Roadtrip #4: New Mexico and the Albuquerque Balloon Festival

Greetings road trippers...

It is that time again. My 4th annual roadtrip is ready to set sail on Monday, September 29th, 2008 in the early AM. The primary highlight of this trip will be to see the opening weekend of the Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque, NM. Secondaries will involve seeing more National Parks, National Monuments, and other PoIs. (You can find the original planning thread here.)

I have laid out a route using Google Maps, which highlight all of our stops as well as the counter-clockwise path I have constructed.

I will be posting daily blogs on this thread (whenever there's an available internet connection). Pictures will be posted to my RTA albums after I get home. Otherwise if I attempt to add them daily, they'll end up chronologically backwards since newest ones go at the top of the album.

Final itinerary (all tentative of course):

Day 1 - Drive to Tucson, AZ
Day 2 - Visit Saguaro NP (East & West), Drive to Las Cruces, NM
Day 3 - Visit White Sands NM, Drive to El Paso, TX
Day 4 - Visit Guadalupe Mtns NP and Carlsbad Caverns NP, Drive to Roswell, NM
Day 5 - Tour Roswell, Drive to Albuquerque, NM
Day 6 - Balloon Fiesta Opening Ceremonies, Cruise up to Sandia Peak via Tram
Day 7 - Balloon Fiesta Events, Daytrip to Santa Fe, NM
Day 8 - Visit Petrified Forest NP and Arizona Meteor Crater, Drive to Sedona, AZ
Day 9 - Chill in Sedona, AZ (looking for last-minute suggestions around here)
Day 10 - Visit Joshua Tree NP, Drive home

If you have loads of time to kill, you can also check out my previous reports of the first three road trips, #1 48 States in 30 Days (offsite), #2 The Great West, and #3 The National Parks of Utah. You can also view pictures from all these trips, as well as smaller side-trips, in the RTA albums section of my profile.

See ya'll on the road...

Hi Kinless,

Have a safe and wonderful trip, I will look forward to your updates.

Dave.

Love your map and your trip plans look great. And thanks for all the links to your wonderful reports from past trips. They're a great resource and it's good to have all those links in one place.

I can't wait to read about your trip and see your photos. Enjoy!

That does look like a great plan, Kinless. Have fun!


Edit: There is one thing I wanted to mention about the Tramway. There are two parking lots, an upper and a lower. When you get to the lower lot, make an immediate left turn, then go up and around to the right. You won’t have to climb the long stairway from the lower lot if you can find a place to park higher up.

======== DAY 1 ========

We got a fairly early start as we departed from our San Juan Capistrano, CA home at 5:45am PDT. Headed south on the I-5 toward San Diego, we saw the rare sight of pre-dawn thunderstorms rearing their ugly head, both over the ocean and over Camp Pendleton. What a great way to start the morning.

As we neared San Diego, we briefly transitioned to I-805 before hitting our highway of the day, Interstate 8. On this highway we rushed east to meet the rising sun as we headed through the Imperial Valley. It has been 13 years since I've traveled on this road.

After crossing the border and having a quick breakfast in Yuma, Arizona, we continued east on I-8 until it merged with the I-10. We reached the outskirts of Tucson just over an hour later.

We arrived at our hotel at 1:00pm MST, way earlier than projected, but they still let us get our room before the standard check-in time. We took advantage of the extra hours and decided to visit the west district of Saguaro National Park.

Getting to the Red Hills Visitor Center wasn't an easy task, as my GPS failed me trying to get us to turn on a road that didn't exist. I'm glad I downloaded the map from the official NPS website as a backup plan. After 30 minutes of U-turns I gleefully ignored the vocal GPS instructions and headed down Picture Rocks Road and followed the signs to our destination.

We watched the 15-minute slideshow featuring the different species of wildlife before heading out and taking a few strolls down some Nature Trails. I was kinda hoping to see something besides flora, but it was still late afternoon with 95°F weather so all the animals were probably not on the prowl yet. We got in some decent pics of oddly-shaped Saguaro cacti.

All we have to worry about tomorrow is heading through downtown Tucson (not using I-10) and visiting the east district of Saguaro NP. I have a feeling we'll be seeing more of the same, but hey at least I can say I set foot in both.

GPS is pretty cool but too many people want to rely on it. Glad you had your papermaps as a back-up.

I'm looking forward to Day 2.

======== DAY 2 ========

We didn't make too much haste in getting out of our hotel this morning. At 9am MST we headed down Silverbell Road, which parallels the I-10, so we were able to avoid all the massive construction that closed the I-10 ramps through town.

We used Congress/Broadway and went straight through the heart of downtown Tucson. We found some murals to take pictures of, and passed by the Unisource Energy Tower, the (current) tallest building of the city.

We then used the Old Spanish Trail to lead us to the eastern district of Saguaro National Park. We hit up the Visitor Center, and another 15-minute slideshow, before heading out into the park. The 8-mile loop was at least paved so we wouldn't have the bumpedy-bumps suffered on the loop from the west district. It was basically more of the same, but we found some photo-worthy areas, took the Nature Trail, gazed at the view of Tuscon backdropped with the Santa Catalina Mountains, and even briefly climbed on the Javelino Rocks on the south end of the loop. Again, this was in the middle of the day so no species to gaze at. Good stuff, regardless.

Not much more to do here. We left at 1:15pm MST and headed due south on Houghton Road until we reached the I-10, and then continued our trek eastward. I haven't been on this stretch of Interstate 10 before, and it's probably safe to say that I wouldn't be again. Not much to see here. There was a brief rocky mountain display at one of the rest stops but that was all.

We entered New Mexico and paid for the privilege by setting our clocks back one hour. We arrived in Las Cruces, NM just after 6pm MDT and had dinner at Chilito's a block down the street. Once again we are a few hundred feet from the main freight line that runs through the town. But the train horn didn't bug us last night and I'm pretty sure with the help of the usual earplugs, it will be a decent night's sleep once again.

Tomorrow is a fairly short run. Zip up to White Sands NM, and then loop around into El Paso, Texas. Oh, and welcome to the party, October...

======== DAY 3 ========

We headed out of Las Cruces, NM shortly after 9am MDT, rounded the jagged Organ Mountains, and cruised up Hwy 70 to the much-anticipated White Sands National Monument. I myself have been wanting to visit this area for over a decade.

Once again we started off our visit with the usual visitor center/17-minute video/gift shop tourist trap business. And then we headed north on the 8-mile road that leads into the heart of the Sands. Our first stop was the mile-long Dune Life Nature Trail. I didn't think my folks would have the energy for hiking this, but they proved me otherwise. We found ourselves overwhelmed by the plethora of white sand that surrounded us as we traversed our way onto the dunes.

BTW if anyone goes there you will definitely need sunglasses to avoid sand blindness. I highly recommend it.

Next was the 650-yard Interdune Boardwalk, which shows you the hard life of all the plants/animals that live their life in between the dunes. We only saw one blue-tailed lizard, otherwise the only other interesting thing was trying not to get shocked as the recycled material on the boardwalk made it way too easy to generate static electricity.

The last thing was going to the end of the loop, glancing in the Nature Center and watching people try to sled down the sandy slopes, mostly without success.

By about 2pm or so, we decided we've seen enough sand for one day, and booked it out of there. We finished off Hwy 70 north to Alamogordo, and then chose Hwy 54 for our southern passage to El Paso, TX, which we arrived at almost 3pm MDT.

After getting settled, we headed out for a few quick places to visit before sunset. Our hotel is less than a mile from the New Mexico/Texas border, so we drove down into Sunland Park, NM and visited the racetrack/casino. Next, we headed back into Texas and up to Scenic Drive, where there's a 240° viewpoint overlooking the entire city of El Paso, as well as the Rio Grande and our neighboring international city of Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. We topped the evening off with an excellent meal at the State Line BBQ, which is literally on the New Mexico/Texas state line on Sunland Park Drive, less than a mile from our hotel.

Tomorrow will be packed with 2 National Parks on our plate, but the first one doesn't look like we can do too much using the vehicle, and the second one we may have to make reservations for a tour, if it hasn't filled up already. We'll see how it goes...

Like your past trip reports -- you have a nice flow to your prose. Enjoying taking this journey with you and your folks....

Mark

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Kinless

Tomorrow will be packed with 2 National Parks on our plate, but the first one doesn't look like we can do too much using the vehicle, and the second one we may have to make reservations for a tour, if it hasn't filled up already. We'll see how it goes...

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You won’t need reservations to do the self-guided tour of the main part of the cave, but the Carlsbad Caverns website does say that reservations are required if you want to take one of the ranger-guided cave tours. The caverns are pretty cool, I’m sure you’ll have a great time.

======== DAY 4 ========

Before our trek out of El Paso, TX, we decided to visit one of the landmarks that we passed on the way in. We took the I-10 east for a few miles to Concordia cemetery, which has some antiquated markers dating back to the late 1800s. After a little sleuthing, we were able to find the grave of the famous gunslinger John Wesley Hardin.

We used the Hwy 62/180 corridor to sneak out of the El Paso area and make our way towards Guadalupe Mountains National Park. The view of El Capitan and Guadalupe Peak (the highest point in Texas) came into our view as we rounded the many curves leading into the park. I knew ahead of time there was not really much to do here by vehicle, as this park caters mostly to hikers. We did have a chance to visit a few landmarks, such as the Pinery stagecoach station ruins, and the Frijole Ranch museum. We then continued our northeast pace on Hwy 62/180.

The next National Park on the list is something none of us have ever been to, even though we've heard about it enough. We arrived at Carlsbad Caverns National Park about 20 minutes before their 2:00 guided tour. I never made any reservations, and going online the night before didn't show any availability, so I was hoping for some last-minute cancellations or something of equivalence.

We went up to the counter... lo and behold, there were tickets available. Woo hoo! We paid up for the guided tour (and got free self-guided passes thanks to dad's Golden Age pass) and headed down the elevator 750 feet to the beginning of the walk to King's Palace. The restrooms and snack bar in the main cavern was a nice touch.

We spent over 2 hours going through the King's Palace and Big Room caves. I'm surprised I didn't run out the battery on my camera, although I wasn't using flash and letting the artificial light shape my pics. This probably goes without saying, but yeah this is one of the best cave formations I have seen, hands down.

We didn't want to wait another 2 hours for the Bat Flight so we decided to finish our route off, continuing up the highway, stopping for a Sonic dinner in Carlsbad, and then using Hwy 285 to finally arrive in good 'ol Roswell after sundown.

We'll take a look at the UFO museum tomorrow, then get a head start and arrive in Albuquerque as early as we can, since I'm pretty sure there's gonna be loads of people settling in early as well.

I'm also reading forecast reports of possible rain in the area late Saturday and all day Sunday. Ruh roh...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Kinless

I'm also reading forecast reports of possible rain in the area late Saturday and all day Sunday. Ruh roh...

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So far, they’re saying that things look OK for Saturday morning and maybe Saturday evening, but Sunday might not be so good. Hopefully things won’t be too bad.

The local TV weatherguys are telling people that Saturday is the day to go to the balloon fiesta, since Sunday might be bad, so a lot of folks will be headed out there Saturday morning. The gates open at 4:30 am, and you really don’t want to arrive any later than 5:30 am. The earlier you can get to the balloon park, the better.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Kinless

....then get a head start and arrive in Albuquerque as early as we can since I'm pretty sure there's gonna be loads of people settling in early as well.

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That’s probably a good idea, and US 285/I-40 is definitely the fastest route to ABQ. But if you feel like you have enough time and want to hit some backroads, here is an alternate route from Roswell to Albuquerque. This route would take a little more time than US 285/I-40 [about five hours, not counting stops along the way], but it’s a little more scenic, and there are some interesting places along the way -- Lincoln State Monument, Gran Quivira, Quarai. Just a suggestion, if you have time.

Hi Kinless,

I am really enjoying your report, top stuff !

I have to get me to those Carlsbad caverns, I look forward to your updates.

Dave.

======== DAY 5 ========

We woke up to the shadows of alien figures hovering over us...

Hahaha ok but seriously. Out the door we went at 9:00am MDT and down a block to the International UFO Museum and Research Center. Although the exhibits and timeline were interesting, it wasn't as exciting as I had hoped. We didn't spend more than 30 minutes in the museum but we did buy enough merchandise where you would think we had stayed all day. We hit a few other stores and then left Roswell about 10:45am MDT.

We decided on a last minute change to the route on this leg (thanks howard!) and took Hwy 380 due west, to the historic town of Lincoln. Here we viewed Lincoln State Monument, with the landmarks that told the stories of Billy the Kid and the Lincoln War back in the 1800s. We spent a few hours here touring the different structures, some original, and some renovated. But there was plenty of history here to be learned.

It was getting rather late so instead of taking more scenic routes, we kept westward on Hwy 380 until we got dumped onto I-25 north. We spent another hour or so getting up to Albuquerque, and we are stationed about 4 miles from the balloon park.

We've gotta be up at 4:00am. Ho boy... I might be grouchy for my next report so just forewarning you... hehe. Tomorrow will be our highlight of the trip. Let's hope the weather stays favorable long enough to get our opening day in.

Many of the restaurants have alien-themed names for their items and such. It's kinda fun but, yeah, not as much as I hoped for either. I do love the street lights, LOL. I bet it's a hoot during their alien festivals.

Looking forward to hearing about the balloons.

======== DAY 6 ========

Sleep and I were not best friends during the night. I kept waking up several times, probably due to my consistent paranoia about oversleeping. I really didn't have much to worry about, since both my folks had the same problem. At 3:50am MDT we realized we probably weren't going to get any more shut-eye. So we ended up just getting our stuff ready and leaving close to 4:30am.

Getting to the Balloon Fiesta park wasn't so bad, as the local traffic enforcement did an outstanding job of directing everyone to the lots, right down to your own parking spot. I noticed most residential and business streets were closed off. I guess that comes from years of too many people trying to buck the system. We were able to park right in front of the main Gate 14. Easy as pie.

We entered the park shortly before 5:00am. There were already thousands of people here sitting around waiting, eating, shopping, or walking on the field. Man, this should be good if this many people are dedicated to sacrificing half a night of sleep.

The 11-man Dawn Patrol show began around 6:00am, with their own "mini-glow" show and then the ascension to test wind speed and direction. After that they began their opening ceremony with the National Anthem and the ascending lead balloon with the American flag.

That was the signal for the mass ascension. Over the next 90 minutes we literally stood in awe and watched the hundreds of different balloons take formation and float away in the dawn sky. We assumed there would be no "special shapes" during this ascension, but luckily there were about 50 balloons or so with a variety of shapes which got the most hoots and hollers. About half of the balloons had branded sponsors. It was non-stop excitement. I especially loved feeling the rumbling "bass" in your gut as the burners from nearby balloons fired off. I'm pretty sure I took more pictures here than at Carlsbad Caverns.

After the last of the balloons floated away, we bought the usual souvenirs and then rushed out, as the crowds were now in the tens of thousands and my folks aren't used to things like that. We rejuvenated at the hotel and then headed for Old Town Albuquerque, a 300 year-old area of the city along Route 66 which had quaint little shops and of course carried on with festivities for us "Balloonists."

Next came the Aerial Tram to Sandia Peak. Unfortunately everyone else had the same idea and the line to get tickets was 2 hours long. Ummm, no. We decided to eat at the Mexican restaurant at the base of the mountain for lunch, and then book it. Dang it all...

While my folks were getting their second wind at the hotel during the afternoon, I was off to meet a long-time (huge train nerd) friend at the Amtrak station downtown. He was doing his own cross country vacation and happened to be coming home via Amtrak's Southwest Chief from New York to Fullerton, CA. He also just happened to have a 45-minute layover in ABQ the same day I was there. Nice. His train pulled in at 4:00pm, so we met for a few minutes and i got to see his quarters in the Sleeping Car aboard the train. Hmm, maybe I'll do that some day.

No time to doddle. I raced back to the hotel, picked up the parents, and bulldozed my way back to the park for the evening festivities.

But our luck turned sour. I completely ignored the oncoming rain clouds and ferocious winds, and after we got there (and paid our $6 fee again) we got the announcement that due to high winds and occasional rain, the Glow event was cancelled. The entertainment and fireworks were still scheduled, but those wouldn't start until 8:00pm.

We tried to fill in some time, but we already walked up and down the row of vendors, and the Balloon Museum was just closing so we couldn't make that. We really didn't want to wait over 2 more hours, so we made the hard decision to just go home and forfeit the evening. Of course as we exit the park, they're no longer selling tickets, and letting everyone come in. Blast it all. Yes, our tickets are now rain checks but we may not have a chance to use them before we leave ABQ early Monday morning. Ugh.

Loooooong day. I had to jump in the hotel spa for 20 minutes to relax. Much needed.

More rain tomorrow makes Sunday balloon events very "iffy." But we'll be in Santa Fe most of the day so it may not matter. If we get back early enough and the weather is kind, we may get to see the Glow show. We'll play it by ear.

OK wow, I foamed at the mouth today. I'll try and go easy on everyone tomorrow. I mean, how much can I possibly talk about for Santa Fe? (Don't answer that...)

======== DAY 7 ========

Not that it mattered much, but the Sunday morning events of the Balloon Fiesta were cancelled due to the pouring rain. Fine with us, as we weren't planning on going anyway. Our focus for the day was 50 miles north.

At 9:00am MDT we headed up I-25 to meet one of mom's friends she's known since grammar school. She and her husband were on their own roadtrip and we timed it right for meeting them in Santa Fe to spend the day.

We met them on Canyon Road and cruised up and down the street looking at the various art galleries. I only found some wind sculptures I wished I could afford. From there we dropped by the capitol building to get my picture in front of it and knock off another one of the 50 capitols to see. Immediately after, we all headed to the central Santa Fe Plaza where there was more shopping to be found. Finally we all ate a late lunch at Tortilla Flats before saying goodbye to mom's friends and departing back south on I-25.

I had been keeping tabs on the status of the Balloon evening events via the toll-free number. At 4:00pm the message finally changed to say the Balloon Glow and fireworks show were scheduled to go on. With that, I made sure we went straight to the park from Santa Fe. We arrived at 5:15pm and once again found a place in the center of the park to sit.

Shortly after sundown, 10 rows of balloons started lighting up the park grounds. It was mostly random burns and flickers, but every once in a while you'd hear a countdown and most balloon teams made an "all burn" or an "all flicker" which was great for taking pictures. This only lasted an hour and all the teams moved out from the field before our final event of the fireworks. They were, as expected, spectacular, and topped off a great day.

We're off early in the morning and headed to Sedona, AZ. We've got a long way to go, and 2 stops on the way. Hopefully I'll sleep all the night through.

======== DAY 8 ========

We prepared for the day a little earlier than usual since it was going to be jam-packed. We left the hotel at 8:15am MDT and stocked up on food at the local Wal-mart in ABQ before heading west on I-40.

Our first stop for the day was 60 miles beyond the New Mexico/Arizona state line and a gain of one hour, at the Petrified Forest National Park, where we arrived at 10:55am MST. After the Visitor Center, we took the entire 28-mile road from north to south and observed many of the scenic points, the minor highlights, and the Great Tree forest near the end. I expected a "forest" of sorts, not knowing it was just located in the Painted Desert and filled with what remains of petrified trees. We used Hwy 180 to get back to I-40 west.

The next stop was another 45 miles west, at the Arizona Meteor Crater landmark. We arrived in the late afternoon so there wasn't much time left. The first thing we did was head out toward the crater. Yikes, that thing is huge. The fixed telescope points were a nice touch. After the quick view, we watched the 10-minute movie, viewed the museum exhibits, and did our usual tourist-buying rigamarole. We left as they were shutting down the landmark.

Despite the one hour gain, we still didn't arrive in Sedona until after sundown, using I-17 south to Hwy 89A. I could see the shadows of the sky-scraper rock formations as we descended into the narrow valley. As we passed downtown Sedona, the multitude of shops was eye-popping, to say the least. The folks, who were here 35 years prior, were blown away as well.

Tomorrow will be another full day. We may go back up to Flagstaff and check out a few things, then come back to Sedona for some afternoon gazing. Sounds like fun...

I would tempted to stay there and soak in the vistas instead of returning to a city. But Flagstaff is a pretty cool place, so it's a toss-up.

It sounds like you weren't all that impressed with the Petrified Forest? Maybe I'm reading you wrong? I thought it was a pretty amazing place but, then again, the whole petrified thing has always been quite intriguing to me.

Looking foward to your next installment.

======== DAY 9 ========

The timeshare rental we picked up in Sedona was very nice, but not quite roomy enough for 3 people. We headed out around 9:00am MST and went back north on Hwy 89A/I-17, through Flagstaff, and toward the Snowbowl. There was a 1.5-mile trail we read about in some magazine, using Hwy 180, off Snowbowl Road, called the Lamar Haines Memorial. This trail contained loads of aspen trees, some of which were starting to take on their fall colors. Also on watch were old structures dating back to the late 1800s built by Ludwig Veit, which are still standing. This was a 2-hour leisurely hike, and would have been a nice quiet stroll were it not for the noisy kids on a school field trip. Nice.

Following that, back down through Flagstaff we drove, and headed again for Sedona. On the way we stopped several times to get some pics of the awesome rock formations that we saw in shadow the night before. We found a remote Dairy Queen with Indian Wares and a Visitor Information booth.

At the booth, upon getting some Sedona fun facts, I was offered a 7-day condo vacation in exchange for viewing timeshare options. I figured it was one of their ploys to get me to buy something, but I was curious about how the whole timeshare process worked, since I've only heard the usual anecdotal experiences. I could always say no and still get the free vacation. I dropped off my folks at the rental and decided to take a look.

Yeah yeah, they strong-armed me for about 3 hours, and I was tempted with all the free bones they were throwing at me, but with the current circumstances I couldn't justify any kind of big purchase like that right now. I felt bad because I kept them way past their closing time, but yeah that's the way it goes. I never ever make those kind of spontaneous decisions. But knowing what I know now, I may get a timeshare in the future when I'm in a better position to do so.

OK that last part didn't really have anything to do with taking a road trip, but it was an interesting experience nonetheless.

Tomorrow is our final day. We finish our westward route, with a drive through Joshua Tree National Park before getting back to the daily grind.

======== DAY 10 (FINAL) ========

Dad had a better intuition than I this morning. He figured it was better to leave at 8:00am MST rather than the 9:00am I was proposing. Since we were all up and ready to go way earlier than usual, I figured OK fine, we may need the extra time (and we did).

We headed out of Sedona, which in our opinion is nice but there's way too many people, even for an off-peak-during-the-week session out there. Overall, the parents were kinda disappointed, but they're trying to compare to when they were there 35 years ago. I think there'll be a difference, hehe.

We kept our southward direction on Hwy 89A towards Prescott, AZ. Even though it's in the general direction of our destination, the overly winding curves kept you from going faster than 25 MPH. There were nice views for sure, but it took 3 hours to get over the 2 passes that carried you through the mountain ranges.

We used Hwy 71 to cut over to Hwy 60 west, which finally dumped us out on I-10 headed back into California. After another hour, we reached the exit that introduced us to the southern entrance to Joshua Tree National Park. The Cottonwood Visitor Center was our arrival point, getting there just before 2:00pm PDT.

I had been to this park earlier in the year when I went rock-climbing with some friends, however this was only in the northern Mojave Desert section of the park. I had never seen the southern Colorado Desert portion, and this was my chance to complete everything. I had assumed the entire park looked all alike.

Whoops, yeah. The south side of Joshua Tree NP is pretty much just like what we've been seeing throughout the entire southwest. I didn't realize that the general Colorado Desert extended into this section of the park. As we drove through the barren basin, I kept promising my folks, don't worry, it gets better than this. So yeah, I've seen the southern part, and I probably don't need to see it again.

As we ascended north across the "border" into the Mojave, it quickly turned into a completely different park. Massive piles of boulders hundreds of feet high seemed to spring out of the ground, accompanied with thousands upon thousands of the trademark Joshua Tree yuccas. We stopped at a few of the rock formations (and I got in some basic climbing) and some of the bigger yuccas. It was a little too hot for hiking so we did most of our sight-seeing in the car, which was fine.

We stopped at the main visitor center and a general store around 4:30pm. From there we headed west on Hwy 62 that eventually led us back to the I-10, being overlooked by the plethora of wind turbines dominating the valley. We hit up Guy's Italian Restaurant in Banning, CA before making the usual familiar highway pattern to our residence in San Juan Capistrano, arriving at 8:25pm PDT.

We are done. As before, stats and conclusion will be posted in the next 48 hours. There's a lot to catch up on. Pictures will hopefully come at the same time, although I may put that off until the weekend. I'm glad I have the next 2 days off to get it all sorted out.

I think it's cool that you spent this time with your parents. What precious memories you'll have from this.

I'll look forward to your stats, conclusions, and photos. No hurry. Catch up, rest up, and reflect.

All right boys and girls, I have spent the last 24 hours recuperating and getting everything organized for your viewing pleasure. May I present... the conclusion:

This has been my 4th road trip in as many years, and I'm glad to say that there has not been any major catastrophe on the road as of this writing. I believe this comes with advance planning, preparation, and cautious optimism. The end result can be very rewarding.

Favorite Places: Where else? The Balloon Fiesta! There may have been a lot of people, maybe too many, but it's what helps events flourish. To actually be a part of the action on the field instead of spectating from a distance really makes a ginormous difference. I'm glad the weather didn't completely ruin our chances, as we got to see at least one morning and one evening show. Other honorable mentions during the trip would be Carlsbad Caverns and White Sands.

Least Desirables: I wouldn't say that any of the places were undesirable. If I had to complain about something, I guess it would be the long stretch of I-10 from Tucson, AZ to Las Cruces, NM which was quite uneventful. Also, the southern Colorado Desert portion of Joshua Tree National Park was uninteresting to me. I'm not even sure why they chose to preserve that area when there's so much more of it out there. But hey, I don't run the Department of the Interior.

What's next? Hmm, Roadtrip #5? I'm looking at taking an east coast trip to see all the big cities again. We'd fly into Washington D.C. and spend a few days there, then use a rental to drive up the east coast, through all the big cities and small states, until we hit Maine, and then loop around back down and fly home from D.C. The driving would be less than 1000 miles, since everything is so close together. This, of course, is tentative on a number of things, including the overall economy and affordability at the time.

Here are my stats for the trip:

Total miles: 2,778
Total stops: 20
Total elapsed time: 9 days, 14 hours, 40 minutes
Total states: 4 (California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas)
Total national parks: 5 (Saguaro, Guadalupe Mts, Carlsbad Caverns, Petrified Forest, Joshua Tree)
Total national monuments: 1 (White Sands)
Total state monuments: 1 (Lincoln)
Type of rental vehicle: 2008 Chevrolet Uplander
Number of speeding tickets: 0 (Yaaaaaaaaaaay!)
Gallons of fuel: 121.59 (22.85 MPG)
Total cost of trip: $1,014.58 (includes my share of hotels, rental, gas, food, entry fees, and merchandise)

And of course, I have put up an album of pictures from this roadtrip. It's really hard to narrow down to the best 60, especially when you have over 450 to choose from. My selections should suffice for a decent overview of what we saw on the trip. Have fun, and I'll see you again, either on the road or in the RTA forums.

Hi Kinless,

Nice to see you back with us, glad you recovered O.K. ;-)

Some good info there and I enjoyed looking through your photo's, thanks.

Dave.