A couple of hours of sleep really helped. That and daylight. We're designed to operate in daylight so bright sunlight tends to wake you up (varies from person to person of course). When I woke up we were just into Arizona and stopped. Some sort of accident up ahead closed was affecting traffic in both directions and the line was just growing. Luckily though we were only like 1/2 a mile from the accident so it only took like 30 minutes to get through, though there was another 30 minutes just parked and not moving. The problem turned out to be a large RV that had burned down to the structure. Only parts of the blackened frame were left. Quite a sight and I should have taken a picture of it now that I think about it.

Other than that though Arizona is just a blur to me. Same for New Mexico. Dave almost made it to Texas but he was starting to fade so my brother Chris took over. Unfortunately Texas (at least where we drove through) has a slightly lower speed limit after dark, 65 MPH instead of 70 MPH. Not making good time through Texas. And there was lots of construction too. Actually there was lots of construction throughout the trip. Traffic kept getting narrowed to one lane, or shifted over to share the other side of the freeway, or even being shunted into the shoulder. Suffice it to say that we were not making as good a time as Dave hoped, especially through Texas.

Highway 66 crisscrosses and merges with I-40 for short stretches. I remember reading in Via (the AAA magazine) about this steak house with the 56 oz steak and that it was free if you could eat it all. Sure enough we passed it but we didn't have time to eat there. Too bad because Chris wanted to eat at a couple of steak places, and he would before this vacation was all over. In any case, I don't think I could have eaten that much. Hmm, I don't remember what we had for lunch. Probably some fast food. Actually I didn't eat this day. I ate Thursday but I wasn't hungry during the trip. Too tired.

So we get to the University of Oklahoma at around 02:00 on Thursday. Got lost trying to find Troy's dorm. We took a slightly wrong exit and wandered around confused. Luckily Van Horn brought a bunch of maps, including a street map of the area. So we got ourselves reoriented and found Troy's dorm. It took a few minutes to get ahold of Troy and his friend, and they had a lot of luggage. But we made it fit into the van, surprisingly. Then we were off with Troy driving.

We drove on the I-44 to Tulsa, on through to Springfield, and to St Louis. This is the first time that I've encountered a turnpike, otherwise known as a toll road. (Turnpike because it used to be a pike that turned to let your car through?) Not a huge amount I suppose. Something like $10 to drive to St Louis. But it's the concept that bothers me. Especially when this road is deigned an Interstate freeway. I'm so glad we don't this in the West. I'd rather pay more taxes.

Troy only drove for a couple of hours before he got really tired. I tried driving for another hour or two but I was pretty blasted too. Dave once again drove, through St Louis. Van Horn drove through Chicago and to Milwaukee. Before then though, while I was driving, I think, Van Horn and Troy and his friend were all talking about White Wolf's Vampire. Lots of talk about LARPs and running games and the national organizations. The impression I got out of it is that Van Horn is way too much into "I'm right, I know more, you're wrong."

This is one his great failings and something that really bugged me more and more throughout the time we spent together. He always has to be right and he'll back it up with his Archeology knowledge. Very nitpicky and not very tolerant at all. (And how can I say that when I'm obviously not tolerant of his antics. Well, if you know me you know I don't get mad at people. Van Horn came really close, close enough that I don't want to see him the rest of this year.) Maybe he's got too much to prove. Whatever. It got to me, how he treated other people.