Day 1
- My dad provokes my mom to cry before I leave, so I'm immediately annoyed.
- Dad uses his one "Watch Out!" for the whole trip. Seven minutes in.
- Gas light comes on twenty-five minutes in. Oops.
- Miss my first exit, something that wouldn't happen again until I crossed into California.
- Finally try that Dorito taco at a Taco Bell in Tennessee. Set the precedent for healthy eating that would happen for the next week.
- Realize I can't play Scramble With Friends while my phone is being used for music. Primary form of entertainment thus taken away.
- Begin playing License Plate Game. Start by seeing how many of the states we can list. I am awful at it.
- Get stuck in a traffic jam and knock out over half of the states from License Plate Game.
- Made a profit from a vending machine. Victory!
- Traffic jam again. Escaped by going wrong way on an on-ramp.
- Eat at a place in Arkansas called Marketplace. So freakin good. Especially the pre-meal bread. Ate three loafs myself.
- Asked for directions and wound up getting a police escort to a hotel.
Day 2
- Continental breakfast at the Super 8, which was apparently a hotel before it was a movie.
- Starbucks. Get some real coffee.
- Decide Arkansas is a sucky state filled with nice people.
- Enter Oklahoma.
- Find original Coney Island in Oklahoma City. Delicious, but not super classy.
- Enter Texas.
- Enter a town with a sign that says, "Home of American Idol Carrie Underwood, Season 3." Also super classy.
- Hail in New Mexico. What the heck?!
- Motel 6.
Day 3
- Time changes throw me. I feel a surprising moral dilemma in adjusting to new times. It's like admitting that I don't live in Wilmington anymore.
- Entered Arizona. Back another hour.
- Denny's. Got a to-go coffee the size of my head.
- Drove 60 miles out of way and back for Grand Canyon. Worth it. Hiked a chunk of Southern Rim. Still annoyed about having to pay $25 for a National Park though.
- Gas prices have been progressively going up all trip. Bracing for California.
- Get an e-mail saying the place I thought I was going to live isn't happening.
- Cross into California.
- My dad is really pissed about California border patrol.
- Almost run out of gas.
- Stay at weird Travel Inn in Victorville. Eat In and Out.
- Search online for home.
Day 4
- Indian man randomly tells me, "What you are doing is good, Keep it up."
- Arrive in Orange County, California. Where I live. Whoa.
