On the road early.....

 3:26 pm - Tuesday - April 21st - Bishop, CA - 62°  F, humidity 37%, cloud cover 37%, wind 21 mph out of the southwest......windy, partly cloudy with a forecast high today in Bishop of 61° F.  On this date in 2018 TLE and I took a rest stop in Tucumcari, NW.....

....on our way to Maine for the Summer.  Two years before this it was a functioning grocery market.

First of all, please accept my apologies for posting my missive about Monday, April 20th.  TLE and I had reviewed all of the available weather data and concluded it would be  best for us to be on the road before 7 am Tuesday to get ahead of the wind.  We were out of bed at 6:10 am, and on the road by 6:40 am heading north on US-95 which runs north and south through the state of Nevada, hence no time for the blog, but here I am at sometime after 3 pm Tuesday catching you up on our activities from Monday.

We were in White Hills, AZ at the TA  (Travelcenters of America) Monday morning, and our goal was Fort Amargosa, north of Las Vegas...about 150 miles from our location.  We wanted get through Las Vegas mid morning, so we were on the road before 8 am heading north on US-93 to Las Vegas.  We ran into more bad highway initially, but within 25 miles the road smoothed out, and it was clear sailing into, and through Las Vegas.  Last year we drove the entire distance from TWW to Fort Amargosa, and that put us in rush hour traffic through Las Vegas, which was terrible.  We were determined not to repeat that mistake this year, hence the overnight stop in White Hills, NV.

As hoped, the mid morning traffic was very light, and much less stressful for us, especially me, the driver.  By 9:30 am we had transitioned from US-93 to US-95 northbound, arriving at Fort Amargosa by 11 am, which was perfect.   We left early to avoid the forecast winds which materialized at Fort Amargosa about 12 pm, and were they ever bad.  Our coach rocked and rolled all afternoon, so another good decision to end our travel day early to avoid the wind.

US-95 north of Las Vegas is a divided highway with 2 lanes in each direction until the final 25 miles into Fort Amargosa, but by then the traffic was almost non-existent making for an easy drive.  If it hadn't been for the forecast winds, which did arrive on schedule, I could have driven all the way to Tonopah, NV putting us 130 miles closer to Bishop, but it is what it is.  

We spent the afternoon reading, and napping (me) being thankful not to be in the cross winds on the highway.  For dinner TLE prepared meatloaf, smashed potatoes, and a side salad, which was the perfect ending to an enjoyable travel day.  Now it was only 240 miles to Bishop on Tuesday.  Stay tuned for that adventure.

Thanks for stopping by!