Trip thoughts

Well, my thoughts on the drive from Champaign to Phoenix...

Champaign to Kansas City. Noon to ~8pm 4Sept.
I57, I70
Exhausting!!!!!
I ended up driving it pretty much straight through, with only a couple stops. By the time I finally found Rozberk’s place, I was too tired to really do anything.
(Thanks Wolfpaws for the help, and sorry I missed ya while I was in KC!)
Cats stayed in garage. Rozberk fed me, and I just sorta zoned out on couch for awhile.

KC to Texas. Noon to ~10pm 5September.
I35, US54
Even though I drove longer, I wasn’t quite as exhausted when I stopped at a small hotel in Stratford TX. Probably due to the fact that I had a full 9+ hours of sleep! «g»
Before leaving KC, I visited @ my old store for awhile, then ate breakfast, and went to visit with `Grandma’ Miki. I’d really wanted to take her out for breakfast, but she didn’t answer her phone.
SouthEast Kansas can be quite beautiful. Long rolling hills. There were a few places that I wish I could’ve stopped and visit for a bit… Dodge City, “The World’s Largest Handdug Well” and meteorite (!). Did stop in Liberal KS for supper. Kept on through OK at night… Saw a LOT more stars than have for LOOONG time!

Texas to Phoenix AZ. 8am to ~8pm 6 Sept.
US54, US60
This was, I think the most exciting leg of the trip, and the most interesting.
One of the saddest things I saw was a couple of feedlots in TX… Literally acres upon acres of cattle, jammed in together waiting to get shipped out. I won’t say it didn’t make me think twice about eating meat.
Paralleled Route 66 for a ways.
Ate breakfast in Nara Visa NM.
Was stopped for awhile on Rt60 between Encino and Laguna, because a film was being shot. (The Deputy didn’t tell me the name of it…)
Literally passed through the VLA Radio Telescope!!! Several small radio telescopes slaved together, and on tracks. The tracks run across the highway! I took some pictures, which I will eventually post, if they turn out…
I think if I had known how steep and curvy the highway is through the (I think) Salt River Valley, I would have gone on interstate…. (Of course, I would have missed the VLA, and some beautiful sites, so I guess it evens out. :)
The last part of the drive (which I terminated early) was due to severe thunderstorms!!! There were some microbursts, and power outages. So stayed at another hotel…

Phoenix AZ GOAL!!
Satyrday, found place to stay temporarily… Weekly rent hotel… Not to bad (MUCH better than the first few places I looked at!)

Phoenix

Hmmm...
What can I say about a city that I have been in less than 7days?

It's definately big. But does seem to be laid out fairly logically. The bits I've been in have been pretty much gridded. Some of the Apt. Communities do have serpentine, sinuous, interconnecting streets...

WARM! And yes, being a dry heat IS different! «g» I mean, yes, it's hot, but you don't have the humidity Illinois does, so you don't have sweat running off of you in rivulets.

Rainy (?!) Yes, Since the thunderstorms that heralded my arrival in Phoenix Friday night, I drove in more rain over the weekend than the entire summer in IL.
Of course, it was just Fr, Sat, Sun, Mon. with a few sprinkles Tues. Yesterday and today, none. and none really expected till next year....

I saw a hummingbird Tuesday @ work, in the atrium of the building!
(yes, we are forced to go outside to smoke... but (see pt.2) it's truly not that bad... :) certainly nowhere near as bad as I thought it would be. About half the ppl. in the Scan Admin dpt. smoke, so we've been tending to all go together. (which has been cutting down on my reading @ work... :)
I am truly enjoying my job so far! It is SOOOOOOOOOOOO different from working in the stores!
A couple of the ppl. I worked with in KC are out here now... I knew one of them was. John S. was the Market Manager of the store I started in. Saw him today, and was great to see the expression on his face!! «g» he was totally surprised, seeing me here!
The DistrictManager for my Champaign store was here Tues. for some meeting or other, and saw him.

HAd some trouble getting my Outlook account set up @ work, but we did finally get it going today.
Got my terminal set up the way I like it.
Now I just have to see if I can get a trackball instead of a mouse, and I will be good to go! :)