*long sigh, where to begin*

Left Bowie about 10am Monday morning. Drove through DC to give wife last final tour of DC before she never ever sees it again. Got on 66W, 81s, smooth riding to Knoxville TN. Was oh so damned tempted to hop on the dragon... But F150 full of luggage, 2 cats in crates, and 8.75 month pregnant wife didn't seem to be a good idea for the detour, so we trucked on... literally... pun intended, hah!

We got all the way through memphis, crossed the mississippi and were en route to Little Rock at about 10pm. I was tired, so she took over for a bit. By 11pm it was evident I wasn't getting to sleep due to the cats incessant meowing (and it was too cold to put them in the back), so after an hour we decided to stop at motel for a short rest, because she was already tired, and I knew I could truck on with a 4-5 solid hours of sleep.

Well, sleep didn't happen. The meowing didn't stop. I could have left them in the truck, but again, it was below freezing, and I love my cats. So I got about 4 mini naps. We left at 5am... I made it about 45 minutes before I began doing touch-n-go's... Wife was back asleep, so I pulled over at a rest stop, put the cats in the front seat, and went to sleep next to her. For some weird reason, the cats remained quiet the whole time. The truck warm for the time being because it was warmed up and we only stopped for a few hours.

She got up about 8am, and started driving. I got up about 10 and took her place then hit a waffle house for breakfast. We kept on going through Little Rock, then Oklahoma City, then turned south towards Wichita Falls, TX to visit grams. Got there about 4:30pm, visited Grams from 6-11pm, then hunkered down in a hotel again. Decent visit, good rest, cats were quiet for some reason. Maybe because we were there about 16 hours instead of 5.

Set out about 10am the next morning, stopped at Sonics for breakfast, and drove on... and on... and on... Texas was 65 degrees in the morning... But by the time we made it back to I-40 the temp had dropped to 40 again. Because of the warmth, we had put the cats (in kennels/crates) on top of the luggage, and when it got cold we almost brought them back in, but to avoid the annoying meowing, just threw a blanket over them.

Temp had fluxuated between 38 and 55 the whole trip, but he cats were fine. Wife had driven a couple hours, and was unable to continue, which was fine. So we stopped at another hotel, and again picked up first thing in the morning after breakfast. Made it to Holbrook, Arizona, at about 10pm.

Setting out again about 10am we hit Denny's for breakfast, we passed meteor crater with a shrug, at about 1pm, hit the California border about 4pm, and made it to our destination about 6pm. Said our hellos, got the cats unloaded and in the house, then unloaded pretty much everything else. So we arrived Thursday, about 6pm. 3 days is the average trip, which was fine. Tho if we hadn't stopped in Texas, we probably could have made it to California the night before.

Speaking of California, rat bastards went from $2.50 a gallon on the Arizona side of the border, to $3.60! I asked why and the attendant said "We're the only place that has Federal, state, county, and local taxes, heh!" I thought all of California was like that, but fortunately once we got further in, gas went back down to about $2.60. Did you know those hippies passed a law requiring special vacuum seals on all gas pumps, so no fumes get out? Kinda nice, but it's a beech to get the pump seated right so it would start. The attendant had to come help the n00b who's never pumped hippy gas in California before and make me feel like a Moron, despite my California Driver's lisence.

Ahh, well, so we get to Cali on Thursday... B has a docs appointment on Friday... So we spend Friday with the family, unpacking, eating In-n-Out, and at her appointment. Still exhausted we hit the pit (bed for you non-navy types) early, and awake to the house door bell ringing. Being me, I'm first one out of bed and at the door, only to recieve a good morning messages I've recieved before (rhyme not intended, but hey, I'm that good). The man at the door said "Hey, someone broke into your car".

Yeah. Welcome to California. Someone saw an nice out of state truck, with shizzle stuck to the windshield, so they figured we made a nice target. Luckily we unloaded pretty much everything the night before, but they made out with our TomTom GPS, Escort Radar detector, and my leather jacket... But they left B's $200 Columbia jacket. And when I flew back to DC Sunday night, I had no jacket.

They also did quite a number on the truck. They tried to pry off the driver's door handle, they broke both front windows, glass EVERYWHERE, they entered through the windows stepping on the door handle breaking the interior door panel... Ugh, what a bunch of @$$hat morons. USAA sent out a window repair unit ASAP, and they were there within 2 hours and took care of the windows. I had to pay it as it was less than my deductible. USAA says they won't cover the radar detector, and the jacket was personal property so it also won't be covered... But all other damages and losses were (there was $40 in power splitter and phone cords too, but whatever) covered, so thats still being worked out.

Southern California people drive like @$$holes as well. Every shmuck on the freeway is doing 85mph in their SUV in a 60/65mph zone. I saw no less than 200 F150's while I was there. Apparently that's THE vehicle to have in the valley. Traffic is insane. Will post video later.

But aside from the crime, the trip went well. B is with her family who's going to take awesome care of her for the next few months. Only other not-good thing was B isn't getting the furnished room she thought she was, and I had to buy her $500 worth of crap from Ikea to hold her the few months she'll be there. Meh.

I got back home at midnight last night, and am working mid-shift this week. I'm going to start with my house repairs, and it'll go on the market the first week of march, which is also when I fly back to California to welcome my son into the world.

That's all for now, summarized.

Oh, and here's what my checking account looks like:

02/09/2007 RAMADA INNS HOLBROOK $54.95-
02/09/2007 SHELL OIL 91002607 QUANAH $37.70-
02/09/2007 SHELL OIL 93002621 TUCUMCARI $37.48-
02/08/2007 TOWNE CREST MOTEL WICHITA FALLS $49.72-
02/08/2007 SHELL OIL 93002617 OKLAHOMA CITY $37.20-
02/08/2007 SHELL OIL 29523293 RUSSELLVILLE $21.89-
02/07/2007 MOTEL 6 BELLS $48.18-
02/07/2007 SHELL OIL 91002738 NASHVILLE $38.32-
02/07/2007 SHELL OIL 57524486 KINGSPORT $34.43-
02/07/2007 EXXONMOBIL75 0420 STAUNTON $30.14-
02/07/2007 BP OIL 3766 EARLE $28.29-
02/07/2007 EXXONMOBIL18 0102 PHILADELPHIA $24.52-

I'm sure there's gas missing off that list as well, as none of California or Arizona's towns/stops are on there.

Oh, and a special thanks to Krutty for picking me up from BWI. I parked my car in a garage in DC thinking I was flying into DCA. He was happy to help out when he found out my error, and I can't thank him enough for the assist due to my brainfart!

 

Quite an adventure Will. Good thing you didn't take the MINI, they would of have a field day when they saw the Bat Mobile parked outside. Hope insurance replaces your electronics for ya. Welcome home for the long next two weeks, good luck fixing up your house and selling it quickly.

 

Welcome back! You're just in time for our Winter storm I'm glad to hear that you, B, and the kitty's all made it safely across the lower 48. Sucks that the truck got busted up, but it coulda been a lot worse. Maybe I'll get to see ya at some events soon.

 

GEESH! Man oh man! that is just so crazy! Glad that you guys made it there ok tho. Glad it wasn't the BatMINI that got broken into! Hope things go smoothly from now on.

 

Yep, welcome back. The truck thing sucks...but no one was hurt and things can be replaced (it's only money right?). Hey, trip could have been worse weather wise or labor wise. Those are the things is hard to plan around.

 

Third and last trip cross country for a while I hope. This time wasn't much fun. Ok, it was sort of.

 

You'll be making PLENTY of cross country trips in Guam hombre

 

Wowza - I'm tired just READING about your adventure!! Dang - what a trip....

Yep - welcome to California alright. You are SO right about the drivers here...crazy - crazy - crazy they are! Mike and I consider ourselves darn good drivers and I have to tell ya - it took us a good 3 months to get used to the freeways out here!!!! If you aren't going at least 85-90, they'll frickin run you over...

I'm really sorry about your truck...that sucks... Believe me - we've had our share of crap happen to our cars and house since we moved here... At least USAA was able to get the windows fixed quick....

Take care!!

Donna

 

See Will - didn't I tell you Donna would say that about California drivers? :-)

 

I knew already... I'm from California... I had just forgotten.

 

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...20254014083167

 

great video will, i like the commentary of the dangerous manuevers of the white car at about 5mph!

 

LOL Will... I like your Strongbad impersonation!

Also, love the later choice of music - NIN rocks! Have you heard the two released tracks from the upcoming album? Survivalism and My Violent Heart. They're both listenable on NIN's MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/nin

 

Sorry, I haven't, and I wouldn't touch myspace with a 10-foot-spider-proxy.

 

I don't have an account on MySpace either - they have just hosted their new tracks there. It's official/sanctioned. No account or login required. Just a web browse and listen.

But hey - whatever floats your boat.

 

wow what a trip..
I want to do a trip like that someday..
how fast was the drive? Any cops along the way?

 

Only 1 incident. When leaving New Mexico, there was this long straight road with no traffic, no landmarks, no nothing... This white F150 longbed w/ a company logo on the side shoots by me at about 90-95. I just mutter the a word under my breath and keep on truckin. About 7 miles later I catch up to him pulled over to the side of the road.

Myself, I kept the truck between 70-75 most of the way. The few hours the misses drove, she kept it around 60-65.

 

Boy you sure do drive your truck differently. You let EVERYONE in!

 

Well, the truck is certainly a different beast. On the Mini, I have 4-5 inches of clearance. On the truck, I have the 4x4 package which lifts the truck about 4-6' from stock and puts bigger meaner tires on. It sits a light higher, sways a lot more doing curves in the mountains, eats more gas going fast, takes longer slowing down, and there was quite a load of precious cargo inside. Yeah, I take my time in the truck.

Did you know the misses has used it to take down a Pontiac Grand Prix? Yup. The GP challenged it head on at about 35mph. GP = Totaled, the front of the car was bashed in so far, you'd think they'd hit a wall dead on. Truck = front tow hook bent to the left about 2 inches.

That was about 2 years ago, and water under the bridge... But my point is that the truck is a big slow lumbering beast.