3089 + 620 miles

Hey friends! My summer which was supposed to be filled with things like job hunting and general boring-ness turned out to be more exciting. This is an account of my adventure driving across the country at a moments notice. 

So on June 14th I get a text from my friend Richard and he asks me if I'd be interested in helping him drive his car from ND to his home outside of LA. I find out that he was leaving ND the following evening after work, which put him in Marengo to pick me up at around 10:00pm. Since I have not yet secured a job I have nothing to do and accept.

Immediately the route you have pictured in your head is taking off due west until we hit the Rockies and go south to LA somewhere around there. You have just picked the most sensible route. We however, would not be going that way exactly. From Marengo we would head south to New Orleans and then drive through the American Southwest. Why New Orleans? because it's a cool city and we felt like taking a more interesting route.

Back to the driving, we left my house at 10pm and the goal was New Orleans. We drove in four hour shifts all through the night until we arrived in New Orleans at 1pm the following day. Naturally we were pretty tired but it's Saturday in NOLA and we wanted to enjoy ourselves. We got a late lunch (I had one of my favorites, red beans and rice) and a beer that's never tasted better. The next stop was Cafe Du Monde for their world famous beignets and chicory coffee (French doughnuts and weak coffee essentially). We wandered the French Quarter until we reached Pat O'Briens. For those unfamiliar, this is where the hurricane cocktail was invented. We found a place in their courtyard and enjoyed the sweet red drink for quite some time. During this time I had suggested that we find some gumbo to make our trip to the Big Easy complete and what do you know? the place next door serves a mean gumbo. It was delicious and by the time we had finished our meal the party was just getting started on Bourbon Street. Granted it was like 8 or 9 pm but it's always a party down there. After a few drinks and listening to a few bands we decided it is time to turn in for the night. It's Saturday night and the last time I slept in a bed was Thursday night. We made it to the hotel around 11pm and I have never slept better than that night.

From here the story is less exciting because it is just driving. We left New Orleans at 10am or so after eating some hotel breakfast. Our goal was Las Cruces New Mexico, which is really far away....you know, all of Louisiana and Texas. Dinner was in a dive bar close to the Almo in San Antonio around 7pm. There was an incident where we almost ran out of gas somewhere in West Texas but after driving pretty far off the highway we found a gas station in a very small town. We filled up and eventually made Las Crices by 4am. Quick nap and shower in a motel then we were back on the road by 9am. The drive to LA was uneventful but lunch in Tucson was pretty good. We make it to LA by 11pm Monday night and celebrated with some In 'n Out (a California burger chain that makes amazing burgers. Ask for a Double Double Animal Style if you're ever in California). I hung out in Orange County, where Richard lives, until Friday the 22nd. I then boarded a plane for Chicago.

That was my 3089 miles of driving but what about the 620? Well I had already planned to visit Mo in St Louis because she was having a going away party on the 24th. So from this adventure I woke up Saturday morning and drove down the same route I had driven a week earlier. The five hours it took seemed like nothing after the drive cross country. I will admit I was going a little car crazy by then. After a fun few days in the southern heat, I drove back from St Louis on Wednesday and have stayed put since then. Hopefully I will not be driving any more long distances this summer. 

BOXES!

Hello from the Show Me State, friends!

I don't have much to say yet but I couldn't resist writing a post that I can pretend you all read. I was up in Chicago visiting Jon and his family Sunday/Monday, and now I'm back home, and in the middle of unpacking/repacking all my stuff right now--wait, who am I kidding? I've done practically everything on my to-do list except touch the boxes and suitcases that currently cover every formerly inhabitable inch of my floor. That's my project for as soon as I finish this post.

My most exciting news of the moment is that I am officially the owner of a vehicle, for the first time in my life. My grandpa just bought a new car, so I bought his 2005 Ford Five Hundred with 62k miles. I am pretty stoked to be the owner of a very ordinary looking vehicle. As of this morning it even has license plates!

See? I wasn't lying about the license plates

Other than that, with our return from Europe I started my marathon training...for those of you who might not know or remember I decided to do the Chicago Marathon on Oct. 7. It's the same weekend as the Soldier Field game so if any of you go to that, and your hangover is gone by noon that Sunday, you can watch the end of my marathon!

Can't wait to hear what the rest of you are up to. Hannah, glad you made it out west! I'm looking forward to pictures of mountains. I'll try for a more exciting picture myself next time.

Mo

Layout Test Post

I am working on editing the layout of the blog, so I am sorry to say that this is only a test post. Ideally, I will remove the white background that is currently behind Hannah's post.

However, in keeping with the spirit of the blog, I've included a picture of those of us who were on the Europe tour. (I'm sorry Bobby, I don't have a good picture of the six of us from when we were in London). I promise to write more about those adventures at a later date.

Edit:

I have now updated the design and layout of the blog. Please let me know if you have any issues with it. The way that my post appears should be a better approximation than Hannah's post (it must have something to do with the way she posted it).

Joel "I think we should include sign-off's with our posts" Graczyk

1921 miles

I completed my drive from Aurora, IL to Richland, WA! I have an internship working at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory this summer, same place I worked last summer. My dad helped me navigate the boring grasslands that are North Dakota and eastern Montana - I literally drove for 3 hours without once touching my brake or accelerator. Cruise control is a wonderful invention. 

My little Toyota Corolla was filled up with lots and lots of stuff, including a bike strapped to the back (which was a cause of great stress for me, I would compulsively look at it in the rearview mirror making sure it didn't fly off my car at 75mph. Plus it is a new bike, so I didn't want to expose it to the elements of half the country in its virgin form, but such is life, now it is nicely seasoned).

We stopped the first night in lovely Jamestown, North Dakota. I knew I was in North Dakota when I saw a woman in cowboy boots and a hat in the rest stop. Also, buffalo abounded!

Creepy albino buffalo, apparently it is sacred to the local Native Americans

Beautiful Montana!

Now I am settled in my home for the summer, a basement, but do not fear, it is not as grim as it sounds, it is quite homey.

I start saving the soil from radionuclides and heavy metals tomorrow! Yay science!