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Wednesday, July 27, 2011

So close, yet so far away

Day 9 Kingman, Arizona to Bakersfield, California 335.6 miles about 5 hours and 46 minutes.  Goodbye Arizona, hello CALI! Well, kinda....So we decided to push on through today and go on to Bakersfield. Although, travel time estimates 5 hours 46 minutes, we know that between getting gas, food, bathroom breaks and big semi trucks today will take almost 7 hours. After breakfast we load up and get on the road, but before hitting the highway we try to find a salon to get my eyebrows waxed at....yes, in the same town that Chili's is considered eating well and where there is a JC Penny in a shopping plaza next to Pet Smart, Subway and Ross. Yeah, the eyebrow thing did not happen so to the 40 we headed. We stopped along the way around Barstow, CA for lunch at Pizza Hut. Rob and I were both ready to call the quits, but after checking out the local hotels, or lack of we decided that we could do the last 2 hours. 3 Red Bulls and a big bottle of water later we arrive to Bakersfield. I suddenly had a little bit of energy once we got out of the car. I think my Jeep is stealing my energy....Anywho, the guy at the front desk recommended a local Greek place to go eat dinner. The food was amazing, but my little buddy Preston was not feeling well. Last night he climbed in the bed with me around 2AM and I held him the rest of the night. He wanted nothing to do with Rob, just wanted mommy to hold him. The same thing at dinner. He kept laying his head down on the table and didn't not want milk or fries. I knew something was up, because the kid would live off of the 2 things if I let him. We figured he was suffering with the sinus issues just like we were and ran by Rite Aid to get him some children's Claritin once we left the restaurant. Once we got back to the hotel, Rob told the front desk that we were going to take the room for an additional night. Driving 5 more hours and having to do a ton of running around the next day, was not something we wanted to do. We decided that we would just relax and not have to have the pressure of getting up and rushing to get on the road. We watched some TV and had some drinks and went to bed! It's nice to know that tomorrow will be a drive free day. Maybe I can find somewhere to get my eyebrows done, because I can't find my tweezers and I'm gonna have a unibrow soon...well maybe not, but I don't like having un-groomed brows! Oh and on a SN, the hotel in New Mexico called, no sign of dog. I guess I will be getting online and ordering a replacement, maybe 2. I may also pick up a cord for my camera so I can upload pics, since I can't find mine.









  

Are we there yet????

Day 8 Holbrook, Arizona to Kigman, Arizona 236.8 miles about 3 hours and 45 minutes. You know the feeling when you are driving somewhere and it seems like that last hour is taking forever? Well, that is how it is starting to feel these last few days. The kids are being beyond amazing and I truly believe it is because we broke up the amount of travel time for them. They don't know what's going on, but Preston has become very use to having an elevator. It's gonna be a shock to him when we get into a house and he has to take the stairs! We left Holbrook and made a stop in Seligman, AZ to have lunch at Juan Delgadillo Snow Cap Dive In. It's a popular stop along Route 66 and the place is known for the humor they provide. You order a cheeseburger and they ask if you want cheese on it, you ask for a straw and you get a stack of yellow hay, the door has 2 doorknobs on it, but only one works and the signs on the bathrooms are opposite from what they really are, so it's a silly little place. The food was good and after a few pictures we got back on the road. We made it to Kingman around 2PM which was before check in, but our room was ready so us being early wasn't really a big deal. We hung out for a little bit before going to Chili's to eat. We were told that it was the top place to eat......Well, the food was typical Chili's and after eating we headed back to the room. I felt the need to flat iron my hair, because I have been wearing it up in a bun or pulled back in a braid the whole trip. I always feel a bit prettier when my hair is all down and straight. Rob and I had a few drinks while the kids played. We seriously thought about staying another night, because we were both starting to feel the time change, the heat and just the whole process of the move. Tomorrow we hit CALI!!!!! Almost done!
 

Sunday, July 24, 2011

Interest lost......

Day 7 Albuquerque, New Mexico to Holbrook, Arizona 232.4 miles about 3 hours and 52 minutes.

Once again this morning we got up and had breakfast at the hotel before getting our day started. We also had to make a pit stop by Babies R Us and Best Buy. After those stops and getting gas we headed to Arizona. I was really excited about making it to Holbrook, AZ to stay at the Route 66 classic Wigwam. Besides Cadillac Ranch, this stay was one of the things I was most excited about. Once we checked in, Rob looking around the room and asked me about 4 times if I really wanted to stay there. I assured him it would be fun and that it was only for one night. The rooms are not very big and the bathroom is even smaller. We unloaded our stuff and headed to find something to eat. The town of Holbrook is not very big so it did not take us long to drive through the main area. We ended up going to a local sports bar/ pool hall/ Italian bistro/dance club. The food honestly wasn't bad. While there we found out that there is one grocery store, a Safe Way and the strip of businesses we saw were all that the town has to offer. Rob asked if there were any black people that lived in Holbrook and the server told us about 30.....We couldn't help but laugh. After eating we headed back to our Wigwam and after about 30 minutes of heavy winds the power went out. Although the sun had gone down and the winds were strong, it was still in the 90's in the room and having the front door open helped cool things down, but it also brought a ton of sand and dirt in the room. I told Rob that staying there without power was not an option and he went up to the front office to see the policy on cancellation because of no power. After about 10 minutes he came back and told me that he didn't ask. The office was full of women and felt that since I am the mean one I should go ask. I grabbed Gracie and we headed to the office. I asked the front desk clerk about the situation and she directed me to the manager. I told her that staying in a room without power was not an option for this family of four and she looked at me like I had just asked her where the UFO's were. She told me that she didn't understand what the problem was..... Really lady. I told her that she needed to come up with a solution to this issue, she then said that there was no power anywhere in town. I let her know that the Holiday Inn Express down the street had power and rooms available for the night. She then instructed one of the women to come check our room to make sure we had not used to towels or soap before agreeing to refund us half of our money. The room itself was not expensive, because it is very basic. It is one of those places you stay at just for kicks. We were told that once they had power they would issue the refund. We packed up and headed down the street and were pleased with the new room. I also discovered that I lost Preston's dog. Rob went down to the Wigwam to see if he was there, but no luck. He also said that they were giving out candles at the Wigwam because they still were without power. I am glad we got out when we did! I called the hotel in New Mexico to see if the dog was left there, but the cleaning staff had already left for the day so I will call back in the morning. I know exactly how to get another dog, so more than likely I will just order a new one tomorrow and have it sent overnight to the next hotel we move to. Thursday will mark 2 weeks of hotel living and I am getting tired of it. I don't mind staying in a hotel, I just hate going from room to room. I could deal with staying in one spot for a few days. I have also lost all interest in this road trip and I am just ready to get to 
Travis. I lose interest very quickly, so I am surprised I stayed pumped this long. Hopefully something amazing will happen to turn my mood on this trip around, until then I will just sip on my jack and coke every evening after check in. 

Saturday, July 23, 2011

You can get your kicks on Route 66

Day 6 Amarillo, Texas to Albuquerque, New Mexico 275.7 miles about 4 hours and 29 minutes.


Well, today I realized we have been on the road too long, not only are the cities and states starting to run together, but I only know what day it is based on our hotel confirmations....Anywho, we left Texas this morning and i was pretty happy to move along. We were near a cattle field and the smell once you left your room was super strong. We had breakfast at the hotel and even met a couple who had a daughter a week younger than Gracie! We both laughed at the fact that we had small babies and the fact that the growing curve is based in 8 pound babies that are formula fed. I usually get asked why my kids are so small, so it was nice to meet another mom that was so similar to myself. She was not much bigger than me and had nursed her daughter since birth so she was not much bigger than my Gracie. It made me feel good to see another kid her age close to her size. Sometimes I feel as if she should she be bigger just because all the other babies are, but any ways. We headed to Cadillac Ranch which has been one of the sites I have been waiting to see. It is literally in the middle of an old cow pasture. There is a fence around the whole property and and an unlocked gate that you go through and walk maybe a football field length to reach the Cadillac 's. The path is unpaved but flat when you compare it to the surrounding field. I would assume it is flat from all the foot traffic. There were a number of people coming and going. When you are walking up to the cars you see a lot of spray paint on the dirt path, about 20 feet away you stop smelling the cow shit or cattle shit smell and get hit with a strong spray paint smell. Painting the cars is not only allowed but encouraged, there is even an old tire full of cans in case you didn't bring your own. But I came prepared, I tagged all of our names on the cars and took lots of pictures. Before we finished tossing our cans in the tire our art work was already being covered up, good thing we took pictures. We got on the road and headed to New Mexico. Once we crossed the state line we hit another time zone change! We are currently in mountain time. The views along the 40 in New Mexico are what you would imagine, very dry looking, but pretty in an ugly way. I was in awe of the piles of rocks an mountains, but I would not say they were pretty to look at, but at the same time they were hard to ignore....Odd I know. Once we reached the city I realized I had made the reservations at the wrong Hilton Garden Inn. Luckily the location I wanted had rooms and we were able to get a suite for the same rate as a regular room. Buca di beppo is literally across the parking lot, so eating there was a must! It is one of my favorite places to eat even though they have the biggest portions and I always eat too much, it's worth it. We headed back to the room and had a couple of drinks and called it a night. Well kinda, I am up writing this as Gracie sleeps and Rob and Preston are watching tv. Tomorrow we go to Arizona and stay at the historic Wigwam Motel. I am beyond excited about our stay!


PS once again the kids were amazing!!!

The Stars Shine Bright Deep in the Heart of Texas

Day 5 Oklahoma City, Oklahoma to Amarillo, Texas 263.47 miles about 4 hours.

Well, we decided that we would not do hotel breakfast this morning. At $17 a person for the buffet, the same buffet we have been paying $9.95 for a day. We packed up and head to the Crack Bar down the road, the Crack Bar is Cracker Barrel. After a delicious and filling breakfast we gassed up and got on the road. This was a short day of driving which made me happy. I also knew that we would start seeing more Route 66 attractions along the way so I had a little more excitement about the drive. Along the way we stopped in Elk City, OK to visit the National Route 66 Museum. We took a ton of photos there and it was pretty interesting overall. We still had about 2 hours to go until Amarillo. We made a pit stop at Subway for some food and got back on the 40. We passed by the largest cross in the Western hemisphere and the leaning water tower, which were both pretty neat to see. Also when on the 40, there are signs letting you know when you are on the original Route 66. Once we made it to the hotel we checked in and had some food and relaxed. We have both agreed that this checking in and out of hotels is getting old, but we are almost done. Tomorrow we head to New Mexico!








Oklahoma, where the wind comes sweepin' down the plain

Day 4 Little Rock, Arkansas to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 337.2 miles about 5 hours 27 minutes. 


Talk about a long day of driving! Honestly today didn't seem as bad, maybe that extra hour is helping! We had our normal American Grill breakfast at the hotel and headed towards OK. Once again the kids did great and slept a lot of the trip. The state line for OK, was not far at all, getting to Oklahoma City is what took a while. Hot would be a term laughed at in OK. I can't even think of a word to describe the heat. The thermometer in my car had been in the 100's most of the trip, so seeing it at 103 was not a big deal, but the closer we got to the city the higher it went. It finally stopped moving up once it hit 110 degrees.... I do not like being hot, I am so thankful my air works extremely well! before going to OK City, were hit Route 66 and had lunch at Pop's in Arcadia, OK. This place has about 500 different sodas to try and a basic dinner style menu. We took a lot of cool pictures had some yummy soda and food and got back on the road for about 20 more minutes. We made it to the city and about 5 minutes away from the hotel Preston announces he needs to yucky(that his term for poop). I freak  out, and I ask him to hold it about a thousand times. As soon as we pulled into the parking garage I put him on his travel potty and he handled his business. I was a very happy and proud mommy that he had enough self control to wait. Once checked in we decided to go walking around. Yes, it was still extremely hot and dry heat hot which felt like a hair dryer was blowing on me at all times while I was wrapped up in a heating pad with an over open. I kept telling Rob that I couldn't breath and I missed humidity! We ended up making it to the OK City bombing memorial and museum. If you ever visit the area, I would say this is a must see. It is an amazing site. The whole design  is so detailed and thought out so well, it really shows the impact of such a horrible day and remembers those who were injured and lost in a wonderful way. Once we made it back to the hotel, we ordered a couple of drinks and I went to update the blog and realized internet was $12.95 a day, not a fee i was willing to pay for one night. I ended up getting in bed an falling asleep on a movie. I realized that the more expensive the hotel is the less free stuff comes with your stay. Up until OK, we were staying in Hilton Garden Inn's we stayed in the historic Hilton Skirvin in OK and although the room was beautiful and the hotel very nice, we didn't have some of the amenities that we were use too. The room did not have a fridge, microwave or free internet but the bath products were nicer, room decor fancier, we had a robe and and umbrella in the room and a nice view of downtown. Tomorrow we head to TEXAS!













































Wednesday, July 20, 2011

and we hit the 40!!!!!

Day 3 Nashville, Tennessee to North Little Rock, Arkansas 354.67 miles about 5 hours and 34 minutes.


Today we seriously debated not driving all the way to Little Rock. We thought about staying another night in Nashville or cutting the drive in half and staying overnight in Memphis. After realizing it would mess up all the reservations I had already made, we decided against it. I ran out and got breakfast and Starbucks and we headed to our first stop which would be Memphis since it was the half way point. We headed to downtown Memphis to have lunch on the famous Beale Street. We had a yummy Memphis style lunch at King's Palace and then got back on the road. it would have been nice to walk around a bit, but it was around 103 degrees.....walking around was not an option for us. The last couple of hours to Little Rock went by rather quickly. I was somewhat annoyed by the semi-trucks, but other than that, things went well. The 40 is not the most interesting road at this point, but I have been on worse roads. There were a lot of cops and just open land. We made it to the hotel around 6PM and for the first time, it is not dark outside. We don't have anything planned besides relaxing. I look forward to hitting parts of Route 66 tomorrow! I will also attempt to add pictures to days 1-3.


TENNESSEE, TENNESSEE, TENNESSEE.......

DAY 2 Athens, Georgia to Nashville, Tennessee 298.58 miles about 5 hours and 1 minute.


Well, we woke up around 8AM and had breakfast before leaving Athens, GA. we had to make a pit stop at the Mall of Georgia to go to Lens Crafters and to go to Apple. I needed a new pair of glasses before we went any further on this trip and on Sunday I dropped and shattered my iPhone. After getting all of that business taken care of we headed to Nashville. Once we hit the 24 I was super happy that i was driving, the road is super curvy and even though I was driving I still got a little bit dizzy. The views were amazing. TN is so rocky and green and just pleasant to the eyes.  Overall, the drive wasn't too bad, but the last hour was rough. I started to get extremely antsy and just wanted to get there. We also changed time zones so we gained a hour, but my body did not catch on and when we made it to Winnie's (Rob's sisters) house, we could not wait to go to bed. Rob picked up some food and after eating, showers and a couple beers all I wanted to do was sleep. The kids on the other hand were wide awake and ready to play. Rob said they were running around the house like free slaves. They were laughing and jumping all around! We finally got them to sleep  and passed out soon after. Day 2 was another successful day with the kids as well as Preston telling us he had to pee. We have been getting our energy from an wonderful combo of Smart Water, Starbucks and sugar free Red Bull. It still doesn't feel like we are going anywhere new, just another trip to Tennessee. 















I left my home in Georgia......

Day 1 Valdosta, Georgia to Athens, Georgia 240.13 miles, about 4 hours and 20 minutes.


Well, today starts the road trip to California. We are in two cars for a number of reasons. First of all I get extreme motion sickness and the idea of going cross country in a car makes me sick and dizzy just thinking about it.... Reason number 2 is the cost, by the time we factored in the transportation of Rob's car and the storage once it got there it was in the $2,000 range. Reason number 3 is the amount of stuff we did not have the packers box up and ship to CA. Between the 4 of us we apparently need a lot of stuff for about 3-4 weeks. Okay, now back to the trip. Monday we got a pretty late start between Rob running around on the base and having to do some last minute things at the condo time quickly passed by. We ended up making it to Athens around 10 PM. The Phillips', old friends of Rob, live in Athens and they came by the hotel to see us and hang out. We talked and talked and they didn't end up leaving until after 12AM. It was great to see them, but we were beyond tired and went to sleep as soon at they left. The kids were amazing. The drive was beyond boring and it still doesn't feel as if we are driving cross country. It feels like a trip to Athens. Preston told me every time he had to pee and  there were no major breakdowns with the kids. Day 1 was a success! I will go back through and add all the pictures later. I am just trying to make sure that I don't get far behind with the post. 





Wednesday, July 13, 2011

My 26th Birthday

So Saturday I turned 26, where are these years going? For the past 3 birthdays I have either been pregnant or just done dinner with the family, in the past my step son Tre' has been here as well, so we all just do a family dinner out, nothing fancy. This year I decided I wanted to go home to Savannah, even if it was for just one day. The closer we became to moving day the more I started to panic and realize that I will no longer be a 3 hour drive from some of my dearest friends. I also have never gone without the kids so this would be interesting. The only time j ever spent a night away from Preston was to have Gracie and then I spent 5 days in the hospital after the kidney donation, besides that these children don't leave my side! Rob's dada decide he would come down on Friday so that helped relax me a bit, I knew that Rib would have some help. I made list of instructions for both kids, pumped some milk for Gracie, got the clothes together for them and as soon as he pulled up from work Friday I took off! He didn't even turn the car off, I was ready! The drive is never exciting but I can't tell you the number of times I have done it, I should be use to it by now. Well, once I got to Savannah I picked up some food and headed to meet Amanda. She recently had a baby as well and had a sitter all night long, it was already starting out great. After a beer and YouTube video watching we headed downtown to Bar Bar. One of my super good friends is the head bartender there so this stop was double great. Awesome drink and awesome friend! Before leaving there, one of my best guy friends came by to hang out for a bit. I was also able to hang out with other friends that I had literally grown up with. We went to about 4 more places before calling it a night! I think I went to sleep around 4:30 that morning! I do not know the last time I laughed so much with friends. I have my friends here, but you can't beat friendships that you have had for atleast 12 years, some longer than that. Once I finally decided to get on the road I talked to Rob and he told me that they were about to take the kids to Wid Adventures to see the animals, I started crying! We have done the zoo before, but not WA and I couldn't believe he would do this without me. After about 5 minutes he called back and said he was joking. Not funny! Once I got home my babies we beyond excited to see me. Having a night from them was hard, but it really made me so much more excited to hug and kiss them. I was pretty tired that night so we picked up some fast food and I went to be super early. The next day we went to church and out to eat. On Monday I was able to get my birthday present. I have known about it for a while, I'm pretty nosey and hate surprises. My parents told Rob a while ago to not waste energy trying to surprise me and he still tries. I have yet to be surprised. Anywho, the gift was a huge, I mean 4x3 huge painting of me hold Preston in my lap and Gracie is holding on to my leg. The pictures due it no justice! I wasn't crazy about it at first especially since I had asked for something totally different but the more I stared at it I grew to like it. Overall, I had a pretty fun birthday although my 20's are on the higher end now!
I will add the picture later today when i get on my computer.