Saturday, August 27, 2005

Trip Report #11







Today is Friday (8/26).

Hammer down, hammer down. Woke up at about 8:30 am and drove my *ass* off today. My first 1000 mile day ever. Driving through NM, TX, OK, it's easy to put on a lot of miles. I kept the cruise control at 84 and stayed in the slow lane. I found out that this truck is either RPM or speed limited and can only do about 98.3 MPH (per the GPS).

Arkansas.. what can be said other than nothing? Even my "1000 Places to See Before You Die" book has nothing to say. I believe it's the only state that doesn't have an entry in the book. There are *SO* many bugs here.

Stopped at a rest area and met a driver I had been talking to since NM, and even way back in CA. He let me check out his truck (man, it is *cool* sitting behind the wheel of those big Peterbilts!) and spent about an hour discussing the business and machines with me.

I got on "South 69". I had to stop, hold up traffic, and get a picture of that sign. Had it not been in front of a truck stop with a cop sitting there, I would have seriously considered stealing that sign!

I stopped at a rest area in Arkansas around 2am, and after 20 minutes and about 50 mosquito bites, I decided I'd had enough suffering. I hit the road again, filled up, added some (an entire gallon!) windshield washer fluid after running out due to the bug 'rain'-storm, and made it all the way to Palestine.. Arkansas, that is. What a name!

Only 20 miles from a XXX store (I need to stop by one - one of the escorts I was talking to swore to me she was a porn star by the name of Luci Thia - I gotta check it out), and about 70 miles from the "flying hook" (flying J - where I have Internet Access).

Sleep comes around 5:30 am.

Trip Report #10 - Pearl Harbor



Today is Thursday (8/25), I don't know when this will actually be posted.

Stayed up way too late last night (3:30 am), hung out in the casino, made $20 last for a couple of hours. For lack of anything better to do, sat around BS'ing with all the hottie escorts while they were waiting for clients.

Left my room at Caesars around 10am. Apparently the proverbial dinner bell went off signalling all of us to sign out at the same time. Over an hour in line. This meant that I got to have a Whopper for breakfast, yeah.

Saw the Grand Canyon today. OH.. MY.. GOD! I only stayed about 1.5 hours because of the need to make some time. I WILL be back here to stay for a week or so. Saw some mountain goats while there.

I had the strangest thing happen (and hence the Pearl Harbor reference in the title) - You know how people pass you, your eyes meet, and you give a half-smile to say "yes, I see you, I acknowledge your existance"? All week, those acknowledgements have been met with looks of disgust and an expression that says "die pig die".

What a change today has been (and hence the Pearl Harbor reference in the title). Asians, and in particular Japanese, are (in)famous for touring. Go to any major landmark, and there are hundreds of them. They seemed to be bombing me today. Just diving at me, crashing into me, without reason.

In my 1.5 hours at the Grand Canyon, no less than 3 Japanese hotties found it in their kind hearts to not only NOT look disgusted, but to start conversations and me and seem genuinely happy for some conversation.

One of them (the hottest by far - Shes a professional dancer and an aerobics instructor) followed me around for about 30 minutes and we took turns taking pictures of each other so we would actually have pictures of ourselves at the Canyon (me getting pictures with myself in them has been a problem for most of the trip. Pictures of her are in my photo gallery.. mentioned in previous posts.

We exchanged emails, said our goodbyes, and I was back on the road. I was followed on the only road out of the Canyon by a cop for about 40 miles of construction. That was relaxing... NOT.

Drove Route 66 for about 30 miles.

Before the night was through, I found myself "standing on a corner in Winslow, Arizona". Got some pictures of the landmark, including the famous flatbed Ford. It was already dark and this camera sucks, so I'm going to have to do some major editing in order for them to be seen.

Slept in the truck in a rest stop somewhere around Albuquerque.

Thursday, August 25, 2005

Trip report #9

Today was a much better day than yesterday; though not without it's share of problems.

I decided to stay in Vegas a second night so I could actually see some things and get some sleep... well, the sleep thing isn't happening. Gabby was sick again. Off to the regular vet she went. Turns out she had a reaction to the heartworm medicine and/or it caused the remaining heartworms to break loose. She's under close supervision

The hotel has made it a major headache to extend my stay. I've had to check out and check in again. Then the card didn't work, so it was back to the registration desk.

For those of you who have never been here, Caesars Palace is not only HUGE, but it is designed to take you in circles around everything, confusing you into staying and spending your money in their casino. So while it may seem a little whiny about the whole check-in/out and card reprogramming (not to mention yet another time to deal with cash deposits instead of credit cards) it's about 2 miles round trip I'm walking and an hour out of the 24 or so hours I have here.. it's a big deal.

Even after I told the front desk I did not need the room cleaned, told housekeeping I didn't need the room cleaned, and hung the do not disturb sign on the door, various departments still found it necessary to call me 3 times between 10am and 1pm to ask if/when I would like the room cleaned.

Now, having read the above, and possibly yesterday's post, it should be fairly obvious that I'm running on about 5 hours sleep total for the past several days.

Enough bitching.. on to the good stuff.

I took quick tours of about 3/4s of the hotels/casinos on the strip, ate in two different buffets, saw so many hot ass women that... I'm just at a loss for words. That super-thin and yet really curvy type I like so much and hardly ever see (so I get a little TOO pushy when i do find one).. they aren't rare after all, they are just all HERE.

Saw the fountains at Bellagio, went to Coyote Ugly and hung out long enough for two beers. Back to the room to update the blog and start packing.

Tomorrow I drive as far East as I can stand. Originally, Grand Canyon was supposed to be a multi-day (or at the very least, one day, two night) camping trip, but because of various delays I am behind nearly two days in my travels and am going to have to make the Grand Canyon a 3 hour tour.

At this point, I'm completely caught up on blog postings, but may start falling behind again as I'll (once again) have limited Internet access and have to put down some serious miles - 2200 by Sunday afternoon.

I/we will be making a trip to LA/LV something in the next 6-12 months to follow up on all the things I've missed and/or want to spend more time exploring.

G'night world. Feel better Gabby.

Trip Report #8


Today was a really bad day. Picked up the trailer, almost ran a guy over when the truck slipped into gear. Spent 4.5 hours driving around the damn cargo ship terminal area, got the trailer stuck (as in it took nearly an hour to get backed out) due to a temporary "parking lot" that was the equivalent of 6 parking spaces with concrete barriers for entry/exit spaced 8.5 feet apart.

didn't get started on the drive to Vegas until about 1:30. Got a call ,.. one of the dogs (Gabby, our newest addition) is really sick. Seizure, they (emergency clinic) believe.

Arrived in Vegas around 11pm. Got put on the 13th floor (if that ain't some bad mojo.. being in Vegas and being put on the 13th floor - which doesn't exist in most buildings), I don't know what is.

By the time I got all my shit straightened out, it was about 2:30am and the nightlife was winding down.

Stayed up until about 5:30 am catching up on business and surfing.

Pictures from the (still in progress) trip are HERE.

Tuesday, August 23, 2005

Trip Report #7

Saw SF today, combat style - we would stop at a site, jump out, take a picture, and then back into the truck and on to the next site. Not my style of sight-seeing, but at least I got to see some stuff - Golden Gate bridge, Fisherman's Wharf, the curvy road, China Town, and a few other things that I don't recognize.

I had to drop off the travel trailer for some repairs this morning. I am picking it up tomorrow (Tuesday) morning, taking it to the docks, and then I hit the road again.

Next stop - Vegas! I'm staying at Caesar's Palace. It's amazing how cheap you can stay at a 4 or 5 star hotel if you do it during the week. I'm still not quite decided on whether to see certain things that are kinda-sorta on the way. I know I'll regret it if I don't, but I'll feel pressured to drive more than I should if I do.

Among those items still up in the air are LA/Hollywood, Death Valley (Dante's View is supposed to be magnificent), Montery Point, and a few other things.

Chances are, I'll hit death valley and leave the rest for another trip/time.

Gotta get some sleep. I was up until 3:30 am, have been tired for days, and have to be up at 6:30 am tomorrow. Additionally, time starts working against me while headed home (time zones - time jumps forward, not back).

g'night.

Monday, August 22, 2005

Trip Pictures





Pictures from the (still in progress) trip are HERE.

I have no time to sort, explain details, or add captions. I'll do that once I get off the road.

Trip Report #6

Miles covered to this point: about 5200
Tonight is Sunday (Monday morning)

I'm writing the above because it's getting hard to keep the days straight; they are all starting to run together.


Spent the entire day driving the Pacific Coast Highway from somewhere in OR (maybe 100 miles north of CA?.. it was further away than I thought).

*beautiful* scenery.. saw the giant redwoods. Awe inspiring. Awesome saw more asian and later, hispanic women then I could shake my d*** at.

Stopped to wake up, do laundry, wash the truck. The "low clearance" sign at the car wash wasn't exactly accurate and the overhead pipe took out the front vent on the trailer and did some minor damage to the roof. So much for "free" fuel to SF.. the $ I'm getting paid will now be going to fix the trailer. Hopefully this gets done in time so the customer doesn't see what happened.

I'm only planning on staying in SF on Monday and then leaving first thing on Tues. If this can't be fixed tomorrow, but can be on Tuesday, I'll be staying here an extra day, probably bypassing either Vegas or the grand canyon and hauling ass home.

If it can't be fixed on Tuesday either, then the customer will just have to see it, be pissed, and give my company a poor review. This thing has to be in the terminal area to go on a cargo ship headed for Hawaii at 7am Weds morning.


Made it to SF about 9, should have been at the inlaw's house by 9:15. Traffic is HELL here. I couldn't get to the correct lane to get on the freeway I needed to be on (try changing 7 lanes with a 50 foot vehicle in 1/4 mile at rush hour and you've got a pretty good idea of what I was up against).

The GPS re-routed me. The new route was detoured. I was fucked. 1 hour, 3 passes across the bridge and $8 in tolls later, I was in the subdivision. It took another 30 minutes to find the street, get un-stuck from the apartment parking lot I turned in and get TO the right street.. another 15 minutes to make/find a suitable parking space.

A quick hello, dinner, pet the psychotic dog, shower, update the travel logs/blog, and it's off to bed.

Pictures should be coming soon. I haven't had the time, energy, or connectivity to deal with them.

Trip Report #5

Woke up at 5:30 am, took the 6:15 ferry back to Anacortes, drove to Seattle. Saw the space needle, took the monorail over to the fish market. Not nearly as much fish tossing going on there as TV would leave you to believe. Lots of quaint little hippie stores. Headed across the street and visited the first-ever Starbucks, that was slightly cool. Had a frappacino with malt added. I LOVE malt. Yummy!

Drove to Newport, OR and picked up the travel trailer. Made it just about to the state (CA) line, and couldn't stay awake another minute.

Slept in the trailer on the side of the Pacific/Oregon Coast Highway, 2000 feet up overlooking the ocean and some majorly tall rocks. Beautiful. It was *so* nice to sleep in something resembling a bed!