In December 2013, 7 months after my Dad passed away, I drove from California to Ohio to help a friend move a bunch of wine across country. It was an interesting trip for me and my dog Sophie who was alive and full of energy at the time. We saw much, and upon return I wrote the following:
a couple of nuggets I learned in my recent drive from California via Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Indiana, Illinois to Ohio…
a. gas is less expensive and higher octane the further east you go.
b. it’s possible to make this trip doing in excess of the speed limit and NOT get a ticket
c. cell service in New Mexico SUCKS BADLY if you’re on AT&T and I mean BADLY.
d. Oklahoma has crazy people that will drive 90 – 100 in the FOG even though you can’t see 2 feet past the hood of your car and they’ll do it for miles on end without hitting anything. This causes those of us who normally will not do this to do it just to see if it’s a Jedi Mind Trick. It’s not.
e. Missouri has more porn shops along I40 than I have ever seen anywhere!!
f. There are some very polite people out there and there is an air of hospitality that you will not get in California or other places West of the Mississippi. (and I knew that from my previous trek, but it was more apparent now. There’s a level of appreciation for Veterans that is simply AMAZING. God bless them for that.
Okay, that’s enough for now. It was an awesome trip. It’s nice to be back here at the beach, but I do believe once there’s nothing holding me here, I may entertain a move to a more central part of the USA. Although the butt freezing weather they’re having might not suit my bones so much…but we’ll see.
Eventually, in 2015 I would relocate to Arizona with Sophie, and she would die that year, 10 days before Christmas.
Life goes on.