Tag: texas

The Great St Louis to Los Angeles Road Trip

In pictures, music, tweets (reposts from Twitter, which I’ve marked as such), and text.

Day One: St. Louis to Amarillo

Or, technically, my parents’ house west of St. Louis to Amarillo. I initially thought about trying to follow Route 66 for some of this trip, but when I started trying to map it through Missouri (using Historic 66.com) it got really complicated and basically just followed I-44 on the service roads anyway, so I figured to heck with it. Plus I tend to get frustrated on non-interstate roads very quickly on trips, so it was pretty much a stupid idea anyway.

Tweet: California or bust!
Tweet: Music recommendation: Babyshambles’ newest release Shotters Nation. Finally picked it up Saturday [yay Vintage Vinyl!] and it’s awesome.

Here are a couple of tracks off that album. I like the way lead Pete Doherty is bringing in some jazz influences, especially in “There She Goes.”

Babyshambles – Carry On Up the Morning
Babyshambles – There She Goes

There’s not a lot of love lost between me and Missouri (besides St. Louis, which I do love), but the stretch of I-44 going through the Ozarks can be quite lovely. Too bad it was a little cloudy when I was going through, but I really like the rolling hills and rock cuts.

I-44 in Central Missouri

Tweet: I’ve lived in Missouri for 25 years and am now moving away having never been to Branson. Huh.
Tweet: Billboard I just passed was advertising ‘Titanic: A Family Experience.’ Because drowning is always good times.
Tweet: My iPod is picking awesome songs. I guess having playlists FULL OF AWESOME helps.

Of Montreal – Heimdalsgate Like a Promethean Curse

Tweet: Oklahoma! Where the wind comes sweeping down the plain…

Oklahoma!

This is advertised to be the World’s Largest McDonalds, stretching across I-44 just west of Vinita, Oklahoma, but I don’t think that’s actually true. Unless, perhaps, you count all the non-McDonalds parts of the building, like the souvenir shop and the ice cream booth. Still, it’s cool to stop at and watch the cars go under you while you eat, but I didn’t stop this time.

World's Largest McDonalds?

Last chance to continue down I-35 through Dallas to Waco instead of taking I-40 toward California! It was tempting to find an excuse to go down and hang out with my friends again, but then I’d just have to say goodbye again, too, and that would suck.

Last Chance for Waco!

Tweet: Bob Dylan is good stuff. Why did I not know this before?

I never really listened to Dylan until I saw I’m Not There a couple of weeks ago, but as soon as I saw the film, I was inspired to seek out more music, and I quite like it. Different than most of the stuff I listen to, but then a lot of the stuff I listen to wouldn’t exist without Dylan’s innovations.

Bob Dylan – Mr. Tambourine Man
Bob Dylan – Ballad of a Thin Man

Tweet: Hills and cruise control are an annoyingly poor combination. [So are headwinds and cruise control, as I found going through the deserts later]
Tweet: They aren’t kidding when they talk about the wind blowing down the plains in Oklahoma.
Tweet: Apparently I’m not the first to notice how windy OK is; passing the first wind farm of the trip.

Oklahoma Windmill Farm

Aw, Oklahoma’s trying to do mesas. How cute!

Oklahoma Mesas

Tweet: Done with Oklahoma. Seems like I was in there forever.
Tweet: My ears just popped! This is the most gradual hill ever, but I’m definitely gaining altitude.

Getting into Texas made me happy, even if it is just the panhandle. This landscape agrees with me a lot more than Oklahoma’s, for some reason.

Texas Valley

Then there was this gorgeous sunset.

Texas sunset
Texas Sunset
Texas sunset

And then there was Amarillo.

Click through for Days Two (New Mexico and Arizona) and Three (California).

Brrrrr

Okay, I know St. Louis weather is freaky. But I thought Texas would be a little more…stable. Yesterday? Must’ve been 90 degrees. Walking to school and back twice used up two shirts, lets just put it that way. Then today, I start to walk outside, and get hit in the face with an arctic blast. Perhaps I exaggerate. Perhaps it was in the fifties. Yes. Anyway, I grabbed a jacket, and still literally shivered all the way to school. What’s that about? A forty-degree drop overnight is not cool. (I mean, it is…cool…but you know what I mean.) At the very least, it vastly screwed up my wardrobe choices. ;) And I feel like it’s getting colder, just based on the way I keep having to turn up the thermostat, and even though the air hasn’t come on in a few hours now, I’m getting chills. *breaks out the space heater*

I decided I like writing bibliographies for papers more than the actual papers. They’re straightforward, precise, and clear. I think I’m too analytically-minded to be a great writer in the humanities, but too creatively-minded to be great in other areas. I rebel against whichever type of thinking is required at the given time. I’ve also pretty definitely decided against going on the PhD, which means my sister wins the education competition. ;) I simply can’t take the level of specialization required–even narrowing down to literature originally written in English is bothering me, much less trying to pick an era of concentration, and when the PhD candidates discuss the work they’ve been doing for years on, like, ONE seventeeth-century poet? It makes me want to run screaming for the door in a fit of intellectual claustrophobia. So, no doctorate for me, and I went ahead and laid out my course plans for next year based on a non-thesis track. I’m not entirely sure that’s the right decision, but without the intention of going on the PhD, I just feel like eliminating the thesis would a) remove a lot of stress and b) allow me to take an extra class, thereby adding to the diversity of my knowledge. I like diversity.

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