Moving to Seattle: The first day(s)

My friend and travel companion (and possibly future roommate) Brad and I stand outside of Tsunami on Wednesday just before we left for my big move to Seattle. The mug Brad is holding is a souvenir her chose to take away from Lafayette.

Originally, the plan for the great trip from Lafayette to Seattle was scheduled to begin at 6 a.m. this morning. After some careful thought and consideration — a short discussion with my travel buddy, Brad — we decided it would be best to get on the road a little earlier.

No, not 4 a.m. Instead, we left Lafayette Wednesday evening after "the last supper" at Tsunami, my favorite sushi restaurant in South Louisiana. A later start than planned — many of my friends were making last-minute pitches to try and keep me from leaving — kept us from getting on the road too early in the evening. But we still made it a couple of hours down the road and into a comfy Holiday Inn.

Thursday morning's 6 a.m. departure from a couple of hours away from Lafayette meant we would make it to Minneola, Kan., to meet with my dad, brother and sister-in-law and niece for dinner.

But, before we arrived in my childhood hometown at 6ish tonight, we encountered a rock in Oklahoma City that made its way into my windshield. A broken windshield didn't help make me feel much better ... but that was about the height of our excitement thus far.

The other highlights (if you can call them that):

— We listened to a lot of Sirius satellite radio, which I learned rotates a total of eight songs on any given station. That's not so great when you're on the road for 12-plus hours.

— We stopped at some scary convenience stores in Texas and Oklahoma where we ran into some equally scary natives. Eeek!

— Brad took photos with his iPhone of a headshot of former American Idol finalist Amy Adams with landscapes along the way. Yes, we were stretching to entertain ourselves.

— Our lunch was at Whataburger. I'd never been, and it didn't really make sense for me to stop there, considering I'm a vegetarian. But I had denied Brad Starbucks at least twice, so I was feeling a little guilty. I ordered a Whataburger, hold the meat. I have to say it was the best meatless fast-food sandwich I've had in I don't know how long.

Tomorrow we venture onto Denver and into Wyoming for our next day of driving. Tonight, though, I'm planning on getting a lot of sleep. As we get closer to Seattle, I expect there will be more interesting things to report than what I had for lunch.