(I'm trying out this mass-email thingey from Outlook, we'll see if it works.
Please let me know if you don't want to get these emails anymore, and send
it on to friends who didn't get it. Better yet, send me their email
addresses.)

Yeah. Greetings from a Motel Six in Santa Rosa, New Mexico.  I managed to
make it here in one day. Not too shabby. This is due mostly to the fact that
the speed limit across all of I-40 is 70mph. Except in New Mexico, where it
seems to be -75- ...sweet. It's actually difficult to break the speed limit
here, and when you aren't consciously trying to speed (as we all do in 55
mph zones, but with a 75mph speed limit, I find myself just driving however
feels confortable and don't concern myself with the speedometer much.),
you'll find yourself actually going UNDER the speed limit. I keep looking
down and seeing my speedometer at around 65-70.

...oh, and not sleeping for 28 hours worth of driving helped a lot in
reaching Santa Rosa today, too.

...of course, I could've used this speed limit about ten miles to the east
of the NM border...got pulled over for going THREE friggin' miles over the
speed limit...man, those Texas cops REALLY take their traffic laws
seriously...the cowboy let me off with a warning, though, so I can't
complain...

Anyhow, the ride has been going pretty quickly thus far. Tennessee and
Arkansas were the most boring states, but since they were relatively near
the beginning of the trip, they sped by fast enough. Tennessee was fine,
honestly; it just wasn't anything special. Arkansas, however, SUCKED. The
roads are disastrously bad out there. I actually had to turn on the radio,
since I was being bounced around so bad that I couldn't get a CD to play
without constantly skipping. No shit.

Now, as far as geographic locations are concerned, I'm pretty cynical about
"nature's inherent beauty" ...there's really only one view before that
impressed the hell out of me: the top of the Eiffel Tower...well, add
another to that list. The stretch of land between the middle of Oklahoma and
the western border of Texas was ineffably beautiful. Wow. Sunset over New
Mexico was definitely something to write home about, too. And did I mention
the speed limit is 75? I may just stay here.  :)  Everything is very
panoramic; the sky just fills your whole view.

My wrists are killing me. Both of them. Not a good thing to be developing
carpal tunnel syndrome right before the start of a programming job, but I
think it might just be all the driving I've been doing this month. I've
noticed that on long trips I tend to sit my hands on my lap and hold the
wheel, and just tense and untense my wrists to adjust direction and steer.
So once I get settled in, they'll probably stop hurting. That's my official
justification for the time being. Hopefully those medical benefits will kick
in REAL soon.  :(

Why DO they call these things Motel "6" anyhow? I've noticed that every
advertisement almost always had two other sixes in it somewhere (like "Stay
here for only 36.99 a night! Exit 26 on I-40!")... 6. 6. 6. I figured this
must be a front for some kind of cult activity, so I had to investigate.
Nothing strange so far. But if my body is found dead and ritualistically
marked up, you all know what happened.

I've burnt through most of my CD collection at this point (and you realize
how lame some of those CDs you've collected over the years are when you are
running out of selections..."Oooh, I'll listen to Richard Marx!" Ugh.

Sleep...felt VERY good.

I've got about 900 or 1000 miles to go until Orange County, and I'll be
leaving this motel around noon (mountain time; it'll be 2 o'clock for you on
the East coast....) so I'll probably hit California in the wee hours of the
morning. Talk to y'all then.

--ryan.