Coast2Coast Days 1 & 2

Leaving California was easy. Leaving Gwen and the boys was the hard bit. I just spend so much time with them and they're such a part of me. It took a few miles to sort myself out, but I found my rhythm pretty quickly.

I was going to wax philosophical about the people I met and tell a couple of funny anecdotes about the trip, but honestly, the heat was so oppressive that it has overshadowed... no, eclipsed all other elements of the trip thus far.

It was HOT. As in 113+ HOT.

It was so hot I couldn't eat. I just drank water until I was full at every opportunity. At each gas station I would completely soak my t-shirt in the restroom sink and put it back on under my jacket. The cooling (from the evaporation) worked great for about 10 minutes, then the shirt would be bone dry.

Out near Gila Bend, I literally couldn't go on. I was just too hot. The GPS was indicating a rest stop. So I stopped, soaked my shirt up, grabbed a drink and pressed on. It was miserable.

But, what does not kill us...

After a shower and a heavy dose of sushi all was right again in my ecosystem.

This morning was the big karting adventure at PKRA. The day couldn't have started out any better. Pierce's upstairs has two sets of double doors (one for the master bedroom and one for the guest room) facing one another across a 15 foot open hallway. We both had alarm clocks set for 6:30 this morning. I was up right away. I'm totally amped for karting. I opened up the double doors to my room, cursing under my breath "Fucking Pierce is going to be fucking sleeping and I'm going to have to wake him up." Just as I'm thinking this, and at the exact same moment my double doors were swinging open Pierce's double doors come swinging open.

It was sort of a moment like you would see two gun slingers in a movie walking through the swinging doors of the saloon into the street for a shootout. We were both just standing there waiting for something to happen. Pierce muttered something like "Fucking Rod" and I did the only thing I could do which was to make karate-chop arms and shout a loud "hi-ya!" Pierce did the same, and the we both dashed across the hall towards each other in full kung fu attack mode.

It was hilarious, and completely spontaneous.

I have to tell you, karting is the most fun thing you can do (you know... with your clothes on). I really really had a blast. Karts are extremely high performance and it takes a while to understand that you can hit the brakes much much much later than you ever imagined. As in... you're in your car driving home at freeway speeds and you don't touch the brakes until you're already in the driveway.

Driving to the track this morning at 07:30 it was 93F. It was 108F by the time we had completed our four sessions. Karting is physically demanding enough, but in the heat it was unbelievable. I've been here 30 hours, drank maybe 20 bottles of water and only remember going pee once or twice.

I could jabber on for hours about how great my karting experience was, but I'll spare you. Just know, it's great. And it's really fast. The Bondurant school was first class. AJ (my instructor) was the best, and Josh (the other student) was a great guy as well (one of the funnier people I've met in my life).

So...

Pressing on tomorrow morning early towards Monument Valley and ultimately towards Moab UT. It takes about 30 minutes of driving until you start climbing up the plateau towards Flagstaff where the air temp drops 20 or more degrees. Up to this point it's been roads previously traveled. Tomorrow is the great unknown. I'm hurling myself into the void and the trip starts in earnest.

Oh, and one final note. Today is the longest day of the year and the first day of summer. And tomorrow, the 21st is Go Skateboarding Day! So go skateboarding!

By the numbers:
States today: 2 CA & AZ
Miles today: 417.4
Miles total: 417.4


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