Day 11: Littlefield, TX to Austin TX. Final Trip Total 3,942 miles.
Katie gets her swim as soon as the pool opens at 8:00am; we grab breakfast at the motel, and then head out back to Austin. Back on roads I know, the day goes pretty fast down through San Angelo and Brady, with assorted wolf impressions coming from the back seat throughout the day. It’s an uneventful day, and we get back home around 4:00pm.
Travel Tip #1: Don’t travel with a vegetarian unless you like Subway.
Despite being mocked before the trip, we used pretty much everything we took: the tool kit didn’t get used, but that would have been indispensable had we have broken down out of cell range. The self-inflating SwissGear mattresses didn’t get used, and we didn’t sleep in the back of the car, so the Coleman Twin-Sized Quickbed
wasn’t used either. I did take more camera equipment than I needed – my Nikon 105mm f/2.8G Lens
went unused, as did my Nikon 85mm f/1.4D Lens
and Nikon SB-800 Speedlight
. The Pelican cases (1510 Case & 1610 Case) were fantastic though, amazingly robust. And the Coleman 100 quart cooler worked extremely well for us. And I still haven’t got past the introduction on the SAS Survival Handbook.
The Nissan Armada held up okay – no major mechanical problems, however the hinged window on the back left corner of the vehicle worked loose – it looks like the hinge is no longer attached and is being held loosely in place by the plastic trim. The drivers electric window isn’t working properly – it’s jumped out of its track, so when it closes the glass scrapes against metal and both rubber pieces are inside the car. This is about the 6th time it’s done this – the dealer fixes it, and it usually lasts for about 2 weeks before doing this again – this time it had held up since being repaired last October, until my brother started opening the window every 15 minutes because of his flatulence problem. And the front passengers electric window doesn’t always close when you open it completely, which I also attribute excessive use due to my brothers problem.
Travel Tip #2: Don’t travel with my brother.
What would I take next time? A warm hat and warmer socks/boots for those cold mornings would be extremely useful. And possibly a more detailed map.
Overall a fantastic trip, especially for a 5 year old, who now knows that things she learns about on cartoons are actually real. Another couple of years and the twins will be old enough to come on a trip like this – that’ll be really interesting.
Now I just need to figure out how to convince her indoors that I need to do a road trip to Alaska…
Katie gets her swim as soon as the pool opens at 8:00am; we grab breakfast at the motel, and then head out back to Austin. Back on roads I know, the day goes pretty fast down through San Angelo and Brady, with assorted wolf impressions coming from the back seat throughout the day. It’s an uneventful day, and we get back home around 4:00pm.
Travel Tip #1: Don’t travel with a vegetarian unless you like Subway.
Despite being mocked before the trip, we used pretty much everything we took: the tool kit didn’t get used, but that would have been indispensable had we have broken down out of cell range. The self-inflating SwissGear mattresses didn’t get used, and we didn’t sleep in the back of the car, so the Coleman Twin-Sized Quickbed
wasn’t used either. I did take more camera equipment than I needed – my Nikon 105mm f/2.8G Lens went unused, as did my Nikon 85mm f/1.4D Lens and Nikon SB-800 Speedlight. The Pelican cases (1510 Case & 1610 Case) were fantastic though, amazingly robust. And the Coleman 100 quart cooler worked extremely well for us. And I still haven’t got past the introduction on the SAS Survival Handbook.The Nissan Armada held up okay – no major mechanical problems, however the hinged window on the back left corner of the vehicle worked loose – it looks like the hinge is no longer attached and is being held loosely in place by the plastic trim. The drivers electric window isn’t working properly – it’s jumped out of its track, so when it closes the glass scrapes against metal and both rubber pieces are inside the car. This is about the 6th time it’s done this – the dealer fixes it, and it usually lasts for about 2 weeks before doing this again – this time it had held up since being repaired last October, until my brother started opening the window every 15 minutes because of his flatulence problem. And the front passengers electric window doesn’t always close when you open it completely, which I also attribute excessive use due to my brothers problem.
Travel Tip #2: Don’t travel with my brother.
What would I take next time? A warm hat and warmer socks/boots for those cold mornings would be extremely useful. And possibly a more detailed map.
Overall a fantastic trip, especially for a 5 year old, who now knows that things she learns about on cartoons are actually real. Another couple of years and the twins will be old enough to come on a trip like this – that’ll be really interesting.
Now I just need to figure out how to convince her indoors that I need to do a road trip to Alaska…
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