Heading East on the I-40

Roughly following the path of the old Route 66

March 4, 2003

Leaving the utter relaxation of the desert, we climbed out of Death Valley via Scotty's Castle and drove into Nevada -- a very beautiful, but desolate drive. Upon entering Nevada, we noted -- but did not stop at -- a few brightly colored and legal brothels in rural Nevada. We headed through Las Vegas which had too much construction to comfortably navigate with Chick and Taylor. However, Jacque was happy to discover that her Verizon phone worked and had ExpressNet service, so she happily read and answered a week's worth of email while Brian navigated the traffic and construction. We both wanted to drive across the top of Hoover Dam, so we ignored the "no trucks and trailers" signs, arrived at the Dam, and were subjected to inspection (as part of heightened security measures) to be sure we weren't terrorists. We then turned onto I-40, the road that would take us all the way to North Carolina. As we climbed higher and higher in elevation, it turned colder and colder, until it started snowing. We decided to spend the night in Williams, AZ at the Circle Pines KOA, with snow falling. We all had a monstrously good time romping in the snow -- particularly the dogs, who hadn't seen snow in five years. Taylor kept us snug and warm and we spent the evening eating a wonderful artichoke, suasage, and penne pasta dinner while feverishly trying to get some content into the durn web page! :-)

March 5-8, 2003

The next morning, the snow had stopped and the roads were clear, but salt covered. We decided to continue east, but first we stopped to have our first RoadFood at Old Smoky's Restaurant in Williams. We had a wonderful breakfast -- best waffles Jacque ever ate, and the biggest biscuit-and-gravy breakfast Brian ever ate -- and continued on our way. We traveled through AZ and to the eastern end of New Mexico. Shortly before sundown, we decided it was time to stop and stopped at a KOA in Santa Rosa, NM. While checking in, the owner told us that the restaurant was open for another 45 minutes. We asked what they served and if it was good. He told us his wife made the best BBQ, and he was right. Corona and BBQ never tasted so good!

The next morning, we were on the road again, heading across Texas and into Oklahoma. The weather was warm and clear. The major issue was that Texas and Oklahoma were very lacking in Verizon cell phone service -- no email again! That night we stayed in El Reno, OK, at an "RV park" that was mostly just a motel with some large parking spaces and RV hookups. We decided to stay in El Reno because it had a lot of entries in Roadfood, so we thought we'd get a really good dinner. But, by the time we were settled for the evening we instead took the recommendation of a local, and ended up having a really bad steak dinner. Oh, well, it was an experience.

We headed east again the next morning, traveling into and Arkansas. It was easy to tell when we entered Arkansas. The roads immediately became either miserable or under construction. So we bounced our way across Arkansas and discovered what it really means when the flight attendants say, "articles may shift during flight". We found a great RV park (Tom Sawyer's RV park) on the banks of the mighty Mississippi River and stayed there for the night. Barney and Kasie had room to play ball, and Kasie got to swim in the Mississippi to fetch the tennis ball she let float away! We watched barges and other ships cruise the river -- very lovely!

On the road again the next morning, we drove into and across Tennessee. Our destination that evening was a little further -- we wanted to get across Tennessee. We found a lovely campground in the foothills of the Appalachians, the Newport, TN KOA. (We have found that KOAs are a very convenient and predictable choice for overnight stops when we're just traveling for distance.)

The next day, on to North Carolina. The route that I-40 takes through the Appalachian mountains is truly beautiful, in a deep gap through the Cherokee and Pisgah National Forests just northeast of the Great Smokey Mountain National Park. We arrived in Winston-Salem mid-afternoon, checked into the Residence Inn, and had a lovely Italian dinner.