My North Luzon Misadventure (Part 4)

Before I get to the stressful part of the trip, I just want to share with you the wonderful morning I had in Vigan. I woke up really early just so I could take pictures at the Heritage Village with the morning sun and no tourists ruining each shot, haha!

Goodmorning, Vigan!

Breakfast first before my looooooooooooooooooooong drive back home :p

After quickly packing my things, I bid the hotel staff goodbye (who all wished me luck haha) and off I went on my 12-hr journey back to Isabela.

My friend advised me to take the Baguio-Aritao route as it would be the faster one to take rather than the Pangasinan one. So from Vigan, Ilocos Sur I drove all the way to Baguio--passed by La Union and took Naguilian Road up to the City of Pines. My misadventure began right before reaching Baguio...so I was driving up, didn't really mind the winding road, when I suddenly noticed my gas gauge. With less than 1/4 talk of gas, I realized only then that I should look for the nearest gas station. With my not-so-useful gps, I headed for the Petron about 6.3 km from where I was. I didn't pay much attention as to where I was going, I was more focused on getting to the gas station. I had about 4 km to go when the gas gauge lit up! I was already panicking because the road's elevated and I didn't know if I'd reach the station in time. I drive an automatic car, so if I ran out of gas I'd have to get towed 0_0 Anyway, I was already praying for a miracle because the gauge's needle was THIIIIIIIS close to empty. When I got to the gas station, they didn't even have unleaded fuel!!! So I had to drive a bit further to the other station, and arrived just in time! While my gauge was being filled, I looked around and got a bit worried as I wasn't familiar with where I was. It clearly didn't look like Baguio City. Then I saw a sign saying I was in La Trinidad, Benguet. I had no effing idea where that was, haha! After gassing up, I again relied on my not-so-trusty- gps to lead me to Baguio. It only led me to a dirt road leading to God knows where. I had to head back to the town and ask for directions--should've done that earlier. When I got to Baguio, I again got lost looking for the road to Aritao. After circling around Baguio City twice, I finally found Ambuklaw Road. And I found it by chance, haha! Driving on Ambuklaw, I passed by Itogon and Bokod, both in Benguet; saw the Ambuklaw Dam and Reservoir; drove through Kayapa, Nueva Vizcaya and finally reached Aritao. Upon reaching Aritao, I saw two signs with one leading to Aritao town proper and the other pointing towards Bambang. I opted to follow the second one as Bambang was relatively nearer to Isabela than Aritao. BAD MOVE. Imagine almost 21 kilometers of dirt road, rice fields or folliage on both sides, not street lights, houses dimly lit. The most terrifying 45 minutes of my life. When I finally reached the Provincial Highway, I continued driving until Solano, Nueva Vizcaya to gas up again. At that point I was driving for 10 1/2 hours already. It was past 8 in the evening already and I was so tired. I wanted to stop already in Nueva Vizcaya and just drive back to Isabela the next morning but I couldn't find a hostel to stay in. So I journeyed on and finally stopped at Santiago City, Isabela. I checked in at Hotel Amancio and just plopped on the bed and fell asleep right away. My back was really sore, my butt hurt, my legs were cramped, and it was the first day of my period (sorry, TMI haha!) so yeah that day was pretty rough.

So after a total of 22 hours of driving, 47 municipalities (from Abulog, Cagayan to Diadi, Nueva Vizcaya) in 6 provinces, near empty gas in La Trinidad Benguet, deserted roads in Itogon to Bambang I finally arrived in Isabela. I SURVIVED MY FIRST (AND LAST) SOLO ROAD TRIP!!! Really was an unintentional one, enjoyed the first half but was traumatized by the second half haha.

To give you an idea of my entire trip, I actually plotted on the map the entire thing...

So this is North Luzon

I live in Ilagan, Isabela (encircled in the lower part). I drove to Claveria, Cagayan (a coastal town in the north) for the weekend last March 9

On March 11, as I approached Loboc Bridge in Abulug, Cagayan (the encircled pin), I was told that the bridge was closed and the only way for me to go back to Isabela was to drive to the other side of Luzon 0_0

March 11:
So from Abulug, drove all the way back to Claveria, then all the way to Vigan City, Ilocos Sur for 10 hours

March 12:
After staying the night at Vigan, I drove to Baguio City, Benguet and had to look for the road from there to Aritao, Nueva Vizcaya. In between, got lost pa in La Trinidad and almost ran out of gas

March 12:
That road is Ambuklaw Highway. So from Baguio, I drove to Aritao, Nueva Vizcaya--passing by the municipalities of Itogon, Bodok, and Kayapa. Upon reaching Aritao, I drove further and saw a sign on a road leading to Bambang Nueva Vizcaya (which is way nearer rather than passing by Aritao town proper)...should not have taken that road, haha! Imagine 21 kms with 3/4 dirt road just to get to the Provincial Highway. Que horror. Upon reaching the Provincial Highway in Bambang, I was a bit more at ease because I knew I was (sort of) near Isabela already. Upon reaching Isabela, stayed for the night in Santiago City before going home to Ilagan

If you consider my trip from Ilagan, I drove a total of 700+ kilometers! What.A.Trip.