A More Southerly Route

I had all the best intentions of being more polite this time by alerting readers that I was going on another cross-country road trip.  I even intended to blog occasionally from the road but it turns out these trips are best for reflection, thinking, listening and observing.

Mugsy, my 3-year-old English Bulldog and I traveled another 6,000 miles and took five days longer than we did on the October trip.  In addition to checking in with family again, my goal on this trip was to try and figure out if, how and when to split my blog into three separate but sometimes related blogs.

Many of you read because of my Durham connection, others for family history, some for political commentary and still others for observations about best practices in community/destination marketing including some that are test segments for a book.

I write the blog for myself, but I do understand from comments many of you have shared that I could make it easier for those who follow my diverse mutterings.  At this point I’m still reflecting and cogitating; final decision TBD!

Mugs and I took a more southerly route this time taking in less-traveled parts of Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, Nebraska and Missouri and got a better view of some parts of several other states that we traveled through at night during our October trip.

We had a general idea of the route but many parts were spontaneous, such as cutting north into the mountains through Santa Fe and across the Durango/Telluride corner of Colorado and up through the red-rock arches of southeastern Utah.

We stopped more often this time but rarely settled on where until late each day.  Thanks to a website for Pet Friendly Hotels we were able to find a wide range of lodging choices in nearly every state and location.

Seven fresh memories of the trip:

• How much more billboard-free and view-friendly the Interstates are through nearly every state compared to how they are through North Carolina.

 

• Nearly every day was sunny and snow-free except for getting caught by 18 inches on the far side of Oklahoma City, a short stretch through the Blue Mountains in eastern Oregon and a white knuckle stretch in Wyoming from Rock Springs up over the pass to Laramie.

 

• You can’t see your grandsons too often, especially when you travel with a celebrity like Mugsy and pull up to their elementary school in a black Jeep.

 

• My Sisters and Mom laugh a lot, my dog snuggles and nuzzles a lot and my Daughter never ceases to amaze me.

 

• It can be much warmer on the tops of mountains than it is across the Great Plains.

 

• Kansas City needs to send updated maps to all GPS navigation systems.

 

• 5-Hour Energy shots really do work.