Saturday, January 28, 2012

Smoot's Adventures continue... Unemployment part 1

Jan 26th, 2012 11pm

I’m in a friend’s house in Houston, TX. Arrived today in the Sequoia with 5 bikes, 5 pair of skis, one set of snowshoes, and Soda. I’ve been mostly unemployed for just over 3 weeks and am now on my first road trip of the year.

And so starts Blogfest 2012, my ramblings around the country. I purchased a 2007 Airtsream International Bambi 19’ travel trailer last October and everyone told me to blog my adventures. Being that I never feel like my life is worth reading about, I didn’t think much of it. And then I sold my business of 13 years, planned some cool trips, and was continually told that people wanted to hear what I was up to… So if you are one of the two readers of my blog I thank you. Or pity you. The choice is yours.

So where to start? I left Charlotte on Thursday at noon, after another week of errands and finalizing things just so I could leave town. Oddly enough my last stop was at Sport to pickup some 26” tubes (for the Trek STP) and drop off paperwork for my bookkeeper of over 10 years who continues to work for Ben. She remembers some incredibly interesting details from years of being in my office for 2 hours every Friday.

Twelve hours later and I spent the night in Baton Rouge, LA in the Magnusen Hotel. I’m always amazed at how many rooms seem empty in these places and that they charge $65.00/night (which includes Soda’s charge of $15.00). There are going to be a ton of old motels torn down in the next 20 years and replaced with taller more self contained buildings. More efficient, but harder to unload all your gear since you won’t get to park 3 feet from your door. I did call the Hard Rock Casino-Hotel in Biloxi but had to take a pass since they wanted $299 for the room and $75.00 for the pet fee. I would have done it, but Soda’s piggy bank isn’t that big.

Got on the road this morning and had another 300 miles to drive. Found two starbucks- one in a Target and the other on the outskirts of Houston. Was told that they don’t refill cups bought at other Starbucks. So I was charged full price for a coffee and she didn’t even use my cup… kind of wasteful, I thought. What do I know- I don’t run a multi-national mega corporation.

First order of business after arriving at Mark’s and unloading everything was to eat lunch and then wait for the “PODS” to show up. We get to load up a bunch of stuff of his ex-wife’s to be shipped up to Chicago and then he is mostly done with her. Nap. Trainer. Sushi. Soda walkies around “city centre” where Mark’s town house is. And bed time. Which is now.

Observations: there are a ton of shitty drivers on the roads. Houston is a super busy town. Church night at Chic Filet is a big hit. Texting on an iPhone is much more difficult than a blackberry.

Big questions for the week: How long to stay in Houston before leaving for Durango. Go to Vegas for the big car show? And how hard to work in spin class tomorrow morning?

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