Okay, I should post more but, for the first time in a year, the time attached to this post is the actual local time right now (about 1:52am) instead of offset by 3 hours because I was on the East coast.

Ammy and I rolled in to Mountain View today just before sundown (funnily enough, most people had it in their heads that we weren't coming in 'till tomorrow) and I promptly took off for San Leandro for a celebratory dinner with Karen and Crystal in honor of their getting the keys for their new house! After getting the tour (the first tour, I'm so honored) all my driving caught up to me and I drove(!) back south to Ammy and Rick's, where I've spent the last two hours looking at apartment listings, balancing monthly rent for comfort, and unsure where the equilibrium will be found, but I have a slew of places to drive by tomorrow (err, today), pretty much all in Mountain View (can we say 'walk to the Googleplex'?) and they tend to center to a few specific neighborhoods, so I'm sure I'll end up driving or walking around those neighborhoods to find places for rent that didn't make it to the Merc's classifieds or Craigslist.

Sunday may involve dancing but definitely involves helping the Danger Twins paint their new Chateau (Mmm... 'Chateau'...).

And of course Monday is the first day of the rest of my life. Go Google!

One petrified forest, painted desert, meteor crater, sedona dinner, grand canyon sunset, and a hoover dam later, we're in Vegas! We met Rick at the hotel lobby, after we were delayed five minutes by a completely unjustified police pullover (and yes, we got off scott free because my registration is in fact valid).

Tonight is Zumanity, but first there's swimming. It's over 100 degrees and drizzley. I'm gonna immerse myself in water.

Maybe tomorrow I'll try to blog from something other than my sidekick. Taa for now!

Hey from Albuquerque, where so far we have made three rights and a U-turn, but no left turns. We'll have to make a point of that.

We're at Napoli Coffee, just a few blocks off Interstate 40, where they have free wireless, and really comfy chairs! Oh god, comfy chairs...

Driving's been going great. Yesterday we had our first really long leg of driving, leaving Little Rock in the morning, driving through Oklahoma and into the Texas panhandle before stopping at Amarillo, Texas. It didn't even seem like that long of a day, despite Oklahoma City's sweltering heat and humidity.

Being the pit stop that this is, I don't have time to craft a real journal entry of the trip so far, but I'm attaching a bunch of photos I've taken along the way.

I hope all is well with everyone else. Our plan for now is to make it to the Petrified Forest and stop there, see it in the morning, visit the Meteor Crater 40 miles east of Flagstaff, Arizona, then it's a little up in the air, so long as we make it to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon the following morning (Monday), where we'll spend the day and the night, then head from there to Las Vegas Tuesday morning, pick up Rick at the airport, check in to the MGM Grand, see Zumanity Tuesday evening, and "O" on Wednesday evening. Thursday morning Rick flies home and Ammy and I drive to Los Angeles to spend an evening with my family, then drive up to the SF Bay on Friday morning and afternoon!

Whew! Well, by miles we're well over halfway, and the latter part of the trip should be a little more pampering (though Hot Springs, Arkansas was a nice diversion).

For those who need to reach us, our cells should be a little more friendly now that Oklahoma and Texas are past, though I'm sure the Southwest has its fill of dead zones in the desert.

Oh yeah, Road Trip Photos.

Click for More!

Whew! That's a lot of work for one cafe stop. I think Ammy's giving me some content to post, so you may have some reading to go with the pictures.

Talk to you all soon! Oh, by the way, when you leave comments, I get them in my Sidekick inbox, and we read them from the road. Keep 'em coming!

While I've been busy driving and snapping pictures, Ammy's been doing some proper blogging. For those who want details about the hinted-at moving horror story, or details in to what we've been doing since, read Ammy's travelogue of the trip so far.

If you leave comments here, we'll both get them. Happier trails ahead!

Hey y'all!

Ammy and I have been racing cross country for the last four days, with copious kitch and sightseeing stops. We just left the Oklahoma City bombing memorial, and are flying along Hwy 40 towards Amarillo, where we plan to stop for the night. Lots of pictures and details to share, but that'll have to wait till I can write on a real keyboard with a real net connection.

At the moment I'm blogging from the sidekick.

And no, I'm not the one driving right now. ;-)

Wow, the day is here. I can't do it justince in prose, while simultaneously finishing packing (thank god for Rachel and Ammy and their help!!!)

With the help of the Sidekick Ammy and I may be able to post some from the road. I'm sure there will be more stories to tell, not to mention Alaska stories and pictures to post.

The AirPort and DSL router are the last things to be packed, and it's about that time.

I'll be checking in soon!!!

Next stop: Nashville

Back in the 'burgh for a final two-night stand. We met Ammy at the Atlanta airport this morning and flew back to PIT. I have much to do! SO much!

Mmm... Salmon jerky...

Now, showers, laundry, pizza, packing...

Pit stop in an internet cafe in Juneau to check email. No blog post today, but Rachel and I have some great pictures to process and post in the next few days.

In the meantime: What's going on in your life? I love a good discussion.

We're in Ketchikan at the moment, and I'm sitting on my cabin's balcony, overlooking this historic 19th century frontier town.

When we arrived at 9 this morning, on a whim, I activated my wireless card and damned if there wasn't a bar of signal! I joined the network (actually, I had to move on to the balcony to get two bars of signal and join) and so now for the few moments I've been in the room, I've had free net address from an unknowing provider on the dock.

We're pulling away now, so I have to post. Losing signal...

[all times Pacific, regardless of geographic location]

Wednesday, July 30

11pm: Finish packing for weeklong trip. Set three alarms (Alarm clock, watch, and palm) for wakeup at 12:15am (75 minutes). Rachel and I go to sleep.

Thursday, July 31

12:05am: Woken up by call on cellphone. Automated Orbitz flight status update. Flight is on schedule for 3am (6am Eastern) departure.

12:15am: Alarm clock goes off. I get up and disarm watch alarm. I pick up the palm just as it goes off. I press a button to stop the din, then go to the bathroom. While I'm occupied, the palm goes off again (I'd inadvertantly 'snoozed' it) and Rachel gets up to turn it off.

1:30am: Packed, showered, and dressed, we head out the door to Pittsburgh International Airport.

2:04am: Arrive at Extended Parking, take bags to shuttle stop and wait for terminal shuttle.

2:10am: Terminal shuttle, having picked us up, drops us off at the terminal.

2:16am: Checked in for flight, taking checked bags for security inspection. The line is a good 20 minutes long, plus unknown time for the 'regular' security screening (metal detectors, x-ray machine, etc.)

2:22am: TSA inspector inexplicably plucks us out of the middle of the line for inspection.

2:30am: Inspection done, we proceed to security checkpoint.

2:42am: Done with security checkpoint, taking Bombardier subway to gates.

2:46am: Rachel's buying a few breakfasty things for us at Seattle's Best. I run to gate to make sure everything's okay.

2:54am: All is well, we board the plane to Atlanta with minutes to spare.

3:07am: In the aircraft, we're informed that maintenance has not completed their routine work, and we'll be a little bit longer on the tarmac.

3:40am: We take off 40 minutes late. By this schedule we'll have 8 minutes to make our connecting flight to San Francisco in Atlanta, including deplaning time.

4:43am: Flight attendants read off connecting gates. Our flight connection is at gate B-4 and we're coming in at gate B-12.

5:11am: Making up a few minutes in flight, our plane pulls up to the gate with 12 minutes for us to make our connection. Flight attendants ask passengers to let those with connections off first. Atlanta is a Delta hub. Half the plane deplanes. We're in the far rear corner.

5:16am: Off the plane, we start walking to gate B-4, with time to spare. On the way we check out the departures board and discover our flight is departing from gate B-34, not B-4, and is at the other end of the 1/2 mile terminal. Luggage-jogging ensues.

5:23am: Board SF flight with two minutes to spare.

10:17am: Land in San Francisco, 11 minutes early. Quickly get bags from baggage claim, highly impressed that they made the connection in Atlanta. Go to Alaska airlines ticket counter as planned to see if we can check bags 7 hours in advance. Luckily, Alaska is in Terminal 1, same as Delta.

10:23am: No joy. Check in opens 4 hours prior to departure.

11:16am: Karen picks Rachel and me up from the airport. We drive to Mountain View.

11:50am: Arrive at first apartment complex. Manager says she already has an application in for the apartment, and won't show it until that one pans out or doesn't, by 5pm today. I explain that I'll be gone by then, and that I'd like to see it, but am fine holding off applying until the other application doesn't go through. She says look around the complex, and she'll find us in 10 minutes. Karen, Rachel and I look around. We'er unenthused, and note that loud children live on either side of the relatively drab townhouse unit. We leave and I wave to the manager on our way out.

12:14pm: Driving around Mountain View, looking at (and for) for rent signs, heading toward Palo Alto Hobee's.

12:25pm: Arrive at Palo Alto Hobee's. Meet up with Ammy, Fred, Dawn, and Christyn. A little later Paul joins us, having gone to the wrong Hobee's. Merry lunch ensues. Stanford 'Cardinal' Omlette for me. Naturally I chose the blueberry coffee cake.

1:54pm: Done eating, paing, hugging, Karen, Rachel, and I head back into the car to go to the next apartment, this one a half mile away in Menlo Park.

2:01pm: Arrive at apartment. Manager shows us around. I'm completely unenthused.

2:14pm: While we're gassing up Karen's car, the manager of the 3rd place calls to confirm our 3pm time. I ask if we can move it up since we're nearby and ready. We agree to meet a little after 2:30.

2:30pm: After a little trouble finding Laurel St., we arrive at the apartment. Shortly afterwards the manager arrives and shows us this 2br bottom unit will hardwood floors throughout. It's very nice but does'nt hit me right. Maybe it's the large windows of a front bottom unit on a wide street, but I don't feel that I could be myself there, and that theft could be a factor. Also, I'm not sure I want to live in Menlo Park, when Mountain View is also charming, and so very close to work. Clearly, more hunting needs to be done, despite the beautiful oak tree outside the unit.

2:53pm: We leave for SFO.

3:21pm: Arrive at SFO, say farewells to Karen, go in and check in for our flight to Vancouver.

3:29pm: Selected for special screening, Rachel and I submit to full-body wanding and bag checks.

3:43pm: Cheese tortellini with Alfredo sauce was the perfect thing to revitalize catatonic Kevin and Rachel.

5:36pm: Board plane for Vancouver.

5:50pm: Plane takes off on schedule. We nap a bit, then watch successively larger snow-capped mountains drift by (Shasta, Hood, Ranier, etc.).

7:58pm: Land in Vancouver, BC on schedule.

8:34pm: Complete Immigration

8:42pm: Get bags from baggage claim. Meet Ben outside.

9:13pm: Go by hotel to check bags.

9:14pm: Ben gives a personalized driving tour of the Greater Vancouver Area from his convertable.

10:39pm: Stop for extremely unusual Japanese food from an extremely unusual Japanese restaurant. Amazingly delicious.

11:21pm: Drive a bit more and get gelato. Experienced amazingly high-fidelity Grapefruit gelato.

11:48pm: Arrive back at hotel, say goodbyes to Ben, check in, get bags sent up to room.

Friday, August 1:

12:04am: Pull out powerbook and start logging last 24 hours.

12:08am: Rachel goes to sleep.

12:20am: Realize that the new month has started and I forgot to say 'Rabbit, Rabbit'

12:21am: Realize that I haven't said anything out loud in the last 21 minutes, and can still say "Rabbit, rabbit." Do so.

12:23am: Finish writing up this post.

One day, nearly 4500 miles of travel, with stops in all four quadrants of North America.

And tomorrow we start our 7 day cruise up the Alaskan coastline.

Goodnight y'all.