Cross Country Trip - Boston to San Francisco Winter '14

Before the trip me and my wife Pavithra initially thought we'll ship the car. Few friends from work suggested we do the road trip. With record-breaking cold spreading across the US we were really thinking if we should do the trip at all. Checked Google Maps to do a quick route between Boston and San Francisco. It was about 3000 miles. The combined cost of lodging eating fuel and other expenses was almost the same as shipping the car. It was a choice between Comfort and adventure. We chose adventure. Did some research online about which route to take, preparations required, how to plan the trip and how to drive a car in winter weather. Also got some expert opinion at roadtripAmerica.com to help with the planning. Planned the route as they guided - avoiding the snow prone I-90 highway in NY state that borders the great lakes. But we decided to do two small modifications to sneak in some sight seeing in Chicago and Vegas!!
Did a maintenance check on the car, bought a lot of supplies including storm candles (in the event of getting stuck in a winter storm for hours in the car), flares, micro emergency blankets, sand salt mixture, jump start cables, non-perishable food, an extra gallon of water, updated the maps on the GPS and took AAA emergency roadside assistance service. I still had not done all the recommended purchases! We decided this preparation had to do and moved on.

Day 0
We had a million things to pack and finally shipped all the big things via truck. Apparently had a million more small things that we had to take with us in the car - it was past 11pm before we hit our air-bed for the night :)

Day 1
We were a good two hours later than we planned to start. We hit the road at 9:30 a.m. Traffic was light. The weather was pretty good for driving though it was around 0C (33F). We had breakfast at D'Angelos Italian restaurant. Got a call from work for me to send a document had to take a detour via Hartford CT for sending documents . That cost us another 45 minutes. Pavi started her first highway driving at this point. For a first timer on the highway , she was pretty cool and did a good job. She drove for an hour and then we stopped for lunch at a South Indian restaurant in Newton, CT, longing for some good home style food. The food turned out to be just average. Moving on after lunch, we had no problems moving on - listening to every single song in my cell phone, tuning to the radio when available, taking pictures, talking to family back in India or simply talking about how the trip will progress, eagerly awaiting sunny places - especially Utah.

All the delays of the day resulted in a late night check in at the hotel in Grove City, PA around 10:30 pm. Had a tricky time taking the required trolleys from the packed trunk with light snow falling and hand freezing, as we were just about ready to fall on the bed.
Bottom line: Day 1 was a success even if a little late :)

Day 2
The shortest driving day of the trip started with a breakfast delay - we didn't like the breakfast in the hotel and decided to go to a nearby restaurant only to see a house in that address. We decided to hit the road managing with our home bread and butter for the time being. Pavi started the drive. The sun was shining bright (not warm) and she had no trouble driving :)

After 45 minutes, we entered Ohio and stopped at a Burger King for breakfast. I have been in Ohio for the majority of my stay in the US. But I had never been to these northern parts, approaching Cleveland. We stopped in a rest area after a couple of hours. All the rest areas in Ohio were shiny new and great looking. We switched seats twice and after some driving entered Indiana. I was lazing around in the passenger seat and missed to click the Welcome to Indiana sign board :P Also managed to miss snapping the 'Entering Central Time Zone' sign - we had just gained one more hour of time to spend on day 2 :) A mix of radio and cell phone music made us enter a zone with light snow and light wind, causing Pavi to drive with some additional concentration. She pulled it off perfectly and I managed to snap a picture of the next board - Welcome to Chicago. I swear I didn't see a Welcome to Illinois sign :) Entering the city, we decided to park in a public parking garage next to our hotel and walked with our trolleys to our downtown hotel. The 5 minute walk seemed a bit longer due to Chicago's weather - but nothing too bad. It was still Chicago, not Chiberia :) The hotel room was stunning - it was a suite complete with a hall, couch and mini kitchen. Started off the evening by walking to the Willis tower. There was no crowd as it was a weekday and not so great weather outside. Enjoyed the views and the experience of the ledge :)

Had a tricky time trying to get the pictures just right due to poor lighting. Managed a couple of ok shots before moving on to the next landmark - Millennium park. Google maps guided us perfectly through subway trains. But it took some plain old asking-for-directions to reach the actual landmark from the station. By the time we got to the bean, my hand was practically numb but Pavi was doing great and was actually ready to go ice skating in the nearby rink :)

And I thought she had trouble with cold weather :) I was the one running into Walgreens on the way to our restaurant. We went to Fire top grill suggested by colleague Akash. It turned out to be a good, fun dinner. A lot of similarities to Ohio's Mongolian grill chain. Post dinner didn't have much trouble getting back to the hotel. It was time to hit the bed. Lot more driving ahead.

Day 3
What was going to be the most adventurous day of the trip started off with another breakfast delay. From our Chicago hotel, we hit the road early enough (around 8.30 AM) and started driving. I was driving, with the radio on and we both discussed and decided upon a restaurant that was close to our location. We took an exit and realized we have to drive an additional 2 miles to get to this restaurant. When we got there, we were shocked to see the restaurant closed. All restaurants nearby would open only at 11 AM. We hit the highway again, deciding to only stop in Service plazas. It was snowing lightly but there was a decent amount of snow on the highways. The scenery was miles upon miles of winter wonderlands - looked like big fields covered in snow. There was no service plaza in sight and we were approaching the 25% mark on our fuel. After a few hungry, slightly anxious miles, we saw sign boards for a service plaza. It was aptly named 'Delakb Oasis'. We were happy to get some chinese food from Panda Express for 'Brunch' and filled up our gas, moving onto more adventurous times. The snow was more pronounced on the roads and all vehicles were visibly slow. Changing lanes meant crossing over a small patch of snow between the two lanes - the vehicle needed some careful steering control for crossing the snow safely.

A few more miles ahead, we decided to stop on the side of the road. What followed was some pretty tense moments. I slowed the car to a really low speed (about 35 miles on a 70mph highway) and entered the shoulder in the side of the road. The car was completely out of control, non responsive to any steering moments. We were in some deep snow. Finally, after some real tense moments, the vehicle stopped. Though we couldnt see where the shoulder ended and the ditch begun, we were sure we were almost at the end of usable road by the time our vehicle stopped. Now what? Are we stuck in serious snow for hours? Did we make a mistake taking a shoulder stop in such snow? Probably. I reversed the car slowly so that we were away from the ditch and into the shoulder lane. Watched for oncoming traffic, signalled left and slowly inched forward. Thankfully, the car pulled through the snowy shoulder just fine and we were on the way without any trouble, just a little shaken. The rest of the road had some snow, but we were fine for the remainder of the drive. There was some pretty strong winds trying to push our car and Pavi handled all the windy driving conditions perfectly in Iowa and Nebraska.

I didnt realize how hard this was until I got hold of the steering in slightly less intense winds and that required a lot of concentration. This trip would not have happened with such ease if not for Pavi's driving :) We did take a small shopping detour in a recently opened Outlet (Factory) mall - Nebraska Crossing Outlets. The mall had just opened in Nov '13 and the shops were shiny new, with a huge collection of clothes and not even a few scattered clothes here and there. After getting myself a shirt, we moved on. Dinner was a real surprise - Ruby Tuesday in Lincoln, NE gave us some delicious Squash Spaghetti :)

As we checked into our hotel in Hastings, Nebraska we heaved a sigh of relief and went into sound zzzz....

Day 4
We realized we were at the half way point. What are road trips without a little adventure? We had a good share in day 3 and a tiny bit in Day 4 :) We finished the complimentary breakfast in the hotel - Hurray! No breakfast delays :) We stepped out to some decent weather (about 55 F [+10 C]). We had to wear sunglasses to drive safely. The weather and the scenic farmlands of Nebraska tempted us to take a photo break. We stopped in the shoulder [no, there was not even traces of snow this time :) ] and took a picture with a beautiful farm in the background (Tamil folks would recall the Vayamoodi Summa Iru da song style rolls).

We had to walk a little bit to get to a decent spot. Someone on the opposite side of the road thought we were stuck and offered help. We told him we were fine and moved on... After taking photos and walking back to the car, we were staring at a possibility of further delays. The car key didnt fit correctly and (obviously) the car didnt start. This went on for about 5-10 minutes. At this time, I thought of calling AAA for roadside assistance, but we decided to give it one final shot. After applying some light fluid on the keys and some persistent trying, the key worked and the car started :) Phew.. That was a tiny little scare in the heartland of America :) We moved on without much trouble, enjoying scenic farms and still battling some light winds. Shortly, we entered 'Colorful Colorado' - I missed to take a picture of this sign as well :( Colorado seemed largely deserted. No cities/towns in sight as we kept going for miles in sunny (65-70 F [20 C]) territory.

Lunch was in a pretty interesting place. We finally spotted a food exit and took it. The food was a small restaurant attached to the gas station. The only option was classic American food (veggie ofcourse). The cashier lady was on her first day at work - leading to some unexpected delays. We finally finished our lunch and moved on to see my school friend John. It was nice to meet him and his wife. It was a brief visit and felt good catching up with a childhood friend. Pavi resumed driving and it was mountain land. The car frankly struggled a little to go up on the mountainous Colorado highway.

After dark, it was tough to see the road especially in curves. Had to turn the high beam on momentarily in those places. We moved on to our day 4 destination - Rifle, Colorado a little over 10.30 pm. This trip has been going rapidly by us.

Day 5
Utah was finally arriving. As we finished breakfast in the hotel and started the initial drive, he couldn't help being in awe with the beautiful snow covered mountains of Colorado. Even the people seemed to look a little different in these parts, leading us to conversations about weather and its impact on people. We were quick to enter Utah but the initial stretch was full of snow and even some pockets of fog, in contrast to the desert we imagined and the 'desert wildlife' poster we saw in a coffee shop. As we kept going, the car's 'Maintenance required' indicator came on when the car was in motion. The last time that happened, the car needed an oil change. We were about 2500 miles into the roadtrip and I was sure we needed an oil change soon. We enquired in a small town and were directed to the town of Green River. Entering the town, we found a car service shop. The guys were working on a cop car and told we would have yo wait 30-45 minutes before they even started the oil change. We decided to move on to the next town, triggering the next mini adventure. We moved out of Green river and drove past canyon after canyon.

One of the experts at roadtripamerica.com had warned us about a stretch in Utah that had no service for 100 miles. It was between Green river and Salina - the exact stretch we were driving on! I recalled reading about the relation between driving speed and how fast you will need an oil change. The faster you drive, the sooner you will need that oil change. This realization led me to driving a lot slower then the posted speed limit (was driving at 55 on a 70 mph highway). We were counting down the miles to the next big town - Salina - and also Googling car service shops in the town. We found a lot of shops and decided we would be ok. We managed to reach Salina in our embattled, snow battered car. We found a car service shop soon enough and they told they would be done with the oil change in 20-25 min. Enough time for us to finish lunch in a small Mexican restaurant nearby - the lunch was pretty decent and tasted like authentic Mexican.

After lunch, our car was ready and we moved on towards Sin City. The next few dozen miles were the last patches of snow we would see on the trip. We quickly took I-15 South highway - it was an 80mpg highway. We briefly touched speeds of 90+ mph once or twice :)

There was no sign board announcing the time change, but we had entered Pacific time zone, pushing the clock back by 3 hours in 5 days. We soon reached the outskirts of Vegas and its skyline was impressive even though it hadn't turned dark yet. Our stay for the night was at The Mirage, at the very end of the Las Vegas strip. We started casino hopping from Ceasars to MGM Grand, taking in the views of the Bellagio fountains, the Paris tower, Mini versions of New york among others.

Ended the night with Mediterranean dinner at The Venetian and some light gambling. Not enough time or energy to cover all of Vegas..

Day 6
Started the day with a normal breakfast at IHOP. With some time at hand, decided to go to one last casino - Stratosphere. We went straight to the rides. The first ride was the X-Scream which scares you with a free fall like quick burst before stopping abruptly mid air and then suddenly lowering the ride down just a little to give a second scare :) The next ride was the Big shot

- just a vertical ride that rockets you to great heights instantly and then let's you freefall for a brief time, repeating the process a few times. After the first up and down motion, it was nice and just time to enjoy the view :) Soon after, we bid farewell to Vegas and headed home. The scenery was full of desert type lands with cactus and dust blowing up due to stopping vehicles.

We stopped for lunch at Dominos. We ate in the car and noticed the neighborhood. It looked really run down and we were wondering if this was the US at all.. We moved on and encountered narrow one lane roads with 50mph speed limit, which was a little challenging. Whizzed past those without much trouble and reached our destination just after 9 pm. It was over. We had done it. 3300+ miles, 6 days, snow, sun, mountain, desert, awesome cities and one unforgettable trip :)