Now that I have finally made it to my destination, I would like to send a few shout-outs: 1. To Dwight D. Eisenhower for championing and creating the Interstate Highway system. Without I-80, this trip would have been much more interesting, but it would have taken over a week, if not longer.
2. To McDonald's for offering free Wi-Fi at all of its "restaurants". Without this, I would not have been able to use my free hotel stays via hotels.com, which in turn allowed me to use the free Wi-Fi at each hotel I stayed to update this blog.
3. To The Ford Motor Company for ultimately making it possible for most Americans to own a vehicle. Although I was in fear every mile of the trip that my rear differential would take a shit, my 2002 Ford Explorer performed like a champion at all altitudes dispite the Okie-inspired load of belongings inside and out.
4. To my Mom and Dad for calling me everyday when they got off work. Their calls added a sense of routine to my trip, and helped me make sense of where I was and how many miles I had driven.
5. To Ted McLendon for making me the great road trip mix CD. It made Nebraska a bit more tolerable.
6. Finally, thanks to all of my friends and family for being so supportive. I decided to make this move despite believing everyone would think I am insane. I am sure most of them probably still think this, but they did a helluva job hiding these feelings, and making me think I was doing the right thing.
Yesterday, I arrived at my new apartment (105 Fir St., Apt. #621, La Grande, OR, 97850) around 10:45 a.m. PST. It is a small apartment on the 6th floor of a 7-story apartment/office building in Downtown La Grande. The building was erected in 1930 and is registered as an Historic Landmark in the State of Oregon. The view is great. The space is larger than I expected, and it is clean and stink-free. However, it took me about 30 minutes to realize why I got the apartment so cheap. Throughout the day, anyone nearby must get confused and think they are in the middle of a rail yard. This is not an exageration: there is a train rolling through this town at least every 20-30 minutes. Sometimes 2 at a time moving in opposite directions. They are loud. I will just have to live with it, I suppose.
After moving all of my stuff into my apartment, I walked down the block to find a place to catch up on college football. I found a great place called Benchwarmers a couple of blocks away from my building. I was able to watch the Oregon/USC game with a packed house of Oregon fans. It was fun, and Oregon continued rolling with their offensive machine and dismantled USC in the second half for a 53-32 win.
I am in need of a shower curtain. I start work at 5:00 a.m. tomorrow morning.
I got to do both today, and then Jason and I went to lunch. We ate at a regional chain restuarant called Rumbi's Island Grill. Look for one near you within the next 5 years. I think this could be the newest National chain sensation since Five Guys. 
I left Jason's house, and started the 5 1/2 hour drive to Boise, ID. Nice scenery on this drive until about the last hour. Arrived in Boise and found a nice hotel to stay. The hotel had a lounge in the lobby, so I went down to get some food, drinks and watch the UConn/West Virginia game. The only reason I am including this is to introduce the classic hotel bar lush. This time it was a car salesman from Boise. Still not sure why he was staying at a hotel in Boise... I tried my very hardest to ignore this dude from the time I sat down, but as soon as the bartender brought me my Basque Mac & Cheese (penne pasta lathered in several cheeses and accompanied by Spanish chirizo and roasted red peppers then topped with breadcrumbs and parsley), he had to make a comment about my food. Of course, who couldn't predict the next thing he utters: "where you from?". "I'm from Indianapolis", I said. You know what's next..."what are you doing here?", "i'm moving to Oregon", "where to?" "La Grande", "to do what?", "i'm gonna be a butcher", "wow".....on and on until he made quite possibly the most profound statement I have ever heard: "La Grande is the most beautiful place on Earth". It was ridiculous, but it made me smile. I was also smiling at his inability to talk in full sentences, etc. He finally left but when he wrote his room # on the bill, it was not legible. After seeing that the bartender left the seafood chowder and one of my Jack & Coke's off my bill, I assumed she was trying to recoup some of the money she had lost because she could not charge his bill to a room. I helped her out.
It's all about "Poke Pride".
Pork loin pounded thin, breaded and fried by hand. Golden brown, of course. Some restaurants like to charge up to $10.00 for a larger, sort of 3 Mile Island-freakish tenderloin with about 3/4" of breading, and a loin that is even thicker. Nice try. I will put The Uptown loin up against any loin in the state. With a price of $4.00, it is by far the pound-for-pound champ. (FYI...in my opinion, if you are dressing this loin with more than onion, pickle and mustard, eat a burger.)
After an emotional departure from Huntington the morning after my pork tenderloin binge, I began my journey West. My Explorer is completely full (think Sanford & Son complete with bike strapped to truck's roof). After a quick stop to fill the tank in NE Indiana, I headed toward Chicago to catch I-80W.
Tomorrow, I should have smooth sailing through Western Nebraska and Southern Wyoming. If I can handle 12 hours of driving, I could stay with my friend Jason in Salt Lake City, but I am not sure if I really want to do that. I might just stay in a hotel in Rock Springs, WY. That way, I can do lunch with Jay on Friday before I make the final stretch to Oregon through Idaho.
