Thread by @fawfulfan

Moving day!

The adventure begins.

Packing is finished, now I have to load up the car.

Eighteen months ago I stood in front of this arch and vowed to face this new adventure head on.

I've had fun in this city. Thank you to everyone who made it enjoyable. But I'm so glad now to be on my way home.

(As with my previous trip out here, Fawful will be riding shotgun the whole way.)

So, this trip will take four days in total.

Today (once I drop off my Internet equipment and other minor errands), I will be driving to Las Vegas, where I will stay the night.

My mood right now thinking of coming home to @fawfulfanswife:

My secondary mood:

Backroads out in the Western deserts change elevation a lot.

Even if there were no signs telling me the elevation, I'd know this because it actually makes your ears pop constantly.

If there were ever a state that exemplifies "land doesn't vote," it's Nevada.

90% of the population lives in either Clark County (Vegas) or Washoe County (Reno). To drive that point home, here's what the inhabited part of the fourth most populous county, Lyon, looks like.

Just passed by a brothel.

Yeah, this is the middle of nowhere all right.

Whew. With no gas station for 100 miles, I was coasting on fumes by the time I got to Tonopah.

So with 150 miles to go to Vegas, my car suddenly started making an alarming noise, like THUBDUBDUBDUBDUBDUBDUB. And it would start and stop at random.

After multiple stops on the highway to try to diagnose it, I figured it out. The bolts holding the bumper in place came loose.

Anyway, that's not a critical failure, I should be able to keep driving. But tomorrow I'm going to try to see if a mechanic in Vegas can throw on some new bolts before I continue on.

Passing by Area 51-themed shops and restaurants now...

Hello, Clark County!

Checking into the Luxor now. Valet was full up and I had to lug a million things across the complex. I may only just make my dinner reservations.

I have an unobstructed view of the Sphinx's ass.

I mean hey, the pyramid is black from the outside...the Sphinx can't see me peeping on it.

Hotel ice is one of my irrational pleasures. I just can't get enough of the stuff.

I'm dining at the Lotus of Siam. This is a fancier and pricier sort of restaurant than I usually go to, but a longtime associate of my dad's, Bob Parrino, made it sound absolutely delicious. I just had to give it a try while I'm in Vegas.

That was truly a fantastic meal.

Back at the Luxor now, hunting for shot glasses to add to my collection before I turn in.

Well I've wandered all the way over to Mandalay Bay without finding anything, I guess it might just not be in the cards tonight.

The funny thing is that thanks to the Luxor's pyramid shape, you can't really tell how high up you are from the balconies until you look straight down and see how small the people are below you.

Okay, time for Day 2 of travel.

Today, my itinerary is to get to Tucson, where I will be staying at the Loews Ventana Canyon Resort — my favorite hotel in the United States.

Checking out and reloading my car went surprisingly without a hitch.

Well, today is my last day in Nevada. On to Arizona!

They should call Las Vegas the "city of ramps." Conservatively, about 60% or my driving in this city has been merging onto and off freeways.

Passing the Hoover Dam area now.

I was planning to stop for gas in Kingman, but I realized I wasn't going to make it on a quarter tank (loading an entire apartment into your car hurts its mileage.) So I've detoured into Boulder City.

Oh hey, I love it when my GPS tells me I can turn left and then it's actually a divided highway with no left turn. That's my favorite thing!

Hello Arizona!

Greetings to all of you and both of your senators, even the one who's a bummer.

Actually, let me amend that, as I'm traveling through Paul Gosar's district.

To voters here: what the hell man? Stop voting for a white nationalist.

I'm in Maricopa County!

Wait...the John Birch Society is still a thing? I just saw a billboard for it LMAO.

I would hate for people in Arizona to get the wrong idea from my former tweets. I like the city of Phoenix. It's cool.

I just think that your airport is some sort of Kafkaesque human experiment that violates the Geneva Convention.

After a maddening gas station stop where none of the card readers were working and the bathroom was closed, I'm headed the rest of the way through Phoenix and on to Tucson.

Phoenix is an odd city. It's the fifth most populous in the U.S. but its downtown is really small.

It's also the largest U.S. city, by far, with no intercity rail service.

As I passed by the Gates of Hell, I pulled over to wave sorrowfully at the wretched souls of the damned trapped within.

I was warned Pinal County is basically just a big flat nothing. Seems accurate so far.

Wow, Arizona has a lot of Culver's. Wasn't expecting that.

Hello Tucson!

18 years ago my grandparents took me to the Loews Ventana Canyon Resort during a Southwest road trip. It is my all-time favorite hotel...beautiful landscape and architecture, wonderful staff, and the most refreshing pool. I knew I had to stay again with it on the route home.

One of the things I remember most about this hotel (other than playing Spyro 2 at the kids' activity center) is this pool with Saguaro cacti towering over it. I'm going to take a dip before dinner (still haven't figured out where I'm going yet, accepting suggestions from locals).

I find myself missing granddad a lot. My dad's always telling me how much I remind him of granddad, and our trip out here was such a bonding experience.

I might try to find some good scotch tonight and drink in his memory.

I don't know what it is about this hotel, it's just the sort of place where everything kind of... goes right. Like, everything's perfect without you even having to ask.

At El Charro and already very impressed. This guacamole is absolutely amazing. They made it right at my table.

Made it back to the resort and ordered a glass of scotch. The bartender actually gave a discount when she learned I was drinking in granddad's memory.

Honestly, at least half of what makes a good hotel is it being run by good people.