“The Wayward Traveler Chronicles” will be a series of journal entries recording my trip across the country from Maine to California.

I won’t sugarcoat it: this was a long day. After last night’s showing of Doctor Strange, I drove back to the hotel and began to write Day 7, but soon realized the time: It was two o’clock A.M. Central, and I was used to Eastern, so it felt like three. I had to go to bed, and figured I’d finish this in the morning.

I got up around 9, and did in fact finish the blog post, but some issues with the uploading process ended up postponing its completion; not to mention I felt like a zombie whose lack of brains was killing him. Wait, did I just burn myself? Shit.

By the time I checked out it was almost Noon. I felt like crap, so I decided to get some food to fill me up. I remember seeing a Sonic on the way over to the hotel last night, so I went ahead and got some. I had never been to one considering they haven’t crept up as far as Maine, so it was a treat.

Logo!

Fiery chicken… Hopefully, I don’t get the fiery shits combo.

I ended up using my GPS to find it, and sure enough, I accidentally came across a different one. After I bought the food, I went to fuel up at a QT ($1.89 by the way, cheapest yet!), and I took off toward Kansas. Well, it turns out that I was seconds away for as soon as I left QT, my GPS said “Welcome to Kansas.” Huh, no signs, no markers, nothing. So much for a shot for this blog. But I did get some video of the State…

…from out of my car.

Kansas!

Kansas was the first state that looked “different” from all of the others. I saw more plains, more wheat fields, and some beautiful species of trees.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

But what its beauty was combated by its lack of excitement. There wasn’t much to see after the initial awe, and the exits were few and far between. Oh and this was the first state since Massachusetts, that I noticed there was any sort of toll.

To prevent getting off on another exit and paying two tolls, they had these convenience stops that included gas, food, atm, etc. I decided to stop at one of these to grab a coffee and stretch my legs.

I parked next to this… thing.

Nice looking McDonald’s.

Not sure what this art represents; maybe the burden of hoisting all the extra weight provided by McD? Maybe that’s the amount of Big Macs one person could eat?

Cool looking inside too.

As I took my break, I decided to check the balance on my gift card I’d been using for gas and food. I called the number on the back of the card. I was greeted with an automated message: “Hello and please listen as our menu offer has changed. Welcome to OneVanilla Gift Cards! You’ve been randomly selected to have a chance to win a $50 gift card! All you need to do is answer a brief survey and you’ll be entered to win! To participate in the survey, press 1; otherwise press 2.

[I hit ‘2’]

“Attention Senior Citizens! Something something about a brace! Press one now to get your brace. Or press 2 to hear the next offer!”

[2]

“Do you or a loved suffer from hearing loss? You can get a 45 day free trial of …. hearing aid. Press 1 to get your free trial! Or press 2 for your next offer.”

[2]

This went on for thirty questions. And I said no to this survey. Each question was only trying to funnel me to one of their partners, and I was waiting to speak to someone; anyone.

Finally when the “brief” survey was complete I heard this: “This completes the survey. Goodbye.” Click.

What the fuck? If I were to only rely upon the number, then I would be screwed! Thankfully, I had my phone to check the balance. Immediately upon entering their site, they simply asked for the number on the card and spot out my balance.

Oklahoma!

This whole day I was exhausted. I needed a break. My initial plan had been pushed back twice now, as I realized I can’t drive as much in one day as I had hoped. My second plan fell through, as I wasn’t going to make it to Amarillo, TX today. So I decided that I would stop in Oklahoma City instead. By the time I got out of Kansas, I noticed that I was again in no shape to continue driving the half hour more to Oklahoma City, especially after the little sleep I had the night before.

I stopped even earlier in a smaller town, Edmond, to go to the bathroom, and decided this would be a good place to reset and have a long stay at a hotel. First thing I did was stop at a Chik-Fil-A to go to the bathroom, but decided, “Hey, I haven’t had this yet like the people in Bangor did a few days after I left.” So I bought a small meal of chicken nuggets just to try them out.

I was so lethargic and tired of eating out every meal. I felt like shit. I needed to actually use the amenities that I had available to me like the pool or the gym.

First I got into the room.

King size bed for once. Waste of space for one person 😉

Bathroom was good.

Wait a minute. What’s wrong with this picture?

Hey, a TV I’ll never use!

Trippy.

No, this is trippy.

The setting sun over Oklahoma.

I went to check out the gym offerings, got changed, and headed down.

I worked out for an hour and a half, first doing free weight exercises and lunges/squats, and then watched most of a movie on Amazon Prime: Scout’s Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse.

I got back to the hotel and had a moment of reflection. It’s weird not having a home, traversing this great nation like a nomad; never knowing where I’ll rest my head next. I’m eager to finally settle down and begin the adjustment period to Los Angeles.

Let’s continue towards that destination tomorrow!

-Jamie (@GuyOnAWire)

Here is the UPDATED list of States I’ve visited thus far: Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma.        [THIRTEEN]

–STATS–

Money Spent for Gas: $28 ($149.00 Total)

Miles Traveled Today: 338.3 miles (2,037.3 Miles total)

Data Used: 100 MB (1.3 GB total this month)

Stay tuned as I continue my tale of travel across the United States!

—PROGRESS—

Day 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |