The Drive to Texas

May 7, 2011

I left the day before in the early morning. Said a sad goodbye to Jen since I wouldn't see her for about a month. Then it was drive, drive, drive, drive, drive. I went north to catch I-40 and cross Arizona. Stopped for lunch in Flagstaff. Arizona is actually very pretty in this part of the state. I thought of Arizona as desert since I drove I-10 in the south part of the state on my move out to California. But there's a big forest that I past through. Tons of pretty trees. The desert parts of Arizona and New Mexico are pretty too with lots of mesas and red rock. I stopped for the night in Moriarty, New Mexico. That's east of Albuquerque.

I was going to make it the rest of the way today. So I got up and headed for Texas. I got to Amarillo then turned southeast toward the Dallas area. This was the wrong route to take for two reasons. The small highway I was on was going through little towns where you'd have to slow down. I should have taken I-10 through El Paso and stayed on the interstate to Dallas, but I wanted to try this route. The second reason this route was wrong is because about an hour and a half south of Amarillo in a little town called Hedley I got T-boned.


This picture hurts my eyes. I took good care of that truck. I was doing 55 mph when a teenage boy in a Dodge Ram decided to cross the highway without looking. It's an eerie feeling seeing a truck about to plow into you and there's nothing you can do to stop or swerve in time. Luckily, he wasn't going very fast. I had a couple scratches but was alright. Just shaken up. The state troopers and ambulance came. The boy wasn't hurt either and was very apologetic. I called Jen who freaked out on cue. I waited around for a tow truck to come and get me and my truck because it wasn't going any further. They took me to the Best Western hotel in Clarendon which is the next city to the north. Best Western is about the only thing there is in Clarendon. The nearest rental car place was back in Amarillo and the tow truck drive said if I need a ride there we could work out a deal. The problem with all this was my driver's license was expired unbeknownst to me. I never got my renewal notice in the mail because I think the DMV had my old apartment info. Oops! (I'll pause here a moment for you to grab your wallet and check the expiration on your license. Is the date coming up? Let me be a lesson to you. Go ahead and get that renewed.) No license means no rental car. I called my parents. Couldn't get hold of them. Called my sister who didn't know where they were. My brother-in-law immediately got in the car and headed to come get me but he is in Waco which is farther south than Dallas. I called my best friend, Josh, from the Dallas area. I was planning on surprising Josh when I got to Dallas because I hadn't told him I was moving. Surprise! Come get me! He drove to come get me so I called off my brother-in-law. It takes about 5 hours to get from Dallas to Clarendon. It was almost midnight when he arrived. We grabbed some sodas, turned around and made the drive all the way back. It was fun to talk and catch up on things though. We got home after 4am and crashed.

The next day my parents came and lent me one of their cars because I had my first day of work the next day. In the end I got a rental because Jen went online and renewed it for me. The rental place accepted the renewal receipt. Insurance was taking care of the rental while the truck went through the claim process.

Jen's sister, Courtney and her boyfriend David and their dog, Bruiser, took me in to their home to live. I'm so thankful for their hospitality. They even fed me well with lots of home cooked meals. If you're in the area I recommend staying there. I started working and looking for an apartment in my spare time. I missed Jen and talked to her every chance I got. I wanted the craziness to end and I wanted my pregnant wife with me. She kept me sane as we counted down the days until she'd come. I love you, Jen!