Starting a new life in a new town, with a road trip to go along with it. Looking back on it, I really had high hopes of starting over again, but maybe that was just a defense mechanism to help me deal with the fact that I wasn't just leaving my home city to move to Berkeley this time - I was leaving my beloved California as well.
It's still a remarkable coincidence that one of my best friends from high school (Keith) was moving to St. Louis for the same reason - just a different school. You won't see it in these pictures, but Adriana was completely loaded, with my bike on a rack hanging off the back. I'm surprised we were actually able to maintain freeway speeds.
There really isn't anything that special about this shot, other that it's a hill from California. If you're ever considering making this trip yourself, get used to seeing things like this. That's the scenery for most of the trip.
Still pretty early in the trip. Barstow is the town where the big decision happens: do you go through Vegas and through Denver and the Rockies? Or go the low route through the desert Southwest? Consider how heavy we were riding, I wasn't going to risk going up a mountain. This may even still be in the first hour or two at this point.
California power lines? I may have had a point about energy deregulation when I took this picture, but that was almost 2 years ago at the time of writing.
We have to remind ourselves periodically that Southern California is in fact a desert, as you can see. Significantly, look at the rearview mirror - apparently Keith is driving at this point, since that Hawaiian shirt is distinctly mine.
Lest we ever forget how much gas costs in California. Or if you're not from California, proof that the prices are ridiculous. Remember: this is 2003.
Look, it's a truck? Nah, we were getting ready to leave California.. we're getting close at this point.
Lake Havasu means Arizona isn't too far away.
The eastern border of California makes the change all that more real...