California Resident

When the wife and I were just dating, sometimes I would ride my bike 10 miles to her condo from work.  Every time I did that, I felt like a superhero.  I experienced that same feeling after driving across the country.

We took the northern route, staying overnight in Lincoln, Grand Junction, and Vegas.  The leg from Nebraska to Colorado taught be about the gears that come with the car that I have never thought to use before and were skipped over in driver's ed because it was only for people who live in the mountains.  I should have thought to educate myself before I left.  But clearly, we lived through it.

I know lots of people have taken ridiculously long drives in a much shorter time than three days.  But because the 5 1/2 hour drive to Des Moines used to be torture for me, this was an amazing feat.  By the time we got to Vegas, the wife couldn't stomach the thought of another day in the car and jumped on the first plane home.

I dropped her off at 5am and crossed the finish line sometime around 9am.  My first stop in town was  checking out an apartment.  By noon, I leased apartment in North Hollywood.  I spent my first night on my friend's couch. On the second night, yesterday, I spent the night on my air mattress in my apartment with no electricity.  It was cozy.  That kind of thing that would've been torture in Chicago.

The last two days have been a flurry of emails, phone calls and credit cards being cancelled because of my "suspicious activity" in California.  Next week is when the fun begins.  Stay tuned...