“It is the dim haze of mystery that adds enchantment to pursuit.”

-Antoine Rivarol

This is what 1337 miles looks like.

Mile 1337 … Albuquerque, NM

(go look up Chicago to Albuquerque if you don’t believe me)

I like to travel.  If that wasn’t clear already, then welcome new reader!  You only missed 1336 miles of my journey, so go catch up.  I’ll wait for you.

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One of the reasons I like to travel is that I’m always fascinated by the fine details of how things are different.  I’ve been to 35 of the 50 States in America and its amazing how much the average lifestyle can vary from region to region.

The Southwestern United States is the polar opposite of the Midwest.  The weather is dry.  The usual rolling hills of grass are replaced by buckets of sand and clay.  Most importantly there are prickly cacti everywhere!  That may not seem special to some of you, but I had never seen a cactus in person until I was 23.  I think back to friends that I met who had never seen snow before:  one friend was a Florida native who first saw snow while at a gaming tournament in Denver.  I remember the look of enchantment on his face.  Moments later that was replaced with a sneaky smile as he launched a snowball at a teammate’s head.

As I drove out of blisteringly hot state of New Mexico that I had that same sneaky smile on my face.

It was difficult to get my kicks while packed tightly into my car, but I managed.

Mile 1761 … Phoenix, AZ

Rolling into the Phoenix area was by far the most exhilarating car ride of my life.  I had always wondered where the makers of car racing games had gotten their ideas for outdoor courses.  I now know that those ideas come from Arizona.

In an hour span, I did all of the following:

• Raced down a mountain at 85 miles an hour.
• Had my ears pop several times while moving from an elevation of 6000 to an elevation 4000.
• Passed no less than 30 signs warning drivers of eminent dangers such as falling rocks, runaway trucks, dust storms, and wildfires.
• Took a hairpin turn slowly … so that I didn’t fall off a cliff

I made good time on the Arizona circuit, so I decided to relax a bit.   I cancelled my plans with Motel 6 for the night and instead stayed with my good friend Scott Smith aka “SirScoots,” who is the Managing Director of Team Evil Geniuses.  Scott’s house is affectionately named the “Casa de Scoots” and his guest bedroom has housed more eSports celebrities than any other spot on earth.

I was reluctant to leave after having my first decent meal in 3 nights, but I had a journey to finish and only one more day to do so.