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Road Trip 2005
Seattle, WA to New Orleans, LA
Day 1 - Wednesday, January 04th
Start Location: Seattle, WA
End Location: Cottage Grove, OR
Cast: Me, Chrystelle
Woke up around 7am pacific to finish the last-minute packing / craziness that always ensues immediately prior to leaving for college. Events of note would be that the previous night, my (ex) dog Maxie urinated all over my bed (and bag), potentially as a welcome message to Chrystelle, or a message to myself saying that Maxie should be the only female in my life. Moving on. So we woke up and packed - and packed - and re-packed, as a box we had been given by Evan was too big to fit into the cab of the truck. Upon inspection (and repacking), I feel I have earned the right to list some of the contents: Three hangers, a couple outfits of clothing, a new sonicare toothbrush, some shoes, a USB cable, and a massage device, which looked mighty nice after a long first day in the truck. The contents were actually very mundane, contrary to what the weight and size of the box might have indicated.
Our day had a few stops in it - First errands to Radio Shack to pick up an IPOD car cassette adaptor, second, North to a certain Aunt and Uncles house. So far we had managed to go 11 miles the wrong direction. It was worth it though to drop off a new x-mas present and one that had escaped the madness on Christmas day. These not so mundane presents shall not be listed here. Finally we headed south, to Olympia, then veered 40 miles West to Hoquiam to check out the new installation of Mac's Pizza, a now chain(?) restaurant (two locations, Hoquiam and Ocean Shores) owned by a different Aunt and Uncle. The goal here was to see family whom we hadn't seen much of since being back in Seattle, and to grab some great grub (we succeeded in both tasks except seeing the Uncle.) Next is was backtracking (or getting back on-track) by returning to Olympia and visiting more family in the Safeway parking lot (which is actually quite fun if you've never done it.) After snacking on some sugar dried mango strips, it was I-5 South and turning into night already at 4pm. We careened through Portland and Salem, aiming for Eugene, but over shot our mark by 20 miles as the Comfort Inn we landed in advertised "Fresh Baked Cookies Each Evening." We called them, inquired about the cookies and internet access, and then had to drive 100 miles. But it was easy with fresh cookies as a carrot.
Map quest advertises the trip (from Seattle) as 5 hours, with 300 miles exactly. We've put on just over 400 (40 miles each way to Hoquiam, then 11 to North Seattle). Had we gone straight through, I don't think we would have made their 5 hour estimate. Most of I-5 in OR has a 55MPH speed limit
Day 2 - Thursday, January 5th
End Location: Tulare, CA
Cast: Me, Chrystelle
Woke up around 9 (the average of Chrystelle's and my awakening.) On the road by 10:30 (Chrystelle wants to improve that start time tomorrow). Headed straight South, no dilly-dallying or side-visiting today, we have ground to cover and daylight's burning. Gassed up across from our hotel, and kept track of the mileage so we could determine our Miles Per Gallon. After gassing up twice, we came out with 16.60 and 16.59MPG respectively. I'll look up what the truck says it should get tomorrow.
We ate lunch in some small Oregon town, where the Subway didn't have a card reader to add points to our subway cards. Our journey through the California passes was fun - at 3,000 there was snow all around us, but the roads were clear. It was, however, a heck of a long drive. Cruising 75MPH, we made it to Sacramento around 6. We were hungry and looking for food, so we got off at an exit that looked promising (read: randomly chosen based on the exit name - Garden Highway). We found ourselves in the Latin district of Sacramento, and choose Subway again. Got back on the freeway (now 99 South) and found ourselves right in the middle of rush hour traffic. Blazed past Sacramento, and past Fresno arriving around 10pm to Tulare. We missed CSI, but being able to say that two kids from Tulane stayed at Tulare was worth it to me. For anyone keeping score since last time, we beat Fresno by 50 miles, and are ahead of our game. We plan to be on track to Vegas, and spending the night at a show. Until tomorrow. Later.
Daily Mileage: 636. Total Mileage: 1120. Tomorrow: VEGAS. Limit: $50.00, with a cash-out when I reach $1,000.00
For the record, the wireless internet connection here at the Comfort Suites is horrible. I get 1 bar wireless, and it only connects once every 5 minutes, so I don't know when you'll actually get this update. Or if I'll ever succeed in pre-ordering tickets for tomorrow-nights show.
Update: Morning, had to go to the lobby to get internet access.
Top Sights: Happy Cows - for as you know from the California Cheese commercials - Great cheese comes from happy cows and happy cows come from California.
Birds - hundreds of thousands of them flying in formation across I-5 north of Sacramento along a 30 mile stretch between two nature sanctuaries.
Club 71 - A High Class Gentleman's Entertainment club in Sunny Valley OR (read: middle of no where in the mountains) that opens at 6pm and features a caged-in outdoor BBQ.
Day 3 - Friday, January 6th
Location: Las Vegas, Nevada
Cast: Me, Chrystelle
Woke up and plunged into the thick fog of the san fernando valley. Visibility was low - 100meters or so, but that didn't stop the semi's and such from going 70MPH with the speed limit averageing 55. Made it into the mountains and above the fog layer to reveal a beautiful day - bright sun, green green grass, and happy cows (see the comment about happy cows from yesterday. This soon turned into the arid desert landscape that reminded us of Arizona. Of surprising note (to us) sagebrush was found all along the san fernando valley floor. Although it could have been desert down in the valley, we really couldn't see anything beyond the first row of orange trees because of the fog. We kept trucking along through the steep winding pass East and then North towards Vegas. ~450 miles, got into the Vegas city limits at 3pm. Didn't get to our hotel until 4:30. It's a really small city, but the entire city - including the freeway was in gridlock. Not entirely sure why. We also looked into going to one of the Cirque Du Solei shows, but tickets were $130 a piece, so we said no, and got a hotel for the same price a few blocks from the strip. Walked three long blocks to the strip, then proceeded north, casino hopping checking out the decour and ambiance of each. As soon as we stepped into The Bellagio, I broke out my wallet, found two quarters, and Chrystelle and I were immediately down $0.25 each. Unfortunately, she got the better deal as I pushed the button that said "spin" and she pulled the hand crank on the side of the machine which looked more fun.
We wandered around for three hours (it really didn't seem that long), saw most of a water show in front of the Bellagio, watched The Sirens of TI (Treasure Island Casino), which was a slutty version of ... well... anything. We went through a few more of the big name casinos which interested us (Paris, Bellagio, Harrah's, Flamingo, Treasure Island, Caesars Palace), and had dinner at Caesars, and checked out the bathroom which were marble and amazing. Made our way in the direction of home stopping at Bally's to find me some gambling tables. I set my limit at $100 (table minimum's were 10, doubling my initial uneducated limit from the night before). I cashed in at a Texas Hold-Em table at $80.00 (beacuse losing $80.00 sounds a lot less than losing $100.00 when you post it on a website for the world to see). And while I fumbled the first hand or two learning how this casino played it (your ante, $10.00, then you bet on the first two cards you get, but you place this bet on the spot on the table that says "flop", then you see the flop, then you place your bet on the spot that says "turn" then you see the turn, then you place your bet on the river and put your cards above your chips, then you see the river, and the dealer's cards.) Anyways, I quickly caught on, and in about 30 minutes was up $200.00. I was playing at a table with two other guys (we each play against the dealer's hand), and they weren't having as good of luck. But i persevered. Then our luck turned sour, and the dealer got two hands of three-of-a-kind, a full house, a flush, and then a pair of aces with a queen kicker. We each lost over $100 in that series of hands. The other two guys cashed out, I was up $20 (from my original $80), and kept playing a few hands hoping more peopel would sit down, but no one did, so I got up when I was down $25.00 (had $55.00 in my hand). Started to walk over to the cashier, then realized it was still early, but more importantly, spoted an open slot at a different hold-em table with different people, and sat down to play one hand. I had pocket deuces (two 2's), the flop was a pair of 7's and a 4. The turn was a 9, no chance of a flush on the board for the dealer, so feeling fairly good with two pair, I kept betting the minimum (now had $50.00 in) The river was a 6, so I thought I was good. Then the dealer produced a 9 and a 5 to give him two pair was well, and a higher pair then mine, so I left the table with $5.00 to my name, and left the casino with a crisp $5.00, down $75.00. Moral of the story - Have an upper limit to cash out at. From now on, if I have 4 times my limit, I'll cash out, take a break, then come back with a fresh count on my limit. Oh well, it was a lot of fun. I'd do it again.
In all the Vegas madness, I didn't mark the mileage when we parked, but it was something like 1,600. We calculated our MPG again at 15.6. Tomorrow we'll go through Phoenix aiming for El Paso, but we'll probably be fairly tired after tonight's long walk down the strip, and might only make it into New Mexico as I don't plan on driving after dusk tomorrow - we'll stop and go see a movie. The New Mexico roads aren't really lit, so driving after dark on them is scary and really tiring.
Until next time.
Day 4: Saturday, January 7th Location: Vega, Texas
Cast: Me, Chrystelle
Five words: Change of plans, Vega, Texas.
More tomorrow.
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Created: 12.23.03 Last Updated: 3.10.08 |
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A 2003  Creation
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