I've lost track of days...

Yesterday we woke up in the Comfort Inn & started driving the rest of the way to Marietta to see my brother, his girlfriend (Jocelyn), & my Dad. Aside from the cute sign saying "we're glad Georgia is on your mind"

nothing very remarkable happened on the drive there but when we arrived, my mom called to offer me a job at Allard USA (where I've worked on & off for many years) in customer service because they're a little short on hands & since I had no definite jobs lined up & could certainly use the money to save up with, I said yes. I start on Monday.

We all hung out for a little while watching television etc. & when Joc came home, we all went out to a very nice little mexican restaurant for dinner. We dropped my dad off at his hotel & headed back to Jonathan & Joc's place, where Jonathan passed out (he's on a night shift at work & doesn't get a lot of quality sleep) & Adam & I played Fable III for a while.

We woke up this morning, Jonathan fixed the lights on our U-Haul (which hadn't been functioning properly since we left CA) & we started heading to Richmond, VA, where we're planning on staying with one of Adam's friends from the "Geek Fest" he goes to every year. I guess I didn't realize just how much I really miss my brother until we were leaving when I started bawling. Miss you, Broseph. <3

Day 7

So we got up yesterday morning a little bit later than we meant to, but we were both exhausted so we didn't stress too much. Not much excitement for the majority of the day but we crossed the state line into Louisiana.



We stopped by a little public park where there was a tourist info center & that had both large 800 lb alligators as well as little baby ones we could hold. It was totally cute & I'm very happy we stopped in.





We were originally going to hit up New Orleans but in thinking about it more, finding parking for our large U-Haul trailer may be tricky in that area & to be honest, we'd both like to enjoy some of the bars in town without having to worry about possibly driving farther later or waking up with a hang over. So we went to New Orleans & cruised around a bit, but made little more than a pit stop at a local gas station before heading out again towards Marietta, GA to see my brother & his GF (my Dad is also in town for a trade show - BONUS!).

We'd been driving a good part of the day & with no campsites around, we decided to stay in another motel. Originally the plan was to go until Montgomery AL but as the night dragged on & we kept cruising mile after endless mile (we drove right through M-I-SS-I-SS-I-PP-I), we decided to stay a bit closer, at a Comfort Inn Evergreen, AL. I found it incredibly amusing that the hotel was located on Tom Bates Drive & lovingly referred to it as "The Bates Motel". Needless to say, we did not take any showers last night...

This morning during the continental breakfast, we eavesdropped on a very exciting conversation between two native Alabamanianas about hauntings & ghost sightings in the area. I was thrilled to basically be listening to a live version of my favorite TV show "A Haunting in (insert random midwest town here). Favorite line of the day, "Aynd then ah looked outta' tha windah' at that hawnted hause across tha street & I sweyer...somethin' was lookin' back at me & I told mah boyfriend & I said, listen. Ah ain't crazy n' ah ain't drunk. Ah know what ah saw..."

LOVE IT. Off to GA. Should be there in about 3.5 hrs. YAY!

Day 6

Again, I usually like to post my day's recap just before we lay our heads down at night but it just so happens that for the last couple of nights, that hasn't been possible. I'm starting to realize that although Texas has some pretty interesting sights, it may not be my favorite. Yesterday we drove all the way to San Antonio, where we parked, met some very friendly cats (it was difficult not to bring them home), & then headed for the Alamo.



A fairly large compound in the middle of a city, the Alamo isn't so much an amazing sight to see as it is something to be able to say you saw...if that made sense. Either way, I'm very glad I can now say I've been to the historic landmark. Once we were done taking pictures & getting postcards & souvenir shot glasses, we decided to see what all the buzz at the "river walk" was all about.

It's basically a bunch of restaurants & bars running along a gorgeous little river. Very romantic & a very nice walk after a long day of driving. We stopped at a nice little mexican place with mariachis & sampled some of the fare (including some really delicious margaritas!)

After we'd had our fill of the city, we started of driving again but after about an hour or so on the road, a SUPER thick mist surrounded everything & we decided it'd be best if we made plans to pack it in for the night. We spent the night at the KOA in Weimer TX & though being right next to the train tracks had us waking up every few hours, our new air mattress proved a solid investment. It sure was nice not to wake up on the ground again :-)

quick one from yesterday

Sorry for the delay. I was exhausted last night & there wasn't much in the way of 3G reception in the part of TX we were going through. Having said that...

So our first inadvertent stop heading out to Roswell was a VERY small town called Hatch, NM (self-proclaimed chili capital of the world). It was a very cute little town with almost every building adorned with large dried chili stocks. I decided to have a chili burrito in order to investigate whether the town lived up to its claims & I must say that it was by far the best burrito I've ever had. It was a chili stuffed with white cheese, breaded & lightly fried & surrounded by refried beans & cheddar cheese in a tortilla. YUM!

Then as we were on a loooong stretch of highway, I realized we were almost out of gas. We started looking for the next available gas station & when my gas light turned on, I searched on my phone & found the nearest one...42 miles out... We found ourselves doing everything we could think of to save gas such as rolling up the windows & turning the air off which was not exactly pleasant in South New Meco. We told my car how awesome & pretty it was & promised it a nice wash if it made it to the gas station, which it did, so now we owe it one. Very very scary experience.



We finally made it to Roswell and had dinner at a neat place called Farley's. There were sci-Fi posters on the walls & scrap metal spaceship sculptures hanging from the ceiling. Some of the town's businesses add "Aliens Welcome" to their tag lines & there are a few Alien themed souvenir shops, but besides that, it's mostly just another South Western town so we decided to move on & start heading towards Texas.



After hours & hours of driving (Adam wasn't tired), I finally got so cranky that we decided to stop for the night in Fort Stockton, TX. We spent a great deal of time looking for a suitable motel but with the help of Yelp & various other internet resources, we finally decided on the Deluxe Inn. It took some time for the guy at the office to wake up & help us but for $40, it was a pretty decent room. A safe, clean place to sleep & a mattress that was not mostly air was a very god deal for that much indeed.


-Ang

UPDATE

Okie dokie. Sorry to cut the update short yesterday. Adam & I picked up some Andre (cheap champagne) & after my dad's insistence, we decided to take a night off from camping & stopped at a Hampton Inn in Lordsburg, NM. It was a very nice relaxing stop & I'm really happy we made it.



We woke up this morning, took showers (yay, showers!), had a DELICIOUS hot breakfast (including make-your-own waffles) & now we're continuing our trip towards Roswell.

Day 3

Last we left you, dear readers, we were settling down at Mather Campground in the Grand Canyon National Forrest. It was chilly when we got there, but little did we know what was in store for us. As our still broken air mattress deflated (yes. we forgot to get a new one yesterday) we found our butts & backs inching closer & closer to the frozen ground below until we were both so cold around 5am that we couldn't sleep. We talked for a while about politics & religion & of course how freezing cold the bloody ground was & around 6am, we got up, turned on the car, packed up as quick as our shivering bodies would let us & headed our to the scenic overlook where we saw the sun rise over the magnificent grand canyon. Words & pictures truly can't do it justice. It was immense. The scale of it was such that my brain couldn't even really grasp its enormity & I found myself simply too scared to get as close to the edge as I wanted to be. If there is one thing you should do before you die & you have the means, DEFINITELY see the sun rise or set at the grand canyon. It's really is breathtaking (literally in my case).



As we started out towards Tombstone, we passed some amazing scenery. one thing we couldn't quite figure out was a large patch of ground where the trees were knocked over. Not chopped like loggers would cut or burnt as in a forest fire, but just pushed over.

We stopped at a Wal-Mart around Phoenix & got a new air mattress (hallelujah!) so hopefully tonight's rest will be a bit more comfortable than the last two.

After a VERY long day of driving, we finally arrived in Tombstone AZ around 6. Unfortunately, many of the shops were closed & the Saloons were a little less than appealing. Not much to say about this one unfortunately. Pretty much the only authentic thing about Tombstone AZ was the town drunk running around & generally being a creeper. Still, it was kind of neat to walk the main street where so much history happened...even if the buildings reminded me of some tacky movie sets & theme parks.

Just checked in the Hampton Inn in Lordsburg, NM (thanks, Daddy). Will continue the update tomorrow. Love you all!

<3

-Ang

Day 2 (Electric Boogaloo)

So we crossed the London Bridge in Havasu sometime around 12:30 (damn you, Mountain Time!! We just got that hour back!!!) & arrived at the Crazy Horse Campgrounds. It's a nice 24-hour campground so we paid the attendant & went to a space by the lake's edge where we set up the tent & air mattress, etc. (not to self. Buy a new air mattress. Ours deflates in about 2 hours & the pump sounds like a dentist's drill, which...may not be the best way to make friends when you arrive at a campground at almost 1am...)

We somehow survived the arctic nighttime temperatures & awoke to a gorgeous view of the lake. From there, it was off to Oatman, AZ.



It's basically a Wild West Town & we had a BLAST. It's very tourist-geared, with most of the shops dedicated to souvenirs, native american crafts, leather works, & Saloons (that only serve wine & beer). By far, what I consider the best parts of the town were
(1) the wild burros (brought to the town back in the gold rush days & abandoned there when the miners left) who are VERY friendly ESPECIALLY if you have food. In fact, we saw one steal an older woman's trail mix bag RIGHT our of her purse. I felt bad laughing as hard as I did, but I had to give the burro kudos for the successful theft.



And (2) the Wild West Shoot Out they had in the middle of town :-) It was horribly acted & a couple of the guns malfunctioned & didn't fire but it was VERY entertaining to say the least. My favorite thing about it was the fact that though the entire town gathered in a circle & flinched at the blanks being fired, the burros continued to saunter around casually looking for food.

As with all awesome things, however, it had to end as it became time for us to start making our way to the Grand Canyon. We started driving & when Adam got a little sleepy, I took the wheel for the first time. That lasted all of 20 minutes as my crippling fear of trucks & mountains took hold. lol. So after a short stop for energy drinks & food, we were back on the road :-)

After a couple more hours, we saw a sign for the "Roadkill Cafe" in Seligman, AZ & obviously HAD to check it out. It's a neat little restaurant with reasonable prices & good food. A very nice pit stop indeed. I made myself a souvenir penny, we posed for some fun pics by a neat (though scary in the dark) little jail cell & some coaches.



Tonight we're sleeping in the Grand Canyon National Park in Mathers Campground, which is nice, save for the sporadic snow covering.



Tomorrow we enjoy the canyon a little & then head our to Tombstone AZ. I promise we aren't planning on spending 3 nights in each state. lol.