After 6 days of travel I am finally in Fort Worth.  I have to admit that the last week has actually been a lot of fun, and it feels really good to finally be here.  Over the last 6 days I’ve found myself in 6 different states.  Thank you Honda for not breaking down!  Gotta love those Japanese automakers.  During most hours the drive was relaxing and allowed me to see a variety of new sites.  My favorite leg of the journey was across Arizona, New Mexico, and into Texas.  The highway runs through a lot of “nothing,” but the sites of nothing are new to me so I enjoyed taking in the rocks, open landscape, cactus, and red-colored mountains.  (Reminded me of the Grand Canyon on a MUCH smaller scale).  Cruise control as well as old CDs that I haven’t listened to in about 10 years immediately became my best friends.  Bluetooth is NOT my new best friend due to the fact that the thing kept falling off my ear and did not get great reception, so sorry if I didn’t call to chat. 

In Cali I visited friends in SF/San Carlos and LA.  Then I headed down to San Diego for some exploring at La Jolla and downtown in the Gaslamp District.  At my hotel I got to ride in an old school elevator complete with a metal gate.  Very cool, very slow (per 21st century standards), and with a very heavy door.  You practically need both hands to pull the thing open and keep it open so that you can enter/exit.  It closed on me a few times so I resorted to taking the stairs (quicker and painless). 

I visited a lot of gas stations, washed my windshield with cockroach infested water, and talked to a few friendly, but not creepy truck drivers.

I arrived yesterday and my company allowed me to check into my apartment a day early.  While at the leasing office I ran across another traveler from American Mobile.  Turns out we are both going to be working nights on the same unit at Harris Methodist.  What are the odds?

I moved all my belongings up to my 3rd floor apartment.  My neighbor told me good luck walking up and down the stairs.  It’s not cool here, and I know I looked like I was putting in a good workout.  I’m proud of myself for doing it though.  No guys around to help. 

I made a late night run to Wal-Mart right before closing to buy all the necessities that I hastily threw away in my rush to stuff my life’s belongings into my car.  (TP, cleaning supplies, shower curtain, laundry detergent, etc).  Then off to the grocery store so that I had something besides trailmix to eat this am.  Oh, and I needed wine to celebrate my arrival.

It’s hard to believe that I came here to work and will soon have to face that reality.  Hospital orientation next week and then 12 hour nights.  My body gets to enjoy it’s normal sleep/wake cycle for a bit longer.  And with any luck my patients will be as well-behaved (i.e. not jumping/falling out of bed or combative) and friendly as the Texans I’ve met so far.