Eager to get on the road again, we set out via the I-40 to get back to Montreal. At this point, it was clear that parts of our originally planned trip were no longer possible. Among the stops taken out were Florida and Disneyworld as well as Houston, Texas.

So, we set out to get to Montreal in (almost) the most direct way possible. At this point, we were well rested and decided to pull an all-nighter to make some distance. The first stop, of course, was Albuquerque, the home of our rental car, so that we could add Haggy as a second driver.

Haggy's car on the left and the rental car on the right

With that out of the way, we proceeded east through the rest of New Mexico, passing the north tip of Texas, Oklahoma and into Arkansas. Along the way, we got to see some interesting parts of the Historic Route 66 (which runs parallel to the I-40) as well as eat at a Drive-In restaurant and wonder about the 72 ounce Texas steak that was advertised on many billboards, which we ended up passing up on.

Journey back to Montreal

As we entered Arkansas, it was already late at night when something happened for the very first time on the trip: we were pulled over by a cop. As I've been sitting shotgun the whole time, I can attest that I was periodically checking the speedometer to make sure we were going at a reasonable speed, which was pretty much always the case - and at this moment, was no exception. Tak was at the wheel and we were going 74 in a 70 zone, at the time when the cop decided to pull us over. After stopping, Tak undid his seat belt in order to get out his drivers license from his pocket, which made Haggy especially worried that the cop would give a ticket for not having the seat belt on. The cop glanced into the vehicle and mentioned that we were going a little bit fast, and asked about the vehicle (which had California plates). As soon as Tak answered that it was a rental, the cop seemed to relax and asked Tak to get the rental info and bring it to the police car, to which the cop retreated. The cop even had Tak sit in the cop car in the shotgun seat, while they had a short conversation. In the end, all we got was a warning, and we were off again, this time being more careful to stay at the speed limit.

Pyramid of Memphis

After Arkansas, came Tennesse, where we passed Memphis with its pyramid in the morning and Nashville where we had a nice lunch. As we revised our plans on the road, we decided that Washington, DC would be a good final destination on the trip, so we booked a motel in Manassas, VA, just out of Washington, to spend the night as well as booking tickets to get a tour of the Capitol Building for the next day.