Sketchblog

My lease was up in Atlanta and I found a good deal for a house in San Francisco. So I decided to go ahead and move cross country. Hey why not? It’s only 2,594 miles.

I have documented the whole journey here for your enjoyment.
These can also be viewed on my flickr site.

Before we get started, I think we should go through the Road Kill Tally.

??? (unidentifiable) - - - - 28
Dog - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 3
Squirrel - - - - - - - - - - - 1
Possum - - - - - - - - - - - 2
Bird Eating a Carcass - - - 1
Rabbit - - - - - - - - - - - - 7
Skunk - - - - - - - - - - - - 3
Coyote - - - - - - - - - - - - 4
Something Small & Furry 1
Raccoon - - - - - - - - - - -3
Bird - - - - - - - — - - - - - 1
Deer - - - - - - - - - - - - - 1

{{{{Day One}}}}

So after a pretty full day of loading up the Penske, a cop comes to my door and wakes me up. He tells me some neighbor of mine has been calling the cops over and over to get me to move the truck. As you can see by the notes, that neighbor was not happy at all. I moved the truck and everything was ok.

Here I am, getting on the road.
The dumb expression is mostly due to tiredness from days of packing and truck-loading.

That’s my ride. A beaut’ ain’t she?

Inside the truck.
Yes, that is a plant.

So I’m driving down the road doing my thing and my old friend Nick calls me up. He is on tour for his one man band. He just happened to be passing through Jackson, MS at the time. Coincidentally, I was on my way there. I met up with Nick and we shared a Super 8 motel room, and then headed over to the venue. Jackson is kind of a sleepy, weird place, but we met some locals and had a good time. I only had my phone with me so thats why I have the lo-res images.

{{{{Day Two}}}}

In the morning, Nick and I had some Waffle House breakfast and then went our separate ways.

The state line.

At at the time I took this picture, my keys were locked in the truck.
The locals of Minden, LA were not exactly helpful or bright.

Thus begins the tremendously long drive through the motherland.

No more driving please. Sadly, I am not even halfway there at this point.

That night, I met up with my old friend Dave in Fort Worth. We played some music and had a beer or two.

{{{{Day Three}}}}

I took a break at this rest stop somewhere near Abeline.
There really isnt much of anything in this part of Texas.

I took this picture of this mural in a rest stop then i realised that it was probably not a good idea to take photos in a rest stop.

Vast and desloate West Texas.
No shortage of flatness here.
Check out the bugs on the windshield.

I saw my evil twin at at truck stop near Van Horn, Texas.
That guy has a bigger truck though. We should have become pals.

The first glimpse of mountains.

More mtns.

My truck again.

Probably near El Paso.

A real-life authentic Indian tee-pee at an authentic Indian rest stop!

Grr tired of driving.

This is what someone looks like after driving accross Texas for 12 hours.
I’m at the Super 8 in Las Cruces, New Mexico.
The room smelled like cigarettes and sleaze.

{{{{Day Four}}}}

New Mexico is just full of rocks.

I took a detour around Phoenix that led me past quite a lot of these cacti.
They were pretty cool.

Truckin’ through the desert. Also, looking very much like a trucker in the desert.
Listening to UT get beat by LSU on the radio.

Cool sunset near the Arizona/California border.

After that, I made my way to Los Angeles, where I experienced rain and freezing cold wind (huh?)
I crashed at my sister’s place in Hollywood. I think comments were made about how I stunk like a trucker.

{{{{Day Five}}}}

We woke up, had some breakfast and headed to the sunday flea market.
I found a man selling some amazing screenprinted work from the 60s.
check out the website: weidman art

I headed north on I-5 through the Angeles National Forest.
I didn’t take many pictures but it looks like someone else did.

Right by the In-N-Out Burger.

Still intact after 2000+ miles.

Some retired folks I met in that sandy parking lot.

A cool sunset.
I probably should have taken more pictures for this leg of the trip. It was nice. Just imagine lots of agriculture and sameness in California’s central valley. Yeah thats about it.

The Wonderful Oakland Bay Bridge. I made it!

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