The capital of Nevada is.....wait, is it really Carson City?

I think my luck began to change the moment I stepped into the miserable Reno-Tahoe Int'l Airport Tuesday night. Got a nice upgrade to a "turbo-charged" Nissan Altima at the Hertz desk - then the first song I heard on the radio while leaving the airport was the Soulja Boy song. Should I just turn around? Was I pushing my luck already?

Weaved my way from Reno to Carson City - a short 30 minute drive down a seemingly endless dark road. In typical fashion out West, I first saw the lights of Carson City from a distance away but soon enough I pulled into the Hampton Inn & Suites. I've been actually blown away by the quality of the Hampton Inn's I've been staying at. Inexpensive and full of amenities that you don't get at Westin's, Sheraton's, or W's. Maybe it'll be easier if I breakdown the costs: room is $149, free internet, free breakfast, access to gym and pool versus last night at a Westin in Denver - $289 for the room, $10.95 for 24 hours of internet, gym access is $10.95 and breakfast isn't provided.

After getting situated in my room, I threw on my jeans and headed out on the town. Passing some antiquated gems like the "Nugget Casino" and the "Frontier Motel" - with their flashing neon lights - gave me a vision of what Las Vegas used to be. I really loved all the neon signs - some really cool stuff, I'll take some pictures tomorrow hopefully.

It took me about 15 minutes to reach the local Applebee's and I dined on a pretty miserable piece of meat and some overcooked vegetables - a dinner that I'm quickly learning is nearly par for the course on the road. Luckily, the drive home was fantastic.

The local radio station played "Stranglehold" by Ted Nugent and while stopped at a red light, I turned up the music, rolled down the windows and drove nice and slow back to my hotel. Is this what usually happens when people are on the road? Do other people crank up the radio and cruise through alien towns at night too? I guess I'll find out tomorrow when I head to the Biggest Small Town on Earth - Reno.

The First Fortnight

Just wrapped up my first two weeks of work, "on the road" - and I've got one story and a number of pictures to share. I was in Lake Charles, LA getting ready for my first visit at a McDonalds not too far from the hospital. A family walked in, right by me. I was situated by the front door, looking out towards the busy street.

One of the two girls runs out and across the street with the other girl not too far behind her.

"WAIT!!! WE DON'T NEED ANYMORE MONEY!!!" screamed the one sister to the one just feet away from me. At this point I was watching the two of them (considering she was screaming about 5 feet away). Well, the one sister that was across the street, turned, and ran back towards the McDonalds.

Between me and the road was a hedge, and this hedge made it impossible for me to see the girl get hit by the grey sedan, going about 30mph. The only way I could tell she'd been hit was that two flip-flops that she'd been wearing went flying up into the air. Not to make this any more dramatic than it was; but it felt like a scene from a movie.

I dropped my coffee and my precious new Oncology Roundtable 2008 Year Ahead document that I'd been intently studying and ran to her in the street. I got there before anyone else did and she lay motionless, with parts of herself covered in her own blood.

Over the next ten minutes or so, I was panicked. Called 911 but realized I had no idea what the address in this alien town was, luckily enough locals were around that we were able to figure it out. The ambulance was there pretty quickly, and by that time the girl was screaming - in apparent shock. She hit her mother at least once, and wasn't letting anyone get close to her. I suppose in retrospect, her hysterical nature was a good sign that she'd be fine.

My trip to Lake Charles came during my first solo trip for work - I'm attaching a picture I took on Thursday morning from my hotel in Denver.

First Post

This space will be used to tell stories from my travels. A little background is where I guess I'll begin.

I began a new job in Washington, DC in July in health care. A large portion of my time is spent visiting hospitals nationwide to better understand their short- and long-term priorities and assist them as appropriate.

After leaving college 13 of my friends began a regular email dis-list to keep everyone aware of what new things have happened to one another, and apparently, according to NYC artist Anders Johnson and Philadelphia online-marketer extraordinaire Nick Fedor - my endless emails are driving them crazy. Nick suggested started a blog, and 30 minutes later, here we are.

This blog is very raw at this juncture, but should continue to grow and change overtime. In addition to filling in my friends and colleagues about my travels, I also intend on using this space to complain. Traveling all week can become very annoying - do you realize how many novice travelers I have to deal with on a day-to-day basis? Let's just say, I've waited in security lines longer this month than I've spent at my apartment.

At any rate, I hope someone finds this page enjoyable to read.