4926

There are 4926 miles between Pleasanton, California and Atlanta, Georgia.   How do I know this?  Because I have just returned from an epic journey by car between those two cities with my husband (yes we are still married) and our Bassett Hound. 

On the drive East we were bombarded with snow and high winds through Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas.  Once we got to Arkansas it turned to rain and just plain cold. Tennessee and Georgia were warmer and thankfully filled with Chick-Fil-A's so that made it nice!  The scenery was beautiful and the only painful memory was an unplanned interaction with a tumbleweed plant?, bush?, tree?.  It impaled itself on the grill of the car and left an ugly hole but it was either the tumbleweed or the car in the next lane during one particularly cold, windy stretch of road and we made the obvious choice. 

If you are interested, it seems that Sonic only goes so far as New Mexico when you are heading West and on many stretches of road you are lucky to find a truck stop for gas.  Restroom stops get harder to find in New Mexico and we found a number of places with either no rest rooms or all rest rooms closed.  The dog, however, found ample spots including one patch of desert on the side of Interstate 40. 

It is possible to consume  8000 calories per day without ever leaving the car, while only expending a maximum of about 40 calories by pushing the cruise button on and off and using the seek button to locate a radio station that works.

My new favorite fast food restaurant is Arby's which has a chicken salad wrap that feels almost healthy.  It was a nice change from the burgers that were available everywhere.

My advice to those planning a similar journey is  - have you considered flying?