Day 1 of Drive

A trip cross country could not go smoothly, right?

The last time I went to Lubbock, I took the southern route. It was alright although there were some mountains and tight curvy roads. It took about 10 hours...not so bad.

After talking to mom, I decided to go the northern route, taking the 40 across.

As I drove out, I noticed my navigation system was showing I was going the wrong way. Something wasn't hooked up right. So I drove it to the installer, had them fix it, so I didn't get on the road until 10:30 am.

Taking the northern route was a big mistake! 4th of July weekend through Phoenix and Flagstaff....dumb!!

About 6 hours into my trip, my AC stopped working. Now, I just purchased my vehicle new in Feb, and it does have almost 12,000 miles on it...but the AC shouldn't stop working!

After fooling with the knob, the only thing I can get out of it is heat! Eck! I am in Arizona!!

It's 4pm and I am rushing to search for the nearest Ford Dealership. There is one in Winslow, AZ, that I passed 10 miles ago. So I turn around, get them on the phone and they say there is nothing they can do for me, they are booked. I explained that it just felt like the knob wasn't catching, and he said the AC is a complicated system and they wouldn't have time. I asked him what he suggested I do and he said get to Albuquerque and try and get in Saturday morning.

While drenched in sweat, I call the dealership in Albuquerque and they say that they can try to get me in Saturday, but there would be no guarantee. I am already on a serious time crunch, each day planned across the way.

So while I'm driving down the road, I tear off my dash and start feeling behind the AC knob to see if I can figure out what's wrong. I finally pull over, look behind and the teeth on the knob aren't touching the teeth that control the temperature. I couldn't get the teeth to connect again, but I could manually turn the temperature knob. So now, I have off, or freakin' cold! And I'm okay with that.

My dad has a good dealership I can go to when I get to Kentucky.

I'm starting to feel worn out, pissed that I'm running late, so I figured I'll stop in Albuquerque for the night and head out in the morning for Lubbock. Early in the morning as I had a hair appointment at 11am.

Once I reach Albuquerque, I do not feel like stopping...so I keep going. 300 miles to Lubbock and I did not want to stop! About an hour out of Lubbock, I got stopped at a sobriety check point where the guy wanted to have a freaking conversation about my navigation system, if it actually worked, did it cost me monthly, etc. He had no idea I had been driving for 12 hours and was ready to go!

I finally get into Lubbock at around 2:15 am. I've been here a few times before. Spurs & Napster's address is too new to be recognized by the navigation, so luckily I had my printed directions.

The problem is, they have these stupid loops in Texas that don't make any sense! My map says to go north/south, the loop says east/west. What the hell?

After driving around parts of Lubbock I have never seen before, through farm land, downtown, construction and new territory.

Finally, I get to their house at 3am. I barely remember saying hello to Napster as I came in and went straight to bed.

So there's day 1 of the trip! Tomorrow I head to Austin to spend 4th of July on my friend's boat. Only a 360 mile drive...not so bad.

Here's to the rest of the drive going just a little more smoothly!