After 35 days of driving from city to city by myself I finally have a travel companion.  This will be a change of pace from the hours of solitude I have become accustomed to during my travels.  My goal to spend all 15,000 miles of this trip behind the wheel is still in tact, but at least now I have another human being to talk to on these long empty roads.

I woke up feeling refreshed and ready to meet my buddy Ryan Rindler in Denver.  I have not seen him in a couple of years and we have a lot of catching up to do.  Rindler and I went to high school together back in Michigan.  He is one of the smartest men that I know and I am also aware that he will be very uncomfortable with me telling all of you that he is a genius.  This is my site however and I get to brag about my smart friends. 

It is time for another double digit hour drive as I head north towards the mountains.  I debated whether or not I could make it from Dallas to Denver in one day, but after getting home at around midnight the previous night I elected to break this trip into two days.  I drove as far as I could today before stopping in Pueblo Colorado for the night.

Another “short” four-hour drive today as I head north to Dallas. I am staying with a friend's sister whom I have never met, so I am excited to make a new friend on this tour. It has been nearly one full month since I slept in my own bed, but I am getting used to waking up in a new city every 48-72 hours.

Another long drive today. I spent nearly 12 hours in the car driving from Kansas City to Houston I had originally scheduled myself two days to make this trip, but my time at Kauffman Stadium energized me to the point where I was able to make the trip in one shot.

I have been living in New York City for the past five plus years and have therefore had no use for a car. The fact that at this point a five hour drive feels short to me is an indication that I may be slowly going crazy.

It was only a couple of days ago that I almost passed out after a long drive so this time I made sure to stock up on some real food (besides grapes) for the nine hour drive to St. Louis.

Today I drove from Miami to Atlanta.  My friend Noah and his wonderful wife Jen live in Atlanta with their two children Liam and Hudson.  I had originally planned on staying with Noah and Jen during my stay here, but little Hudson decided he needed to be born last week and subsequently forced me into a hotel.  I plan on meeting the young lad during my off day at which time I will give him a stern talking to about how to treat guests. 

I slept through my alarm this morning.  That is the first time that has happened since starting the tour, I am relatively sure that it will happen again.  I didn't get a chance to work out this morning, I had to get on the road and head to Miami.  After the 14-hour drive a couple of days ago, this four hour trip will be nice and easy. 

I finished up my drive from DC today.  It took me 15 hours and 30 minutes over two days to get down here.  As I mentioned in yesterday's posting I was unaware of Tropical Storm Andrea while I was driving down and got caught in 4 hours of absolutely insane rainfall.  The rain did not stop from the time I left Jacksonville to when I arrived in St. Petersburg.  Luckily there were very few cars on the road so aside from squinting a lot, the drive down wasn't too bad. 

Around 10:50 PM I pulled into a Best Western in Jacksonville, FL to turn in for the night.  I haven't been keeping up on any news recently so I was completely unaware of the storm I was driving into, but the last hour of my drive was quite the adventure.  I could barely see three feet in front of the hood of my car and was driving about 40 MPH on the highway.  Tropical Storm Andrea was in full swing as I drove through a torrential downpour.  Luckily I only spent a short time in the storm before pulling off the road and turning in for the night.

After a great weekend of baseball, it was time for me to head on to our Nation's capital. The morning was spent picking up some last minute supplies for the road.  I bought some grapes and blueberries for snacking on and a 35-pack of water bottles. 

The first section of the tour is just a short jump from New York City to Baltimore. Unfortunately, an hour outside of New York I experienced my first bump in the road. My side-view mirror popped out as I was driving down the highway. Luckily, as traffic at the time was at a standstill, I was able to pull over and find it in the grass. It took me 45 minutes, but I was glad to find the mirror completely intact.