California Dreamin.....

More photos here

Got the call from Craig a few days before his scheduled departure - wingman needed for his cross country move after his friend had to bow out. Luckily, I had some time so I headed up to Rochester, NY. Proposed EDT at 6 AM to be in Chicago to hang out with Cousin Lauren. Departure time repeatedly revised and finally hit Wegmans for road snacks before hitting the road at 4PM. Sorry, Lauren....maybe next time. We double clutched the Grand Cherokee and headed westbound on I90 towards Erie, PA, Cleveland and Toledo - and called it quits outside South Bend.

After a tasty Fairfield Inn breakfast the next morning, we hit the road - but first did a lap around the Golden Dome of University of Notre Dame. We timed departure so as to meet up with my retired airline buddy (Bud, actually) outside Chicago for lunch. While we ate, Craig logged in for a scheduled phone interview for an IT position at UCSD. Afterward, we crossed the Mississippi and made it into Iowa where we ran into the only weather and road problem of our trip. We kept the speed down to 45MPH and stayed in the slow lane as the snow and cars piled up. We saw 4 cars overturned, 1 jackknifed truck with a U-Haul trailer and an 18 wheeler off in the weeds. In Adrian, IA we stopped for dinner at the Happy Chef - meatloaf with bacon? Never trust a GPS search of restaurants.

That night, we stayed at another Fairfield Inn in Council Bluffs, IA on the banks of the mighty Missouri River. The next day we entered Nebraska after crossing the river and pressed on to Colorado where the elevation continued to climb imperceptibly to over 4000 feet. About 100 miles out, we caught sight of the front range of the Rockies and before long were upon it doing 45 MPH in second gear and trying our best not to heat up the brakes on the steep downhills. No way we wanted to try out the brake failure lanes which looked pretty scary.

We overnighted near Breckinridge, CO in the small town of Frisco which had a rustic downtown filled with restaurants and shops. We had a burger and beer at the Moose Jaw and retired early - probably due to effects of the high altitude - elevation over 9000 feet. Next morning, we reconsidered the idea of going snowboarding at Copper Mtn. due to the cold and desire to put some miles behind us. We did not however, pass up the exit to Moab. We detoured to Arches National Park - arriving in time for an impressive sunset over Park Avenue. The town of Moab was pretty much shut up for the winter as many of the restaurants had 'See you next season' signs posted.

After getting a sandwich at City Market, we headed back to I 70 and made good time across the southern Utah mountains and arrived about 11 PM in Cedar City near Zion NP. During the ride across the mountains, we pulled over and doused the lights to take a few minutes to appreciate the beautiful night sky - not a soul around but us.

Thursday morning, we stopped in St George, UT for gas and then cut the corner of Northern Arizona through spectacular scenery of the Virgin River Canyon on I-15. Breaking out the other side, we entered Nevada and sped along to our planned lunch stop in Las Vegas. We spent a few hours taking in the sights and dining in Vegas before moving on across the Mojave Desert to San Diego - arriving around 10 PM. Mission accomplished - and in position for the interview scheduled for the next day.

On Friday, an hour before leaving for the interview, he asked me to trim the hair where he couldn't reach on the back on his head. Bad idea! I didn't realize he had taken the guard off the razor and proceeded to plant a nice racing stripe down the back of his head. Uh oh...quick, in the car and off to local barber to save the day. Couldn't even see where I had screwed up but he was a little stressed going into the interview.

Four days later - after visiting several apartments and numerous trips to IKEA, he's all settled....now enjoying sunny days and warm winter temperatures as a SoCal resident.