Home at last...

Santa Rosa, NM to Arlington, TX - 517 Miles
Total miles - 1744 miles

I'll ask that you pardon me for not wrapping up the trip the night before night last, but after completing the over 1700 mile drive, I took a couple of nights off. Let's just pretend that I just walked in from the last leg of the drive...

So today was the last leg of the drive. Having lost an hour, I was technically waking up at 5am to be on the road by 6. The drive was starting to take its toll, because today I was feeling the fatigue. But the excitement of making it home helped pep me up a bit.

Santa Rosa was cold this morning. We had a long previous day of driving, but it seemed worth it because we only had about 10 hours left to home. After about 100 miles, I crossed into Texas at around 8am. This was apparent by the widespread truck washes, giant boots on top of buildings, and "Don't mess with Texas" signs. I decided that, since I was in a rural area, that I should heed the warning and not "mess" with Texas at this point.

Also on this day...Rain. Rain in states other than California = RAIN. It comes from out of nowhere, kicks your butt, then, like Keyser Söze, it's gone....blue skies. Luckily we missed te bulk of this nasty little storm, and didn't experience bad weather until we hit Dallas.

Today the iPod did it's job. Steely Dan, Jellyfish, Citizen Cope, Prince, and Stanley Jordan, to name a few, got me through most of Texas. Funny...When I moved from Virginia to California in '88, I was listening to the same Stanley Jordan record, Magic Touch. That was 20 years ago. Of course, back then I was rocking the cassette. It's another one of those clichés where, the more things change, the more they stay the same.

So I'm getting close, coming up on Ft. Worth, about 20 miles outside of Arlington. I decide to check out the local stations. What should I happen upon, but some sports radio. Always a favorite of mine. And lo and behold, they are talking about the Dallas Cowboys! Now don't get me wrong. I have loved listening to Ralph Barbieri and Tom Tolbert in the Bay Area for the past umpteen years...But there's only so much talk I can hear about how the Niners suck again. Now I actually get to listen to people talk about how the Cowboys suck! Though I'd much rather hear about the Niners sucking, than the Cowboys sucking, it's nice to know that I'll be hearing about my team on a regular basis.

When we finally pulled up, Day, Audrey, and my Mom had just gotten home from the grocery store. It was only three days, but seeing them made it seem like a much longer period of time. Needless to say, I was quite happy.

Something my Dad said kinda sums up the drive..."There's a whole lotta country out there that's just holding the rest of it together". It was a beautiful drive (at times). I think I soaked in a little more on this drive than the cross country drive of '88. I guess it's age. I appreciate the fact that there are people out there in this land that don't need a whole lot to get by. There are also people that get by the best they can on almost nothing. Doing this drive was good for my perspective. I'm glad to be home. We'll see what happens here in the Lone Star State. My parents are ecstatic to have us. Day starts her job Monday, and is pretty excited about it. I'm anxious to see what I can get into out here as far as music, audio, etc. And we are all loving watching Audrey grow more and more everyday. I'll keep everyone posted.

Stay tuned....

Peace,
e.


PS Asian count - 1

Barstow, CA to Santa Rosa, NM

Today: Barstow, CA to Santa Rosa, NM - 794 miles (so google tells me)
To Date: From Foster City - 1,196 miles

So I get up this morning, and experience what I now know, thanks to facebook comments, to be the largest McDonald's in the US. It's like 2 train cars collided on opposite sides of a McDonald's, and they didn't bother to remove them. I was on the road by 7:20ish, and ready for the long day. Santa Rosa was the target, so this would be the LONG leg of the trip.

My praises of the XM radio might have been premature. It's still great, but even I got tired of it...Luckily, it's Sunday. And I know some of you think I did this drive this weekend because the Cowboys had a bye week (Ben), but it was just coincedence. I did listen to alot of ESPN, and FOX Sports radio to keep up with scores. Thank you XM...previous premature praise comment withdrawn.

We drove entirely through Arizona today. Very beautiful, but after 300 miles, if you've seen one "butte", you've seen them all. The scenery was very "70's Western"-esque. I always felt like I was "cutting someone off at the pass", or gulch, or something. Also, it was VERY windy. Since I have the box-like Honda Element, it made for some very eventful driving. Tumbleweeds were flying like crazy! It's very cool how they disintegrate on impact. I think my Dad had a higher score than I did on actually killing tumbleweeds though. Lastly, in Arizona, I guess they let you walk the earth like Caine in Kung Fu, but on the highways. On 3 different occasions, I saw people trekking. Not like walking from a broken down car, but seemingly on their way somewhere. I didn't catch any pics of this, but believe me.

Oh! So I was driving on I-40 today, and a green Explorer was passing me. I peek over, and....ASIANS!!! So there it is, Ding, Ding! Add an Asian! 2 to be exact. And I'm counting these two because they had Arizona license plates.

Asian count = 2

So we're in Santa Rosa, New Mexico. Only about 100 miles to the Texas border, and about 500 miles to home. Check the facebook for some more photos.

Peace,
e.

Foster City to Barstow

Well, since I've been moving for 5 days, and my Dad flew in from Washington, DC last night, we decided to make the first day a short-ish drive.  It was fairly uneventful, and we made good time.  I put some pics on the facebook.  By the way, XM radio rules.  I didn't have to go to the iPod once.  Which is good 'cause there are 2 days of driving yet to be dealt with.

We got to Barstow with hopes of catching the Texas Tech game.  After we checked into the motel, we soon realized that we were still in USC country.  So it was Cal vs. USC on ABC.  We tried to catch the game at a local sports bar...bad idea.  Besides not having the game, dive does not begin to describe the couple of places we tried.  So we just had dinner at a Carrows, and called it a night.

Day, Audrey, my Mom, and Smoky (our cat) all made it to Arlington.  Day mentioned that Audrey had a rough time on the second half of the flight.  I talked to Audrey while they were in the car riding home, and she was her normal talkative self.  I'm glad they made it without much trouble.

Only 1300 miles left.  We'll get to Albuquerque tomorrow, about 10 hours.  If we're feeling froggy, maybe Tucumcari, which is another 2 hours.

Peace,

e.

PS  I'm deferring "Add an Asian" until I get out of California.

And so it begins....

It's 9 o'clock on a Saturday...

But in this case it's AM.  Today Day, Audrey and I are leaving for Texas.  For me, after 20 years in California, it's time we try something new.  Day and Audrey will fly to Texas with my Mom today.  My Dad and I will drive the 2 cars.

So here's my first blog.  I'll keep you up to date (hopefully) about where I am in the trip, what I've seen, and possibly "Add an Asian" (more on that later).

We'll get to Barstow today at least.  We may go farther, but I've just spent a week moving, and my Dad just flew in from DC last night, so we'll see.

It begins...