  I'm back home in good ol' St. Louis, the Gateway City, home of the Cardinals, Blues, Rams, Imo's Pizza, toasted ravioli, Chuck Berry, Nelly, and the bowling hall of fame.
I made it in my usual ~13 hour trip from Chapel Hill. It was one of the smoother roadtrips because I didn't run into too much traffic, even though I almost got rear-ended by two cars during a sudden stop in St. Louis due to a car accident by the Galleria. Notes from the road: North Carolina: What a beautiful state. I dare to call it the most beautiful state not on the west coast.
West of Winston-Salem, I saw a really tall flagpole by I-40 with an American flag and a Confederate flag right below it. Sometimes I forget that I live in the South since Chapel Hill and most of the Triangle doesn't really feel like the South. I made to Asheville in a little over 3 hours, which is a new record (it usually takes about 4 hours). I love Asheville. It's probably the only other place in North Carolina I'd consider living in.
Tennessee: Also a pretty state to drive through, mostly. But it's rednecks and Christian-right galore. Lots of large cities (and medium-size cities) are ugly to drive through, but Knoxville takes the cake. What a fucking dump. It's like the world's largest truckstop. I have lots of mix cds to listen to, and they really helped me tolerate this drive. And mix cds are the best on roadtrips, although I have to say that the Fucking Champs' IV is an awesome roadtrip album.
I rocked out to it while driving through Nashville. Kentucky: Not much going on in this state. Their car license plates are the pussiest license plates I've ever seen. It's a picture of a sunrise, and the sun has a fucking smiley face drawn on it. Jesus, even the queer eye for the straight guy dudes would call that gay. I listened to a lot of Black Dice and Wolf Eyes through Kentucky, which surprisingly makes for good and soothing roadtrip music when you're by yourself.
As I was about to leave Kentucky for Illinois, I noticed that the miles tracker below the speedometer read 666. I wonder what if that means anything... Illinois: What a shitty state. The southern tip of Illinois isn't too bad, but when people think of the stereotypical midwest with just flat land and nothing worthwhile to see, I don't understand why Illinois isn't typically included with the likes of Indiana, Kansas, Iowa, etc.
(Leave Missouri out of it...it ain't the best, but it's a hell of a lot better than those states. ) The drive from St. Louis to Chicago doesn't take too long, but it sucks due to how shitty Illinois is. Fuck that state. The only two redeeming things I can think of Illinois are Chicago and East St. Louis, the strip club capital of the midwest.
It was a little creepy at times driving through Illinois, due to the rain, and because of the lack of traffic, very little light anywhere. Plus I was listening to the Swans' Children of God album. Missouri: I love rolling into St. Louis from the Illinois side. First, it's because I'm leaving that dreaded state. But it's also because I love seeing the St. Louis skyline coming in from the east. St. Louis doesn't have the most impressive skyline, but the Arch definitely makes it look nice. I never tire of seeing the city coming in from the east.
As I crossed the Mississippi, I knew I had to come back home gangsta style. So I switched from the Swans album to Dr. Dre's Chronic 2001. Word. Now I'm back home and am relaxed. I wish I could spend more time here and hang out, but tomorrow I'm heading out to the Windy City to look at apartments. 
