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  1. #1
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    Phoenix to Niagara Falls & Back Roadtrip in 8 Days

    In August 2017 unexpectedly found myself on gardening leave in Phoenix and rather than die of boredom I asked the wife what was the one destination she really wanted to see before we left the USA in a few months time. Her answer was Niagara Falls. That was mid-morning, by late afternoon I picked up a rental car, we packed with the intent of heading off around 4:30am. Not sure which of us woke early but in the end we left at 2:30am and headed up interstate 17 towards Flagstaff in northern Arizona. At Flagstaff turned east onto interstate 40 that runs generally along the old Route 66.

    Not long after getting onto I40 we pulled into a truck stop for a rest break and comfort stop. The wife soon noticed the...aaahhh...ladies and not being naive realized what they were doing. I spared her by not telling her the term generally used in the industry was 'lot lizards'.

    We continued east and stopped in Holbrook at a Denny's restaurant just before 6:00am for breakfast. Along the way passed a huge power station that I not previously noticed during the day time. Kind of hard to miss in the early hours.

    Phoenix to Niagara Falls & Back Roadtrip in 8 Days-dsc_0561-jpg
    Phoenix to Niagara Falls & Back Roadtrip in 8 Days-img_7164r-jpg
    Phoenix to Niagara Falls & Back Roadtrip in 8 Days-img_7467a-jpg

  2. #2
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    Darn, thought the alignment of portrait mode photos had been sorted. Sorry about that one, no repeats through the rest of the thread.

  3. #3
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    We continued east on I40 towards Albuquerque, crossing the high plateau country of upper eastern Arizona, actually an extension of the Colorado plateau.

    Phoenix to Niagara Falls & Back Roadtrip in 8 Days-img_7474a-jpg
    Phoenix to Niagara Falls & Back Roadtrip in 8 Days-dsc_0567-jpg

  4. #4
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    Phoenix to Niagara Falls & Back Roadtrip in 8 Days-dsc_0569-jpgPhoenix to Niagara Falls & Back Roadtrip in 8 Days-img_7495a-jpg

  5. #5
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    We crossed into New Mexico just before 7:30am.

    Phoenix to Niagara Falls & Back Roadtrip in 8 Days-img_7498a-jpg
    Phoenix to Niagara Falls & Back Roadtrip in 8 Days-dsc_0579-jpg

  6. #6
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    Saw hundreds of these on a large property just to the south of the interstate. Could not work out what they were. My best guess was concrete reinforced armory but there was little evidence of perimeter security. We had a lot of ground to cover this first day and didn't stop to take a closer look.

    Phoenix to Niagara Falls & Back Roadtrip in 8 Days-dsc_0597-jpg
    Phoenix to Niagara Falls & Back Roadtrip in 8 Days-img_7506a-jpg
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  7. #7
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    We crossed into Texas just before 3:00pm and continued on to a northern Texas visitors centre in Amarillo.

    Phoenix to Niagara Falls & Back Roadtrip in 8 Days-dsc05474-jpg
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  8. #8
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    This part of Texas and indeed large portions of northern Texas have vast wind farms with hundreds of them.

    Phoenix to Niagara Falls & Back Roadtrip in 8 Days-dsc05483-jpg

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    On the western side of Groom is this huge cross. It is a landmark for a major Christian ministry school.

    Phoenix to Niagara Falls & Back Roadtrip in 8 Days-dsc05497-jpg

  10. #10
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    On the eastern side of Groom is the Leaning Tower of Texas. Not sure when we crossed into Oklahoma but we arrived at our hotel in Weatherford around 8:00pm. We had driven 935 miles, not a bad effort. (That is not the further-est I've driven in a day. Back in the mid-90s when I was living in Denver once drove 985 miles to most of the way across Nevada.)

    Phoenix to Niagara Falls & Back Roadtrip in 8 Days-combo1-jpg

  11. #11
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    Day 2 started early as well. We were on the road before daylight and intending to get breakfast in the northern suburbs of Oklahoma City while skirting the city centre and navigating towards interstate 44 towards Tulsa. I recall it was raining and reasonably close to the chosen restaurant I took a wrong turn that cost us 10 minutes to fix. My bad mood wasn't improved when after breakfast we found ourselves on a turnpike heading towards Tulsa. While we were moving fast I was low on fuel and not sure we had sufficient cash to pay for the turnpike when we got to the end of it. Thankfully there was a small service centre before the end where we got gas and cash and determined we could pay by credit or debit card in need.

    This appears to be the only photo we took of that part of the journey.

    Phoenix to Niagara Falls & Back Roadtrip in 8 Days-img_7547a-jpg

  12. #12
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    We crossed into Missouri near Joplin and were in St Louis late morning. We'd already decided we wanted to look at the The Gateway Arch and the Mississippi River. We had a bit of trouble parking because there was a baseball game in the afternoon at Busch Stadium.

    Phoenix to Niagara Falls & Back Roadtrip in 8 Days-yktp7788aa-jpg
    Phoenix to Niagara Falls & Back Roadtrip in 8 Days-nwzq9954aa-jpg

  13. #13
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    Phoenix to Niagara Falls & Back Roadtrip in 8 Days-img_7684aa-jpg
    Phoenix to Niagara Falls & Back Roadtrip in 8 Days-img_7685aa-jpg
    Phoenix to Niagara Falls & Back Roadtrip in 8 Days-img_7711aa-jpg

  14. #14
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    Crossing the river at St Louis and we were in Illinois. We were now on interstate 70 continuing to head a bit north of east. Energy was flagging so we stopped for night 2 in Effingham. There are some quaint parts of the town however it is small with the bigger part of the town now centred on the interstate bypass. It struck me that Effingham was now probably a convenient rest or overnight location for travelers, rather than a desirably place to live. This photo collage highlights what passes for late evening colour and scenery in such a transit stop.

    Phoenix to Niagara Falls & Back Roadtrip in 8 Days-bvxz3290aa-jpg

  15. #15
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    These photos are from two proper cameras and two iPhones. Both the proper cameras were on incorrect day/times so I've found some day 2 scenery shots to share, sorry about the out of sequence issues.

    Phoenix to Niagara Falls & Back Roadtrip in 8 Days-dsc05501-jpg
    Phoenix to Niagara Falls & Back Roadtrip in 8 Days-dsc05506-jpg
    Phoenix to Niagara Falls & Back Roadtrip in 8 Days-dsc05507-jpg

  16. #16
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    Some more St Louis shots.

    Phoenix to Niagara Falls & Back Roadtrip in 8 Days-img_7311r-jpg
    Phoenix to Niagara Falls & Back Roadtrip in 8 Days-img_7313r-jpg

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  18. #18
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  20. #20
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    Phoenix to Niagara Falls & Back Roadtrip in 8 Days-combo2-jpg
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  21. #21
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    Crossing the Mississippi River.

    Phoenix to Niagara Falls & Back Roadtrip in 8 Days-img_7650a-jpg

  22. #22
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    Sunset in Effingham, Illinois. Our charming hotel room vista. Day 2 was 712 miles.

    Phoenix to Niagara Falls & Back Roadtrip in 8 Days-img_7335r-jpg

  23. #23
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    Waking on day 3 in Effingham. The ducks were heading south. Hundreds and hundreds of them.

    Attachment 38904
    Phoenix to Niagara Falls & Back Roadtrip in 8 Days-img_7348r-jpg

  24. #24
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    The day 3 objective was to get to the southern shore of Lake Eire. The rough plan was to take I70, I71 and I76, then turn north at Youngstown, then head north east along the shore of the lake on I90.

    We used the ring road system to skirt around both Indianapolis and Columbus.

    Got some city shots of Indianapolis.

    Phoenix to Niagara Falls & Back Roadtrip in 8 Days-dsc05536-jpg
    Phoenix to Niagara Falls & Back Roadtrip in 8 Days-img_7768a-jpg

  25. #25
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    Stopped at Cracker Barrel near Richmond, Indiana for lunch. Didn't realize this was a chain and that we had one in Phoenix.

    Phoenix to Niagara Falls & Back Roadtrip in 8 Days-img_7354r-jpg
    Phoenix to Niagara Falls & Back Roadtrip in 8 Days-img_7367r-jpg

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