Well, it’s offiicially official - I’m leaving the state of California for good! Read on for more details….Goodbye California, hello North Carolina! I will soon be a resident of Asheville, NC, the 10th largest city in North Carolina.

But before I settle in my new home, I had to travel out to WNC to get a place to live and find a job. I decided to drive, since I want my Mazda 323 out in my new home anyway, and I didn’t want to tow it behind a moving truck.

So, in order to be quick, efficient, and a bit crazy, I drove my car non-stop from Tustin, CA to Franklin, CA. I stopped for gas, food, and bathrooms. Below are two tables showing some times to certain cities if I didn’t stop for gas/food/etc and the actual times I arrived. The 2nd chart shows a log of each stop I made and how long I stopped for.


 CITY TIME ZONE HR MIN DIST DIST TOT HR TOT MIN TOT EST. TIME ACTUAL TIME
1 Tustin, CA CA Time

LEAVE FRI 9/24/04 09:00 pm 8:37 pm PDT
2 Barstow, CA 2 15 107.9 107.9 2 15 11:15 pm 12:26 am PDT
3 Needles, CA 2 12 144.5 252.4 4 27 01:27 am 2:28 am PDT
4 Williams, AZ 2 30 175.4 427.8 6 57 03:57 am Not recorded
5 Flagstaff, AZ 0 31 33.8 461.6 7 28 04:28 am 5:37am PDT
6 Gallup, NM 1 hr ahead 2 41 185.2 646.8 10 9 08:09 am 9:26 am MDT
7 Albuquerque, NM 2 0 137.5 784.3 12 9 10:09 am 11:32 am MDT
8 Tucumcari, NM 2 32 175.6 959.9 14 41 09:41 am Not recorded
9 Amarillo, TX 2 hr ahead 1 40 112.9 1072.8 16 21 03:21 pm 5:09 pm CDT
10 Shamrock, TX 1 45 94.0 1166.8 18 6 05:06 pm 6:39 pm CDT
11 Weatherfford, OK 1 35 96.0 1262.8 19 41 06:41 pm 8:19 pm CDT
12 Oklahoma City, OK 1 5 69.0 1331.8 20 46 07:46 pm 9:33 pm CDT
13 Henryetta, OK 1 30 90.0 1421.8 22 16 09:16 pm 11:08 pm CDT
14 Fort Smith, AR 1 30 93.0 1514.8 23 46 10:46 pm 12:35 am CDT
15 Little Rock, AR 2 30 156.8 1671.6 25 16 01:16 am Not recorded
16 Brinkley, AR 1 5 68.0 1739.6 26 21 02:21 am 4:27 am CDT
17 Memphis, TN 1 11 73.0 1812.6 27 32 03:32 am 4:54 am CDT
18 Wildersville, TN 2 20 128.0 1940.6 29 52 05:52 am Not recorded
19 Nashville, TN 1 45 102.0 2042.6 31 37 07:37 am 9:10 am CDT
20 Monterey, TN 1 40 92.0 2134.6 33 17 09:17 am Not recorded
21 Knoxville, TN 3 hr ahead 1 40 88.0 2222.6 35 57 12:57 am 2:15 pm EDT
22 Clyde, NC 1 45 94.0 2316.6 37 42 02:42 pm Not recorded
23 Franklin, NC 0 58 44.0 2360.6 38 40 03:40 pm 5:15 pm EDT
DATE ARR TIME DEPT TIME MILEAGE LOCATION/GAS PRICE GALLONS Restroom/Food COMMENTS
1 9/24/2004 8:37 pm 183,821.5 left apartment
2 9/24/2004 8:45 pm 8:50 pm 183,822.1 Shell gas $2.13 8.722
3 9/24/2004 8:56 pm 9:01 pm 183,823.4 WAMU ATM
4 9/25/2004 2:28 am 2:43 am 184,082.4 Needles, CA, J Street exit 76 station $2.89 8.409 R/F NEVER GO HERE AGAIN!
5 9/25/2004 5:37 am 5:52 am 184,298.4 Flagstaff, AZ, Sinclair station $1.99 9.932 F best stop on trip!
6 9/25/2004 9:26 am 9:39 am 184,486.0 Gallup, NM Texico station $1.99 6.388 R 86 octane gas
7 9/25/2004 1:29 pm 1:49 pm 184,749.8 exit 277 NM, near Santa Rosa $1.79 9.036 R 86 octane gas
8 9/25/2004 6:39 pm 6:55 pm 185,016.9 Shamrock, TX $1.89 9.049 R 86 octane gas/icky town
9 9/25/2004 9:33 pm 9:54 pm 185,193.2 Oklahoma City, Airport Depot Blvd Shell station $1.81 5.560 R
10 9/26/2004 12:51 am 1:16 am 185,385.5 Exit 13, Alabama Shell station $1.84 6.224 R
11 9/26/2004 4:27 am 4:41 am 185,594.2 Brinkly, Arkansas CITGO/T/A $1.87 7.089 R
12 9/26/2004 6:11 am 6:39 am 185,742.7 exit 68, Tennessee, CITGO/T/A $1.87 5.136 R Denmark travel shop/restaurant
13 9/26/2004 8:36 am 8:53 am 185,874.6 exit 196, Tennessee, Shell station $1.85 4.258
14 9/26/2004 10:22 am 10:34 am 185,967.2 exit 286, Tennessee, Exxon station — — F only stopped for food/drink
15 9/26/2004 12:31 pm 12:51 pm 186,083.8 exit 398, Tennessee, Shell station $1.79 6.601 R
16 9/26/2004 5:15 pm 186,215.1 FRANKLIN, NC!!!!! R/F!!! best destination on trip!

There are some snapshots from the trip [mostly shot blindly through the windshield] available in the gallery. I’m due to leave WNC [Western North Carolina] on Wednesday or Thursday. I’ll probably be renting a car to drive back, and this time I might actually stop for a night or two on the way. When I get back to SoCal, I’ll be packing more boxes and closing bank accounts, etc. Then sometime before the end of October, I’ll be driving out one last time to WNC, but this time in a moving truck with my Stuff loaded behind me.

Kirsten is, unfortunately, not coming with me. She is still recovering from a major nerve virus that she got in February 2004, and just recently gained enough strength to drive and work part time [the first few months, she could hardly stand up, let alone walk]. She is on the long road to recovery, and it is my hopes that when she is fully recovered, she will be joining me in Asheville, NC.

I’ll be updating this site as I can before I leave WNC. I’m without broadband until next Tuesday, so photo updates may have to wait until the 12th. Until then…