bumps in the road

i have safely arrived in phoenix, arizona. tired and quite simply exhausted from three days of driving... i pretty much collapsed. i did, however, have a few interesting little stories of complications on my little journey.

it first started with the hated state of oklahoma. anyone who knows me knows that being from texas it is inbred in me to hate oklahoma. its a football thing. so as i travel this horrible state of flatness and desolateness and network of horrible toll roads with no exits... i come across the 19th toll of the day. having the foresight of this already, i have been saving and collecting my small bills and change. Hoooowever... i come to this last toll and i am out of change. i need $1.00 and i have $.80. There are two toll booths... but no people. to "accomodate" this situation the "great" state has decided to put change machines infront of the toll collecting booth so you can make change. however, on this day... their lousy machine is not working. now tell me what do YOU do.. when you have no money, are on a toll, the equipment is working and there are cars piling up behind you honking in anger when you are faced with sitting at a toll for the rest of your life or going forward and breaking a law???? what i did, was panic and start through anything i could at the darn machine... okay not anything... but pennies. hoping it toooo might malfunction and decided to count them towards the $.80 i had already dumped in there. and then, in a moment of desperation my eye caught a phone number on the machine... and i called it. telling them my situation, and that i had no idea what to do. so in case you ever find yourself in this situation... this is what you do. you call the number. you give them the number of the machine. you write the number down so you can call them the next day and figure out how to pay your toll. it only reinforced my thoughts and feelings on how horrible oklahoma is.

the next day, friday morning i wake. and find myself depleted of cash from two days of travel and tolls. so i do what any normal person does and goes to the first atm i can find, disregarding any fees and attempt to get cash. and the stupid thing ATE my atm card. so i calm myself, walk into the bank hoping they can just open the little machine and give me back my atm card. and the woman inside informs me that 1) they do not have a key... a seperate company manages the machine 2.) the company will not be there till late in the day and 3.) the likelyhood of my card NOT being shredded is pretty much slim to none. so here i am, in amarillo. no cash. about 800 miles from phoenix. 1200 miles from home with no cash. and facing a drive through the desert with pretty much one city between there and flagstaff - 600 miles away. yep. i needed cash. luckily, i had grabbed my checkbook just "incase" i might need it. and i needed it. the bank was nice enough to cash me a check for cash and get me back on the road with lots of apologies. i still have to call my bank, cancel my debit card and order a new one which will take a couple weeks to get. but at least i was able to get back on the road with only an hour and half delay.

but THEN i realized i had left my phone charger in the hotel and that i would HAVE to go back for it. yuck. pretty much at this point i was thinking texas MUST be taking revenge on me for having left its borders. it was punshment for leaving and moving north.

and then back on the road, getting on the exit to the great I-40 which i drove for over 800 miles across the country... a stupid texan driver STOPS on the entrance ramp. WHAT?!?!!?!? she stops. doesn't merge and waits for the traffic to clear. by this time, i was so ready to leave texas it wasn't funny.

all things considered - it was a good trip. i saw a huge part of our country. was exposed to lots of radio talk shows and small town americas opinions on the political race. and have a great story when i'm 80 years old and rocking on the porch to tell my grandkids about the time i drove over 2,000 miles across the country by myself.