The Way Out

The pace of the first half of the trip out has been quite intense. Not by need, but I was just in the mood to pass some interstate under the tires. That’s my kind of driving. I got all the way to Flagstaff before the eyelids started getting too weighty so I pulled off at a stop to close the eyelids for a bit. That plan worked until the truck cooled off and I woke up FREEZING!!!! It must have been about 35 degrees outside. The only way to warm up was to start it all up, so it was time to get rolling again.

It was starting to get light again and that made it far more entertaining as the interstate/americana passed by the outside. I just can’t get enough of the changing contours, random oddities, and all the neat stuff out here. The first half of this trip will go fast. If I stopped at everything I see, it’ll take weeks to get there.

It wasn’t too long until I found myself all the way into Oklahoma City. My clear skies were now randomly spritzing and going into heavy rain and thunderstorms. I was spending too much time looking at the lightning instead of the road so I took the next off ramp to watch the storm pass. I nested amongst an aluminum forest of light standard in a Wal-Mart parking lot for extra protection and watched the amazing show out the windshield and listened to the rain pounding on the roof of the truck. It was a good time for another nap anyway. Five hours later I woke up and all was clear.

The "Rest Area-2200" tour has been quite interesting. We all know CA has a few basic rest stops scattered around, and this trip I found the entire fleet on the 40 in Arizona was closed. I wonder if they were hacked from budget cuts? Farther East I go the better they get. There are also different classes of rest areas that offer varying degrees of services. The lowest of the scale are Picnic Areas and that’s about all they are(a few tables and some might be covered) . The higher end of these are Welcome Centers. These are usually the first rest area right when you cross a state border. They can just about be classed as parks. They are usually manned during daylight hours and offer up advise on what their state has to offer. It’s a nice break to pull into some of these. (This particular one even has Wifi).

A last marathon push today brought me through Little Rock, Memphis, Birmingham, and I currently sit on the border of Georgia with some time to burn. Time for a quick update and another nap. Normally, I’d check into a room but a friend insisted I swing by his house instead. (thanks Andre). If I continued on I’d be there around midnight and I’d rather not get his whole house up. I’ll bug out of here around four and bang on his door for breakfast instead.

Then to unpack and prep the boat...