Lightloch's Domain

On Saturday, August 23rd, I began my long move/road trip from Alabama to Utah (via the longer southern route) for school for the forseeable future. Below is a small log of my journey. This same post will be edited to show any updates.

Day 1 -
Made it from Alabama to Dallas, Texas. Drove about 12 hours only stopping for gas and a Subway sandwich! Saw the Mississippi River for the first time (I think). Mississippi is an interesting place. Did you know that “Cuba” is in Mississippi? It’s true according to a road sign! Another notable town is “Chubville.” It might be just me but I think Mississippi brings it all upon itself =). At one point when I stopped to get some fuel I really though twice about getting out of the car, as the station was run-down and the folks there really didn’t look too friendly… no offense intended. I did survive however but my speed in getting the job done probably had something to do with it! Around 11 PM I finally stopped at an older Quality Inn near Dallas with an inflated room rate, but there wasn’t a lot to choose from at that exit and my tiredness prevailed.

Day 2 -
Drove from Dallas, Texas, to Deming, New Mexico. I am now convinced that Texas, aside from its major urban centers, is a huge, forsaken void of nothingness. At one point my GPS told me to leave I-20 and get onto a middle-of-nowhere highway with nothing by oil pumps along the way. My brain could not comprehend the infinitely open, flat space! Unfortunately I wasn’t given a good idea of how long I would actually be on that road, and finally with literally only 7 miles worth of gas in the tank I pulled into a little isolated town. Funnily enough this little town had a small neighborhood that reminded me of ‘King of the Hill.’ =) The little gas station was very old and definitely didn’t have modern gas pumps, and since it was a little of the beaten track I would not have found it without the help of my GPS device! After the town the little highway continued on forevermore until I at last reached a freeway and recognizable civilization!

New Mexico, from what I saw, is very beautiful in a desert kind of way. The little towns I stopped through, like the one in Texas, seemed more run-down and rustic than I originally imagined them, but I suppose in some ways it is still the ‘wild west.’ For a time I drove on a two-lane highway through a small mountain chain. I was mesmerized by the open desert and beautiful foothill mountains. My route took me back into Texas briefly through El Paso. I ate at a pizza place there and even had a guy (probably younger than I) hit on me. Ewh. A brief stint on I-10 landed me at Deming where I stayed at a nice Holiday Inn which, although in better condition than the hotel of the previous night, had a ton of stink-bugs in beetles all over the parking lot due to Hurricane Dolly. “Crunch, crunch” was the overwhelming sound I heard when walking in the parking lot!

Day 3-4
Visiting family in Arizona! Phoenix is an absolutely beautiful city and the buildings and homes are very nice and neatly kept. The dry heat is pleasant in many ways compared to the stifling humidity of Alabama and surrounding states. They seem to be very afraid of rain here though, but I suppose it’s warranted since the monsoon waters can cause a good bit of flash flooding here.

Day 5 -
From Phoenix to Provo. A nice smooth drive with more beautiful scenery. A long stretch of desert gave way to an alpine mountain full of green trees. Then made the last stretch into the city via I-15. The hotel prices in Provo are way high!

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