By GERRY and PAMELA BARKER
North Palm Beach Life
Published Nov. 4, 2018

Is there a better way to see everything our wonderful country has to offer than a good, old-fashioned road trip? While we love all forms of travel -- train, ship, airplane (though not as much with all the cramped quarters and security lines) -- road trips have always had a special place in our hearts.

We've done Texas to the Smoky Mountains a number of times; Texas to Yellowstone; Texas to Vermont; Ohio to the New York Finger Lakes; Texas to Georgia-Florida-Bahamas (we flew that segment)-New Orleans-Houston. 

While a few things have changed over the years, like the Internet has replaced our trusty Mobil Travel Guides (remember those?), there's built-in GPS mapping in our cars and phones (but we still buy the printed Rand McNally as backup) and satellite radio has thankfully replaced the static of in-and-out AM/FM, much else has remained the same: Packing a picnic lunch, overpacking on clothes and trying to seemingly wedge in the kitchen  sink along with countless other items we may or may not need. And don't forget the audio books -- a "must" on a long haul journey.

Our latest trek was indeed "long haul." All told, over 5,700 miles roundtrip: Florida to Arizona to Palm Springs and back. All in 16 days. Whew!

Our mission was visiting our dear friends, Leslie and Richard Redhead, who recently moved from Houston to Sedona, Arizona. (READ MORE about their move HERE). We planned to take our time and go at whatever pace we wanted to take. We were excited to not only see the friends we had met two years earlier on a cruise, but also to see Sedona and a part of the country we hadn't seen before.

We ended up taking a side trip to Palm Springs, California. In a word, the whole trip was AMAZING. It totally exceeded all our expectations.

So fasten your seat belt, relax and join us on this almost 6,000-mile odyssey.

                                          Here we go!

Article Index

​Tucumcari, New Mexico

​The Painted Desert (Arizona)

Sedona and Red Rocks State Park

(Check Back for Additional Content)

The big surprise the first day was seeing all the destruction from Hurricane Michael along I10 east of Tallahassee.  The roadsides and rest stops were littered with broken trees.






      But even with the downed trees,
               we managed a picnic at one 
                                        ​of the rest stops
                                           that was open.

​One issue we had was the
incessant rain across Louisana
and Texas. That wasn't fun.

What was fun was connecting
with our dear friend Martin
in Fort Worth, looking good
​ in his new S550!

The skies finally cleared as we headed for the Texas Panhandle on Highway 287. We passed dozens and dozens of these towering
​ wind turbines dotting the landscape.

NEXT STOP: TUCUMCARI, NEW MEXICO (CONTINE READING)