Pics from my (almost) cross country ride *56k death*
Well the thursday before last (Apr 2nd), I set out on a near cross country adventure, taking me through 5 new states I've never been through before (bringing my total to 17 visited states on my F4i). I left thursday morning from my house about 45 miles east of Atlanta, Georgia and headed west, on my way to Tucson, Arizona, and arrived there saturday afternoon. It was quite an adventure to say the least!
Anyways... on with the pics!
This was the route..... unforunately since I was on some serious time constraints, I had no choice but to do all interstate superslab the whole way there and back. Booooring, but hey at least I got to see alot of new sights and places along the way, even if it was highway. Took I-20 all the way across from Atlanta to about 100 miles away from El Paso, TX where it meets I-10, which I took the rest of the way
Some storms the previous night had me leaving a little later than I had originally wanted to, but still not too bad. Got the trusty F4i all packed up and ready to go! Rolled out about 9:00 am
I was excited to try out my new GPS!
And yea I've learned from previous roadtrips... pack light!
I punched in my destination address, and ready to roll! The top number is the distance remaining to my destination, number below it is miles travelled
Beginning odo shot on the bike
Then for whatever reason, my camera mysteriously stopped working for the entire day. I stopped at the Alabama state line to take a pic, and it was completely dead. Pretty uneventful though... I hit some nasty weather soon as I crossed into Mississippi though... that band of nasty storms that was moving from Texas and eastbound (predicted heavy rain, tornados, large hail, 70 mph wind, and the like... radar map was red from almost Texas to Birmingham, AL). Anyways, I went through a little of that, but luckily it was moving east FAST and I was moving west, so between the two of us I got through it pretty quick. But man it POURED for a good 20 mins or so, and the wind picked up something furious!
Anyways.... by thursday night I had made it to Lindale, Texas and decided to stop for the night. I find a room, and sure enough my camera decides to start working fine again... weird! But I tuck her away for the night and catch some Zzzzzz's
Next morning we were both ready to roll again! More Texas fun...ugh, lol
Next stop.... Abilene, Texas
Met up with Brandon (rangerscott from cbrjunkie.com and other forums). Really nice guy... bought me lunch too!
I'm liking this guy already, hahaha
I guess it's no big secret where or where I might be here
It was getting later in the day and I was cruising down the highway, when I saw a sign that caught my eye. The exit simply said "Meteor Crater". I thought to myself.... "hmmm... now I've just gotta check this out". I get off the highway and follow the sign that points to the left for Meteor Crater, which says 2 miles down the road. I cross under the highway and head south, which leads me out into the middle of a field... literally. I was going down this little podunk road with nothing but open fields, oil rigs, and one kinda creepy tiny family cemetary that was blocked off with gates. A couple miles later I finally get to this place.... all by it's lonesome out in the middle of a field. Apparently it's a museum of some sort, but they were closed so I couldn't see anything there
I ain't kidding when I said this place was out in the middle of a field!!
I get back on the highway and go along my way for a little while longer. I love travelling west because you get to sit and watch the beautiful sunsets from start to finish. The sky was perfectly clear except for this one bunch of clouds right where the sun was setting... I thought it looked cool so I pulled off for a few pics
I made my way across the rest of Texas, and as I approached El Paso, I could see the Mexico border right next to the highway. It was kinda cool at night because you could see this dark area right next to the highway, then the wall and BAM tons of lights... could see right into Mexico. I could see the border on my GPS where it would come closer and farther from the highway, and look over and sure enough it did the same... pretty cool! By about I midnight arrived in Las Cruces, New Mexico where I decided to call it a night and find a room. I had a hard time finding a ground level outside room, so I ended up taking the grand tour of downtown Las Cruces at midnight... fun fun! Finally ended up staying at some ghetto motel right in town. Kind of a weird place, but hey it was cheap and I was able to sleep, so I don't care, lol
Being that it was nighttime when I arrived in Las Cruces, I was completely unaware of the surrounding terrain since I couldn't see anything the night prior. As I headed out saturday morning, I found myself surrounded by somewhat distant mountains... awesome! A little scenery, especially after just coming through Texas, was definitely a nice surprise to start the day. I went up the road a few miles then got off to fill up with gas... took a few pics too
A little further into New Mexico.... definitely not much out this way
WooHoo!! Success!
Once I got into Arizona the scenery got pretty nice. I got off to refuel about 70 miles from Tucson, and found it to be a perfect spot for a photo op! Just had to go over a cattle grate and up a dirt road a little ways, and BAM... perfect view! It was here I noticed my high beam headlight wasn't working... uh oh
Arrived safely at our hotel in Tucson right at 3:00 pm
Phew... fun stuff!
The bike turned 150k on the way out there, right after I crossed into Louisiana
The hotel we stayed at was pretty nice!
We had my aunt and uncles anniversary party saturday night.... lots of people there and lots of family members I haven't seen in some time.... good times!! Awesome food too!!
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by Catnip
