Road Trip

For Steve and Yudan. Happy Anniversary! – From my travel log, "Long drives are made in short time with good friends."

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While watching Carolina dispose of Florida in the College World Series tonight, I was reminded of where I was approximately one year ago – sitting in a bar in Austin, Texas watching Carolina dispose of some other team in the College World Series. This time last year I was helping my friend Steve move from Atlanta to San Diego. It was a once in a lifetime road trip – a week with my friend driving from shining city to shining city. We took the standard Atlanta – New Orleans – Austin – Tucson – San Diego route…those in the know might notice that we made a couple diversions from the most direct path – just don't tell our wives. I made a few notes along the way…here are a few excerpts with updated commentary:

Monday, June 28, 2010: "New Orleans is the armpit of the South. It was a dirty, defiled city before Katrina – it is a dirtier, defiled city after." People have some false imagination about this town – maybe it had a heyday, but it hasn't been in the last four or five decades. My best memory of the town was the time I had lunch with Bart Ehrman – he was way at the other end of the table, but we were both having lunch…it counts.

As I recall, Steve and I took a cab to Bourbon Street…it was raining…we both agreed Savannah was a hell of a lot nicer town. We visited the Gumbo Shop for dinner – I attempted to pay with my BP Visa, but Steve suggested that might not go down too well given the whole oil-spill thing going on at the time. We took pictures at St. Michael's, ate beignets at Café Du Monde, and then closed down a small Irish bar (okay, I'm exaggerating…we had two beers, watched the Braves game, and went back to the Marriott by 10p).

Tuesday, June 29, 2010: "By way of contrast, Austin is one of the truly fine towns." After driving across the Bayou and through Houston (the town that never ends), Austin was a welcome site. We walked around the University of Texas campus…found an open door at Texas Memorial Stadium and roamed around the UT athletic offices a bit – very cool.

After having dinner at Stubbs BBQ we headed out to Sixth Street and settled in at "The Library" (picture above) to watch the College World Series. That is where we met "John" – the stereotypical college male. The one-way conversation went something like this:

"Dude…you're from Atlanta! I love Atlanta, man!…lot of hot chicks there, man!…Dude, I gotta get liquored up tonight, man! [I awarded him bonus points for including both 'dude' and 'man' in the same sentence] I have got to get laid tonight, man!"

I said, "Okay, man." He then engaged me in some sort of male fist bumping ritual and disappeared into the smoky darkness of the bar. I thought about my wife and kids – glad to be a happily married man just taking in a ballgame at the bar.

Wednesday, June 30, 2010: "Everything IS bigger in Texas. Driving through the vast, open and mountainous Big Bend area of West Texas, I've never felt so small." Passing through El Paso was a great joy after enduring 400 miles of near wilderness in West Texas. I counted three Starbucks – we hadn't seen three trees in the last eight hours – but, I wondered who in the world would want to drink hot coffee there. El Paso was a harsh looking town, but as we drew close to the Rio Grande, and close enough to see Juarez, Mexico, it began to seem brilliant by comparison. The contrast from one side of the river to the other was devastatingly bleak. The cinder-block 'homes' spotting the hillside were a reminder that poverty has no limits to its descent. It only takes one look to realize why so many risk so much to enter and live illegally in the United States. "Immigration reform is needed, but more than that, social transformation is needed – how can U.S. citizens assist Mexican citizens in making their land a place where they experience a reasonable quality of life?"

After 16 hours of near non-stop driving we arrived in Tucson, AZ. There I experienced what they mean by a 'dry heat.' We found a Boston Market…unfortunately they were out of chicken! So, we walked around the University of Arizona campus and searched for food…we ate and then slept – it's amazing how much energy a drive that long takes out of you. We woke up at 5 AM, by 5:30 it was hot enough to fry an egg on the street…100+ degrees!!! We left town quickly…California dreaming.

Thursday, July 1, 2010: "Ascended to over 4000 feet before coasting downward into San Diego today. We exited the truck into the most glorious 70 degree weather. I barely broke a sweat while we unloaded all of Steve and Yudan's earthly possessions into their new apartment. It felt like a Saturday afternoon in Fall – I kept wondering when the football game would kick-off." San Diego is a beautiful town. Though, the landscape is a bit too brown for me…I'm so used to grass and pine trees. We went to an authentic Chinese restaurant for dinner, Yudan ordered for us – in Chinese, no menu needed. I'd lose a lot of weight if I ate with them regularly – I'm handicapped when it comes to chopsticks, like eating with my right hand tied behind my back.

The next morning we visited La Jolla, then off to the airport…missed the flight (I told you we wouldn't make it in time, Steve!). A blessing in disguise, as we got to spend a few more hours checking out SD.

Friday, July 2, 2010 (on the red-eye!): "Not sure when I'll see Steve again. We've been great friends since the first week of our freshman year at Georgia Tech. The four-day, 2300 mile journey from Atlanta to San Diego only served to make it painfully obvious how far away he is now. There will be no more spontaneous lunches at Boston Market at Druid Hills. No more pre-game meals and pints shared at Gordon Biersch or the Vortex. No more visits to one another's homes – at least not with any regularity. I wish I had made more time for those things when he was so close. I know he and Yudan will do well in California – their new home. Yet, Atlanta will be a great deal more lonely without them." – D. Christian Nix, 6/29/11