6 States and 2753 Miles In 7 Days – A Road Trip In The United States

I have always believed that the one thing everyone must aspire for is a driving trip across the United States, atleast once in a lifetime. It’s an experience to die for, what with the diversity in each state across the country. It is a unique and beautiful drive whether you are driving past a city or the country-side. I can promise every road you take will be an unforgettable experience. Just like the recent road trip that Desh and I undertook. We travelled 2753 miles across 6 states during our 7 day vacation. Though in reality the number of miles was much more as we did a lot of driving around in the cities we visited. Here’s a quick account of four of our major drives along with the maps of each drive.

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1st leg – Atlanta to Miami: The first leg of the journey was from home in Atlanta in Georgia State all the way down south to Miami in Florida. We covered a distance of 694 miles in 12 hours. The driving distance is actually 10 hours and 16 minutes as per Google maps; we took a little over 12 hours to drive since we took pit stops for natural reasons. This was one of the most beautiful drives of my life and very special indeed. Not only was my husband at the wheel but we landed in Miami just as the clock struck 12 and we brought in our anniversary. The weather was just perfect and the hues in the skies were mesmerising. This drive calls for an independent write-up and I will talk about in detail soon. For now I would just like to say that Desh and I experienced the most beautiful rainbow we both had ever seen in our lives. It is really difficult to express in words what the semi-circle of seven colours did to us.

2nd leg – Miami to Pensacola: After spending two days at the Ritz Carlton in Miami, we headed towards Pensacola in Florida. It is a white sands beach place that has fascinated us for a while and we finally made it there. The drive was within Florida itself and as per Google maps it was a 9 hour 22 minutes distance. For some reason we covered it in 10 hours despite the couple of stops we took majorly for food. We reached Pensacola at a decent hour – about 9.30 pm, as we also earned an extra hour since we moved from EST to CST time zone. The drive was fantastic wherein we encountered picturesque vistas throughout, and ofcourse Bollywood music from the yesteryears kept us entertained the whole time. For some weird reason, both Desh and I prefer Hindi music and that’s what we kept listening to throughout the drive. The highlight of our stay at Pensacola was the day spent at the beach as well as the bed-and-breakfast place that we stayed at. Just a mention of the lake house we were at is like doing grave injustice to the marvellous property and I am going to write about it in another blog post.

3rd leg – Pensacola to Houston: We drove towards Houston in Texas after spending a couple of days at Pensacola. With a distance of 560 miles to be covered, this was our shortest drive and we made it to Sugarland in Houston in a record time of 9 hours, just a little more than what Google maps suggests (8 hours 18minutes). This drive was a pretty terrifying one. It was raining heavily for nearly 3 hours somewhere towards half way. That not only slowed us down but also scared the daylights out of us as there was a point where we couldn’t see beyond 2 – 3 feet ahead of us, the rains were so torrential. The speeds with which people drive here because of the high speed limits on the highways can be really daunting when the weather is so bad. The only respite at times is the red lights of the vehicles ahead of you which kind of give you some direction, but only if you are lucky enough to see so much ahead of you, as people don’t drive bumper to bumper out here. We drove through Florida, Alabama, and Louisiana on our way to Texas. Four states in one single drive. I so wanted to stop by at New Orleans and visit the lovely city once again, but ofcourse we didn’t have too much time.

4th leg – Houston to Atlanta: Two days in Houston and we were back on the road for the longest drive of the trip – a distance of 843 miles. The 13 hour drive as per Google maps turned into a nightmarish 16 hours due to the pathetic traffic jams on the way. The GPS also took us through some cities to cut short the driving time, but unfortunately we hit tonnes of traffic especially in a Baton Rouge, Louisiana which caused a delay of over two hours. We drove through Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi and Georgia. Though this drive was fun, it made us miserable due to our own mistake. And it was also a big learning for us. We left Houston pretty late, at about 12 pm which itself made us late in the first place, and the remaining damage was done by the traffic and slow moving cars due to heavy rains. I wasn’t even too well and Desh kept asking me to sleep for a while. But that would have been inhuman and unfair on him because after a point it becomes very difficult to keep awake at the wheel. I tried my best not to close my eyes, but after 1 am I couldn’t really control my sleep. We put on loud music and started singing aloud to keep ourselves awake. Ofcourse, constant eating of candy and gum also did the trick. But on an honest note, this one was a complete nightmare. Desh refused to take a break and stay somewhere else. All we both could visualise was our comfortable bed at home so that we could sleep peacefully whatever time it took. Am sure a lot of people would say it was foolish to drive so much at such an hour. There were times when there was no car in sight for nearly 75 – 100 miles and it did petrify me. But my superman husband just kept driving. And finally at 4.15 am we were in the safe confines of our house.

Phew!!! Wasn’t that cool? 🙂

This trip brought us closer to nature than ever before. I was always a big fan of the skies because of my passion for flying. But sitting in the car the whole time I kept looking at the wonders of nature – the hypnotic skies, the enthralling waters, spellbinding greens. It was very difficult to keep clicking in the moving car, but I have tried my best to capture as much of the beauty as I could. Not sharing it would be a criminal waste, so I finally started using my Instagram account that I had opened with so much hesitation earlier. Do make time to check out some of the pictures I have posted there already; and someday in the near future I will also take you through a virtual tour of the skies I captured in all the 6 states.