Homeward Bound

Hey everyone.

Well it's been a very busy week. Lindsey and I moved out of our apartment in Portland with the much appreciated and much needed help of Scott and Elise and their friends (now also our friends) Tommy and Brad (thanks everyone!!!).

Lindsey and Mojo flew out Thursday night - the night after the incident in London with the terrorists - to return home to Lafayette. Do I need to tell anyone that Thursday was a very sleepless night for me? You try putting your wife and cat (your entire family) on a plane the day after an attempted terrorist attack involving multiple planes. Thankfully, they arrived safely Friday morning and are both doing well.

I left Portland in a 22 foot Penske rental truck at 11:30 am on Saturay morning.

As I write this I am at the end of that day. It is currently 3:00 am on Sunday morning. I drove until 2:30 and decided to call it quits here in Lathrop, California (Dad, I tried to spend the night in Lodi, but the two hotels in the town were both booked solid...very disappointing...guess it was because I didn't come in on a Greyhound). Lathrop is a very small town about 60 miles south of Sacramento. I am staying in a Hampton Inn which is brand new and very comfortable. I am also exhausted, so excuse this post being straight to the point. Hopefully I can tell the story of the drive more eloquently at a later date.

So, after 15 hours on the road today I am calling it quits. I am off to bed. Tomorrow I plan to head further south on I-5 to Bakersfield, Ca. From there I head east on I-40 all the way to Shreveport, Louisiana. Once I reach Shreveport all I have left is the all too familiar drive south on I-49.

I will update tomorrow night from my next hotel, wherever that may be. I feel that I am making pretty good time, but not nearly as good as the last time I took this route heading in the opposite direction. Who would have thought that you just can't haul ass in a 22 foot moving truck the way you can in a Honda Civic. I haven't gotten above 65 miles per hour on the trip yet, and don't plan to. The truck shuts itsef down at 75 MPH (or so I was told when I picked the truck up). What all of that translates to is that I have no idea just how far I will be able to drive tomorrow. I may end up in Arizona, I may end up in New Mexico. Hopefully, with any luck I will end up in Gallop, New Mexico (wink, wink to those who joined me at the Horse Brass on Friday night).