BlingSlade

Okay, I packed up my 06 xB to the hilt to include a rooftop bag and headed out on a cross country road trip from Henderson, Nevada to my final destination of Cape Canaveral, Florida.

The goal for my first day was 850 miles from Henderson to Amarillo, Tx. I had no problem crossing Hoover dam into Arizona, drove another 70 miles to Kingston and headed east towards Flagstaff and Albuquerque. It's basically a straight shot, very flat, few turns, cruising along highway around 75MPH even with the roofbag. The roofbag cut down on mileage I think my first topping off was in Kingston and my 2nd refuel was the meteor crater cutoff in New Mexico. I'm not used to long hauls and of course the xB is not all that luxurious so my back starting screaming before the first 100 miles. I just grinned and beared it the whole way. At the refuelling depot's I'd grab a soda and some snack and jog a little to get the creaks out. At one other stop in New Mexico a guy walked up to me and asked if I could help him get a paper washer out of his antifreeze overflow. I couldn't turn that down and after about 15 minutes I got a hold of it with two plastic straws and tersely told him to grab it, he was a little sleep at the wheel but he grabbed it right in time and the good deed was done. Pride, no money though. Later, I hit a roadblock right before Amarillo as a Love's semi had torn up the highway and they had us detour on the side road for about 10 miles. All in all the 850 miles took me about 14 hours as I got to my friend apt on Bell street early in the morn.

Unfortuately, my Amarillo friend has a HUGE problem with the drink and it was his two days off so he went on an epic bender. I thought Leaving Las Vegas was a big exaggeration but I swear I saw it with my own two eyes. He drank all the first night, I drove him to M&R for a refuel and once back at the apt. I locked myself in the 2nd bedroom, he only tried to tear down the door once as he's a happy drunk. He woke up around 0900 and made breakfast then started up again. He crashed out around 3 in the afternoon, I bought a thin/crispy Papa Johns around 7 he got out of bed took one bite and hauled his nick cage's ___ back to bed. Never seen anything like it. NEVER.

So, two fun filled days in Amarillo and off I went again. Got stuck in Dallas during Friday night rush hour and man did that suck. After getting lost for two hours I was flying east towards Shreveport, LA. Did I just say Shreveport? Man, I picked the wrong Helltel I think it was called the Country Inn and I give it 0.0 stars. 53 bucks and it was all dark the pool was condemmed and I was stuck in a terrifying room with grape **** carpet from the 70's and a grinding window A/C. I have to say it was a life or death situation I even locked myself out and the Indian couple that ran the place were very helpful to get me back in. Wow, I didn't eat or nothing. I brought my own pillow and blanket and put it on top of what was already there. My xB slept more peacefully than I did that's for sure. Trains woke me up in the morning, I took the quickest shower in history and GTF'ed and got back on the highway towards Mississippi. Once there I jutted straight down towards New Orleans and I was flying. One rest stop to get my bearings and flew further down to catch I-10 about 20 miles north of N.O. Flew by Biloxi and Gulfport but dammned if I didn't get stuck in Mobile big time. Turns out you've got to go through a tunnel, which took 30 minutes just to go 5 miles. everybody in the tunnel did have fun by honking their horns so at least there was that. Got thru Mobile and finally I was in N. Florida. flying east as the crow flies. Was I going to gamble with another helltel like what I had in Shreveport? Hellz NoZ! At east refuel or rest stop I grabbed a bunch of food, mostly overpriced salty snacks out of vending machines/16oz cokes for 1.50 that type of stuff. My adreneline kicked in and 500 miles begat 600 miles which begat 700 miles and more! My back was sah cream iN! Got lost in Orlando looking for the Bee Line. Never found it, went through 10 dollars in stupid tolls and finally found a road east so I took it. an Hour later I was somehwere on the coast either in Melbourne, or Cocoa or the Cape. I generally knew where my rental condo was. One quick side note, somewhere between Orlando and the coast I ran into a single solitary toll road that charged 50 cents, exact change only!!! Thankfully my vending machine escapades gave me plenty of coins so I lucked out on that one. Can you imagine being stuck in the middle of nowhere without 50 lousy cents to finish your 1100 mile in one day torture trip?

I finally found my condo at the Cape around 0200 so that was about 15 hours of driving 1100 miles. Condo was very nice, A/C kicked in quickly, nice cool rain outside pattering on the windows and I was out in no time. Unfortunately my Mom texted me right around 1000 am that very same morning saying my brother had died the day before. Very sad day for me indeed, I reserved plane tickets out of Melbourne for the next day and spent 18 days back home mourning with my family. That trip home was quite an ordeal with lots of crazy things going on but that's another story for sure.

2006 Scion xB
Henderson, NV to Cape Canaveral, FL
2400 miles
3 days travel by car
2 days rest stop in Armadillo, Tx
No maint issues. Snagged one paper washer out of antifreeze
Worst moment? The death defying Country Inn in Shreveport, LA!
Best moment? Finding that 50 cents for the middle of nowhere toll road!
xB status report: Good shape at 55,000 miles. Tires, oil, etc. all good. Going to change spark plugs for the first time next week.