Road Trip Part 1

It’s time to get out of the house!

A few weeks ago my brother and I set off for a road trip out to Tucson, Arizona. We started our trip in Lowell, Indiana, in a 15′ U-haul full of my son’s household items he had stored there. We trailered my Jeep behind so we would have a way back home.

I had planned on driving twelve hours a day to be in Tucson in three days and as you guessed that did not happen. Like many of us, when we get older we do not do as well driving at night. With the first day in the books we stayed the night in Portageville, Missouri at a family owned place called the New Orleans Inn. It was clean, affordable and pet friendly.

A good night’s sleep and coffee in hand we set off on day two. To get a break from the driving and the interstate we drove into Texarkana. Not much to see really just the Post Office which was half in Texas and half in Arkansas. That was kind of cool.

We stayed the second night in Eastland, Texas, at the LaQuinta. Let’s just say it left a lot to be desired and had it not been 11 p.m. I would have left. I just couldn’t believe my eyes and in the morning I left very disappointed. Be my guest and look up the review on the Eastland, Texas reviews. By the way I received a full refund.

At this point I called my son and explained that we were going to be a day or two later. I really needed to break up this drive so we took in some side trips along the way.

New day with little sleep but first, the Giant Campbell Soup Can and Ole Rip! HaHa! My brother worked 35 years for Campbell’s and I worked 6 before going to the Post Office.

As we traveled across I-20 we decided to check out Abilene, Texas. Abilene seemed to be all about art and literature.

No trip to Texas is complete without visiting Andrews! Andrews just happens to be my families last name!

As the sun sinks into the west we continued our drive to Carlsbad, New Mexico. Night number three was spent at the Stevens Inn, Carlsbad, New Mexico. Another Motel that was not a chain, it was an excellent choice, clean and pet friendly.

Okay! Let’s get to it! We have some out of this world people to see today! Today we head to Roswell, New Mexico where the 1947 UFO incident happened, but first a stop in Artesia.

Well we escaped abduction and are heading west again toward Las Cruces, New Mexico.

As we descend out of the Lincoln National Forest and into Alamgordo, New Mexico we stop at White Sands National Park. It looks like snow but it is the whitest sand ever, hence the name!

We stopped in Las Cruces for dinner and headed out for Tucson. The last leg of the trip to our destination. A beautiful sunset from I-10 as we approach Arizona.

We made it to my son’s house around 930 p.m. and we were ready to relax for a few days.

While we were in Tucson we did a little exploring. The first was a drive up the Catalina Highway to Mt. Lemmon. If you like beautiful scenery and a slow pace drive this 52 miles roundtrip drive is for you!

Besides visiting my son and daughter-in-law we also got some hot tub time in.

Another side trip we took while in Tucson was a trip to Tombstone. A little over an hour away you can step back in time and view the gunfight at the O.K. Corral and visit the dead at Boot Hill.

Back in Tucson on another day, we drove around looking for Roadside America sights, murals and anything else we found interesting.

So I really didn’t relax as much as I thought I would, but there was one more place to visit before we leave for the second part of our road trip. The Saguaro National Park.

We decided to stick around until dusk and I am so glad we did!

This was our last night in Tucson and the end of Part 1 of our road trip.

I am so happy that my brother is retired so we can explore together and I can share with him some of the places I have previously visited and also have the chance to explore new places along the way with him!

Look for Part 2 coming soon!!