The Rest Is Still Unwritten

After leaving Utah, otherwise known as the place Footloose was filmed, we traveled on to Denver. Because Leslie's friend was still at a concert, we spent our time eating Chinese food at a place called "blue ocean." I'm pretty sure the name was aspirational, as was the food. Afterward, still with nothing to do, we pulled up in a parking lot and played Whitney Houston and Deniece Williams from the stereo and danced with reckless abandon because who the hell did we know in Colorado? The guys closing up the pizza place stared and two girls from the coffee shop came out on a smoke break, saw us dancing, and mock danced also. Whatever, you all want to dance with somebody, I know you do. I also received my first house dancing lesson from Leslie. This was all caught on video and the footage is available here.

Despite a late arrival, we decided to head into downtown for brunch at this place called Snooze. They are apparently opening a location in San Diego soon, which is swell because SD lacks in good brunch places. Well, this location had a two hour wait and that left us with lots of downtown exploring to do. Denver is basically like San Diego actually. If you've been to both, you'll know what I mean. Leslie's friend whom we stayed with is just about the nicest guy ever and he not only housed us but then paid for our lunch. Also he had some amazing white couches in his condo. Getting white leather couches is a statement you know? It says that you are somebody who cares about cleanliness and am unafraid of having your friends sit in gleaming perfection. I would never dare to get white couches in my house.

This is quickly turning into a recap, which is not what I wanted. Basically after Denver we embarked on the bulk of our road trip. Originally Leslie wanted to pass through Chicago but it was decided that having Kansas City barbeque was more of a priority. Housed in a gas station, Oklahoma Joe's was listed as one of Anthony Bourdain's Thirteen Places to Eat Before You Die. While I'm not much of a ribs guy, Leslie said that they were definitely the best ribs she'd ever tasted and with the casual atmosphere and cheap prices, OK Joe's was well worth the trip. Later on, as we approached St. Louis, we reminded each other of how both of us had applied to Washington University. Basically that meant Leslie and I were fated to meet regardless of where we went to college.

I don't know if Leslie had any trepidation about spending a whole week with me but I sure didn't have any concerns about her. I mean, even though we've never attempted a trip of this magnitude together before, we've been in each other's lives for so long that even in our annoyances I knew we would be fine. Our biggest disputes were probably what kinds of music we could share, our differing stances on the death penalty, and my lack of motivation in the mornings. I did learn that the girl had to be fed every four or five hours, like a ravenous Tamagotchi. (Why do girls get so cranky when hungry?) Back in college, Leslie and I often acted like an old married couple and ten plus years later, the energy was pretty much the same.

For her, the trip was a necessary adjustment period from life in San Francisco back to living near family. She said she welcomed the time to let the Bay slink away versus just jumping into an airplane and being deposited on the East Coast. I was hoping to come to some life decisions on our trip too, but singing and dancing got in the way. The good news is we played a game where we categorized our friends according to what colors we think they would be. We also talked a lot about the criminal justice system as she tried to get me to start Season 1 of The Wire. I refused because I knew it would suck me in and ruin the rest of my October.

Overall, driving cross country was much easier than I expected. Five hundred miles a day works out to about eight hours, give or take, and even with just two drivers, it wasn't too bad. Sure we didn't quite go coast to coast -- I'm getting dropped off in Penn State for a week or so -- but we made it with energy and enthusiasm to spare. Both of us would have wanted to take a longer trip across, as our schedule left little time for dawdling post-Utah. I didn't really get to soak in the stillness of middle America, nor did we make many stops, except for once to a kitschy tourist trap called Nostalgiaville that specialized in Elvis, Betty Boop, and Wizard of Oz paraphernalia.

Leslie took about a thousand photos and let's hope they see the light of day soon. In the meantime, here are mine: Roadtrip 2011. In total, we drove approximately 3,075 miles, stayed in Mt Carmel Junction (UT), Panguitch (UT), Denver (CO), Topeka (KS), Brazil (IN) and only almost died once. Well, not even, but Leslie screamed like we were about to die, even though the deer crossing the road was walking incredibly slowly and I was driving even slower. #trust