in Amarillo was the Cadillac Ranch off of I-40 http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/2220. It was still daylight when we arrived so we headed to the cows field where the Cadillacs were buried upright. Visitors are encouraged to add their own graffiti so you know I had to pack some spray paint. With the wind blowing like crazy, I was able to spray "The Gee's 5/10/08" on one of the Caddies. After the ranch, we were on a hunt for some good Texan food. We ended up eating at a very good restaurant called Country Barn BBQ & Steak. The building really looked like a barn and had a giant statue of a cowboy (i think it was the old Muffler Man) out front. Inside the restaurant were western decorations and private theme rooms like a jail ceil and saloon. There were people just sitting around playing bluesgrass music too. I ended up eating their all natural beef steak which was probably one of the best steaks I've ever had. The rest of the food was good too. We couldn't leave the restaurant without first getting a picture of us in the jail cell. Our waitress gladly took the picture and we headed back to Motel 6 to finally get some sleep. That was a long day, but we had fun!
Day 2 - Sunday, May 11th
On Day 2, we left Amarillo at 6am and headed to Williams, Arizona http://www.williamschamber.com/. The goal for that day was to arrive in Williams and check out the southern rim of the Grand Canyon http://www.nps.gov/grca/. Driving through New Mexico, my car was hit by a sand wind funnel crossing the road. I was actually get tired of seeing cows and desert by this time and wanted to see some rock formations. Entering Arizona, I got my wish and I was thinking about the line from the Wizard of Oz movie - "I don't think we're in Kansas anymore". I was thinking "I don't think we're in Indiana anymore". Being an Indiana boy and not going to many places in my life, the landscaping was unreal. Anyone who has traveled I-40 will also tell you about the historical Route 66 road that runs parallel with it. It was cool to see how parts of it still exists - many dead ends, some parts are gravel, some parts paved. I could not imagine traveling that road back in the day. Anyways..we finally made it to Williams and once again checked into our lovely Motel 6 room. After unpacking, we headed to the Grand Canyon. We stopped at the main entrance and bought a 7-day pass for $25 even though we were only going to visit for 2 hours. We ended up only seeing 2 points - Mather Point and Yavapai Station. I was alittle disappointed that we didn't see more, but we were also anxious to get to California. Most likely it's an all day event to see the whole southern rim. I will be going back one day to see the rest of the canyon. After the canyon, we went to our room to sleep. It was another long day of sightseeing and driving.
Day 3 - Monday, May 12th
We left Williams and headed to Anaheim. Driving 20 miles outside of Williams, my dad was pulled over by Arizona State Police. He pulled us over because we found out that Arizona had a law that prohibited GPS units being mounted on the windshield. My dad got a warning and that's all he talked about the rest of the way to CA. Guess I should have checked the laws for each state before traveling. So more driving and more rocks and mountains we saw. I was ready to see Californina. We finally entered CA, went through the checkpoint to see if we were bringing in fruits or veggies into the state, and needed gas (we made sure we were below a half a tank of gas). We finally came upon a station that didn't have a big sign with the prices. As we pulled into the station we saw that price for unleaded was 5.29!!!! Needless to say, we did not get gas there. We actually had good luck with gas prices on the way there filling up for an average of 3.40 a gallon. We got gas at the next station for 3.85 and headed to Anaheim. Along the way, we kept on seeing signs for Calico ghost town so we decided to stop by and check it out. Unfortunately there was a crazy fee so we got back on track to Anaheim. This must have been a hotspot because we saw a lot of charter buses going in and out of the town. I can't remember what city it was (somewhere after Barstow), but there was a major elevation drop and traffic started getting crazy. After traveling on all the CA interstates we finally arrived at my aunt's house. I met her husband for the first time and we went inside to settle down a bit. Later on they took us on a small tour of Anaheim and showed us downtown Disney and introduced us to a fast food restaurant called Weinerschnitzel http://www.wienerschnitzel.com/. I wish Indiana had some in the area. We got 2 conies, a corn dog, and a coke for 2.99! My dad and I also saw two things we've never seen in Indiana. In CA, U-turns are legal at most stoplights and motorcycles can drive between cars in traffic and while stopped at a light. So that was the end of Day 3. We were tired, but ready to see the beaches.
Day 4 - Tuesday, May 13th
Day 7 - Friday, May 16th
Day 10 - Monday, May 19th
Another day of rest, but we went back to Huntington so I could capture some shots at sunset.
Day 11 - Tuesday, May 20th
This was another beach day and we decided to visit Newport Beach. It was a gloomy day and the beach was actually dirty. We walked on the Newport and Balbonia Pier and took pictures. We also visited the Jetty in the harbor. There we saw surfers, skim boarders, and boogie boarders catching some huge waves.
Day 12 - Wednesday, May 21st
This was our last day in California. We packed up and headed to Vegas via I-15. My aunt and uncle tagged along and we checked into the Plaza Las Vegas hotel which is located in the old Vegas strip. After checking in, we grabbed a bite at the Lucky 7 buffet in the hotel. After eating, we walked down Fremont St. to check out the gift shops and casinos. Later on that night, we did alittle gambling and played Vegas Bingo with my dad. He is the Bingo King!! It was funny watching him play his game while making sure we were all playing it right. It was a very stressful game because they called out the numbers way too fast, but I guess everything in Vegas is fast. At night, we walked Fremont St. again to catch all the music performers and the show on the big screen. Downtown Vegas at night is unreal.
Day 13 - Thursday, May 22nd
Day 14 - Friday, May 23rd
Day 14 was a very tiring day and it was time to go home. We left Vegas and headed to Denver via I-70. I was actually anxious to drive through the Rockies and see all the formations. Utah had some pretty good sights to see. The weather was blaah, but got worse once we got down in the mountains. In a five minute span, it was started thundering and lightning, rained and snowed! I actually became nervous driving and I don't usually do that. Once that was all clear, night came and we continued to drive through the mountains. We made it to Denver about 10:30 pm, ate Taco Bell, and fell asleep.
In Conclusion....
