March 9th @ 2100: (Cliff's entry) I drive to Sea-Tac to pick up Steini, who flew in from West Monroe, Louisiana--our hometown.   I moved up here about 18 years ago when I began my career as an Alaskan fisherman. Actually, both Steini and I came up to Seattle all those years ago to make our fortunes in the fishing industry. The plan was to work on the boat for as long as we could stand, then buy a couple of half-way decent motorcycles, and ride back to Louisiana.
    Unfortunately, like almost every other plan we ever devised, things did not go quite as projected. Stein got fired (quit) after the first trip while my ass stayed on for another four months. That was supposed to be it--my Plan B: One long contract, then back to college with the money I had nearly killed myself to make. Yeah, right.
    So here it is, 2008--almost 18 years of working on fishing boats in the Bering Sea and living in Seattle. In that time I occassionally visited Louisiana and hooked up with Stein while I was there. He had married several times and finally found a nice girl that could put up with his crap. And in those years we had both seen some of the world, done some amazing things (and some not so amazing), and accomplished many things.
    But one thing that always bothered me--especially when visiting with Stein throughout the years--was the fact that we never did take that road trip. I'm really not sure why, but it did. But somehow I knew that one day, we would find a way to get it done.
    Well, as chance would have it, that day has arrived. And although we are not the young and stupid dudes that conspired to do something as idiotic as driving motorcycles 3,000 miles across America, (I didn't know how to drive one then and still don't--which was just one of the many problems with that particular plan) in my opinion, we are still damn near as immature and idiotic as we were back then. The only real difference between these two road trips is that we will be piloting a brand-new 2008 Subaru WRX STI instead of the motorcycles. That and the fact that we have more money and better insurance. And more planning.
    I'm not sure what's gonna happen on this trip, but knowing our luck, it will probably be interesting. (In the past, "interesting" sometimes meant "horrifying") But it doesn't really matter. What matters is the fact that we finally get to go on our road trip. And as the trip title states, "better late than never...".

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