On Saturday of my final weekend before heading back to Atlanta, I drove back up to San Francisco and picked up Elizabeth and Enzo. I served as their transportation down to Elizabeth's cousin Matt's house in Santa Cruz in order to get a chance to see them. We moved their luggage into Matt's house before heading out to pick up some lunch at a nearby market. We took our food to Natural Bridges State Beach and enjoyed the sunshine and view before I had to get myself back to Cupertino. That evening I had dinner with a friend since 4th grade, Robin - I hadn't had a chance to catch up with her in a few years, and it was unusual to get a chance for just the two of us to catch up since she and her husband have three kids. I also briefly saw Susana and Steph, friends from CIBC, that night. Sunday I mainly focused on organizing and packing, so I'd be ready to head out Monday morning.
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| me with robin after dinner |
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| su, steph, and me at quickly for boba |
Monday morning I picked up my snowboard buddy Pearl at her sister's place in Sunnyvale and we drove off to Valencia. We hung out at Starbucks until Debbie (friend from Cal) got home from work, then Judy from my previous cross-country adventure joined us and we went out for some delicious Korean BBQ.
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| pearl, judy, debbie, and me |
Pearl and I spent the night quite comfortably at Debbie's. We got up early and hit the road, headed for Albuquerque. We stopped at the Jackrabbit General Store just to check it out - it had a funny sign and a huge fiberglass rabbit. As it got dark, the drive got a little bit exciting, with a dramatic lightning show to the east (see 16 second video below). We couldn't tell if we were going to drive directly into it or not, and it did NOT look like it was going to be fun. Fortunately, we passed to the south of it and were able to push on past Albuquerque to Moriarty where we spent the night.
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| jackrabbit general store |
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| saddle up your jackrabbit! |
In the morning, we hit the road again. Our planned stop for the day was Cadillac Ranch outside Amarillo, TX. Well, the FIRST planned stop was a Walmart or similar store where we could purchase spray paint so we would be prepared for Cadillac Ranch. We had a good time spray-painting the cars and then continued on to Sand Springs, OK, where we stayed with Aunt Kathy and David and enjoyed dinner with them, Jeff, Rocky, and Charlie.
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| spray painting cadillacs is fun - nor cal and golden bears! |
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| me with david and aunt kathy |
Our fourth driving day took us across the Mississippi and eventually to Nashville, TN, but not without some unexpected adventure. About an hour away from Nashville, I started to feel increased vibration in the car, and started hearing funny sounds. It made me nervous enough that I stopped on a closed off-ramp because that was the closest place to stop. I checked around the car, looking at all four tires. They looked fine and nothing else was amiss, so I got back on the freeway. As soon as I got up to speed, the vibration and noises got worse, so I took the next exit. As I started to get off the freeway, we heard a "pop" and suddenly the extra noises stopped and the car started handling normally again. Pearl and I agreed that we should check it out anyway. When the light turned green to turn from the off-ramp, it was immediately clear that we had a flat tire. Good thing we both know how to change a flat! I drove into the gas station that was close and we started in - Pearl jacking up the car and me removing the spare from the back of the car. Once I got the spare off, I took a turn at the jack. As I was working, a car pulled up next to us and the driver offered help. We gladly accepted when he explained that he hoped someone would stop and help his wife if she ever got a flat! With the spare on, we eventually made it to Tiffany's. She's the friend from Tahoe with whom Judy and I stayed back in December, but we got there pretty late that time. This trip, we had enough daylight to check out the Parthenon and walk around a little lake at Centennial Park, drive down HonkyTonk Row as the sun set, and have a delicious dinner before another good night's sleep.
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| memphis' pyramid on the far side of the bridge over the mississippi |
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| random stranger kindly helping pearl and me with the flat tire |
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| tiffany and me on the steps of the parthenon |
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| i love that my friends meet each other and become friends! |
Friday morning, we drove our last leg from Nashville to Atlanta, ending my third cross-country road trip. We walked around the Emory campus and I tried to accomplish a couple of tasks. For dinner, we discovered the pasta restaurant around the corner from my place, Saba, about which I'd heard good things, was indeed very good. Saturday morning we walked up Stone Mountain with a small collection of my Atlanta friends - Dan from church, Dan from my class, and Marius from the Emory climbing wall. I actually tried to get another classmate and friend named Dan to join us, but he wasn't back in town yet. In the afternoon, Pearl and I walked around Centennial Olympic Park in downtown, and later met my classmate Rob for a BBQ dinner. Sunday morning I dropped Pearl off at the airport and went grocery shopping!
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| emory's school of medicine building |
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| dan, marius, dan, pearl, and me on top of stone mountain |
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| centennial olympic park |
