New Phone

Vacationing on a desert isle.
New York, New York - May 2005

We returned the car today. 3679 miles, 14 states to get across. All these years I've wanted to drive across the country; now I've finally done it, and I don't think I'll be doing it again soon. You can never say, but I can't think of doing it again. The whole routine of getting up, driving all day, and checking into a cheap motel with some flavorless subway sandwich isn't really living.

But man, the southwest. Wow. There's just something amazing about the southwest. The way the sky looks, the way the air smells, the rocks. Amazing. If you're ever driving across Utah, by the way, along US 50, take a good look at the way the landscape and the people and culture change as you head east from Bicknell or Loa toward Capitol Reef National Park. It goes from being uninteresting farmland filled with funny looking people who want anything but for you to be there, to jagged red rock formations, mesquite trees, prickly pear cactus and friendly people in the tourism industry in the blink of an eye. The road curves a bit, and pow, you're there.

Today was our first full day back in the east, and we got pizza, Italian ices, and Carvel. There really ins't a whole lot left to do now, after we get some good real (fake) Chinese food, which will be tackled tomorrow.

I have to say, as much resistance, chuckling, chortling, coughing, disgusted looks, and generally dismay we've gotten all along after news broke that we were coming back to the east, it feels... well, it feels right. The air feels right. Things are, get this, green in the summer time. Even though we haven't gone into New York yet, we're just spending time on Long Island for now, it just seems right to be here--right to be gone from San Francisco.

I was the last customer into Radio Shack a couple hours ago, and I replaced my cell phone, which I lost in, I think, Cheyenne, Wyoming. Funny things about cell phones. They're about the most useless, unnecessary thing to come out of industrialized society next to the Perfect Pancake (New Window), yet I couldn't go a week without one. Well, $200 gone. I'll just chalk it up to part of the moving expense and get to filling in all the phone numbers I lost. It's cool having a new phone, even though it's the same one I had before, but this getting all my phone numbers back is a drag. No, faithful viewers, I didn't get a camera phone. I decided I didn't want to spend $15 or whatever it is a month to pay for service for a phone that cost more to get to begin with.

After this trip, I'm up to 41 states. That means I only have 14 left to visit.