Almost 15 hours in the car...Ugh!

I did a major detour on the way to New Mexico.  I stopped to visit some family for a few days.   I knew it was going to be a long drive from there to New Mexico, but thought it was just under 14 hours.  Imagine my surprise, and disappointment, when I plugged the New Mexico address in to my Nav system and it showed three route options, with the quickest being over 16 hours!   The other two options were 18 and 19 hours .  Boy this detour had turned out to be bigger than I expected.  

Funny thing though, when I plugged the address into my phone on google maps, it was just 13 1/2 hours!   Now I prefer to use my car's navigation because cell service can be very spotty on these long drives across the country.  However, I decided to try and follow the cell navigation.   At this point, knocking even an hour off the drive would be great.   My goal was to arrive before it got dark.

I have to say, this was not the prettiest of drives.   Driving through Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas can be so desolate at times and doesn't always have the best scenery.

Toggling between the cell and car navigation, I was able to knock at least an hour off the original estimated travel time and arrived about 15 minutes before it got dark.  Whew, what a long day.

But now I get to wake up in my happy place to amazing views!