The Trip That Was! : Chapter 2

Chapter2: Day2

I am driving at 100 miles an hour, on I10 where speed limit is 70 over Alabama, I am pulled over by a cop, arrested on the spot the that speed for 'culpable homicide' and I wake up sweating. (That was a little bit drama to spice things up)

Well that set the tone for my day on the second day for my driving.
I start from Pensacola, FL and drive all the way to Alabama. driving around 50 miles or so, I see a green board appear in front of me, "Welcome to Alabama".
Every state end on a interstate has an immediate rest area and a tourist center.
I pulled over on the Alabama tourist center, and I was greeted with an amazing view. 30-40 Honda cruiser bikes stood there in different colors and with different sized people sitting on those (size ranging from size 0 to oversized load). Got out of the rest area and headed straight for Mississippi, after 70 miles or so, I was at another rest area, this time border of Alabama and Mississippi.. Nothing much to say about the route around Alabama, it was all green and beautiful.. no curves on the road, it was straight as all roads in US.. but somehow, I am not sure if it was the car, or my love to drive, I was enjoying the drive. Partly because I was raining all trou' this time.




After leaving Alabama, and Mississippi, 1 hour down, I was in Louisiana - the rain did not stop.





I was in search of Lunch when one exit indicated a subway close by. Took the exit and moved in 6 miles inside and found no subways, darn exit board was wrong. Doing so, I reached a god forsaken land, with no person in the neighborhood. The next thing I decided was to head back to Interstate (Guess a logical decision was finally made for the first time in the trip).
Guess what, a minute later I had GPS up and running, showing a subway the next exit. packed in 2 large veggie subs and started towards my destination - the desert.



Louisiana had one of the most amazing bridges I had ever seen. The Atchafalaya (don't even try pronouncing that unless a visit to dentist is due) Swamp Freeway. most bridge run perpendicular to a river, this one ran over a river. The bridge ran for almost 20+ miles and driving over it was a pleasure. with swamps on the sides and water beneath you and all your future greatness relying on a cement structure called

bridge.








Crossed Louisiana and reached Texas. This was the most confusing drive I had. Interstate 10 is a toll free road which passes trou Huston. In Huston I10 becomes Katy freeway, which is a toll road with no toll booths, you are required to have some kind of ez pass which ofcourse I did not have. That means - toll violation. and trust me I had to shut down the GPS, the lady in the GPS went wild recalculating every 2 mins as she did not know the concept of tollway.. - That was probably I went mad at a lady with lovely voice.

Huston downtown was awesome. One of the best skylines I have seen, probably because I had to drive 1200 miles to see it.



My Mustang was galloping toward San Antonio and It was already 9PM. Had to pullover at a hotel asap, and San Antonio (where I was at that time, was the last place I would stay - Its expensive).

Drove for another 1 hour or so and reached Kerrville (I had read that after this point, the speed limits on roads is 80 miles per hour in the day and 65 in the night).
SO this was the best place I could halt so that I can go flat out the next morning.

Got help from my buddies and found out some hotels (I asked them to figure out the least expensive - a expression for cheap - hotel for me.)
I called up each of them, and found out the least expensive one was a "Days Inn" in Kerrville which was priced at 68 for the night.

Reached the hotel and found a 'desi' (expression for a fellow Indian) there. A very sweet lady she being, gave me a 20$ discount since we were from the same country. (probably she was sweet because I got a discount).

I had managed 800 miles on day two and had almost 1000 miles to do on day three.

My journey reminds me of the Indian cricket team, Starts brilliantly (first 3 hours of my journey - 250 miles) then goes slow, first day 650 miles, then goes slower in the middle overs - thanks dravid - 800 on day two, and has a zillion runs for the last 10 overs, in my case 1000 for the last day..

This thought put me to sleep right away.

A Trip That Was! - Part1

The trip that was!

It all started 2 months back when I was told I was to move to Phoenix from Fort lauderdale on a different assignment.
While the change in assignment was slightly disheartening having worked with this team for over three years, it was inevitable.

To move to Phoenix, I had a choice,
First - I get on a boring flight (southwest?!) - Send my luggage to this place via USPS - Send my car in one of those huge trucks that carry 20+ cars.
Second - I put all that luggage in my car - Drive that car all the way to phoenix.

While the first option was boring, the second one was scary. First of all, my car had 65000 miles on it. Secondly I would be driving alone. Thirdly, its summer and half of my driving distance was to be on deserts (Roads get really hot). Finally, mechanics were to write off my car tires in the next 2000 miles.




After much mental debate and frontal lobe abuse of my brain, which lasted roughly 10 seconds my decision was made. I was driving to Phoenix.

After much thought and deliberation, which again lasted a few seconds, I finalized the routes to Phoenix.
Here is the Detailed details of the plan.
- Trip distance - 2465 miles.

- Routes taken: Florida Turnpike to Interstate 75 to Interstate 10 to Phoenix, AZ.

- Rest Locations: Any, including rest areas along the highway.

- Fuel Locations: Every 200 miles (Read on, I sorely underestimated Ford engines)

As always, its my style of exaggeration, the remaining of the experience goes in chapters.

Chapter 1: Day1.

I opened up Google maps, and gave the two addresses I would be traveling to. It showed me I will pass trou Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico. Well this includes Florida and Arizona as the source and destination respectively.

Let me jump a day back if I may (I will).
The previous night I was to finish packing, and go to bed at 6PM so that I can start at 5AM in the morning next day.
I was under the impression that third day you cannot cover the distance you covered the second day, and second day you cannot cover the distance covered the first day.

So, I finish packing at 9PM, go out for a quick dinner in some eat out, come back by 11PM, bid good bye to friends and got to bed at 12:30PM.

Read on, if you are not bored yet, the screw-up just began.

Next morning I get up at 8 AM (Royally, I admit), finish of loading my luggage at around 9AM. Get ready, have breakfast

and start around 10AM - A 5 hour delay to start with.

I get on the car, start it .....Whirrrrrrrzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz (fast forward), reach Orlando and get on to one of my favourite food chains - Chipotle.



Done with Chipotle, I again start off with my drive towards I75 and .....Whirrrrrrrzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz - I reach I10 at around 6EST and I am blasting my way towards Tallahassee( FL state capital).



7 PM EST I am in Tallahassee


and around 9 Central I reach Pensacola, FL which is the last city in Florida. I decide to rest in this location and finish off my day one of the journey. I had just completed 654 miles in day1 - A huge deviation from what I had originally planned (1000 miles on the first day).

I go to Hampton Inn and Suites book a room and finally decide to call it a day at 10CST.