Day One: Sleepy in Flagstaff

                FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – Arrived here safely after an early start from home. Lots of trees here, very pretty, and despite the very strong sun, the air is comfortably cool at this altitude.

                Charged out the door at 4:30 a.m. in order to beat the traffic around the Los Angeles area, only to discover a short portion of Highway 101 is closed at night for some sort of repair. There was a brief lull in the driving while we all waited in line to exit the freeway and get right back on. That was the only slowing for the entire trip.

                My daughter’s Chevy Aveo is a comfortable car to drive, though I prefer my Mustang. The Aveo’s little motor runs along nicely, but I baby it on the steeper climbs. I drop the speed five mph or so and turn off the air conditioner in order to cut the stress on the engine. I should hasten to add that there is no real reason for being so easy on the car, it runs well. I’m just careful with smaller motors.

                The speed limit for much of today’s drive was 75 mph and in the Mustang I’d have dropped the ragtop, cut the stereo and listened to her howl. But I kept the Aveo at 70 or below and had a nice, easy drive.

The tallest hill I drove over today was 7,335 feet just outside of Flagstaff. Up here, the trees are very pretty and, since I wasn’t hurrying, I enjoyed the view.

                There are some nasty wildfires in Arizona just now. That’s something Southern Californians understand pretty well. I saw some blackened trees, but they might have been charred by ground clearing fires and could be perfectly healthy trees. The upper branches are clean and green.

Mileage stats: *

First stint, Oxnard to Victorville, Calif.: 128.8 miles, 4.7 gallons, about 26.1 mpg.

Second stint, Victorville to Kingman, Ariz.: 223.4 miles, 6.4 gallons, about 33.3 mpg.

Stints combined: 31.7 mpg.

Total miles for the day: 487. Travel time: 8 hours, 7 minutes.

*Figures produced without much sleep!

Thanks for reading!

UPDATE: With 6.7 seconds remaining in the NBA Finals game, the hotel's television carrier aired the Emergency Broadcasting System test. I didn't see the final play for several minutes. GROAN!!