"Home"
Posted 08:59 AM, September 20, 2006, by ntilmansAfter 4 days, I'm finally "home". The trip across the US was fairly uneventful. A wrong turn around Chicago, a marathon drive from Rawlins, Wyoming to Reno, Nevada all along interstate 80. All dragging the 4x8 U-Haul trailer.
We drove a total of 3,032.5 miles, I don't even want to know how much gas we burned, and listened to two audio books and one lecture from the so-called "great courses" series including The Hades Factor by Robert Ludlum, Dante's Divine Comedy (the Inferno, Purgatory and Paradise) and "The United States and the Middle East: 1917 to 9/11". We got here around 3:30 in the afternoon, having driven from Reno, NV. Also surprising, the worst roads we had over the entire trip were in California. I'm not sure what it was but the asphalt surface was incredibly rough causing a whole lot of tire noise and disgruntled behavior on the part of the trailer.
Some things were surprising however. The fact that Nebraska isn't quite flat, much to the dismay of my transmission. It was snowing in Wyoming. The hotel in Rawlins, Wyoming population 8,658 only had one room left (unfortunately a "smoking" room), and gas in "Skull Valley" Utah was outrageously expensive: $3.39 for a gallon of 87 octane gasoline, much to the dismay of my wallet.
Some things weren't surprising. The scenery in some places was really incredible. Particularly the landscapes of Wyoming, Utah and Nevada. Most every rest stop along the way comes complete with condom vending machine but some go even further, offering a whole "kit" for a night out. One particular rest stop helpfully provided 25 cent sprays of "exquisite replicas" of popular men's colognes. Creative names were of course the norm, again, "Skull Valley" Utah.
Nevada.
The open road and bugs on the windshield.
Given the huge distances involved between stops, eventually a sign for 100 miles to X becomes "only" 100 miles to X. 50 miles means you're almost there and 30 miles means you're basically already there. Unfortunately we weren't quick enough with the camera to take a picture of the first sign we saw for San Francisco or the "Welcome to California" sign, but I do remember them as tremendously welcoming, cheering us along the final miles of our voyage.
It's good to see the signs
Escondido village was relatively easy to find. I got my key from the front desk, found the building and moved in. The apartment is a decent size. The studio is very well appointed, plenty of shelf space and closets to store pretty much anything. I think my only complaint would be that I could have dealt with a smaller bathroom and more room in the rest of the apartment, but really there's plenty of space throughout. I guess I could also use a place to store long items, say for example a mop, but the bathroom will do.
Overall however, I'm extremely happy with the apartment. I'm also happy with the area. Palo Alto is a lot more alive than I thought it would be if a little expensive. The weather so far has been fantastic, and I'm told it's been this way for most of the summer. It's easy to adjust to this place, I'll definitely be able to call it home.
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