If you break it down that we had three days in Portland, 3 days in Cody, 5 days in Colorado ranch, 3 days in dallas, 5 days in Tucson ranch, 3 days in Sedona, 3 days in Temecula , 12 days in Palm Springs and 4 days in Oxnard it kind of puts the driving in the other days into some kind of perspective.
For sure I know we did at least 2 days of driving 500+ miles, and that is a lot of driving in anyone's language.
One trip from Phoenix in Arizona, via flagstaff ( 2 hours for Chelsea match), page, and north rim of grand canyon to end up in Hurricane , South west Utah took from 08.30 until 22.00 that evening is a very long day. We stopped at a gas station in a town called Colorado City in north Arizona where the 89A curves down and back up and we were so hungry that Lynda bought something that I am unsure what it consisted of --- it was warm, had the shape of a burger but the consistency of rubber but thankfully the lady made some fresh coffee and that was really good.
When you are as hungry as we were that night this was wonderful but I am real glad that we didn't know what was in it.
The scary bit I guess is that we had no hotel booked and there were all kinds of flash flooding going on including one road washed away. But that is all part of what we do on these trips--there has to be some kind of uncertainty, to make it more interesting.
Never was a room more welcoming than the very cheep Roadway Inn that we stayed in , we were that knackered. No breakfast so a visit to Dennys was in order for two very hungry souls.
When I look back on the driving -- Lynda did actually only drive once for about 2 to 3 hours but I felt so relaxed with the driving and in particular with the comfort of the Ford Edge it was a great SUV for us, baring in mind that it had the 4 of us for the first 3 weeks, with 4 suitcases and a bunch of hand luggage and then , when Rod and Ann had left us at Denver airport we managed to find replacements for the two cases that the others had taken with them as well as some extra hand luggage.
The one above is what colour we started with and the one below what we finished with
At around 400+ miles per tank of fuel--around 15 American gallons per tank full-- and about $70 per full tank, we spent around $1350 dollars of a grand in pounds for fuel for the trip---but by golly it was worth every red cent.
Golden rules on this kind of trip planning would consist of the following ---
- Pre-planning is everything
- Understand the basics of the trip that you want to do and ensure that you put the info into print.
- Make sure that you have the first night hotel booked in advance to ensure that you have a place to put on the immigration form that you will have to fill in prior to going through customs.
- Book key places in advance so that you limit the uncertainty---for instance if you are going to be there over say Labour day weekend, definitely book a hotel in advance as if you leave till you are there you will have limited chance of being able to walk in off the street into one they get that busy.
- Keep cash handy for fuel as there are always issues with petrol or gas stations and credit cards recognitions.
- If you are going to drive in the hundreds of miles per day, stock up with appropriate sweets.
- Sort out the appropriate up to date maps in the right size and scale--always good to have a magnifying glass to be able to decipher very small print and road numbers.
- When you fill up with fuel or eat in a diner, keep an eye out for free token books for hotel discounts--they include every town in the state that has hotels who take part in this type of opportunity---we have stayed half price in some over the years so worth having.
- Ensure that you have taken out full insurance, get a second driver named and included on the paperwork, and ensure that you don't have to fill up with fuel before you drop off the car at the airport.
These are where you get the free coupon / map brochures to be found in the Gas stations and Diners.
The scariest drive was driving up to Montrose through a mountain region that had single file roads winding around the mountains with torrential rain hammering down making it scary when you were driving by 1000 foot drops.
Trust me --with rock slides and other vehicles, especially the pantechnicans this was the scariest.
Lastly , you need to understand what areas will be passable and when as there are many places in Colorado and surrounding states that you cannot drive through after September---there is plenty of snow right now in Colorado.
I hope this might help folk but it has been good to be to get this all down in print, especially as it is a miserable day here in London so back to stripping out the kitchen ready for replacement in a couple of weeks.
Roll on Work tomorrow and drive to Manchester----not!
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