Day 29 of our trip was a driving day. Leaving Georgia, we soon crossed into South Carolina, and then into the Blue Ridge and Smokey Mountains of North Carolina and Tennessee, before crossing into Kentucky and making our way to our Airbnb with Jonathan in Lexington. The one stop in our nearly 1,000 km day was trying out a Bojangles restaurant, which we’ve been seeing all over the south. Fried chicken, biscuits, yum!
The following day was a trip to the Ark Encounter just north of Lexington, a life size recreation of Noah’s Ark. We woke up to rainy weather and on the way there were driving through a deluge that was likely part of the weather system that produced tornados in Kentucky and surrounding states – the sky was so dark and the rain coming down so heavy that we were just crawling along on the interstate. Luckily it slowed down by the time we got there, but a rainy day felt appropriate for visiting the ark!
We spent a few hours touring the ark – there were animal enclosures and so much information about how things might have worked. Very interesting! We followed that up with a VR experience going back in time to when the ark was being built and then the waters rising.
On the way back, we drove back through the countryside and a couple of small towns rather than taking the interstate. It was nice to see the rolling green pastures, white fences, and horses, and then historic homes, so many brick homes. We followed that up with our first trip to Costco in a month to check it out and find something for dinner, and then spent the evening doing laundry, planning, and chilling.
Mmmm, Bojangles chicken + biscuits
Time to leave Kentucky! One other thing we hoped we could do was visit Edmonton, Kentucky – after years of having it show up in search bars (Google, weather, maps), we were finally going to learn where it was! After a couple more hours of country roads, quaint historic towns, rolling hills, we arrived at the metropolis of Edmonton, Kentucky, population 1,500. Not much to tell but we have been there!
After that it was short drive to Nashville, arriving just after lunch. We checked out Broadway Street in downtown Nashville, full of neon lights and celebrity restaurants. Because of our last minute planning, we weren’t able to take in any shows but we enjoyed all the live music as we walked around, and Jon had a little shopping spree at a Carhartt store :) It was a chilly day (around freezing), so we didn’t last too long!
We decided to find Red Robin and go for a tower of onion rings – we’ve been missing their food since they left Edmonton and it was on our to-do list for this trip. On the drive to our hotel, Donna spotted a Cheesecake Factory and decided that was the perfect dessert for her birthday and Jon had to pull an evasive maneuver to make the exit and fulfill her birthday wish!
Tomorrow we keep heading west.
Edmonton, Kentucky
After a nice hot breakfast at our hotel, we pointed the Rogue west towards Memphis. On the way, we were excited to finally see our one missing state license plate – North Dakota! And then soon afterwards, we saw a second one. We certainly didn’t expect to see a couple of Hawaii plates before we saw North Dakota. Now the game is over and we don’t have to watch the vehicles around us so carefully!
After arriving in Memphis, we spent a bit of time on Beale Street. As we were taking a selfie under the Beale Street sign, we had someone approach us asking if we wanted him to take a really cool shot of us. Jon was skeptical, thinking he might steal our camera but he arranged the two of us on the street in front of the sign to make it look like Jon was holding a mini Donna in his hands – it is a fun shot! A lot of the shops were closed but we saw what was there and then went to check out Sun Studio where Elvis recorded his first album, along with several other big names.
After that it was back on the road to continue on towards Arkansas. After crossing a bridge over the Mississippi River, we were in West Memphis, Arkansas. We saw the casino we visited years ago to watch greyhound racing – that was a fun memory.
We carried on to Little Rock and toured the major sites – Little Rock Central High School, the Arkansas State Capitol, the downtown market area – before heading to our Airbnb with Thomas for the night.
The kitties at our Airbnb came to visit us as soon as we opened up our bedroom door in the morning. One was super affectionate :) Our host told us about an art gallery in northwest Arkansas called Crystal Bridges, started by one of the Waltons, so we added it into our itinerary for the day. It was about 2.5 hours from Little Rock so that was our first stop of the day. Several different exhibits, and the facility was also really neat looking!
After that it was off to Tulsa about two hours west, where we toured around to see some of the churches downtown and saw a lot of big mansions! The weather here is supposed to be nice for a few days at least so we are camping again tonight – quite windy but overnight lows around 15 so that is much warmer than where we were previously camping! They probably think we’re nuts and we’re the only tent out here but we have to take every opportunity we have before we are back to real winter.
Off to Oklahoma City tomorrow!
Our campground near Tulsa, Oklahoma
Although it was warm, it was a bit of a rough night in the tent! Setting it up had been challenging because of strong winds, and the wind continued overnight. By morning, one corner of the tent had caved in because the wind had pulled out one of the pegs in the ground! In addition, the site was not level and so we were kind of sleeping on a hill and sliding down the air mattress slowly all night. Not ideal.
Today’s an exciting day as we get to see our friends the Rickerts in Oklahoma City! They recommended we might like to visit the Round Barn and Pop Shop that were right on the way from Tulsa, so we got off the interstate and onto Historic Route 66 to see these places. The Round Barn was a historic barn that was built round as they thought it would hold up better in a tornado, and the upper floor and basket weave roof were amazing! Next we stopped at the Pop Shop which had hundreds of types of unusual sodas. Then it was off to the Rickerts’ place.
We were welcomed by the whole family – Stan, Talayna, Vanessa, and Mikayla. The last time we saw them was on our Alaska trip in the summer of 2014 when they were posted there so it was so great to chat and catch up. Stan & Talayna also took us to see the base where Stan works and then the Oklahoma City Bombing memorial, where Talayna was a great and knowledgeable tour guide! We capped off the day with dinner at Texas Roadhouse and some board games.
What a great day with friends – we can’t wait this long again to see you again!
Round Barn outside Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
We had decided our next destination would be Las Vegas but weren’t sure we could do the whole drive in a day – 1,130 miles (1,800 km) with an estimated 16+ hours of travel time, not allowing for any stops. The only way to find out was to start driving and that is what we did! We were out on the road by 7:30 and knew that the two time zone changes would also work in our favour.
After a couple hours, we were in Texas and after a few more hours, we were in New Mexico. Three hours later (8 hours in), we were near Albuquerque, NM and about halfway there. Our second fuel stop and lunch break was in Edgewood – if you ever find yourself there, the Pizza Barn was amazing! As we got out of the car, there was a bit of snow in the air which we chalked up to the higher elevation. As we descended into Albuquerque, it disappeared and we thought we might be in the clear. We were not!
The snow soon reappeared for the remainder of our time in New Mexico and continued into Arizona. While we are no strangers to snow and winter driving, there were some sketchy icy sections and many drivers who are not used to these driving conditions…but we soldiered on and can’t help but wonder if people thought we were nuts as we flew past them! After a couple of hours, things cleared up again and it was smooth sailing. We had learned there had been a huge storm around Flagstaff but as we got nearer, there didn’t seem to be any signs of it…until we got about half an hour away and then things got really interesting! Out of nowhere, we were in blizzard conditions, icy roads, and vehicles coming to a crawl. As we came to a steeper incline, trucks were spinning out and the highway soon turned into a parking lot of semi trucks. To add to the suspense, our next planned fuel stop was Flagstaff so we were also down to 1/8 of a tank so we hoped we wouldn’t be stuck for too long.
After parking behind a semi for a while, it looked like he was going to move…and then didn’t. Jon got out to check out the situation and discovered he was now among the rest of the truckers who weren’t going to be going anywhere soon – but there was some room to squeeze around him and continue on. We slowly made our way into Flagstaff and found a gas station. Because of the storm, their electronic systems were down but thankfully we had enough cash to get nearly a full tank of gas. Then we had to decide: stay overnight or continue through the storm to Vegas with 4+ hours to go. After checking road conditions, we decided to press on and swapped Jon into the driver’s seat. Blizzard conditions continued but now we were mostly going downhill with virtually no other traffic. Things improved as we got to lower elevations and eventually we got past the snow. It was amazing to see the hundreds of semis pulled over in truck stops for the night as we passed by!
Thanks to those two time changes, it was just after 11pm as we approached Vegas and could see the bright lights of the strip in the distance. We hadn’t made any reservations for accommodations as we hadn’t been sure we would make it all the way there, so we quickly found a place to land for a few days – a lovely 600SF suite on the 26th floor overlooking the city.
A long day, but glad to have that leg over! Shout out to Talayna for the snacks that powered our day :D
Also: with our license plate game being over, we decided to see just how many state plates we could see in a single day. Answer: 38!!!
From Oklahoma to Texas
Our first day in Vegas was a catch up day. Donna had some work to do for clients and Jon took the opportunity to take the car for an oil change seeing as it had been about that many miles since the last one. He found a Meineke close to our hotel and decided to get the tires rotated and balanced at the same time. A couple hours later as he started to drive the car, something didn’t feel quite right – to make a long story short, the technician hadn’t put the lug nuts back on one of the tires, only the locking nut! When he went back in to Meineke minutes later, the technician had gone home and no one could find our missing lug nuts. Thankfully, the situation got resolved with no damage to the car.
The rest of the afternoon was spent washing and vacuuming the car, visiting Trader Joe’s, and some time out at Red Rock Canyon. We had a very yummy dinner at Lazy Dog to cap off the day.
Our second day included a bit of shopping – checking out one of the outlet malls, checking out a Harbor Freight tool store, and buying cheaper electronics at their Best Buy. :) In the afternoon, we drove out to Hoover Dam to check it out – got a nice view from the newer bridge above and then also down at the dam itself. On the way down, we saw a bunch of super cars headed down there, so we were ogling Lamborghinis and Ferraris in the parking lot!
We found out a couple days before we went to Vegas that friends from Edmonton were going to be there at the same time, so we got together for dinner with Barry & Shari as well as her parents at a great Mexican restaurant. Nice to see some more familiar faces! On the way back to our hotel, we drove down the entire strip just to see the lights – can’t go to Vegas and not see the lights…
But now we’re ready to go again, and we’re headed north to Utah and its amazing parks tomorrow.
The view from our hotel room - Red Rock Canyon
Not entirely sure how far we would get in one day, we set out from Vegas first thing Friday headed northeast to Utah. We stopped in St. George, UT to hit up a store that Donna wanted to check out, and it turned out to be in the very same location that Jon had stayed at a hotel on his Mexico missions trips 10+ years ago. In the parking lot of that hotel: Chuck-a-rama, a buffet restaurant that has become legendary in the stories told of these trips. We had to go. We’re not generally fans of buffets, but it was pretty good. Would go again.
Then it was off to Zion National Park, a place Donna has looked forward to going for 25ish years, since her Mexico mission trip days as a teen. It did not disappoint. We spent most of the afternoon there admiring the beautiful and giant red rock mountains and formations. We did an easy two mile hike in the snow and Donna went for a wade in the icy waters. Afterwards, we wound our way east towards Bryce Canyon National Park and found a hotel for the night so that we can visit the park first thing the next day.
Saturday morning dawned bright and COLD! The temperature was around -15 or -20 due to the higher elevation in the area, plus the wind was howling and blowing ice crystals in our faces. A lot of Bryce Canyon National Park was closed for the winter and buried under the snow, but we visited all the viewpoints we could and the views were SPECTACULAR. We’re going to have to come back here at some point to see the rest of the park.
From there we had to decide: hit another park or start heading north to make our way home. After seeing some guide books of the other Utah parks at our hotel the night before, we decided to make the time for Arches National Park near Moab, Utah. The drive there was quite scenic for the first couple of hours, taking secondary roads to work our way back to the interstate. Had a bit of concern as there were no service stations once we got back to the interstate (and we hadn’t seen a single open gas station all morning). We made it into Green River on fumes and glad that we hadn’t had to hitch a ride!
We reached Arches mid-afternoon and drove through the park to get a look at what was there. The setting sun made for some magical views of the imposing red rock structures. After a couple of hours, we knew that part of a day could never be enough. We found a hotel in Moab for the night, had dinner at a local diner as we pored over a map of the park to see where we should hike and check out the next day.
We spent all day Sunday at Arches, checking out as many trails and viewpoints as we could to see all the arches possible. Some trails were too icy to attempt but we enjoyed the fresh air, uncrowded trails, and unbelievable red rock scenic views in every direction we looked. We happened to see an Alberta license plate at one of the trails (an unusual site after so long!) and ended up chatting with a group from Calgary. As the sun faded, we drove out of the park and headed in the direction of Salt Lake City.
After a late night dinner at Raising Cane’s Chicken north of Salt Lake (yum!!), we decided to press on for a couple more hours to make it into Idaho, stopping in Pocatello for the night.
Our scenic drive into Utah
Now for the final push to get home! And what would a driving day be without some snow!? Our day had plenty of ice, snow, and crappy roads as we went through the high elevation passes.
Highlights: lunch in Butte at the Pizza Ranch (a great pizza buffet), stocking up on Donna’s favourite yogurt in Great Falls, and an easy border crossing.
After spending the evening with Jon’s parents (including a haircut for both of us!), we started the final leg home the next morning. Not ready to end the trip, we took the scenic back roads north and stopped in for a visit with Donna’s parents.
By the numbers:
Trip length: 41 nights/42 days
Countries visited: 5
U.S. States visited: 20
Times we crossed a country, province, or state border: 35
Time zones: at least 4 – it was hard to keep track on the ship!
Lodgings: Friends/family 3 nights, Hotel 10 nights, Airbnb 9 nights, Camping 8 nights, Cruise 11 nights
Cheapest night: $22 camping
Mileage: 16,170 km (+ approximately 6,000 km on the cruise)
Longest day: over 1,800 km in 18 hours, through three time zones and a few snowstorms!
Fuel used: 1,506L and 31 fill-ups
Oil changes: 2 (plus a couple of car washes!)
Cheapest fuel price: $0.80/L CAD in Wyoming
This was our first road trip with no pre-planning and we really enjoyed it! We learned we can handle 6 weeks alone together 24/7, and we enjoyed the challenge of picking the next destination on the fly, finding accommodations, and exploring new places. The nomadic lifestyle suits us 😊
Lots to accomplish at home but can’t wait to get back out there again!
Beautiful hoar frost in Idaho
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