Finally, the inspiration (and free time) to write – it’s been a long time coming.  

Recently, I was afforded the opportunity to drive across the country from Pennsylvania to Los Angeles.  The idea of driving across the U S of A is something I had only dreamt of, but had never (ever) considered a realistic possibility.  It is a nostalgic notion that reeks of cliche, but one that any 20something with an uncertain future (all of us) can and would do given the opportunity.  Look me in the eye and tell me I’m wrong about this. 

Necessary backstory:

When Anthony (my best friend of 17 years and a key character in this narrative) asked,

“Wanna drive out to LA Columbus day weekend”? [sic]

it was around 7 PM on September 26th, 2013 and I was in the dimly lit radiology wing of Temple University Hospital.  I was scanning a subject’s brain after a day of work and my first thought was “but I have work”.  That was a lame excuse.  Ultimately, zero fucks were given, I was completely on board for the road trip, and I was looking forward to something for the first time in a long, long time.  

The scientist in me took (semi-) detailed notes of the experience:

• A daily log book of places traveled and little detours
• Summaries of the states and towns where we spent some significant time
• Food reviews (yum!)
• Gasoline intake
• Roadkill count (For a while, then it got tedious and gave the whole note-taking process a macabre vibe.)
• Hundreds of pictures

The overworked, underfun young adult thought of the following things:

• I get to spend some quality time with my best bro before he moves out to the gold cost (He’s traveling to apartment hunt).
• Let’s see this whole goddamn beautiful country HELL YEAH ‘MURICA
• I get to see Adam – the college buddy who’s making it in LA, and the reason I root for the Jets on Sunday – for the first time since graduation
• Something’s always been calling me to the west coast.  Let’s see if it’s for real.
• I’ll have a short meeting with a faculty member that I’ll be applying to work with next year.  May save me a lot of time in the long run, one way or the other.
• Really good Tex-Mex food.
• Hey, I’m actually doing something cool.  Like, cool enough to tell people about.

Thus, the documentation this journey by way blog posts.  I’ll post about the 4 major days of travel, a longer bit on Los Angeles, and then some more specific articles if I feel like mining my data for any more noteworthy effects. I’ve been microblogging (#TeamTwitter) with the totally obnoxious hashtag #GovinbhaigoestoLA if you want to read ahead.  But chances are if you’re reading this you came from there.  Hooray for recursion!

To wet your palette, the first “leg” of the journey, which is probably more proportional to the big toe.

10/10/13, distance travelled: 114 miles

• 10:40 PM: Arrived at my parents’ house in Harrisburg from Philadelphia.  We’d be leaving early the next morning
• My mother decided to “surprise visit” me at my house in south Philly.  There’s a reason she hasn’t visited (I live in what amounts to a frat house) and when she did visit she was appalled. It made for an extremely uncomfortable ride home.
• However, I did drive on an interstate for the first time in months.  Good think I shook off the rust, right?
• Some stellar Indian food late after we got home.  Totally worth the heartburn, and it reminded me that I don’t visit home enough.
• It was cold and raining.

So much more to come!