Showing posts with label atlanta. Show all posts
Showing posts with label atlanta. Show all posts
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Road Trip Across the US
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Once the decision was made to move all of my belongings in storage and in my parents' basement, I had to figure out how to get it all out to California. I looked at a few moving companies, but those ran anywhere from $1,600 to $4,000. I decided to rent a U-Haul for around $900 and did my best to recruit people to go with me. After a few days of trying it was pretty clear that I was going to be on my own. I almost got Lindsay to meet me near the halfway point in Oklahoma City (since she gets free flights from her mom, a Delta employee) but no one was able (or willing) to take the time off for the grueling trek.
I did the trip once before, driving from Bowling Green, KY, to Los Angeles with a former girlfriend. On that trip in early 2005, we got on I-40 in Nashville and didn't make an exit until that highway merged with another in California. We stopped in Shamrock, TX, on the first night and Las Vegas on the second night before rolling into LA after another half day of driving.
This would be a challenge because instead of a Honda Civic I was driving a 14 foot van. When I went to pick it up the night before I left I got another nice surprise - no CD player or tape deck. Listening to my own music (or books on tape as I had planned) was out of the question (the next morning I found that the cigarette lighter didn't work, so I couldn't even use my phone without draining the battery in a few hours). I packed up everything with a little room to spare and headed out around 7 am. My goal was to try to make it to each of the stopping points from my first trip since I would again hit I-40 and take it all of the way across.
Day 1
Fairly quickly into the trip I realized the challenge I was up against. After only a few hundred miles of driving I had to fill up the 30 gallon tank. That means I was getting 6-7 miles per gallon... with gas prices in the $3.40 range that means I was going to drop around $100 per fill up for the 2,100 mile trip, totaling around $1,000 extra. Yikes.
After a full 13 hour day of boring and uneventful AL, tip of TN, AK and OK, I made it to Oklahoma City and called it a night. I was a few hours behind my original timetable, but I also started further to the east. The van only made it up to 75 miles per hour, so I didn't have much of a choice unless I logged more hours. I still made time to do my Insanity workout that night to stretch my legs and get some restlessness out of my body.
Day 2
I got up the next morning and went through some significant changes in scenery over the next day. The plains of OK and TX quickly changed to the arid landscape of NM, with its red dirt, tumbleweeds and rock formations jutting out of the ground. Throughout the day I could see the remnants of Route 66 - it was sometimes used as an access road to the highway or local road as an alternate, but other times it was overgrown with lone standing old telephone poles. About halfway through the day I hit a brutal headwind of 30 mph with gusts even higher. I initially thought that the van was losing engine power since I dropped from 75 to 65 average mph, but the wind blew my door shut when I got out for gas.
I randomly stopped at one of the exact gas stations from my first trip. The only reason I remember is because a really large and tacky/creepy gift shop and Dairy Queen were attached. I got Lindsay a purple raccoon tail key chain to mark the occasion. After a round of snow flurries as I crossed into AZ, I kept climbing, climbing, finally calling it a night after 14 hours in Flagstaff at 7,000 elevation. There was about 6 inches of snow on the ground and the temperature had dropped to around freezing. I definitely wasn't dressed for that weather, so I went into the hotel, hit the Insanity DVDs again and went to bed.
Day 3
I got up early one last time, ready to knock out the last 8 hours of the drive. I hoped to get out of the snow and put my toes in the sand ASAP. It was mostly downhill after Flagstaff and without the detour into Las Vegas I had in the last trip, I powered into California. The temperature quickly rose as I entered the Inland Empire and after a SHORT 7 hour drive I made it "home."
My roommates helped me unpack and find room for most of my furniture. My roommate's girlfriend needed a table and chairs along with a coffee table, so I'm temporarily storing things there. Lindsay took my sofa and chair (I tried to sell them in Atlanta but had no luck). I'm slowly selling a few things off here and there (my road bike, for one) and finding room for the rest. It feels good to be living mono-coastal for the first time in a year, but I'm about to start traveling for work again. Le sigh.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
From Paradise to THIS?
I am truly going to miss everyone and everything in my second home. I've made lifelong friends - some that will always live in Australia, some that are from the US, and some that are from random corners of the world. I'll be back someday, hopefully soon.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Home and back again
It’s been a whirlwind week and I’m already on the flight back – it’s been my first chance to write in the past 10 days. Let me go back about a week and a half to my last night in Sydney…
I had promises from Dan 'Superfunkdaddy' Hoppin to meet up on my last night. I haven't mentioned him in the blog but Dan is British guy that is friends with Danni and company. We clicked immediately upon meeting, and have the same sarcastic, punny sense of humor. Dan likes to Photoshop. I'll give this link a 'Not Safe For Work' warning, although it is highly hilarious. There are many more pictures in his Facebook albums that crack me up. Yes, he put this on Facebook. If he and Tim meet up in July, I fear the planets may align and I will dislocate my jaw from laughing at whatever it will be that they do.
Anyway, so Dan and the Cali girls all said they wanted to go out on my last night, but when I called it seemed that everyone was on a date, tired or otherwise occupied. Instead, I spent the night chatting with people from the US as I lay in bed, my friend Courtney in particular. It was during working hours for her and I think she was really bored. By the time 3 or 4 am rolled around, I realized that I might be able to stay up all night. I hadn’t planned on doing that, but it made sense. Why not go ahead and throw of my schedule as much as I could?
So with Courtney’s help and lots of internet browsing, I made it through the night without much of a struggle. Around 7:30 I went out and got a taxi and headed to the airport. My 10 am flight was scheduled to connect in LAX and land in Atlanta at 3:30, giving me that day back that I lost on the way over a few months ago.
I wasn’t hardcore enough to have any drinks pre-flight, so I hoped my voluntary sleep deprivation would suffice. I popped an Ambien, plugged my ears and pulled my hat down over my eyes since it was light in the cabin. I couldn’t stretch out as much as the flight over because it was more full but I did get an aisle seat. I tossed and turned a bit, but had a decent 8 hours of sleep (for a plane). There were two Aussie women sitting next to me, and when it was obvious that I was awake she said to me, “I have never seen someone sleep so well on a plane. How do you do it?” I reached in my bag, pulled out the prescription bottle and rattled it. She started laughing.
My dilemma was that there were still 6 hours left in the flight. I decided to cut an Ambien in half and see what happens, then take the other half between Los Angeles and Atlanta. I probably got another 2 hours of sleep and spent the rest of the time watching the in-flight entertainment. Luckily they have shows like 30 Rock, It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia, Family Guy and newly released movies to choose from for free.
When I landed in LAX I had exactly an hour to make my next flight, which I knew would be tight. The airport there isn’t set up very well for international transfers (and neither is Atlanta for that matter). I had to wait at a carousel for my luggage and then check it back in which took forever. Then I had to pass through customs which empties you on the outside of the airport where taxis are dropping people off and picking them up. Then I had to go back inside, through the regular security and make my way to the gate. At this point it was 7:45 and my flight was supposed to leave at 8:00.
A guy was standing at the entrance to an escalator while looking for something and holding up traffic. I gingerly stepped around him and up the steps. He said something like, “Watch it, buddy.” I turned around and said, “Hey, you might have time to waste but I don’t.” He replied something about how I should get to the airport on time or something like that, but I was up the steps and let it go. No use getting in an argument in front of the TSA, that might be bad.
It turned out that my flight was delayed by a half hour so I had some time to relax in the terminal. I took the other half of the Ambien and got a few more hours of sleep on the plane before we landed in home sweet home. Just like when I first landed in Sydney, it was hard for me to tell what day/time it was or how much good sleep I had actually been able to get. I talked to my parents and we planned on going out to dinner near their house. I needed to pick up my mail and the pair of shoes I ordered, and to see Zabba of course. Later that night I went to Tap and met up with Daya and a few of her friends for a bit, then went to Hand in Hand to see Courtney (happy birthday!).
I had waves of exhaustion followed by waves of being wide awake, but my goal was to stay up fairly late and then just crash when I got home. I went to bed around 2 am and to my dismay I woke up, WIDE AWAKE, at 6 am. I sat up in bed, not knowing what to do. I suspended my car insurance for the duration of the trip so I was reluctant to use it too frequently, but this is Atlanta. I hopped in the car and drove to downtown East Point to see if my favorite diner (Thumbs Up) was open. It would be a few more hours so I continued to drive. I turned toward downtown and watched the sun come up over the city as I rolled through the empty streets. It ended up being a good reintroduction to my city.
I found myself up on Howell Mill so I stopped at Waffle House, that location where I have a lot of memories from when I first moved to the city including running into P. Diddy (I’ll blog about that sometime) and many late nights with friends that lived in the area. This morning there were still a few late nighters holding on to their last bit of inebriation through piles of waffles, eggs and greasy hash browns. I opened my latest read (I am Legend) and ordered my usual – The All-Star Special. On a side note, I am Legend was one of the few books that was worse than the movie. Others on the short list include A Beautiful Mind and Up in the Air.
I went back home and did some cobweb and dust cleaning around the kitchen and got ready for one of the highlights of my week – Shooting the Hooch. I invited Courtney and met up with my friends James, Erin, Shawn, Jaime, Micah and Daya, among others. Eric, Lindsay, Tim and Dylan punked out, no me gusta! We first started floating the river last summer and I had it on my MUST DO list while I was home. If you live in Atlanta and haven’t done it, shame on you.
The water was cold, as always (water is released into the river from the bottom of Lake Lanier), and it started to rain about 10 minutes into the float. It would’ve been miserable if it lasted the entire trip. Luckily we got through it and the rest of the day was bright and sunny. I got to catch up with everyone, have a few drinks and relax away the jet lag. We stopped a few times along the river and I did something I’ve never done before – catch a fish with my bare hands! I think it was sick or something because it was treading in about 6 inches of water, but it was a legit 6-7 inch bass, big enough for me to stick my thumb in its mouth and hold it like the bass tour pros, yee haw. As always when I catch my first fish of the day, I kissed and released it (that way it would tell its friends how nice I was and they would let me catch them as well – just like Dad taught me).
Somehow I survived the day without falling asleep, although I did manage to spill an entire bowl of marinara sauce all over myself at Fellini’s after the float. It probably made me smell better since I was all Hooched up. I cleaned up and hung out with Courtney for a while before going home to crash.
James and Micah invited me to play softball with them on Monday. Eric was out of town so they needed a spot to fill. I almost made a brilliant catch but ended up busting my butt as I dove backwards, the ball bouncing off the tip of my glove. I saw Jay B., my college friend from UK and former roommate when I first moved to Atlanta. It had been a while but was good to hear that Sara and the baby were doing well.
I also got my hair chopped off by Olga at Samba Salon (across from Tim’s house) on Tuesday, played soccer with those same guys on Wednesday, went out with Courtney to Two Urban Licks on Thursday and played soccer again on Friday with some former GT players that I’ve played pickup with over the last few years.
On Friday night we had a going away party for Dylan and Rachel, who were moving to Dallas for his new job. At least Rameen will have someone to play with now. We went to Fado and pretty much everyone was there. Daya and I hung out the most and caught up on everything, although we have emailed each other constantly through my trips (she got a new job – CONGRATS!). Two more friends have now moved to Texas… that makes 6 in the past 10 months. Hmm, maybe I should just sell the house and do the same?
On Saturday I was back at Fado at noon to a packed house to meet up with the GT soccer guys for the US-England game. I was pretty happy to come out of it with a tie. I can admit when we get lucky. After some more quality time with Zabba I met up with a few people at Moe’s & Joe’s in the Highlands for a low key night. I went home relatively early and got up the next day to visit with my Pelicans Football Club teammates. I missed almost the entire season but made the end of the year BBQ. Usually if I'm injured, it's from playing with these guys. We watched the World Cup games on that day and caught up for a bit.
My parents came and picked Zabba up later that day and I got everything packed for winter down under. Tomorrow I will go to LA, work for the day and fly out that night. I land Wednesday morning and start it all over again. I’m supposed to come home again in late July for my 10 year reunion (gasp!) in 6 weeks. Hello, frequent flyer miles.
I had promises from Dan 'Superfunkdaddy' Hoppin to meet up on my last night. I haven't mentioned him in the blog but Dan is British guy that is friends with Danni and company. We clicked immediately upon meeting, and have the same sarcastic, punny sense of humor. Dan likes to Photoshop. I'll give this link a 'Not Safe For Work' warning, although it is highly hilarious. There are many more pictures in his Facebook albums that crack me up. Yes, he put this on Facebook. If he and Tim meet up in July, I fear the planets may align and I will dislocate my jaw from laughing at whatever it will be that they do.
Anyway, so Dan and the Cali girls all said they wanted to go out on my last night, but when I called it seemed that everyone was on a date, tired or otherwise occupied. Instead, I spent the night chatting with people from the US as I lay in bed, my friend Courtney in particular. It was during working hours for her and I think she was really bored. By the time 3 or 4 am rolled around, I realized that I might be able to stay up all night. I hadn’t planned on doing that, but it made sense. Why not go ahead and throw of my schedule as much as I could?
So with Courtney’s help and lots of internet browsing, I made it through the night without much of a struggle. Around 7:30 I went out and got a taxi and headed to the airport. My 10 am flight was scheduled to connect in LAX and land in Atlanta at 3:30, giving me that day back that I lost on the way over a few months ago.
I wasn’t hardcore enough to have any drinks pre-flight, so I hoped my voluntary sleep deprivation would suffice. I popped an Ambien, plugged my ears and pulled my hat down over my eyes since it was light in the cabin. I couldn’t stretch out as much as the flight over because it was more full but I did get an aisle seat. I tossed and turned a bit, but had a decent 8 hours of sleep (for a plane). There were two Aussie women sitting next to me, and when it was obvious that I was awake she said to me, “I have never seen someone sleep so well on a plane. How do you do it?” I reached in my bag, pulled out the prescription bottle and rattled it. She started laughing.
My dilemma was that there were still 6 hours left in the flight. I decided to cut an Ambien in half and see what happens, then take the other half between Los Angeles and Atlanta. I probably got another 2 hours of sleep and spent the rest of the time watching the in-flight entertainment. Luckily they have shows like 30 Rock, It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia, Family Guy and newly released movies to choose from for free.
When I landed in LAX I had exactly an hour to make my next flight, which I knew would be tight. The airport there isn’t set up very well for international transfers (and neither is Atlanta for that matter). I had to wait at a carousel for my luggage and then check it back in which took forever. Then I had to pass through customs which empties you on the outside of the airport where taxis are dropping people off and picking them up. Then I had to go back inside, through the regular security and make my way to the gate. At this point it was 7:45 and my flight was supposed to leave at 8:00.
A guy was standing at the entrance to an escalator while looking for something and holding up traffic. I gingerly stepped around him and up the steps. He said something like, “Watch it, buddy.” I turned around and said, “Hey, you might have time to waste but I don’t.” He replied something about how I should get to the airport on time or something like that, but I was up the steps and let it go. No use getting in an argument in front of the TSA, that might be bad.
It turned out that my flight was delayed by a half hour so I had some time to relax in the terminal. I took the other half of the Ambien and got a few more hours of sleep on the plane before we landed in home sweet home. Just like when I first landed in Sydney, it was hard for me to tell what day/time it was or how much good sleep I had actually been able to get. I talked to my parents and we planned on going out to dinner near their house. I needed to pick up my mail and the pair of shoes I ordered, and to see Zabba of course. Later that night I went to Tap and met up with Daya and a few of her friends for a bit, then went to Hand in Hand to see Courtney (happy birthday!).
I had waves of exhaustion followed by waves of being wide awake, but my goal was to stay up fairly late and then just crash when I got home. I went to bed around 2 am and to my dismay I woke up, WIDE AWAKE, at 6 am. I sat up in bed, not knowing what to do. I suspended my car insurance for the duration of the trip so I was reluctant to use it too frequently, but this is Atlanta. I hopped in the car and drove to downtown East Point to see if my favorite diner (Thumbs Up) was open. It would be a few more hours so I continued to drive. I turned toward downtown and watched the sun come up over the city as I rolled through the empty streets. It ended up being a good reintroduction to my city.
I found myself up on Howell Mill so I stopped at Waffle House, that location where I have a lot of memories from when I first moved to the city including running into P. Diddy (I’ll blog about that sometime) and many late nights with friends that lived in the area. This morning there were still a few late nighters holding on to their last bit of inebriation through piles of waffles, eggs and greasy hash browns. I opened my latest read (I am Legend) and ordered my usual – The All-Star Special. On a side note, I am Legend was one of the few books that was worse than the movie. Others on the short list include A Beautiful Mind and Up in the Air.
The water was cold, as always (water is released into the river from the bottom of Lake Lanier), and it started to rain about 10 minutes into the float. It would’ve been miserable if it lasted the entire trip. Luckily we got through it and the rest of the day was bright and sunny. I got to catch up with everyone, have a few drinks and relax away the jet lag. We stopped a few times along the river and I did something I’ve never done before – catch a fish with my bare hands! I think it was sick or something because it was treading in about 6 inches of water, but it was a legit 6-7 inch bass, big enough for me to stick my thumb in its mouth and hold it like the bass tour pros, yee haw. As always when I catch my first fish of the day, I kissed and released it (that way it would tell its friends how nice I was and they would let me catch them as well – just like Dad taught me).
Somehow I survived the day without falling asleep, although I did manage to spill an entire bowl of marinara sauce all over myself at Fellini’s after the float. It probably made me smell better since I was all Hooched up. I cleaned up and hung out with Courtney for a while before going home to crash.
James and Micah invited me to play softball with them on Monday. Eric was out of town so they needed a spot to fill. I almost made a brilliant catch but ended up busting my butt as I dove backwards, the ball bouncing off the tip of my glove. I saw Jay B., my college friend from UK and former roommate when I first moved to Atlanta. It had been a while but was good to hear that Sara and the baby were doing well.
I also got my hair chopped off by Olga at Samba Salon (across from Tim’s house) on Tuesday, played soccer with those same guys on Wednesday, went out with Courtney to Two Urban Licks on Thursday and played soccer again on Friday with some former GT players that I’ve played pickup with over the last few years.
On Friday night we had a going away party for Dylan and Rachel, who were moving to Dallas for his new job. At least Rameen will have someone to play with now. We went to Fado and pretty much everyone was there. Daya and I hung out the most and caught up on everything, although we have emailed each other constantly through my trips (she got a new job – CONGRATS!). Two more friends have now moved to Texas… that makes 6 in the past 10 months. Hmm, maybe I should just sell the house and do the same?
On Saturday I was back at Fado at noon to a packed house to meet up with the GT soccer guys for the US-England game. I was pretty happy to come out of it with a tie. I can admit when we get lucky. After some more quality time with Zabba I met up with a few people at Moe’s & Joe’s in the Highlands for a low key night. I went home relatively early and got up the next day to visit with my Pelicans Football Club teammates. I missed almost the entire season but made the end of the year BBQ. Usually if I'm injured, it's from playing with these guys. We watched the World Cup games on that day and caught up for a bit.
My parents came and picked Zabba up later that day and I got everything packed for winter down under. Tomorrow I will go to LA, work for the day and fly out that night. I land Wednesday morning and start it all over again. I’m supposed to come home again in late July for my 10 year reunion (gasp!) in 6 weeks. Hello, frequent flyer miles.
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