Thoughts from the road

I just drove across the country. I had planned on making the trip in three, maybe four days, but once I was on the road, I just kept going and ended up making the trip in two. While I was traveling, I updated my facebook status frequently (not while driving, of course). Below are the status updates in order, some of the comments people posted on them and a few of my thoughts or explanations of the post.

Robert J. Taylor had to move his start time back seven minutes because he couldn't find his keys. Should be a fun four days. He's on the road!

TR: Have fun!

I set my keys on my car to finish loading a couple of bags and had to spend seven minutes looking for them before I could leave.

Robert J. Taylor just got excited because he thought Taylor Swift had a new single on the radio. No, he's listening to his Mp3 player.

Robert J. Taylor: made it Ty's place in Twin.

Robert J. Taylor The race is on: more money on gas or beer???

Robert J. Taylor has a slight hangover thanks to a pitcher of Sam Adams but is back on the road.

LL: Well that's your problem... you were drinking Sam Adams. sigh... when will you learn?

I love Sam Adams, but it wasn't my idea to order a pitcher of it.

Robert J. Taylor is no longer in Idaho.

LP: :(

TR: Where is Robert?

DW: Where are you? When will you be in Georiga?! I need your number again cuz I flushed my phone down the toilet :(

RjT: I'll call you this weekend.

DW: Okay great! I look forward to it!

LP: More importantly, when will you be back in Idaho?

RJT: Sometime in Jan.

LP: Goodie, goodie gumdrops! Just in time for my briffday!

RJT: That's how I planned it.

Robert J. Taylor thinks it's funny Utah tells you how fast AND how slow you can drive.

JM: A lot of things in Utah are funny...

CL: Bad word Utah. Er. Was that too forceful?

TJT: I made my drive through the state with no problems , as well.

MK: Oklahoma's the same way. Man.

Robert J. Taylor just saw a hot air balloon land. WTF???

MF1: AWESOME!

MF2: cool. I've always wanted to ride in one buy my intense fear of heights kinda rules that out.

RJT: You just gotta live.

MF2: I don't plan on being afraid of heights forever but honestly I'm OK with it if I am. I don't really do anything that involves being up high other than the hot air balloon thing and that's not a life changing desire so I think I'll manage.

Robert J. Taylor made it though Utah without stopping.

Robert J. Taylor wonders why Wyoming has three-lane highways but Idaho doesn't.

DWR: One lane is for the cows.

It turns out the three-lane highways were only or this giant hill I was going up at the time.

Robert J. Taylor can't tell if that's a giant trailer park or the entire town.

DD: Haha!

I came around this corner and saw what looked like a town that reminded me of the first thing I saw when I got to Cuzco, Peru. As I got closer, I discovered it was a trailer park located on a hill. I'm not sure, but it looked like it could have been the entire town.

Robert J. Taylor just passed a town that was nothing more than a sex shop with two gas pumps. Crazy!

PB: Where?!!!

RJT: Somewhere in Wyoming. I think it was Red Rock or something like that.

JM: WY is a scary state.

RJT: Fear not for I am almost out of it.

Robert J. Taylor just saw gas for $2.22.

TJT: Watch for Rawlings, Wyo., gas at one exit is $2.38. A mile down at the next one, it's $2.75.

RJT: I'm about four miles from NE. Rawlings is a ways back. Thanks though. I noticed that in a few places. My phone tells me where cheap gas is.

TR: I need that app on my phone.

RJT: It works for hotels too.

TR: Very nice. That has to be great for road trips.

Idahoans are getting screwed. The most expensive place I filled up at by far across the country was at the Maverick in Mountain Home.

Robert J. Taylor wonders why Wyoming is so big if no one lives here. If he were a small state with a lot of people, he'd annex some of their land.

Robert J. Taylor just saw a giant Jesus statue on the WY/NE border facing WY. What is NE trying to tell WY?

Robert J. Taylor now knows Cabelas' World HQ has its own water tower. Must have one giant water cooler there.

MH: You are making awesome time if you are already in NE. I just moved from Omaha back to Mtn. Home in June... I miss it already.

Robert J. Taylor thinks Nebraska sucks hard core.

MF: I agree.

DW: Are you stopping to see us?

RJT: I just looked on the map. Ohio is not on the way. :(

Robert J. Taylor: wicked lighting storm!

Robert J. Taylor thinks he almost just died. Time for the third stop in the last 961 miles.

Biggest. Rain drops. Ever.

Robert J. Taylor is now in York, Neb., which is 1,012 miles from Twin Falls, Idaho. Not New York, just York. Must be the old one.

Robert J. Taylor is a little creeped out staying by himself in a motel room in the middle of nowhere. He think's he's seen this movie before. If he doesn't update his status in the a.m., send a search party please. In the mean time, he's going to check out the outdoor pool at midnight.

LH: Haha, if you're so creepeed out, it doesn't seem like a good idea to go swimming alone at midnight. ;)

RJT: Yeah, that lasted all of five minutes. I kept expecting to find a body in the pool and every time the wind blew the rope thingys, I'd freak out. Heated outdoor pool? Greatest thing ever.

I would have been fine, but then I walked into my room and saw it had one of those doors that connect it to the next room if both doors are open. For some reason, I thought of that movie when people try to break into the hotel room to get to the people inside and started thinking about how someone could just come through the door. Yeah, I'm a dork.

Robert J. Taylor is alive, well rested and back on the road.

Robert J. Taylor turned off the GPS and is winging it.

The GPS decided to send me down back roads in Nebraska. It was cool at first because it was a welcomed change of pace from the freeway. But after a while, I was ready to get back on the interstate so I had to turn off the GPS and just use the map/road signs.

Robert J. Taylor just spent 12 minutes in Iowa.

Iowa was one of four states I drove though without stepping foot in: Utah, Iowa, Illinois and Kentucky.

Robert J. Taylor wonders why there are mile markers every fifth of a mile in MO. Seems like overkill.

JM: I love your road trip status diary... very fun!

Robert J. Taylor just passed an exit for Oregon. But he doesn't think it was for that Oregon.

Robert J. Taylor is not in Kansas City anymore.

Driving in big cities is crazy. The speed limits become mare suggestions the closer you get to the center of the city. The road from Nebraska to just outside of Kansas City was pretty empty. Then all of a sudden, I'm surrounded by cars. I came around a corner and I see I have to merge into a highway that has more cars on it than I've ever seen in one spot in my life. About 100 feet later, I see people are merging into my lane just before we all have to merge into the other road. It was crazy.

Robert J. Taylor is kicking himself for not leaving early enough this morning to hit Nashville at a decent time on Saturday night.

Robert J. Taylor is 40 miles from St. Louis and the traffic is starting to get crazy.

Robert J. Taylor got a little lost in St. Louis but got a great picture out of it.

It wasn't so much that I got lost, I just trusted the GPS when I shouldn't have.

Robert J. Taylor has no clue what state he's in. Might still be MO still, might not be.

Robert J. Taylor is either in Illinois based on his map-reading skills or Oklahoma based on the license plate that just passed him.

Robert J. Taylor hopes no one asks to see his passport when he crosses the Mason-Dixon line.

Robert J. Taylor: Nashville!

Robert J. Taylor is no longer in Nashville. He has gone off the map to an undisclosed location.