Tornado Territory: Day Six Suzuki Adventure

We have come halfway across the United States in the middle of one of the worst winters on record and encountered no bad weather, except for the rainstorms leaving Los Angeles. While airports all over the East Coast are closed due to blizzards, nary a drip of rain has touched our windshield in a thousand miles.

So it’s with a combination of resignation and jangly nerves that we learn via the news on New Years Eve day that we’re driving into the heart of a tornado/blizzard/hail stormfront that stretches across eight states and has already wreaked intense havoc in the Midwest.

According to the Weather Channel experts, the severe weather is expected to move upward by nighttime, leaving the Louisiana/Mississippi area where we’re heading mostly in the clear. However, we don’t want to be driving late at night because a) it’s New Year’s Eve, b) weather experts are usually wrong, and c) I know from experience that driving through a pretty bad storm at midnight is just as difficult as driving through a severe one in the daytime.

Home of the Cowboys: Day Five, Kizashi Adventure

No trip through the US is complete without a pilgrimage to cowboy country, and our trip through the southern states has taken us straight into the epicenter. Ft. Worth, Texas, which many people think of as merely a Dallas suburb, is in fact a major city in its own right, and one with a unique heritage. It was originally a US Army outpost, but later became integral to Texas’ cattle industry. Millions of “beeves”  (beef on the hoof) came through on cattle drives, driven by rowdy ranchers who stopped in Ft. Worth to shower, pick up supplies, and enjoy creature comforts before hitting the trail. 

True West, Texas: Day Four, Kizashi Adventure

The drive from Amarillo to the Dallas/Ft. Worth area is an easy one. All 340 miles are on Interstate 40,  and the biggest challenge is remembering to stay in the right lane. (Traffic laws prohibit the use of the left along many stretches, unless you’re passing.) We’re looking forward to an early arrival in Ft. Worth, and even decide we have enough time for an early-morning jaunt to Happy.

Seriously. When Happy is officially only 10 miles away, how can you not seek it out?

Through Outlaw Territory on the Mother Road: Day 3, Suzuki Adventure

If you’re interested in American West history—particularly anything having to do with outlaws and bandits—eastern New Mexico is a fascinating drive. Historic markers and Old West-themed businesses appear unheralded along the ambling stretches of highway. One sign on Interstate 40 announces the Black Bart RV Park, while a little later on, a turnoff beckons to Billy the Kid’s tomb.

Bad Ass BBQ and Meteor Craters: Suzuki Adventure, Day 2

The stretch of Highway 17 leading from Phoenix, Arizona to the cowboy/college town of Flagstaff passes through some of Arizona’s most beautiful terrain. As we zoomed up the curving highway, we could feel and see the effects from the altitude gain. Green shrubs and cacti dotted, then carpeted, the rolling expanse on either side of the highway. Past Oak Creek Canyon, pine trees and scrub proliferated on ever more verdant hills.

Escape From Los Angeles--XMAS 2010 Suzuki Adventure

It stands to reason that LA wouldn’t let any longtime resident escape without a final all-out demonstration of the horror and almighty mess that is the greater Los Angeles freeway system. En route to New York via Scottsdale, Albuquerque, cowboy country, Super Bowl Central¸ the bayous etcetera etcetera on a rainy post-Christmas weekend, I first had to get through 90 miles of sluggish, rage-inducing Southern California freeway mess. Not only was the I-10 (I-60, 405, 110, take your pick) bumper-to-bumper with holiday traffic and CHP, it was washed out and rocky due to five straight days of torrential downpours. Two hours of potholing in parking lot conditions gave me plenty of time to reflect on the virtues and frustrations of my loaner Suzuki Kizashi AWD.