The trip was our third trip across the country.  It was more like our second trip.  We got up very early and drove six hundred miles before stopping.  We went through Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona before we finally got to California.  The trip took about a week.  It was longer than our last trip because of the icy roads.  Each state we went through had different attractions. On our first night we stayed in Indiana.  We stayed in Illinois on our second night.  We got up early in the morning while it was still dark.  We got to Missouri just as the sun was rising and saw the Missouri arch. Back before the American Revolution a wooden arch was set up to let tourist know they were crossing over to the west side and out of European territory.  Now the old arch is torn down and a new steel, arch is in its place attracting tourists from all over the country.

Despite its futuristic look the arch was built in the 1960’s and 70’s.  After Missouri we went to Oklahoma.  We found an excellent campground to stay the night at.

 

Unfortunately a blizzard came shortly after we fell asleep.  We had learned from previous experience that is wasn’t safe and would likely get us either stuck in traffic or make us the cause of it so we stayed at that campground and got the laundry taken care of.  Boy that was a cold and snowy day!

The next day we still had to wait until around ten o’clock before we were able to get on the road safely.  That day we got to Texas.  The rest areas there are built differently than the ones you will find here.  The one we saw was built into the hillside with the left and right wall sticking up into the air.  It also had wind breakers as well as different tools to measure the wind.  Later we found out why.  It turns out that that particular part of Texas was prone to tornados.  In that rest area alone I could at least five signs saying something about a tornado shelter.  That doesn’t include all the signs warning us and pointing us to tornado shelters that we saw on the road.

After Texas we reached New Mexico.  The weather there was warmer but it still called for a heavy winter jacket. It had old trailers at the side of the road.  We made it through New Mexico in one day and got to Arizona.  A fair sized arch way with a sign saying Welcome to Arizona greeted us. I could Finally ditch my jacket. Most of Arizona looked like the desert with patches of snow here and there.  There were a few interesting cacti to look at.  We didn’t see any lakes due to lack of rain (not lacking like California though; be a while before they get there).  We stayed the night at a decent truck stop which was built differently than ones you would find here (though this time it was for design purposes as opposed to safety reasons).  The next morning we were at our destination: California.  After we passed through security it was amazing.  Palm trees greeted us on one side and fruit farms on the other.  After all that driving it was great to be back in warm and sunny California.