RT4: Zoo's Closing Thoughts

I've said this before, but road trips, like life, are unforgiving. You get one shot at a city, to make the most of it, and then you've moved on. Your mistakes and your successes are amplified. This was a pretty sedate road trip. I was more introspective than a good road trip partner should be, with long quiet stretches. Part of that was because I didn't really take that quiet time for myself in the weeks leading up to the trip. But Phaux was built with the emotional sense to let me be. Thank you, Phaux.

I've been to all the places we visited on our road trip ... this time we took a different path to get there. Even the drive to Whistler was repaved for our travels -- Fuck it, I'm sick of metaphor and aphorism. I can't even continue with that thought. Vomit.

The posts ... those events that reached some level of noteworthiness ... only tell part of the story ... these were my highlights:

I like your parts more than you like mine. The last time I was down this road ... I was in love. Who knew hairspray could provide so much amusement (read comments) Who knew I had worn those jeans for 7 days? Enjoy my awesome leather jacket .. it's yours now.

Phaux, thanks for being an awesome friend, for picking up the slack when I was letting it loose. Of any cohort (who I'm not going to have sex with) I could choose for a road trip, the mohawked sentographer is certainly the best. RT4 is in the books. Already looking forward to the Great Lakes.

Pre rt4 hijinx ...

I just couldn't wait to pull out the "zoobroker" line!

Quinquagesimus

There was a time when I had a list of things I wanted to accomplish in my life. A bucket-list ... I called it "my 50". I dragged myself through that list for the past decade, laying the bricks of my edification and education. The bricks -- the places I had to see, the books I had to read, the accomplishments I had to conquer -- were kilned and lain steadily in the hope that I would be something more than I was. But as I started to empty the list faster than I could add to it, I still had an inconsolable emptiness. It was the emptiness of knowing that I was less than I had ever hoped to be. So I paused the list. I took a different tact, and embraced an ascetic life, a quiet and mundane existence. I left behind those things that others might have seen as an extraordinary life and replaced them with the daily repetition of the ordinary.

I found a girl, lived in one little city, worked a somewhat regular schedule, hung out in the local bar. I had date night, poker night, bar night, my phone time with a few friends around the country.

Eliminating the constant distractions let me see that it was not the bricks that mattered, but the mortar. The people who accompanied me for all those accomplishments. The opportunities for self-examination in those hours waiting at the airport.

The road trips are one of the few obviously extraordinary weeks I have each year. But as much as I look forward to them, it's what they do to the 6 months in between. How they gild the mundane, remind me to relish my own smallness, magnify what is important to me -- magnify it to ignition. The last time around, I needed a push -- there's no doubt that I got it. This time around, I don't need a kick in the pants, I'm not looking for anything but to enjoy time with a friend (and maybe grief some Mennonites). I know it will remind me that I am right where I'm supposed to be.

I've removed all but one last goal from "my 50". Phauxtog, keep an eye out for feral cats.

Zoo's Favorite Moments

Of our one-hundred or so posts, I wanted to distill for you the best of the best, in my opinion ... First, we started with a bang in Omaha, then I got to talk to a future mad scientist.  I got my ass kicked in virtual kung-fu under the stars.  We really did see The Most Amazing Road On Earth.  There was no you could plan this.  And we opened up the vault and found a great surprise.

There were so many more moments, but those are my top 6 ... only two more posts from me before I close the door on RT3 and start looking forward.

Thank you, everyone!

From the myriad of people we met on the road, to our friends, fans and family back home, thank you all.

We'll be posting more very interesting stuff we just didn't have time to pull of while on the road in the next week or so, so keep checking. Plus, a super-secret special opportunity of a lifetime.

500 pushups!

You may have caught some moments on the timelapse video where I appear to be humping the ground ... if you look carefully, my pants are actually on.  I was attempting to do 50 pushups a day before going out drinking.  Mostly, I did a good job of that, but a couple nights I forgot and had a beer before the pushups, and one night I just couldn't do anymore.  I know 50 pushups doesn't sound like a lot, but when you're a chain-smoking, tequila-drinking slob, 50 is quite a few. Well, today, I hit 500 pushups for our trip.

I feel a little better about myself, but one of my heroin-skinny shirts won't button over my chest anymore. Here's me remembering to do pushups in the Albany bar in Cheyenne. That's brown lightning, baby.

I think the fire's back ...

There's something in the water ...

-- zoo

You can't make this up, but you can make it happen.

Today, Zoo and I turned over 4,751 miles on the odometer. What's the significance? Well, when you subtract the distance between where we each live, it equals the mileage on the truck when we rented in in Denver only seven days ago.

Zoo Says:  Driving Cross Country Without having to touch New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and any of the south is cool.

Zoo Broker lives in San Francisco, I live in Dobbs Ferry, NY.

The distance between our homes is 2,926 miles.

And guess what? You can't make this shit up. It happened on this road:

Coincidence or meant to happen? I believe that not planning is the best plan, and so far this has been the best road trip ever.

Later on when the Vimeo movie time-lapse is up, you can see where we get out of the car and do a little victory dance. We just drove the equivalent of going from California to New York. Awe-some.

I think I remember Zoo shouting something like, "Top of the world!"

Zoo Says: Um, the quote is "I'm the King of The World", but I didn't even say that.  I said, "Do I look fat up here?"

But seriously, you can't do this kind of thing with just anyone. Why would you? Good friends with an open mind and a lust for the open road and the new experiences that come along with that are paramount on a journey like this.

Juxtaposition

I'm sure there are two destinations within a few hundred miles that are more different than Elko, Nevada and Salt Lake City, but I'm hard pressed to think of another so polarized pair.

Elko: Whores, 24-hour access to alcohol and gambling, all-you-can-eat steakhouses.
SLC: Mormans, 24-hour access to group prayer, and all-you-can-marry churches.

We'll give you some more details on Salt Lake City after we hang out a little tonight ...