Bomp Bomp de dow de Bomp Bomp de dow de Bomp Bomp..du du du du du du du

SWEET HOME ALABAMA....

Gasino??

Yes, that is a casino attached to this gas station so I have dubbed it a "Gasino". Who needs a Taco Bell or Wendy's when you can have Texas Hold 'Em and Nickel Slots?

The Other LA

Just crossed into Louisiana (and our 10th state) on our return trip home. We are roughly 400 miles from Tuscaloosa. Started the morning right with some breakfast tacos at Taco Cabana in Arlington. TC was a favorite of mine when we lived in San Antonio, glad that Dallas had one. Nothing starts a morning like Chorizo and Egg, Barbacoa, and Bean/Cheese tacos!!

We also found a contraband banana under the console. Sorry California!

1 more state sign to go........

The day that was....

Today's trip has been relatively uneventful. Left Tucson at 8am and have been on the road ever since. It is now 6:36 and we have another 300 miles to our hotel in Arlington, Tx. The Bro phrased it best today when he said he has a new found appreciation for planes, buses and trains.

The highlights of the day include an ungodly stench emitting from the rear of the van earlier today followed up by canned beanie weenies and a gas station brisket taco eaten in a mad attempt at retaliation. Some of you are confused, but I'm sure others get the drift without further explanation. There will be payback, oh yes.....

There is little else to report because there was little else to see. As I posted on Facebook, I never knew where the Gambler's train bound for nowhere was heading but I am now 99% sure that nowhere is somewhere between Tucson and Midland, Tx. The speed limit even changed to a legal 80 MPH. It's almost impossible to have a wreck when the roads are completely straight and you are the only car on the road.

We think we have now heard every comedian and every bit on Blue Collar Comedy on Sirius radio. We are into multiple repeats at this point.

3580 miles down with approximately 900 more to go until Tuscaloosa sometime tomorrow...

KIA Sedona review in an hour

Some have been curious about the Kia Sedona mini van we rented for the Roadie and have been calling the "Man"i Van. I assume everyone else knows as little about Kia products as I do. Here is a quick road test and evaluation we just conducted over the past hour. We could not find a way to measure how far it takes to stop when braking at 70mph. We don't have a tape measure and our GPS won't count feet. If anyone has any ideas, we'll update our evaluation:

9.1 seconds…..zero to 60.
60-80mph (passing punch) 7.5 seconds
No engine noises, knocking, slipping, etc...(23K miles on it now).
Rear passenger captain seat would not come out. Also got stuck in down position once.
Satellite radio was great and is built into factory radio. (Subscription separate).
Rear speakers seemed to be louder than front. Needed to turn them down some with the fader.
Ample cup holders…..10.
Roomy….full grown man can nap in floor (with one rear captain seat removed).
Driver side sliding door has been getting stuck
Smooth ride
6 interior lights. Rear started turning itself on and off one night for some reason.
No light in the cargo area. The one above the rear passenger seat is not sufficiently bright enough to find your stuff in the cargo area at night.
Smooth yet tight steering. Current driver says like an Accord.
Good turning radius for parking lot parking
Front and Rear Heating and Cooling changed temperatures quickly. Got hot when you wanted it hot and cold when you wanted it cold.
Big windows in the rear sliding doors actually roll down. Never have seen that in a mini van. Great for a dog, we assume, we didn’t have one.
Handles snow and ice with minimal sliding at 35mph and lower. Tended to slide more above 40mph.
Seats are very firm. Little cushy give. Give them a 6 in comfort level….but I guess it’s not too bad since we’ve gone over 2800 miles and everyone’s back is still good.
Rear passenger captain seat should recline more. Can’t get a good nap in it.
Adequate headroom for 6’1 males in front. ¾ of a Taco Bell straw between top of head and roof.
All dial controls are in good reach for driver
Clock in front of van is easy to change time
Two 12 volt chargers in front…great for charging phones and laptops. Needs another one or two in the rear.
Cool 2nd rear view mirror that flips down so you can watch kids in the back of the van.
Mirror in sunshade was not lighted
Big accessory cargo between front seats currently holding 2 big taco bell cups, 1 water bottle with sunflower shells in it, 1 cell phone, 1 DC to AC invertor, 1 digital camera, 1 pen, 1 box of BC powder, 2 tubes of blistex, $2.80 in change…….doesn’t appear to be removable or flip. Has room underneath it to put your feet when you are sleeping in the floor (1 captain seat must be removed).
Some road noise through windows. 1 of us thought it was great…another thought there was a little much….a 3rd was asleep and did not participate in this evaluation
Deep floor in the cargo area……18 inch (maybe) drop down.
Sunglass holder is located above and to the left of driver’s head near door which is convenient. Unfortunately, the sunglass holder is too small for my sunglasses to fit in.
5 Oh S$%# handles in the roof…one for the front passenger, and four in the rear. Not needed so far on this trip.
2 rear coat hangers…not needed.
CD player makes CD’s very hot when you eject them.
No external thermometer. A car without a thermometer...how does that happen anymore?
No feature to track gas mileage. Odometer was very basic with 2 trip counters.
Rear captain require front passenger to scoot up a tad for 6’1 male to be comfortable.
The Bro says more functional and ease than his suburban. Fun to drive as much as a mini van can be fun…

Overall, we give it a 5 on the "Man"ly scale. I mean seriously, it's a mini van, did you really think it would be any higher?

Any other questions or tests you would like us to answer over the next two days, just let us know. We assume it won't float so don't even bother asking us to try it.

Another day...another mile....

We are closing in on the 120 hour mark of the Roadie. Today’s highlight was reaching the Western most part of the United States that any of us has ever traveled. That particular landmark of our lives is the 4ft piece of real estate behind the light pole above. This pole is located on the pier in Venice Beach. Everyone went behind the light pole before we started our trip back. This was the road trip equivalent of touching the mailbox or road sign at the end of the street when running as a kid.

We also saw Nick Carter of the Backstreet Boys walking with a girl on the pier.

Everyone put their foot into the Pacific Ocean and the Cuz is attempting to bring back the late 80’s tight role jean style. The Pacific Ocean will fool you too…1st wave barely covers the foot, 2nd wave barely covers the foot, 3rd wave barely covers the foot, 4th wave BOOM….soaked blue jeans to the knees! Water is chilly in January.

We are just outside of Phoenix right now with plans to stop in Tucson for the night. Tomorrow will be a big time road day as we will go all the way from Tucson to somewhere on the Eastern side of Dallas….approx 960 miles. This will setup the final 600 mile drive on Sunday back to Tuscaloosa. As I type, we are currently on mile 2722 of the Pasadena Roadie.

For those curious as to what we do in the van, here is a quick list of recent conversations:

1. What is your preferred method of eating sunflower seeds? How do you crack them…front teeth or back teeth? Favorite flavored sunflower seed and why..

2. Most recently…where is the nearest Krispy Kreme to our location right now? Do you dunk your doughnut in milk? What else do you dunk in milk?

3. An ongoing storyline involving Kirk Herbstreit having a famous recipe for Indian Tacos and wanting to cook for us

4. Many, many, multi million dollar product ideas.

5. Who’s GPS, map program gives better directions….the Bro’s Iphone Vs My Microsoft laptop program and Telenav program on Blackberry. For the record, my programs did not lead us into a dead end parking lot while looking for the Pacific Ocean.

6. The sun and its relation to sneezing. Any light and its relation to sneezing.

7. Songs that have the names of streets that we saw in Los Angeles in them.

As you can see, this is not only a Man getaway…there are important topics being covered for the betterment of society.

Thanks LA...You've been great!!

Time to head 'em up and move 'em out. Tentative agenda for the day....go stick foot into the Pacific Ocean....drive to Tucson. Stop, sleep, drive again...the story of my life.

What a Day!!!!

What a great day and great game! Bama was just too strong today. Richardson and Ingram are an unstoppable combo. Defense played well too. I would not suggest hitting Saban in the head with the Gatorade cooler again. He didn't appear to care for that. Roll Tide!

Colt McCoy exhibited pure class in his post game interview. Wishing nothing but the best for him! He will go down in Texas history as a legend....if not all of college football. Class, Class, Class for 4 years.

Quick rundown of the day. Maybe we'll explain more in future posts for some of these:

1. Made it to the game
2. Rose Bowl is an absolute gorgeous setting
3. Had picture made with the Lombardi Trophy
4. Had picture made with the Bobby Bowden Grill from the AllState commerical. DADGUM!!
5. Went to our pre-game tailgate party.
6. Was disappointed with our party. Not what was described to us.
7. Met a father and son in same situation.
8. Voiced concern to RazorGator employees
9. Was told we were wrong and we were getting what we paid for. There was another tailgate party that we did not pay to attend.
10. Told them they were wrong and showed them their own website and "father" who evidently is a wealthy oil man said "I will show you what money and a lawsuit can do in a small Texas town on Monday."
11. Manager went to get VP of operations for event when a third frustrated group heard us and joined in.
12. VP of operations came and gave the same runaround and I told her we had a couple of ways to resolve this A) Take us where we really should be B) Be prepared for a mob as I go around to every table and find out who else was misled by the advertising.
13. VP needed to look something up on computer
14 15 minutes later, told VP I am now the owner of www.razorgatorsucks.com (not a threat...I do own it now) and it will be up and running on Monday.
15. VP escorts our group to where we should have been in the first place.
16. Met Marcus Allen, Brian Orakpo, Jerry West and Bob Riley. Also had picture made with Robert Horry. Told him that he probably didn't remember that we had played Techmo Bowl together in college. He laughed and said "I probably whooped that (butt) didn't I?" I told him he did, but he also cheated because he played with the Raiders and Bo Jackson was unstoppable. Everyone knew that for competitive Techmo Bowl, no one could be the Raiders (That too is a true story).
17. Went to game and had a blast!! From the Josh Groban National Anthem to the confetti blasting at the trophy presentation. Best time at a football game EVER!
18. Sat in Rose Bowl until they kicked us out. Didn't want to sit in traffic.
19. Made it back to the house we are staying in.
20. Updating Blog
21. Going to bed.....Good night

HEADING TO THE ROSE BOWL

Leaving for the game. For up to the minute updates today and tonight, you'll need to be friends with Troy on Facebook...

Roll Tide and Hook 'Em Horns!!

To our LA Friends...

Words can not express our gratitude to our friends in LA for allowing us to stay in their beautiful home. Your generosity is overwhelming and your home is beautiful.

Thank you for your kindness!!

THE OLD BLUE CREW

The City of Angels

First look at LA

Cough, cough, heeeeez, hack, cough cough....it appears we are very close to LA!

Almost there based on the smog trail....

BREAKING NEWS!!!!!!!!

The Cuz now has a ticket to the game too! All 3 members of the Old Blue Crew will now be in attendance at the BCS Game!!

No picture was made at the California border sign due to it's location on the interstate. There was a good chance we could have have died there had we stopped. Not to be outdone by Oklahoma, California's welcome center is 45 miles away from the border. Hopefully there will be some type of sign when we get there.

If anyone behind us on I40 hasn't gone through the border checkpoint yet, throw out your fruit and nuts. Drugs and artillery appear to be okay since they didn't ask about that, but no illegal pomegrantes.

Grand Canyon Sunrise Video!!!!

Q: What do you do for 200 miles in a mini-van through the mountains? A: Take 45 minutes of sunrise video and condense into 7 seconds of time lapse sunrise video. Enjoy!!

Going back to Cali...I'm going back to Cali...

On I40 bound for the Hollywood Hills. Lunch meeting with Speilberg to discuss a future part. Dinner date with Halle Berry is in the works as well...

Woke up this morning at 5:30am and went back to the park. We planned on watching the sunrise at Yaki Pt, but the road was only accessible by shuttle. We chased the bus for a while, but didn't get on because of where we had to park and then wait on him to make it around again. We were afraid we were going to miss the sunrise so we hung out at Mathers again. There are a lot of Europeans who were at the point. I wouldn't have thought the Grand Canyon would be a destination point for foreigners but the more I thought about it, I am not sure if Europe has a lot of desert/canyon type areas so maybe this is truly a once in a lifetime opportunity for them. Just a hypothesis. I tended to doze off in Western Civ so other than knowing "Big Ben and Parliment" and other destination points from European Vacation with Chevy Chase, my knowledge of Europe is slightly less than Pre-K level.

Looks like it will take us somewhere between 6-8 hours to hit LA today. We met a family at the GC last night from Cali and he gave us some advice on "backdooring" our way into LA and missing some of the traffic. He was a truck driver so we are going to trust his word. His son is also named Daniel....we know that because he only yelled at Daniel for various things for 45 minutes.."No, Daniel...come here Daniel...stop that Daniel...get in the van Daniel...get out of the van Daniel...don't climb on that Daniel...go over there Daniel...come over here Daniel...get away from your sister Daniel....go stand by your sister Daniel....". We saw there van at the hotel this morning and prayed Daniel and his family were not in the breakfast room when we went in.

Grand Time at the Grand Canyon

Third time seeing the GC and it still takes my breath away. It just doesn't look real. There was a little haze so it wasn't as clear as I would have liked, but it is just as absolutely amazing this time as it was the first.

Hit Mathers Point first and then sprinted to Hermit's Rest which is the furthest point westward at the South Rim to catch the sunset. Planning on getting up very early tomorrow to catch the sunrise. Bunking with the Bro tonight...hope he understood that there will be no spooning!!

A wrong turn inside the park put us a little out of the way and then follow up male curiousity and "that looks like a shorcut" enabled us to learn a Grand Canyon secret in the process. A lot of deer roam through the lodging area. Secret reveled now so if you don't want to know stop now.................These deer just don't happen to be in the area. There is a semi-truck parked between two buildings full of feed. The door is left open to the trailer and a convenient ramp is placed going up to the trailer. There were probably 8 deer waiting in line for their turn at the feed.

Tomorrow's drive will take us into LA. Getting pumped about the game. I will be glad to see and hang out with my brother and sister in law-law once removed when we/they get there.

Whoooooooops.......

Earlier this morning a sign for Indian Tacos caused us to pull off in Laguna, New Mexico.....can you blame us? So we make our way to the Indian Art Center where they make Indian Tacos, but they didn't have any yet so we bought a Fry Bread instead....similar to a funnel cake. Anyway, the Bro and the Cuz went up to a gas station and I stuck around while they were making the Fry Bread to take some pictures. The boys came back and we quickly jumped into the van because it was so cold. Unfortunately, I left my camera bag with contained my zoom lens, memory cards, battery charger, etc....on the brick wall above. You might even be able to see them in the picture. When did I realize this.....300 miles and 4 hours later!!! Luckily technology has caught up with stupidity and I was able to somehow find a phone number to a flower shop across the street from the Art Center. The owner went across the street and found my bag and is going to UPS my bag to Alabama for me. BIG SHOUT OUT to Shayai, the owner of Desert Flower in Laguna, NM. www.desertflowerlaguna.com. She is also listed on Facebook. Everyone go be a Fan of Shayai and Desert Flower. If you need southwestern flowers or decor for your home, place an order on her website.

We are now heading north on 180 out of Flagstaff to the Grand Canyon. Chances are technology is not advanced enough to keep us online through the National Forest we are about to enter. More updates and photos tonight.

Arizona

We've made it to Arizona. It's very sunny, very clear and very cold.

New Mexico...underrated

Heading out from Albuquerque (that just never looks spelled right)driving across NW New Mexico. What a great looking state. Wish it wouldn't have been so dark while we were driving through the NE portion last night. The stars were incredible. When you grow up in the south you are accustomed to looking straight up to see the stars. Out here you can look up, out, left, right. Stars begin at the horizon line. I say underrated because New Mexico isn't a state that you really remember exists when you are naming your states. It's probably the one you miss when you try to name all the states that start with "New". Extremely clean and extremely uncluttered. Hopefully it will stay this way.....keep forgetting about it big industry!

Short drive time today, only between 300-400 miles. Should leave plenty of time for lots of pictures and sight seeing. Nothing else to add other than I am glad we made a breakfast pact that no one would eat the boiled eggs for breakfast.

P.S. Hahaha...I was loading in the blog, looking out the window and said "Man, that is just crazy pretty out there (pictures later)." The Cuz said "Yeah...it's just too bad you have to drive through Oklahoma to get here." So true, so true. Sorry Oklahomians, your state gets the No Love Award thus far.

Ahhhhhhhhhh...a bed!

We are in our hotel in Albuquerque (very hard word to spell by the way). Big beds and showers!!! Three separate rooms by the way so there will be no photos of any bed sharing.....sorry Alana!

We are planning to leave here by 8am (mountain) and drive to the Grand Canyon and spend the afternoon/sunset there. We'll spend the night at the GC and get up for the sunrise and then begin our trek too LA.

Good night!

Carniverous pause

We just stopped at the World Famous Big Texan Steakhouse (www.bigtexan.com). This is the home of the original 72 oz steak challenge. The gist is, eat half a cow, three fried shrimp, side salad, potato, and a roll in one hour and you win the challenge. If you win your meal is free, you get some prizes, picture on a wall, listing on the website..yada, yada. If you don't, you pay $72 for your meal. I also forgot to mention that while you are eating your meal you are on a platform in the middle of the restaurant all by yourself with people coming up to stare at you and take pictures of you chew your cud. None of us were brave enough to wander into the playground of self humiliation.

However!! There was one young sucker who tried it while we were there. It was a group of college age boys also heading to Pasadena. One of their clan accepted the challenge and made a solid attempt. I bet he ate 3/4 of the steak and all of the side items. He got out to a good start but was pretty much done at the 30 minute mark. His boys were trying to give him the mental pep talk and were giving him some grief for throwing in the towel with 15 minutes to go. I am sure it is easy to talk smack when your nibbling on fries and burger....I hope he yacks in his buddy's backseat. In comparison, I ate 9 oz of my 18 oz. The Bro polished off most of his ribeye and the Cuz got catfish.......go figure.

My mobile internet connection is having trouble in this part of the country. I'll upload photos when we get to the hotel. Gotta run...just hit New Mexico and a picture is waiting..

Two fer one photo op....

Three guys running across I40 will garner some looks..
I also have no comment on any rumors that might surface about a bathroom break that may or may have not occured on Sooner soil. I'll defer any questions on the topic to the same department handling the Roswell incident.

Oklahoma..hmmmmm...

Oklahoma's landscape reminds me a whole lot of my Bro's head.....a whole lotta nothing. Granted, I have only seen 350 miles in a straight line with a horizon line that must extend 10 miles to the left and right so my initial evaluation is skewed by the very tiny portion of the state that I have seen.

We did see a whole bunch of windmills. According to the website, "Located on more than 5,000 acres in and around Custer and Washita Counties,Oklahoma, the 98 wind turbines produce up to 147 megawatts of electricity. That’s enough electricity for more than 44,000 homes." 98 may not sound like a lot, but when you see them all scattered out in every direction it is pretty impressive.

The Cuz is asleep. Still trying to talk the Bro into trying to eat the 72 oz steak in Amarillo. 100 more miles to work him over. I've convinced him to do much worse things to himself in the past...

Everybody's a Winner in Okemah

I got complimentary coffee...
The Creek Nation got $3 to add to their GNP...
The Bro won a $0.29 jackpot on the $0.01 slot...

So what had happened wuz....

When we last left you early this morning around 3am, we were cruising through Rcansaw near a town called Toad Suck (no joke), the Cuz was still on his marathon driving spree, I was keeping him company and the Bro was still asleep in the floorboard. At some point shortly thereafter I became the driver, the Cuz took the floor and the Bro took the shotgun seat. That's when the snow started...

By the time we hit the Ozarks the snow was falling pretty good and slight accumulation was beginning to build on the road. You could see the light powder on the road, but it appeared to be the swirly/dry kind of snow. The first time I felt the tires slide I thought it was my mind playing tricks on me, the 2nd time I felt the tires slide I thought it was the wind, but when I passed the car overturned on its roof in the median I realized the roads were slick. For the next 75 miles or so we cruised at 35 mph. If you've never driven very slowly, in the snow, pretty darn tired, with two co-pilots in and out of consciousness you haven't experienced a feeling that can only be described as frustxhaustion. As we approached the Oklahoma border around 6am, I had made my mind up that we were going to stop and just sit at the Oklahoma Welcome Center right across the border for a slight rest and regrouping period. For some reason, Oklahoma thinks a proper Welcome Center can only be placed 20 miles after you get into the state. Those 20 miles felt like they took as long as the other 617 that we had already driven.

We pulled into the parking lot, took one of the 120 empty parking places, and crashed for 2 hours. We've been on the road for about an hour now...

The Bro took some video of the snow falling during the drive, but we have to edit out the sound before we post it. The comedian on the radio decided to say something not appropriate for this particular blog during the 10 seconds he was videoing...

The boys in the front are quietly taking in the scenery that Oklahoma has to offer. Little do they know that if they don't stop for coffee in the next 15 minutes they are going to have a whiny toddler to deal with here in the back

Rcansaw

Just crossed the bridge from Memphis into Rcansaw. 277 miles of pure Rcansaw lie before us like an unpainted canvass. It's like crossing into unexplored wilderness. I hear the only thing good that came out of Rcansaw was I40, but I'm glad it's there to keep Alerbamer in a solid 49th place.

I kid Rcansassians, I kid!

Blue collar comedy on satellite radio is our current mode of staying awake. For real, does anyone think Dennis Leary is funny?

M-I-crooked letter crooked letter –I-crooked letter crooked letter-I–hump back hump back- I

The Cuz has done an outstanding job getting us to Mississippi. We've dodged one deer and saw the remnants of a house fire.

Events of the day thus far....trip was delayed by at least an hour due to an unexpected issue getting an extra seat out of "Man"i to make some napping room on the floor. There was also some unexpected extra Bojangles awaiting us in Tuscaloosa...we had no choice but to put it down.

Next stop……Tennessee state line

Hey Mississippi- Feel free to invest in some cellular infrastructure!!

and so it begins....

Departure Day is finally here!

Time to get this blog started since today is the official departure day of the Roadie. Insomnia kicked in around 2am this morning and it is now 5am. Not good for someone destined to hit the road at 5pm with no plans to stop until Albuquerque sometime on Monday. Hope I can fit in a nap sometime today between packing my suitcase....need to start on that....picking up the "Man"i Van, packing the "Man"i Van, picking up the Cuz, and picking up the Bro. Hope one of them is getting some good sleep right now.

Since half the "Man"i will be decorated in Alabama decor while half the "Man"i will be decorated in Texas decor, I spent the better part of yesterday looking for a Texas car flag. Not any easy thing to do in Alabama. I'll actually describe it as impossible. Did finally find some orange windshield chalk. I also saw a lady fall down the down escalator in the mall. Still trying to figure out the physics involved there. She was about a quarter way to the bottom and "bloop". Since blood makes me puke, I just ate my Waffle fries and let Security handle it. I think she just cut the back of her head......I know falling forward and cut the back of her head? The physics here are baffling. They wrapped her head up like that drummer or flute player from the old Revolutionary War picture and she was conscious. Hope she is okay and I'll advise her to take the elevator next time. Falling down a down escalator...pretty amazing!

Gotta figure out this blogging thing too....this page looks like crap!

More updates coming soon.....