Natures beauty Enroute austin via US 380 E.31st Dec 2006:- On the way back to austin:- This is the utmost importan
t day which i will never forget in my life. This morning we got up at 5am. Got ready and watched news and noted all closing Highways. They did not mention about our US 285 highway. we noted down the Highway status road phone number for checking later. We took all our luggage and went to front desk to check out. Had cofee there and checked out. it was pretty cold but was not snowing, but it was chilling. I started the drive. It was dark in the morning. In our SUV we set our destination to austin in our Nav system and asked for shorter route. we knew we have to first take I25N and then US 285S. when we reached at the I10 higway our first disappointment was waiting. We saw the I10 North bound was closed due to heavy snow. That was just our start of journey. We got our maps back and figured some route that we decided last nite. we knew than itself that its gona be avery long drive back home. I took I10South then cos that was the only option left. Thats the longer distance. Our first goal was to reach Albuqurque and then figure out which route to go. It was dark and heavy fogs with mild snow.
t day which i will never forget in my life. This morning we got up at 5am. Got ready and watched news and noted all closing Highways. They did not mention about our US 285 highway. we noted down the Highway status road phone number for checking later. We took all our luggage and went to front desk to check out. Had cofee there and checked out. it was pretty cold but was not snowing, but it was chilling. I started the drive. It was dark in the morning. In our SUV we set our destination to austin in our Nav system and asked for shorter route. we knew we have to first take I25N and then US 285S. when we reached at the I10 higway our first disappointment was waiting. We saw the I10 North bound was closed due to heavy snow. That was just our start of journey. We got our maps back and figured some route that we decided last nite. we knew than itself that its gona be avery long drive back home. I took I10South then cos that was the only option left. Thats the longer distance. Our first goal was to reach Albuqurque and then figure out which route to go. It was dark and heavy fogs with mild snow. At around 7am we 
reached albuqurque. And now was the time for b'fast but before doing that we first thought to discuss and finalise the route. We were at the intersection of I40 and I25S. wondering which to pick. Ofcourse I40 towards texas was the shortcut but i called the highway status number and it did not say any status about I40. Sid said to take I40 and take chance as it might have opened but i was not confident to go from that route as we knew that something is wrong on that way and we knew that I25S is all opened. I half heartedly said ok lets go from I40. But i still wasnt sure to go from there so i saw a cop and we went to him and aksed about I40. He said it might be closed ahead. I took our SUV back towards the junction of I25 and I40. I was eager to start the journey from I25S but my fren sid he wanted to go from the shortcut I40 which seemed closed. We waited at the junction forawhile and took our SUV back on I40, I wasnt happy to go thru this route. and finally just 5 mile ahead we saw that I40 is closed from ahead. man, we just wasted 2 hours just waiting for I40. I then took the SUV and took I25S without any further discusion. Cos it was usless to wait there for I40. Meanwhile we decided to open our maps and figure out the shortcut ahead. We then finalise to move on US 380 which will be 100 miles far from Albuqurque. i continued driving and then just before US 380E we took b'fast halt at the McDonalds. Aaaah haaa my fav, Egg Muffins and cofee uhmm vow.
reached albuqurque. And now was the time for b'fast but before doing that we first thought to discuss and finalise the route. We were at the intersection of I40 and I25S. wondering which to pick. Ofcourse I40 towards texas was the shortcut but i called the highway status number and it did not say any status about I40. Sid said to take I40 and take chance as it might have opened but i was not confident to go from that route as we knew that something is wrong on that way and we knew that I25S is all opened. I half heartedly said ok lets go from I40. But i still wasnt sure to go from there so i saw a cop and we went to him and aksed about I40. He said it might be closed ahead. I took our SUV back towards the junction of I25 and I40. I was eager to start the journey from I25S but my fren sid he wanted to go from the shortcut I40 which seemed closed. We waited at the junction forawhile and took our SUV back on I40, I wasnt happy to go thru this route. and finally just 5 mile ahead we saw that I40 is closed from ahead. man, we just wasted 2 hours just waiting for I40. I then took the SUV and took I25S without any further discusion. Cos it was usless to wait there for I40. Meanwhile we decided to open our maps and figure out the shortcut ahead. We then finalise to move on US 380 which will be 100 miles far from Albuqurque. i continued driving and then just before US 380E we took b'fast halt at the McDonalds. Aaaah haaa my fav, Egg Muffins and cofee uhmm vow. From there, sid too
k the driving seat and i rested a bit. Sid took the US 380E and to our surprise, this route turned to be a scenic route. It was exceptionally great route. It was again a bi-directional one-one highway. So it was not the safest route but the scenery was exceptionally great. Roads were small, the side were covered with low snow and dry mountains and sometimes white dry mountains and in background snow mountains. I shud tell you guys, whenever you travel a long journey by road sometimes select a scenice route. Its always worth selecting such routes. You will see lots of natural beauty on your way on such routes. we then reached the intersection of US 54 and US 380. Refuelled our SUV. let me say something about our Ford Escape fuel capacity. Its an nice heavy SUV but bad part is it does not have huge Gas capacity. Full tank is just 13 gallons. man u need to stop more to refuel such heavy gas consumable SUV. But no complains about the drive and the toughness about this SUV. Its the same Ford SUV that us saved from death (refer my next blog:- Escape from death). Well, we were still njoying this scenic route. Overpassing on such routes is always dangerous. You have to keep watch on the signs on when we can overpass a slow vehicle and also keep thorough watch on oncoming veicles. Its fun though. I was already taking the photos of the scenic view. I love taking pictures, especially when i am moving on roads and trains.
k the driving seat and i rested a bit. Sid took the US 380E and to our surprise, this route turned to be a scenic route. It was exceptionally great route. It was again a bi-directional one-one highway. So it was not the safest route but the scenery was exceptionally great. Roads were small, the side were covered with low snow and dry mountains and sometimes white dry mountains and in background snow mountains. I shud tell you guys, whenever you travel a long journey by road sometimes select a scenice route. Its always worth selecting such routes. You will see lots of natural beauty on your way on such routes. we then reached the intersection of US 54 and US 380. Refuelled our SUV. let me say something about our Ford Escape fuel capacity. Its an nice heavy SUV but bad part is it does not have huge Gas capacity. Full tank is just 13 gallons. man u need to stop more to refuel such heavy gas consumable SUV. But no complains about the drive and the toughness about this SUV. Its the same Ford SUV that us saved from death (refer my next blog:- Escape from death). Well, we were still njoying this scenic route. Overpassing on such routes is always dangerous. You have to keep watch on the signs on when we can overpass a slow vehicle and also keep thorough watch on oncoming veicles. Its fun though. I was already taking the photos of the scenic view. I love taking pictures, especially when i am moving on roads and trains.We were moving quite steadily and covered lots of distance. We were still in New mexico b
ut were close to Texas by then. Signs were clearly seen by the heavy snow beeing disapeared on the mountains. now the mountains were green. It was an awesome sunny day by then. Still outside the weather was a bit cold. I switched on my iPod and started The don title song. uhmm and our driving was getting fun with the music. hehe:). It was again time for petpuja and we wedre waiting for a city to come. At around 1:15pm we reached rosewell city. We went to Pizza-Hut. had pizza buffet. vegies are always restricted with limited items only:-) I just had salads and cheeze pizza. not bad though. After lunch i took the driving seat and started the rest of the journey. From here we had to take US 285. It took awhile to get to US 285 cos of city traffic. Again i shud tell u that our Navigation system helped us a lot. Its hastle free. It shows and says all directions. Even if you have missed some ext or went in wrong direction, it will re-calculate the direction again and show you the new route. I was amazed by the accuracy of this system. I was very much impressed by this Nav system thruout my journey. Ok back to our route :-). I finally took US 285S. This was a small highway as well. It was sunny weather. We cud see the oil refineries and fans on this route. It was very unique. Also found so many cattles on side. This is the highway where you will pass the NewMexico-Texas border. Its always nice to pass thru the borders. Well, this was the longest route and i drove all the way till we reached I10E. On US285, my avg speed was 80miles. I went till 100 sometime to cover the distance. Had overpassed some SUVs on the way. I noticed one thing on a long journey that, its sometimes great that many cars stay in a group. It was pretty much samething going. Like speeded and overtook someone and then resting a bit and fueling at one gas station and you meet the same car there haha:). Nice driving experience.
Well we reached the intersection of I10 and US 285. We halted at the gas station. We dint knew at this stage wats gona happen next. I had some gatorade and chocobars and then we changed our driving seats. Sid took driving seat from there. None of us knew that in next 1 hour somethng bad gona happen to us. Well thats in my next blog (Escape from death).
ut were close to Texas by then. Signs were clearly seen by the heavy snow beeing disapeared on the mountains. now the mountains were green. It was an awesome sunny day by then. Still outside the weather was a bit cold. I switched on my iPod and started The don title song. uhmm and our driving was getting fun with the music. hehe:). It was again time for petpuja and we wedre waiting for a city to come. At around 1:15pm we reached rosewell city. We went to Pizza-Hut. had pizza buffet. vegies are always restricted with limited items only:-) I just had salads and cheeze pizza. not bad though. After lunch i took the driving seat and started the rest of the journey. From here we had to take US 285. It took awhile to get to US 285 cos of city traffic. Again i shud tell u that our Navigation system helped us a lot. Its hastle free. It shows and says all directions. Even if you have missed some ext or went in wrong direction, it will re-calculate the direction again and show you the new route. I was amazed by the accuracy of this system. I was very much impressed by this Nav system thruout my journey. Ok back to our route :-). I finally took US 285S. This was a small highway as well. It was sunny weather. We cud see the oil refineries and fans on this route. It was very unique. Also found so many cattles on side. This is the highway where you will pass the NewMexico-Texas border. Its always nice to pass thru the borders. Well, this was the longest route and i drove all the way till we reached I10E. On US285, my avg speed was 80miles. I went till 100 sometime to cover the distance. Had overpassed some SUVs on the way. I noticed one thing on a long journey that, its sometimes great that many cars stay in a group. It was pretty much samething going. Like speeded and overtook someone and then resting a bit and fueling at one gas station and you meet the same car there haha:). Nice driving experience.Well we reached the intersection of I10 and US 285. We halted at the gas station. We dint knew at this stage wats gona happen next. I had some gatorade and chocobars and then we changed our driving seats. Sid took driving seat from there. None of us knew that in next 1 hour somethng bad gona happen to us. Well thats in my next blog (Escape from death).
I hereby end here. We njoyed our driving all day long. It was nice experience and unique experience. I thank you all for reading my true life incidents. Hope you have njoyed my adventorous journey of New Mexico. Please do drop some comments if you feels so. Dont forget to read the next blog :- Escape from death. I shud also thank the camera support:- Kodak easyshare:-).
Freeways teachs us one lesson:- Always Keep moving on
1 comments:
aaahhhaaa,its all my influence on u,zat's y u take so much pics :P by z way, wen r u inviting me to hav egg muffins??
n yeaa,kya baat hain mehul, u cn become a perfect writer huh..!!!
yeaa yeaa no need to say thnx,i do knw its all my gud influence..
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