My Trip to Houston: Day 1

So, today was my first day of traveling on my epic journey to Houston. It was a long day today, about 12 hours on the road, which is more than I originally planned, but I was feeling pretty good, so I decided to keep on trucking. I made it to Tremonton, a city in Northern Utah, and I'm holed up at the Hampton Inn. The room was a little more than I wanted to spend, but after getting up here, I'm not upset. King bed, free internet, 32" HDTV; hell, it's a really nice room even without those things. If you've been following me on Twitter you'll already know these details I'm about to go into, but here's the story of day 1.

I left today at 9am on the dot. It was the first time I think I've left on time for anything in a long time. I stopped at a gas station in Eugene after getting some breakfast, and I was wearing a shirt I got at the Olympic Trials last night, so the attendant strikes up a surprisingly knowledgeable conversation about the meet last night. He wasn't even there but he knew all about it. I guess that's why it truly is Track Town, USA when your gas station attendant is a regular track aficionado.

After I gassed up, I headed out for Bend. The drive was pretty nice. It was cloudy, which meant it was cool, but there were a few early sprinkles, and with stuff in the bed of my truck, I didn't want to see that. They went away pretty quick, and in 2 and a half short hours, I made it to Bend.

A few dozen miles outside of Bend, it was flat, boring, and real sunny, but still temperate. About half a mile ahead of me, I saw a big dust cloud go up. Immediately, I thought it was an accident, but then I just figured it was some truck going down a dirt road kicking it all up. Then I saw break lights ahead of me, so I started to slow down. As I pulled up, I see a bunch of crap all over the road, and what looks like a Uhaul truck. So, then I figure the Uhaul somehow lost a bunch of stuff out the back.

But as I slowed to a stop, I saw it was much worse than that.



As you can see, it looks like the white van either collided with or swerved to avoid that semi truck that's towing a Uhaul truck, and rolled, coming to rest in the ditch on the side of the road. All their stuff had come out of the van and littered the highway. Now, it looked really bad, but from what I could see, the passenger's head was bleeding, but she was up, walking and checking on the driver, so I think that might have just been a bad cut. The driver, however, was laying on the ground in front of the van, where I think the people who came to help had laid him. He didn't look as good. His arm was up in the air, but I really couldn't see his hand. When I got a look, I didn't see his hand, so either it was mangled pretty bad, or it wasn't there anymore. There were about 10 people already assisting with the situation, so I didn't stay, but nothing looked life threatening, so I hope everyone involved is alright. It really got my heart going, and I drove cautiously the rest of the day.

After that, it was flat and pretty into Burns, where I stopped to gas up and get lunch. I finished up, grabbed a Mountain Dew, and I was on my way. next stop: Idaho.

The speed limit in Idaho is 75 mph, so it went a little bit quicker. I stopped once at a rest stop, but that was it. I was on autopilot at this point, listening to podcasts and just driving. When I hit Twin Falls, I felt good, so I decided to head on to the next town.

Well, about 2 hours later, it was starting to get dark, and I had hit Utah, so I pulled into the next town with a hotel, which happened to be Tremonton. Overall it was a pretty easy day. I like driving, and have plenty to listen to if I ever get bored. I think this is going to go by faster than expected, but I'll be hot, be eating bad, and probably sleeping little. I just want to get there and check out my new place! See you tomorrow for day 2.

I update Twitter all day from my cell, so check that for intra-day updates, and I post to KevsPix too, so check those for more frequent updates. Below are a few of the many pictures I took along the way today. These are my personal faves. They're in order. Post some comments about anything and everything, and I'll get back to you.