ELK GROVE, CA (MPG) - Hi! I’m Keith Burbank, the new city editor for the Elk Grove Citizen, The Galt Herald, Land Park News, Pocket News, Arden Arcade News, East Sacramento News and River Valley Times. I moved to Sacramento from Jensen Beach, Florida. 

I moved here to spend more time with and marry my partner and Sacramento resident Dorothy Mendoza. We are Catholic and plan to marry at St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church. 

I left Jensen Beach at about 2 p.m. Aug. 22, the day before my 59th birthday, stopping first at my mother’s home in Stuart, Florida. I said goodbye to mom at about 5:30 p.m. and made my way through Port St. Lucie, Florida, to Florida’s Turnpike.  

Florida’s Turnpike snakes its way through the center of the Florida peninsula and joins Interstate 75 at the Wildwood exit. Interstate 75 north took me to westbound Interstate 10, which traverses the southern continental United States from Florida to California.

I drove a 2026 Toyota Corolla along Interstate 10 through Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas and part of Arizona. The trip took me over bridges, through construction zones, across more than 850 miles of Texas and down a 4,000-foot plateau near Tehachapi, California. 

Here’s a log of my trip:

I said goodbye to my friend Chris Primus at about 1 p.m. Aug. 22 and finished packing. The trunk, backseat and front passenger seat were loaded with my belongings, including pictures of my mother, father and brother. I lived in Oakland, California, for 12 years before moving back to Florida to help my mother. My father and brother – my only sibling – died years ago. That night I stopped in Ocala, Florida. 

I was up Aug. 23 at about 6 a.m., ate breakfast, put gas in the car and started driving at about 7 a.m. My second nightly stop was about 650 miles away in Breaux Bridge, Louisiana.

I left Breaux Bridge at about 7 a.m. Aug. 24 and drove about 600 miles that day to the small, west-Texas community of Ozona, home of the Hitchin’ Post Steakhouse. I found the Hitchin’ Post by asking the hotel desk clerk where I could get dinner. She recommended two places, but only the Hitchin’ Post was open that Sunday. 

The Hitchin’ Post has been in business more than 30 years, built in 1950 as a sheep barn, according to the menu, which includes a history of the restaurant and Crockett County, where Ozona is located. 

I ordered a famous Hitchin’ Post entrée: fried steak fingers, which came with two sides. I chose green beans and grilled potatoes. The potatoes were delicious, and I left satisfied even though the steak fingers were less to my liking. I slept well that night. 

I was driving before dawn Aug. 25 with plans to drive 700 miles before stopping for the night. I determined before I left Florida that I would drive 500 or 600 miles a day. At an average of 60 miles per hour I could make the roughly 2,900-mile trip in five or six days.

I drove almost 750 miles that day, stopping finally in Casa Grande, Arizona, about 50 miles east of Phoenix. 

I was up Aug. 26 at about 3:30 a.m. and driving by 4:30 a.m., hopeful I could make it to Elk Grove by the time I stopped for the night. 

I avoided Interstate 10 to the Los Angeles area. Instead, I took state and federal highways to Needles, California, where I picked up Interstate 40. A stop in Ludlow, California, provided nourishment and a shock. The gas at the station connected to the Dairy Queen was over $7 per gallon. Fortunately, I had enough gas in the Toyota. 

Westbound Interstate 40 ends in Barstow, California, and from there I drove state Highway 58 to Bakersfield and state Highway 99 to Kingsburg, California, where I stopped for the night. I stopped at Motel 6 – the only hotel I saw near the exit to Kingsburg – and awoke early Aug. 27, to drive the last 182 miles to Sacramento.

I am delighted to be here. Not only to be with my sweetheart but to lead the coverage of Elk Grove, Galt, Rancho Murieta and parts of Sacramento.