motorcycle helmets and southern rock

As we drove across New Mexico on our way to Lexington, I noticed a few bikers on the freeway riding without helmets. And since we've been in Lexington, we've seen many people riding motorcycles without helmets. Maybe I've just spent too much of my life in California, but this was quite a surprise to me. First, it seems really dumb to go 65 mph on a motorcycle with nothing protecting your head, and second, I didn't really consider that New Mexico and Kentucky wouldn't have laws requiring all motorcycle riders and passengers to wear helmets. I knew that motorcycle helmet laws are fairly modern, but I kind of assumed it caught on nationwide like seat belt laws or raising the drinking age to 21. Can you guess how many states require all motorcycle riders and passengers to wear helmets? Here's a map with the answer.

I also noticed that there's a heavy dose of Creedence Clearwater Revival (and Phil Collins for some reason) on Lexington radio stations. Lauren and I were talking about how that makes sense because CCR is a southern band, right? We couldn't remember exactly where they were from. Louisiana, or maybe Tennessee? So we looked it up when we got home today and it turns out that John Fogerty was not born anywhere near the Bayou but very close to the Bay.

Nevertheless, the South has produced many great bands, including:

Ben Folds Five (Chapel Hill, NC)
Big Star (Memphis, TN)
Elf Power (Athens, GA)
The Flaming Lips (Oklahoma City, OK)
Iron & Wine (Miami, FL/Columbia, SC)
My Morning Jacket (Louisville, KY)
Neutral Milk Hotel (Ruston, LA)
The Olivia Tremor Control (Athens, GA)
Of Montreal (Athens, GA)
Okkervil River (Austin, TX)
R.E.M. (Athens, GA)
Spoon (Austin, TX)
Tripping Daisy (Dallas, TX)

days 3 and 4: oklahoma city to memphis, memphis to lexington

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We're still alive. And finally here in Lexington with an Internet connection!

Total miles traveled: 2,329
Total hours on the road: 35.5

I couldn't blog on the night of the OKC to Memphis leg because Nate and Cami's Internet decided to stop working the day we arrived. So I watched Twilight instead. Was that really Radiohead's "15 Step" that I heard during the end credits? I made it to the end credits? And is Thom Yorke really writing an original song for the sequel? I'm confused.

Memphis was nice. Humid. The ribs at Corky's were excellent—the meat fell right off the bone, the dry rub was really good, and the apple BBQ sauce was amazing. California, you know I love you, but you've got nothing on the South when it comes to BBQ.

And the South's got nothing on California when it comes to Mexican food. We tried a place next to our apartment called Mi Mexico. I get the feeling that the sauces on both our dishes came out of cans. My enchiladas with mole poblano was okay, but the sauce in TJ's camarones a la diabla tasted like sweet and sour sauce with Tabasco mixed in for a little kick.

I'm sure we'll find better, but I almost cried. I think everything just hit me at that moment: the crazy move, the exhausting road trip, the feeling of being in an unfamiliar place in which you're not sure you'll fit, the fact that our new apartment reeks of a smoker who used to live there.

We approached management about the apartment's condition and they're going to use an ozone machine on Monday morning to get rid of the smell. I'm not sure why they didn't think of doing this before we moved in. We're going to have to get a hotel room to stay in on Monday night while the machine does its thing.

We decided to do some work on the apartment ourselves since the housekeeping people won't be available anytime soon and we wanted to do something to improve the cleanliness levels in the meantime. The window blinds were pretty disgusting, so I scrubbed each slat one by one in the bathtub to get rid of the coats of nicotine and cigarette smoke. We've also gotten around to scrubbing the walls and windows in the living room and one of the bedrooms. Annoyance level: high. But once it's clean, the apartment itself will be really nice to live in. Can't wait to hook up that washer and dryer.

I do have some good things to say about Lexington. It's very green, and I can imagine how beautiful it will look in the fall. People so far have been really helpful and friendly to us. We drove through downtown last night to check it out, and it looked lovely. We'll have to go back and explore in the daytime.

day 2: albuquerque to oklahoma city

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Made it to Oklahoma City, and just in time for Top Chef Masters. Rick Bayless (who, coincidentally, is from Oklahoma City) for the win! I know I'm supposed to be talking about our road trip and not food, but I need to mention that Rick has started a blog about his experiences on TCM, and on this blog he's shared his winning tongue taco recipe from episode 3's "offal tasty" elimination challenge. I can't wait to try this.

But back to the subject at hand:

Total miles traveled: 1,426
Total hours on the road: 21.5

Sadly, I was wrong when I wrote last night that it's six hours from Albuquerque to OKC. It's actually eight hours. Still not bad, especially compared to yesterday's leg.

In the Texas panhandle we stopped in Amarillo to fill up. No matter how hard I try to say Am-ah-RILL-o I always find myself pronouncing it Am-ah-REE-o.

About 40 miles east of Amarillo is Groom, TX, pop. 600 and home of the largest cross in the Western hemisphere (or so they say):


Everything really is bigger in Texas.

Major thunderstorms in Oklahoma City, but people here have been so nice to us. At our hotel we ran into a random guy on a business trip who arranged for a discount on our room for no reason at all. The chatty guy at the front desk was great, too—very friendly, very helpful, and very concerned about getting us a VIP coupon to the Italian restaurant down the street. Always nice to have folks looking out for you, especially in unfamiliar places.

Tomorrow: visiting TJ's brother Nate in Memphis. Dry rub pork ribs, here we come. It's a good thing that our apartment complex in Lexington comes with a fitness center.

day 1: santa barbara to albuquerque

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So here we are in Albuquerque.

Miles traveled: 879
Hours on the road: 13.5

Not much to report. We drove by a dust devil in Arizona. Flagstaff is a lot greener than I expected. And there is a lot of road work going on between the Arizona border and Albuquerque. You'd think that I'd have a lot more interesting observations to share after driving through three states today, but traveling always brings out my most irrational fears—so I was probably too worried about careening off bridges or getting crushed by large trucks/planes falling out of the sky to notice much of anything else. I'm very happy to be safely tucked away in our hotel right now.

Six-hour legs from here on out! Tomorrow: Albuquerque to Oklahoma City.

"I'll build the ark, you fetch the animals."

We obviously picked the best week to move to Lexington.