Last December I moved back to Michigan after living in Las Vegas for over a year and Phoenix before that.

Everything started out great! I flew my long childhood friend Mike out to Vegas to help me with the drive back across the country. We partied in up one last weekend in Vegas including attending the Video Games Awards show and party.

So it was time to leave. we had the truck packed and ready to drive! Clear skies and warm weather surrounded us on this December saturday afternoon. I wanted to make good time and was anxious to get this move over with so we started to drive that afternoon.

We drove a few hours and ran into a ton of fresh snow that night driving through Flagstaff. Now mind you we were in a 16 foot truck pulling a car carrier with my Jetta on top so we could only go about 20 MPH. So much for making good time!

A few hours later we were past the storm and back to making good time (max speed 75 MPH).

to be continued....

Continuing on...

Now driving across the country like this can be very exciting and it definatly was for me and my kindergarden friend (friend since kindergarten). It can also be very boring at times driving through the desert and grassy plains full of graizing cows and hillbilly farmcountry.

Going through texas panhandle we stopped for dinner at good old crackle barrel of Amerillo, Tx. This is just past all the signs for "finish a 72 ounce steak and get it for free!" As taunting an offer as this was for a couple hungry weary travelers we probably made the healthy decision to pass by those and stop at the nutrition filled cracker barrel. MMMM country fried steak, part of a well balanced diet ;)

My friend and trucker partner Mike suggested we stay in Amerillo for the night. We had heard at dinner there was an icestorm up ahead and the hostess was cute. I really should have listened to him considered we were already seeing trucks on the road with several inches of ice on them. I was amazed that we were in Texas, it felt like Alaska! But being the trooper that I am I disregarded Mike's suggested figuring he was more interested in the cute hostess than the ice storm and decided to truck on. This was my trip and I was in charge and we were moving on.

Well we didn't make it far, maybe an hour or two before traffic came to a screaching halt. In the next 5 hours we had only made it about 3 miles and the highway was solid ice. After a while and realizing we were not going to make it any further I started up my portable GPS device and searched for nearby motels. Of course with miles and miles of cars and trucks on the road every hotel I called was already full. By this time the side of I-40 was lined with semitrucks that had pulled over to spend the night in their sleepers on the shoulder. Well we didn't have a sleeper and I did not want to sleep sitting in the uncomfortable rental truck we had been in for 2 days already.

I finally found a place that had rooms but it was behind us. I made the reservation and told them we were on the way. An hour or so later we finally got to the next exit where we could turn around. As jammed as the eastbound traffic was going west was clear for days.

We were stuck for the next two nights in Shamrock, Tx at the Shamrock inn. We thought, sweet!, there'll atleast be an irish pub we can eat and drink at. As irish as this place sounds it lies in a dry county (they'll don't sell booze) and there was no irish restaurant. For two days we hung out in the hottub and talked to westbound truckers about the weather they had driven through. It was bad. Ice and freezing rain. The trucks that made it though and had stopped at Shamrock were covered with over 6 inches of solid ice. I was not about to drive thorugh that with my 16 foot truck towing my car.

to be continued...