Movement To Contact, Part I

(I know I skipped “Op Order.” It just worked out that way. Adapt, overcome, etc.)
This post is probably unnecessarily long. I do that sometimes. Feel free to skip ahead if you become bored. You can just look at the pretty pictures...

I finally have some time to sit and write about my trip so far. Actually, I wish that I didn't have the time, but due to circumstances I'll describe in a later post, I'm sitting in “Beck's” bar in Lockjaw (or something), Louisiana, just south of New Orleans. Let me preface this by saying that there's no internet readily available – all the local hotels are booked with refugees and services in the area are generally sporadic or totally non-existent. Therefor, any specific factual details I may relate, names of people or places that I would normally look up before posting, etc. may be inaccurate, and I may never change them (probably edit this out, though).

I also apologize for some of the spots that appear in pictures that I shot through my windshield. Damn bugs. When I rule the world with an iron fist, I'll put the scientists to work on that. “Fix this problem, you fucking nerds, or suffer my wrath!”

In any case...

I left LA somewhere around 2PM on Saturday, Sept. 3rd. I didn't even make it out of LA County before Mr. Murphy came a-calling. As I was coming up on Asuza, I heard an awful noise coming from the general direction of my left rear tire. I was alarmed, but it went away, so with some trepidation, I kept driving. Not two minutes later, I heard it again, and this time it felt like I had run over something, though I had seen nothing – until I looked in my rear view mirror, that is. I saw pieces of tire tumbling down the road behind me. Not a good sign. I also have no spare tire. (That's me, the risk taker, beginning a 1300 or so mile drive with no spare tire.) I pulled over as quickly as possible and did a quick check. I could see that much of the treading had peeled off, but the tire was still inflated, so I drove to the next exit and was directed by a helpful cop (they exist!) to a very nearby tire dealer. Sixty-five bucks and half an hour later I was back on the road. (I snapped a quick picture of the tire once the guy replacing it took it off)



At this point, I'm hoping my car lasts the trip (I'm still hoping this), but I'm still thinking, “NOLA!" Shortly thereafter, I pulled up behind this car:



Who knows if she was driving to NOLA like me, but I don't really know what she hoped to accomplish by putting that sign up. Maybe a get-out-of-a-speeding-ticket-free card or something. Whatever. It's just something I noticed.

It was hot, dry, and sunny as I passed through Riverside County on the way out to Palm Desert (and all the other associated “Palms”).



I even had the perverse thought (as those of you familiar with me know I'm wont to do) that, “Hey, no chance of a flood here!” I even took a picture out the window to document that thought.



I had a couple of shitty windshield wiper blades installed, and although I had two new ones in the back seat, I hadn't replaced them 'cause I'm lazy and figured that I wouldn't hit any rain until I got to the gulf coast. Mr. Murphy – or perhaps this time it was just my stupidity / laziness – struck again.

A dark haze appeared in the distance. It didn't really look like a bunch of clouds, but once I started seeing the occasional flash of lightning, I knew that I was in for at least a little weather.



It was pretty cool looking. I could see rainbows at it's edges as I neared it:



Crappy wipers and all, I made it through, because I rule (in case you didn't know, or just needed to be reminded). As I started to break through to the other side, the sun was just starting to set behind me and the mountains looked incredible. Actually, as cool as they looked in this pic, the lowly guardrail looks even cooler in my opinion. Nice camera, Mike. Thanks! Ya ain't never getting it back.



Once I was all the way through the storm, I still wanted to play with the camera a little, so I took these shots of the storm, back lit by the setting sun:





Finally, back in the normal, sunny desert, I started to see National Guard vehicles and troops heading East. There were a lot more, including some cool military boats, but mostly I was driving and didn't want to run off the road just to take a picture.



I obviously spent too much time dicking around on the first leg of the drive 'cause I only made it to Phoenix and took way too many pictures of crap entirely unrelated to my trip.