The Drive.

Getting ready for the road trip in a month.

Going to try to make it as comfortable and stress-free as possible. Timing will be the first part of that. Going to get gassed up the day before, check all fluids and tire pressure yadda yadda so I can be road ready the following afternoon. Staying up late the Sunday before so I can hopefully get a good 8 or more Monday night then go into work, do 4 hours or so and hit the road.

Taking the classic 101 to 5 route, all the way down to Bakersfield, across on 58 to 15 then on in to Vegas. If I leave early enough I should be able to miss most of the Bay Area rush hour traffic, 5 will probably be heavier than normal with peeps going to/from Thanksgiving but hopefully once I get to 15 it will open up a bit. Hoping as well to catch a break on weather, such things do happen in November. I think I'll be dodging a bullet by coming in on Tuesday and leaving Saturday, but we'll see I guess. 

My goal is to be in town by 8 or 9p, so I'm building in some slow down time. If I can get there in the estimated 8-9 hour range I'm there by 7p, so I have a couple extra hours to play with. I should only have to make one stop for gas along the way. If I get in early, no harm no foul. Hit the hopefully short-lined check in desk on arrival, maybe upgrade, grab my keys and with any luck be up to the room snappily.

I'm bringing along a small cooler and some ice packs to shotgun in the passenger seat for some Starbucks bottled cold lattes, and maybe a light snack of some sort. I never eat much in the afternoon anyway and would rather take it easy on the stomach so, again, fewer stops. I'm probably going to wear contacts for best vision and so I can have my shades on for the early afternoon/dusk run through the desert. I'll have my fully charged jumper pack, a small tire compressor and of course the spare tire on board for any unforeseen goofiness. Don't expect any. It's a new damn car and it'll have 700 break-in miles on it by then, it should be able to handle 560 miles at a gallop no problem.

For entertainment I'll have a USB card with a good 8-hour or so upbeat drive mix, and the Sirius XM satellite radio for backup if needed. For navigation I'll have my phone plugged in to the data port with Android Auto running. I'll also print out the Google Maps directions as I still have trust issues with phone navigation and I don't fancy getting lost in the Mojave desert.

Then once there it's park for free in the Park MGM self park, have a great 3+ days and do it all in reverse on Saturday. It'll be nice to, for once, not have to deal with the fucking airport rigamarole on a trip. Getting there will take net longer, but...I don't have to worry about jamming everything into a carryon, don't have to deal with having to get to the airport 2+ hours early then sit around bored, don't have to deal with TSA and the demeaning security lines, don't have to worry about TSA finding my little bag of blow, no worrying about late flights, no sitting next to retarded people on Allegiant, no $30 cab rides to and from the airport, etc.

Roll on, 'Rolla.