10 am, Monday, January 28th, 2008, I begin my 3,500 mile trek from Tampa to Seattle. Armed with a full tank of gas, a trusty new GPS navigation device and high spirits, I took that proverbial first step forward! I had a general plan as to how far I would drive and where I would stop each day. I was detiremined to make this an enjoyable experience despite all the head shaking and looks of disbelief from family, friends and coworkers when I told them I had planned on driving to Seattle on my own. A few people even threw in some nightmare stories while others offered up some really useful advice. My little brother and his fiancee even made a special "roadtrip survival package" for me consisting of a can of my favorite nuts, jerky, gum (for after the jerky) and some chocolate. All of which were instrumental to making my trip that much more fun. I also had a nice road atlas that a friend was kind enough to give to me as a going away gift. This too came in very handy in planning out my stops each day. 
So aside from all the things obvious things I packed into my car to take with me on my trip such as clothing, shoes, my computer, here's a list of items I was glad to have with me:
- Portable GPS device (Garmin Nuvi).
- Mini Atlas of the United States.
- Cell phone, complete with car charger, holder and hands free device.
- Cooler/mini fridge for the car (thanks mom!)
- Water, Soda, Red Bull (for when you need to stay awake).
- Snacks (also important for keeping awake!)
- Cash - atleast 100 bucks for emergencies (You never know!).
- Music CDs (I took my whole collection plus a special roadtrip mix my brother made for me).
- Extra warm jacket.
The plan for the day was simple: drive as far as I could until I got tired. Ideally I wanted to stop in New Orleans that night for some dinner and sightseeing. The traffic gods must have given me their blessings that day because I was able to do just that. Burbon Street was great! It was a week before mardi gras and already the streets were full of tourists. I walked around for an hour after my seafood sampler dinner consisting of fried crawfish shrimp, scallops and calamari. Much too much to have eaten all of it and quite honestly, it really wasn't that good. I regretted not walking a little further and eating at a hole in the wall just down the street. I bet they had GREAT food there!
On a side note, I believe I was scammed not 10 minutes after driving into New Orleans. I pulled into a garage where an "attendant" asked for the parking fee of 5 dollars. I handed him the money and in return he gave me a small slip paper that looked suspiciously like it had been photocopied. Warning bells started to go off in my head as I walked away from the garage. I decided to listen to that inner voice and turned back around to find another place to park. Something just didn't seem right. A few minutes and a new parking garage later I saw the same "attendant" walking the street. Turns out this was just some random guy waiting in the garage and taking people's money for payment. I lost 5 bucks but listening to my gut instinct probably saved me from a more expensive parking ticket or worse, getting towed in a strange city - with all my belongings in the car! I have to admit, what a great little scam! Good for a few bucks anyway. Lesson learned!
Once I had my fill of Bourbon Street, I headed back out on the road to find a place to sleep for the night and ended up calling it a day outside of Baton Rouge. My little Garmin Nuvi came in handy with finding nearby hotels - complete with telephone numbers. It wasn't long before I was tucked in comfortably in bed after a nice long hot shower. Next stop - San Antonio, Texas!
No comments:
Post a Comment