FROM SOCAL TO SOCAR

After nearly 5 years living and working in Los Angeles, California, I found out my heart belongs in South Carolina. Funny how the place that you swear upon yourself that you will move away from as a child turns out to be the place that you eventually want to dig your roots deep. It was an insanely tough decision, which ultimately involved me jam packing up my awesome little Scion xB with nearly everything I could fit in there, and drive 2,487 miles to my new destination.

Along the way I didn’t bother to take out my well-packed Canon 5DmkII. Instead I conveniently used my iPhone 4. I highly recommend a cross country trip to anyone. Preferably with a good friend. Fortunately for me I had Domo to keep me company. He’s quiet, and makes a good pillow.

Mapped out and ready to go. Phoenix, Austin, Mobile, and Atlanta would be my pit stops along the way.

Poor box. Not an inch to spare. The Border Patrol in El Paso, TX were laughing at my car for being so ridiculously low. I just told them “this car is a tank, it’s made the trip before!”… of course after the German Shepard sniffed around my car, and asked about my US citizenship.

Thank the tech gods for GPS. Something about seeing a blue dot move across the screen makes me feel that I’m not actually driving in circles.

New Mexico knows how to put on a good sunset show.

3am somewhere in West Texas, yep.

After 17 straight hours I arrived in Austin, TX at a friend’s house. Along the way I picked up a few hitchhickers.

Ben Sassani was shooting a wedding on Oct. 2nd in Austin, and I thought I’d help out. I didn’t know free beer was involved. I also didn’t know that Ben is THE master at Angry Birds. WTF!

Introducing the (2nd) best bar-b-que I’ve ever had. And where else than The Salt Lick outside of Austin, TX. Arguably the best part about The Salt Lick is that it’s BYOB. Meaning you can BRING all the beer you want. Now that’s what I call family fun. The 1st best bar-b-que? Easy, that’s Bessigner’s in Charleston, SC.

Next is the legendary Lance Armstrong’s Mellow Johnny’s Bike Shop. Do I really need to say more? BIKING UTOPIA!

Meet Shah, Fred Sassani’s dog. The biggest, scariest, nicest Doberman in Austin Texas. He does lots of circles. And is awesome.

Now meet Chewy, Ben Sassani’s dog. The exact opposite of Shah lol.

Louisiana is fascinating if you love wetlands. Chick-Fil-A is ALWAYS fascinating.

This threw me for a loop. One second I’m driving through rural Alabama, and the next I’m going through a time-warp tunnel under Mobile, Alabama!… at 41mph.

After a night in Daphne, AL (just outside of Mobile), I took off to Atlanta. Now THIS is what I have in mind when I think Alabama. Old, empty, long, 2-lane roads being hugged by tall trees and blue skies. For kicks I listened to country music.. for 5 minutes. That’s all I could handle, but it felt right.

I rolled into Atlanta, and my friends Lieze and Andy Sapp invited me to come along and see Jeff Koons at the High Museum of Art. He’s one of the most successful artists of our generation. Yes, please.

We got to ride the Marta train to and from the Museum. A little scary around midnight, but living in Los Angeles trained me to be tough!.. but that’s not a street tough, that’s Andy taking some pics

After a good nights rest, I drove the remaining leg to South Carolina. It’s good to be back. And Domo was thankful to get out and stretch his legs, and touch REAL grass for the first time in his life. Cheers!