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Went for breakfast with my daughter, ended up taking her to get a new tire for her car since one had gone flat. Great breakfast, then off to home! Had a great trip, but was ready to be home again.

Road trip Summary:

• Days on road: 21
• Driving days: 14
• Miles driven: 6640
• States visited: 11
• States I’d never visted before: 5
• State border crossings: 17
• Oil changes: 1
• 2+ day cities: Austin, New Orleans, Santa Fe
• Cans of Red Bull consumed: 15
• Food/beverages called Hand Grenades consumed: 2
• BBQ meals consumed: 6

Had breakfast in Ely, then off to Reno. Another great drive across the Great Basin today as well. And, did a quick stop at the shoe tree on Hwy 50.

Stayed at the El Dorado in Vegas, nice inexpensive rooms, sushi with my daughter and her roomate at a great local sushi place. Then an early evening, heading home tomorrow…

Have done the drive on 93 several times, love heading up through the Great Basin, huge open areas, no towns or houses to speak of. Looking forward to the drive again, light driving day, heading to Ely for the night. Got to Ely, a 2 block area entering town was having a big snow flurry, the rest of the town, sunny. Made for a dramatic entrance to the town…

Got a great room at the Nevada Hotel, large, comfortable. The hotel resturant is just OKand the casino needed better ventilationn if you’re not a smoker. Played a little video poker, had an edible, if greasy dinner, and a relaxing evening though. A fine waystation.

Tomorrow, a leisurely drive to Reno to have dinner with my daughter!

Packed up early from Kanab, looking through the places to visit, decided to go to Zion, another park I’d never been to. Met the CIO of Osprey packs when having Sushi in Durango, and he’d suggested checking it out as a great 1/2 day trip (or 5 day trip, depending on if you hike in and enjoy the other parts of the park). Great visit, and got their early enough to get in a couple hikes before it got crowded in the afternoon.

After a great morning and early afternoon in Zion, had a lovely drive east in Utah. When I got to St. George, it was still really early, so I checked the maps, realized I was only 2 hours out of Vegas. I love the Oyster Bar in Harrah’s in vegas, so thought I’d just pop over, find a room, have dinner and then explore my favorite area of Nevada, up the easy side of 93, the next day. But, it was Saturday, rooms at the casinos were 4-5 times the price of any other day during the week. Asking the twitterverse, one of my contacts who’s a Vegas local told me the off-strip hotels were still cheap, so I decided to just drive and find something.

A surprise to me, the Motel 6, which is only a block off the strip, had rooms available. They did book up later, but I got one of their newly remodeled rooms, which was nothing like I’d ever seen at a Motel 6 before!

Had, as usual, a great seafood dinner, then touristed around the strip for a while, and got a great nights sleep. The motel was surprisingly quiet all night! Tomorrow, entering the Great Basin.

Heading east from Durango today, drove by Mesa Verde, and decided it’d be a great time to visit! Ended up being perfect weather, and again, very small crowds. Only one dwelling was open, so it was a bit crowded, but a great visit. Had no idea there were so many ancient settlements located inside Mesa Verde’s boundries, ended up being an educational visit.

Spent 1/2 a day or so at Mesa Verde, then continued to head east so I could get a bit more 4 corners siteseeing in. Really love the high desert area around here. Visited monument valley for some late afternoon pictures as well.

Drove by Lake Havasou, took a quick look at the dam, but decided not to stay over the night in Page, but to keep going.

Ended up getting to Kanab, a really nice little hub town for recreation in the area. Had a great dinner at the Rocking V Cafe, seriously good food, friendly service. Save room for desert!

Stayed in Walsenburg overnight, heading south to avoid the incoming snowstorm up Colorado Springs way, heading east to get to Durango for the night. Only storm touched part of the route was Wolf Creek pass above Pagosa Springs. The pass got about 8″ of snow that day, temps in the mid-teens at the 10,000 foot level, pass is at about 10,800 feet. Hadn’t driven in weather like that before, very limited visibility, windy, icy. Below the summit, passenger cars were sliding into snow banks due to the ice roads. The FJ Cruiser just held the line and drove right through, but was definately 20 minutes of hoping I’d make it through, and happy I had warm clothes and food in the car. Took this picture about 15 minutes after the summit, after you could actually see a little of the road, and it wasn’t so hazardous.

Got to Durango, got a nice room right near the train station.

Unfortunately, my good friends were out of town this one week on a dive trip, so I didn’t get to see them, but from a prior visit, knew some of the good places to visit. Had a great dinner at West by Southwest, a good Japanese Fusion resturant, and visited the open mike night at Cuckoo’s Chicken House and Watering Hole, which made for a fun evening.

Headed out early from Santa Fe. Checked with a friend in Colorado Springs (@mgion on twitter), and he told me a big storm was coming in, and I should check the weather and roads to decide if I wanted to head up. Looked like if I went up north, then came back down south, I’d avoid the biggest part of the storm (possibly 10-20″ of snow). Colorado’s had hardly any snow this season, so they need it!

Primary goal today was a surprise visit to a town close to Colorado Springs to meet my twitter friend @MaxWeb. We’ve corresponded for over a year, but never met, and now was a perfect time to pop up. Jim and Victoria own the Wild Wings resturant in Woodland Park, another great hub town for local recreation. Maybe the best wings I’ve ever had, and I’m not just saying that ’cause I know Jim. If you’re in the area, I highly recommend a plate of the ribs, or the buffalo chicken sandwich, which was really tasty. Here’s the view from the Wild Wings parking lot.

Had a great lunch at Wild Wings, Jim also sent me off with a Colorado beer “care package”. Thanks so much Jim! Met @mgion in Colorado Springs for a little while, then headed south toWalsenburg for the night. I’ll find out tomorrow if I can make my way west since the storm will start building overnight and into tomorrow.

Started with an early lunch at Tia Sophia’s, an amazing place frequented primarily by locals. Had the green chili stew, which is just wonderful.

Got there at 11, when they start to serve lunch, by the time I left, there was a line.Casual day of touristing in Santa Fe, took pictures of lots of the cool art in the galleries.

Dinner at Atomic Cafe, which was a bit of a mistake. Had Enchiladas, they weren’t very good, and the plate was tiny for the price. Many beers, all in bottles. Went to the Sleeping Dog Tavern, and a good IPA on tap, and Corn Dog Oysters, which were astounding. A strong horseradish/hot pepper dip to put on them, they were lightly battered, not overcooked, just delightful. Early to bed, since I had an early drive to get up to Colorado Springs by a reasonable time tomorrow.

Breakfast, since it’s complimentary and from an actual resturant across the street, and then I’ll go the day without having to stop for lunch, since it’s going to be a long driving day. Been gaining weight with the BBQ crawls and New Orleans food, so need to cut back anyway!

Slightly long haul to Santa Fe, but time for a few stops, want to get into town early enough to see the Singing Waiters at La Cantina, part of La Casa Sena, they play at 6:30, the website says, so I should make it.

Pass several great photo ops, and a couple Route 66 business route small towns worth a few pictures.

But, 40+ MPH winds the whole way. Most excitement is I pass through a town, have 1/2 a tank of gas, and just over 100 miles on the odometer. Been getting 20+ mpg. But, we now start climbing into New Mexico, and continued 50mph winds, now headwinds.I notice the gas gauge is visibly moving, with 210 miles on the odometer, the gas light comes on. Uh oh. I check the Tom Tom (which has shown this trip that it’s maps are bad enough to need a new GPS next road trip), and it tells me 20 miles to next gas. Um, this doesn’t look good, I usually get 20mpg, I’m obviously getting a lot less, and I can watch the gauge move. We hit the top of the hill, and an oasis, a no-name gas station with a mini mart. I fill up, 15.49 gallons, on a 16 gallon tank. Average MPG, 15. I was obviously getting less than that up the hill with the headwind, so I only had 5 miles left before I would have run dry. Yikes! Next exit ended up being 8 more miles down the road. I’d have run out just short of that. Then, 10 miles later, the gas the Tom Tom knew about. Gee, thanks.

See signs saying construction on the road I’m taking to Santa Fe, expect 30 minute delays. Ok, maybe I won’t make dinner, but I’ll still get there in time to find a room and get dinner somewhere. We do hit the construction, and it is probably 30 minutes. 5 miles of total road reconstruction, driving on gravel. Glad I was in the FJ, it’s pretty rough, and a lot of it you had to drive with one set of wheels 4″ higher on the shoulder. The cars behind us were driving much slower than the pilot car and the first 3 vehicles.

Get into Santa Fe about 5, still plenty of time, find a great place to stay, the Sage Inn, walking distance to downtown (8/10 of a mile), and $60 a night with the AAA discount. Love the AAA discount, it’s paid for at least 4 years of membership this trip alone.

Head over to the resturant, show starts at 7:30, they reserve a great table for me, and I go for a walk! Get back for the show, ends up only 1 free table during the show, the place was packed. I’m so happy for them. Great show, a lot of fun.

Popped by the Catamount bar, had a (very) slow poured Guiness. Fun talking to the bartender. A nice couple comes in a bit later, has an Irish Car Bomb, I tell them that was all the rage in Ausin, asked what was in them. Sounded pretty good, but I didn’t have one. They’re from Colorado, she’s a teacher, he’s an online ad salesman, doing pretty well. She’s on spring break, so they came to Santa Fe to meet a bunch of her relatives she’s never met. We have a great time talking about their trip, my trip, families. Walked back to the hotel at midnight, so much different than any of the other places I’ve visited, the city is dead. No homeless, no traffic (except the occasional police officer), really quiet. Made for a nice walk, but a bit eerie that is was THAT deserted.

Tomorrow, a relaxing day of touristing.

Through Memphis for BBQ. Checked Yelp, picked the closest and best reviewed place, had a chopped pork sandwich, it was quite yummy.

The, drove by Graceland, how could I not? Took a couple pictures, and picked up a tacky gift for our Sushi Chef/Elvis fan.

All day drive into Oklahoma. No .real stops along the way, or pictures.Entering OK, it gets windy, very windy. 40-50mph windy..Stays that way alll day and night (and the next day). Oklahoma is flat. Very, very flat.