It’s not exactly the middle of the day as we reach not the precise middle of the state here in Payson, Arizona, but it’s close enough. Ultimately we are headed into the middle of America, though not today quite yet. To be clear, we are not headed into the middle of the contiguous United States as found over in Lebanon, Kansas (we’ve already been there twice), but we are aiming for the relative middle, slicing through the heartland, over the Memorial Day weekend. Precision is part of this exercise, but getting there will require some generalizations and approximations as nothing is literally written in stone. With that, our holiday weekend has been extended with an extra day tacked on either side. Not only has Caroline taken off Friday and Tuesday, but we’ve also been able to depart from the Phoenix area today (Thursday) before lunch, bringing us here to Dutch Bros in Payson because a road trip without coffee is like a bologna sandwich without mystery meat.

With 1,865 miles (3001 km) to be covered before turning around somewhere far up north, time to take photos will be at a premium, so we are planning frequent stops to clean the windshield because we’ll be taking many a photo right through the windshield of our still nearly new and very clean 2023 Kia Niro. Photos through a window from a moving car are a gamble, but anything else, and we may not see all we intend to visit. If luck is on our side, we’ll have traveled 3,795 miles (6107 km) before getting home. There’s a reason the total miles are not twice the miles of the first leg, but that detail will have to wait for the days to unfold. Anyway, we are on State Route 260 moving east, should you be interested in following along on a map.

Time to stretch the old legs and enjoy the cooler, quieter area found along State Route 377 here in the high desert.

We are on the road to Holbrook, Arizona, and the elevation up this way is approximately 5,000 feet or 1,524 meters.

Breaks are few and far between with the hundreds of miles we need to cover this afternoon. Even with taking photos from the driver’s seat (that’s right, did you think Caroline would be taking these images?), we may or may not get as far east as we’d like to, or maybe we’ll go farther. You do have to give me credit for at least getting in the slow lane here on Interstate 40 to snap this shot of the state sign as we entered New Mexico.

Another stretch-your-legs moment inspired by the dramatic sky behind us while to the east in the direction of our continuing travel, lightning flashes were raging. A check of the weather ahead showed that Tucumcari, New Mexico, was getting hammered by thunderstorms, so we are considering staying the night in Santa Rosa.

Sure, all the name-brand hotels were to be found in this small town of 2,600 people in Santa Rosa, New Mexico, but all of their signs suck, not a bit of neon among them, and so the La Mesa Motel was going to be our choice. Was it a bargain, you ask? Well, for only $79, we walked into a clean room with a bit of unidentifiable stench, but what should one expect for a bit of Route 66 nostalgia built back in 1954? We end the first day of driving after about 540 miles (870 km) ready for sleep.

We were rattled awake around 2:30 in the morning by the peculiar sound of hundreds of small pellets being thrown at our door. No, this wasn’t a dream, and no, they weren’t pellets. We were being pounded by a thunderstorm that not only was driving the rain sideways, but hail was also along for the ride. Big fat, chunky bullets of hail were bouncing off our front door, the roof of the motel, the ground, and, to our horror, our nearly brand-new car. After ten or so minutes, things were slowing down, and we headed back to bed, but almost immediately, the pace of the hail picked up again. With an audible sigh, I put on shorts and shoes and braved the wet and windy outdoors to move the car under an awning, then went back to sleep.