post tour

pictured: variations on alex driving

NY >> NJ >> PA > OH > IN >> IL > IA >> NE > CO > UT > NV > CALIFORNIA...

after nearly a week of driving, alex and i have settled into our new little apartment and boy does it feel good to be home!

pictured: our tiny penske behind a big boy (for some reason i always felt we were the same size as those massive freight trucks, that is until we were at rest stops) // massive trucks can cause massive danger - hence the scary looking 'runaway truck' ramps on mountainside highways

it's amazing, practically nothing went wrong the whole trip. no tires popped, no burning breaks, no sliding trucks. i must say, that penske rode like a beaut (at least from the passenger's chair). the only small blip in the whole ordeal was that somewhere between iowa, colorado, and reno, my credit card number got jacked and someone was having a gas station spending spree on my credit. luckily, amex notified me promptly and we got that all squared away.

pictured: rock crazy...just look at those things!

having now been across the country via train and now truck, there's really nothing like the grand USofA. Each state offers a new surprise in terrain. there's green water, muddy water, clear water, hot water, and super salty water. then there's mountains that are soft, rough, red, grey, green, and dinosaur-esque. it's craziness united.

pictured: glen springs, colorado

and after nebraska, and eastern colorado (that shit looks worse than nebraska) the west is indeed wild. it's amazing to think pioneers trekked by foot, horse, and buggy through such massive, lumpy land and made it across to the other side. it's also mind boggling to imagine the planning and physical labor it took to run telephone and electricity lines - not to mention build roads - through all those streams, canyons, deserts, and salt flats. big dreams used to happen i guess. wtf "the present"?

pictured: colorado western

pictured: nevada is emptiness and scariness all wrapped into one flat-topped shaped state

pictured: utah's salt flats (it's all salt...)

on the other side of natural and man-made wow, is a little place called reno. having now somehow been to vegas 4 times (this seriously makes me sad) i knew what to expect in the self proclaimed biggest little city - old people wasting away money as they smoke and drink their lives away. yep. that's it. depressing. i just don't get the appeal. why spend money on a vacation like that? no thanks. i'll take my RV to nebraska before i do that. one positive of our reno night was the awesome spa bath tub...nothing like soaking away the grime of gambling and greasy food (yeah, alright, we gambled... alex lost $4 and i $3)...

pictured: a night in reno