Our friend Phil is visiting for the weekend as a stop on his tour of the American West. Next stop will be a tent in Utah, apparently.

We drove up to Scottsdale to visit Frank Lloyd Wright's compound, Taliesin West [Flickr].

Unlike Fallingwater, they allow photography there. How 'bout that?

Today Betsy and I:

• Got Arizona driver's licenses
• Opened a bank account
• Made several doctor's appointments
• Visited my employer's HR department
• Turned on water, gas and electric utilities
• Visited our new home (moving in Saturday)
• Drove randomly around Tempe and Scottsdale

We managed all of this between 9:30 am and 4:30 pm, and everyone we dealt with was friendly, helpful and courteous.

Clearly we're not in the South anymore, Toto.

We made it. That's about all I got.

We just wrapped up our first day of our cross-country journey to begin the next phase of our lives in Tempe, AZ, unfortunately without our favorite traveling companion. It was a long slog, but we made good time.

The first leg was by far the worst, through the monotonous interstates of central Georgia, a desolate wasteland punctuated only by garish billboards hawking discount divorces, discount liquor and handjob joints (probably not in that order), from Statesboro to Atlanta.

Alabama was more scenic, especially the Nascar temple at Talladega and the national forest named after this hallowed ground consecrated with the sacrament of the south - Miller High Life.

I don't have much positive to say about Mississippi - the quality of their interstates rivals the quality of their public education system, I suspect, and the best part about leaving this stretch of the trip was being finished with it. I believe it was in MS that we ate at the world's creepiest McDonalds, which I described as such because of the massive Ronald McDonald torso sprouting from the facade, giving it's best Third-Reich salute.

Heil Ronald!: This creeped me out enormously.

Tennessee wasn't bad, though I prefer the trip up I-75 (or is it 26?) towards Knoxville to the flat stretch that terminates at Memphis. From the bridge crossing the Mississippi you can almost see the river itself. Imagine that.

I type this from a hotel in North Little Rock, Arkansas. I'm pushing myself a little to drive a bit longer on the first two days instead of diving the driving equally, in order to give us enough to spare on a side trip to the Grand Canyon when we reach Flagstaff, AZ.

I suspect that trip may consist of the two of us stepping from the car, gazing out over the majestic expanse, then getting back in the car and heading back to the road. We'll see.

Schlepping the dozen or so boxes of books, papers and sporting equipment from our storage unit back to the house reminded me how much I hate moving shit around, after doing it at least 7 times over the last 8 years (mostly the wife's crap).

I've therefore decided it'll be worth every penny of the exorbitant fee the movers are going to charge to pack, load, ship, store and and unload our stuff.

I also found out it's unwise to not wear a dust mask while sanding rust off of a bed frame that has been sitting outside for the last two years. Better yet, don't leave an expensive bed frame out side for two years in the first place like some sort of web-footed moron.

Now the fun part. Within less than 30 days we have to:

• Move out of our house in Savannah.
• Find a place in the Tempe/Phoenix/Mesa/Scottsdale area.
• Move ourselves and all our crap 2200 miles across the country.

I've made at least 8 moves in the last 9 years, but they've all been local. Any advice on a long cross-country move?

I'm considering

1) Having professional movers pick up our stuff, and move it. Maybe pack it too.

2) Renting a Penske truck and car trailer and hauling it ourselves.

3) Getting a Pod.

I have no idea what #1 costs - an estimator can't even get out here until next Thursday - and we have to be out of the house by the Thursday after that.

#2 would suck, but is the cheapest for the size (a 26' diesel truck and car trailer).

#3 is a bit of an unknown. Vicki says they were pretty good when she moved from Bluffton to D.C., but they only come in 16 foot varieties for long distance moves. I think we have a bit too much to fit in a 16 footer, but not enough to justify two of them (and the enormous cost). Just a single container costs as much as the whole truck/trailer/fuel shootin' match from Penske. And I'm worried about what might happen to Betsy's piano en-route.

With any of the options, we might have to ship my car as well, so the wife wouldn't have to drive the whole route by herself.

Opinions?

Ground control to Major Pork

That's right. The two whitest people on the planet are moving to one of the hottest, sunniest regions of the country. What could possibly go wrong? I've got my SPF-80 ready, along with my UV protection suit.

After my nine year stint with McClatchy, I'm moving from the newspaper industry to work for NASA's Mars Space Flight Facility at Arizona State in Tempe. I'll be their web geek.

While I'll miss coworkers, I'm looking forward to the new challenge and a change of scenery. Oh yeah, and I get to work with data beamed from spacecraft orbiting and crawling across another planet. How cool is that? Makes Lowcountry Star seem kinda lame.