Erin The Tourist...

To quote a great 20th century poet, ‘It was a good day’.

Yesterday I got my first full paycheck from my new job. Very nice. I got some over time, and the best part, my moving expense reimbursement. I of course used this money to pay back my mom, pay my rent, cable, electric, and phone. After that was complete I noticed something interesting.

I had money left over. Better yet, I had a nice sum of money left over. Apparently 16 hours of over time will do that for you! That, combined with the moving expense reimbursement that I didn’t have to pay back to anyone.

I pondered purchasing the parts to fix my computer but my mom smacked some sense into me via T-Mobile. I’ve been here almost a month and I haven’t done anything fun. Haven’t gone to the casinos, haven’t done anything touristy. Nothing.

So I decided to do something that no nerd in Vegas can pass up on. I went to the Star Trek Experience.

I’m not going to lie to you. It really was the most fun I have had in a very long time. I had a lot of fun going through the museum and seeing all the props from the show. But that isn’t really why you go to the experience.

I paid my fee to get in (29.99 after my locals discount – it pays to live out here!) and got into line for the 4D Borg experience. It was a Thursday afternoon so there really wasn’t a lot of people there.

They ushered us in and people in full Starfleet uniforms played characters on a space station. They interacted with prerecorded Star Trek characters, leading us through corridors that had the Borg walking down them.

Then the coolest part of the attraction. They put us into a ‘shuttle craft’ and had us wear ‘safety goggles’. This was the 3D area.

Now I am not going to give away what happens, but this really was the coolest thing I have ever experienced. I swear that when you are in there you tend to forget that there isn’t a little Borg fly 6 inches from you face, spraying you with Borg nano-probes. Freakin’ amazing.

The Klingon ride is very cool to. Kind of violent though. The simulator shakes you HARD, but the 60 foot screen makes it very cool.

Once I rode the rides twice I went and spent some money in the gift shop. Spent a little over 100$ on a NX-01 t-shirt, a Star Trek Experience polo, a computer game and the coolest thing at all, a picture.

I was hungry though, so I headed down to Quark’s. Got myself the Warp Core Breach. It was fuckin’ huge with 5 ounces of alcohol in it. I was EVENTUALLY able to finish it, but I’ll be honest, when I was done I was buzzed like a motha’… Which made my next time through the Borg Invasion even more trippy…

I also had some very good fettuccine, with shrimp and lobster.

Once that was done, and I had dropped 60$ in the casino, I took a ride up and down the monorail (I’ll talk about that later) and drove on home. 7 hours later.

When all is said and done, I left the Las Vegas Hilton and the Star Trek Experience about 240$ poorer. It’s not something I could do every day but considering that it’s been a long time since I have done anything really fun I think it was worth it. Sometimes you have to splurge on yourself.

Yeah, Ice, it was a good day.

She's Dead, Jim...

It's a sad, sad day here in Sin City. My beloved computer, Alix2 was declared dead at 0215 PST, today February 24, 2005. While a full autopsy has yet to be conducted, it's presumed that she died from a brain tumor - or whatever the computer equivalent of that would be.

Several days worth of surgery was performed on her. She was originally diagnosed with a heart problem. She would just suddenly stop working, going into full cardiac arrest. However each time she managed to recover, but lost any memory of what happened just before the arrest, unless I remembered to CTRL-S.

Newegg.com was quickly contacted and a replacement heart (are you tired of the medical comparisons yet?), known in lay terms as a power supply was ordered. The transplant happened yesterday at 1300 PST after the professionals at FedEx arrived a day sooner than expected. Alix2 maintained consciousness for a couple of hours before the arrests began again.

Further investigations into her illness determined that the problem lied either within her brain (processor) or her nervous system (motherboard). Unfortunately these vital organs are expensive and the decision was made this morning by her family, Erin (yeah, I know I have issues, back off!) and her little sister, Sarah.

Sarah has now taken on the task of being the only gateway to the internet now, however since Alix2 was an organ donor, her drives and cards will go to use in the newest member of the family.

She should be built and brought to life in just three paychecks.

If you wish to show your condolences to the family, please email Erin to get the address where you can send your cash donations. Large, unmarked bill are preferred, but if you must send a money order please make it payable to cash.

Alix2: December 8, 2003 - February 24, 2005.
COD: Processor failure related to smoking and over clocking.

Speak For Yourself

In the continuing series of old school rants from about 5 years ago, here is one I wrote about people 'speaking for God'.

I advise you to steer clear of this posting if there is the possibility that my jaded views on religion might offend you. Of course to be honest, if I was worried about offending anyone I would just keep my big mouth shut...

---

Alright. As some people who know me already know I am very skeptical when it comes to religion. All of them. I don't really believe in God, but I don't really disbelieve in God either. I do, however, find it hard to believe that any god would let the things that happen in the world happen unless he/she was an evil or sadistic god. I have heard people say 'God spared them' or 'God brought me back because it wasn't my time to go' and such. Why were these people spared and not the 3000 in NYC and DC? Where they all bad people? And I can't count how many times I have almost cried when reading about a little child being killed somehow and the parents have the nerve to say 'It's okay, he's with God now.' It's not okay.

That's off topic though. What I want to talk about is how some people find it their responsibility to speak/act for god. I am not just talking about those people who were responsible for the 9/11 mess. I also am talking about the 'domestic terrorists' mailing bombs to abortion doctors. People like Jerry Fawell who find it necessary to put people down because it's their job to belittle people for God.

Here's the deal. If there is a God, and he needs something said, trust me, we will hear it. Murder and other hate crimes, while still punished by the law, almost seem acceptable by people because that's the way it should be. Is abortion wrong? In my opinion, yes. Is being a homosexual wrong? As far as I am concerned, no. But if it is, then they will get their comeuppance once they are dead. If you really believe in God, leave people alone and let them burn in hell if you think that is what they will do. Jerry, shut up. You do nothing to help your cause with your hateful speech. And in my opinion anyone who takes you seriously is just a stupid as you are.

While I'm On The Subject...

While I am on the subject of personal responsibility, I thought I would post the following. I wrote it about three years ago and it's been sitting on my personal website (www.douglasavenue.com) collecting dust. Thought I would give those of you who didn't read it a chance to see it!

Another rant about personal responsibility.

For those of you who have been in a box for the past 100 years let me give you a real quick tip. SMOKING WILL KILL YOU! It would seem that no one seems to realize that. You smoke, get sick and die all I have to say is 'SUCKS TO BE YOU!' Seriously. Any idiot knows that smoking is bad for you. Yet SOMEHOW the tobacco companies have been found responsible for these peoples medical expenses. That would be like me taking my Contour out and driving 130 MPH, crashing, being seriously injured and then suing Ford saying that they didn't tell me going 130 into a wall would hurt me.

Oh wait. Cigarette packages have warnings on them.

Simply this is a case of people not wanting to take responsibility for themselves. Then all of a sudden the states and their lawyers want to make some money off of this. So, at the lead of Minnesota, they sue the tobacco companies to recover the money they had to spend treating sick smokers. Sorry, I don't buy it. No one held a gun to these peoples head and made them buy cigarettes. Even if someone did if they didn't work on behalf of Phillip Morris then the tobacco companies still aren't at fault. So how did Minnesota et all win this case? Because the tobacco companies knew that they had enough skeletons in their closets that their PR was in the crapper. The states said that big tobacco misled consumers. That they marketed to kids. Okay, what if they did? How is that relevant to the recovery of medical expenses. Sounds like court action the FTC should have taken up. The states too had the right to sue for false advertisement, but they have no right to all the cash they stole. Yes, I said stole.

The states did have the right to recover the medical expenses. But they needed to recover it from the people at fault. The smokers. But Minnesota can't sue seriously ill and dead people. So they go after what we call a scapegoat.

So, what does Minnesota do with the money? Do they help get people to quit smoking? Of course not. They get way too much tax revenue from the sale of cigarettes. (Yes sir! The state is making money off of you killing yourself!) They instead start an organization called Target Market. Target Market is a bunch of kids with what seems like an endless supply of money who's only goal is to defame the tobacco companies with misleading statistics. Too bad no jury in this country would convict them because big tobacco could get their money back in libel and slander suits. So, what has Target Market done for the state of Minnesota? What have they done that has put to use the billions of dollars the state got? They have made it their mission to let us know that cigarette smoking is bad for you.

No shit!

Now there is some chick in CA who is sick from smoking so she sues the tobacco companies and wins! 20+ billion dollars! I nearly hard a heart attack when I heard that. Thank God it will come down on appeal if the case isn't thrown out (like it should have been to begin with.) If it stands everyone sick from smoking will sue. Then one of two things will happen. ONE: The tobacco companies will file bankruptcy and go out of business, leaving the people who sued with no money for their legal expenses even. Good you say? Phillip Morris, the biggest tobacco company, does not just make cigarettes. Say goodbye to Kraft. Say good by to Miller. Say goodbye to a lot of things that I bet you didn't even know were owned by these huge corporations. States will lose millions of dollars in tax revenue each year. The charities that Phillip Morris and RJ Reynolds (plus others) contribute to will lose millions. TWO: The tobacco companies will pay. They need to get the money from somewhere. Your 100$ grocery bill will quickly become a 300$ bill. Either way, we all lose.

It's not stopping with cigarettes though! Now, some fat guy who ate McDonald's for breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day for years suddenly realized that he was fat and was developing diabetes. Not his fault he ate all those fattening foods. No sir. It's McDonald's. They never mentioned that food cooked in grease and animal fats, smothered with cheese and mayo and to drink a beverage whose main ingredient (next to carbonated water) is more or less sugar, was bad for you. Mister fat guy I have one thing to say to you. You, sir, are a dumbass. I hope you not only lose your case, but I hope you go bankrupt paying your legal fees. Then I hope you get your fat ass out of the house, walk around the block once or twice a day, eat a salad and disappear into obscurity.

Imagine that. Fast food is fattening. Did you also know that coffee is hot? Oh, and I can't forget that the person shooting someone isn't at fault. Smith and Wesson are.

It needs to end. Maybe it will take every single business in America closing down, but it needs to end.

Personal Responsibility Declared Unconstitutional...

Well, pretty close. The family members of two Alabama police officers shot and killed, along with a police dispatcher, are suing the makers of Grand Theft Auto.

From an article on ABC News:

“A lawsuit claims the video game "Grand Theft Auto" led a teenager to shoot two police officers and a dispatcher to death in 2003, mirroring violent acts depicted in the popular game.”

The article goes on to state that the teen, Devon Thompson, ‘played the game repeatedly’.

I guess by that logic since I watch the show CSI repeatedly I am now qualified to become a forensic scientist.

The article quotes the lawyer for the families, Jack Thompson:

"What has happened in Alabama is that four companies participated in the training of Devin … to kill three men (.)"

The four companies being Wal-Mart Stores and Gamestop, where Devon purchased the games; Take-Two Interactive Software, the manufacturer of the games; and for some reason, Sony Computer Entertainment, the maker of the PlayStation 2.

If you haven’t read the article yet, Wal-Mart and Gamestop shouldn’t have sold Devon the games. He was 16 at the time and the games are rated M – for mature, 17 and older. However the ESRB rating guide isn’t mandatory. Stores are under no legal obligation to card people when they attempt to purchase these games.

The one who really gets me though is Sony. Sue the makers of the PS2. Of course you know that means that HP can be held liable if a pedophile uses an HP to download or create child porn. Ford is liable if someone gets drunk and plows over your mom with their Taurus. And of course Jesus is liable if someone gets hit by lightning.

Getting a bit ludicrous? So is this stupid ass law suit.

Grand Theft Auto 3 had sales of over seven million copies. Now, while I don’t follow the news as closely as I probably should, I can say with nearly 100% certainty that there were not 7 million police officers killed the year that came out.

Let’s assume that 1% of the people that played GTA 3 committed a homicide like they do in the game. That’s 70,000 homicides. According to the Department of Justice’s Uniform Crime Reporting in 2003 there were 16,503 murders.

So, even if we were to assume that every single murder in the United States in 2003 was the result of GTA that would be .23%; less that ¼ of a percent of the players of GTA 3.

Now, I am sure by now you are wondering what my point is.

My point is that it is not only logical to assume that the video game did not make this kid go off and kill these police officers, but it’s statistically proven that the game Grand Theft Auto does not make you go out and commit murder.

Devon is an evil person. There is no grey area in this people. Devon is a horrible, cold blooded murderer. No one is responsible for the deaths of those two police officers and that dispatcher except Devon. Not the makes of GTA, not Wal Mart, not Gamestop and sure as hell not Sony.

Devon made the choice to steal that car, he made the choice to disarm that police officer and he made the choice to gun down those three public servants in cold blood. It’s his responsibility and he will pay for it, hopefully with his own life.

As for him getting the game in the first place, where the fuck was his parents? Why did they let him buy the game? GTA has been in the news for YEARS. There is no way they would not know what the game is about and what kind of things happen in the game.

Even if they were hiding under some sort of rock before hand, why didn’t they see what he was playing? Were the too busy working?

It doesn’t matter. Playing a violent video game doesn’t make you violent. I’m not and I played GTA religiously when it first came out. When I bought GTA 3 I played it till my fingers bled. But I certainly didn’t kill anyone nor did I have the urge to.

It saddens me that the families of these brave police officers are trying to cash in on the death of their loved ones. It saddens me that Devon is trying to deflect the responsibility of his actions onto someone else. (That isn’t stated, but they had to find out he played GTA somehow, and apparently his parents didn’t know or care.) It saddens me even more to see the blame someone else crowd upping their assault on freedom of choice, and in turn the consequences of that choice.

Dean DNC Chairperson!

In honor of Dr. Howard Dean getting the job as the new DNC chairperson, I wanted to post a link to what is called the 'Dean Scream Remixes'.

If you enjoy Howard Dean as much as I do simply because of the scream, or you think that his scream shouldn't have been the nail in his coffin - shows you how the Democrats want to be seen, eh?

DEM 1 - "Well, we got this guy who's socially liberal and fiscally conservitive who balanced his states budget despite a recession and is excited and is getting his fans excited or a dull as dishwater horsefaced baffoon who may or may not have shot himself to get out of Vietnam."

DEM 2 - "Well, Dean screamed the other day, so I think we should go with the guy who doesn't have a chance of beating King George."

DEM 3 - "We're progressive!"

This site is for you! Dean Scream Remixes YAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!

Also, for a serious discussion on what Howard Dean's new position means to the Libertarians, check out Cool Party.

Virginia Attempts Fashion Ban

The Virginia House of Delegates recently attempted to pass a bill making ‘low riding’ illegal. No, low riding isn’t in reference to those tricked out trucks this time. The low riding Virginia was attacking is where kids (or adults I guess) wear their pants below the waist – allowing you to see their boxer shorts.

Now, while I find this look to be stupid beyond all belief, what we got here is one more small chip away at our civil liberties. Fortunately a Virginia senate sub committee agrees and the bill was quickly disposed of. It did however pass in the house 60-34, and that scares the hell out of me.

I was lurking around Fark and they were discussing this. One person, like me, mentioned that this was a unconstitutional violation on freedoms. Someone else shot back by saying ‘bah! It’s only punk kids!’

Here is where the problems start. The government cannot just take away ALL our freedoms at once. There would be a civil uprising that makes the Iraqi ‘insurgency’ look like a love fest. But, if the governments chip away at them, slowly and almost unnoticeably, well then before you know it we’re going to be having ‘show elections’ where people with guns shoot you if you don’t check the yes box.

Before you tell me to take off my tin foil hat and hide in the basement, understand that I don’t have a basement. I don’t even have a hat! I don’t think EVERYTHING the government does is an affront to making us all slaves. I don’t think the CIA killed JFK and I don’t think the government planned 9/11. But I know that the states and the federal government are, slowly and methodically eliminating small freedoms we have.

Don’t believe me? Walk into a 7-11 in a non-CCW state and see what happens. Try wearing a shirt that says FUCK BUSH to a public political rally and see what happens. Be a Muslim who just happened to be taking vacation pictures at the lake which just happened to have a power plant behind it. See what happens.

It goes with one of my favorite phrases. It’s not paranoia if they’re really out to get you.

Fear Factor...

I assume most of you watched the Super Bowl on Sunday. Or at least have gone to some of the websites that show the Super Bowl commercials. Because let's face it. Unless the Rams are in the Super Bowl, the game isn't worth watching. :)

If you paid attention to the commercials, I am sure you saw the GoDaddy commercials, poking fun at Senate hearings on 'indecency'.

What of course you didn't see was a second, longer spot, schedule to run at the final 2 minute warning. According to the head of GoDaddy's blog the NFL called FOX and had them pull the second ad.

Quote:

The NFL persuaded FOX to pull our ad.
We immediately contacted Fox to find out what happened. Here's what we were told: After our first ad was aired, the NFL became upset and they, together with Fox, decided to pull the ad from running a second time. Because we purchased two spots, we were also entitled to a "Brought to you by GoDaddy.com" 5 second marquis spot. They also chose to pull the marquis spot.

Well, here is a link to the ad.

I give you this for two reasons. One, the chick is smoking hot and needs to be seen! And two, I want to show you how 'offensive' it is. How 'terrible' it was and how it HAD to be pulled because the NFL is so afraid of offending a couple of morons that they cost FOX money.

If you watch the spot, and you are offended by it, you, my friend, are a moron. There is NOTHING in the ad worse than you can see walking down the street or watching daytime television.

I hope we finish this War on Boobies soon. It's very sad for me as a member of the creative community to have to watch artists and broadcasters stifle themselves for fear of the SS-FCC bankrupting them.

Westward Ho! Day Three

This really isn’t day three, since it was still Sunday, but for the purpose of this blog we will consider it day three. I determine my days by when I go to bed.

I woke up from my roadside slumber at about noon. I pulled out my handy Rand McNally atlas and saw that I had 24 hours to go another 500 miles. I pondered this for a moment and realized that I was way ahead of schedule. Despite the blizzards I was going to arrive in Vegas too damned early.

I decided that I would take my time and make some stops along the way. The sun was trying to make its way out and it was warming up. There was some rain off in the distance, but since I have no fear of rain I could easily play tourist. I was running along side of Route 66 and I thought it would be neat to drive it for a while.

I used the clean, State of Arizona facilities to change and do my business and headed back out onto the interstate. I drove non stop till I reached Flagstaff, AZ – mostly because there were no stops (‘next exit with services 55 miles’). It was there I decided to turn off and have some lunch. So I pulled off at the Route 66 access exit and gasped.

There was a small mountain range there. I don’t know if the people in Arizona would consider them mountains, but being from one of the flattest states in the union, anything over 1000 feet high is a mountain. It was one of the most spectacular sites I have ever seen. I think that both being from Illinois and being a photographer gave me an added appreciation for the Mother Nature formed skyline.

Here are some pictures I took. Click to enlarge them.

I drove through Flagstaff and had lunch at a McDonald’s. Flagstaff is a nice little town and I think that if I ever had the opportunity to live there I would probably take it. I would recommend driving through there if you ever head this way.

After wasting up an hour I headed back out to the interstate. The sun was going down as I continued my trek westward. Again, here are some pictures of an AWESOME Arizona sunset. I have a little better understanding of how people can live out here in the middle of no where.

Later on I arrived at Kingman, AZ. I was considering spending the night there, but a couple of people told me it would take a long time to get across the Hoover Dam in the morning. So after having my healthy McDonald’s dinner, I headed up US 93 towards Las Vegas.

I noticed some signs along the way stating that commercial vehicles and busses were not allowed to cross the dam. I figured that it was because of the clearance on the vehicles. Maybe high profile cars were known to be blown off?

No, that’s not why.

About eight miles from the dam I saw a sign telling me to slow down. And then stop. And then pull into a police checkpoint.

I thought this was an odd place for a DUI checkpoint, but I wasn’t drunk, so whatever.

A private security guy walks up to me and introduces himself. He explains that this check point is part of a Homeland Security program to protect the dam from terrorists. I smile and say okay.

Then he tells me he needs to see in my U-Haul.

“Say what?”

I get out of the car, and unlock the dirt, salt and sand encrusted padlock protecting my lifelong possessions. I start to slide the door open and it jams.

I spend the next fifteen minutes trying to move a drawer from my desk that had wedged itself in between my nightstand and the lip of the roll up door. FINALLY I get the mother fucker out and the security guy looks.

“I need to see into the middle.”

“SAY WHAT?”

Long story short, I then spent the next fifteen minutes unloading half of my U-Haul just so the guy could make sure that I wasn’t planning on blowing up the dam. Once he spent ten seconds looking at the middle of the trailer, I then had to repack everything.

Now, my mother had assisted me in packing the U-Haul and she did a very good job. I, on the other hand, did a very bad job. Once the trailer was full, I had three boxes left. One of the security ladies that had been helping me with some light joked that it was similar to Tetris. I grumbled because I wasn’t really that good at the blasted game.

“Fuck it.” I said as I jammed the remaining three boxes into what little space I had remaining in my Malibu. I waved good bye at the dam police (get it?!) and headed towards the dam.

It may have actually been worth it. Hoover Dam at night is an amazing site I did take some pictures but unfortunately they didn’t come out on my POS disposable camera. But one did come out okay on my digital. Forgive the quality because at night it holds the shutter open for about 5 seconds. A big old pain in the arse.

I got to Vegas about an hour later and realized that it was only 11PM. I couldn’t move into my new place until 10AM. I had 11 hours to kill. So I went to Kinko’s and got on the net for a while, I went to a truck stop and had some food. I was then rudely awakened and informed by some snot nose rent a cop that I couldn’t sleep at this truck stop. So I drove across town and spent the night hidden between two big rigs at another truck stop. Apparently they didn’t care because when I woke up it was 9AM.

I went to the leasing agent and got my keys. I and a moving service that I had hired, quickly got my stuff inside. I promptly fell asleep and spent the next 14 hours dreaming of choking that rent a cop.

Sorry this went long, but it was a long day! I will be posting some pictures of the valley at night as soon as I get some. I took some with the dispoable, but for whatever reason they didn’t come out. Too bad too because it’s an awesome sight. Thanks for reading about my voyage west! I hope I never have to do that again!

Westward Ho! Day Two

I awoke from my upright slumber at about 4:30 in the afternoon. Pulled off a little over five hours of sleep, which I found amazing considering that one – I was sleeping in the sun and two – my car was so jammed packed that I couldn’t get my seat to lay down. So I slept in the same position that I drove. Not at all comfortable.

After emptying my surplus liquid tank and filling my cars gas tank I grabbed a bite to eat. Seems in Oklahoma they have this thing called a Lazy Dazy. It’s hamburger in what I can best describe as a hot pocket. It was actually very good, but then again I like greasy truck stop type food.

After having a couple of those I continued on. It was dark when I finally reached Texas, but that made the ride a bit more enjoyable. Not to take anything away from Texas, but the drive through the pan handle is very boring. There’s no scenery. The only real city along there is Amarillo.

I zipped through Texas, only stopping a couple of times, once every 130 miles, for gas. Texas, being much flatter than Missouri and Oklahoma, was great for my gas mileage. I was relieved to as my gas card had already been filled and I was running low on cash.

Things remained uneventful till I reached the cursed state of New Mexico. New Mexico has only one snowplow for the entire thousand miles of interstate that run through it. At least that is how it seemed. It began to snow, which isn’t really a problem. I have lived in the Midwest and north all my life and I can easily drive in it. However, when you don’t have someone salting the roads, said snow begins to accumulate.

But, it gets better. It wasn’t that cold, so the snow was more of a mush on the highway. Mushy snow is VERY slick and I found myself losing traction more than once, even though I had slowed down to about 30.

I found an 18-wheeler to trail behind. His tires cleared a nice path for me. But it wouldn’t last as the bastard was going to fast for me and eventually got too far ahead of me.

The road condition continued to deteriorate as I got closer to Albuquerque. Eventually I was forced to slow down to 15 and visibility was becoming very low. I eventually made it to an exit (the exits are like 15 miles apart) and parked with some other cars and big rigs in the parking lot of a closed Chevron station. I decided ‘what the hell’ and took a nice four hour nap.

After my nap, the snow had stopped and New Mexico’s one snow plow had managed to plow and sand (yes, sand – not salt for whatever reason) the interstate. So I brushed the snow off my car and headed towards Arizona.

Albuquerque got a little adventurous for me first though. I was having problems understanding why my cruise control kept shutting off. First I thought it was tired of trying to pull 3000 pounds uphill, but soon, after watching my speedometer hit 110 but I’m not going that fast, I realized that I was hitting patches of ice and that was shutting of the cruise. So I went to manual driving through the city and continued without incident to Arizona.

Once there I realized that my four hour nap wasn’t enough and stopped at the Painted Cliffs rest area, just inside Arizona and settled in for the – day.

Tomorrow, the conclusion – including my harrowing ordeal with Homeland Security and my night as a homeless man in Vegas!

Westward Ho! Day One

Sorry for the delay in my writing, but considering there is only about three people who read this blog, including myself, I didn’t think it would hurt too much.

This is the story of day one of my three day journey to Vegas.

It started out simple enough. Teary goodbyes were had, hugs and kisses and the whatnot. I pulled out of the driveway, and the trailer attached to the back of my Chevy Malibu did not fall off. Good start! It was 10:30 PM, a couple of hours later than I wanted to get started, but no big deal.

The problems started to occur when I got to Litchfield. I realized that I had used almost a half tank of gas. Litchfield is about 40 miles from Springfield. 40 miles, 6 gallons, that’s 6.3 or so miles per gallon. Not acceptable.

So I pull into a gas station and checked things out. I check the trailer out and everything is okay. Then I check my tires. Big problem. The front tires, the drive tires, are about 20 PSI lower then they should be. I air them up properly and I make the next 80 miles on the remaining tank of gas. Still not the best gas mileage, but then again it is a poor little V6 hauling a 2000 pound trailer won’t be getting the 35 MPG it normally would.

The weather hadn’t been too bad, but then I reached St. Louis. Now, I don’t know how long it would normally take to make it from the Mississippi River to Eureka, but I am damned sure it isn’t an hour and a half.

The roads were terrible. There were too many accidents for me to count, and I think the highest speed I reached in I-44 inside St. Louis county was 20. But once I made it through, it was smooth sailing. Sure it was still snowing like mad, but the Missouri Department of Transportation did a great job of salting down the roads so they were wet, but not slick.

I stopped off at the Waffle House somewhere in Missouri. It was the first time I have ever been to one, and I have to say, if you’ve never been to one, you don’t know what you’re missing. The hash browns were AWESOME! Smothered and covered, if I remember correctly. Stop reading right now and go to your nearest Waffle House!

All continued to be okay, even with some icky snow till I got to Oklahoma. Apparently I-44 between Missouri and Tulsa, and then again between Tulsa and Oklahoma City has become a turnpike. I stopped at the toll booth and nearly pooped myself when I saw the fee. $5.75, for a total of $11.50 to traverse half the state to OKC. Last time I checked, we paid a tax on gasoline so that we DID NOT have to pay tolls. And since when has Oklahoma been big and important enough to have a ‘turnpike’.

At any rate, I made it to a small truck stop just west of OKC and decided to turn in. It was a grueling 13 hours of driving, but I was almost half way there.

Coming tomorrow, probably, Day Two of my voyage to the west. Lots more pictures too as I was finally able to dig my digital camera out of it's box.