What I Learned About Interstate 40 From My Cross Country Road Trip

hey guys space play 12 or mitch as you guys know me today's video i just got back from a cross-country road trip from california to virginia and so i'm super tired but this video is going to show you what i learned about interstate 40 that i didn't know before base play 12. what i failed to mention is i know some of you have probably traveled the i-40 before but i'm going to let you know what in 2021 what's some new things i've learned and some you know current things especially with covid that i picked up along the way so this video is just going to show you you know just some little things that i picked up so the i-40 if you did not know is a two-lane highway formerly known as route 66 in fact it travels right along route 66 and what i learned is with this two-lane highway the first thing that i picked up on really quick was you have to navigate the trucks you know the most of the highway is 75 as far as the speed limit and you're having to just weave in and out of the trucks because they give you signs saying that the left lane is only supposed to be used for passing so when you pass one truck you know you're supposed to get back into the right lane unless you're just passing a million trucks what i learned real quick is that you have to just navigate the trucks using the left lane to pass and if you have people behind you that are trained you know going over the speed limit then you have to get back into the right lane to let those people behind you go in front of you another thing that i learned along the way is that with these highways man some of these roads especially in new mexico and i think it was parts of oklahoma you're just going to have to kind of weave into your lane because the roads sometimes are so messed up there's potholes and there's dips into the road that can really mess your car up so i found myself having to kind of you know navigate the lane to make sure that i don't you know end up jacking up my car going through these potholes and dips and things like that bridges where you know the connection between the road and the bridge just makes you bounce up and down so a lot of repairs need to be made with these roads if you're going to be traveling the i-40 anytime soon be prepared for these one-lane road work breaks where it goes to one lane and there's just going to be some backup with traffic it's just it doesn't happen through every state but just be prepared because along the way there were so many you know be prepared to stop be prepared to have the two lanes go to one lane you would hope that it would just flow over naturally but a lot of times especially in a in a state where it was more crowded the cars would back up you know it would bottleneck to let everybody in the left lane or the right lane switch over so be prepared for those coming up at you another thing i learned and i don't know if it was the time of day that we were driving through these states or if there was just a lack of break but i learned that tennessee and new mexico were just it just took forever to get through and i know what you're saying if it's at the end of the day it's gonna feel like it's longer and that's probably true but if you look at a map tennessee and new mexico are pretty long oklahoma was pretty long too but i think we broke that up by going to different things inside oklahoma but just taking a look at the size of tennessee it just felt like we were in tennessee forever and luckily we were going through texas at the top so texas was over pretty quick another thing i learned was there was a day where we had lost actually two hours with the time change and that was the day that we felt extra tired because you're you're going east and you're losing time you're losing daylight when these hours pass you by so when you've really driven you know seven hours you've really only driven five because of that time change so just be aware of the time change and when you're going east you're gonna lose hours and the daylight but the good news is when you're coming back when you're going west you'll start to gain those hours you'll gain more daylight you'll gain more driving hours and it'll feel like you're driving you know you're gaining more ground as you're going west but when you go east just be prepared for that certain section that arizona new mexico and then that oklahoma time zone change it was brutal because we had lost two hours that day okay so for those of you that are wondering what what did i learn as far as covet restrictions i learned that anything oklahoma and east everything was wide open as far as when i would go into the gas stations mass where i didn't even see any mass unless people just chose to wear it but they didn't require it and it just felt open and free i was shocked with texas because i thought texas had been you know their attitude was hey we're open and everything's free but texas there were masks wearing not that they uh mandatory mass marine but it was just i was shocked to see so many mass and then there were places in new mexico where there was federal land where we had to wear a mask and i was like ah come on and you know these people were like enforcing it as soon as you walk through the door they were right in your face like hey where's your mask if you don't have one here you know put this on um and then you know as we got to california things start to get a little better but it was definitely new mexico and texas where i noticed the difference in the mask i don't know if you want to call it a mandate but you know federal land you have to wear it but i just was surprised with texas having it be what i thought was open but we had to wear a mask there another thing that i learned is as we're traveling all across the country on highway or interstate 40 i definitely just loved loves if you're looking for a gas station it was clean the people were friendly there were so many things to buy you know souvenirs snacks water not that you know we had any issues with other places but it just felt like when you're looking for a place you know how you can kind of just trust on a mcdonald's or something like that love seemed to be our place like hey guys there's a loves and you know my my kids love to collect you know things from different states so we could always depend on loves for postcards or keychains just everything that you would want from that state the gas prices were really good and it was just a welcome sight to go to a love so for those of you traveling the interstate 40 look for loves and the last thing i learned about just traveling the i-40 is i think i want to fly for the rest of my life it was just i've done this uh you know road trip twice we didn't take the i-40 before we went up and above with utah and colorado and through kentucky and indiana before but it's just such a long drive i believe the combined total is somewhere in the area of 23 2400 miles and luckily our chevy traverse no this is not a plug for chevy but our car has done that road trip twice and has come out like a champ but it's just a long long trip and for those of you that are traveling and are you know deciding to make this long distance trip always be aware of a few things always just give extra grace towards the end of the day because everybody's tired and some people might say things or just complain and it's it's a long trip and especially at the end of the day you know just patience and nerve start to run out and also be very careful about the second to last day the second to last day before you get there and the second to last day when you're coming back that seemed to be kind of the breaking point for our family where we were almost to our destination and almost home and everybody was just like man we're just so tired we're so grumpy so just be wary of that second to last day the last day everybody's mood's kind of like hey we're almost to our destination we're almost home so spirits are a little bit livelier but it's that second to last day just be cautious and just give a little extra grace because we're all gonna need it okay guys so that was just my i don't know my throwing out of whatever wisdom i picked up traveling the interstate 40 from again california to virginia i believe if you keep going you run into north carolina um it was a great trip there's obviously states where it was more interesting to watch uh you know the the just the different geography and you know topography of everything and then there were certain states i don't want to you know bash any states but it just felt like endless endless smiles of just nothing so you know you always have to do your best to keep the kids entertained if you guys have a you know one of those portable dvd players that's always a plus because it's a long trip and it's just so many hours your just whole day is just sitting so you know have something to sit on that you know some kind of cushion dvd players for the kids lots of snacks lots of water because sometimes you might go you know 100 miles without seeing any type of you know rest stop or places where you can buy things to drink or eat so just become prepared for this trip but it's a great trip um no a few days after i came home i'm not ready to even step foot inside my car again for a while but you know give it enough time and you know you're going to start to venture out and you know go different places but interstate 40 you know it took us to where we needed to go and you know there's going to be certain places especially i believe it was tennessee where there was a bridge out so for those of you again this is june uh be careful that the bridge is out so the i-40 is going to have you detour under and you know connect back to the 40. i believe it was the memphis bridge that was out that you'll just have to be careful on that but other other than that it was a great trip and hopefully you guys learned a lot from this video okay guys i'm basically 12 or mitch as you guys know me i'll see you in my next video [Music] you