Day Five – Palm Springs, CA to Los Angeles, CA Via Joshua Tree January 10, 2009

Apologies for the delay in posting this! I’d like to blame Internet troubles but really I’m just lazy.

On my fifth day I took the very round about way from Palm Springs to L.A. with a circular detour through Joshua Tree National Park. However, before leaving Palm Springs I lounged around my hotel…and lounged…and lounged. There were some water problems the night before and in the morning their credit card machine wasn’t working so, in exchange for paying cash I got a nice discount and a robe. Yay! Seriously, if you go to Palm Springs do stay at the Del Marcos. It’s adorable.

My GPS took me an entirely differnt route off of I-10 to Joshua Tree – some back road way to the Twentynine Palms Highway. It was pretty and I got a good look at the windmill farms. Have a photo. During this drive I was listening to Alex’s playlist which injected a much needed soulful touch. Two notes: I have been entirely unable to account for the Alicia Keys song and I cannot believe you gave me a ten minute version of “Mustang Sally” (I made it through 8 minutes).

Everything was beautiful and strange and instead of trying to explain it to you I will just post a photo. Not one person recommended I listen to U2’s Joshua Tree album for this drive but two (Anne! Alex!) suggested Gram Parsons and one (Josh L!) left me a Fbook comment about it after the fact. As such I put together a little Gram Parsons playlist from those recommendations and it was perfect.

When I left the park and headed back towards L.A., I put on a mix I’d made myself to pshych me up for all the ch-ch-changes. I’d stopped feeling nervous and started feeling just plain excited/elated circa the Coachella Valley so happiness abounded. I was especially stoked on Highway 60, which were some of the most scenic drives I’ve ever seen – really, could have been straight out of New Zealand.

Finally, years later, I actually reached L.A. and put on Jay B’s playlist to help me not be lost. Very ecclectic, very pefect for driving in L.A.

So, as a footnote, you’ll all be glad to know I reached my friend Russ’s house with only a few minor fuck ups and I found an apartment on Saturday morning! I did not come here to play around – I move in on Wednesday and it’s lovely.

Thanks for all the mixes! Read the list for this trip after the jump.

Day Four – Tucson, AZ to Palm Springs, CA January 9, 2009

Parting Tucson was such sweet sorrow – I actually liked it a lot. Granted, I only saw a bit of it because that 7 1/2 hour drive made me very sleepy and cranky but the parts I did see and the people I met were lovely. I like how the mountains surrounding the city are just part of the cityscape, as shown in this photo.

I drove out on the 10 listening to a mix I made myself with The Magnetic Fields as the jumping off point. City traffic makes me tense.

When I was about clear of Tucson I put on Roger’s driving mix. Very witty. And in regard to the Art Brut song I’d like to request that no one from England move here to find Morrissey.

Then it was all drive, drive, drive – flat, flat, flat – dull, dull, dull until Phoenix. I stopped at a place I found randomly on my GPS called Claim Jumper because it was such a ridic name. I had the glazed walnut & asian pear salad and it was ever so yummy. This also may have been the first vegetables I’ve eaten on this trip. Mmm lettuce.

Then it was drive, drive, drive – la, la, la for another million miles or so. There were hills. I listened to another one of my own mixes that was Motown/Soul/Girl Groups/Bacharach and then Sam P’s excellent mix with songs I haven’t even thought about in five years. It was lovely.

When I got to the border of Cali they were pulling everyone over to ask if we were bringing produce into the state. That was an interesting question.

More amazing revelations after the jump, including the days playlists and…oh yeah the earthquake.

Road Trip – Day Three – Marfa, TX to Tucson, AZ January 8, 2009

I sat on my butt too long today and now I think I’m crippled. Well, I’m at least emotionally crippled.

Follow my route today.

So I peaced out of Marfa really early today. And by really early I mean 9AM. It was COLD! 34 degrees – but the weather report on TV predicted El Paso would hit 60 today so I didn’t wear total winter clothes. So there’s a tiny, tiny town of just over 200 people west of Marfa called Valentine, TX. I drove through it on my way to El Paso and it creeped me out. It looked like a deserted place – weird houses built of stone and adobe, the only gas station was closed down and there was a cafe that looked like no one had ever dusted it so you couldn’t see in the windows – oh and I saw exactly ZERO people and passed ZERO cars driving by it. The place reminded me of “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.” If anyone ever asks me about a rural setting for a creepy horror movie I am recommending Valentine.

Shortly after that I passed the famous Prada Marfa. That cheered me back up. During all of this I was listening to PP’s playlist, detailed below. Many good remixes to be had and I feel we should pause a moment to discuss her Soulwax Dub remix of Hot Chip. This goes back to a fight James Montgomery and I keep having about Girl Talk. I am a Soulwax fan, but I think Girl Talk can suck it – not to say that Girl Talk’s remixes aren’t ingenius in themselves, because they are, but the lifestyle that surrounds his live shows are so crass and annoying. Soulwax, in their heyday, were never crass and didn’t attract a bunch of loafer college students. Go Team Soulwax.

Here’s a left/right shot of a mountain on one side and some pecan trees (I think) on the left. The scenery was kind of weird around here. To follow when PPPlist was done, I put on part of an ’80s mix I had in my iPod.

Then blah blah blah nothing nothing boring landscape, man is El Paso ugly. However, at this point I put on Josh Rosey’s playlist and it was perfect! FYI, you’ve always been Josh Rosey in my cell phone since we met. I found the whole playlist to be thoughtful, subtle and tres Southwestern without overkill. The Death Cab song also made me tear up a little. Stop tugging on my heartstrings.

More after the jump, including hot burrito #1 and the day’s playlist.

Road Trip – Day Two – Kerrville, TX to Marfa, TX January 7, 2009

Apologies for the delay on getting this up – a wind storm in Marfa (allegedly) knocked out the Internet at my hotel, including ethernet (allegedly). I’ll get to that by and by…

I started off on Tuesday with no idea of what the landscape for the day would look like exactly, never having seen it firsthand myself, but encouraged by the amazing blue sky checkered with gray clouds.  I snapped a photo, again unsafely while driving, for your enjoyment of the electric blueness of it.

Follow my route today.

I put on Catonia’s playlist and ended up listening to it all day – over 70 songs! There was much singing along.

So, I didn’t know there was anywhere in the U.S. where the posted speed limit was 80 MPH but around Junction, TX (I think) when the hill country gives way to plateaus and the trees and bushes become notably shorter and more scrubby, the speed limit jacked up to 80.

Then, somewhere around Sonora, TX I saw the first state highway sign warning of cross winds. I thought that was interesting…until an 18 wheeler nearly drove me off the road some 40 miles later because of strong cross winds. I fought with the steering wheel all day. BTW @ Alex – Sonora is full of caverns and it made me think of that weird scary movie you recommended with spelunking and vampires. It was set in Texas, right?

I stopped in Fort Stockton with little more than gas fumes left, got out to fill up and was immediately smacked in the face by a giant wind (and some sand). We’re talking blow your skirt up, layer your scalp with dirt, rearrange everything about you wind. It was bracing, you could say.

More after the jump, including today’s playlist.

Road Trip – Day One – Montgomery, TX to Kerrville, TX January 5, 2009

I checked the weather report before I left Montgomery this morning and it predicted super cold (in the low 40s) and cloudy all day – so I opted to stay in bed with the puppies and watch TV until 10AM and not leave the house until 11AM. Total lazy ass start to my halfway-cross-country trip. HOWEVER, before I could really get going I had to go snap a photo of this local business to share, in a strip mall less than five minutes from my house.

Follow my route today.

Yes, entirely serious – that is the best thing in the vicinity of my parents home. Except for the Starbucks I went to next, which is across the street from our neighborhood. There are docks next to it where you can park your boat if you come in off Lake Conroe and need a mocha or whatever before you resume water skiing. Also, when the barista guy was making my Cafe Americano today he asked how my day was going. I said average. He than handed me the coffee and said, “Guess what? Your day just got a whole lot better!” Ummm…impossible to keep a straight face. Impossible.

Anywho, then I drove myself the long way to Austin for lunch. I intended to go to Pok-E-Jo’s for BBQ but in the mass tear down of business in Austin it’s apparently relocated and I don’t know to where! So I settled for Ironworks instead. Still pretty darn good BBQ.

Then I drove south to San Antonio to run by the Alamo real quick. I don’t think I’ve driven this stretch of highway since Russ and I went from Dallas to a polo field outside of San Antonio in 1999 to see R.E.M. and Wilco. I don’t think I’ve been to the Alamo since elementary school. It was much smaller than I remembered. This is the backside of the Alamo.

Across the street are a series of wax museums, hall of mirrors, souvenir shops and other nonsensical crap. Why would I visit a historical site and then want to try and walk through a hall of mirrors?

Then I drove through downtown San Antonio and by the Riverwalk on my way to the freeway. It’s very bizarre – tiny, dirty and an odd assortment of businesses. Here’s a completely out of place sculpture I passed.

So then I headed to my hotel, the charming Days Inn of Kerrville. And by charming I mean gross “hotel” in Texas Hill Country. The thing that is interesting to look at is the country – somewhere around Welfare, TX (yes really – and that is followed by Comfort and Waring) it turns into HILLS and ROCKS and DEAD GRASS and CACTI! Here we have an action shots I unsafely took while driving in between two stone walls that used to be a mountain.

More after the jump, including the day’s playlists!