So am trying to get back into the habit. While generally a post with this title indicates another cross-country trip sitting beside an airplane window! Well the first part of the statement is true, but this time the trip was from the 'ole van, and pics were taken from behind the wheel. It really isn't a dangerous undertaking - these photos are split between the cell phone and my Canon 6D - easy enough to point and shoot in auto mode with a minimum of aiming, or taking eyes off the road. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the story of the trip!
The reason for the drive was 2-fold. First, I HATE trying to fly near the holidays. The trips are expensive and jam-packed, and heaven forbid if there is bad weather, it might be days to get to your destination! I dislike the cattle-car packing of the flights these days, and consider myself fortunate for an empty seat near me, but it won't happen near Thanksgiving or Christmas. The other reason for the drive was that I had a payload - I'm packing up another telescope to the Midwest and returning one to Tucson to sell - as well as toting a refrigerator! The fridge in St Charles has been acting up a little - compressor ALWAYS seems to be running, though still cold, but the appliance repairman said there was nothing to be done - newer models aren't designed to be worked on. A couple weeks before my trip, my friend Susan near Cornville, AZ indicated the fridge she got when she bought her house worked fine, and had a water and ice dispenser - but was a side-by-side, which she didn't care for, so she made me a gonga deal, and it was out of her garage! Her big, strong housemate helped me load it (shown at left), and 3 days before Christmas (Sunday, 22 December), I was on the road!
The weather was great, no systems moving through, so looked to be clear sailing for the 25 hours of driving. The plan was to stop somewhere near the halfway point and break it into 2 days. The first opportunity to stretch my legs was about 90 minutes after my start as I passed Meteor Crater! No plans to visit the big hole itself, but it never fails to amaze me to pick out the raised rim crater from nearly 20 miles away! I pulled off the interstate for a photo, and at right, the shot is from nearly 5 miles distance. Go here for some other posts and shots of the crater itself...
Back on the road, I soon ventured into new territory! While I'd been to Meteor Crater a good 3 or 4 times, a few miles beyond at Winslow, was new countryside. From southern AZ, I'd always gone east on I-10 to Las Cruces and diagonal across New Mexico on highway 54, so I finally got to see northern AZ to Albuquerque along I-40. It was quite scenic heading into Navajo lands, with spectacular landforms lining both sides of the highway. I should have done a little studying before hand to learn more about the area. Of course too, it would likely have paid to not be in such a hurry, with time to visit the Petrified Forest National Park, and the Chaco Culture Historical Park, which my friend Margie has been bugging me to visit for a decade if not more... At left is some of the landforms along I-40 while still in AZ, and at right are hills and mountains near Grants, New Mexico, including the snow cap of Mount Taylor, at over 11,000 feet elevation. And if Grants sounds familiar, we flew over it a few months ago on my last trip to the Midwest - the funky landforms helping me locate the town of Grants on Google Maps! This time I drove around that same funky plateau, seen in the photo I had taken here.
A few hours later and I was coming into Albuquerque - approaching it from the west. I had passed through before from the south, again heading east on I-40, so was back on familiar ground. This time, however, I've seen the complete story arc of "Breaking Bad", which was supposedly filmed in the Albuquerque area, so was interesting to see some of the area, even driving at 60+mph! At left I'm descending down into the valley with an inversion layer over the city with the Sandia mountains forming the eastern limit to Albuquerque expansion... Nothing but a bathroom break there, but proceeded past Santa Rosa on to Tucumcari for another potty and snack break. I was into Texas for the sunset and managed to get the twilight glow in the rear view mirror while looking out upon a farm of windmills... I was hoping to spot "Cadillac Ranch", an art piece out in the middle of a field that we blogged about on one of our earliest posts. How can you miss it - 10 Cadillacs buried nose down, where you are invited to invest in spray paint and "make it your own"! But I missed it in the dark... 
I made it to the western edge of Oklahoma City, where I figured the halfway point was located. Calling ahead after a smartphone search, found a Motel6 with reasonable rates an hour before arrival, and crashed for the night...Sleeping well, I woke relatively early and packed well before sunrise, but paused for a pretty view of the waning crescent moon in the twilight sky over the frosty van after the chilly night. It was cool and humid enough there was considerable fog in the area. Eventually the sun rose up through the fog layer and made for a spectacular sunrise - right in my face, of course! But there were periods where the visibility dropped to almost zero in some locations, but eventually the rising sun burned it off...
The second day was mostly a blur. Moving diagonally across Oklahoma on I-44, then across Missouri towards St Louis. Stopped twice for gas and a time or two for bathroom and snack breaks. The only photogenic shots were approaching the Mississippi River bridge on the bypass around the south side of St Louis (have never tried going through that city). Being later in the day, 2 days before Christmas, traffic was already bad and I didn't want to risk trying to go through it this time! Along the bypass, there is always a good view of the distant skyline and the Gateway Arch. Have always wanted to visit it with Melinda, who grew up in the area and remembers it being built. Some day, but missed my chance to make the trip with her!The trip across Illinois was uneventful - up I-55 to I-39 until we got closer to the Fox River Valley. Pulled into my Jewel store for some groceries about 7pm, which was just jammed with holiday shoppers, and pulled into the driveway about 8pm. Wasn't long and the heat was on and the place was homey again... Hope you had/are having a great holiday season!
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