It’s now the night before I’m to leave for Los Angeles. Yep, there’s a truckload of fear that is coursing through my veins, and yet…. excitement as well. I’ve lived in Oklahoma a grand total of 9 years (if my mental math is right), and I think it’s time for me to explore another area.
If I could put it into a more familiar situation I guess it’d be like the day before your first day of junior high school. You knew that the kids were meaner, the classes were harder, and gasp!– they wouldn’t have RECESS anymore. But, try as you may, you just couldn’t go back to the comforts of homeroom and the teachers that had guided you along the way. Even the bullies of elementary school now seemed like amateurs compared to the horrors that lay ahead. It was rushing at you, full speed, and the only hope of salvation was that you somehow didn’t drown as the waves of newness crashed hard on your helpless, frigid body.
Did I go a little far with the metaphor? Probably. But you get the general gist of it.
But I’m ready. At least, I’m as ready as I’ll ever be. In exactly 24 hours, I should be about 3-4 hours into my trip. My plan is to leave home at around 7pm (just as the sun is setting), and drive the approximately 13 hours to Flagstaff, Arizona. There I’ll crash at some cheap motel, and after resting for a good while, get driving again the rest of the 6.5 hours to Los Angeles. I’ll have to time it out so that I can reach LA at around 9 or 10 in the morning on Sunday, which means I may have to leave around 3 am Sunday morning- a dicey proposition. But we’ll see when I get around to it. Oh yeah– I’m THAT spontaneous.
Why drive at night? A couple of reasons, the main being that for whatever reason, I get very sleepy driving during the daytime, whereas driving at night I end up more alert. Make sense? Yeah, it doesn’t to me either. Second, the entire southwest is going through a heatwave, and the less I can leave my air conditioning on, the better for fuel economy. Of course considering I’ll be dragging all my immediate belongings with me the weight of my Civic will be heavier than usual, but hey– if I can save gas at least in one way, may as well do it.
I guess right now is just a time where I’m trying to put aside all emotional baggage so that I can focus solely on the details. Driving time, gas, lodging, how many cans of Monster I’ll need to buy to stay alert, etc. I suppose it’s avoidance, but if it gets me through this, I’ll work with it.
As a separate note, I’ll probably be updating either my Brightkite and/or my Twitter throughout the trip so that you can see where I am. If you’re interested, have a blast.
Finally, I also finished up my updates to my olllllld portfolio site, The Designs Bakery. Take a look if you get a chance, and let me know your thoughts.