San Antonio, Texas

After a rather short stay in Houston, we ended up heading over to San Antonio a bit earlier than expected and were able to hit both cities within the same day.  When we got to San Antonio we decided to set up our tent in a KOA camp about 10 minutes outside the city which was very convenient.  We had heard all of the warnings about flooding and kept a close eye on the weather.  When we got our camping spot it was right down near a river that ran through the rear of the KOA and boy was it high.  The wreckage was clearly visible all around the campground and the ground was still pretty dampened.  The electrical boxes that were supplied at each camping spot were completely fried.

When setting up the tent, we also encountered some unwanted visitors.  Fire ants littered the area where we were laying down our tent, EVERYWHERE.  With this, the decision was made to see how much it would be to upgrade to a small cabin on the site.  With it only being $10 more per person out of pocket, we moved into our new, much more comfortable, air conditioned cabin!  That night, Cory took the initiative to teach Sean and I the tactics and strategy behind blackjack so we can run every casino dry and make this a much more leisurely road trip.  The trip had  been moving along so fast, this was the first night we have gotten more than 3 hours of sleep which is inexpiable how good it felt to finally get some real sleep (not in a car or sketchy motel).

In the morning we rolled out pretty early to get into San Antonio to see the main attraction of the city: the Alamo.  Getting into the city at about 11:15 a.m., that was a bad choice.  The city was packed and the line to see the Alamo stretched blocks.  Only being able to grab a 30-minute parking spot, the line was way too overwhelming so we decided that seeing the outside was cool enough and we checked out the rest of the city.  After gallivanting for a while, we left San Antonio in the rear view and made the journey out to next stop on the trip: the Carlsbad Caverns!  Check out the rest of the pictures from San Antonio on the Ultimate Road Trip Facebook page!

Houston, Texas

We made it: Houston, Texas!  After a 2-hour nap break at a random Walmart parking lot just inside Texas, we led the trail into the city.  I learned one thing today: Houston is absolutely massive!  Prior to getting to the city, none of us had done any research on what was in the city, what the city was like and we were blown away by the sheer size.  As we rolled in on a 6-lane highway, we noticed that the city was an utter ghost-town.  Then we realized just where we were and that it was Sunday, so everyone was probably in church.  As we made our way around the city, we stopped by the Holocaust museum, but it didn’t open until noon time and we had moves to make.  The decision was made to get an oil change at a nearby Firestone because we were up to about 3,500 miles since the previous change.  At the Firestone we met a great young man by the name of Kennon who was super into our road trip and gave us plenty of tips about navigating the city and some hot spots as well.

With his insight, we swung over to Hermann Park which was where everyone and their mother hungout!  Parking was a mess, but finally we snagged a spot as someone was leaving.  With the thermometer topping 100 degrees and 3 hours of sleep to run on, we were feeling the Texas heat.  We grabbed a few hot dogs from a cart and were good as new.  With fountains everywhere, the scenery was unbelievable.  The waterfront views were amazing and the architecture was breathtaking.  After an hour or so of strolling around Hermann Park we decided it was time for us to hit the old dusty trail and start the journey to the next stop: San Antonio!

View the rest of the pictures from our time in Houston on the Ultimate Road Trip Facebook page!

The Chosen Path

As seen above, this encompasses Road Trip!  With departure less than one month away, some slight changes were made to the itinerary, but this seems to be the final draft.  The trip will go as follows, respectively:

• Departure begins from just north of Boston, Massachusetts on May 23rd at 5:00 p.m. to make our longest leg of the trip down the east coast to Nashville, Tennessee
• After a day or so in Nashville, we will drive to New Orleans, Louisiana
• After seeing what New Orleans is all about, Houston, Texas will be the next stop on the trip
• While in Texas, San Antonio will be in direct path of getting out to the West Coast, so why not check it out?!
• Cutting up diagonally through New Mexico, we will make our way over to the Grand Canyon to enjoy a night under the stars
• A short drive from the Grand Canyon will have us end up in the infamous Las Vegas, Nevada, which will be the only place that a hotel room will be necessary
• After a few days/nights in Las Vegas, the boys will head out to Los Angeles/Santa Monica, California to begin the mini-trip up the west coast of the USA
• The hopes are that 4 days will be dedicated to seeing California, working from southern to northern Cali, ending the 4 day trip in the Redwood National Park
• Once out of California, Bend, Oregon will be the next stop.  If time permits, we will venture up to Portland to explore some more West Coast shenanigans
• Starting the trip back to the East Coast will be a stop that all of us are looking forward to – Yellowstone National Park.  The plan is to camp there for roughly 3 days or so
• If time permits, a stop will be made to Arches National Park in Utah
• From either Yellowstone National Park or Utah, Denver, Colorado will be the next stop on the leg  back to the East Coast
• The second longest leg of the trip then comes, from Denver to the windy city of Chicago, Illinois
• After seeing what Chicago has for us, the big apple, New York City will be the final destination on the trip before home
• Finally, after a month of driving, exploring, and extremely messed up sleep patterns, the traveling trio will be back home in Massachusetts where the memories of The Ultimate Road Trip will live with us for the rest of our lives!

The time that we will be spending in each city will be completely variable.  The goal is to get out to the West Coast as fast as possible.  All of us have seen a majority of the East Coast multiple times in our lives and this trip is all about new adventures!  Any changes that will be made to the trip itinerary will most likely be last minute decisions, but that’s the beauty of Road Trip!