Yesterday and today were both mileage heavy days. Yesterday we went from Flagstaff to Roswell (523 miles), and today from Roswell to San Antonio (526 miles). Let me quickly summarize the two days…
Tuesday
We woke up in Flagstaff, AZ and found our car battery dead. We suspect the accessory outlet didn’t turn off, like it’s supposed to, and the electric cooler ran all night, draining the battery. A friendly traveler gave the car a quick jump, and we were on the move again. Although knowing the battery got completely drained made us wary of turning the car off all day, but more on that later. Before leaving Flagstaff we got some pretty good takeout from Brandy’s Restaurant and Bakery. They made one heck of a Caramel Vanilla Latee, and some pretty kicking breakfast potatoes. After eating in the parking lot, with the car running (battery), we started east on I-40.
Along the way we stopped at Meteor Crater, AZ. Site of one of the best preserved meteor impact locations in the world. It was 500 feet deep, 4000 feet across, and 2.2 miles around. We also stopped at the Petrified Forest National Park, and drove through The Painted Desert. The petrified forest is actually trees that were crystallized, with pieces scattered all over the desert.
We made it into Albuquerque around 7pm or so. We stopped to fuel up, an when we got back to the car noticed that the battery still seemed to be low, having problems turning the engine over. This was after 300 miles of driving. So we stopped at the local Autozone, and had them test the battery. Turns out the battery was a goner. In order to replace the existing battery, we had to unpack the entire car, and remove the back floorboards. Borrowed some tools from the Autozone guys, and changed my first battery ever. Kate and I were pretty proud of ourselves. We then celebrated with dinner at the Monte Carlo Steak House. It’s actually a Steak House / Liquor Store. One of the best steak dinner of my entire life. Simple & delicious.
After dinner we hit the road again and headed to Roswell. Three hours later, we checked into our motel and crashed hard.
Wednesday
Woke up in Roswell, NM. Checked for any signs of Alien probes. Luckily we found no evidence of Alien tampering. First stop of the day, UFO Museum and Research Center. Pretty interesting 30 mins. I had been here before, but it was a new experience for Kate. Funny place. We hit the road again and headed towards Carlsbad, NM where we had lunch at Danny’s BBQ. It used to be a Dairy Queen and BBQ Pit, but I guess the BBQ pit was more successful so the DQ is gone. After Carlsbad it was south towards Texas. We crossed the Texas border and headed east towards San Antonio. On the way to San Antonio we drove through some pretty crazy Thunderstorms.
Made it to San Antonio around 9:30 PM, checked into the Westin Riverwalk (nice place), and headed out to Mia Terra, an awesome historic Mexican place about 1/2 mile from the Hotel. It was a full blown South of the Border experience, with Mariachi’s, Mexican Pastries, decor, etc. Dinner was awesome, and we brought some pastries back to the hotel with us. Getting ready to head to bed now.
Tomorrow: Alamo, Riverwalk, then drive to Austin
Quick Note: All the pictures posted thus far have been from my iPhone. It takes some pretty good pics. We’ll post our good ones from Kate’s camera later.
Below are the pictures (and a video) from today. Yesterday’s pics were already posted.
Talk about a full day, what you couldn’t fit something else in??? Sounds like an interesting trip so far. Thanks for all the updates, makes us all want to do a trip like that….who knows maybe next summer??? Love ya and be safe!!! Mom
Kate and I are always up for a road trip. We might need something bigger than the Magnum thought!