A Perfect Day for College Football

Location: Raleigh, North Carolina, USA

The journey has officially begun!

I boarded my flight from Tulsa to Greenville about 6 PM yesterday evening (with all of my bags barely packed, but definitely ready to go). My flight went off without a hitch, with a quick layover at DFW I arrived in Greenville at about 11 PM to Dan practically waiting for me at the airport (fantastic timing)! From there, Dan drove us back up to Raleigh where we promptly crashed at his brother Chris’s girlfriend’s apartment.

Today was pretty relaxing. Dan isn’t going to see his brother for a couple of months so we wanted to spend one last day hanging out. We slept in pretty late, but got ready quickly because we wanted to get to the football game early. Today, I was not a Cowboys fan, I was not a Longhorns fan, rather I was a North Carolina State Wolfpack fan. It was a hard transition (as their color is red… which I despise, generally speaking) and we were rooting against a team in Orange (Clemson). I snuck in as a student (thanks Samantha, whoever you are) and we got FANTASTIC seats on the front row of the endzone. Although the game was pretty much a wash, it was amazing fun to be so close to the field, even though we were losing. We battled to catch field goal attempt balls, helped raise the net to catch the extra close ones, took our picture with Mrs. Wuff (the mascot bride) and chatted with the security guards keeping any overzealous fans off the field. The weather was perfect, the sun was shaded by the stadium walls and all in all, it was a pretty perfect day.

On the way home, we grabbed a pizza, tossed the football in the parking lot until dark and then headed in for a quick catnap and some TV football. Unfortunately, neither the Texas, nor the Oklahoma State games are showing out here, so I have resorted to following the score via Sportacular. But hopefully, neither team needs my help.

Today really went off without a hitch. A good relaxing start to a hopefully relaxing trip. My only major blunder today involved a car called Wanda. Wanda is a 1996 (ish) Bermuda Grass Green Ford Escort with as many problems as Britney Spears pre-comeback. Wanda (who I named after the domestic abuse victim from the Dixie Chick song “Goodbye Earl”) has a number of issues. She has attachment issues; her front bumper is held on by twisty ties. She has trust issues; her driver door doesn’t open, so to enter the car, one must sneak in through the passenger side and open the driver door from the inside. She’s not very bright; the interior lights do not work at all. She’s got a bad clutch (not a metaphor) that squeaks and creaks every time you step on it. When she cries, there’s really no stopping it as the windshield wipers are relatively useless and completely have a mind of their own. She also has is incredibly picky, she only has one key and without it, you’ll never get in.

So when I asked Dan for the keys so I could go get my pack out of the boot (my accent and vocabulary transformation has already begun), Dan responsibly reminded me, “don’t forget to not lock the keys in the car because we don’t have a spare!” I walk towards Wanda, laughing and thinking that I would do something like that. I open the trunk, grab my pack (which required two hands and a brief set down of the keys – aw, CRAP! That’s where I went wrong!) and slam the hatch down quick to run back inside the house… But without the keys. Literally less than 30 seconds after Dan had reminded me to steer clear of this very predicament. Fortunately, I had made a mistake earlier in the day that saved us. I had accidentally forgotten to lock the passenger door when I got out of the car earlier, so we (and by “we” I mean Dan) were able to crawl into the car and reach for the keys. Crisis averted.

Not sure about the plans for tonight yet. Probably something relaxed as we begin Dan’s roadtrip tomorrow and drive North to Washington D.C.

XOXO

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Now playing: Third Eye Blind - Graduate
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I'm finishing my states!

Location: Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA

So today is the big day. My bags are not packed and ready to go, my work is not finished and ready to be delegated, I’m sort of sick and I even still have shopping to do. But today is still the big day. I’m leaving in about 3 hours for South Carolina to begin one of the largest roadtrips I’ve ever taken part of.

For those of you who follow this blog religiously, you may recall a certain trip that I took to Canada back in May (for those who do not remember such a trip or for those who need a refresher, read these blog posts). Dan, who was the Australian I drove to Panorama, BC has been staying with his brother Chris in Raleigh, North Carolina for about a month during his time off between summer and winter seasons at Panorama. A couple months back, Dan told me that starting in November, he was going to be driving back to Canada before starting winter work early December. He politely asked if I wanted to tag along for part or all of the trip (not sure if he actually wanted me to come along or not – last time he’ll make that mistake).

Fortunately (or unfortunately) for Dan, I have been wanting to do this trip since I got back from my European backpacking adventure in 2008. Once I spent a decent amount of time abroad, I realized that there was so much to do right here in the US and I wanted to make sure that I saw every state before I traveled abroad again. This goal became a little more urgent when I decided to start traveling abroad again in 2010. Dan’s timing couldn’t have been perfect.

So today, we begin the quest to get Dan back to Canada, and along the way, we will finish all of my states (except Alaska – which deserves its own trip). The plan is as follows:

Fly to Greenville, South Carolina.
Drive from Greenville, South Carolina North through North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Quebec, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota and North Dakota (*whew* that’s sounds a lot more daunting now that I write it down!).
Dan continues on to Canada from Fargo, ND and I fly back to Long Beach for our December company staff meetings.

We will also be joined by the notorious Mr. Brian Lee from the New York through North Dakota leg as a road trip wouldn’t be complete without him!

We’re going to attempt to cram all of this into two weeks. And hopefully we will succeed because I have a plane reservation made already :)

So that’s the plan, I’ll be picking back up blogging more frequently now that I’m on the road again so stay tuned for letters from the road.

Also, if you’re on twitter, feel free to follow more up to the date updates on my twitter @ahesser

Now… time to go get packed!

XOXO

Nothing like sunset at Oasis

Location: Austin, TX

I guess I really needed the sleep... Passed out hard at John's last night after Little Woodrow's. Didn't have much time to sleep in today, had to get up bright and early to get Jeff to the office for some meetings and whatnot.

Work has been slow and choppy today. I'm all over the place, which I hate and would much rather just be working on one or two things, but alas, this is how it usually goes. We did get to go to Madam Ma'ams for lunch today which was GLORIOUS!! Mike wanted Thai, so I suggested we make the extra half mile or so trek down to the main drag rather than go to the Thai place up on like 35th and Guad (yuck!).

After work, Jeff and I headed out to Mark's to go pick up David who was just sitting around watching ESPN as it turned out. Shortly after, Mark got home and we all piled in the truck and decided to take a little scenic drive. Mark lives down near 2222 and 360 and so we drove out down 2222 then up 620 pointing out great landmarks like Steiner Ranch, the Lake Travis Dam, some Dungeons and Dragon house and then this sweet little gated community Mark somehow knew the code to (I don't ask questions). We ended our city tour at the Oasis for a little sunset dinner... or sunset appetizers and drinks, I should say. We spent a good amount of time reminiscing and sipping on brew while discussing the big plans we had for the weekend. Of which we had a lot :)

After Oasis, we dropped Mark and Dave back at Mark's house, since Mark had to be up early in the morning they weren't up for a big night out. Jeff and I headed for Cain & Abels to grab another beer and plot our sleeping arrangements (which had yet to be determined). With the courage of a couple of beers, I texted pretty much everyone I knew in Austin to hit them up for a couch to crash on, and after admitting defeat finally, we went back to John's. I didn't want to overcrowd because the whole famdam was supposed to get in town the next day, but we had no other options unfortunately.

XOXO

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Now playing: Switchfoot - This is Your Life
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Hit the border by the morning, let Texas fill my soul...

Location: Austin, Texas, USA

Last night was a VERY long night of nothingness.   We drove all the way across California, Arizona and New Mexico before the sun came up and there was NOT a lot going on.  However, as I am speeding along at approximately 95 mph on the beautiful Interstate 10 and blissfully singing along to a mellow tune on my Sirius, I am suddenly BLASTED by a series of blinding flashing of light.  Speed cameras.

I'm telling you, those things are NOT safe.  I screamed... Jeff thought we were being abducted by alients (thought crossed my mind as well) and John was convinced we were being shot or missiled.  No matter what was actually going on, the three of us sprial into a panic of death and it takes about 5 minutes before my heart stopped pounding.  I literally almost ran us off the road.  Disaster.

After the near death experience, we basically lull back into our daze until the sun started to come up just outside of Las Cruces, New Mexico.  It was a beautiful sunrise, and we pulled over in a small town just in time to watch it come over the Organ Mountains.  And in true mobile worker fashion, as soon as the sun came up, Jeff and my radar went off.  Realizing my e-mail hadn't sent to Greg the night before, I scrambled to find wifi in Messina (which is an adorable little historic adobe town just outside of Las Cruces).  We ended up bootlegging from some guys house while sitting in our car in the driveway.  Not creepy at all. But we got the job done and it was off to Texas.

El Paso/Juarez was beautiful in a sort of urban destruction, political invasion kind of way.  I was so amazed to see that while driving down I-10 for a stretch, we were literally the closest thing to Mexico besides a fence and a river.  And even more astonishing than that was the incredible contrast between the US and Mexico that was just as clear as a line in the sand.  Even the air was being discriminated against.  You could see a physical cloud of nasty hovering over Juarez while El Paso looked relatively fresh.  We didn't spend much time, just a quick drive-through and continued on for the long haul through West Texas.  About 30 minutes outside El Paso, I get pulled over.  The cop (who was very cute, btw) asks me for my information, tells me I was going over the speed limit and when I ask how much faster, he just winks and says "faster."  That's never a good sign!! But I escape with a warning encouraged with a little flirting and we continue on our trek. 

West Texas was... West Texas.  The same thing for about 10 hours.  It really wasn't too bad.  There was a lot to look at.  Lots of fields, oil rigs, strange rocks, small towns and strange people on the road.  It was actually quite entertaining.  The only thing i was disappointed about was that I spent a good 20 minutes looking for the darn football stadium when we were in Odessa and nothing.  Couldn't find it.  After passing about a million more oil rigs and a million more wind turbines, we arrive at DFW airport to drop John off. 

After parting ways and wishing him luck on his attempt to get to Chicago, we turn southbound 35 and head on down the road (sorry, I couldn't help it). It was amazing how quickly this drive went by.  Pulling up and seeing the Austin City Lights was just like I remembered it and I am so excited to be here.  As soon as we got into town, we headed straight to John's to pick him up and grab a bite a Kerby Lane (queso, pancakes and beer - gotta love this place) before making another pit stop at Little Woodrow's (just ONE more beer) and heading back over to John's to pass out.

I'm actually not that tired, although I'm sure as soon as my head hits the pillow, i will be out.  Tomorrow will be fun, I'm excited to see the new digs at the Austin office and to get some actual solid work time in before things REALLY get crazy!

XOXO

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Now playing: Simon & Garfunkel - America
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Texas, Texas, Yee-haw!!

Location: Indio, California, USA

I'm pretty sure I've started many a blog post out that way. But I really am pumped to see her, every time I do. The conservative California... the Southern giant... the state I love to hate and hate to love, but do it all the same.

This innocent trip started simple enough. While in Chicago, it seemed natural for me and Dave to plan our next adventure (the traveler's curse, always looking ahead). Dave had never been to Austin and Mark was living down there with his brother about to start law school so it seemed like the obvious choice. When Dave decided on Memorial weekend, it was definitely the perfect time for another roadtrip. This time, I was desperate for some Saguaro cactus's and to see the big lights of a Friday night showdown in Odessa. But who am I going to convince to drive across the country with me for a week and a half to see some rocks, cacti and country?

Jeff.... duh.

Jeff's a geologist and a good friend from work (due to our close proximity as outliers in the age spectrum of our company as well as an incurable love of a certain beverage formerly known as cerveza). I knew he'd be on board for a trip to the desert so last night (while simultaneously scouring the craigslist rideshare section) I pressured him into throwing in the towel and coming along.

After a brief, but busy, stint at work this morning (plagued with "what time were you leaving again"... uhhh... NOW!!!) and well into the afternoon, we finally got on the road about 4. I had Jeff start the journey in command so I could pull together some last minute reports for Greg (sounds familiar, Canada) and we raced to pick up John of craigslist, who would be venturing with us as far as DFW.

John was an exceptionally interesting travel companion and definitely rounded out the extremely wide range of viewpoints already lingering in the van. John also brought along the most lovely pooch who made me miss having puppies around oh so much (no offense Tins) and who I contemplated kidnapping on numerous occasions. We quickly lost track of our modesty and jumped right into some deep and rich conversations about... what else... relationships, God, politics... you name it.

Somewhere just after sunset, we ran into Indio. A quaint (and hot) little town I remember only from horse shows, this place is relatively deserted. But I only needed one thing... wifi (strangely became the theme for the trip). So we drove up and down looking for cafes and finding nothing. Finally, I spotted it.

A Washateria!!!! Well... an off-brand... but still!! A nice laundromat with (drum roll please...) wifi!! So we found some exterior outlets (oober-sketch) and plopped down on the sidewalk to partake in a little late evening work overload. I finished my reports, shot them off to Greg and even wrote this blog entry all in the time it's taking Jeff to... do whatever it is he's doing.

So now it's off to the Rite-Aid next door to grab some grub (aka cheddar goldfish and Swedish fish - no one remembered them on this trip B Lee) and then off I go driving until... well... until tomorrow night.

XOXO

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Now playing: Carolina Liar - Show Me What I'm Looking for
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Eat. Shower. Canada - Fire. Water. Burn.

I try to try, and I live to live

Location: Hollywood, California, USA

I woke up yesterday somewhere in Oregon, which was another beautiful gem to add to my list of unknown states. It had rained some more but now was relatively patchy. Everything was incredibly green because of the fresh moisture and as we wound through the mountains, the light mist turned to light snow. There wasn’t much of it, but it was just enough to flock the trees and dust the roads. It was extremely picturesque coming down into the valley. Then right as we came out of our Christmas tree farm, right in front of us is Mt. Shasta. Now, I had heard of this little bump in the ground before, but NEVER did I expect this. It’s is this GIANT volcano that juts out of the middle of nowhere. There are no other mountains touching it and it is just surrounded by grassland and pine trees. Completely snow peaked and surrounded by some clouds, it looked like a painting. Unfortunately, Herr Brian (aka nazi) wouldn’t pull over to let me take a picture because he said we were running too far behind, so I snapped what I could from inside the car and onward we continued.

It was probably about this point that we ran out of music on my iPod as well. I have about 2000 songs on there, which I guess lasts about 80 hours, because that’s where we were. Not good. So we decide to do a little Chris Cornell marathon and play everything I have before the show.

We continue down central California through the central valley, Sacramento and the San Joaquin Valley. We pass hundreds of acres of cherry trees, avocado trees, orange trees, grapes, lettuce, almonds… pretty much everything. But that’s really all there was. It was relatively boring and redundant. Traffic started to pick up as we passed San Francisco and so did the winds which made it hard to drive a consistent speed. As we got close to LA, I took over driving again and led us into the city. We drove straight to the Wiltern in Hollywood, grabbed some PBR and a bag of chips and parked in the covered garage to change clothes and have a snack.

We walked into the Wiltern about 3 minutes before Chris went on stage. We grabbed a quick beer and ran in just in time to hear the beginning. It was one of the greatest shows I’ve seen, such an honor to watch such an amazing rock legend do his thing. And absolutely the perfect ending to the best and longest road trip any human has ever attempted in one weekend. Brian and I swung by the SM Apartment to pick up my mattress and Tinsley and then I dropped him off in Belmont Shore and headed to my own little pad for a much needed nap. And that’s that… the end of an incredible trip… And definitely one I’ll never forget.

Vancouver, BC, Canada --> Long Beach, CA
Miles travelled: 1319
Time travelled: 24 hours

XOXO

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Now playing: Curtis Peoples - Country Road
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If you catch me at the border I got visas in my name

Location: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

So we hit the border last night around 3:30 AM (slightly later than planned – damn fruitless Yellowstone detour). I was wondering how they were going to receive us… Two Americans, a Scotsman and an Aussie – staying for less than 24 hours in the country except for the Aussie who is staying on a 12 month work Visa… all very complicated. But the only part that caused trouble was Dan’s visa. Apparently, the systems were down at all of the checkpoints across the border and there was no way for them to issue him his work permit. Now we panic for a solid 30 minutes probably. He either has to wait on the US side until 8 AM and then try again, or he can go into Canada as a visitor and return to the border within 10 days to get his permit. Seriously? Not cool.

So we opt for option 2, leaving the border patrol station just glad to be in Canada. That didn’t last long. We quickly realize that we’re almost out of gas and that the next official gas station is more miles away than we have gas in the tank. Now we’re also wondering if we will actually make it to Panorama in time to get Dan to work at 9 AM. There are HUNDREDS of deer off the side of the road and I, having been driving for almost 45 hours at this point without a break, am starting to see things. Thankfully, Mark chimes in with the perfect distraction and teaches us a great Irish drinking song called “Seven Drunken Nights” which we sing and perfect while coasting down the Canada mountains towards the gas station – which we luckily made.

We continue towards Panorama, it’s about 6 AM now, and now the REAL animals start to jump out at the car. We’re talking gigantic horse sized Elk hiding in the bushes and lurching out at us when we drove by. About 15 minutes outside of Dan’s apartment, I hit my brick wall and he takes over driving the home stretch. We arrive at the employee lodge and his apartment is ready and waiting for him. We stumble in, he takes a shower and we pass out three deep on his twin sized dorm style bed while he heads to his first day of work.

After a couple hours snooze, we say our goodbye’s and the three leftovers head towards Banff where Mark has now decided he wants to go for a couple days. We drive through Banff national park, which is, of course, beautiful. It’s always been one of my favorite places and it never gets old to drive through there. We attempt to take our picture at the Alberta border, but that was a disaster without our stellar time photographer, Dan. We meet up with Mark’s friend at the McDonald’s (go figure) in Banff and grab some lunch. After saying another set of farewell’s, Brian and I start the long trip home. As we calculate it, we have 25 hours to get back before the Chris Cornell show starts at 6:30 PM on Sunday. That’s going to require yet another straight through drive – yippee….

We drive through much of British Columbia and stop a couple times to take pictures and once to watch what’s called the “Spiral Bridge” which is a set of tunnels and bridges where trains descend from the mountains down to a lower elevation valley. It’s way cool and at one point you can see the train going in one side of a tunnel, out another and then through a spiral in the mountain and coming out right below itself. It’s just like a train set you would build in a garage, only… real!

About 30 minutes after the spiral train… I am done driving. So Brian takes over and starts his 24 hour streak. I pass out in the backseat for about the next 8 hours while Brian does his thing. We hit a pretty bad storm outside of Vancouver and run over a couple trees (or at least that’s what they looked like to me). Needless to say, I was laying in the backseat with all three seatbelts on in a strange fashion. I knew we had to book it, and I knew if I kept watching, I’d freak out, so I just laid down and said some prayers. I guess it worked fine!

Kalispell, MT --> Vancouver, BC, Canada
Miles travelled: 863
Time travelled: 23 hours

XOXO

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