Day One:

Bill and I set out today from Garrett Park around 7:45. We headed down 95 so we could stop in Fredericksburg to pick up something Bill forgot and continued on our way. Our goal was to make it too Jackson, Tennessee for the night. We didn’t stop again after Fredericksburg until 1:00 when we stopped for some sandwiches and gas. After filling up both our tummies and our tank we set out again hitting Tennessee about 40 minuets later. The Tennessee landscape is beautiful. The road was lined with leafy green forests. Every now and then it would rain a little bit, but nothing unmanageable. We stopped again for dinner around 8:00, grabbing some sonic (yum!). An hour or so later we were in Jackson so we found a hotel and crashed for the night. Not an incredibly thrilling day, but we certainly made plenty of progress!

Day Two:

We woke up pretty early today. I rolled out of bed pulled on the same clothes I wore yesterday (why should I spoil clean clothes to just sit in a car all day long?), and checked out the continental breakfast. After getting enough energy to make it till lunch we climbed back into the car for day two of the journey. I would just like to note that many many popular songs mention cities along Route 40. Bri would probably kill me because I keep getting those songs stuck in my head. For instance you have “Jackson” sung by Johnny Cash and June Carter, and then there is “take the last train to Clarksville, and I’ll meet you at the station” by the Monkees, and then there is “Take it easy” by the Eagles. Luckily they’re all songs I like thus far. Oh except Oklahoma, the whole state that makes you want to sing songs from the musical! I do not like said musical.

Anyway, that minor tangent over…we made our way through Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, and all the way to New Mexico today! I have to say that driving across the country is like flipping through a flip book. The scenery slowly and gracefully changes with each state. I absolutely loved Texas’ landscape. I wish I could have stopped and taken a bunch of photos, but we were trying to make it to at least New Mexico by bedtime. I also rather enjoyed Arkansas and Oklahoma; I just absolutely loved the flat green fields going forever with the clear beautiful blue sky, with a few trees here and there silhouetted against it.

We did make it to New Mexico around 11:00. Changing time zones is so awesome when traveling by car. We had an extra hour each night to sleep/drive. It is such a relief when you pull into the hotel and you realize that instead of it being 10:00 it is really 9:00. Anywho, we stopped at Tucumcari which is the traditional stopping point between Amarillo, Texas and Albuquerque, New Mexico. We stayed in an old motel that was clearly built about 40 or 50 years ago. I loved the vibe. You kind of feel like you slipped back in time a bit. I rather enjoyed the stay!

Day Three

It is about six hours to Flagstaff from Tucumcari, so Bill and I decided to stop at various points along the way to do some touristy stuff. Our first stop was Albuquerque. We went to the Historic District (read: the railroad was built 2 miles away from this part of town, so it went relatively untouched or noticed until 1950s when somebody realized what a great tourist attraction it would be). The architecture was beautiful but walking around in the sun and heat (even if it wasn’t humid heat) was exhausting so we decided to grab some lunch. The food was delicious, but the sopapillas were definitely the highlight of the meal. I’ve only had sopapillas at a Mexican restaurant in Fredericksburg where apparently they totally missed the mark. These sopapillas were amazing! We got some that came straight from the oven so they were piping hott (read: I tried to pick it up immediately and dropped it on the table about ½ second later). To eat them you bite (or rip off the top if you’ve already had one negative experience with the hott sopapilla) and then you pour honey on the inside. Usually I am not a fan of honey (yes, I know, I’m weird), but the combination was perfection. I’m so stoked about all the food I get to eat while living out here.

After finishing up our delicious sopapillas we hit the road again, stopping about three hours later at the Petrified Forrest National Park. Bill purchased is senior park pass for $10 which allows him to go to any national park for the rest of his life anytime he would like. We poked around the various vistas and took some pictures of the Painted Dessert before hitting the road again. Our next stop was Meteor Crater. We browsed through the museum and saw the movie about the meteor and the creation of the crater. It only took 10 seconds for the meteor to create the crater, pretty crazy. After learning about craters we went out took look at the actual crater. I must say that the crater was pretty spectacular and unbelievably windy (the kind of windy where you were literally being blown backwards so you had to hang on to the railing). Overall, it was a really interesting excursion.

We finally rolled into Flagstaff around dinner time. We drove straight to downtown, found parking ridiculously quickly, and immediately went to find food. There was live music going on in the square so we decided to grab some food from the Pita Pit and sat outside to eat it. It was such a lovely evening. We just sat and soaked in the community and air. I have to admit that I was nervous about the move, but sitting there eating dinner I felt completely at ease. This is going to be a fantastic adventure!

After dinner we went in search for internet and then in search of a hotel for the night. Finding a hotel was a little bit more difficult then it had been the last two nights, but eventually with the help of the kayak.com we found a motel and crashed for the night.

Day Four

Today was errand day. We slept in a little since we had no where we had to drive. For breakfast we head to Martenas (sp?) a café that Devin suggested. The food was seriously delicious. They seemed to serve mostly egg-based meals with a Mexican twist. I order Huevos Mexcianos. The meal came with your eggs and then beans, rice, and potatoes. It felt a lot like being back at the Garrett Park Café, but with the Mexican twist. I am in love, and may get terribly fat because they use a lot of cheese and I am probably going to eat there more than I should.

After eating we stopped by my future house (!) to pick up the key to Devin’s storage unit. We went straight to the storage unit to unload the car. Everything fit quiet nicely into the unit but when I was shutting the gate I managed to slice my largest vacuum-seal bag--bummer. From there we went to find me a bike. After checking out a few bikes I purchased a sweet mountain bike. It cost a little more than I wanted to spend, but its brand new, a really smooth ride, and I get free tune-ups for the rest of its life (which should be long and prosperous). Bill and I were anxious to get some physical activity (sitting in a car for three days straight makes you want to move as much as possible when you can). We changed into workout clothes and went in search of a trail the guys at the bike shop recommended. Upon finding we set out on the trail which was something entirely new for me. I’ve never really biked anywhere other than a bike path, so riding the trails was nerve-wracking but exhilarating. After biking uphill for a bit we were rather out of the breath. The combination of being really out of shape and then the whole 6900 ft elevation thing kept us from continuing the uphill/rocky trail. We turned around and returned to the parking lot and continued to bike along the road for awhile. In total we biked for about an hour. It felt great to get out and do stuff and I plan on going for exhausting bike rides regularly.

We’re heading to Vegas either tomorrow or Monday.