No Country for Old Bugs: The Indexicle

Behold the grille of my car at the end of my cross-country Road Trip from Atlanta to Los Angeles:

No Country for Old Bugs

Total miles driven:  2914.7 miles

Number of days it took:  8

Number of cars taken:  2

Number of persons:  4

Number of bugs smashed on grilles and windshields:  Uncountably many

Distances between stations:

• Atlanta to New Orleans:  469.4 miles
• New Orleans to San Antonio:  543.1 miles
• San Antonio to Carlsbad, NM:  450.9 miles
• Carlsbad to Williams, AZ:  635.9 miles
• Williams to Las Vegas:  216.4 miles
• Las Vegas to Los Angeles:  270.3 miles

Major routes taken:  I-85 to I-65 to I-10 to US-285 to I-40 to US-93 to I-15

Length of time on Historic Rte. 66:  Approximately 30 minutes

Two-night stops en route:  New Orleans; Williams, AZ; Las Vegas

Notable intermediate cities/towns driven through or around:  Montgomery, AL; Biloxi, MS; Houston, TX; Roswell, NM; Albuquerque, NM

Best intermediate stop (by far):  Old Albuquerque for dinner (Hello, Frances!)

Major sites seen:

• The French Quarter
• The Mississippi River
• The River Walk (San Antonio) (#HowIsThisTexas)
• Carlsbad Caverns
• Old Albuquerque
• The Grand Canyon (and yes, it most assuredly is)
• Oak Creek Canyon, Sedona, AZ
• The Hoover Dam
• The Strip
• The Mojave Desert
• USC

Best meals eaten and where:

• Shrimp Creole at Galatoire's in New Orleans
• Gumbo and Raw Oysters on the half-shell in New Orleans
• Tex-Mex at Mi Tierra in San Antonio
• Mexican at Hacienda del Rio with Frances Madeson in Old Albuquerque
• French at Mon Ami Gabi on the Strip in Las Vegas
• Japanese at Izakaya Honda-Ya in Little Tokyo in Los Angeles

Worst incident:  A pebble flying up and cracking one windshield

Worst traffic (in descending order of worstness):  Houston, the Mojave Desert, the French Quarter, Atlanta, Los Angeles

Places where all lanes of an interstate highway were closed:  (1) I-10 in Houston, (2) I-15 between Las Vegas and Los Angeles, i.e., the Mojave Desert

Respective causes of interstate closures:  (1) Jack-knifed 18-wheeler in Houston, (2) Wildfire in the Mojave

Place where the only rain was seen:  The Mojave Desert

Amount of rainfall in the Mojave Desert:  Most ever recorded in a single day there, shattering records for entire month of July in a few hours

Cause of rainfall in the Mojave Desert:  Remnants of Hurricane Delores

Result of rainfall in the Mojave Desert (besides limited vision and major traffic snarls):  Extinguishment of the wildfire that had closed it the day before

What the Angelenos we spoke to said they were when we told them we had brought the rain from Georgia:  Very grateful

Most desolate place:  West Texas/Eastern New Mexico

How I returned home after leaving Wisdaughter, her partner, and her car in Los Angeles:  Flying. Sad.

Things that will follow in this series:  Pictures