The Long & Winding Road Ahead - Day 1
- Ash Collins
- Sep 15, 2020
- 3 min read
September 1 would mark the commencement of our 10-day drive n' fly trip passing through some of the USA's most well known National Parks and historic landmarks. In all, we would travel 2,262 miles (3,640 km's) through 5 states (South Dakota / Wyoming / Montana / Idaho / Utah) criss-crossing state lines as we sort to tick off some of our bucket list, must see locations. The hyperlink below provides a map of the many stops we would make along the entire journey.
Day 1 would be mostly spent traveling by air from San Francisco to our final destination, Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Up before the sparrows even contemplated farting, we ambled to the Sky Train en route to the recently completed Harvey Milk Terminal 1 at SFO at 4.30am for our 6am flight to Phoenix to meet our 8.50am connection through to Sioux Falls.
The global aviation industry has been extremely hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic with estimates of revenues across the globe falling by USD314bn in 2020. This was certainly reflected in the number of people in the terminal as we passed through the security checkpoints. Interestingly, there were no additional checkpoint requirements as we skated through security and into the new terminal. As such, we had more than enough time for a little more shut eye before our American Airlines flight.
Leaving the horrendous forest fires in the Northwest in our wake, our AA airbus pushed back with its crew making our course for Phoenix. Our on time arrival into Phoenix was greeted with a level of appreciation as we realized our connecting flight warranted our walking across the entire breadth of the Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport for our connection to Sioux Falls. Once again with very few passengers to board, we departed Arizona on time with a scheduled landing in South Dakota of 13.40pm Central Daylight Time.
Having checked into the Hilton Garden Inn, it was time to collect our chariot that would transport us across country over the next 8 days. The vehicle of choice made by our Enterprise Rental manager was a Dodge Durango...an excellent choice indeed. It had all the power, size and creature comforts these two roadtrippers would require for the long Westward bound expedition.
Sioux Falls, with an estimated population of ~200,000 lies on the banks of the Big Sioux River, on the the rolling hills on the Iowa state border. Benefiting from very marginal State taxes, the city has become a haven for many of the top Financial Services, Agribusiness & Pharmaceutical companies. The city's main attraction is of course the falls located just outside the city centre. The Big Sioux River falls were carved out around 14,000 years ago in the last Ice Age. The fast moving river tumbles over a series of rock faces in Falls Park, which includes an observation tower and the ruins of the 19th-century Queen Bee Mill.
Struggling to keep our eyes wide open due to our very early start, Trace & I opted for an early dinner in the adjoining restaurant to our hotel, the Crave American Kitchen. Wasting no time at all, we headed up to our king room after cocktails and two courses as we were as full as the proverbial 'fat woman's sock'. Securely tucked in, we set the alarm for 6am in readiness for the first day of our exciting road trip.
Cheers...don't forget to look out for day 2 and beyond of 'The Long and Winding Road Trip'
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