Day One - 1.25.11
Starting Mileage: 129864
First five minutes - Christina has fallen asleep.
9:43 - Spencer breaks cruise control.
11:58 - First gas fill-up. Spence and I discuss the size of my gas tank. Spencer fills tires with air in the pouring rain. Exit 203 - Tallahassee.
12:10 - We pass an 18 wheeler with logo "Spencer's Theatre of Illusion". Gives me and Spence a good laugh. Spencer claims to be capable of magic. I am somewhat skeptical of that claim. Christina still sleeps. Jack is being good in the back.
11:39 (time zone change) - Listening to Led Zeppelin's "Going to California". Pretty amazing song. Makes me think of Mikey Flick.
12:12 - Spot a billboard that says "America - Love it or Leave". Rain has stopped. Christina is awake. Jack needs to urinate.
1:25 - Stop for lunch. McDonald's schweet tea is so good. Almost out of Florida. All the shit we have in the truck and U-Haul is killing our gas mileage.
2:52 - Made it to Alabama. Finally out of the state. Let the traveling begin. Passed a trucker that had driven one million miles.
4:54 - Missed all of Mississippi. Just crossed into Louisiana. Not going to New Orleans. Look at all the double S's in this section. Lots of water here.
5:28 - Stopped at Quick Chek for gas. The station sold hard liquor. Next to the checkout counter were many sex enhancing pills and flavored condoms. But the most disturbing of all was a box (contents of which were unknown) displaying hardcore anime sex on the cover. Nothing subtle about it. You could see the guys huge veiny cock. Really funny but such a strange gas station/ liquor store/ sex shop. Multitasking I guess.
9:15 - We discover Spencer is part of a sexually based cult via an anonymous text message he received. Not surprised.
9:50 - If you're not making dust... you're eating dust.
10:41 - Transmission goes to shit in Lake Charles, Louisiana.
Day Two - 1.26.11
9:33 - Atomic Towing came and picked up the truck. Taking it to AAMCO for an estimate on a replacement transmission or possibly rebuilding the transmission. I hope this process doesn't take too long. Lake Charles is not quite LA. We've checked into an extended stay hotel.
Day Four - 1.28.11
12:07 - Nothing really happened on day three. We spent most of the day at Lowe's killing time. Watched an ample amount of TV. We are leaving the hotel now. We'll have to sit next to the trailer until the truck is ready.
1:10 - We are now sitting behind the Cracker Barrel. Christina had a green ladybug land on her hand. Beautiful day outside, which is nice. Probably 68 degrees, warm and sunny, with a light breeze. Not a cloud in the sky.
4:30 - Walking builds blisters and blisters build character. We are unfortunately still in Lake Charles. The transmission guy decided he wanted to take a month to build my transmission. If everything goes according to the mechanics plan, we'll be rolling out of here tomorrow. LA, we will get to you eventually. Back in the hotel again, watching TV. Playing some more cards. Christina hasn't showered in days. She is starting to really STINK. Hence her name Stinkabug. Gonna get some more beers.
11:52 - Spencer beats us all. Final score is Samson with 455, Stinka with 355, and Spencer with 565. Pretty disappointing night of cards. We didn't expect the Spenceman to pull through with the victory. Good for him. This will be one of the few victorious moments of his life. Jack has been sleeping on the bed like a human all night with his body on the side and his head on the pillow. Hopefully we'll get my truck back tomorrow.
Day 6 - 1.30.11
1:26 - Still sitting in the hotel. We are now in Lake Charles. The AAMCO guys haven't been able to fix my truck. Starting to worry we might be here for a while. I've moved past the point of anger. I am now just extremely discouraged. Really tired of being in Louisiana though. Would be nice to be in Los Angeles right now. I need to get Jack to a vet before his ear infection gets too bad. We were supposed to be in LA for three days now. Spencer, Christina and I are still getting along though, despite being cooped up in hotels for a week. Almost done with my book. TV is becoming less entertaining by the minute. The rain has been pouring down all day, adding to the general discouraged mood of the room.
Day 7 - 1.31.11
Spencer has left us to return to Jacksonville to go back to work. Some kids just don't have the heart for these long, miserable, discouraging Lake Charles days. He has abandoned us. He left on a Greyhound bus. And he did have to walk 3.7 miles to the station from the hotel. Me and the Stink are taking Jack to a vet today. I feel his ear infection is worsening, and part of me thinks we'll be here awhile. I don't want to risk him having permanent damage to his ear. Can't wait for LA. His appointment is at 2:30 and it's 1:06 now. I forgot to log the time at the beginning of this entry. The mechanics are still pounding away at the truck. NOT LOOKING GOOD!
Day 8 - 2.1.11
3:00 - Truck is fixed! We are about to get on the road! Yay! No more Lake Charles.
5:52 - We've been driving some ways now. We're well into Texas. The wind has been very frustrating. It's blowing straight out of the west, which is really slowing us down. Looks like we're gonna be doing 55 mph all the way through Texas. Don't care too much though; just happy to be back on the road and moving WEST!
Day 10 - 2.3.11
11:33 - Fuck Texas. That turned out to be the worst part of the trip. Long and boring. Not really anything to look at until west Texas. Drove through New Mexico last night. Arizona today. Beautiful. I would consider moving there one day. Such an interesting and unique landscape. Crossed the California state line at about 5:00. First stop in Cali was Starbucks. Made it to LA!!! Crazy city. We are definitely in the CITY. We drove by our new house. Looked pretty cool from the outside. It's the only house left on the street. The rest are apartment buildings. We're going to meet up with Erik tomorrow to get the keys and get in the house. We're pretty excited to finally be here, doing this. It took a while but we finally made it. At the hotel now, watching some TV. Can't wait until tomorrow. Jack's ear turned out to be nothing. Probably just some moisture in there from swimming up at Yulee.
