The trip concludes...

It took me a month longer to write about my trip than took me to drive it. I'm finally going to finish it even though most of you aren't even looking at my blog anymore.

So we start the second day driving through the rest of Missouri and into...

Oklahoma

We weren't in Oklahoma for a long time. The state didn't do much to distinguish itself in our short trek though. The only thing that jumped out at me was Oklahoma City. Thinking that a terrorist attack actually happened there was crazy. This is a midsize city in the heart of America. It didn't look like the sort of place that a terrorist attack could happen. It made me think about how shocking it must have been for the people that live there. Oh, Oklahoma also has tolls on its highways. That took us by surprise.

Texas

Texas is big. We mostly drove through portions that had nothing but farms... gigantic farms. These things went on for miles and as far as the eye could see. I saw my first oil rig in person. By the time we left the state they were no longer a novelty. In Amarillo we saw the self proclaimed second largest cross in the western hemisphere. You could see it from miles away. It's a gigantic white cross. From the time we entered the state we kept seeing billboards for a Free 64 oz. Steak*. The * stated that you had to eat the steak in one hour for it to be free. Louie and I decided to pass on the challenge.

New Mexico

We weren't in the state for 1/10 of mile when we stopped at the first rest stop right across the border. The first thing I saw when I walked up to the restrooms was a sign warning us about snakes and scorpions. I knew I was getting close to home. This was one of the most interesting states that we passed through. We didn't realize it on the first day in the state because it got dark pretty soon after we entered and we couldn't see much. We ended up stopping in Albuquerque for the night. The second day tally was 900 miles. We woke up Monday morning for the third and final day of the trip and took off around 9 a.m. It was great knowing this was the last day and it was also baseball's Opening Day. New Mexico has to be one of the most undeveloped states in the country. There was nothing but desert and mountains most of the way. Gas stations came every 40 miles or so. People live out in the middle of nowhere. Literally! They'll just stick a trailer in the desert 10 to 20 miles away from anything. Phone and electic wires are run from the highway out to the house or trailer. I can't imagine living like that. I recommend that everyone drive through New Mexico at some point in their life. It's beautiful. The mountains, the miles of nothingness, and the sunsets are amazing.

Arizona

I'm home! It was very exciting to enter the last state in our journey. Once again, we stopped at a rest stop just over the border and saw another sign warning us about critters. We put the Diamondbacks game on the radio on kept on driving. I can't tell you how different Northern Arizona is from the southern portion of the state. It's a lot of forest and snow capped mountains. We could see a huge snow capped mountain in Flagstaff when we were still 60 miles away. It was so cool to see the mountain get bigger and bigger as we got closer. We made our way down the mountain and kept driving to Tempe. You could just feel it getting hotter and hotter as we decended down the mountain. We finally arrived in Tempe a little after 2 p.m. Louie and busted our asses to unload the truck and get the TV set up in time for the NCAA Championship game at 5 p.m. We were in front of the TV with beer and Boston Market in time for the tip-off.

It was a long trip but I'm glad that I did it. Driving across the county isn't something most people get a chance to do in their lives. Granted, we did it so fast that we didn't get to stop and check out anything. That's OK though. There weren't too many times during the trip that I thought I wanted to stop. The lasting impression for me will be the remote areas where you can drive for 20-30 miles and see nothing. That's totally opposite of what I was used to in Northern Virginia. It's amazing to see how big the county is and think about what people's lives are like in different parts. We're all Americans in this county but people are so different from state to state.

In my next post I'll update you on what I've been up to since I got out here.

The trip continues...

I'm back for another installment of the cross county trip. We'll travel through four more states in this post.

Ohio

TRIVIA! What is John's least favorite state? This one is easy, it's Ohio! I don't have one good thing to say about this state. I already knew what a shithole it was from my previous job. I was in charge of websites for 8 Ohio Newspapers . I got to read news from these various cities in Ohio every day. It's some of the most depressing news you'll ever read. Not only do they lead the nation in suicides but I would be shocked based on what I've read if they didn't lead the nation in child molestation as well. We stopped a couple times on our way through the state. The first stop was at a gas station, the second was at Wendy's (I was convinced I was going to get some rare fungus or infection after eating there). Louie and I couldn't believe the people we were looking at each time we stopped. It looked like it was still the 80's. You talk about white trash! Holy crap! It was so depressing to sit amongst these people and wonder what their lives must be like. I don't know where we were when I said this to Louie but I said "these people don't know any other way of life so maybe they're happy." You just think about how much they miss out on living where they do. I'm done with Ohio. I never want to go back. And yes, I have been to major cities in Ohio too. I've been to Cincinnati twice and spent several days there. It sucks! Ohio sucks! ANIMALS!

Indiana

Oh thank god! We're out of Ohio. OK, I'm really done with Ohio now. Indiana doesn't have much to offer as far as I can tell. This is point in the trip when every state started to look similar. A lot of nothing with small towns mixed in. Tons of farms. This was probably the most interesting state we passed through though for a couple of reasons. We're driving down the highway, it's getting close to 6 p.m. on Saturday night. We notice traffic slowing down up ahead and then we see tons of flashing lights everywhere. As we get closer I notice a lot of county vehicles, phone company trucks, police, and EMT. Then, all of a sudden we see houses torn apart. Some ripped right off of their foundations. I realized that I was witnessing the aftermath of a tornado for the first time in my life. It was one of the most shocking things I've ever seen. It's totally different seeing it in person versus on TV. Needless to say, it really put a damper on the mood for a while. Seeing that just makes me glad that I vowed to lived natural disaster free a long time ago. I would never live in a state where you're constantly under the threat of a natural disaster. After we got through the tornado traffic we realized that the Final Four was starting and we were within 10 minutes of Indianapolis. Had we not committed to such an aggressive driving schedule I'm sure we would have been tempted to stay the night there and tried to score tickets to the games. That's all I've got for Indiana.

Illinois

Come on feel the Illinois! Sadly, I have absolutely nothing to say about our time spent driving through Illinois. Farm... lots of nothing... small city... farm... nothing...

Missouri

Did Missouri show me? You'll have to keep reading to find out. Please remember, it's still Saturday! This is where I started to wear down. I drove for a little while in Missouri and then Louie took over as I passed out in the passenger seat. I remember waking up at point as Louie commented on fireworks going off everywhere. I don't know what is so special about April 1st in Missouri or the part of Missouri we were in but they love some fireworks. Our Saturday trip finally ended in Springfield around 11:00 p.m. with over 1,100 miles behind us. I honestly don't remember what hotel we stayed in. We weren't there long, I know that. We got up on Sunday around 8 a.m. and checked out. We ate breakfast at Shoney's (one of my fav's) before we hit the road. BREAKFAST BAR! I was wearing my Fugazi t-shirt. Our waitress walked up, looked at it, and said "I don't even know how to prounounce that." It was funny. I felt much more comfortable here than I did in that Wendy's back in Ohio.

Next episode: We start back up in Missouri and then hit Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico and Arizona.

Did you buy the new Pearl Jam CD?

I would write the next installment of my cross-country trip series but Pearl Jam takes precedence. Their new self-titled CD came out today. I must say my initial reaction is that it's not one of their best albums. That could change as I listen to it more. Either way, they are still one of the best live bands I have ever seen. They start their US tour next month so go see them if you have the chance. I never really liked them that much until I saw them live for the first time. I was hooked after that.

It's the same everyday and the wave won't break
Tell you to pray, while the devil's on thieir shoulder

Laying claim to the take our soldiers save
Does not equate, and the truth's already out there

- Eddie Vedder, Worldwide Suicide