Hi. So. I moved to Flagstaff, Ariz., for a new job!
Everything happened so slowly and so quickly at the same time. Talk about “hurry up and wait,” right? I applied for, interviewed for and informally accepted a job in the span of about 48 hours, then sat around doing literally nothing (except watching Netflix, kayaking and camping) for five straight months. Then, I got my formal offer and had about two weeks to finalize my Jeep purchase, find an apartment, pack up a UHaul and move my entire life across the country. In a GD pandemic.
Boy lemme tell you. Everything that could have possibly went wrong during this move went wrong.
Jake and I had originally planned on turning my move into a week-long road trip across Route 66. Because Route 66 starts in Chicago (where Jake lives/ where I used to live) and ends in Santa Monica (noooottt that far from Flagstaff tbh!) we had planned on stretching out my move.
Well… that didn’t happen. My Jeep order was delayed, and then messed up, and by the time everything was straightened out, we only had about three days to make the drive from my dad’s house in Southeastern Michigan to Flagstaff.
I’m kinda bummed. We had expectations! Back when I stopped by Chicago to say goodbye to all my friends before the move, I even took a photo with the start/end Route 66 sign (we were NOT about to drive that trailer through downtown Chicago) so I could brag about driving the ENTIRETY of Route 66.
Our drive was also made a little slower/ more complicated by the fact that we were driving an already-bulky Jeep Wrangler with an even-bulkier trailer attached… so we couldn’t really go highway speeds or anything.
I mentioned it in my post about buying my Jeep, but we literally started the move about six hours after I picked up my Jeep at the dealership.
So, we departed at sunset.
We (by “we,” I mean “Jake”) drove as long as we could until we got too exhausted to drive anymore. We started in Michigan, drove through Ohio, made it across Indiana and stopped in Normal, Illinois for the night.
Illinois was pretty uneventful. We’ve both lived there, we had no desire to explore. We woke up early, grabbed breakfast, and then got back on the road.
Then we made our way through St. Louis and across the entire state of Missouri. We stopped for gas and that’s about it.
I think it’s because we’re both Midwest born-and-raised, but we really didn’t have too much desire to explore any part of the Midwest. We were also trying to get as much of our drive in as soon as possible just in case anything ended up happening later on in the drive.
So… on to Oklahoma!
We did actually make time to see a few things in Oklahoma. We stopped for dinner in Tulsa, where I had the opportunity to both blind myself with neon diner lights and up my cholesterol levels at Tally’s.
After dinner, we got back in the Jeep and kept driving. We decided to stay in Oklahoma City for the night.
Do you ever wonder exactly how the hell it’s possible to get quite so exhausted from simply driving and/or riding in a vehicle all day? Honestly. It’s strange.
We got a little bit of a late start the morning after our OKC stay because I insisted on going for a run in a nearby park. My 30-minute run turned into a 90-minute excursion because I just really needed to stretch my legs and spend some time outdoors.
We got back to our drive, and then made our first “fun” stop of the trip that I’d really been looking forward to — Pop’s 66 in Arcadia!
The food was pretty “meh,” but it was cool to look at the massive soda selection. Jake picked out two types of Jones Soda, and had one made into a float. He took the other one with us on the road.
Ahhh the road. Speaking of it… back to it.
Then it was just a bunch of nothing until Texas.
Well, not really nothing. I made Jake wave at all the other Jeep drivers, but that’s about it.
Texas was pretty quick because we were just driving straight across the panhandle, but we did make it a point to stop at Cadillac Ranch.
Honestly I was underwhelmed. It was basically just covered in trash and Trump graffiti and I’m pretty sure I got a contact high from all the spray paint fumes.
So, yeah. Cadillac Ranch was pretty much our only stop in Texas. We sped into New Mexico and booked a hotel in Albuquerque.
This was honestly the most disappointing part of the trip. I’d had friends ranting and raving about Church Street Cafe, and it was very high on the top of my list. Jake and I booked a hotel walking distance from the restaurant so we didn’t have to worry about unhitching the trailer, and planned our whole evening in ABQ around this restaurant. I went online and called to make sure they were open. We were so excited for what we were told were the BEST TACOS and BEST MARGS of ALL TIME EVER.
…We got there at 7:30 p.m. and they were closed.
Jake and I hadn’t eaten since Pop’s and we were HANGRY. We decided to walk back to our hotel and stop at the first restaurant that was open. Except literally nothing was open. We stopped at a crosswalk to look at our phones and start calling restaurants, and then I sat on a cockroach and was catcalled.
I decided in that moment that I did not like Albuquerque. Talk about first impressions.
Eventually we did find somewhere that was walking distance from our hotel. We ended up at a newer super-trendy food hall-style restaurant called Sawmill Market, which was only open for like, 30 more minutes after we got there.
It felt totally sketchy because it was really busy and WE ARE IN A PANDEMIC, but we were starving and nowhere was open so we took the bait.
We went back to our hotel, slightly less hangry, woke up and then…
ARIZONA DAY!
We continued driving up the mountain, straight from Albuquerque to Flagstaff.
We went straight to my apartment complex — which I’d already signed some paperwork for, remember, and I barreled right into the leasing office to get started moving.
Except. Uh. The leasing office messed up the dates of my arrival. They thought I was coming in October. Not September.
…The paper I signed? Yeah it said September.
So there was panic and chaos and several phone calls and Jake and I were told to store the UHaul in a parking space and use a staged unit for three days until a unit would be ready for me.
So… cons? I didn’t have an apartment, my Jeep was still full of stuff, my UHaul contract expired in like, two days and I’d be living in a staged apartment unit on my first day of work. Pros? …We didn’t have to unpack right away. We moved our bags into the staged unit and then went to go explore and eat.
We went to Lumberyard Brewing Company for beer flights and mac and cheese, and then walked around downtown a little bit.
Then all the boring stuff: Target to buy laundry detergent and dish soap and paper towels and blah, blah, blah, blah…
Jake will be here for another week or two to help me get settled in and to explore Flagstaff and northern Arizona with me.
I’m really bummed that I didn’t get a chance to fully experience Route 66, but also… we are in a pandemic. And Route 66 has been a thing for how long? I’m sure (I hope) I’ll get other chances. And maybe in a car without a trailer and a looming start date, when I have more freedom and time to explore.
Anyway, here’s to a fresh start in a new part of the country! Hello Flagstaff, hello Arizona and hello Southwest United States! Let’s adventure.
This post was originally published Jan. 21, 2021. Its timestamp has been updated to reflect this trip.
