It’s all over now. This summer is, at least.
Last week my presentation went pretty well, but I lost my place twice and forgot what I was going to say. I stood there like an idiot for a few seconds until I could remember. That’s how it goes, I guess. You just have to practice until you get it right.
Before I left, I met with my supervisor who said I could work part time during school if I wanted. That sounds great since it would be really flexible, unlike becoming a TA/grader with the Computer Science department. I could only work a few hours a week if school got tough. He also said I could go full time during winter break and I could work completely from home just like a few of the other guys in our team. Hopefully I can get everything set up for that within a few weeks because the beginning of school always has the least amount of work.
My mom came in Thursday afternoon and took Caltrain from the airport to Mountain View. I came by around noon and picked her up. That was pretty easy.
On Friday I met with everyone for the last time and went over my source code. I was very surprised nobody really complained about it. In fact, nobody really made any suggestions about changing my code, which was really surprising. Everyone said if I was able to fix the few bugs that still remain it could be released in the next version.
Friday afternoon I was able to leave early and my mom and I drove into San Francisco and walked along the Embarcadero. We went into Pier 39 and saw sea lions duking it out on the dock. We bought some sourdough bread which we took with us on the trip back and was really good.
For dinner we met our old neighbors again at the Fog City Diner. I got this dish with crab, scallops, clams, and scallops in a broth. I had never ordered anything before where you had to break apart the crab to get at the meat. It was kind of messy for only a little meat, but still good.
On the way back I realized that this was my last trip to San Francisco and down the 101 towards Moffett. I really didn’t want to leave.
Day 1 (Saturday): Mountain View, CA to Williams, AZ:
The following morning I got up early and biked on the usual route, but there wasn’t nearly as much traffic so I wasn’t caught at all the lights. It was weird realizing that this was also my last few hours in California and I would be heading home.
We got the car packed up and left around 9:30 from Moffett and headed down 101, crossed over to I-5 around Gilroy, and then took CA 58 through Bakersfield and Barstow before getting on I-40. We stopped outside of Bakersfield at a Subway for lunch. They served avocados on their subs That part of California isn’t that nice. It’s hot, dry, and smoggy. I definitely wouldn’t want to live there. There were also tons of trucks carrying tomatoes and melons. After getting on I-40, we passed into the Sierra Nevada — this far south it wasn’t nearly as spectacular as on I-80, more like a handful of desert hills. There were a lot of ghost towns out there.
There was an aircraft graveyard and a ton of windmills in Mojave. The whole area was hot, dusty, and dry. I can’t believe that Dan and his friend hiked through that for the first month or so of their trip on the Pacific Crest Trail. That whole area is inhospitable and I couldn’t imagine walking for days in the desert.
We got to Needles, CA, along the Colorado, at around 6 PM Pacific and stopped at a Denny’s. It was the only place around. Needles was a ghost town, even on a Saturday evening. Gas there was insane — like $3.57 or something, while even in Mountain View it was under $3.00. Afterwards, my mom and I continued across the Colorado into Arizona with anothe two and a half hours to go until Williams. I drove the windy, hilly, and desolate roads through the sunset and into the dark. Signs every mile warned of deer and elk and everyone around us had their high beams on to look out for them. We passed a place called Black Mesa. It wasn’t much different looking than the Black Mesa from Half Life. There were plenty of striated sandstone mesas that faded into the darkness along the way. We finally got to Williams around 9:30 Pacific and we were both exhausted. It was over 10 and a half hours of driving that day.
Day 2 (Sunday): Williams, AZ to Amarillo, TX:
The second day sucked because of the time change. We lost two hours that day because Arizona is on Pacific time for the summer and Mountain time in the winter. Finishing the day in Texas meant we would be on Central time, so we only went 9 hours that day. My mom had thought about driving up to the Grand Canyon, but a couple hours out of the way would have slowed things down a lot. Instead, we headed out of Williams on I-40 instead of going north to the Grand Canyon.
This day had a lot of scenery changes. Near Flagstaff there were mountains and forests of pine trees, but crossing into the eastern part of the state there were more deserts. We went by the Painted Desert, Meteor Crater, and the Petrified Forest. I had been to all of these places when I was little and only remembered bits and pieces. It was possible to see chunks of petrified logs as well as some of the Painted Desert from the interstate.
New Mexico was more arid and dry and was like Mojave, but with more scrubby vegetation. There were also bigger mountains. We drove through a few canyons which were pretty cool. When we got to Albuquerque, we went into the downtown area and drove around the Old Town and stopped at the University of New Mexico. Their classes were starting the next day. It was also incredibly hot there but fortunately no humidity.
The rest of New Mexico was pretty desolate and flat. There was some grass and cattle, and that was about it. We stopped at a steakhouse for dinner in some forgotten town. The beef was good, though. Not long after, we passed into Texas, which was more of the same endless flat terrain.
Day 3 (Monday): Amarillo, TX to Forrest City, AR:
We got in over ten hours this day and had time to do some sightseeing since we were on Central time the whole day. Texas on I-40 was just flat and grass as it had been the day before. There was almost nothing there. Oklahoma had some of that, but more trees cropped up as we headed east towards Oklahoma City.
We stopped in Oklahoma City at a deli for lunch and walked to the Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial. I remember seeing the memorial on the news when it was finished. It was pretty interesting to see. There is a big reflecting pool and a metal chair for each person who died. I remember hearing somewhere that no references to the bombers themselves are made either in the memorial or the museum next door. I didn’t see any.
I nearly fell asleep on the drive from Oklahoma until we stopped in Little Rock for dinner. It was just rolling hills and trees and wasn’t much different than I-64 from Williamsburg to Richmond. We went to a Cracker Barrel and got a huge pile of food. My mom and I shared everything we got and I wound up eating most of her pecan pancakes. They were really good. There was also this hash brown casserole which I liked that I got as part of my dish.
From Little Rock it was only about another 45 minutes or so to Forrest City.
Day 4 (Tuesday): Forrest City, AR to Christiansburg, VA:
This was the last full day of driving and was another ten hours. We started the day just switching to Eastern time so it would be easier later on. There wasn’t much traffic going into Memphis, but there were a few nasty car accidents on the other side of the highway that made things a mess for everyone going the other way. Looking at the map, I noticed Mississippi was only about 10 miles from where we were so my mom drove 20 minutes out of the way just so I could say I had been there. Now I’ve been to all the southern states. I doubt I would have reason to return to Mississippi, so I’m glad we stopped.
There was well over 500 miles of driving in Tennessee, about as much as Sarah and I did in Nebraska on the way out, but this was a lot better since there were several big cities (Memphis, Nashville, Knoxville), more traffic, and hills and mountains. Still, I made sure to get a Mountain Dew at lunch so that I could stay awake for my portion of the drive. I don’t drink stuff with caffeine much so I can really feel it when I get some. It’s like chemically induced awakeness — I can tell I’m not supposed to be as alert as I am. When it wears off I can really tell too, but by that time we had almost made it to Virginia after getting off I-40 and on to I-81.
I had never been to that little corner of Virginia before, so even that was a first for me. There was a Bob Evans in Wyethville that we stopped at for dinner, and again, it wasn’t much farther to Christiansburg.
Day 5 (Wednesday): Christiansburg, VA to Virginia Beach, VA:
Finally, the last day of driving. The car was a mess on the outside and I was anxious since I hadn’t run or biked since we left California. It was a little over 5 hours on US 460 from Christiansburg back to Virginia Beach. There was almost no traffic until we got to Petersburg, so it was probably a good way to go.
It was weird coming back home after all this time and especially after driving from the west coast. It was great to get out of the car and bike. I went down to the oceanfront and back and it was a welcome release. Of course, it was overcast with jungle-esque humidity with some rain.
My achilles was really sore the day after I tried running on it before I left California. I tried again yesterday but it was pretty tight during the run so I cut it short after about 20 minutes. Fortunately, it wasn’t sore today, only pretty tight. I may try going in the afternoons instead of the morning so it will be looser. Hopefully it will improve soon.
Basically I only have a day or two before I go back to school with school starting next Wednesday. I feel really rushed, but that’s how it goes. Going back to school always sucks, but after a week or so I get into a routine and it’s fine.
Well, my trip this summer has come full circle and now it’s back to the same old stuff. I’m glad I had this experience, though, because it was like nothing else I’ve ever done.
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