There is a Lack of the Internets out West!

So, it's been forever since I posted something on here. Last you heard, we had a good time in Las Vegas and were headed onto LA.

Well, we drove into Los Angeles and went straight to the Kodak Theatre on Broadway to take a walk with the stars. Get it. Get it. After searching for many minutes, we finally found the one star that we were in search of, Cuba Gooding Jr. (or CGJ as we fondly refer to him as) across the street. Having fulfilled the journey of all good Americans, we left to grab a picture near the Hollywood Sign. After many perilous miles of driving amongst the far too small streets near the sign. Finally, we found the dog park I knew was around there and tossed the football around for a bit (later tragedy would strike because of our favored football). During the sunset, we drove out to Santa Monica Beach and Pier and visited the west coast. Sadly, we drank our last three Game Fuels and watched Prince Caspian later that night (it sucked).

We awoke and started our awesome drive up California Highway 1 along the Coastal mountains. The Big Sur was truly beautiful and worth the extended time we dealt with to drive it. Jeff fell asleep, no surprise. We also visited San Francisco...nothing interesting here, except that Wade's camera was tragically broken.

From San Francisco, we drove to Denver over two days. We spent the first night in this sketchy but ultimately free RV park and ended up at Jeff's Uncle and Aunt's awesome Denver abode the next night. Showers were taken, food was eaten, and we departed towards Sundance Wyoming.

Wade's friend Sam Yemington lives in Sundance Wyoming. Probably the most ridiculously fun part of the trip. We went to Sam's ranch after a night of momentous drinking at the Dime Horseshoe and fired a bunch of guns. Using typical on the ranch safety procedures, we wore no ear protection and my ear is seriously still ringing. Hope it goes away soon. Sadly, we didn't get to see Wade on a horse or Jeff show off his "impressive" archery skills. Another night was spent at the other bar in the town and we played a ton of pool against two drunk, but incredible pool players. They were as good as me, shocker, I know.

Today, we spent 16 hours driving to Chicago with a detour to Mount Rushmore. Great drive, no cops for over 400 miles and the 6000 mile mark. More to follow on this post shortly with photos.

Whirlwind Out West

It's been a couple of days since I updated so hopefully I won't miss too many things along the way. Last Thursday, Wade "come on over to my place" Wisdom, Jeff "Deez Nutz" Elrod, and I traveled throughout Dallas and went to the School Book Depository and Sixth Floor Museum. We walked around the Grassy Knoll and acted completely irreverent. The museum was really well designed and I think I respected it a lot more than the last time I came in 1997-98. Dallas was especially great since Jeff could not handle the mixed master/spagetti Junctions in downtown even slightly. If you were to map out our journey through Dallas it would look something like the colorings of a three year old child with muscle twitches. Luckily, one of Jeff's many debacles led us to the Hooter's in downtown that housed two freaking huge lochmiel/rochmiel owls. Pictures were taken.
Day two of this post was spent driving 17 hours from Dallas to the Grand Canyon. We droved the entire length of New Mexico and most of Texas. The entire drive was suprisingly manageable and the scenery was awe-inspiring. I'm really glad to have gotten to do this particular part of the trip. The only mess up was the near gas on empty debacle that could've left us stranded miles and miles from a gas station. Luckily the car held up and we made to the gas station. Jeff got tired on the last leg so I took over for what looked to be about an hour drive. Unfortunately it turned into a 2 hour drive due to the fact that the closest South Rim campsite was completely full and we had to drive 25 miles along a windy road to the next campground. The drive was frought with dangers, especially the seemingly Mutant Deer, Raindeer, and Elk. We found the campsite and a spot for ourselves, I used my awesome Boy Scout skills to erect our tent and off to sleep it was.
We awoke with the sun around 7:30 and started off with breakfast at a Tusayan diner outside the park. re-entering the park, we opted for the 2-4 hike down the Bright Angel trail. The hike was absolutely breathtaking (pictures to follow shortly) and worth the entire time we spent walking it. Wade was a little girl whenever we had to walk pretty close to the cliff faces and got mad every time one of us slipped on a rock or tripped up a bit. Completely comical. Jeff decided it'd be a great idea to wear his little outdoorsy white button up that has the sleeves that role and snap up. Additionally, Jeff decided that everyone in the Grand Canyon wanted to see his manly physique and therefore chose to unbutton his shirt like a hair gel smothering, heineken beer guzzling Guido. At the base of the hike, we got to a usable toilet and water fountain; however, we were directed to turn around and walk back a few hundred feet because some one was being heli-evacuated out of the canyon. After watching the chopper land on this tiny area of land, we started the long, arduous, and completely taxing walk to the top. Once there, we drove to the Wendy's and decided to go to Las Vegas (game time decision baby).

Las Vegas was an interesting city to be sure. I felt really out of place basically having no money of my own to spend around the city and just being an observer of sorts. We walked up and down the strip, checked out some of the gaming floors, and enjoyed people watching pretty much the entire way. One driver in a low rider accidentally dropped the back of his car onto the ground and skidded to a stop, sparks flying everywhere for people on the strip to point and laugh at. We really want to know who the hell Danny Gans is, apparently he's the entertainer of the year. As we left, Jeff wanted to take a picture of the gaudy Mickey D's on the strip. For some reason he has developed this strange obsession with McDonald that quite frankly is a little creepy, but extremely annoying. Maybe he'll read this, maybe he won't. Guess we'll find out soon enough. Today, we set out for LA and tomorrow will be the one week point with no deaths among the three of us yet. Pretty good I'd say.

The Big Easy?

So...

We left Navarre Beach at a fairly early and incredibly uncomfortable hour, but most of the uneasiness was due to the long and fretful night the three of us spent sleeping in the car. Yeah, that was a ton of fun.

But anyways, after a relatively light drive, we arrived at our incredibly cheap but extremely satisfying hotel in New Orleans. After exercising (thank god!) and taking showers, we left for downtown and Bourbon Street.

Then the fun began. Not really.

Just one expensive meal and a lot of uncomfortable walking around "rainbow village" and "skank alley" more commonly known as the French Quarter. It was all of our first times on the Bourbon Street and what a deflowering it was. I like to equate the French Quarter to an more tacky (if possible) version of Panama City Beach rolled into the dirty and oily back alleys of New York City. If I never have to come back to New Orleans (except for when the Bulldawgs play in the Sugar Bowl or National Championship), my life will probably not be for the worse.

Anyways, we did hit up this bar and get "Huge Ass Beers" and tried to chat with this incredibly unresponsive bartender. Luckily, the beers meet their name and will effectively get ya drunk. Although not drunk enough to enjoy one of the many nice "gentlemen's" clubs around with all the beautiful eye candy New Orleans has to offer. (Read: I'm talking about strip clubs with "barely legal" strippers...get it get it get it).

Jeff "I sleep because I'm lonely and I'm lonely because I sleep" Elrod helped drive the second half of the day today to get us to Dallas, but not before get this, sleeping, for the first five hours that I drove through Lousiana and faced its gail force winds and rain. I've heard those have been a problem in the state before.

Wade "Can I please get 4 towels NOW PLEASE!" Wisdom helped provide comic relief and wept inside and outside with me when we thought the radio had died. The day the music died. Luckily, I used my magical prowess over technology to fix the radio and the good times rolled.

Point is, we made it Texas, to the city of my birth, and are staying with Wade's Grandparents as we plan to enjoy all of the "bigger" things in Texas.

And So It Begins...

So, the original plan was to leave at a solid 8 AM in the morning, but if you know anything about us, you probably know what actually happened. After visiting and revisting our houses as well as a short stop at Wal-Mart, we left Athens at 9:40....accurately predicted by myself I might add.

Due to gameday planning, we decided to head to Navarre Beach on a whim and stopped in Columbus on the way down. The total mileage today was approximately 450 miles but we are keeping at accurate count that isn't at hand.

Navarre Beach was completely abandoned and awesome, especially since we got about 3 hours on the beach to play around. Wade "I only throw the football with the wind" Wisdom and Jeff "I like to dream about watching myself sleep" Elrod both fell asleep and forced me to drive for approximately 30-50 miles on my own through the no man's land that is Alabama (circa Dothan). Luckily, I made them pay by forcing them to listen to Colbie Caillat when they finally rose from their slumber.

After a death-defying drive over the Navarre Beach bridge, we found our "camping" place for the evening. Hopefully, we won't be asked to leave prematurely.

Luckily, Lochmiel, Rochmiel, and Cockmiel are having a great trip so far. Pictures to follow tomorrow.

Graduation

So, today we graduated. Woo!

Jeff "Only Magna Cum Laude" Elrod and Wade "I wish I still had HOPE" Wisdom also completed their educations here at TUGA.

We also received our tent, sleeping bags, and our awesome GPS unit for the impending road trip.

Lastly, I got an awesome scrapbook from my mother today detailing my years here at UGA.

Stay tuned, we are gearing up for the roadtrip and have a ton of caffeine and beer to start off our trip right.

The Ties That Bind

William Jennings Bryan once said "'Destiny is not a matter of chance; it is a matter of choice. It is not a thing to be waited for; it is a thing to be achieved."

In a bid to see the West Coast via automobile, I am set to travel across this great nation with Wade "I cry all the time" Wisdom and Jeff "which hole do I put it in" Elrod on the most unholy, truly savage, and undeniably awkward road trip of all time.

We've agreed to keep these blogs to keep you up to date on our "progress" and also to whine about how annoyed we all are with each other throughout the trip.

Hand me a Game Fuel!