Road tripping (or, Why one should never ever drive through New Mexico)
Middle daughter Megan and her hubby Preston moved to the Arizona desert right after they got married in 2006. Jim and I have visited them—and our subsequent grandsons—several times since then. Always by air, though, never by car.
We decided to make our most recent trip there by car. "We gotta do it at least once," Jim said. So we did. And here are some of my ever-so-deep thoughts and observations about our road trip from the mountains to the desert and back again:
• Other states (and even the nether regions of my own state) are home to some pretty awesome wildlife, according to road signage. My fave previously unseen caricatures posted along the Interstate: elk featuring impossibly massive racks and bear resembling bumbling buds of Yogi.
• New Mexico has an unbelievable number of crosses along the Interstate, memorializing loved ones who had lost their lives along the way. Really, an unbelievable number. Like 50 or more just on the route we traveled. Jim says it's because New Mexico drivers are the very worst <cussing> <cussing> drivers in the nation. I think it's more because of the high Hispanic culture in that area, folks who are likely Catholic and more likely to honor the departed with the tributes. (I kind of liked my explanation but apparently Jim is correct. According to the NHTSA: New Mexico's crash and fatality rates are consistently higher than the national average. But, I must add, it's not because NM drivers are the worst but because it has become a heavily traveled "bridge" for travelers and freight.)
• Traveling through New Mexico will always and forever remind me of the first time Jim and I did so together. With the girls, we headed to Carlsbad Cavern and spent many hours of the drive looking for roadrunners. Roadrunners that looked like THE Road Runner, because we were young and naive...and hadn't traveled much...and certainly had never seen a roadrunner. Imagine our embarassment—which we kept to ourselves, of course—when we saw postcards in a tourist spot of the real roadrunners that speed along the New Mexico highways and byways.
• "Safety corridor"? What the heck is a "Safety Corridor" along the Interstate. Signs told us when we were entering one. Signs told us when we were leaving one. But never did we see a sign that told us what the heck it was. Were we supposed to duck? Lock the doors? A sign did tell us to turn on our lights for safety...which made no sense in the middle of the day in the desert, but we turned them on anyway. Much to our surprise, we got through safely...and were never transported to another time or dimension. (Well, I just researched the term for this post and gave thanks we made it out alive. The areas are named such by the DOT because of their high numbers of fatalities. I would think a more appropriate name would be a NOT-Safe Corridor. That's the government for you, I guess.)
• Being stuck for three freakin' hours between miles and miles of semis on an Interstate brought to a standstill by an accident sucks. Really. If you follow Grandma's Briefs on Facebook or Twitter you found out in real time on Tuesday how much I thought it sucked. Because of posted photos such as these:
• I'd always driven the highways and byways with the notion that when it comes to road ettiquette and challenges between semis and smaller vehicles, the semis always win. That's not always the case, I now know. When two semis tussle and tangle, neither wins, evidenced by the disastrous (and surely deadly) accident that caused the aforementioned traffic jam.
• Listening to Tina Fey reading "Bossypants" by Tina Fey is an enjoyable way to pass the time while on the road. Jim and I both agree.
• Listening to Kirsten Kairos reading "The Darkest Evening of the Year" by Dean Koontz is not. Jim and I both agree. (But we finished it anyway since we had hours and hours to go before we could sleep...or stop. And because I'd not gotten around to putting "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay" by Michael Chabon on the iPod.)
• When driving 15 miles per hour over the speed limit at night, what scares me most is the possibility of one of those wild and wacky animals mentioned above—or deer or skunk or fox or Road Runner with Wile E. Coyote on his tail—running out in front of me. Even more so than signs declaring icy bridges and falling rock. (Although not quite as much as becoming one of those crosses. Well, on second thought, hitting an animal while going 90 miles an hour just might result in exactly that, so yeah, the animals are still scariest.)
• Roads? Where we're going we don't need roads...at least not anymore. At least not for visits to the desert. Because we'll be flying next time. And every time forever going forward. Yeah, I know, life is a journey not a destination and all that blah, blah, blah. But when my grandchildren are the destination, I'll take that over the journey any day.
(Plus, now that I've researched Safety Corridors and New Mexico traffic fatality statistics for this post, I can guarantee you we will never, ever drive that route again. Nor will I ever encourage friends and family—or strangers—to take a road trip that way. Take the plane, folks. It's safer—and I can provide statistics to prove it, if you need them.)
(One more thing: If you live in New Mexico, get out! Now! Run for your lives! Better yet, take a plane...it's safer. Again, I can provide statistics to prove it, if you need them.)
Today's question:
How do you pass the time when on road trips?
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Reader Comments (21)
Wow. What a great writer. I SO enjoyed this piece, although I have to admit I have a special place in my heart for NM. One of my last pre-child vacations was to Albuquerque which served as our hub as we drove to nearly every other part of the state. Luckily, we only traveled on I-40 long enough to hit our exit and head south to Roswell. There was nothing in our way except hundreds of miles of ranchland and the occasional animal.
The only truly frightening part came when we stopped at a rest stop on this isolated road. We were reminded that it had no electricity or plumbing (because we were in the middle of nowhere. And they posted a sign warning us of rattlesnakes and tarantulas. I don't think I ever peed so fast in my life.
Sorry for the epic comment. I just love the flavor of NM!
I'm not a good road tripper. We drove from Vegas to Phoenix one time and I spilled orange juice all over myself and the car at the Dam. Made for a miserable trip :( Nothing but Joshua trees and tumble weeds.
Driving thru Utah and Kansas is not one of my favorite drives either. I've driven thru New Mexico a few times...boring....you should've stopped at a casino to pass the time!
My husband and I like to listen to books too...I am so glad we have that now because reading in a car always made me sick. We also have Sirius Radio so we get alot of choices to listen too. I remember traveling long distance with my family when we were all kids and all we had was am radio and my parent's 8 tracks!
Listening to books. In fact, we listened to Bossypants on our last road trip.
Sounds like a good trip. You didn't mention any fights, wrong turns or flat tires. Even better.
I use music, stories, and daydreams but mostly i just dont travel
Well, we love road trips and have been through NM many times, but we avoid major highways like the plague, favoring back roads. You really should try it that way once, too, once you've recovered from this trip. :) I think it is the interstates that are the problem. People go too fast, are too sleepy, etc., and one bad driver can make a huge pileup very quickly.
When we're on the motorcycle, I sing to myself. In the car, we go for books and podcasts on the radio.
I have a road trip almost daily! It is 14.5 miles to where I am temping here in southern California. Most mornings I don't go in until 10 so I can make it there in about 25 minutes. Coming home is a different story. Last night I got off at 5 and I got home at 6:05.
Audio books are the only thing that keeps me sane!
Gosh, I've driven through New Mexico and I completely agree. I used to love to drive on long car trips, enjoying the scenery, etc. My last car trip was Oct 2010 to Tucson. It was amazing....well the going part. The coming back? Not so much. Got caught just before Hoover Dam for literally hours. Yea, I'll fly next time.
I listen to audio books when on long trips. Keeps your mind awake. If I get sleepy, though, I'll put on some loud rock. If that doesn't work, I pull over. UGH
We're Kansas folk, so long boring drives don't bother us. Truthfully, though, New Mexico is so far the place we've been with the longest distances between gas stations. We were driving our RV through there a couple of years ago and came as close as we've ever been to running out of gas! They're not kidding when they say, "No services for 100 miles."
We really enjoy listening to audio books on the road too! I've got some old radio shows queued up for our next trip, including "The Shadow Knows." It really does help to pass the time, although, like you, we prefer light and fun over dark and brooding.
Fadra's comment made me laugh, she sounds so cute.
With my Jerry gone now more than sixteen years, I don't go on road trips. He and I used to and did enjoy them so very much. We would talk for hours and hours or I'd sing and he'd whistle along (he couldn't carry a tune in a jug singing but was a good whistler). I'm too scared of traffic with me doing the driving; besides, road trips alone wouldn't be any fun.
Having driven through NM many times, both going to Oklahoma and to visit my sister in Albuquerque, I have ALWAYS wondered what the whole Safety Corridor thing was about. But I just never got up the gumption to look it up. Thanks for solving that mystery for me!
I also wonder if it's so dangerous because there's NOTHING out there to slow you down and so you can just hit cruise control and literally go on auto-pilot. Then BAM! Huge elk with massive rack comes out of nowhere and next thing you know, you're one of those little crosses on the side of the road.
Usually I read to Mitch to pass the time but we really need to try out audiobooks. Much easier on the throat.
Scary and boring are a very bad combination. We're big fans of books on CD while traveling.
Music and books,,,and sleeping...get me through long car trips. I use my ear buds because Mike and I could never ever agree on the same music or the same book.
Loved this post - you are indeed a great writer - felt like I made the trip with you and you convinced me never to drive through New Mexico!! When I was a kid we did that road trip from CA back to PA several times - going through NM - I hated going through TX - took too long ... but, actually, as a general rule, I love road trips. Aren't audio books sweet! So glad you finally, safely made it to those grandbabies!
You are such a wonderful writer Lisa, thanks for sharing your experience.
Have travelled across the States from NY to LA & back again in 3 weeks, not recommended. Long and very tedious in parts, not something that I would do again.
Now that we are in New Zealand our granddaughter keeps us occupied when doing road trips, her favourite game at the moment is seeing how many cars she sees in a particular colour. Of course she always says "Are we there yet?" even if we have just been on the road for an hour or so.
I LOVE road trips/driving, audiobooks, but I agree that NM roads are dangerous. Get an airline miles credit card, and start accumulating miles to visit those grandbabies!
When my husband is driving, I do crossword puzzles to keep from being a front-seat driver. Of course, if the grandkids are riding with us, we do one of these road trip games.
Oh wow --and I was looking forward to driving around New Mexico one day to see the sights! I'm glad you are home safe!
My husband and I recently went on two scenic road trips. We drove along the coast road form San Diego to San Francisco, and we drove from Miami to Key West. We thoroughly enjoyed both trips!
Waiving hand here! East Coast gal, and never have been farther west than Chicago and Milwaukee! After your post, which would have me flipping to no-end, have No desire to visit NM or the Grand Canyon, but perhaps fly-over to California.
We did just come back from a delightful road-trip to Raleigh NC (even though it was 14 hours back, and 1-1/2 hours in traffic waiting to cross the GW Bridge...
We hooked up the iPhone and listed to Pandora, and I Tweeted, Facebooked and SU my way up and down I-95
Hope you rack up those frequent flier miles!
I listen to books on my MP3 player while Patrick listens to oldies on the radio. Seriously, the same oldies he's been listening to since the 1960s.
We don't road trip very much because it takes the first 8 hours just to get out of Texas. If we were to drive west it would be more like 10-12 hours. I will admit that New Mexico is one of the road trips I want to take and have secretly been planning to force upon my husband within the next few years. Maybe I'll rethink that now.
Here's something interesting about the roadside crosses which, you're right, are a big part of the Hispanic culture. The point of putting them along the roadside where someone died is so that strangers will say a prayer for the soul of the departed loved one. As Catholics, we often say a quick Hail Mary when we pass one.
Great post, made me giggle. It is sad about all of the fatalities though.
We travel to and through NM often, because of family in both Arizona and NM. We have plotted out all of the best and least scary restroom breaks on the way. When my son (now 21) was little he said "we always get to be dirty at Grandpa Andy's (my dad) house", because of how dusty it was.
I love NM for how laid back it is, but don't like the incredibly long and boring drive from Raton to Albuquerque.