I died

Well, not really but after Burning Man, the trip home has been pretty
anti-climactic. Thanks to everyone who sent articles about the man
burning early this year. We saw the eclipse at 2am but not the 1st
burn - still 2 burns for the price of one. Good deal!

On the way home we hit Wyoming, Manitu Springs Colorado (great
restaurant called the Adam's Cafe), St Louis (saw the Arch and my
friend and fellow professor, Julie), Memphis for some yummy dry rub
ribs and Alabama for some ... well... some propane - and cuz we didn't
really have a choice.

Passing through Hotlanta now. ETA in Ft. Lauderdale 3pm.

-Sean

Approaching the playa

Recap

In the past few days we've seen the grand canyon, the hard rock
casinoin vegas, Rehab, dropped a grand at Safeway, and finally hit an
in-n-out burger. We met up with aung and kathy at a truck stop a
couple hours ago and were driving the final hour to burning man on no
sleep.

Signing off the grid for a week.

-Sean

Petrified Forest National Park

No picture can capture the humbling experience of looking out over
the painted desert. My iPhone, however, does a particularly poor job
of it.

Come around closing time for the sunset and bring along a good bottle
of wine. Thanks to Tyra for the great recommendations of where to stop.

Arizona

The Roswell UFO museum...

Closes at 5pm. :(

Roswell

BTW, tell UR BF "Thx 4 teh add!" LOLz!!!

Girls XXL T-shirt: $5.97
Cowboy hat with beads: $3
Moustache: free

Driving through red states in white-trash cowboy drag from Wal-Mart: Priceless!

Nowhere Texas

Nowhere Texas (side view)

The view from our table

The Oasis in Austin

In spite of numerous warnings...

There seems to be a chance that Texas will, in fact, be messed with.

PB &J

Sometimes on road trips, food you never eat at home becomes a staple of your diet. On this
trip Fitzroy's Famous PB&J* is becoming an RV favorite. This time we're doin' it up grown-up style and leaving the crusts ON!

Sean makes Fitzroy's Famous PB&J while rolling down I-10!


Fitzroy's Famous PB&J for the driver....

*Note: Fitzroy's Famous PB&J is very similar to regular PB&J. No relation to Fitzroy's Famous Fluffernutter. 

Bull Ridin'

My 8 seconds of fame!

Moderate Prices

Not cheap, but not expensive either!

Brian's bringing sexy back!

We're eating at Jacque-imo's in New Oleans

Meeting Mom in Live Oak, FL

Pat is "good peoples"


Hi Mom!


Sorry Mom, can't talk, blogging...

Dashboard Confessional

Nothing says "safe driver" like climbing up on the dashboard of a 35' RV that's barreling down the highway at 63mpg and then asking the driver to snap a few pics...

Wal-Mart

On Sunday morning we dropped it down a brow and hit the Orlando Wal-Mart.
While avoiding those "falling prices" and stray mullets, we snagged some beach cruisers and about $500 worth of camping equipment for life on the Playa.

The First Night

Now as anyone who has been on a road trip knows it isn't what goes right on a road trip that makes it, it is what goes wrong. The adversity is the stories that live on the stories you tell to your grand kids. The first night was a story to tell to anyone who will listen, and as many of you know, i already have.

We drove up to Orlando and I agreed to meet Jimmy in Port Saint Lucie so we could show the RV to his Brother-In-Law. I also knew there was a flying J there where we could get some Diesel and propane for the generator. So we headed for the flying J. Sean and Adrian hadn't slept all the night before so they were sleeping in the back whilst i was driving, this i would learn ,would be a theme for our trip. More on that later. We got to the plaza around 10:00 and I spent 10 minutes trying to pull the rig in the right position for diesel as i am backing i see a person go flying from my bumper in the back-up camera i immediately shriek and scream holy fuck, then i realize this person is jimmy, who knew exactly where to be for me to not see him play this joke on me. We get the diesel and propane and are back on the road an hour later.

My plan is to park in my Orlando office's parking lot overnight and be back on the road in the morning. We pull into the parking lot and it is full. I don't know where to go. I had heard that Wal-Mart allowed trucks and RVs to stay overnight as a standing rule in their parking lots. I knew they had just opend one by my old Orlando office and headed for it.

We pull in to one of the largest Wal-Marts i have ever seen, it is truly a small city. I aask the security guard through pantomime if i can sleep here the night, he mimes back that it is ok to park over in the corner. We pull in to a spot pop out the slide and i am zonked, it is now like 2:15 am i am zonked as i havent slept but like 4 hours the night before. I am out and sleeping within a few minutes. I am sound asleep when an urgent and incessant knock is rat-a-tat-tatting on the door. I am very groggy and tired. The word fuzzy headed comes to mind. I look out and it is a dark skinned man who looks like he may be a security guard or something saying something and pointing. I am tired and don't hear him well with the air and generators on, so naturally i open the door to hear him better. He jumps in with a mask and brandishes a knife, I didn't see this as the door is curtained for privacy over the window. He shouts "gimme your fucking money this is a robbery, i will fucking stab you. " I am like what the fuck is this a joke! I think he senses this and says " I am not joking i will stab you", it is aat this point I notice that he is A- not proficient with holding a knife and B) smaller than I am. Here is where i have an internal debate...here are the facts: I can probably get the knife away from him, though i might get stabbed, he seems nervous too, I don't want cops coming to the scene to poke around my RV, I can talk my way into or out of anything. Those are the thoughts going through my mind. I say calmly " I don't have any money". The funny thing is i have $2000 in my back pocket at that very moment he says " if you don't give me money i will stab you, where is your wallet", i say it's over there and half turn to table to grab it, i pick it up. In the wallet is $80.00 i taake it out and hand it to him. HE asks me for the wallet, I say " no, i need my ID and don't want to have to go get another", he buys this, though my CCs are there too, he says "gimme your cell phone" to which i reply ,"I don't have a cell phone". The irony here is that my iPhone is at his feet charging in plain site. He and i look at each other for a second. I again debate just jumping him but think about the personal dangers, I am tired, scared and just want him out. He grants my wish and takes off out the door and jumps into a white Toyota and takes off out of the parking lot at high speed. I lock the door immediately and see the security guard walk over. He speaks to me with his broken english asking me what happenned. I half believe the fucker was in on it. I tell him I don't need him to call the cops, go in and wake Sean and Adrian who had slept through the whole incident. Me i sleep lightly all night and resolve to get a bat the next morning from said Wal-Mart.

1st Fill Up

Filling up the propane tank in Port St Lucie then on through the night
to Orlando.

The Monaco - Our New Home

Brian gives us the low down on the RV.

Sean and Adrian arrive at the Ft Lauderdale Airport, with 4 bags and 4 hours sleep between them.

We're flying out tomorrow!

The trip begins with me and Adrian flying from Boston to Ft. Lauderdale tomorrow morning. Brian has been prepping the new RV and shopping for the big stuff well need at Burning Man all week.

Well be buying any last minute stuff in the afternoon and then embarking either Saturday night or early Sunday morning.

Follow our route on Google Maps!

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