It has been quite a whirlwind of a summer. On July 26th, my daughter Mara and
I left downtown Boston for our drive to Scottsdale. Originally we are going to really take our
time and do some real site seeing on the trip.
But instead we had to try and get from Boston to Scottsdale by July 31st
because my new company was going to be public on the 2nd of August
and they wanted the entire executive team in New York to ring the bell at the
NASDAQ. It was a good reason to get back
to Scottsdale in time to take our flight to New York.
We wanted to get to Virginia on the first day so that we could try and see some sites in Tennessee. The GPS said that we had a 9 hour drive and 597 miles to go. Mara and I felt like we could do that by switching off regularly. What we didn’t plan for was the heavy traffic we would encounter in New York even though the route we were taking purposely avoided New York City. The problem was that we got caught in rush hour traffic over the Tappan Zee Bridge. Once we got to Pennsylvania the traffic eased and we were able to make up some time.
To add some variety to the trip and to keep us interested, we decided
to take our picture at each state line to log when we crossed into another
state. It was fun trying to determine
just when we would be reaching the state line.
As the hours dragged on, it was the one thing keeping us alert. We finally reached the Virginia border at
midnight. We still had a ways to go to
the hotel and we finally pulled in around 1:30 am weary but glad to have made
it safe and sound.
After a good night’s sleep and a little breakfast, we headed out. We figured we would get some good miles
behind us as there shouldn’t be as much traffic on a Saturday. Our goal that day was to make it to Jackson,
TN with a stop in Nashville. This was
supposed to be a 9 and ½ hour drive and 643 miles. However, Mother Nature did
not want us making up any time and threw a big rain storm in front of us which
slowed us down quite a bit until we crossed into Tennessee.
We got into Knoxville around dinner time which meant we would not be
able to see any sites in Nashville. So,
we stopped for a BBQ dinner at Calhoun’s.
Pork ribs are one of the few foods that Mara can eat with her
allergies. It was really nice to take a
break before heading over to Nashville.
Even though we got in at dusk we decided to drive through downtown so
Mara could see Broadway where all the Honky Tonks are located. It was hoppin’ on Saturday night. We just rolled down the windows and enjoyed
the music wafting through the air.
We then pushed on to Jackson and our hotel. It was a nice hotel and we were beat. The time difference allowed us to get in at a
decent hour (11:00 pm) and to get some rest.
We had planned to stop at Shiloh National Military Park and Beale Street
in Memphis. After those stops we wanted
to make it to my in-laws house in Mansfield, TX. It was going to be a long day of driving –
527 miles and 8 and ½ hours without the stops.
We got up at 7 am and headed out to Shiloh. Along the way, we saw signs for the Buford
Pusser Home & Museum. I remember
watching the movie “Walking Tall” and really wanted to stop by the house even
though it was not open that early in the morning. It was on the way so Mara humored me and we
stopped at the house and took pictures.
I am sure she thought I was crazy.
But, it was cool to see it. But,
I was much more excited about seeing the Shiloh Battlefield. 
We got to the Military Park right after they opened for the day. Because we couldn’t spend a lot of time, we
decided to do the driving tour of the park.
The Shiloh Battlefield has a 12.7 mile auto tour route with 20 tour
stops at such famous places as Bloody Pond, the Hornet's Nest, and the Albert
Sidney Johnston death site. Mara was
pretty excited about seeing the battlefield.
She had taken a Civil War class at Westborough High School and wanted to
see the places they talked about in class.
It was a really great tour and we got to see all of the famous
sites. Sadly we had to get going so we
would not get into Mansfield too late.
We wanted to stop in Memphis to grab lunch. We visited Beale Street which is always
busy. After that I thought it would be
really great to have Mara visit the Lorraine Motel and the Civil Rights Museum.
After visiting the site, I have to say
that this museum is one of must dos when in Memphis. Everyone my age and older remembers Martin
Luther King's death. It was really eerie
to see and be on the hotel balcony where he was shot and see the recreated bathroom
where James Earl Ray shot him. The second floor of the museum is all about the
assassination of Martin Luther King and is very good with lots of information
to read and articles relating to the assassination and to James Earl Ray. I think Mara was glad we stopped.
After driving by Stax Records and Sun Studios, we headed across the
Hernando-Desoto Bridge over the Mississippi River and into the state of Mara’s
birth. She had not stepped foot in her
birth state since we moved in 1995. It
was really cute seeing how excited she was to be on the ground in
Arkansas. We wanted to make Little Rock
in time for dinner before our final push to Mansfield. It all worked like clockwork after leaving
the Visitor’s Center at the Arkansas border.
We grabbed dinner in Benton, AR and headed down I-40 finally arriving at
my in-laws at 10:00 pm or so.
We slept in a little as we had put over 1,700 miles behind us since
Friday afternoon. We were only trying to
make it to Carlsbad, NM. Mara wanted to
see Carlsbad Caverns and we both wanted to see White Sands National Monument. It would be the shortest day of our trip at
only 443 miles and just under 7 hours of driving. It was a whole lot of nothing along the route
to Carlsbad and we got in right around dinner time which was nice. We would be able to get a good night’s sleep
before our final push to Scottsdale.
We got to the caverns at 8:00 am to make sure we would be able to be
some of the first people to go down into the cavern for the tour. I had been to Carlsbad Caverns back in the 70’s
and was excited to see it again. We had
a perfect tour. We went down in the cave
by elevator and had it all to ourselves.
We didn’t see anyone during our walk through the cave. I think the cave seemed even more spectacular
without all of the noise and commotion groups of people would bring had we gone
at a later time of day.
When we surfaced, I had to head over to El Paso to visit a site my new
company was under contract to build next year.
Plus we had to stop and look at a new site coming to our committee in
August in Las Cruces. It would also
allow Mara and I to make a pit stop up at White Sands. We made it to El Paso in time for lunch. I reviewed the site and we headed over to Las
Cruces. The site was right off the
highway so it didn’t take much time out of our trip. After reviewing the site (Mara liked it), we
headed to White Sands.
The White Sands National Monument is a U.S. National Monument located about
16 miles southwest of Alamogordo in western Otero County and northeastern Doña
Ana County in the state of New Mexico, at an elevation of 4235 feet. The area
is in the mountain-ringed Tularosa Basin and comprises the southern part of a 275-mile
field of white sand dunes composed of gypsum crystals. (Wikipedia) We drive into the park and got out to walk on
the dunes. Mara and I were both amazed
at how packed the “sand” was as we walked.
It didn’t feel anything like beach sand.
It was very bright and very hot.
So we didn’t stay too long. Plus
we wanted to make it to Scottsdale before midnight.
The last leg of the trip from White Sands to my apartment in Scottsdale
would be 445 miles and 6 ½ hours of driving.
We figured we would grab dinner somewhere along the way. We left White Sands around 3:00 pm. There is not much to see between White Sands
and Tucson. We listened to music and
pushed on towards the setting sun. We
crossed into Arizona just before the sun set on our final day of driving and
pulled into my apartment complex at 10:45 pm.
We had travelled over 3,200 miles in 5 days and made it with no problem. We spent the next day doing laundry and
packing for our trip to New York on Thursday.
As I look back on those 5 days with Mara, I am so glad to have had that
time with her. I cannot begin to tell
you how important it was for me to just spend this time with my daughter. I have always felt it was important to spend
time with each of my kids individually. I had a lot more chances to spend time with my
son through our scouting trips. I felt
that this trip would allow me to really get to know Mara as an adult
child. And I was hoping it would helps
to bring us closer together. I want her
to see me not only as her Dad, but as close friend and confidant. I think that Mara and I have built a great
relationship because I have always been honest with her and she has always been
honest with me. She knows that she can
always come to me with problems that she is dealing with and know that I will
help her get through them. My hope is that she will look back on this
trip and remember it with great fondness.
I know I will.
July 22 – 5.50 miles (53:42, 9:50 pace)
July 24 – 5.00 miles (46:17, 9:15 pace) – Speed WorkJuly 25 – 4.50 miles (45:00, 10:00 pace) – Elliptical
July 31 – 6.20 miles (55:14, 8:55 pace) – Elliptical
Aug. 8 – 6.20 miles (59:18, 9:31 pace)
Aug. 9 – 6.20 miles (54:35, 8:48 pace) – Elliptical
Aug. 10 – 7.20 miles (1:07:14, 9:23 pace)
Aug. 11 – 8.20 miles (1:12:23, 8:49 pace) – Elliptical
Aug. 12 – 6.20 miles (58:09, 9:23 pace)
Aug. 13 – 3.20 miles (25:39, 8:01 pace) – Speed Work
Aug. 14 – 6.20 miles (54:41, 8:49 pace)
Aug. 16 – 4.20 miles (33:34, 8:00 pace) – Tempo Run
Aug. 17 – 8.10 miles (1:20:51, 10:00 pace)
Aug. 18 – 7.20 miles (1:10:13, 9:41 pace)
Total Miles: 84.10 miles
2013 Total Miles: 1,075.1 miles
