Nathan Sturm
Bio
Stories (11/0)
Quest of the Phoenix 2017 (11)
Since I’d fallen asleep so late last night, I did not get up this morning until 7:45, the latest of the entire trip. I showered and then found it to be raining outside. Heading to the office, they had no breakfast, but at least they had coffee (which was a relief since there was no coffee-maker in the room). I thus finished off the last of the dry food I’d brought for Firstmeal and opted to leave a bit earlier than planned, since I only had about a five-hour drive today and I wanted to consume more fattening, horrible shite from purveyors yet untested. I seemed to have missed my chance to try Chick-Fil-A, White Castle, Church’s Chicken, or Whattaburger, but another burger franchise still awaited. In Michigan City, Indiana, to be precise.
By Nathan Sturm7 years ago in Wander
Quest of the Phoenix 2017 (10)
I rose via alarm (Did I mention that I brought my own alarm clock?) at about 7:15. I showered almost immediately so that I could grab breakfast (which was minimal but adequate) without stinking too badly and returned to my room to study my route for the day yet again. At some point someone knocked on the door and a child’s voice said, “Hi.”
By Nathan Sturm7 years ago in Wander
Quest of the Phoenix 2017 (9)
I didn’t sleep too well, thanks to a combination of lingering coffee (which, of course, I’d needed to get through my Vanishing Point-esque marathon) and whatever is the car equivalent of jet lag. But I figured it would be enough. Had a nice, big, fat continental breakfast with extra coffee; studied my route for the day; the usual. After checking out and loading my stuff into the car, I called my dad again, since he wanted to know that I was okay, etc., and also to vicariously relive his own various trips out West back when Route 66 was still Route 66.
By Nathan Sturm7 years ago in Wander
Quest of the Phoenix 2017 (8)
I woke up at 4:45 AM and couldn’t fall back asleep again, thanks to the combination of cacophonously singing birds and the gastric havoc wrought by yesterday’s gluttony. At least this would help me get an early start since I had a helluva drive today.
By Nathan Sturm7 years ago in Wander
Quest of the Phoenix 2017 (7)
Today I had what was only like an hour’s journey to Casa Grande where I would be switching hotels because…I dunno, just to see a bit more of Arizona, mainly the area south of Metro Phoenix. Thus I slept in, not rising until 6:45. Once again I got a nice breakfast courtesy of the motel and re-planned my routes; I was also pleased to discover that my clothes had dried properly overnight. Taking the first load of stuff out to my car, I found the housekeepers, a middle-aged Hindu couple, sitting on the hallway floor waiting for me to leave (due to the short drive today, I had pushed my departure time close to the 11 AM limit). I told them that I had to go back inside one more time, did so, and then gave them the go-ahead before returning my keycard and heading out.
By Nathan Sturm7 years ago in Wander
Quest of the Phoenix 2017 (6)
Up at 6 AM again (after an eight-hour rest; hard to believe this is a “vacation” with me going to bed and getting up so early) and spent three hours preparing myself. First, I went and got a nice nutritious continental breakfast with all of the food groups represented (except meat), then I spent some time planning my route to South Mountain Park, grooming, and dressing carefully to hide the fact that I was slightly out of shape — I would be hiking in the rising heat of the late morning, so I couldn’t get away with wearing a jacket or whatnot.
By Nathan Sturm7 years ago in Wander
Quest of the Phoenix 2017 (5)
Once again I was up at 6:30 and had a breakfast of tea and granola/fruit bar. Browsing maps and such on my phone, I was determined to CAREFULLY plan my route into Phoenix to avoid anything like last night’s debacle. In any event, I knew that my motel this time would have an actual “parking lot.” Still I retained some residual nervousness.
By Nathan Sturm7 years ago in Wander
Quest of the Phoenix 2017 (4)
I rose early again but took my time getting ready, since I had a shorter drive today (or so I thought). Checking out, I also bought a postcard depicting Canyonlands National Park, since Tina (and her mom) had requested one and it enabled me to give the innkeepers an extra 80 cents to thank them for their nicely-scented room. I was on the road again by 9:30 and in good spirits, for today I would be driving through Monument Valley.
By Nathan Sturm7 years ago in Wander
Quest of the Phoenix 2017 (3)
The clock in my room had not been adjusted for Daylight Savings Time and I forgot to correct it, so I thought I was getting up at like 6:30 but actually it was 5:30. So when I went out for continental breakfast 15 minutes later (they’d said that breakfast started at 6:30), I was actually 45 minutes early instead of within the proper range. The Spanish speaking guys were hanging around the lobby ignoring me and talking to each other as I wondered why the bread products were still half-frozen and why I could smell eggs but not see any yet. At least I got a bagel and some coffee.
By Nathan Sturm7 years ago in Wander
Quest of the Phoenix 2017 (2)
I rose at about 6:45 and hit the road by 8:30. The plan was to follow the directions I’d looked up on my phone to the local Firestone. However, the area around my motel consisted, in addition to construction sites, also of a bizarre sea of interlocking parking lots with no real “town” amongst them and streets and street signs that operated in ways I hadn’t seen before, so I ended up bungling around for awhile in that area, then driving across a highway into the actual downtown area, which was just as bad, involving narrow one-way streets and wandering lanes. After a bit, I just said “screw this” and opted to hit the freeway for Omaha.
By Nathan Sturm7 years ago in Wander
Quest of the Phoenix 2017
During the dread Polar Vortex of December 2016, I, having worked six to seven days a week for the last five weeks, most of it spent outside when snow buildup made it nigh-impossible to pull out of any intersection at which one had to stop one’s vehicle, got to work a full and rather lengthy day when the wind was blowing at around negative 10 degrees Fahrenheit (about -23 C). By the time the day was done, my face was too numb to talk properly, and even after getting back indoors it took over an hour for me to feel warm again. And shortly after getting home (and reflecting also on the fact that two months previously I had nearly died of a severe asthma relapse that seemed to have been brought on by the humidity of the autumn, not to mention the depression and general health-deterioration that ALWAYS afflicts me as summer comes to an end), I found myself thinking: “I don’t want to live in Michigan anymore.”
By Nathan Sturm7 years ago in Wander