Southern Gentlemen in Southern California

The ink was still wet on my University of Georgia diploma as I drove out of Athens on the way to California.  It felt like a scene out the of The Beverly Hillbillies (see video below).  We loaded up a Toyota 4Runner and the biggest trailer U-haul makes to the brim with all our worldly possessions.  My new roommate and road dawg Blake and I were in for a long 5 day trek across this beautiful country.  The trip might not have lasted 5 full days if the trailer didn’t shake violently when we drove faster than 55 mph.

Being broke, jobless college grads we picked our route to the west coast based on friends and family along the way with free places to sleep and hot meals.  The first road block we faced on the way to the our first night in Baton Rouge was a late start.  4 hours, 2 trailers and 1 insane Tetris-like loading job later we were off.  Unfortunately the late start and the slow trailer driving had us arrive a little after 4am in Louisiana completely exhausted.  The next day we headed out  with our stomach’s full of gumbo and the gas tank on F.

Next we breezed through Dallas, Albuquerque and Phoenix seeing the way more of this country than I ever expected.  Since the award season in LA is in full force and I’m already for the 2013 Oscars I’ll give out a few awards for the trip:

Best Scenery Award – New Mexico/North Arizona. – The snow on the ground was a perfect accent to the scenic mountains and pristine forests.

Worst Scenery Award – In case you’re wondering there is NOTHING scenic about the drive between Dallas and New Mexico.  That drive had some of the worst sights and smells (there are some pretty foul smelling cattle farms) I’ve encountered in this country.

Best Meal: Homemade Gumbo from the Karam family. Uh-Maze-Ing.

Worst Meal: Half of a bag of sunflower seeds I found under the seat somewhere in Texas.

2,468 miles later we pulled up to the new place in SoCal ready for some great adventures!