King of the road

I have done what I thought impossible: Make a solo, continuous drive to Los Angeles.

It wasn't my intention. I gave myself two days to make the trek, figuring I would just stop when I was tired. But I wasn't getting tired. So I made myself little promises... and kept breaking them. "Let's at least get to Sacramento and then stop at the next quaint town." There are no quaint towns past Sacramento. "I'll drive until it gets dark." Well, but the time it was dark, there was only three hours left to go.

Back home, three hours driving would put me in Bend - which is, normally, in my mind "A Big Trip." However, when put in the perspective of having already driven 11 hours - three more seems less daunting. There is also the practical matter of spending money on a hotel room. My life is on a budget these days, and this trip is an extravagance. But need it be overly so? No. The final push came from my pride, which would not let me come so close to this achievement and fall short.

And so, just before 11:30 pm, I arrived at Russ' house in L.A.

There are two things without which I would not have been able to do this: My ipod and 2 liters of Coke. Blessed be. I listened to The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy on audio book - which killed a good six hours. The only way to drive solo is to pretend like you have someone else in the car.

More adventures to come.

-Thank you for reading.