Pacific To Atlantic - Day 12 - Kennedy Space Center

Jan 03, 2008 Saturday .. (Next day - During flight Atlanta to San Diego, 9:30pm)

RoadTrip Diary - Day 12.. Final day of the roadtrip.. Kennedy Space Center and Sitaram Home touchdown.

Its the last day of the trip..

Day started lil bit late 8:30pm with breakfast in ihop.. ate a lot as i didn't want to waste too much time in KSC just eating :)

Visited the Daytona beach, just next to Ihop.. It was nice.. Again the ocean water seemed similar to tymbee island ocean but this beach seemed commercialized. means it was heavily driven by lot of cars.. they allowed cars on the beach.. lot of cars parked..and people were playing on the beach..

Drove thru Daytona 500 racetrack.. The road to racetrack is called "International Speedway Blvd".. its huge.. bigger than a freeway.. with almost 5-6 lanes on each side.. From outskirts, the speedway seemed to be huge.. crowded with advt portals

Drive to KSC was also nice.. lush greenery on both sides.. and lot of water bodies around.. FL zindabaad !!

Entered to NASA Kennedy Space Center around 10:45pm.. Just along the drive to KSC, I was pretty excited and started taking a lot (i guess).. The astronaut hall of fame outside mentioned abt seaport and showcased the real space shuttle outside the building.. and gave us a hint of what is coming next..

The visitor center had a fuel tank and Solid fuel boosters housed outside..

Close-up-tour to launch pad were already sold out.. so went with general admission ticket.. Closeup tour would have given closed view of the Launchpad LC-32 facility.. but we missed it.. but with normal ticket itself, there were so many things to visit in KSC that we indeed ran out of time later..

Started with "tour of KSC"...The tour bus itself were luxurious and had small screen for quick video infos..

Visited observation gantry of LC39... this is first time, I saw a rocket launching site... and in this case.. it was human space-shuttle launching facility.. At the observation gantry, they showed small documentary abt the launch sequence.. also a small scale model of launch tower, shuttle and launch sequence is showcased... From the observation deck, On northeast and eastern side, both LC39A and LC39B were visible clearly around a mile away.. oxygen and hydrogen fuel bank domes were also visible.. browsed thru binoculars.. nobody was around the launching site.. probably because of sat and Christmas vacation.. Not able to see much details of launch tower... on southwest and southern side, the unmanned rocket launching facilities were also available. probably around 4 of them were visible.. KSC manages manned launching, while cape carneval air-force manages un-manned launches.. On western side, the vehicle assembly building was clearly visible too.. this building felt somewhat familiar, I have indeed seen it in some documentaries.. The huge USA flag and NASA emblems are showcased outside the VA.. Its 16 floor building, to assemble the launch vehicle and shuttle.. Huge crawlers were also nearby..these are required to carry the shuttle and launch vehicle to launchpad. Indian ISRO crawler or Russian crawlers are housed on train track, while KSC crawler drives thru sand road.. I was lil bit surprised why NASA crawler is so different and designed this way.. Need to find out..

On first level of observation gantry, a shuttle main engine and one of its exhaust is on display.. The engine itself is a size of SUV.. Seemed too complicated for novice like me.. Overall, the observation gantry was 3 floor high and the top floor has a temperature controlled glass cabin for comfortable views of launch site.

Next destination of the tour was Apollo/Saturn V center.. They showed short video abt brief history of NASA rocket program, starting from Sputnik, Gemini program, and then abt Apollo mission.. till Apollo 8 ... In the next room, they have simulated "a real experience" of being in mission control facility witnessing last 2 mins of launch sequence of Apollo 8. They have all real videos, actual telemetry and monitor data and real photos.. Mission control seating had computer panels for IBM, McDonald Douglas and Boeing engineers.. It indeed gave the feeling of real launch, observed from mission control.. The sound effects were good.. Also 5 seconds after launch, the glass vibrations in mission control building seemed so real..

Just outside mission control room, in a big hallway, real full-scale Saturn V rocket is showcased.. with all 4 stages placed horizontally.. I was impressed with its enormous size.. It is marvelous. With 5 boosters connected to first stage.. each booster itself is unbelievably huge.. way bigger than space-shuttle engines or the shuttle launch vehicle boosters.

The size of first stage itself shows how much fuel the whole launch consumes.. The power of the Saturn V engine is comparable to 200 FA-18 jets.. Second stage was like space shuttle launch vehicle rocket, with 5 boosters again.. On fourth stage, the navigation and guidance control ring was visible.. At the end, the real lunar service module and command module are visible.. Command and service module seems to be running on single booster.. The capsule, at the top of the rocket is like a small patio.. Its so compact that it provides leg space similar to full size car..no luxuries. A small piece of moon rock is on display.. the best part is you can touch it.. It seemed like a lava rock, black in color, really flat and smooth tile shape.. around the size of poker chip..

Watched Apollo 11 pre-landing events video and then actual visualization of landing.. wasn't that impressive..

Quick shopping session..

Next stop was Space station Processing Facility.. Each and every component, housed in space station, is assembled and tested before the deployment. Saw replicas of multiple space station cabins.. It had waste management, shower, closets, drink fountain, chairs, etc.. These seemed to be real.. also, saw actual lab/workshop where actual assembly and testing is done.. there is a small observation deck for visitors to see what is happening in the workshop.. Nobody was working, when we visited.. because of holidays..

Returned back to visitor center.. directly went for "Shuttle launch experience".. The intro video of shuttle launch activities was impressive.. Huge screen across the room and high-end graphics.. The shuttle launch experience itself wasn't that great.. Sat inside huge cylindrical capsule, like space shuttle cabin.. Launch Sequence simulations of vibrations, sounds, G force and speed.. After the first stage, throttling, stabilization, loss of vibrations and finally the zero gravity effect.. Sudden change to zero gravity was impressive.. The shuttle gallery showcases all previous space shuttle launches from STS-1 to STS-127.. its indeed beautiful..

Near the visitor center, Real space shuttle is available to visit from inside.. Its like huge cylindrical truck.. 80% of inside is empty to house all instruments on the back side, while the front side has two levels.. At bottom level, all astronaut seating arrangement, waste management etc.. while on second level, the actual cockpit for pilots..


Visited the "space mirror", that memorial for all fallen astronauts. the mirror is huge, black and astronaut names are carved on it.. All these names glow only thru sunlight reflection..

It was almost around 5:30.. Rushed to IMax theater to catch the last show of 3D movie "Magnificent Desolation" abt Apollo missions.. it was okay movie.. sort of tuned for 3D effects..

Overall NASA/KSC has showcased all glorious, eye-candy space activities for visitors really well... and everybody visiting KSC, feels like they are part of it and indeed proud of it.. Everybody wants to join this bandwagon of "huge achievements".. and everybody ends up at the "Space Shop" buying some soveniers :)..It was really crowded.. Infact all logistics/maintenance cost for KSC tourism is managed thru these souvenir shop earnings..

End of the NASA tour around 6:30pm.. Single day is indeed not enough to visit KSC..

Outside KSC, had spicy Thai dinner at town of Tutsville,

Started lase leg of of our roadtrip.. to Sitaram's home at Coconut creek.. ~3hrs drive.. On the way, seemed like all three of us were feeling lil bit disappointed because the end of the roadtrip.. We started on the road 12 days back and every day was full of lot of activities.. We ended up discussing things which we liked during the roadtrip.. Zion inspiration point, Smokies Web overlook and Saturn V rocket were 3 most impressive things for me..

final touchdown at Sitram's place ~10:00pm

At Sitarm's two story palace house, the 50" plasma TV kept me awake with SNL and Matrix.. slept around 3pm :) !!

..and that marked our end of roadtrip.. Total 4310 miles in 12 days..

Today's Drive: ~250miles
State: FL

Total Miles: 4310 miles in twelve days
Total States (15) : CA, NV, UT, AZ, CO, NM, TX, OK, AK, MS, TN, NC, GA, SC, FL

Pacific To Atlantic - Day 11 - Savannah

2009, Jan 02 Friday 11:40pm
RoadTrip Diary - Day 11, Savannah & St Augustine..

Yesterday night, decided to catch sunrise on Atlantic ocean next day.. After settling in best-western, browsed thru some maps and realized that the water body we visited was Savannah river and not Atlantic ocean :) ..

Savannah is still 15-20 miles east of the ocean. We need to visit Tymbee island for Atlantic touchdown.

In the morning, when alarm started, took me few minutes to decide if i indeed want to see sunrise.. After 5 hrs sleep, opportunity cost of sunrise vs comfortable drive to Daytona beach.. but finally voted for sunrise..

Tymbee island was around 20miles from the motel.. At the "center state beach", couple of folks were on the beach, jogging, catching sunrise.. we were 10 minutes before sunrise.. but cloud cover was heavy.. 7:25am @ sunrise, only golden lining on the clouds was visible.. sun was hiding behind it.. still after few mins, the yellowish-silver sun rays showed up on top clouds, but still no sun visible.. roamed around the beach for a while browsing thru shells.. felt indeed great after reaching to Atlantic.. water was lil bit brownish in color and not crystal clear.. probably La Jolla shores Pacific ocean is much bluish than this one.. The beach was also lil bit unusual with shell crunch sand..

After half an hour, sun was still under clouds.. so headed back to the motel..

Feeling really exhausted..

Started the day around 9:30am looking for a nice breakfast place near Chatham square, as recommended by the book.. Ms Wilkes restaurant.. but it was closed.. so went to riverwalk st.. yesterday night I was on the same st, but today continued browsing different area near "folkers".. spent around half an hour just walking side by Savannah river.. Container ship was being towed thru narrow river channel.. Savannah seems to be one of the largest port on east-coast for merchant ship traffic.. Visited waving girl statue..

Had nice lunch at Toby's seafood grill place.. Fresh Tuna with cole-slaw was perfect with riverwalk view..



Savannah is exactly at the border of Georgia and South Carolina.. so we went to south carolina just crossing the bridge on Savannah river.. ~1:25pm.. nearby town maybe atleast 25miles from SC border.. so we returned immediately to georgia ~1:35pm and started our way down towards Daytona Beach..

On the way, stopped at "Howlf-Bradfield" plantation historic site, near Dorien town on I95-S.. to catch the glimpse of 1940 rice plantation and slave cabins.. I was expecting more abt slaves and their lifestyle, but the tour turned out to be abt owner house .. The ranger seemed ot be nice guy, but just too talkative.. again.. this house being from 1952 didn't seem really "historic".. but ranger unnecessarily wasted an hour just to see 4 rooms in a house.. Rice fields next to Altahama River, were really huge, around 4 acre area.. Spanish moss oak trees, in open area, were outstanding.

Visited "Fort Fredric national monument" on "Golden Isle Island" near Brunswick GA.. This was ruins of older british settlement fort to fight against spanish invasion and native indian communities.. the whole place is completely under ruins.. literally.. there isn't any "fort" at all.. I was hoping something similar to Nigara fort in Buffalo NY.. but except few walls, no structures around.. Initially, Ranger told me to abt 30mins closing time constraints, but I finished it within 20mins..it was complete wreckage and just so called "national monument"..

Overall, the Golden Isle Island was crowded because of tourists.. mainly for resorts or family fun..

Though we missed the sunrise today, Got a nice glimpse of sunset from the Island and Bay water..

Crossed Florida state line around 6:30pm EST

Reached St Augustine FL really late around 8pm.. The place seems to be similar to Savannah but this one is lil bit older spanish settlement. The St George st is "happening" street.. It is actually a small walkway with small yellowish buildings on both sides.. It indeed gave a feeling of small spanish village..

Had nice dinner at White Lions restaurant..

Visited nearby fort (??) ..was just too dark.. and it was closed from inside.. roamed outside the fort walls well..they were visible because of show lights. The fort was just next to atlantic ocean.. somehow water was really still..must be bay water..

had quick stargazing session with sitaram and meha.. it wasn't too dark.. but good enough for basic constellations..

Had nice ice-cream on St George St again.. and we started heading to Daytona Beach ~10:00pm..

On the way, Another milestone.. 4000 mile mark of the roadtrip..

Reached Daytona Beach travel inn motel around 11pm.. a Gujju guy working here gave heavy discount.. The motel is on US-A1A and ocean is just across street..

Will visit NASA KSC tomorrow..its still around 2hrs drive to KSC.. hopefully should reach there before 10am..

Today's drive: ~250 miles
States: GA, SC, FL

Total Miles: ~4000 miles in eleven days
Total States (15) : CA, NV, UT, AZ, CO, NM, TX, OK, AK, MS, TN, NC, GA, SC, FL

Pacific To Atlantic - Day 10 - Atlanta

Jan 1st 2009, Thursday (late night 1:33am)
RoadTrip Diary - Day 10. Atlanta downtown and Atlantic ocean touchdown

After the stressful previous day, of about 20hrs, we started around 11am today.. wafflehouse brunch was feeling.. Though we had late night dinner at Denny's 2am previous night, I was starving :)..

didn't have any feeling for new year.. just yet another roadtrip day..

Went to Martin Luther King Jr National Historic Site.. but it was closed because of new year day.. totally frustrating.. still we roamed lil bit around it.. there are two statues near visitor center.. At front, there is an african statue called "Behold", sculptured in memory of MLK.. Behind visitor center, second statue of "Mahatma Gandhi" is hosted.. its donated by Govt of India... It seems like MLK was indeed a follower of Gandhi and truly believed in Civil disobedience / Satyagraha philosophy.. i knew very little abt this aspect of MLK.. felt good..

The statue reads: "Nonviolence to be a potent force must begin with the mind. Nonviolence of the mere body without the co-operation of the mind is nonviolence of weak or the cowardly, and has therefore no potency. If we hear malice and hatred in our bosoms and pretend not to retaliate, it must recoil upon us and lead to our destruction."
At the backyard, there is a pathway showcasing footprints of all those who believed/contributed in civil rights movement. e.g. Rosa Parks.. Was lil bit surprised to see Stevie wonder's footprints.. hmmm... On the other side, the old-renovated "Ebenezer Baptist" Church, where MLK was a preacher, is still active..

I wish NHS would have been open today.. I would have loved to see it from inside..

Went to coco-cola headquarters... aquarium and coca-cola museum are at the same location.. Completely lavish surroundings, exotic, & creative decorations.. easily managed with exorbitant entrance ticket prices.. The way history of coco-cola business is portrayed to public is indeed impressive.. it shows how great coca-cola inventors, businessmen are.. lot of memorabilia from older coke advts and older coke products.. they were impressive.. watched some animation video "happiness factory".. was too boring.. Went thru "Taste of coke".. it was impressive.. lot of real drinks from all countries can be tasted here, but not all drinks were mentioned.. Only Indian drink was Sprite.. i tasted lot of drinks, but india's sprite was the only strong one.. might be a bias opinion.. still.. I ended up drinking full glass from Sprite india only.. Most of african drinks were too fruity.. Asian flavors Japanese and chinese were indeed good.. and European flavors, e.g. ikacongla, were nice.. creamy flavor.. Also went to 4D movie.. the 4D effect experience was okay.. documentory/storyline was crappy.. Also most of the 4D effects were just added for sake of it.. Coca-cola tour consumed around 3hrs.. Overall, most of the western visitors knew almost each and every brand of coco-cola, but i wonder how many people knew abt MLK? felt lil bit disappointed, because I am also part of the same community..

We spent around 45mins in nearby Centennial Olympic Park.. It seemed like because of 1996 olympic games atlanta got developed heavily in infrastructure.. and most of it is still intact and is useful to locals.. the large scale replicas of the olympic torch, all around the park, were fabulous.. Sitaram and Meha also had some fun at musical olympic fountains..



Visited Stone mountain, 30 miles outside city of atlanta.. The monolith dome, white-gray in color, is really huge.. The carving on the dome, three generals from civil war, is well detailed and must be arduous work for craftsmen.. apart from the monolith, whole park is completely commercialized.. and it is at a extent where probably people just ignore this stone carvings and spent time in artificial snow or shopping places..

On the way back, Dinner at Sarvanna bhavan was fabulous.. Unexpectedly we ended up at this place, and we found lot of indian restaurants around.. Awesome food here, indeed made our night..

Drive towards Savannah wasn't much impressive..

When we reached Savannah, first thing everybody wanted to do is to touch Atlantic ocean.. so instead of looking for motels, we went to all the way to the End of the freeway (??).. and touched the waterbody.. roamed across riverwalk.. the name "rinverwalk" itself indicated that we are near a river and not ocean.. so we weren't sure where we were.. later found out that its Savannah river and not atlantic ocean..

Savannah being heavy tourist place, all motels were full and no vacancies, after 5/10 phone calls ended up at Best western all the way to the opposite end of Savannah !!

Most probably, will catch sunrise at Atlantic ocean, if I wake up tomorrow..

Total drive: ~300miles
State: GA.. Atlantic ocean (??)

Total Miles: ~3750 miles in ten days
Total States (13) : CA, NV, UT, AZ, CO, NM, TX, OK, AK, MS, TN, NC, GA

Pacific To Atlantic - Day 9 - Smokies & 31st

2008 Dec 31st, Wednesday.. late-late night
Roadtrip Diary - Day 9 - Smokies NP & 31st night in Atlanta..

The day indeed started early.. again i didn't follow the alarm.. late-night 2pm to 7am.. So really had only 5 hrs sleep. ..but still was really enthu to see Smokies NP.

In the morning, we realized that we were staying in a motel owned by indian family again.. gujarati family.. they had sold the hotel to hilton that morning and will be moving to Pigeon forge.. they must have become millionaire.. So on 31st, from now, the motel will be closed.. so ours was indeed a last night in the motel.

We started with "roaring fork motor drive nature trail".. supposed to be nice auto drive.. it was full of orchid trees.. another set of different trees in our roadtrip.. Trees are indeed tall on the mountain slope.. so, previous night, probably we felt complete darkness becasue of these dense trees. After 3-4 miles, the main auto trail was closed due to winter.. so we had to turn back.. actual trail would have given us eastern smokies looks.. so missed it..

again.. the timezone adjustments in the car, messed up my time calculation :).. so we went to "ober gatlinberg" at 9am instead of my pre-planned 8am or 8:30am.

The "Ober gatlinberg" tramway was indeed a good experience.. the tram-operator was also funny and had some bizzare accent texan-country style + german flavor :).. the tram travelled at 12mph for around 15 mins. the top was around 3100ft.. when i was in gatlinberg, i was lil bit disappointed with the commercialization of the whole town and in turn felt bad that somkies is becoming commercialized... but when "ober gatlinberg" tram was climbing up, i found out vastness of smokies and gatlinberg was almost nothing infront of those mountain ranges.. Gatlinberg is set in a valley.. but still local residences and new resorts were showing up their existance on our path on those mountain ranges.

Ober gutenberg is a ski resort.. and have lot of snow tracks.. but it seemed like it hasn't snowed for a while in there.. so all upper/difficult tracks were closed.. only begineer patches were open.. so those snow patches must be artificial.. We tried "alpine way" chairlift.. the top of the alpine pass, indeed showed eastern as well as southern smokies range.. it was completely hazy on top of mountains.. sun was under clouds.. and it created yellow streaks of sunlight on the mountains.. probabaly as name suggests, it was the blue haziness on those moutains.. mountain slopes were too dark/hazy to take any clear picture or observe thru binoculars.. it was really cold up there.. probably around 23F..

Bought tram drive-thru pictures. Coming down from apline pass and then to gatlinberg almost ticked 11:30am.. lunch at flapjack's added an hour.. in flapjack, the water glass shapes were weird..like "baranee"

It was almost 1pm when we entererd smokies NP at Sugarlands visitor center. consideting 4 hrs to sunset, no hike would have been possible.. so only drive thru "Cedar coves" and "Newfound gap" was feasible.. The ranger mentioned that cedar coves roundtrip trail, 24miles one way itself will take around 4.5 hrs.. I just didn't believe him.. but his judgement was almost right.. it took us 4hrs to finish it.. Smokies NP is huge..

The drive to "Cedar cove" is across "little river".. the river was really small and flowing in same direction.. the path was torturous for around 8 miles.. the destination at cedar coves displayed vast fields, open areas and smokies mountain range.. we were sort of in the valley.. the valley has cabins and church buildings from 1860s European settlements, who took over native Cherokee reservations,.. there wasn't a simple glimpse of indian heritage left there.. but whole cedar groves was under heavy traffic to see those old European cabins and churches.. when i went inside "primitive first baptist church", i didn't find anything interesting.. Its not old at all..its completely renovated and probably older desk is displayed.. at back, there was a cemetery of people dead in 19th and 20th century.. infact..one of the graves was built in 2005.. also there were lot of graves of young kids from 2 year old to 6 month old.. i was indeed surpised..

On that drive, we also encountered wild life.. lot of deers.. also some horses (wild life??)

Again, as i mentioned previously, it seems like the concept of "interesting history" is completely messed up here.. Anything older than probably 50 years is a heritage in usa.. and everybody showcases it as "the best thing" on the planet.. means, instead of enjoying the nature within Smokies, tourist were busy visiting so-called-historical buildings or horses.. In Albq NM, when we visited a local church building, it was completely renovated from its 1897 establishment.. In san antonio, Alamo and similar missions are probably way too older than these Cabins/Churches in Smokies, but nobody porbably knows abt San Antonio missions.. there were around 10-15 people in those missions as compared to thousands in Smokies Cedar-Grove church... Definition of "historical" places, is completely mistaken or probably "commercialized"..

I wish if i would have got a chance to camp in Cedar groves.. The place is so beautiful and bountiful that native reservations were wise enough to stay there for their whole lifetime..


It was almost 4:30pm when we came back to visitor center.. and clock indeed started ticking fast..

"Caedar valley" gave the glimpse of valley and riverside views.. but "Newfound gap drive" goes to top of the mountain range and shows complete view of smokies vast mountain ranges.. It gave the real feeling of Smokies.. Drive towards "Newfound gap" was indeed torturous and way too adventurous..and inorder to reach there before sunset, the drive indeed really fast and way above speed limit :) !! At the top, It was crazily windy around 23F.. The "manor overlook (??)" showed western smokies ranges, while the "newfound gap overlook" showed northern-eastern ranges.. THE BEST view of smokies.. just unlimited range of mountains on the horizon.. I was spellbound with that view and binoculars indeed enhanced the vision.. Our forward jounrey US-411 drive was also visible.. and that seemed to be another torturous down-slope and thats also gonna be in dark :).. It was too windy to stay up there for more than 15mins.. I am glad that we made it during day light..

North Carolina and Tennessee border is exactly at "Newfound gap overlook".. Entered NC around 5:30pm EST

On the way down, "Webb overlook" gave marvellous views of Southern Smokies range.. It was yet-another THE BEST viewpoint for the day.. Its not only just mountain ranges, but the sunset dusk light created magic.. after the sunset, sky was all red and yellowish.. and vast southern smokies range was unending on horizon.. God Picasso's paint-brush was producing new posters every now and then .. Our perfect timing made the whole experience to be the "Inspiration point" like Bryce canyon.. Thru binocs was able to capture lot of details.. the village of Cherokee was clearly visible.. Truly inspiring experience..

The drive forward within Smokies, then thru Cherokee village and then towards Atlanta was unbelievably tiring.. I was operating manually.. brain was completely shutoff.. but we really wanted to reach Atlanta for 31st night..

Crossed NC-Georgia state line around 7pm EST.. Reached Atlanta around 9:30pm EST

Atlanta, Motel 6 assistant was really helpful and gave recommendations abt visiting down-town to witness peach-ball drop of 31st.. He also mentioned that ~100,000 people will show up there. considering parking hassle, he also suggested to use local rail-transit MARTA.. Luckily, train station was within ocuple of miles from our motel... When we reached to downtown, I was shocked to see so many people.. Its like "Ganapati-Visrjan-Mirawanuk" in Pune.. so many african-american people at the same time.. specifically, with that "distinctive" accent.. After observing people around me, the way they were behaving, moving, talking/yelling, it seemed like real blue-collar people.. before midnight, usual drunken brawls and yelling was taking place every now and then.. Peach-ball drop was from 500ft tower and we had a side view.. there was a small conert going on.. but considering "discussions" and heavy hassle around us, concert was just in-audible.. Also, coca-cola screen was displaying ~32F and too windy.. but probably because of such a huge crowd, i wasnt feeling any cold winter.. THe 00:00am event of 31st night was marked my huge fireworks and ball drop.. but it got over within few mins.. Also we didn't realize the precise 00:00 moment :) as we didn;t see any counters nearby. because of side-view ?


Return journey was another beast.. Thousands of people getting into small train station, at the same time, created usual hue & cry..

Again, Denny's late night dinner and an un-necassary hour delay in delivering the food, completely knocked us out.. Total 20 hrs day finally ended.. Good night !!

Today's Drive; ~300 miles
States: TN, NC, GA

Total Miles: 3400 miles in nine days
Total States (13) : CA, NV, UT, AZ, CO, NM, TX, OK, AK, MS, TN, NC, GA

Pacific To Atlantic - Day 8 - Tennessee Drive

2008 Dec 30th Tuesday ..late night 1am
Roadtrip Diary Day 8: Tennessee Drive

Stayed in Best-western previous night.. West Memphis in Arkansas.. West Memhis is just across TN state border. The hotel owner was desi.. Interestingly, in the room, there was a copy of bhagvad-gita along with usual bible.

Left AK and entered Memphis TN again around 9am.

Memphis mud island was closed.. so spent some time near riverwalk in downtown.. Bed of Mississippi river is too vast.. It indeed gives feeling of ocean (small scale :)).. An afro-amec man was sitting on the bench enjoying the smooth river flow.. must be pondering over something :)... Quick india phone-call from riverside gave comforting feeling..

Drove thru Memphis downtown for a while.. Was on main street and accidentally entered into the tram station.. initially, the road and rail-track were together and after few moments, felt weird, because i was the only one driving there.. Pedestrian told us that i am going towards tram-station and not supposed to drive here..So a quick anxious reverse-drive was a fun.. surprisingly, GPS didn't warn us either.. Luckily any Cop wasn't around, otherwise.. OR if a train would have entered to tram-station, behind us, then it would have been been adventurous experience :D..

Started driving from Memphis towards Nashville.. 200 miles drive.. Memphis Or TN being "blues music" hot-spot, this part of I-40 is called "Music highway".. quick stop at visitor center on the way to pick up some maps.. Drive was nice.. Initially, it was similar to river-side drive like MS or eastern AK state, but as we started going inland, somehow the concentration of tees started growing.. and becoming dense.. Also lot of state parks on the way like Natchez SP..

On the way, hit 105 mph speed-mark once.. and yes only once.. in whole roadtrip :)

In Nashville, went to Centennial park to visit Athena Parthenon temple.. Exact replica of original Parthenon from Athens, Greece.. obviously, whole site had Greek feeling.. Also a similar replica of "goddess of Athena".. indeed a huge statue.. statue itself is made of plaster.. but decorated with gold polish... sort of cheap.. didn't find it interesting at all.. Lot of fragments from the original Parthenon are also showcased.. They are made of real marble..


Photos of katrina disaster were also displayed.. don't understand the relation..

Centennial park is part of Vanderbilt university.. Dough Schmidt one.. Wanted to visit the university, but we were indeed short of time..

Had a nice sandwich at "which wich" place.. american-german place.. You can make your own sandwich, the final outcome was excellent and nice experience..

Drove thru old state capitol building.. visitors not allowed during week-days..

Left Nashville around 3:15pm and started driving towards Knoxville.. around 200 miles drive again.. nothing much in Knoxville..except riverfront of Tennessee river.. the drive was nice again.. all through mountains.. Reach Knoxville around 7pm

GPS multi-route feature sort of messed up our visiting points. we were planning to go for boat ride on riverfront on a stoned wheel boat, but missed completely. GPS kept us driving towards Smokies NP and we realized the mistake after few miles.. Also we didn't expect timzone change from CST to EST.. and lost an hour again in fraction of a second :).. so it took us 9pm to reach Gutenberg :)

Drive from Knoxville to Gatlinberg was lil bit surprising.. we went thru small towns of Servile and Pigeon-forge.. Because of Smokies NP nearby, both towns are so commercialized that you can find each & every american food chain and shopping place here.. I indeed hated it.. Still, christmas lights on the way were nice. also at every traffic-light, at the center, they have a Smokies mile marker..

Gatlinberg is just outside Smokies..gateway to NP.. I was expecting it to be a small German town, but it turned out to be really commercialized one.. unbelievable.. whole Gatlinberg is like "Tempe downtown at mill avenue" or "SD gaslamp quarters in downtown"..

At local micro-brewery "smoky mountains brewery and restaurant" had nice dinner with Karaoke music. Walked around few blocks in downtown..

Before returning to our motel, we decided to drive thru national park at late night just to get a feel of it.. US-441 thru NP is open 24hrs.. NP entrance is within couple of miles from Gatlinberg downtown.. but surprisingly it was pitch-dark near the entrance itself and obviously we were alone there at 11:30pm.. We drove a mile inside the NP and all of us were scared to death. Darkness and nothing else.. all tall trees around.. no visible light except our car headlights.. It felt like a huge mistake.. Still i kept on driving for few minutes till we hit the NP entrance window.. "Gumnaam song" filled up the env :).. Luckily, from other side, couple of people drove by.. they must be adventurous driving thru NP.. we decided to head back and took a U-turn. Powered off our headlights for couple of seconds to "feel" the darkness :) ..Hssh.. If i would have got some open patch to see the night sky, that would have been the best..but whole view was obstructed by tall-dense forest.

Overall, that 5 mins drive inside NP was scary but awesome :).. It gave me true feeing of a NP.. Being in Gatlinberg, i was lil-bit disappointed with whole commercialization aspect.. and sort of bad feeling for Smokies also.. but this 5 mins drive showed me no hint of civilization inside the NP :) and i was elated for tomorrow..

Staying in "Knights Inn".. "first" hotel at the entrance of the village.. okay place.. but way too cheap as compared to all other motels here in Gatlinberg. Manager told us that motel/land is sold to Hilton now and its there last day.. good deal for us !!

Any way.. tomorrow its gonna be real fun and long day.. Early morning from Smokies to new-year night-out in Atlanta..

Today's Drive: ~450 miles.. I drove all the way :)
States: AK, TN

Total Miles: 3100 miles in eight days
Total States (11) : CA, NV, UT, AZ, CO, NM, TX, OK, AK, MS, TN

Pacific To Atlantic - Day 7 - Memphis Blues

Dec 29th 2008, Monday.. late night
RoadTrip Diary - Day 7 - Mississippi River Drive and Memphis Blues

Finally started getting lil bit hangover of the roadtrip.. feeling lil bit tired.. probably because didn't sleep well in a while.. 12 hrs sleep is must :)..

Today was a nice day too.. At last moment, we decided to drive thru Mississippi state.. so plan was to have "breakfast in AK", "lunch in MS" and "Dinner touchdown in TN" :)

Breakfast at waffle house gave a indication that we are closer to african-american population. Considering their accent and overall appearance, we are indeed in southern region. Everybody in that restaurant, staff as well as customers, were african-americans.

Drive within Arkansas good.. Trees across both sides of I-40, but they were lil bit barren and without any leaves..had a red tinge.. in summer they must me green.. For Mississippi en route, we drove thru Helena AK on US-49.. crossed the river to enter MS.. climbed up north on US-61 towards Tunica MS and then towards Memphis to enter Tennessee..

The US-49 drive was awesome.. driving on local roads, other than freeways, indeed gives real feel of the country/state.. really huge farms.. All farming equipments were also active.. I guess because of nearby Mississippi river, fields were lush green..

Helena is really small town.. it has tobacco supermarket :)

Crossed Mississippi river to enter into Mississippi state around 1:30pm.. Because of the river bank, Mississippi US-61 drive felt similar to AK US-49 drive. We drove towards Tunica, a gambling place in Mississippi.. and only bigger town nearby. Its ranked 3rd overall, after vegas and atlantic city... there were large casinos, different than vegas ones.. Hollywood, Casino Resorts, Sam's Town, Isle of Capri casino etc.. , except familiar "Harrahs".. we went to Cassino Resorts.. again lot of black people playing there.. also lot of aged people as compared to vegas.. probably because of senior and low-income crowd, there were lot of slot machines compared to other games.. Also they had posters of slot machine winners and their lower winning amounts.. bizarre..

Lunch buffet at Tunica wasn't that good either..still good enough to satiate the hunger..

Entered Memphis, TN around 4pm.

Went to Graceland to visit Elvis Presley's house and his death place..

Ticket of $28 is bit expensive.. but the place is really well maintained.. Till now, I was bit ignorant abt Elvis. My impression was that he is yet another artist.. so in Graceland, 2hr audio-tour gave quick glimpse of his life and work.. Considering his one billion record sells all over the world, he indeed seemed like a "King"... Everything in his house is well showcased.. from his TV room, Jungle room, rifle range to his Golden records room ..all his real awards to real costumes from his live shows.. his movie performances.. ..to his burial place, with his parents and grandfather.. surprisingly his typical sunglasses weren't around anywhere.. overall it was a great tour.. need to listen to him more...

After Graceland, our ticket also covered, Elvis car museum, Elvis costumes museum, Elvis airplane museum and Elvis as "private" war soldier museum.. It was just too much.. In the end, i was really bored.. means.. whats the point of learning abt how his house is decorated rather than listening to his music.. Elvis wasn't like Gandhi or martin luther king.. he was indeed a rich kid with "rich kid habbits".. Considering his talent, he indeed achieved great things.. but whats the point of watching his cars or dresses...

any way.. After grace land, we went to Beale street near downtown.. A famous place for blues music.. 2 blocks withlot of blues clubs.. U of Memphis vs Kentucky game was going on nearby Fed-Ex Forum stadium.. so heavy crowd.. We spent couple of hours in B B Kings club.. lil bit expensive for dinner..but live-orchestra was good.. ZDA, The Princess of Beale Street, was singing with blues orchestra.. Also..some celebrity "jon stables" (??) showed up.. he was a drummer.. so these local artists stopped and invited him on stage and played couple of songs with him.. "hound dog" by Elvis was a familiar song.. Indeed felt good after some blues music.. The club itself represents BB style music.. It reminded me of live B B King's concert, which Shaan and I had attended last year..


Again lot of African-American crowd on the street... just everywhere..

Reached to Motel6 in AK.. around 10:30pm

Too tired today... eyes are closing while writing this.. brain is just syncing up with hands while eyes are closed.. so indeed not reading what I am typing.. good night :) !!

Today's Drive: 280 miles
States: AK, MS, TN

Total Miles: 2640 miles in seven days
Total States (11) : CA, NV, UT, AZ, CO, NM, TX, OK, AK, MS, TN

Pacific To Atlantic - Day 6 - Route 66

Dec 28th 2008, Sunday.. late night
RoadTrip Diary - Day 6 - Route 66 Towns

Missed wake-up alarm.. again

Overall plan for the day was to drive thru historic route66 and visit small towns.. and once its dark, cover some distance thru I-40 as much as possible..

Left Amarillo Texas, around 9am.. lil bit cold, but no winds.. 32F

Visited Cadillac Ranch.. we were looking for it previous night, but didn't find it.. The place is another Route66 oddity.. It has 10 Cadillac cars - from 1954-1964 - nose down buried in ground.. lot of visitors had marked their impressions on these cars thru spray painting.. so they are indeed colorful.. these cars are placed in an open plain, so no obstacles near horizon.. view was nice.. none of thees cars have any engines inside.. but car tires are still in okay condition..


Groom Tx - Has a huge christian cross.. It is advertised as Tallest in Western hemisphere :).. At the base of the cross, they have carved "14 steps" showcasing last few moments of Christ's life.. The town of Groom itself seemed religious.. it had too many churches lined up

After watching those "14 steps" and so many church buildings had bizarre thoughts of religious practices.. some of these christian practices are completely illogical, senseless.. In Hinduism, treating objects in "nature" as holy seems lil bit practical.. atleast to understand the importance of nature.. any way all other rituals are senseless again.. hmmm Atheism.. Good thing that Sitaram was driving :) !!

Mclean Tx: It is an official headquarter of Route66 association. Town preserved like it was from old days. First street has route66 banners. Philips 66 gas station showcased 19 cents/gallon. Lot of desolated gas stations across main street are kept as it is.. completely rusted..Texas shaped motel was still standing at outskirts of the town.

Left Texas and entered Oklahoma around 1:27pm CST

Texas was all open plains, yellowish in color.. Oklahoma was same when entered, but after Elk City, became greenish plains

Sayre OK: is indeed an old historic town that shows "Grapes of Wrath" in OK.. Currently northern town is well established, while southern is still maintained in older state.

Elk City OK - Had "Tex Mex" lunch at "Taco Factory".. crappy food.. everything else was closed.. Visited Route66 National museum.. its a official national museum for Route66.. they have reestablished elk city from old days in this area.. steam engine.. drill tower used in oil wells.. Philips 66 gas station with 22 cents/gallon.. hmm..3 cents expensive than Mclean TX..

Oklahoma City was indeed a drive-thru for us.. I-40 freeway has instructions/signs on the actual road itself..

Drive towards Fort Smith had plenty of roadside trees, first time in our roadtrip after visiting desserts in UT,NM or Great plains in TX.. Had a feeling of Pune-Kop NH4 drive... Infact western side of OK state was all green plains, while eastern side of OK state is full of trees and rivers.. surprised with so many small rivers we crossed.. South Canadian/North Canadian river , Arkansas river etc..

Also, at one point, elevation was around 500ft above sea level :)

Hit Arkansas state border around 8:30pm CST

Had Nice dinner at Big Jake's at Fort Smith.. the delicacy "Queso Flames" was indeed delicious.. It also had unlimited "Peanuts in Barrels" like Santa Barbara pier restaurant..

To cover up distances, we dragged ourselves to Little Rock.. Reached around 11:30pm.. Too tired.. Motel6 in N Little Rock is final touchdown for tonight.

This additional miles covered will surely helpful.. When we started planning for tomorrow, En route Memphis, decided to go thru Missisipi state, across Missisipi river... one more state in our calculation :)

We drove a lot today.. 630miles.. but it was enjoyable.. had lot of discussions with Sitaram and Meha.. Israel. Jesus Christ. Palmistry. Politics in Kashmir. Good old school/college days.. bollywood actors, sholay.. Astronomy-Sirius.. bla bla !!

Today's drive: 630 miles.. longest stretch of the roadtrip
States: TX, OK, AK

Total Miles: 2360 miles in six days
Total States (9) : CA, NV, UT, AZ, CO, NM, TX, OK, AK

Pacific To Atlantic - Day 5 - Albuquerque NM

Dec 27, 2008 Saturday - next day
RoadTrip Diary - Day 5 - Albuquerque NM

Though the fear of bad weather is already over, was still watching local news channel. Weather in great plains seems interesting.. Winds ~50mphs at South of Santa Rosa and ~65mph at west of Tucumcari, near TX border... 50mph ???.. just can't believe it..

Checked out of Best western around 8:30am...

Found nice breakfast place "Village Inn" on Route-66..almost similar to Dennys.. not much crowded, but people around seemed different.. sort of native, but were in cowboys/cowgirls style.. Seemed to be in land of great plains... Experienced it just by sitting in local restaurant :)

Quick drive on Route66 towards Petroglyphs National Historic Park..

Petroglyphs NHP indeed gives glimpse of "Land of Enchantment".. NHP has Petroglyphs done by local native indian tribe: Pubelos.. around 20000 in NHP. We decided to visit "Bongo??" canyon, which hosts around 300 petroglyphs. The ranger at NHP, Ed, gave good overview of what petroglyphs are. These are delicate carvings on Lava rock. The lava rock seemed to have multiple layered textures.. Outer layer with Grey color, middle one with lil bit white-yellowish, while inner one to be orange-brownish in color..So all Petroyglpyhs are carvings made on these rocks...all in yellowish-orange.. also most of the petroglphys are from 800-900 AD, while few of them carved by spanish invaders from 18th Centuries..

In the Bongo canyon, we browsed through three trails.. Mesa, Macaw and Cliff Base trail. Mesa trail was just too windy. Temp was around 32F, but because of wind, it was horribly cold.. Mesa trail have few interesting boulders.. Lava texture was clearly visible.. The boulders near begining of the trail have nice petroglpyhs.. shapes like human, animals and symbols like spirals.. some spanish petroglyphs of Christian cross shapes in squares are visible.. The top of the hill didn't have much..

Macaw was a small trail.. It has few petryglphys as compared to mesa or cliff base trail... but these are clear and sharp glpyhs.. very neatly drawn.. macaw sketch and multiple yucca corn fruit pictures are easily identifiable.. Also humanized tortoise petroglpyh was interesting concept..

The last trail "Cliff Base" has some different petrogpyhs.. Army Warrrior.. Human shape with ornaments.. star shaped face, but its right eye vandalized.. Square shaped humans.. Circle shaped face... Tortoise.. Snake.. Spiral.. Birds.. just too many petroglphys..

This trail also has lot of vandalized petroglpyphs.. Shape of skeleton.. all original petroglyphs are orange-brown in color, while new ones are grey in color.. its mainly because of the change in color of original glyphs over the long period of time..

Visit to Petroglyphs shows huge contrast with our Ajanta-Ellora caves.. probably Ajanta-Ellora are much older than these petroglphys, but they are way rich, beautiful, colorful, insightful and shows India's golden age.. at that time, american landscape was just nomadic. Talk abt transition of superpowers..

Contrastic thoughts with restroom icons as petrogplhys :)

Visited old town.. shows real mexican culture.. It had similar feeling of Tulshibaag market in Pune.. visited 1780's church.. well maintained.. renovated in 1927.. Souvenir shop in old-town was really huge.. it also had lot of weird goodies..


Had nice lunch at a Mexican restaurant.. "Casa De Fiesta"...blue corn enchiladas.. simply delicious.. Meha's drink had almost all fruits :).. Spent hell lot of time finishing lunch.. just catching up with Sitaram..

Drove thru downtown on Route66.. really well maintained.. lot of historic route66 signs, showing the legacy.. Near small town of Santa Rosa on Route66 visited Joseph's Fat Man club cafe.. another route66 oddity.. Again, had interesting discussions with Sitaram and Meha.. practicality vs idealism vs short-term vision in routine life..

by the time we left Santa rosa, winds had picked up heavily..

By the time we visited Tucumcari, it was getting dark.. really small place.. almost everything was already closed.. few interesting neon signs as mentioned in the roadtrip guide.. "Pow wow" restaurant.. "Golden dragon".. "Thingys" restaurant.. At such a small place, surprised to see indian family on a gas station. infact there were few advt of panjabi dhaba nearby..

while driving towards Texas, had a drive-thru astro session :) orion constellation.

Entered Texas around 6:35pm MST and timezone consumed one hour in few seconds :) 7:35CST...

Observed minor cellular network planning glitches, while crossing the state border. Verizon vs Sprint.. Verizon cellphone timezone changed 5 miles before border.. while sprint didn't change the timezone till 12miles after state border.. hmm..

Reached Amrillo TX around 9pm.. Huge city..but seems like lot of tourist because of saturnday night.. had tough time finding a motel..After hunting 7-8 motels, finally got into local fifth season inn.. It took more than hour.. during the process, scratched the car in La-quinta parking lot while reversing.. i guess I was too frustrated because of motel hunting..Good to have LDW.. the only casualty of the roadtrip :)..

Late night dinner.. Wanted to try local "Texas roadhouse BBQ", but no vegetarian food.. obviously.. so ended up at usual place.. IHop.. overall it was just too late to go to bed came back around 12:30pm.. no enthu of writing diary either.. so witting it a day later..

Today's Drive: 310 miles
States: NM, TX

Total Miles: 1760 miles in five days
Total States (7) : CA, NV, UT, AZ, CO, NM, TX

Pacific To Atlantic - Day 4 - Monument Valley

Dec 26th 2008, Friday 11:59pm
RoadTrip Diary - Day 4 - Monument Valley & Four Corners

Its the end of day 4.. it was indeed a long day.. Sitaram and Meha have already slept..

The day started lil bit late for me..around 7:15am.. both Sitaram and Meha were up and ploughing snow from the car.. I missed the wake-up alarm, must be tired because of stressful drive yesterday night..

Ploughing snow from car wasn't fun this time.. it was all ice and very little snow.. It rained and snowed.. so probably it caused ice to build up on the car and with some snow on top... so while ploughing, snow came off easily, but ice crystals were too hard to take out.. heating the car windows atleast made sure that front and rear windows are good.. but mirrors, side windows, wipers were unusable.. infact windows weren't opening at all..

By 9am, we were out of Blanding and hit the road to monument valley.. indeed early as compared to previous two days.. didn't get any breakfast in Blanding.. restaurants weren't opened.. also GPS didn't track any nearby places for food en route..so stuffed ourselves with usual munchies..

Drive to monument valley was icy.. road was still under snow.. still good enough sun outside.. sort of a indication that in next few hours we will get out of snow completely.. but heavy winds made life lil bit miserable.. temperature wasn't as cold as Bryce or Arches NP, around ~27F, but winds were gushing cold air, so all of us were shivering..

Quick glimpse of Hat-rock near the town of "Mexican Hat"

"Valley of Gods" drive and "Muley point" drive were completely inaccessible because of icy road.. we tried, but wasn't able to go further after a mile..

Drive towards Navajo monument tribal park is fabulous.. Experienced the hollywood shot of "Forrest Gump running on the road with monument hills in background".. I tried it too :).. I wish I can run like him..


We stopped at various places to take pictures from different angles. The whole drive gives almost 180 deg view to these structures.. Monument valley is at the border of AZ-UT, with visitor center in AZ. Again, we were stuck with harsh winds and everybody was shivering.. Tried to shoot thru camcorder & take few pictures, but within few mins my hands were numb..

The monument valley itself is indeed beautiful..Left Mitten, Right Mitten, Merrick Butte, Elephant Butte were visible.. I observed each structure/monument thru bioncs.. geological formation itself seemed interesting.. The top & bottom portion of the monument has multiple layers, probably showing various geological periods.. but 80% of the monument, the middle part, is a monolithic structure.. there are no layers in it.. its like huge solid rock, which must have been formed in same geological period.. i don't understand this geological diversity in one structure.. need to read more..

There was a tour to visit each monument for up-close view.. also a visit to additional monuments from the southern monument valley.. but it was lil bit expensive.. $65 per person and for 2.5hrs.. ..we had already spent enough time in monument valley already, so felt lil bit repetitive.. so we opted out..

At the corner of the (expensive) visitor center, there were 180million year old dinosaur foot marks.. not sure if they are real.. no other description around.. neither being advertised a lot.. so felt fishy !!

Entered AZ border around 12:05pm and drove towards Kayenta AZ.. GPS didn't show any food places nearby so we were lil bit disappointed.. but found a restaurant "Golden Sands", which turned out to be Navajo restaurant.. Interior was indeed native indian style.. food was usual american food.. but they had native indian fried bread.. tasted like bhatura without any salt and lil bit sweet too.. Meha was abt to enjoy "Chili" fries, her vegitarian meal :).. so I ended up eating some of those !!

From Kayenta, we headed NE on US-160.. some interesting small towns and their native indian names marked our attention.. Chilchinbit, Chinile, Dannehotso, Teec Nos Pos...

"Four Corners" is an interesting site.. Four state borders at one point.. NM, UT, CO, AZ.. Colorado view showed heavy snow and mountains, Utah was with red rock flat lands, New Mexico was with grey rocks, while Arizona was also with snow top mountains like Colorado.. Again the border point is govt made.. all artificial.. I felt that "Four Corners" viewpoint is way to make money.. exploit tourists.. $3 per person.. Indeed expensive considering what it offers..

It was just too windy to stay there for more than 15 mins... With US-64, we entered New Mexico around 3pm.. NM land is indeed different from UT and AZ.. Its all made up of grey color mountains rather than red rock mountains in Utah.. Shiprock mountain is prominent and visible from far distance, ~25miles before reaching there..

From Shiprock to Gallup, thru US-491 was usual drive.. nothing special.. just plenty of Bob-Marley songs and chit-chat..

Gallup is indeed bigger town.. Gallup was also "icy" with car skidding lil bit.. Reached there around 5:30pm.. had a nice "white pizza" at local place.. initially planning to halt at Gallup, but considering only 127miles to Albuquerque NM, though it was lil bit snowy, we decided to drive to Albaq.. Sitaram seemed to be lil bit tired so I continued driving..

I-40 drive wasn't bad at all.. Continiously being ploughed.. but i was too tired to drive, so took a quick break again at small town of "Grants", 50miles away from Gallup.. and then it was easy drive to Albq NM.. reached around 8pm..

Best Western on Rio Grande road seemed to be lil bit upscale..but too tired to look for anything else.. Had quick drive thru downtown Route66 and old-town. Had nice Italian dinner at St Clair's Bistro.

All of us are tired today.. overall we drove 430miles.. not that much.. but still stressful.. I am almost dead :).. but still writing this..

Checked the plan for tomorrow.. we want to spend some time in Albq NM.. planning to visit Petroglyph monument, Old-town area and Pubelo indian cultural center... Also drive to Oklahoma is thru Route 66 where we want to spend some time on visiting various small towns.. Total drive is around 9hrs.. so seems like Oklahoma will be in afternoon some time.. Did some re-calculations again.. Everything from 30th night in Smokies to Miami seems okay.. but from here-Albuquerque to Smokies gonna be lil bit stressful.. Halts in Amarillo Tx then to Little Rock, AK and then to Memphis TN seems plausible.. but with atleast 10hrs drive once in next two days..

As of now, Albuquerqe NM is the farthest in East I have ever drove by car from San Diego or Phoenix :)

Today's Drive: 430 miles
States: UT, AZ, CO, NM

Total Miles: 1450 miles in four days
Total States (6) : CA, NV, UT, AZ, CO, NM

Pacific To Atlantic - Day 3 - Arches NP

Dec 25th 2008, Thursday 11:51pm - Christmas Day
RoadTrip Diary - Day 3 - Arches NP

Events of the day proved that our decision of visiting higher latitude on I-70 was worth..

When I woke up, Meha was elated by the snow outside and mentioned abt snow on top of our car.. It took me few minutes to realize whats happening..

It was snowing outside.. Though i saw the snow falling in Bryce, I had never seen one in normal city life.. The snow with day-to-day things indeed has special place.. at least for first time :)

There was probably 3 inches of snow on the car, on the road.. perfect milk white powder.. Front-bottom of the car had some ice cones formed.. Meha mentioned the whole scene was similar to movie "Fargo".. and it was precisely like that... Ploughing the snow from our car was indeed fun.. Captured few snow flakes on my palm.. Never seen these snow flakes so closely.. the shape was as seen in pictures.. On the palm, they melted so quickly..

Drive on I-70 and then to US-191 was beautiful.. nothing but snow and ice.. Meha wasn't able to keep away her handycam :)

Had heavy breakfast at Dennys, near Moab.. Didn't want to make the same mistake, we did yesterday in Vegas-Bryce.. So ate a lot :)

Town of Moab is lil bit bigger than Green River.. Arches is 5 miles north of it.

Arches NP is really wide spread as compared to Zion or Bryce.. There are Mountains on both side of the park and vast open area & basin region, like death valley, in the center.. all open area was completely under snow so wasn't able to differentiate dunes.. Most of the mountain structures like "Courthouse towers", "Possible arch with baby rock" are made from red rocks like Zion..

The area from & after "Balanced rock" became more interesting.. Balanced rock is indeedd standing on a delicate balance.. probably in next few centuries it will fall :).. Mr Natolie from Ukraine took our patel-shot.

The North and South Windows were indeed the first glimpses of real Arches National park.. Huge arch of North Window is breath taking.. The Estrada red-rock sandstone is smooth enough to be carved just by freezing water and winds.. this rock is different than Zion & Bryce NP.. To go near the North Window, walked 5-10 mins. the arch is so huge that from a sufficient distance also, I wasn't able t fit all of us in front of the arch in my camera.. The arch is really thick too.. but do have multiple cracks.. probably its thickness will reduce over the period to form a delicate one.. South window arch is in a shape of fallen snow-boot..



On the way, had a quick view of "Garden of Eden", just north of balanced rock. Around 15-20 columns of red rock were placed like in a garden.. Again structure was lil bit similar to Bryce, but were in wider area.. Also had a glimpse of "Skyline arch"..

Up South-East of NP, visited "Devils Garden", the most famous area of NP. Its a garden of lot of arches.. didn't realize that we have to hike there.. and hike turned out to be around 2 miles. The hike was completely in snow.. All two miles, we were just walking in thick snow.. it is lil bit difficult as well as tiring..and we were without water :).. but "landscape arch" at the destination was breath taking and worth the walk.. Simply unbelievable.. its recently formed in 1991, really huge and delicate. From where i was standing, it was like 45 deg wide and 40 deg in height.. Its indeed one of the best arches in NP.. Other arches on our hike were okay.. "Tunnel arch", "Pine valley arch".. Fellow hikers recommended us to skip "double-o-arch" because of landslide.

The geological structure in Arches NP is indeed interesting.. All the Estrada rock mountains are corroded in such a way that they look like curtains, standing parallel to each other.. The "Valley of Fire" shows these curtains formed from firey red rock.. With magic of weather and time, they get converted into arches.. Its simply fabulous.. Witnessed another unique structures formed by nature.. these are completely different from Bryce and Zion.. but every national park has its own place.. All these diverse formations just in couple of days.. and tomorrow heading for Monument Valley.. yet another different landscape..

Any way, entered NP around 12:15pm and left it around 4:30pm...

Have to had dinner at Dennys in Moab.. All local restaurants were closed because of Christmas day, so back-to-back sessions at dennys.. After the dinner, stated driving to south on US-191 towards Monument valley.. Decided to make early night halt in Blanding, UT... but last 30 miles towards Blanding were horrible.. Worst I have ever faced in my drive.. Altitude around 7000ft.. raining.. snow on the road.. Though snow was ploughed, still ice was there.. I was driving at 40/65 mph..and at couple of points it was just 30mphs.. visibility was probably 100/200ms for last 5 miles.. I wasn't able see ahead clearly.. also wasn't able to see the lane itself.. and on top of all these factos, Elks crossed the road.. nice :).. I was lil bit scared, so asked both Meha and Sitaram to watch the road... Finally we made it to Blanding without any trouble.. I was glad that we decided to stay there, otherwise driving further would have been a headache..

Few miles before entering Blanding UT, we hit our first 1000 miles marker of the roadtrip..

In Blanding, staying in a nice little hotel "Four corners Inn".. Decision to visit Arches NP has added a day & night from our previous plan.. So we did some re-calculations to see if we can make it to FL comfortably.. everything seems fine..

In the hotel, We copied all three days of photos and Meha's camcorder recordings.. these video recordings are fabulous.. things we discuss while driving are indeed hilarious.. while watching these videos, we really laughed a lot.. These recordings indeed preserve the moment for life time.. stupider the moment, merrier it is.. As Meha mentioned, watching these videos after few years will be much more fun !! need to buy a camcorder soon :)

Relaxed now.. Completely satisfied with day3 on roadtrip.. already feel like have seen a lot.. and still 9 more days to go :) Tomorrow heading for Monument Valley and "Four Corners"..

Today's Drive: 150 miles
State: UT

Total Miles: 1020 miles in three days
States (4): CA, NV, AZ, UT

Pacific To Atlantic - Day 2 - Zion & Bryce NP

Dec 24th 2008, Wednesday 11:31pm Christmas Eve
RoadTrip Diary - Day 2 - Zion and Bryce NP

Got up around 7:30am,.. Yesterday night was pretty hectic.. slept around 3:00am.. My eyes were still red from lack of sleep.

From MonteCarlo hotel room window had a nice view of Vegas city, most noticeably the mountain range few miles away... All mountain tops are under snow.. giving a hint of what is on our way today..

For a drive, we were sure abt Zion NP.. but visit to Bryce canyon NP was flaky.. we just wanted to hit Page AZ for night halt.. If Bryce NP wasn't accessible, then plan B of visiting GC NorthRim was also cooking.. but while driving towards Zion, a quick phone call to visitor center at Bryce resolved all doubts.. visitor center ranger mentioned abt excellent weather for today.. lil bit snow.. but all roads are open.. that was assuring enough to add Bryce in our path.. and we decided to visit Bryce NP without any doubt... so now.. with addition of Bryce NP and with good weather, some additional plans regarding Arches NP started floating.. Greed :)... but still wasn't sure enough..

Drive to Zion was fabulous.. I-15 actual leaves Nevada and goes thru Arizona for 30 miles crossing virgin river and then hits Utah at St George.. I wasn't aware abt Arizona.. Those 30 miles in Arizona were awesome.. The drive thru Virgin River canyon was marvelous.. really winding road.. Snow was sprinkled on mountain tops.. Swades song "Yu Hi Chala" was perfect fit for the drive.

Entered Arizona around 11:30am PST and left around 11:55am PST (u.e. 12:55pm MST..lost an hour :) )

Town of Hurricane, just outside Zion was well decorated for Christmas.. somehow it was heavily crowded and with lot of traffic.. but traffic in Zion was really less..

Zion canyon was completely covered under snow.. The vast snow overlays on mountains were completely untouched.. The red rock canyon is beautiful and this time, it was milk white in color.. The color of the road within the canyon is also red.. All of us were overjoyed because of roadside snow.. Stopped to take few pictures, but ended up playing in snow for a while..


Talked with a ranger in Zion and got a green light for Bryce.. She mentioned abt a storm system coming-in tomorrow evening.. so it was indeed better to visit Bryce today rather than tomorrow.. we were indeed lucky.. When asked abt Arches NP, she recommended not to.. Overall, didn't spend much time in Zion canyon.. probably around 45mins.. All of us had seen Zion before, so we really wanted to shoot for Bryce..

Outside Zion, on US-9, everything was under snow.. White color was dominating whole view.. Most of the powdery snow was untouched.. Initially I thought that drive thru snow will be lil bit scary.. but got over it soon and enjoyed the drive.. Also started photo-shooting the scenery while driving :)

Bryce NP was the highlight of day. We reached to Bryce around 4pm.. had 1 hr 20 mins before sunset.. Red Rocks in Dixie forest, outside Bryce, gave a hint of what is coming next.. Drove thru couple of arches o n the way..

The weird shape red rock columns in Dixie forest were indeed interesting.. but when we saw similar structures, but thousands of them together in Bryce NP, all of us were spellbound.. From sunset point, got a clear view of Bryce canyon.. It is simply breathtaking.. Red rock columns are formed because of lot of small river-lets/ice slicing.. giving that typical shape to each column.. each column is itself made up of multiple layers.. Its indeed hard to believe that small river-lets can form such a beautiful canyon..Need to read more..

This canyon is surely smaller than GC.. Its completely different than GC.. but as impressive as GC.. rock formations are surely eye candies.. probabaly in summer Bryce must be more impressive..

All three of us had nice powdery snow-ball fight in freezing 16F weather.. The roadside snow in Zion was lil bit hard.. but this was pure powder..completely un-touched.. I tasted it also :) ..

Wanted to hike thru the Navajo trail lil bit, but wasn't very successful in snow.. bit risky and tiring too..

Visited Inspiration point.. It indeed shows the vastness of all red rock columns from 8100 ft. Probably out of all viewpoints we visited in Bryce, this was the best view for Bryce.. After spending some time at inspiration point looking at the canyon, I realized the aptness of the name "inspiration point"



Bryce point is another viewpoint which shows the real depth of the canyon. Few arch caves on other side were also impressive.. Had a nice binocular observing session here.. It was fun observing each rock column and its layers with high magnification..

At Bryce point, it started snowing.. first time in my life, I saw snow flakes.. I was getting hyper at every moment :).. the bus-stop next to parking lot was completely under snow.. and by the time we returned to our car from Bryce point, it was under thin snow layer..

Left Bryce canyon around 6pm...

Because of nice weather, thoughts of Arches NP started poping up.. Its 6 hrs drive from Bryce thru US-89 and I-70.. It was the decision time.. Page or Arches NP? For confirmation, called Shaan and checked weather conditions at various locations on I-70 for tomorrow.. Called Nitin to let him know the changed plan.. Page was completely canceled and monument valley is postponed for a day..

The drive on US-89 in dark was indeed tiring.. Hitting a rabbit on the way, made me awake and had to focus on the road..

While driving on I-70, we realized that all restaurants were closed because of Christmas eve.. Nothing was open.. Was really frustrated just being on breakfast.. Only choice was going to Moab, next to Arches, and eating at Dennys.. There wasn't any other big place till Green River on I-70, ~110miles away..

Higher elevations on our I-70 drive also made us realize how bad weather can get.. The I-70 drive itself goes thru mountains and it started snowing heavily at around 7000 ft.. Though the speed limit was 70mph, we were driving at 40mph.. Visibility was around a mile.. Though it was just 7:30pm, it was pitch dark.. It was bit scary.. As we were unsure about quality of US-191 route towards Moab, we decided to stay in Green River Motel6..

Usual munchies and chocolate milk for dinner.. Thanks for nice dinner Mr Santa :-( !!

Arches NP is just an hour drive away...

Today's Drive: 520 miles
States: NV, AZ, UT
Visited: Zion NP, Bryce NP, Green River village

Total: 870 miles in two days
States: CA, NV, AZ, UT

Pacific To Atlantic - Day 1 - Las Vegas

Dec 23 2008, Tuesday
RoadTrip Diary - Day 1 - Las Vegas

Tried to finish all the work yesterday night and today morning.. Just wanted to leave for the roadtrip on the happy note.. Took a while to leave from office ~1:30pm

Lunch and rental car pick up marked 4pm in clock.. Last minute packing, my car parking in QC and public library book-dropoffs ate up couple of hours.. by the time we hit the road I-15, it was already 5:30pm..

Most of the drive was in the dark.. atleast I was happy to get out of office and hit the road... Rental car from hertz, 2009 Impala is indeed powerful and brand new with only 8434 miles.. We didn't face any traffic on the way.. First 100 miles marker for the roadtrip was near I-15 & I-10 intersection after Riverside..

Montecarlo in Vegas was awaiting for us.. Because of normal weekday, as well as its still couple of days for Christmas, so rooms were easily available and pretty cheap... It took us 11pm to hit the strip.. Not much crowd on the strip.. Had nice dinner at PF Changs in Planet Hollywood Casino.. Cinnamon ginger tea was refreshing.. Sitaram opened the night on slot machine.. Paris also consumed few bucks on blackjack and poker..

We were too tired to keep ourselves up whole night.. We didn't do much in vegas.. infact that wasn't the objective either.. Initially vegas wasn't in our plan at all.. it was just on our way to Zion..so instead of staying somewhere before Zion, night in Vegas is a good start.. Also, according to our plan, Dec 23rd wasn't added before..We were supposed to start the roadtrip tomorrow afternoon and be in Vegas tomorrow night.. but I am able squeeze one day from work.. additional day for the roadtrip.. hopefully this will help later somewhere..

Night ended around 3am.. Though tired, slept with lot of excitement for next day..

Total Miles: 350
States: CA, NV

Pacific To Atlantic - Day 0 - San Diego

Dec 22 2008, Monday late night: 00:30am
RoadTrip Diary - Day 0 - San Diego

Sitaram and Meha are here in San Diego. They arrived today afternoon. Its good to see both of them again...almost after a year.

All of us are indeed excited abt the roadtrip.

The weather in southern utah and northen arizona dosn't look promising. Yesterday I did plenty of browsing on weather forcast. A storm system is coming form northen california and moving to utah and then to new mexico.. Called zion and bryce vistor center to get more information.

I have also looked for alternate route thru I-10. The I-10 also has bunch of National Parks in AZ, NM, and TX, but all of them are sort of in dessert route. New orleans and further destinations are lil bit flaky at this point.. but... we still want to continue over I-40 irrsepctive of how weather is... We have planned and read so much abt I-40 destinations that its hard to change the mindset ..Worst case, we will face harsh weather.. so what ? If snow chains are must then most porbabaly bryce will be dropped. I hope atleast zion and monument valley will be easily accessible.

Nitin and Namita went to Phx-Flagstaff-GC-Page-Monument Valley-Vegas loop. Most probably , we will meet them on Wed night in Page.

Lets see how it goes.. Tomorrow, I just want to get out of office asap and be on the road for Vegas.

On the Road Again.. :)