Early in the day, at 10:00 a.m., in our little turbo VW Beetle, Caroline and I were venturing out intending to drive to the East Coast. We had a very loose agenda of where we were going, with the main objective being that we would avoid main highways. This first day out was meant to put as much distance as possible between us and Arizona. This photo was snapped near 64th Street and Bell Road next to the canal on our way from Scottsdale to the I-17 in Phoenix, where we’ll head north toward Flagstaff.

In Flagstaff, we turned right and started our trek east on Interstate 40. Midday we crossed into New Mexico and Mountain Standard Time. Stopped in Albuquerque at Little Anita’s Mexican Restaurant and kept on going. After nearly 12 hours and over 730 miles of non-stop driving, we were pulling into Amarillo, Texas. The real adventure begins tomorrow.