Road Trip - headed east… or how we plan to show Gina that a road trip isn’t a bad thing…

I feel a road trip coming on fast… an unexpected, but welcome road trip… a mad cross country jaunt from San Francisco Bay to South Florida…  Gina, one of the son’s friends from high school, now our daughter’s friend as well, someone who occasionally hangs out at Casa Hees.

Gina has be accepted into a graduate program in Ft Lauderdale… Florida… This works as she was an undergrad there, has a house in Ft Lauderdale, her car carries Florida plates…  But, Gina and her car are here in California.  Here lies an opportunity…  She had shipped the car from Florida to California and was considering that option again.  The daughter suggested that they drive the vehical out instead…

At least initially, the idea was not welcome… Gina had made a cross country drive, from San Mateo to Ft Lauderdale recently, last June recently… and how shall we say, it wasn’t a good trip… That trip was made with The son… my son, the lovely Ms. T’s son, the Daughter’s brother… in a jeep with no air conditioning, through the deserts of California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas, in June, a time of year which is generally hot in those locals, in a car without air conditioning (in truth the Jeep has air, but apparently it doesn’t work…  This is not a reflection on Jeeps, or Chrysler vehicles, it is more likely a reflection on the son and his priorities…)  In any event, that jeep has since been totaled in an accident with a Haitian lady in Ft Lauderdale... so air isn't its only problem...

Making the trip more memorable was The son’s traveling style, which we might call sparse… Appropriate for a cave man, but not for civilized company... One meal a day, generally fast food…  There was beef jerked involved…  He likes to sleep in the jeep when traveling… Gina would prefer a bed… Gina was sick most of the way… they wore bathing suits as a strategy to deal with the heat… they were “questioned” by the border patrol as they entered Texas…  Finally as they approached the panhandle, they ran into Debbie.. a tropical storm, with rain, rain, and even more rain…

Gina did not enjoy the trip…

The daughter offered to drive out with her… (the daughter is on summer break from college)… The daughter enlisted my aid in convincing Gina that her recent road trip experience was not typical.  As we talked about it, an idea was hatched… I might accompany them…  The daughter and I have done two cross country trips, and they were good… One of The daughter’s friends had accompanied us on the second…   The simple fact that Gina’s vehicle has working air conditioning was a major plus…  A promise to avoid fast food and beef jerky went a long way…

We opened Google maps and started to hatch a plan…  I looked at my calendar, and found a week clear if I moved a couple of things about.  It is a bit over 3,100 miles from San Mateo to Ft Lauderdale…  The obvious route is I-10, the southernmost Interstate highway…    But there are options…   Other roads… places to explore and linger… places to eat…  places that are unlikely to consider beef jerky as fine dining.

Playing with Google maps we devised a 6 day trip (with a 7^th held for the flight home) taking us from San Mateo to Tucson, where we (the daughter and I) have family, well worth visiting… From there, we head on I-10 across New Mexico and into Texas… We are planning to stop for the night in Van Horn… West Texas at its best or worst depending on your point of view…  The El Capitan Hotel looks interesting…  and Van Horn is about the right distance from Tucson…

Van Horn is also the western end of Highway 90, an old school route across many states… much like Route 66… in fact some call it the “Southern Route 66”… so in Van Horn, we will veer south, on Hwy 90, thought west Texas… close to the border with old Mexico…  a route which will take us past the Little Prada store in the desert, through Langtry Texas, home of Judge Roy Bean, The law west of the Pecos… it will carry us across the Pecos…  It will rejoin I-10 in San Antonio, home of the Alamo, which we intend to visit…  We will spend the night in San Antonio…

From San Antonio via I-10, it is somewhat over 400 miles to Lafayette Louisiana and Cajun country.  This is where we will spend the night…  likely outside of Lafayette proper… and where we will leave I-10 again, again for Hwy 90, looping south though the bayous ending up in New Orleans…  This will be a low mileage day… high on playing tourist, low on getting there…  Of course dinner in New Orleans will be great, and Café Du Monde the next day will get us up for the last day of driving… New Orleans to Ft Lauderdale 800 miles away…

The next morning the team will split up, Gina in Ft Lauderdale,  I will fly home via my precious Virgin America (on points) home, just in time for the farm’s Cajun Zydeco festival, while The daughter will fly north to Washington DC to visit with family… before she too heads home…

We already have a theme song for the trip… and are fast moving towards a sound track…  Our theme song, by the Good Time Thrift Store Outfit, is Tow Truck, about a fast trip from California to Jacksonville Florida via I-10… We will include Miles and Miles of Texas,  a Bob Wills song, but we will use the Asleep at the Wheel cover…  This is Texas, so Willie’s On the Road Again will be in the rotation.  Gram Parsons will be in found in the mix...  Gina wants to include Convoy by C W McCall.

So, from the Good Time Thrift Store Outfit… our theme song...

Tow Truck

We are flying through the desert, no speed limit signs in sight

Haven’t seen a cop in three whole days,  we mostly drive at night

Like a cannon ball run, just hope we make the next state line

And leave that smoky wondering what he just saw screaming by

(chorus)

I hope I don’t run out of gas

I hope I don’t get stuck

Have no run ins with the law

Don’t have to call no tow truck

We left straight out Riverside, Made Tucson after dawn

Then we took it slow in New Mexico, before we got to moving on

Left El Paso at the crack of dusk, got three states in the can

But it took two more nights of driving just to get to Louisiana

(chorus)

Well, we blew off through old Baton Rouge, No detour to New Orleans,

I put the hammer down,  we aren’t giving ground until we get to Pensacola

Spent five whole days making the run on Highway 10

Then flip the bitch in Jacksonville and make the run again

(chorus)

The best road trips have a theme song... more soon.

Randy