Day 16

The Last Post

So the trip is offically over. Pete headed for his final destination, San Diego CA, this morning. Before getting all sentimental, one final recap of the night before is in order. We spent 8 hours (5 -1am) on the porch of Barney's Beanery, basically an eight hour work day on the porch drinking pitchers of beer. We never moved and had a few different groups of people to party with as the day AND night went along. Highlights included Pete buying everyone a shot and everyone taking their shot except Matt who poured it into an empty pitcher where Pete found it a half an hour later and yelled, Jessica/Justine reappearing with her friends at which point we discovered Pete and Brendan were in diapers when they went to their first concert, and everyone coming to realization that drinking for eight consecutive hours is actually harder than the average work day. We all made it Black Out City and we had plenty of passengers for the HOV lane so we got there in a hurry.

This was really a great trip. From Chicago Meg and drinking on the top of the Hancock Tower to fly fishing and rafting with Ed in Jackon, WY to Sunset Blvd LA with Matt, we had a great time at all the stops and saw/met some great people. Thank you everyone that took us in, you made the trip that much better and that much cheaper. So now on to the Top Five Moments of the Great Cross Country Adventure:

5. Meeting "Kerri" in a random bar in Chicago, only to have her both befriend Pete and try to run him over with her car, all in the same night. Only Pete...."But my friends gotta come with us."
4. 2 hours in to the trip having both the engine light come on and Pete's e-brake cut lose, sending the car down the steep driveway and into the middle of a cul-de-sac, the Whip was good to us.
3. Getting stranded in the Salt Flats of Utah. Thanks to Pete's "lifeguard training" he was able to identify his dehydration and complain about it for the 120 miles until the first gas station.
2. Any of the times we entered a random gas station with basketball jerseys, backwards hats, and mesh shorts and mingled with the natives. "Samuari Swords huh, they a big seller?" "What exactly you boys have on the top of your car? Those are surf boards sir." Brendan to Pete after leaving one restroom, 'Its always comforting to be at a random gas station bathroom next to a 300 pound man with a large hunting knife attached to his belt..... Can we go?".
1. Getting Pete to SD somewhat hungover but in one piece to begin life on the West Coast.

Over 4000 miles
16 days
13 states
8 different cities
2 buddies
1 great fuckin road trip.

Thanks for Reading.....

Pete and B

P.S. The pictures will be up on the site when Brendan finally makes it home to Quincy MA so take a look in a couple of days for a good take on the San Francisco and LA stops.