Roadtrip Aventures!

Where have I been in the last month and a half? That's an easy question. I've been traveling. I didn't conquer the world or take it by storm. Though I was caught in a few. Nope, I conquered Interstate 40, also known as the Historical Route 66.

Mom

Brief history on Route 66; it goes from Chicago to LA. Just like the song says. However when the Interstate was put in a lot of neat places were wiped out, left to be deurbanized and reclaimed by nature. There are still a lot of great places to stop along the way.

Best friend

But our trip didn't start in Chicago. We began in Dahlgren Virginia, where we packed everything up and moved across the country. Our first stop was Philadelphia, I got to see my mom and grams. Both of whom threw us an amazing going away party. I got to see relatives that I hadn't seen in years and I got to see my best friend in the whole world. A girl I've been best friends with since the age of six.

Grams

 Once we left Philadelphia, we headed across the state and through Ohio. Not much interesting along the way, a few tunnels and a loooot of farms. It was a road that we were very familiar with, so the landscape never really changed. Kidlet was very well behaved for someone who was cooped up in a car. It wasn't 'til the last leg of our journey that he started asking if we were in California yet.

Kidlet and his Nan-nan

Our welcome in Bloomington, Indiana was priceless, we were close enough to Zach's mom's work that we stopped in. We hid in a small cubby and had the help of one of her coworkers to get her and tell her that someone was here to see her. She walked passed and we said surprise. And a great surprise it was.

We spent a good few days in Bloomington, saw a lot of family we hadn't seen in almost a year. I was happy to see everyone and get warm wishes to a great roadtrip.

Then it was on the road again. From Bloomington, we drove all the way to Crossett Arkansas. Where is Crossett you ask? It's in the lower right hand corner of the state. It's a tiny little place, but not completely savage as they have a walmart. I got to see two good friend, Jamie and Kasey and their daughters, Cookie and Cupcake. No that isn't their real names but that is what I call them. Cupcake is new to the world as she as only a month old when I arrived and I was glad that she decided to show up a little earlier than expected so that I would be able to visit and hold her. My Cookie was SUPER EXCITED in having us visit. We got there late and stayed late, but it was completely worth it.

Husband and kidlet

The next day we go on the road and headed into Texas. This is where the real adventure began. This isn't to say that I didn't enjoy the first half of the trip and once we left Bloomington, it was all new scenery for all of us. Texas, your state is full of crazy drivers. And locking my keys in the car was fun too. Thankfully that was the only set back that we had. A very friendly man name Lucas the Handy Man, destroyed the antennae on his car to help us get back into our car. Thank you, Mister! Wherever you are!

Monsoon

Once we got back on the road that's when it started getting super scary. You see in Texas, it's very flat and you are able to see the storms in the distance. While it's amazing to see, knowing that you are driving into a monsoon is not comforting. We thankfully made it to a hotel safely. However, I do not recommend you ever drive in a monsoon. The lightning that we had was very much like a strobe light, not an easy task to keep the car straight and maintain  the speed limit if you aren't used to such conditions.

The next day we made it to Amarillo, Texas. At my interweb bestie's recommendation we stopped for lunch at a place called Tyler's. It was super tasty and they have the best BBQ sauce ever. Just the right amount of spicy and sweet. After Lunch, it was time to get back on Route 40.

One of our intended stops along our trip was Cadillac Ranch. It's about a half mile away from the side of the road and it's a well known tourist attraction. Bring your own spray can and you will be able to tag your name on the cars. Graffiti here is encouraged.

If you are lucky enough, you'll find a spray can that still has some left and you won't have to spend a penny, but I recommend it. We were lucky to find one from the hundreds of cans that were out baking in the Texas heat.

After our time there exploring the ruins of the cars, we got back in ours and zoomed down the road, because in Texas 75mph is standard. We mad short order of it and got to Tucumcari, New Mexico.

We stayed in a motel. It was very interesting. If you've seen the show supernatural, it was very much along the lines of that. I was hoping Sam and Dean would show up. The only thing this room was missing was the goofy themed room divider.

The next morning we were on the road again. Stopping along the way to see some scenic views and take in more of the land. I had friends tell me that there wasn't much to see along the way. For me seeing natural beauty in the landscape was more than enough. I highly recommend that you stop in at Cline's Corner along R-40 and have lunch, get some knick-knacks and refuel. We stayed in Gallup, New Mexico that night. The welcome was not that great but the Native American music that filled the streets was pretty awesome. Oh... and the train that cut through the city, made sleeping hell.

After New Mexico, we went to Arizona! A fantastic state, amazing views and of course the Grand Canyon. What wasn't an intentional stop along our way in Arizona was stopping at Meteor Crater. It's five minutes off the main highway and completely worth the sixteen bucks per-person. We managed to get in for a heavily discounted price because of Zach being in the Military.

Meteor Crater, Arizona

Even with the amount of people that were there, it was crazy quiet. It was amazing to see it and to realize just how small you really are in the world. At the bottom of the crater is where NASA has a six-foot astronaut and three foot by five foot American flag. To the naked eye, you can't see it but barely and through a telescope it's tiny too.

They have a fun museum with simulations and many things to allow you to understand how and when the crater was created. The gift shop is also fun. They have some neat novelty items and some fun goodies. From there we picked up some goodies. Cactus jellies are really really good. It's made from prickly pears which come from Cacti. I also have some Prickly Pear Popcorn, but have not tried it yet as I'm waiting until Ray (the internet bestie) to come and visit me.

Geronimo and Kidlet

Another unintentional stop was Geronimo. It was prior to the crater. Geronimo is a small shop with the largest piece of petrified wood from the Petrified Forest. Why is it petrified? Well there isn't anything alive in there that I know of. We didn't stop at the forest. But from what we gathered every tree in that forest was literally turned to stone and crystal. It was fascinating and we do hope to go back there at some point to actually go to the forest.

After we had our fun at those two stops it was onward to Flagstaff. Fair warning, the elevation levels are painful and it's hard to breathe if you aren't accustomed to it. We found a hotel that allowed pets stayed there. The lady there forgot to charge us for the cat, but said we just had to bring her by and show us how pretty Gaelic is.

Gaelic, did a so good on the second leg of our trip. We had a small fan for her so that she didn't over heat when we weren't in the car. I took great care when parking the car so that she wouldn't be in the sun. At first, she had accidents because she was scared, but got the hang of it after a few days. She let us know when it was time to pull over for the night. She also liked sleeping on the AC units in the room.

Grand Canyon

We packed up and jump started our car which had died due to a door being left open. got breakfast at Galaxy Diner, which we had dinner at the night before. I totally recommend it there. Go early it's always busy on the weekends. After breakfast, we made our way north to go see the Grand Canyon. It was majestic and completely worth the drive. I will say, do not buy your lunch. Bring your own. Also bring a water bottle and fill up your bottle from some of the yummy canyon spring water fountains.

Mojave Desert

We came down the mountain, our ears popped like crazy. We decided we would drive until we crossed in to California. Stopping for dinner just outside the state lines, we saw storm clouds brewing up. When we got to California, we had to pass through a customs like setting. They asked we had any fresh meat or produce and if we had any pets. We stated our claims and were welcomed into California. What we weren't welcomed to was the Mojave Desert. It was a sticky 85ºF when we pulled into our hotel. When we woke up the next morning, it was steadily climbing and by the time we got Ludlow and their $4.79 a gallon gas price, it was a steamy 120ºF.

Thankfully, we had made it to California. Now our goal was getting to San Diego. Which we managed and stayed in probably the best hotel on our whole trip. The air was warm but not suffocating. There was a nice breeze once we got out of the death pit of the desert. Once we got settled into our hotel, Olde Town Inn, we ordered pizza and went down to the pool. Our pizza showed up earlier than expected and the delivery guy was kind enough to bring it to the pool where we ate our dinner poolside.

The next day, we went to our new house and our trip was over. Now it's time to unpack and settle in what is going to be our home for the next four to five years. I love it out here. I love the warm days and cool nights. I love being fifteen minutes from the beach and I love my new house. The east coast will always be my home, but I can definitely grow some roots here. Even if I do get a little homesick.

My boys playing on Silver Strand State Beach