Greetings family and friends,
As we pulled into the Best Western in Indio, CA, we reflected on the past week. And what a week it's been. Since pulling out of Punta Gorda last Thursday morning, we've covered about 2300 miles and moved the wagon train through Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California. We've driven in 85 degree heat and 34 degree blowing rain, stopped at enough Love's truck stops that we're now eligible for their "Professional Driver" status, cracked a windshield on "The Beast" (more on that later), wiped out the inventory of Cheezit's and Combo's on I-10 from Tallahassee to Tucson, learned first-hand why fast food is neither fast nor food and oh, so much more. If I don't write this stuff down, it becomes a blur. Perhaps that's for the best.
And now, the Cliff's Notes version of the last couple days. We left the tiny town of Van Horn, TX yesterday morning and were glad to see it in the rear view mirror. We loaded the truck, got Tuck settled into his back seat apartment and drove out of the La Quinta parking lot only to find....drum roll please....six Tesla charging stations located on the West side of the parking lot. You can't make this stuff up. We stopped at the front desk to pay our bill and asked the morning manager how many Tesla's (or any other hybrid for that matter) she had seen using the fancy (pictures later) charging stations and were informed that no one had ever used them. Shocker...we're 200 miles from nowhere in the Texas wastelands. Anyone venturing through this territory in a Tesla needs more help than six charging stations. The best we could figure was that Elon Musk owns this particular La Quinta and he's using it as some sort of road test facility.
As I mentioned yesterday, the windshield of The Beast started cracking Tuesday morning. A small rock hit it and the rock won. A tiny 1" crack became about 12" long by mid-afternoon. A call to Peske and I was instructed to bring in the truck asap. They had a huge storage lot and maintenance facility in Tucson, so that's where we went. They were waiting for me when I arrived and they had already filled out all the paperwork. These people are organized. The shop was spotless. There's a reason Roger Penske's race cars win a lot of races. We dropped off the truck and headed to the motel. This morning, it was ready by 6:00 AM with a brand new, shiny windshield. They had it in stock. Amazing.
The drive today was a good one, at least by our standards. We loved the stark landscape...so very different from the palm trees we left only last week. Tucson was nice...Phoenix not so much. I-10 was pretty good for most of the way, until the last 75 miles, where it was rough and all trucks had to maintain 55 MPH. We rolled into California and looked for the "Welcome to California" rest stop. There wasn't one. Not even a sign. Really? Every state we've crossed has had a welcome center. Perhaps the millions that will flow in from legalized pot will be enough to build a proper welcome center? On second thought, fixing the Oroville Dam is a lot more important. It didn't matter...it was great to finally get here. We've almost made it.
Signing off for now. Everyone is snoring in the room but me.
Cheers!