Day 32
Day 32
September 19th
I'm typing this one up from my parent's house in New Jersey - the same house where I wrote my first entry to this thing back in 2002... weird. The drive today was shorter than I had anticipated. I think I thought it was going to take me someting like 9 hours and I was hoping to be home before dark, but it wound up being much less.
About 10 minutes into the drive, I missed a turn and ended up getting re-routed. This was a blessing because it re-routed me right by an enormous Sheetz. I didn't need gas, but I was hungry and I was very stoked to stop in. This location even had a drive-thru. I'd never seen such a thing. I walked in and right up to the computer to explore my sandwich options. I wasn't sure what other food I'd see on my way home, so I went with half a sandwich. I got popcorn chicken with extra provolone on a pretzel bun. When it came time to add the sauces, I was surprised to see a Dr. Pepper BBQ sauce. I really really wish I could taste that.
I ended up just going with regular bbq sauce, but I also added some "boom boom" sauce. I had no idea what the heck boom boom sauce was, but it sounded good and I could see that it was orange so I figured it was some kinda chipotle mayo or something. When the option to add fries on the sandwich presented itself I said yes, of course. I also dusted it with Old Bay seasoning. On this trip I've learned that eating in the car blows, so I grabbed a window seat in the eating area and got comfortable. The sandwich was sorta open-face and overflowing with popcorn chicken and fries, so I had to pick at it a little bit until I could put the lid on and eat that bad boy. I kinda wish it had more sauce on it, but it was a tasty little sandwich and I'm glad we found one other.
After getting back on the road, it felt like I hit a work zone every 5 miles but rarely was there any work being done. As soon as I got to New Jersey I realized what a damn circus this part of the country is. The roads are insane and nobody respects the rules. There were truckers doing 75mph in a 65mph zone, passing cars in the left lane. It was bananas. It was also raining as I got into New Jersey, which I thought seemed fitting. Other than that sunshower in St. Louis, it hasn't rained at all this entire trip. To top it off, my honkless streak came to an end after nearly 7-thousand miles. Welcome home, ya?
I'm really glad I decided to keep this updated. I'm very nostalgic, so this will be nice for me to look back on someday. I'll probably add more pictures to some of the entries when I have time. I don't even know who is reading this, but hello out there if you are. I was thinking it'd be fun to design a t-shirt with the locations of the places I stopped at on the back, kinda like a band shirt with the tour dates. I'll need to figure out the dates, but here were the locations:
Baltimore, MD
Wilmington, NC
Asheville, NC
Nashville, TN
Columbia, MO
Kansas City, MO
Denver, CO
No Name, CO
Moab, UT
Las Vegas, NV
Los Angeles, CA
San Francisco, CA
Salt Lake City, UT
Kimball, NE
Des Moines, IA
Chicago, IL
Sandusky, OH
Streetsboro, OH
Pittsburgh, PA
The trip seems like it was over pretty fast, but it's been a month and that's a lot of places. I'm back home now, with about 12 days until I have to be back at work. Thinking back to the beginning, it's wild how this all panned out. I had only just bought this car a week prior, but I had 6 weeks off from work. The eclipse was the day after my 32nd birthday and the start of it all. Other than seeing the eclipse, I had no real plan or expectations at all, but lately it occurs to me what a long strange trip it's been. It was a bit lonely at times, but the smart phone and social media were huge. It was fun to document and share the trip along the way and I absolutely loved when friends would message me. A few mentioned how much they enjoyed the updates and said they felt like they were there with me on this adventure. That made me feel really good. I definitely couldn't have done the trip without the smart phone and I can't imagine how people have in the past. Not just to communicate and document the thing, but it was crucial for navigation and booking hotels on the fly. I think I expected to camp more than I did, but I would up treating myself to cheap hotel rooms mostly (some nicer than others). I thought, why camp solo when I can pay a tiny bit more and get a hotel room instead. I sure would love a hot shower in the morning. Somewhere along the way, I started bringing my blanket and pillow into the hotel rooms with me. That was smart because I can't sleep too well without that body pillow and who knows how clean the sheets are. At least I know where my blanket has been.
Thanks to Waze, I made it the whole way without getting pulled over. That app is excellent for giving a heads up about the cops. Spotify and Audible were some other apps that I relied on heavily. I was thinking last night in Pittsburgh that if my phone died, I'd be totally stuck at the ballpark. My hotel was nowhere near the park and I didn't even know the address. I'd have been fucked if I needed to score a cab the old way. I probably should have kept a pen and pad with me as a precaution. I also should have kept a credit card separate from my wallet, in case I lost the wallet. I luckily didn't need it, but a spare key for the car wouldn't have been a bad idea either. In Colorado, I had a little scare that I had locked my keys in the car and it hit me that I really wasn't very well-prepared. Luckily none of those things happened, but if I ever do this again I'll have my bases covered. In the end, I put about 7-thousand miles on the car, got the oil changed twice, and got it washed twice as well. I thankfully didn't run into any major car trouble, just that little scare on the way to Las Vegas. Other than the money it cost me to fix the car, that actually turned out to be a cool experience and was sort of a highlight of the trip. When I was getting my 2nd oil change the other day, I realized that I take better care of this car than I do myself. I love this car and want it to last, so I've been taking good care of it. Yet, why am I not doing the same about my body and my health? This really inspired me.
When I get back to Brooklyn, I'll need to start seriously looking for a parking spot so I don't have to worry about street parking. It'll be cool to get back to my neighborhood and hang with my friends. I also really miss my co-workers and I know that it'll be really awesome to be reunited with them. With this car I learned that I can basically go anywhere I want and that there's nothing to be afraid of. Now I won't feel as trapped in the city like I used to.
Oh ya! Here's my collection of ice cream helmets from this trip:
In the end, I thought about how cool it's been to meet up with friends around the country. I always sorta imagined that this is what it's like when you're dead. That you can just sorta visit your friends all over, wherever they are. I feel like I've gotten to know myself a little bit better and this whole experience had made me feel less scared in general. I think back to that time I was too buns to go on the cruise by myself and how I faked the entire trip. Well, I hope I've made up for that.
Thanks for stopping by!
p.s. I think I want to be a flight attendant in my next life
September 19th
I'm typing this one up from my parent's house in New Jersey - the same house where I wrote my first entry to this thing back in 2002... weird. The drive today was shorter than I had anticipated. I think I thought it was going to take me someting like 9 hours and I was hoping to be home before dark, but it wound up being much less.
About 10 minutes into the drive, I missed a turn and ended up getting re-routed. This was a blessing because it re-routed me right by an enormous Sheetz. I didn't need gas, but I was hungry and I was very stoked to stop in. This location even had a drive-thru. I'd never seen such a thing. I walked in and right up to the computer to explore my sandwich options. I wasn't sure what other food I'd see on my way home, so I went with half a sandwich. I got popcorn chicken with extra provolone on a pretzel bun. When it came time to add the sauces, I was surprised to see a Dr. Pepper BBQ sauce. I really really wish I could taste that.
I ended up just going with regular bbq sauce, but I also added some "boom boom" sauce. I had no idea what the heck boom boom sauce was, but it sounded good and I could see that it was orange so I figured it was some kinda chipotle mayo or something. When the option to add fries on the sandwich presented itself I said yes, of course. I also dusted it with Old Bay seasoning. On this trip I've learned that eating in the car blows, so I grabbed a window seat in the eating area and got comfortable. The sandwich was sorta open-face and overflowing with popcorn chicken and fries, so I had to pick at it a little bit until I could put the lid on and eat that bad boy. I kinda wish it had more sauce on it, but it was a tasty little sandwich and I'm glad we found one other.
After getting back on the road, it felt like I hit a work zone every 5 miles but rarely was there any work being done. As soon as I got to New Jersey I realized what a damn circus this part of the country is. The roads are insane and nobody respects the rules. There were truckers doing 75mph in a 65mph zone, passing cars in the left lane. It was bananas. It was also raining as I got into New Jersey, which I thought seemed fitting. Other than that sunshower in St. Louis, it hasn't rained at all this entire trip. To top it off, my honkless streak came to an end after nearly 7-thousand miles. Welcome home, ya?
I'm really glad I decided to keep this updated. I'm very nostalgic, so this will be nice for me to look back on someday. I'll probably add more pictures to some of the entries when I have time. I don't even know who is reading this, but hello out there if you are. I was thinking it'd be fun to design a t-shirt with the locations of the places I stopped at on the back, kinda like a band shirt with the tour dates. I'll need to figure out the dates, but here were the locations:
Baltimore, MD
Wilmington, NC
Asheville, NC
Nashville, TN
Columbia, MO
Kansas City, MO
Denver, CO
No Name, CO
Moab, UT
Las Vegas, NV
Los Angeles, CA
San Francisco, CA
Salt Lake City, UT
Kimball, NE
Des Moines, IA
Chicago, IL
Sandusky, OH
Streetsboro, OH
Pittsburgh, PA
The trip seems like it was over pretty fast, but it's been a month and that's a lot of places. I'm back home now, with about 12 days until I have to be back at work. Thinking back to the beginning, it's wild how this all panned out. I had only just bought this car a week prior, but I had 6 weeks off from work. The eclipse was the day after my 32nd birthday and the start of it all. Other than seeing the eclipse, I had no real plan or expectations at all, but lately it occurs to me what a long strange trip it's been. It was a bit lonely at times, but the smart phone and social media were huge. It was fun to document and share the trip along the way and I absolutely loved when friends would message me. A few mentioned how much they enjoyed the updates and said they felt like they were there with me on this adventure. That made me feel really good. I definitely couldn't have done the trip without the smart phone and I can't imagine how people have in the past. Not just to communicate and document the thing, but it was crucial for navigation and booking hotels on the fly. I think I expected to camp more than I did, but I would up treating myself to cheap hotel rooms mostly (some nicer than others). I thought, why camp solo when I can pay a tiny bit more and get a hotel room instead. I sure would love a hot shower in the morning. Somewhere along the way, I started bringing my blanket and pillow into the hotel rooms with me. That was smart because I can't sleep too well without that body pillow and who knows how clean the sheets are. At least I know where my blanket has been.
Thanks to Waze, I made it the whole way without getting pulled over. That app is excellent for giving a heads up about the cops. Spotify and Audible were some other apps that I relied on heavily. I was thinking last night in Pittsburgh that if my phone died, I'd be totally stuck at the ballpark. My hotel was nowhere near the park and I didn't even know the address. I'd have been fucked if I needed to score a cab the old way. I probably should have kept a pen and pad with me as a precaution. I also should have kept a credit card separate from my wallet, in case I lost the wallet. I luckily didn't need it, but a spare key for the car wouldn't have been a bad idea either. In Colorado, I had a little scare that I had locked my keys in the car and it hit me that I really wasn't very well-prepared. Luckily none of those things happened, but if I ever do this again I'll have my bases covered. In the end, I put about 7-thousand miles on the car, got the oil changed twice, and got it washed twice as well. I thankfully didn't run into any major car trouble, just that little scare on the way to Las Vegas. Other than the money it cost me to fix the car, that actually turned out to be a cool experience and was sort of a highlight of the trip. When I was getting my 2nd oil change the other day, I realized that I take better care of this car than I do myself. I love this car and want it to last, so I've been taking good care of it. Yet, why am I not doing the same about my body and my health? This really inspired me.
When I get back to Brooklyn, I'll need to start seriously looking for a parking spot so I don't have to worry about street parking. It'll be cool to get back to my neighborhood and hang with my friends. I also really miss my co-workers and I know that it'll be really awesome to be reunited with them. With this car I learned that I can basically go anywhere I want and that there's nothing to be afraid of. Now I won't feel as trapped in the city like I used to.
Oh ya! Here's my collection of ice cream helmets from this trip:
In the end, I thought about how cool it's been to meet up with friends around the country. I always sorta imagined that this is what it's like when you're dead. That you can just sorta visit your friends all over, wherever they are. I feel like I've gotten to know myself a little bit better and this whole experience had made me feel less scared in general. I think back to that time I was too buns to go on the cruise by myself and how I faked the entire trip. Well, I hope I've made up for that.
Thanks for stopping by!
p.s. I think I want to be a flight attendant in my next life