So It Begins
So getting back into the habit of blogging regularly has certainly not been as quick or smooth as I would have liked, though I’d be lying if I said entirely unexpected. I really am badly out of the habit of writing regularly, much to my own frustration.
But here I am, on the first leg of an entirely new chapter to my life, unlike any that has ever come before, with a self-resolution to blog more and write regularly. What else can I do? If I can find excuses to get out of writing now or even, disregarding excuses, I simply can’t call up the wherewithal to do so, at this great watershed of personal events, then when?
So here I am, as I’ve said, on the first leg of a great big backwards L of a journey across the country. At present, I’m on board the Amtrak Auto Train with North Carolina rolling gently by. By tomorrow morning (the earliest at which you’ll be reading this), I’ll be back in Florida, into the final stages of packing up belongings and bidding friends farewell. Wednesday morning, I’ll be on the road, headed west for fortune and glory.
I intend to blog my whole trip west for Orlando to Los Angeles and my benchmark for due diligence is my good friend Tony’s and his sister’s blog from their similar trip. Of course, daily updates are at the mercy of whatever Internet access I can find for myself along the way.
But I expect to see plenty of interesting sights; especially once I get further west. The list of interesting things seen on the road:
(1) A flatbed truck with a house on the back that had run off the road and into the ditch.
(2) A sparrow, in what I can only assume is the bird equivalent of extreme sports, trying to dart across the interstate and narrowly avoiding the windshield of a car…only to smack squarely into the windshield of a dump truck, and subsequently bouncing off the windshield and then lifelessly onto the road.
My itinerary for the drive west stands as thus:
Wednesday (Orlando to Mobile)
Depart Orlando at 9AM. Take I-4 West to I-75 North and then I-10 West. I-4 is a strip of road I’ve been up and down many times, and the stretch of I-75 I did last September when driving to Dragon*Con. So the first few hours, at least, will be familiar territory. Though if similar problems that have been hampering I-4 recently continue to do so, I may add a couple hours and take I-4 east and take I-95 to I-10, all which is very familiar territory.
Either way, in a few hours I’ll be on I-10 west and into the panhandle of Florida and then, most decidedly in new territory. The plan is to stop in Mobile or perhaps Biloxi, depending on time made and my endurance.
Thursday (Mobile to New Orleans)
On Thursday morning, I’ll cross the remaining distance to New Orleans, which should take about two or three hours depending on where exactly I stop and spend the day exploring the Big Easy.
Friday (New Orleans to Houston)
After spending the night in New Orleans, I’ll spend the morning and early afternoon of Friday to cross from New Orleans to Houston, meeting my friend Anthony at Johnson Space Center, where he works, and where he’s promised to give me the complete tour, including the two titanium super secret space shuttles from Armageddon.
After that, who knows what debauchery we’ll take to the streets, though knowing us, it’ll probably be going to see Cloverfield and the teaser for the new Star Trek movie in front of it.
Saturday (Houston to San Antonio)
Saturday I’ll continue my three-day stretch of Texas, with a relatively short jump from Houston to San Antonio to visit my friend and former roommate (and now Air-Force-navigator-to-be) Dustin. Another night of unprintable debauchery and a hopefully early night, accompanied by an equally early next morning.
Sunday (San Antonio to El Paso)
On Sunday the dilly-dallying ends and I make the third and final leg of what I’m sure will feel like the never-ending Texas portion of my trip. San Antonio to El Paso with nothing in between. I’m not one prone to idle phone chats, though I’m well aware of how others have relied on phone conversations to get them through never ending western states during similar treks, so if you’re going to get a call from me, expect it to be on Sunday.
Monday (El Paso to Phoenix)
After stopping in El Paso for the night (or maybe stopping just over the border to spite the enormous Texas), I’ll continue on into the country I’m really excited to see, namely Arizona and New Mexico. I had tried to work in a detour to Meteor Crater or even just to the Trinity Site (the site of the world’s first atomic bomb detonation), but as it stands now, I won’t have the time.
Instead, I’ll press onto Phoenix, where, should all go according to plan, I’ll arrive just in time to pick Ryan up at the airport. After I had nailed down the dates of my trip, Ryan decided to fly down for a couple days to visit his parents (who had already graciously allowed me to stay with them). After picking him up from the airport, we’ll both head back to his parents’ place and work on a long overdue project of ours, meaning I’ll be working with my first collaborator on one of our first projects the very day before I jump into a new pond with new people on new projects. There’s something very satisfying about that.
Wednesday (Phoenix to Los Angeles)
We’ll spend the whole next day doing that and following that, Ryan will fly back to Chicago and I will press on to the final leg.
And so the seventh day will be the beginning of the end for my cross country trip. I’ll leave Arizona in the morning and, should all go well, arrive to my new Los Angeles home between 5 and 6 in the evening.
At which point, I’ll be living in a new home, with new people, in a new state, on a new coast, in a new stage in my life: unemployed and without that most hallowed of status – full-time student – to guard over me.