7070 miles in 2 weeks

The journey began from Columbus,Ohio on Saturday August 30th,1997 and ended on Saturday September 13th,1997. The car used in this journey was a 1997 Buick Le Sabre with mileage of 13 236. The car was rented from Alamo for the total cost of $1 038.50. The final mileage was 20 306, with one oil change service in between. This long trip consumes $547.85 worth of gas, tolls, parking, entrance fees, etc. We went across Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, California, Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, South Dakota, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. This is 'where it all began'...

At about 3pm [Saturday,08/30] we depart from Columbus,Ohio on our way to Columbia,Missouri. 2 hours or roughly 100 miles after we passed Terra Haute,Indiana we add gas [1,$16,362]. We arrived in Columbia just before midnight [12am,560], have a dinner at my friend's house Ja'ar and his wife Farha. Around 2am, we move on to our next destination Denver,Colorado. We had too add some more gas [2,$13.70,668] just before entering Kansas. There is a toll road from Kansas City to Topeka which costs $1.75. From there we went through Salina and Hays. Here I was exhausted after 20 consecutive hours driving, so I let Nana drive the car for the next 125 miles [825-950]. We are still in Kansas this early morning. Right before Oakley, the car need some more gas [3,$17.11,1050]. We headed straight to Colorado, passed Denver and arrived in Boulder [3pm,1300].

We stayed overnight in Boulder at Nana's friends house. That day [Sunday,08/31] we visited Boulder downtown and park. There's an observatory point located on top of a hill which gives fascinating view of Boulder area. Even though the car is having a hard time climbing the hill and smoke comes out of the front passenger-side tire, we made it on top of the mountain. Nevertheless, it's worth the trip. We got back home before dark, and I fell asleep on the sofa for 2 hours. When I woke up, there're lots of people in that living room... no one that I know of, but they're unbeleivably friendly. I introduced myself to them.. and there we goes... out again that night to Boulder small but peacefull downtown. There were 6 of us, me and Nana, Juli, Rina, Jeff and Apam. We walked around and had icecreams, watch the street people make a living and there's one guy who do a show. He claims that he can tell your name, where you live, or describes the place... anywhere in this world, if you just give him some info such as your phone number or zipcode. I'm telling you.. he's pretty damn good. He once know my friend from Kuala Lumpur when she mentioned her zipcode to him. That concludes our warm Sunday night in Boulder.

I stayed at Apam's apartment.. he also give me a Coloradu Univ. license-plate as a souvenir. He insists me to sleep on his bed while he sleeps in the living room, what a nice guy. Not to mention that he had to study for the upcoming exams... yet he spare times to entertain me a new friend previously a total stranger. Thanks for everything Apam.

The next day [Monday,09/01] we plan on going to Colorado Springs, which is located to the south of Denver. We visited the Tourist Center and add some more gas [4,$18.65,1434]. From there we drove to Canon City to visit Royal Gorge park. It has the highest suspension bridge in the world, and on the way up the hill, we're able to see the wildlife. We're able to come close and touch the deer, actually the deer came to us because we had had snacks for them to eat. The visitors not suppossed to fed the animals... but hey, we're human.. and we're not perfect. Finally we got there [4pm,1505] and walk across the Royal Gorge bridge to the other side. On our way back to the car, we used the cable-car instead of the suspension bridge. At about 6pm, we began our way to Flagstaff,Arizona. Our dinner that thay is a meal at Captain D's restaurant (kind of Long John Silver seafood).

We were entering New Mexico that night, passed Pueblo and Raton. The fuel indicator now very close to empty, but I couldn't find a gas station. Finally, we found one gas station but the environment is different. It doesn't look safe.. then I realized I'm in New Mexico. I saw cople of guys wandering around my car, and they looks strange. Then I started to follow my instinct.. I better find other place for gas. Just before I leave, there's a lady approaching the car and ask my help for some gas money. Not that I don't want to help... I have to help my ass first. The 3 guys that I saw acted even stranger. That moment I start punching the accelerator and headed towards Santa Fe. It's a big city so I'm hoping to find a bigger and safer gas station. But, there's no way I could make it that far as the fuel indicator is right on E. I had no choice but to stop at the nearest available gas station. I arrived at a small town called El Alto and there's a really small gas station... so small that it looks like a bar to me. It has only 2 pumps.. and I made my way entering the bar (gas station). There's people watching TV at the bar, 2 other guys at the pool table. I started looking for the owner. There's a guy at the bar.. and he likes my Hard Rock Cafe 'Houston' shirt. He wanted to exchange his old-style dirty flannel shirt with mine. He thought I was from Texas... lucky me, if he knew I was all the way from Ohio, he must have grab me and demand my cool HRC shirt. Finally, a big guy approached me... and I told him I need $20 gas, I gave him cash... don't want any trouble. Actually, I don't want to stay there much longer. So there it goes [5,$20,1780] and the car had enough gas to Arizona in which I considered a safer state.

This is the 2nd straight time I drove overnight. We passed Albuqerque, Gallup and entering state of Arizona through Holbrook and finally Flagstaff [2:30am,2200]. Nana's friend, Wizard, is there to pick us up at Circle K gas station that early morning... and we did nothing but sleep at his house once we got there. After I woke up and get showered, I went to LubeShop to do oil change for the car. I just wanna make sure it has no problem especially after been through mountains in Colorado which cause the car smoke twice. Either the tire or the engine I'm not so sure. That's why doind the oil change after just 2000 miles is critical the service includes changed oil, replaced oil filter, lubricated chassis, air filter, crankcase filter, brake fluid, brake fluid, battery water, clutch fluid, washer fluid, transmission fluid and R differential fluid maintenance. The oil change and service costs me $23.91 while I put additional gas for the Grand Canyon trip [6,$18,2200].

That same day [Tuesday,09/02] we began our journey to Grand Canyon. Wizard came along with us, he has been to Grand Canyon many times now that we don't need any maps to go there. Furthermore, he brought us to the main locations in Grand Canyon which save us lots of time. Unfortunately, it was raining that day... luckily it stopped in the afternoon. We finished up the trip around the canyon in a hurry. Finally, we finish visited all the main points up to the East Entrance. We went back home using the same entrance we used when entering the Grand Canyon National Park, which is the South Entrance. It was raining again on our way home. Lightning all over the sky, while that scares me a bit... Wizard told me it's normal. He also told me that there're people catch and hunt lightning same as people would for Tornado, remember the movie Twister. We proceeds in stormy weather and got back to Flagstaff right after dark around 8pm. Here, for the 3rd straight consecutive times I drove overnight. Even though this is a hattrick, I have no idea what's ahead of us on our way to Las Vegas Nevada.

This is the first time I ever driving in severe weather condition. I'm not sure if the rest of us in the car are sleeping, but I was 100% awake and concious. Not that I'm not tired driving overnight without proper sleep, but the force of nature keeps me alert of where the car is heading. I couldn't find a radio station to know exactly how fast the wind and how severe the storm is that night. All I know is the wind is fast enough to throw the car aside.. and debris flying all over the road. I saw a road sign says a safe spot for drivers to pullover. Just when I'm about to park my car, I say lights behind me came closer. Not one but two. Then I realized and assuming those drivers are used to this kind of driving condition... it's safe to move on. Besides, the longer you stay in this storm, no matter if you're moving or not... the wind gonna fly your car anyway. Considering the car that I'm driving that night, Buick Le Sabre, is pretty heavy compared to other regular size car... if there's a car on the road, so can this car. I waited and the two lights passed by, and one is big truck and the other is a smaller passenger car. I pulled the car back on the road and stayed in between the truck and the small car until we're safely outside the stormy weather condition. The weather back to normal just after we passed Williams. The car need more gas [7,$10,2444]

I know we gonna pass the famous Hoover Dam, so roughly 100 miles before reaching Nevada I saw very bright area ahead of me. I know it's not the sun because it's close to midnight, and not the moon either... so I was wandering what that might be. We finally reach Hoover Dam, but it's dark so we can't see the dam very well. I took pictures anyway. We move on through the mountain to Las Vegas, and still see the bright spot in the sky. Then, wow wow wow... 3 wows it took to describe Las Vegas 'city of lights'. No wonder my friends and Wizard told me to drive at night if you wanna go to Las Vegas. He once told me Hoover Dam provides electricity to Las Vegas. Anyway, the city is glowing and you can see it from miles away. We arrived at Hard Rock Cafe Hotel and Cafe [12:30am,2662]. What else you wanna do in Las Vegas except gambling. But I don't gamble... I just wanna have want which is my real intention to play the slot machine. We went to Continental Hotel and Casino, played there for a while... came out big though.

Then again, no choice but to drive to California that night because it's expensive and not safe to stay in Las Vegas. For the 4th straight times driving overnight, we entered the state of California 'the Golden State' through Barstow but not without sleep. I was too exhausted and I pulled over to a gas station and sleep. When I woke up, the sun shines and we're very close to Loas Angeles area. I filled up the tank first before move on [8,$18.37,2750]

Today is [Wednesday,09/03] and there's no other place like home. I used to live in California for 8 months about 4 years ago. I arrived in USA 12/31/92 and live in Irvine which located in Orange vicinity, neighbor to the county of Los Angeles. Back to the original story... we headed straight to San Gabriel where Nana's friend, Fad, is staying with his family. His mother is a Malaysian consulat in LA. It's not hard to find his house, so we knocked on his door that early morning [8:30am,3000], and of course while he's still sleeping. Sorry to wake him up, and later we found out that it's right in his exam week. Yet, he provided us with a superb hospitality.

Fad had an exam that afternoon, but I guessed he already prepared himself because he not only showed me how to get around in Los Angeles area and traffic, he even teached me how to play golf. He's very good at this game of golf, and I learned a lot from him. Prior to that I've been 5 times to golf's driving range, but I had no swing and standing knowledge/basics. He showed me the right technic in golf.

Today our master plan was to visit Hollywood, Beverly Hills, downtown Los Angeles and Santa Monica. From San Gabriel, I filled up the tank with gas [9,$15.60,3004] and drove straight to Freeway-10. Heading West, I took an exit which took me to Beachwood Dr. Ever heard of Hollywood sign? That's where we're going... and we found it! Right in between houses, at the top of the hill, very narrow street... we were able to take pictures with Hollywood sign as our background. That's the beginning of our day in Hollywood. Then we went to Griffith Observatory, there we were able to enjoy the scenic view of downtown Los Angeles and vicinity because it's located on top of a hill. Then we moved on to Hollywood Drive, where all the stars are located. Along with Sunset Blvd. we bought some souvenir. Next destination is RodeoDrive in Beverly Hills. We stopped by at Beverly Hills Blvd. to visit Hard Rock Cafe. We couldn't find Planet Hollywood in Beverly Hills, later I found out that it's located on Willshire Ave. and not Rodeo Drive, but pretty close in that area. Parking was not a problem, there's a free 2 hrs public parking everywhere in that area.

At about 5pm, we headed to Santa Monica quickly to avoid the traffic due to rush hour. We're able to get there in time, and park in one of the hotel along the Santa Monica beach for $5. We stayed there till 9pm, then headed back to our staying place in San Gabriel. That night we watched some Malays movies, Tragedi Oktober and Satu Juta. Of course, I fell asleep before Tragedi Oktober ever finished.

Today [Monday,09/08] we began our journey to San Francisco. Using Interstate-80 West, this highway brought us straight into San Francisco area, but we had to take Route-101 to take us into downtown SF [11am,3910] where we found Hard Rock Cafe, later we met famous Lombard St. We could clearly see Alcatraz, the famous highly-secured prison shown in the movie The Rock. It's an island, we didn't go there because it required prior reservation at least one day in advance. Anyway, the famous Lombard St. brought us to Fisherman's Wharf, not without using the famous steep grade snake-like road. If you've seen famous cops or police TV series, you'll know how steep the road is. You have to use low gear for this kind of road condition. At Fisherman's Wharf, we parked our car and walked along the San Francisco bay area. There are lots of Chinese, if you've been there you'll know exactly what I'm talking about.

Next destination is the Golden Gate bridge. On our way there, I stopped by at a gas station to add some air in front tire, for some reasons it went almost flat. I washed the license plate and the windshield, in addition to gas [12,$22.26,3926]. Upon arrival to the bridge, we visited Center for Fine Arts, took some pictures for something to remember. The experience of walking on the Golden Gate bridge is beyond imagination. I bet you've seen the sitcom Full House, that's the bridge! We spend about an hour there, then headed back to San Francisco downtown. We found Planet Hollywood, and too bad it's rush hour right in the middle of downtown area. It took us an hour to get back to Interstate-80 heading east back to Sacramento. We didn't get a chance to enter Hard Rock Cafe yesterday, so we dropped by at Old Sacramento [6:30pm,4040] to Downtown plaza where HRC is located. Less than an hour there, we decided to get on our way to Salt Lake City, Utah. It's a long journey which drove us overnight to the next day.

Driving through the night, we once again entered state of Nevada. Upon arrival at Reno, we obviously need gas [13,$14.88,4177]. That enough to bring us to the next day [Tuesday,09/09]. Passed the city of Winnemucca and Wells, we entered Utah through Wendover. This long trip costs us another tank of gas [14,$16.44,4510] long before arriving at Wendover. It's 3:20am in the morning right at this moment.

We were at Salt Lake City visitor center at about 8:30am, lucky us the place was open. After several inquiries, there's nothing to be found at this religious town... so we decided to move on to our next main destination Yellowstone National Park. It's located at 3 different states due to its size, the state of Idaho, Wyoming and Montana. From Salt Lake City we headed to Idaho Falls. Along the way, I let Ila and Azah to drive us there. I took over the steering wheel when we need to add some more gas [15,$17.38,4876]. Here, the car can used a little car wash, but unfortunately the car still looks dirty.

It was almost 5pm in the afternooon once we arrived at the West Entrance of Yellowstone National Park. We made a critical decision right at this moment. Wheter to stay at this West point and continue our journey tomorrow or move to the NorthEast point and overnight at the motel over there and have a shorter distance to South Dakota tomorrow. The guy at the information center advised us to stay there because it's getting dark soon and it's not safe to drive at night in Northeast Yellowstone area due to its mountain driving condition. Anyway, we decided to move on through the park. The entrance fee is $20 which is valid for 7 days.

The park is beautiful and exciting. The road is steep in some parts, and the car starts to smoke again. I stopped by at the souvenir shop to let the car cool down. We began our journey to the NorthEast entrance to find a motel. We were dissapointed because it's really small compared with the West Entrance. It was almost 7pm and it's going to get dark soon. So I hurried down the slope hoping to get to the other end soon. But the road condition turned out to be hazardous for night driving. I was scared a bit... and the rest of us were praying, may be cried too. We could clearly see how deep the tranch is, the road is right on top of mountains. It's a long way down to the other side, as the road became hard to see as its get dark and darker. At about 8:30pm we reached the other end, what a relief as I pulled over to the nearest gas station [16,$14.63,5160] at approximately 9pm where it's really into the night. I asked the gas station owner the motel rates in surrounding area. He said roughly $50 per night for 2 people. That's rather expensive, so we moved on to the next town close to Interstate-90, which is Billings. It took us roughly 1 hour to get there as we used Route-212. It wasn't until the fourth motel that I asked for the reasonable rate, we finally found $36. We stayed for just one night, enough rest for the long trip tomorrow.

What a perfect [Wednesday,09/10] morning in Montana. No speed limit for day driving in this state. So I kept my speed at 90 mph until I reached Wyoming border where I slowed down to about 80 mph. I knew the next town is Sheridan, so I maintained my speed. Then I saw a state trooper car on the side of the freeway. Couple of miles afterwards, i saw sirens right behind me. I pulled over to the side of the road. I knew the speed got me, but I was going 4-7 miles above speed limit. Later I realized it's wokay in other states but not Wyoming. "75 is 75" is enforced in this state, I even saw a truck slowed down going downhill. A truck going at speed limit on highways? I've never seen it in other state, but in Wyoming... everybody going at most the speed limit which is 75, and 65 for trucks. Anyway, $75 fine forced me to stay at speed limit for the rest of the trip.

Once I enter South Dakota, again the speed limit sign at the border stated that 'speed limit is strictly enforced', as an out-of-state driver... that warning sign really helps. Unlike Wyoming with no warning sign, South Dakota is a much better state for out-of-state drivers. We add some gas here [17,$17.96,5543]. We arrived at Rapid City at around 3pm, then had to take Route-16 to get to Mount Rushmore where the statued of president's head were created. After taking some pictures and bought some memorabilia, we headed back to Rapid City on our way to Minneapolis, Minnesota. We filled up the tank once again in between Rapid City [18,$19.43,5917] and Sioux Falls.

Just before entering the state of minnesota, we stopped by at the rest area where a tourist center is located. It is open 24hrs even though the counter is closed. I managed to look around and read some important information about Minnesota. Later I found out that I merely chose a wroung route to Twin Cities, the Minneapolis and St. Paul. In my original plan, I chose to use Interstate-90 East up to Albert Lea and take Interstae-35 North to Minneapolis. The total miles would be approximately 270 miles. Instead, the map at tourist center suggest travelers to use Route-169 with total miles of 220 miles, which is 50 miles less than the previous route. Even though the distance is shorter, the driving time is roughly the same due to lower speed limit of using Route-169. Since, I'm driving at speed limit anyay... I chose the shorter route, which turned out to be the better one since I-90 is full of construction zones. I took a 20 minutes rest and moved on. I was stopped by a patrol car just after getting on I-90 on my way to ???, lucky me it was just an accident a mile ahead, they had to closed the highway temporarily. The officer told me to wait about half an hour before get back on the highway because they had to clean up the mess. Later I found out that a truck was burned badly, but I didn't get the real cause. I fell asleep for 2 hours, it was about 3am when I woke up. I drove back on freeway and headed to State Route to Minneapolis. We arrived in morning rush hour [7:30am,6260], once I get into the campus area, I made a phone call to my friend Apai. He's a student at Univ. of Minneapolis at Twin Cities. He told me I was about 5 blocks from his house, which turned out to be easy to find. Sorry to woke him up such that early in the morning during school break. It must be a difficult wake up call for him.

That day [Thursday,09/11] we visited the World's Largest Mall in North America. Guess what did we do there? What else except shopping. Anyway, I didn't buy anything. They mentioned about golf dricing range, which is not such a bad idea. I need to practice the shot that I've learned from Fadt in California. So we went to the university golf course. They paid all the expenses because I ran out of cash at the moment. $10 for 150 balls, not bad. Once we got back home, it was almost 5pm in the afternoon. We got to move on to Madison to get there before midnight. We need another tank full of gas for that purpose [19,$18.62,6316]

In the evening rush hour, we made it through the traffic and arrive in Madison [10pm,6520]. Without an address, we managed to get into the campus area but in no way finding the apartment. So, we made a phone call asking for directions. After circling around the capitol couple of times, we found the street and follow the given direction. It wasn't very hard to find, but quite hard to find a nearest parking spot. So I dropped the rest of us and parked the car 4 blocks from Azah's friend house. I made an arrangement for my old buddy Fazaly, one of the 13 guys who came to USA with me, to meet me there. Once he arrived, we had dinner and I packed my stuff to stay for a night at Fazaly's apartment. He's going back to Malaysia this coming Sept.26th, lucky him. We had a chit chat for hours and before I realized, I fell asleep.

[Friday,09/12] turned out to be my last day of travel. We made a full tour on campus, the University of Wisconsin at Madison. The campus is huge as it's one of Big 10 schools. It has a lake, very nice environment to study. The view is awesome, and I took lots of pictures. All the buildings are pretty new compared to old Ohio State main campus. After Jumaat prayer, I went back to Azah's friend apartment and had a lunch. Enough to energized me back to Columbus through the city of Chicago.

The traffic was very bad in Chicago, after few hours in the congested traffic [6pm,6670] we made it through the downtown area where Hard Rock Cafe, PLanet Hollywood and Michael Jordan Cafe are located. We drove through the city to the Lake of Superior, where whe parked and relaxed a bit. We didn't know how to get to the Indian's place where there're Halal food and lots of Indians. Azah and Ila made a phone call back to Columbus asking for directions. There we go again, looking for a place to have dinner. We found it just beofre it gets dark at roughly 9pm. We eat at Sher-A-Punjab, a buffet. I filled it up full tank so I don't have to eat again till tomorrow. We stopped by at the adjascent video store, wehere we purchased Sangam soudtrack cassette for $2. That will entertain us back to Columbus.

We stopped by for gas just upon leaving Illinois [20,$19.80,6697]. That enough to take us back to Columbus, Ohio which whe arrived in the dark early morning [4am,7070] [Saturday,09/13]. I had to filled up the tank again [21,$14,7070] before sending back the car to Alamo Car Rental.