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It was May 24th. I had my empty trailer hooked up to my truck ready to travel from San Diego to Toronto to pick up my car. It had been nearly 3 years since I’d had a chance to drive my car and enjoy it and now was when I had booked to get it. Work had been incredibly hectic for 4 months with lots of overtime and dealing with emergencies and now was the first available time to go. This is the third time I was to travel on the same trip, the second time with a truck and trailer. I knew it was going to take several days of driving. This was also not the only time I’ve made a trip to get a car. Related: Taking Delivery in Europe  Starting out later in the day meant I only made it to Phoenix before being tired out the first day and ready to find a hotel and stop for the night. The first good place was the Drury Inn and Suites in Phoenix. I had forgotten that they had a happy hour where they served drinks and food until 7 pm. I got there at 6:45 pm, just in time. The next day it was time to make some distance. The previous trips across I had made it in 3 days of solid driving, and I felt I could make it this time in 4. After having breakfast at Drury, I headed back west a couple of miles to take the highway to Payson Arizona and on to I-40 to head east. I-40 turns into a toll road at some point, so it was on to the two-lane highways for several hours. A full day of driving, maybe 10 hours and I was getting tired so after a couple more hours stayed at Days Inn in Texas.  The next day was another full day of driving and obviously started in Texas then through Oklahoma and into Kansas. The two-lane highways were getting a little too slow so hopped out the I-35 north to go through Kansas to get to the I-70. I-35 north through Kansas is called the Kansas Turnpike Authority and is also a toll road. It wasn’t an outrageous pricing and was a lot smoother and faster than two-lanes and going through towns. Then heading east along I-70 into and ended up in Missouri at another Drury Hotel again just in time for their happy hour. I talked to the desk guy asking if I had an account. I recalled staying at Drury Hotel in Franklin Tennessee but wasn’t completely sure it was the same place. It felt the same and the happy hour idea was particular to the hotel. (I later confirmed that was the hotel I had stayed at).  The next morning headed down the 70 a bit further and then north into Illinois. Along the freeway there a highway patrol was following along for quite some time. He pulled around me, then dropped back behind in the adjacent lane then behind me, then following further back. He then made a bonehead move to speed up get far ahead and cut someone off to pull over to the shoulder and then get back on trailing behind me again. He was looking at the trailer and the truck looking for something to be wrong. I was just keeping it straight and obeying the speed limit. Finally, after 10 minutes or so he left me alone. In Indiana I stopped at a Loves Truck stop to get some food and some fuel. While there I got an offer on my old beast of a truck. The young guy told me he would pay me 20,000 for it. I still needed to pick up my car and get home, so I declined the offer. Plus, I kind of like the old beast. It was close to dark already, so the goal was only to make it to Allen Park Michigan just outside of the border crossing at Ambassador Bridge in Detroit. I’d stayed at the Holiday Inn and knew the area and the parking lot. This time I opted to stay at the Hampton Inn as they are directly adjacent to each other and share parking and access.
The next day I got up and ate breakfast and then headed across the border and into Canada to pick up my car at Apex Motoring. It took a total of 5 days of driving. None of the days were over 12 hours at one time but it did tire me out and felt longer in some ways than just pushing through.
While every road trip is a different experience this trip seemed to take so long to complete. It took a total of 5 days of driving and not every day was a full day, but it still felt like a long time. 3 days pulling a trailer across that distance is tough with one driver and I don’t know if I’ll do that again, but I might try to do 4 full days if I do that long of a trip with a trailer again. I think it wouldn’t feel so long and still accomplish the same thing. It's fun to go on two-lane roads or small highways. Much more entertaining and you get to have more of a flavor of the area and countryside. They just take a lot longer than freeways. The speeds are usually slower, and you go through towns and other slower areas. I really enjoy Drury Hotels. They are comfortable and clean, and their happy hour and breakfast is such a great bonus. They are not priced out of range of other mid-range hotels either. They just need more locations across the country. Holiday Inn is everywhere, and Drury is not. The Hampton Inn in Allen Park was not the cleanest or nearly as nice as the Holiday Inn Express in the same parking lot. I thought it might just be due to 3 more years of age since I had been there. More on that in part 2 of this trip. I’ve not stayed at many Hampton Inns lately, but it was not a great representation of their business. This trip was easy to cross the Canadian border. Previously, when I came over during Covid, it was extremely difficult, and I was asked questions for 4 hours by the Canadian border agents. It was not a pleasant experience and maybe I’ll discuss this further in another post. There are many ways to take road trips but pulling a trailer is not the easiest or least stressful way. You always need to consider parking and access points in and out of parking lots. I’d like to take a trip in a camper van. I feel that would be the best compromise of comfort and maneuverability. A motorhome is large and more comfortable, but you give up some of the parking availability and better mileage and less expense of the van. Using a van, you will not need to look for hotels and that cost, and difficulty is removed. Happy travels and please stay tuned for part 2 of the return trip.
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