Off to the West Coast again .. Day 13 Road trip to Phoenix..

[daytonababe]

Up at 8am and finished packing.. eventually everything went in the cases but god knows how it would all fit in my car back in England.. should have bought a estate car

By 10am we were ready to leave South Point so DH loaded up the car and I checked us out. I had to pay the resort fee which is $14.99 per night.

Normally I am heartbroken at leaving Vegas its no secret I want to live there but I didn't actually mind today because we were off to Phoenix and it was nearly Sunday and I was so excited.

Originally I had planned to share the driving with DH but I was still had a horrendous cough and hadn't been sleeping well , So I spent much of the journey sleeping on and off.


My dislike of road trips is well known Its a means to a end for me, I find no joy in spending hours in a car looking at rocks ! Anyway we set off and passed through Boulder City, Hoover Dam etc.. We didn't bother stopping this year we've seen it so many times now and carried on to Kingman.

The kids wanted to go to Golden Corral so we headed there , Cost $48ish for the 4 of us. I do find the ones off the tourist trail much better as they rely on local business. The servers were intrigued by the fact we had come from England and what our weather etc was like.. I still wasn't eating much really but found plenty I would have liked to have eaten.

Weather was strange today dull but warm but the closer we got to Phoenix the hotter it got..

Eventually we got to Goodyear which is 20 miles from Phoenix and went to the race track.. Will Call was shut so I couldn't get my tickets... We then drove to the nearby garage where they set up a little NASCAR market.

Connor was in heaven and found his sheet metal seller.. However all the pieces were too big to bring home and much to his disgust I don't have room for half a car in my house.

I then saw a model diecast I knew a friend had been looking for , for ages. $50 but I knew he'd pay for it so I bought it.. Connor got a few bits and we walked back to the car... It was 6pm and 80 degrees still.

Next stop the Holiday Inn Express never stayed here before but I booked early and got a decent rate well decent as you get NASCAR weekend.

As we pulled up Connors eyes lit up , It appeared several of the NASCAR pit crew were staying there.. I went and checked in and we were given a room really near reception overlooking the pool. Nice clean room free wifi and bath & bodyworks toiletries.. We are easily pleased.
Oh and free cookies in reception every day.

We did attempt to unpack but Connor was more interested in the NASCAR teams and the haulers that were out the back...

So after getting changed we went for a wander so he could see them.. As we walked passed the pool we saw the hauler drivers and I recognised one...We said good evening and then I realised it was the one I'd spoken to at South Point.

We then spent a nice hour talking to them , they were interested in the UK and Barrys job as a HGV driver and they were telling us about life on the road. I moan about road trips.. It takes them 37 hrs to drive home to North Carolina. They can also drive more hours per day than UK HGV drivers.
We exchange fb and twitter details and have been in contact since we got home . We are hoping to go over to North Carolina in the next few years and take Connor around some race shops as he really wants to work in NASCAR.

By now it was 9pm and we hadn't eaten .. We drove to the nearby Walmart and got snacky type foods.. Connor was most excited to buy what I call plastic hot dogs that he could cook in the microwave in the room..

By 10pm we were back in the room , eating snacks and hot dogs and then bed

steps walked 13253

[daytonababe]

[happytraveller]

37 hours And there's me moaning about 5 hours to the Grand Canyon-to see rocks Brilliant day-my daughter would love bath and body works stuff in the hotel room!

[daytonababe]

I know insane isn't it... They do have 2 drivers though to split up the drive.


Ins't it funny how the little things please daughters... anyone would think she'd never seen nice toiletries before ;-)

[abiknox]

Plastic sausages!? They sound delicious

Lovely day again, I quite like a road trip as long as I end up somewhere amazing.

[daytonababe]

Well they look like plastic ;-) Even the dog would say no to them !

I hate road trips.. Its a means to a end but I'd much rather be out in the sunshine... strangely we do a lot of trips here and it doesn't bother me.

[Enchanted]

I hate being stuck in the car on holiday too! Feels like a waste of sunshine - although I think despite what we said we're now probably going to hire a car in San Diego and drive to Vegas in September (not looking forward to it!) GC is still a bit out of the way but might take a look at Red Rock.
Love how excited Connor is about Nascar, will be fab if he ends up working with them!
B&BW toiletries would excite me too...lol!

[jocat]

It sounds like you're making some great contacts that could be very useful to Connor when he's older!

[Jake71]

A good travel day - it always passes quicker when you can nod off and on to sleep, although better if it's not cause you've been ill. Poor Connor finding his metal seller and then not being able to buy anything.