Return Trips

Day 23 of our 2018 Jumbo Road Trip.

Flagstaff, AZ to Albuquerque, NM. Today’s drive is day three of our trip to return to Aiken. We have returned to Albuquerque for another nights stay and a probable return trip to the Central Grill and Coffee House for breakfast tomorrow. We also paid a return trip to a Siamese-twin National Park, Painted Desert & Petrified Forest, which we had visited way back in 1989, before the world had heard of blogging.

We only grabbed two geocaches today, both in the National Park, and spent the rest of the day zipping east along I-40. Tomorrow we return to venturing off the the Interstate for a big chunk of the day even though our start and finish cities are situated on I-40.

Death Valley Morning

Day 22 of our 2018 Jumbo Road Trip.

Beatty, NV to Flagstaff, AZ with another dip into Death Valley. Because of a bad wreck on US-95 yesterday evening that was along our path, and the road wasn’t totally cleared this morning, we opted to duck down into Death Valley again. When we went last night we took a right and headed northwest, but our drive through this morning would be south and east. We were so excited last night when the car GPS read -57 feet we took a picture, but this morning we got to below -200 feet and were so jaded by being below sea level that we didn’t take that picture.

No geocaching today. I had picked a bunch all along the original route, but with the detour through the valley, our impromptu tour of southern Las Vegas, the weirdness of new road construction around Hoover Dam, and all the road construction along I-40 in Arizona we just never got in the groove.

I didn’t check the odometer when we parked, but I bet today was our longest day in the car (over 400 miles.) It was either that and/or the change in altitude, -200′ in the early morning to 7,000′ at the end of the day, that got us both a little cranky with each other as we unpacked the Mini at tonight’s HIE.

24,000 Sagebrush Bushes

Day 21 of our 2018 Jumbo Road Trip.

Glenbrook, NV to Beatty, NV with a dip into Death Valley. Today was the first of ten travel days on the drive back home. Our Nevada drive today was a much better one than the one eight days ago and a thousand miles ago. Zero interstate and practically zero rain. We did do three widely separated geocaches on the day just to get in a couple of small leg stretches as an accompaniment to our usual snack stops along the way.

After dinner in Beatty we took a small drive down into Death Valley. A few miles into the park, NV374 turns into Daylight Pass Road and it falls from 4300 feet to below sea level in 13 miles. And even though the sun was already dropping behind the mountains to the west, the temperature in the valley was 101° (it was 80° at the top.)

Somewhere between Mina and Coaldale, Nevada along US95 South, the Angry Ladybug flapped her wings past the 24,000 mile mark.

The Adventure Begins

Day 20 of our 2018 Jumbo Road Trip.

Glenbrook, NV to Edgewood Tahoe and back.This morning we took the kids on the walk on Cave Rock Trail we first did, so they could look for geocaches. We only let them look for two of the five because 3 were in somewhat precarious locations and figured their parents might not like it if the kids fell off a mountain.

The big event of the day was the “real” royal wedding of niece Jennifer & her boyfriend Bert. The weather forecast for today was the exact same as it has been most of the week, 40% to 50% chance of rain, mostly around the afternoon. Naturally the wedding was set for 4:00 PM to maximize the tension levels for everyone. As the bewitching hour approached the skies became more threatening, but the couple’s luck held, the ceremony went off with out a drop falling and it probably made the photos more dramatic. It ending up very lightly sprinkling for only about 60 secs during the family photo shoot.

Busy Day

Day 19 of our 2018 Jumbo Road Trip.

Glenbrook, NV to South Lake Tahoe, CA and back.

In the morning we went up to watch the women start their Stage 2 of the Amgen Tour of California, in the afternoon we went to watch the men finish Stage 6 of the Tour of California and in the evening we went to a drop in for the wedding guests at the Stateline Brewery & Restaurant.

Oh Hail Yes

Day 17 of our 2018 Jumbo Road Trip.

Glenbrook, NV to Round Hill, NV and back. For only the 3rd of 17 so far, we had a mostly wet day. This time with a twist, a couple of short bursts of pea sized hail. We did get out early to go get some breakfast at a local coffee joint, The Bean Bar, for some half-way decent bagels and a cup of joe. Then another stop at the Safeway for supplies. Tonight was dinner with big brother Jim, father of the bride, and wife Linda. Tomorrow is the expected arrival of our bunkhouse mates, little brother Scott, wife Beth, nephew James and the two nieces who aren’t getting married on Saturday, Susan and Maddie.

Noth Lake Tahoe?

Day 16 of our 2018 Jumbo Road Trip.

Glenbrook, NV to South Lake Tahoe, CA and back. No geocaching today, just a little light shopping down in the busy parts of town. We did walk down to the end of the street and then a quarter mile or so north to go to the small Cave Rock State Park. It has a boat launch, a couple of picnic tables, a small sand beach, a lot of parking spaces and a view of Cave Rock from lake level looking north. The above photo will be posted on Instagram like yesterday and I so much wanted to misspell North as Noth, like I butchered South, but I probably won’t.