After my insane two-day, 30 hours of driving to Arizona, I decided the return would be a little different. I decided to take a different, more southern route over three days.
In hind site, and looking at the coverage of weather, I am so glad I made a change to my return route.
I have never driven the southern route to or from my Mom’s house. So, after a breakfast on Tuesday, I packed up the car and left Mesa, via US 60 headed east to Globe. Then US 70 to connect with I-10 in New Mexico and through El Paso, Texas.
View of I-10 from Rest Area, Las Cruces, New Mexico.
After El Paso, I continued on I-10, and then I-20 towards Dallas. I stopped in Midland, Texas, for the night and spent 30 minutes looking for a motel with an available room. At 11 p.m., and my third stop, I found America’s Best Inn to be clean and affordable. I only wish I had slept better for the next day’s drive.
Wednesday started out in drizzle and continued until about noon when I neared Dallas. It was evident there had been plenty of rain recently. In Arkansas, it was even more evident–flooded farm fields and some side roads visible near the interstate. I stopped in Memphis for the night, anticipating a shorter drive the next day.
I-71/75, Covington, Kentucky, approaching the Ohio River and Cincinnati.
Today, after checking the weather, I loaded into the car and drove home. It’s great to be home again. There were no weather issues–I seemed to be in front of all that stormy weather.
Just the facts:
- Tuesday–11.5 hours, 693 miles
- Wednesday–13 hours, 822 miles
- Thursday–8 hours, 505 miles
In hind site, I luckily missed a lot of stormy weather in Texas and Arkansas. Had I taken the northern route, I would have been driving through all of that storm in Oklahoma, Missouri, Illinois and Indiana!
The Hill Country of Texas sure was pretty. That would be a great route for the motorcycle. Gee! Isn’t that what I planned originally?–DBrent
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Texas Hill Country is indeed beautiful. The southeast escarpment of the Great Plains, the hills break up the relatively flat terrain of the coastal plains and the Edwards Plateau. It is indeed a favorite riding area for Texans and non-Texans. And an excellent byway on the route to the Big Bend region.
Unfortunately, I-10 and I-20 are not the best vantage points and examples of what Texas has to offer for roads and scenery.
We had a few tornadoes here that night. One in Midland.
The interstates are good for only one thing–maximizing time and distance. I much prefer the two-laners for scenic rides and drives.
I was pretty lucky in my travels. Looking back Texas (was that a song?) the weather gods must have shown favor on me for by-passing or skirting through all that weather without being in it!
Brent