Entry #1
 
8:18 PM - January 2nd, 2000...
 
Springfield, Missouri,
 
We finally made it. Whew. We're giggling right now at the weather report. Ohio gets nothing but rain and snow, and once we hit Oklahoma ('bout an hour) we are home free. What a first 12 hours. So many things going through my mind right now. Let me first tell you all the little things:
 
Jess's Car only goes 60 miles per hour with the trailer. Son of a bitch. Nothin' cool about that. It's really great seeing 70 signs and going 10 miles under the limit. Heh heh. To tell you the truth, it's kind of nice. Wasn't COP watching the whole way. Everything was perfect.
 
The weather is amazing. A little rain in Indiana and then NOTHING but dry roads and 65 degrees. Couldn't believe it. We're in St. Louis in January and it's like LA. in March.
 
But that's the good news...
 
We're getting roughly 150 miles on $20 of gas...PER CAR. My car gets a little better gas mileage, but it's still insane. 150 miles to go through a whole tank? It's seriously killing our estimates of cost. Luckily we got to fill up for $1.07 in Cuba Missouri. That fill-up was a bit cheaper. Either way it's pretty sickening to swipe your goddamn credit card every 2 1/2 hours. Couldn't even get to Indianapolis on our first tank. Son of a bitch. J-Dog...poor J-Dog. We gave him a cat tranquilizer (redundant eh...) and it just didn't help...cried for 3 hours... Finally was cool and slept. But it was as if his curiosity kept getting the best of him and he had to stay awake. He is now chillin' in the hotel room....which is completely illegal. heh heh. NO PETS ALLOWED. We smuggled him in. It was awesome. Felt all undercover.
 
I guess those are the little things. The big things have all been mental. It's much more overwhelming than I thought it would be. It still feels like we're on vacation, but then it hits you that - well you're simply driving home. It's eerie. I also keep getting visions of my dad standing at the driveway taking pictures as we drove off. It's such an incredible memory. I was fine until he was out of sight and then I immediately took his perspective. Watching your son drive off to the other side of the country to pursue his dream. It really hit me hard. Every son tries so hard to live up to his father's expectations, and since we're both in the music field it's compounded that much more. For the first time I feel I am living up to it and I feel a proudness of accomplishing somthing huge. This is the hard part. I know I will make everything fall into place when I get there. It's the leaving, the uprooting...the DOING. I've accomplished that. And my dad knows it. Hell he knows it more than I do. It's a pretty amazing feeling. I'll be very excited to have a child - later. So there you go. I feel like I should write soooooo much more since I freakin' lugged this computer and monitor into the hotel. This is NOT a laptop. Then again it is worth it. There's something about seeing your desktop in a strange place that makes you immediately feel at home. God love the 21st Century.
 
Again, feel free to reply with any thoughts that pop to mind. I'll be saving everything. Oh, and here's some compressed footage of us smuggling J-Dog into the hotel. Hope you enjoy...
YouTube link added 01.29.09
 
Adam, Jessica and Marty MOOSE! (and of course J-Dog)
 
original video file

 

 
 
REACTION
JANUARY 2000