So I’ve stopped at a Travelodge in Flagstaff, Arizona because my friend Aaron told me it’s an pretty nice place to stay as a mid-trip layover.
Except on weekends.
There was only one room available (the ‘Snow Bowl Suite’, whatever that means), and it is $149 for the night. I was sorta hoping $50-70. Damn. Apparently I’m at the south entrance of the Grand Canyon, so it’s a huge tourist mecca, and the Arizona Cardinals play here on the weekends. Just…. peachy. So what does that mean for me? Jacked up weekend rates at all the nearby motels. Awesome. Mad props, Aaron. Mad props.
But that’s been the only negative so far. The drive is, suffice it to say, pretty arduous. I started at approximately 7 pm from Oklahoma and ran into a surprising amount of traffic, and since my goal for the entire trip was not to get a ticket (successful so far), I had to follow that stupid 65 mph nighttime speed limit throughout Texas. That definitely slowed me down a good deal, even though I cheated at going 74 mph.
Once I hit New Mexico, salvation! The speed limit is 75! Which means what? That’s right, say it with me– 85! Okay fine I didn’t book it at 85 throughout NM but I was around 80-83 the entire way. And then 5 am hit. And boy howdy did I get drowsy. I kept Twittering messages to keep myself occupied throughout the night, but at this point I was so exhausted I just couldn’t continue. So just outside of Albuquerque, there was a pretty big gas station/rv camper rest area that was well lit. I pulled over and took a nap for a few hours, and left for Flagstaff, Arizona. I got here a little while ago I checked in and plugged my iMac in. (Seriously folks, it took two minutes since they have wireless here.)
Now I’m gonna go out, get some food, come back and sleep until whenever. I’ll probably hit the road again and maybe midnight or a little after so that I can get to Los Angeles on Sunday morning when the traffic should be a little lighter.
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.
I watched a documentary yesterdayUn giocatore di casino online ha bisogno di soltanto di battere il distributore in questo gioco e non gareggia contro gli altri giocatori alla tavola. on HBO about CX Debate, the type of debate that I used to do. It blew my mind. This trailer gives an idea of what CX is, but doesn’t delve nearly deep enough to the cultural and economic implications of the debate format and what its value is in America today. If you get a chance, watch it. I don’t know if it’s just because I’m a former CXer that I found it deeply intriguing or if it really is just gripping filmmaking, but I’d recommend everyone give it a shot.
Vinoj Zacharia: i wish i could select different options. men, under 30, some college
Jason: me, too
Vinoj Zacharia: but even still, this is impressive.
Jason: But the college column is pretty consistent, no surpriing. The black vote is also astounding
Vinoj Zacharia:
oh totally. i’m really worried– i’m an obama supporter, and even WITH the option of hillary on the ticket with him i dont see it changing the views of the WV voter types
Jason:
My wife and I were talking about this last night.
Vinoj Zacharia:
have you seen this?
Jason:
We decided that the best thing for the country would be this in November:
I got into my car today to find the thermometer read 100 degrees. Wowza.
What’s really odd to me however is that I lived in India for 2 years and it was hot as hell the entire time. No air conditioning in the apartment I stayed at, and all I had was a rickety fan clanging away to give some sort of respite. That is, if it was on at all… the power went out at least once every other day, and during summer months the electric companies had something they called Load Shedding which basically meant that there was no power right when you REALLY needed it. Maybe my skin has just gotten too spoiled with the air conditioned, filtered, antiseptic conditions in America. I don’t know. All I know is that I go outside right now and I completely broil and can’t handle it.