Well, let's just trip started out interesting at best. I'm working on resizing my pics as I don't have my old program on the new computer.
Route:
-I-10 from Beaumont, TX to San Antonio
-Hwy 90 from San Antonio through Del Rio, then down 385 to Big Bend National Park (this is where the first fun part of the trip started ). Had two belts break on the rear tire in the middle of nowhere in West Texas. We called Porsche North America, (no dealers had the size in stock), called every major tire chain in 3 states and the only one that had one in stock was Phoenix Arizona. So we decided not to camp at Big Bend but to head towards Phoenix at night so the roads wouldn't be quite as hot, to melt down the spare faster than we could get there. Needless to say, 14-16 hours later at 50mph we arrived in Phoenix, AZ. Have to admit leave it to the germans to make a trunk that fits a spare, but not the actually rim & tire, lol (see the pics). So onwards we went:
-118 from Big Bend to back to I-10
-I-10 all the way to Phoenix AZ (Props to Discount Tire in Mesa, AZ for holding tires for me)
Side Note- I donated a Passenger Side Headlamp Washer Cover to the City of Tucson, AZ. Some hobo should have a nice chrome plastic piece, lol. I looked for it for about 45 minutes, and then gave up as I was getting drenched from a thunderstorm.
-I-10 from Phoenix to Hwy 80 into Tombstone, AZ. Tombstone was awesome, we actually stayed several nights as there was plenty to do (with the occasional blast to Sierra Vista through some decent curvy roads)
Next the plan was to explore AZ to the Grand Canyon, but with all of the issues so far, we decided to stay toward the south, and take the back roads back to Carlsbad.
- Hwy 191 (AZ) to Hwy 180 (NM) through Silver city
-Hwy 180 to Hwy 152 (Absolutely Awesome 180 hairpins with 100+ft drop offs, no rails, through Mimbres Mountains / Gila National Forest. Strongly recommend for anyone, by far the best road I have ever traveled.
-152 to I-25 to Las Cruces, through El Paso
- I-25 to Hwy 180/62 to Hueco Mountains (State Park w/ Ancient Indian Pictographs) We actually slept in the car since we arrived after hours, and used border patrol inspection station rest rooms for emergencies
- From Hueco Mountains went through Guadalupe Mountains National Park to Carlsbad, NM to eat, and then back to Carlsbad Caverns. The bat flight was neat, but the best part was the 70 degree cavern that I could definitely get used to.
- Hwy 285 from Carlsbad NM to Pecos (the only place to stay was Motel 6, camping was not allowed at Carlsbad due to the recent fires)
- Hwy 285 from Pecos, TX to Fort Stockton
- I-10 to San Antonio to Catch dinner on the River walk and Harry Potter in 3d on the IMAX, loll.
Then back home.
In summary, the trip was over 3,000+ miles, through 3 states with the following fun:
1.) Two separate broken belts on rear tire
2.) Passenger Side Headlamp Washer Cover that decided to reside in Tucson, AZ
3.) Near head on collision at high speed with F150 that came across the middle divider (I'm not sure how we missed) on Hwy 180 NM to Carlsbad.
4.) Exploding tire from oncoming 18 wheeler that left rubber on just about every front body panel (hood, bumper, fenders, and windshield), (luckily with much buffing, all is well).
Best Recommendations:
1.) Hwy 152 (Absolutely Awesome 180 hairpins with 100+ft drop offs, no rails, through Mimbres Mountains / Gila National Forest.
2.) The Best Ice Cream Ever! Old Benson Ice Cream in Benson, AZ (I spent over $30 bucks total, by the time I was through as I even bought T-Shirts, )
3.) Tombstone, AZ definitely a neat place, to experience a trace of the old west. (Much to do here for all age groups)
4.) Carlsbad Caverns
5.) River walk, San Antonio, TX
PICS coming soon, I need to resize them so I don't take up too much bandwith