On May 20th, our newest nephew Declan was born out in Las Vegas and due to COVID-19, we were unable to travel to fly out there and visit him. Instead, we started planning an end of summer road trip to safely drive to Vegas and back to meet Declan. What follows is a day-to-day summary and some thoughts on our 20 state/6,000+ miles Great American COVID Road Trip. Enjoy!
Day 1: We left Philly and made it to South Bend, Indiana in 10 hours. We have a friend who works for Notre Dame, so we thought this would be the perfect pit stop for our first day. She even gave us an awesome golf cart tour of the campus, which was absolutely beautiful. The ND campus was packed with students, many of whom to our disappointment where not practicing proper social distancing/mask wearing. This was easily the most people we’ve seen in one place since COVID started so it did feel a bit surreal in that aspect. Regardless, we wore our masks the entire time and enjoyed our little stay in South Bend.
Day 2: We had breakfast in South Bend before we departed for Des Moines, Iowa. Along the way we stopped at Iowa 80, the World’s Largest Truckstop. This Truckstop had everything including showers, a barber, dentist, and chiropractor. We then made it Des Moines, which was about 6 1/2 hours from South Bend. This time/distance was perfect because this short day was sandwiched between two of our longest days.
This is where we hit on our only major problem on our trip. I used Booking.com (Never again!) for this hotel and when we pulled there was a sign saying that it had been closed since March. Why Booking.com was allowing people to book a hotel that had been closed for so long is beyond me. After 2 phone calls and over an hour on hold, all Booking said they could do for us is “check if any places nearby had any availability”. We decided to cut our losses with their awful customer service and found a hotel in downtown Des Moines. Dowtown Des Moines was very clean and quiet with a nice little riverwalk that’s open until late at night.
Day 3: Our trip to South Dakota was easily the longest day of the trip, but it’s because we did so much. First we stopped at the infamous Corn Palace in Mitchell, South Dakota. The murals/designs covering the building and inside are made from various types of corn and other grains. It was neat to see and I would have loved to played a basketball game in that arena.
After the Corn Palace we stopped at Wall Drug. For hundreds of miles on the highways you will continue to see various hand painted signs that read “Kids love Wall Drug” or “Free Ice Water – Wall Drug” so by the time you make it to Wall Drug you feel like you have no choice but to stop and check it out. It’s a large tourist attraction that does have free ice water and 5 cent coffee, but in my opinion didn’t quite live up to the hype. Plus about 90% of the people were walking around inside without masks on, so we quickly got out of there.
After Wall Drug, we stopped at Badlands National Park and paid entrance to take a scenic loop through the park. There is some stunning scenery in the Badlands and I’m glad that we did the scenic loop before heading to Deadwood. You could spend a lot more time than we did there, so plan accordingly.
Being a fan of the HBO show, I of course had to stop and walk down main street in historic Deadwood, South Dakota. This was the final day of Sturgis, so Deadwood was pretty filled with motorcyclists. If you’re a fan of the show/western history it’s worth taking a walk down main street.
After leaving Deadwood, we took a very scenic drive through the Black Hills to Keystone, South Dakota where we planned to visit Mount Rushmore and spend the night. If you are ever driving through that area, I suggest taking the scenic route between Deadwood and Rushmore. We saw Rushmore at night, which looks great under the lights and then spent the night at a cozy little lodge called K Bar S Lodge.
Originally our trip was going to take us straight from Iowa to Colorado, but I figured that since we were on a road trip we should add a day and go north to South Dakota to see Rushmore. I’m glad we made that change and there is a lot to see in South Dakota!
Day 4: We left the Black Hills of South Dakota and traveled down to Cheyenne, Wyoming. This drive was only about four hours, so it gave us the afternoon off in Wyoming to explore. I have always heard that Wyoming is beautiful so I thought it would make for a great half-day off. If you’re ever traveling through Wyoming, make sure you look out for signs that direct you to Little America, because their 75 cent ice cream cones are worth the pit stop!
Cheyenne itself was pretty quite and in fact a lot of stores and restaurants were closed because it was a Monday. We decided to stop by the Terry Bison Ranch outside of the city and this was easily my favorite activity on our trip. The ranch itself is huge and has all types of animals (horses, goats, ostriches, and even a turkey who likes people to pet/massage its head) but the highlight was the bison train tour. It bills itself as the only bison train tour in America, and it takes you right to where the bison live on the ranch and they come right up to the train to be fed. To be this close to a herd of bison and actually feed them was an awesome experience which I highly recommend!
During this trip we committed ourselves to always wearing our masks in public and also not eating indoors to be as safe as possible. In Cheyenne, this meant grabbing Sonic takeout and eating it back in our hotel room since there were no real outdoor dining options that were open. Cheyenne was cool, but I would still like to see the other side of Wyoming (Cody, Yellowstone) because I hear it’s even more beautiful.
Day 5: We left Wyoming and headed to Salt Lake City which took about 7 hours. We stopped to see and take a walk on part of the great Salt Lake. We didn’t stay too long because it was SO hot (more on that later). We had dinner with a friend that I had met while previously touring the country working for the band Chester French back in 2009 on the Blink 182 reunion tour.
After dinner, we did our own little walking tour of the Utah State Capitol Building and the Mormon Temple Square. The Capitol Building looks a lot like the US Capitol Building, so much so that Legally Blonde 2 used it in place of the US Capitol. The Mormon Temple Square area looked really great at night as well and is worth checking out even if you’re not member of the faith/a religious person.
Day 6: We left Salt Lake and headed towards Las Vegas. We first stopped at Kolob Canyons which is the less popular side of Zion National Park. Zion is my favorite national park and the last time we were in Vegas we visited the more popular area. Kolob Canyons was still beautiful and was WAY less crowded than its counterpart. We also got in for free since it was the first day the park had re-opened since COVID. We decided to do one of the scenic 1-mile hikes which they said should take about 15-20 minutes but took us more like 40 minutes in the 100+ degree heat.
We completed the six hour or so trip to Vegas driving through a stretch of dessert that saw temperatures reach 118 degrees. My arms are probably the most tan that they’ve ever been now from driving in the sun during this road trip.
Days 7-11: Meet Declan, our new nephew! Declan was always the reason for this trip and it was a lot of fun hanging out with him and his parents! I don’t love holding babies (honestly due to fear of dropping them/hurting them) but I hung out with Declan quite a bit during our stay and he was a very easy baby to watch! We helped out by cooking dinners (and one of my famous scramble egg breakfast) for my brother in law and his wife while we visited.
We also did just a little sightseeing while in Vegas… Fallout: New Vegas is my favorite video game of all-time, so we did our own little tour of Goodsprings and Primm which are both major locations in the game. Primm is interesting because it has Bonnie & Clyde’s death car and is also located on the California border so you can technically say that you visited California as well. Goodsprings, the starting point in the Fallout, is an old ghost town of 200 people including a saloon that looks exactly like the game. I really enjoyed my little Fallout adventure, but not so sure that other’s unfamiliar with the game would as much. On the way back, we stopped at Seven Magic Mountains, which is a colored rock art installation out in the middle of the desert.
On my own, I spent an afternoon checking out all the Las Vegas comic book and action figure shops. These days, the majority of my collecting involves old Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles stuff and I found two comic books that I needed and a mint on card Ray Fillet action figure. So it was a good hunt!
Before we left Vegas we made sure to stop by and check out Allegiant Stadium, the Raiders new home. Already nicknamed “The Death Star” this stadium looks even more impressive in person. My brother, uncle, and I had plans to attend the first home game which obviously isn’t happening now, so it was nice to be able to go and check it out. I can’t wait to get to a game there in 2021!
Day 12: We said goodbye to baby Declan and headed back home via the southern route back to Philadelphia. This enabled us to stop at Mather Point, the most popular spot at the Grand Canyon. Mather Point is about 2 hours total “out of the way” but it’s worth the visit. We got in for free since it was the National Park system’s birthday, so that was an added bonus. I’ve always seen pictures of the Grand Canyon but no photos can truly do it any justice. The Grand Canyon and specifically Mather Point is just one of those places you have to see to believe and understand just how impressive it is.
After the Canyon, we stopped at the Meteor Crater in Winslow Arizona. The crater is 50,000 years old and is one mile wide and 500 feet deep. During the 60s and 70s NASA astronauts trained in the crater to prepare for Apollo Moon Missions. It costs $22 to enter, but it is pretty cool to see! We drove about 10 hours this day and stopped in Albuquerque, New Mexico for the night.
Day 13: Before we left Albuquerque, I put together a list of some of the places where they filmed Breaking Bad (one of my favorite TV shows ever) to do a little drive by tour. First we stopped at Twisters, better known on the show as Los Pollos Hermanos. It’s an actual chicken restaurant and while we were there we crossed paths with the breaking bad RV tour which takes guests to filming locations as well. We were greeted with “Welcome to Twisters” while the tour guests who came in a little after us were greeted with “Welcome to Los Pollos Hermanos”. If I’m ever back in ABQ, I’d love to do the full RV tour because it seems like a lot of fun!
After Twisters, we drove by Hank and Marie’s house which sits up in the hills in a really nice neighborhood. From there we went to the strip mall where Saul Goodman had his office (this is now a sports bar). After that we drove past Walter White’s house, which looks a bit different now and has a fence up to stop crazy fans from getting on the property. There have been apparently more than a few incidents with overzealous fans, so I get it, but I still feel that the owners are missing a huge opportunity by not turning this into a tourist attraction/Airbnb. After Walt’s, we stopped at Mister Car Wash (A-1 on the show).
Our final stop was the Candy Lady’s place in Old Town Albuquerque. We showed up around 1030am but the sign read that the store wasn’t open until Noon. As we turned to walk away, the owner pulled up in her car and told us to wait and that she’d open up for us! The Candy Lady made all of the fake meth that you saw on Breaking Bad, which you can now buy in little packets. She was super nice and even allowed us in the back of the store to take photos with a new batch of the candy meth she created. The Candy Lady is a must visit while in ABQ.
We left ABQ and drove about 8 hours to Mustang, Oklahoma to stay with family. ABQ was a really cool city which I’d love to visit again sometime probably during their annual Hot Air Balloon festival.
Day 14: We had the day off visiting family in Mustang, which is right outside of Oklahoma City. We visited the site of the Oklahoma City Bombing which is now a very peaceful, beautiful memorial. I was 10 in 1995 when the OKC Bombing happened, so I don’t remember it as clearly as say 9/11 but it was still an important sight to see. After the memorial, we walked along the canal in downtown OKC and had BBQ for dinner. In this area is also the OKC Dodgers stadium, so it’s a nice little spot downtown. We ended our night with s’mores by the fireplace and catching up with family we don’t get to see very often!
Day 15 & 16: Day 15 was mostly driving (about 12 hours) through Oklahoma, Arkansas and finally arriving in Nashville, TN. We were very lucky that we stayed mostly just behind the hurricane’s trail and only drove through a little bit of rain.
The first thing I did on Day 16 was stop by Jack White’s Third Man Records store. I’m a big Jack White fan and it was cool to see the store which was filled with records (obviously) and memorabilia including some of Jack’s Grammy Awards. Tours of the store aren’t running due to COVID, but it would have been neat to see the record label’s offices and where they make/record records as well.
In the afternoon we visited Cheekwood Estate & Gardens. We happened to be visiting while an exhibition of Chihuly’s glass sculptures were going on which made the visit even more worthwhile. The only downside was that we got caught in a downpour while visiting, so we really didn’t get to see everything. After Cheekwood, we had dinner with friends who live in the area at Hattie B’s Hot Chicken (delicious) and then drove to the Parthenon before calling it a night.
I was a bit disappointed with Nashville only because my whole life I have been told how awesome of a city it is. I’m sure that’s true pre-COVID, but during COVID there was not a lot going on including a 10PM curfew. As someone who loves live music, I’d love to go back to Nashville when “things return to normal” to really experience the city. I’d also like to make a stop in Memphis to see Graceland, even though I’m not an Elvis fan.
Day 17: This is where all the driving really started to catch up. We left Nashville and drove about another 10 hours to Richmond, Virginia. Along the way, we passed the Sunsphere, in Knoxville which is known by Simpsons fans across the world. Sadly, I didn’t see wig outlets.
Once we arrived in Richmond at our friend’s place, we were beat. We chatted with out friends and had some delicious Italian food for dinner but I was ready for bed and it was an early night.
Day 18: We slept in because our final leg from Richmond to Philadelphia (via Baltimore) was only going to be about a 4 1/2 hour drive. We then drove to Baltimore to have lunch with one of our game night friends who has since moved to Baltimore. After lunch, we drove back to Philly thus ending our 18 day road trip. It was a lot of fun and I highly suggest that everyone does at least one great American road trip in their life!
Random thoughts/comments: One of the best things that we did for this trip is rent a car from Hertz. Hertz has unlimited miles and we felt that it was more than worth it putting 6,000+ miles on a rental car instead of our own. We also had a cooler that we packed with ice packs/ice from the hotel daily. This in addition to three bags of non perishable food (and bread for PB&J sandwiches), saved us time and money on lunch most days.
Some people have asked why I planned the routes that I did and the answers is that I planned the routes based around friends or places that we wanted to see. I knew that the only way that I’d likely ever see Mount Rushmore or the Grand Canyon was via a road trip, so those were two spots I knew had to be on the list. I also knew that 10-12 hours was the max I could drive without being too tired, so our pit stops couldn’t be further than 10-12 hours.
While planning for this trip I only made one mistake and that was not calculating for time zones/time changes. In retrospect, it seems so simple, but it’s actually an easy thing to forget. On the way out west, it was a good thing since we would arrive at our destination an hour earlier planned. However, on the way back it kills you because you lose an hour, which means you have to wake up even earlier to make that hour back. A lot of the highways out west have 80 MPH speed limits, but even with that you can only make up so much time, so don’t forget to plan for time zone changes!
Out of all of our driving days, only one did we arrive to our destination past dark (our grand canyon day). If you’re ever thinking of a road trip I would suggest getting as much daylight in as possible. The scenery looks much nicer in the day AND this also gives you time to stop at some roadside attractions that you might not have planned for (and trust me they will pop up). I also just find it easier to drive during the day than at night, especially when I haven’t driven someplace before.
I’ve also been asked, “Would I ever do this long of a drive again?” and the answer is, MAYBE! I love to drive, but as I said I was getting really tired in the end. If your’e able to do a road trip like this and have a full day or at least a half day off in the city that you’re going to, it would make things a lot easier. It was a really awesome experience, and one that I could definitely see myself doing again when I have children who are of a certain age to enjoy/understand it. My family never took a giant road trip like this and even though I toured the country in a tour bus, it wasn’t close to being the same experience. On tour in the music industry you really only stop for gas/bathroom breaks and you basically just go from one city to another. The only days off you have to explore are the random days in random cities that just happen to pop up while on tour.
So in the end while it still absolutely sucks to have lost my job due to COVID, I’m glad that we were able to do such a long, amazing road trip. If I were still at my last job, I would have never been allowed to take this much time off for one trip, so I guess COVID unemployment isn’t completely terrible 🙂