Day 2: Tall things in the middle of the desert

Today began once again around 5:30am (this time mountain time) to the sound of my dad waking me up. And once I was up and had all my things gathered together and packed away into the car, I stumbled down to the lobby of the motel that we were staying in to eat some La Quinta signature continental breakfast consisting of a bagel with cream cheese and apple juice with a banana for the road. My dad, being so much of a morning person that its disgusting, talked all through breakfast and then when we were done eating and got in the car, were on the road again, and I thought maybe that he would stop talking and I could go to sleep, he continued to talk. Those that know the me of the wee hours of the morning know that I hate them for one, and that I don't really talk and under most circumstances would prefer not to be spoken to. So, my dad knows this, and yet when we got in the car and he continued to talk to me I attempted to sleep. Eventually he gave up conversation and I slept.

I awoke an hour later still nowhere near civilization. Southern New Mexico is a place of desert with an occasional mountain or plateau and not much of anything else. We entered Tucson around 11:30 where for the first time in 400 miles we had cell phone reception. So my dad and I called everybody that we saw necessary to call. We also stopped and traded drivers so that my dad could pretend like he was sleeping, but really he's just too nervous about anything to sleep in the car.

I drove from Tucson to Pheonix (~200 miles) where we stopped for lunch and then switched back again. During my drive where I was mostly alone, I drove through a forest (if that's what a bunch of them are called) of 20-foot tall saguaro cacti. It was kind of cool and I had this sudden urge to play an invigorating game of cowboys and indians, but then I realized that I was 22 and not played that game in 15 years and as there was no civilization to speak of, there simply were not enough people to play with. Once in Pheonix, I consumed my first In-N-Out burger. Apparently they're good; at least that's what Eric says, so I thought they'd be worth trying. It wasn't bad. Probably better if the fries weren't cold . But whatever, it was good.

After we left Pheonix, and were well out of the city, my dad decided that it would be a good idea to allow me to drive for a while again since he would insist on driving the second we hit civilation in California (which wouldn't be until we arrived in the suburbs of Los Angeles). So I drove through what was definitely the most boring part of the desert. There was nothing except small bushes, dust devils and I-10 infront of me. I drove across the California border to find myself with still with more nothing but strong winds, a slower speed limit and a distant mountain range that seemed to never get closer.

After about 100 miles of driving we eventually reached that distant mountain range and along with it came civilization. So of course my dad wanted to return to the driver's seat, but that left me to observe with all my attention the massive wind farm that was powering the area. I had never seen windmills in any form other than the small rusty ones that pump water from a well in farm land. But we drove through a whole field of these giant wind turbines. Quite possibly one of the biggest things ever, and I guess I'd never seen any bit of civilization using an alternative energy source. Either way, they were neat.

After driving 100 miles more through many of the different suburbs of Los Angeles we finally said "goodbye" to I-10 to pull into Glendale, CA (a suburb of L.A.). After driving up and down the street we were to stay on, and arguing some about the where abouts of our hotel we finally found it. As we stepped out of the car to find that our knees legs can be straightened and standing is much better than sitting and that L.A. is quite cold in the summer, we checked in and then walked across the street to a quaint Italian restaurant. It was delicious.

I came back to the room to check my email, and found that I received 2 emails from girls from craigslist replying to my inquiries. I am supposed to go visit one tomorrow, I hope the outcome will be most desirable as many of the apartments in the area are asking for rent beyond what I can afford for the summer.