Oh Pioneers

Ha Ha.. fooled you guys.. I waited only minutes to post again, instead of the usual weeks.. Clever, eh?

So, I thought I would fill everyone in on our adventure driving out west.

Well, Packing didn't go exactly as planned as I got a nasty bought of the stomach flu on day one of packing. I was down for the count. 33 hours in bed to be exact.

We eventually got everything into a box (or at least into a trash bag) and onto a 16' truck. The truck doors were locked down around 10pm EST on Wednesday night. About 10:15 we decided that sleeping on the floor would not be fun and to just see how far we could get.

Vanilla decided that he would start the drive. 15 minutes later, having survived the adventure, I forced Vanilla to pull over, before he turned over.. I should mention that his car was being towed behind the truck.

I took over the driving at that point. It was a bit difficult to handle. I was surprised because I had driven much bigger vehicles while towing other vehicles and had never had so much trouble.
I dreaded the morning when I knew I would have to call the rental company and our only option would be to switch trucks.. from the truck we just spent two days meticulously loading..
A bit later, I remembered seeing a button on the dash with a picture of a vehicle being towed.
I dared to take one hand off the wheel to search for this button and when I finally found it I pressed the button with only hope in my heart..
It took a minute but seemed to better the driving experience. Still had to take it pretty slow and removing a hand from the wheel was a bit of a chance, but suddenly, we were drivable.

The first night was four hours of driving and we only made it just north of Tampa. Normally this would have been a two hour drive.. We were in for a long haul and it looked like I would be the one hauling while Vanilla listed to my ipod in my car. I didn't even have so much as a tape player.

We got some sleep and in the morning, Vanilla kept his promise of letting me dine at the Cracker Barrel..... Didn't let me shop though.. hmph...

Well, it was time to get back on the road and we weren't looking forward to it..
We were up and running and I was starting to feel comfortable on the road when Vanilla called and said that his biscuits and bacon were putting him into a food coma and that we needed to pull over.

So we did.. I followed Vanilla and he led me into a tight parking area with no exits. I guess my shouting woke him up enough and we got on the road again.

We managed on surprisingly were able to get the truck up to the speed limit with the all powerful button.

We passed the exit for my hometown zip code, but knew that we wouldn't be able to stop. Our time was becoming more and more limited.

We eventually made it to the state line, and I won't lie.. There was a little tear shed in memory of my beloved state.

It was getting dark, but we kept pushing on and made it through another state..

Unannounced to me, Vanilla was cooking up a surprise for me.. He was making calls and booked a room at a hotel in state number 3. It was a wonderful room in a hotel I have wanted to stay in for years. Not necessarily in state number 3, but in other areas of the country.

It was a very good deal and sure beat the highway hostels that were dotting the side of the road.

There was one flaw in the plan. The lobby of this fine establishment consisted of a casino. Hmmm.. Vanilla and I, uh.. we like to play the odds.

After all was said and done.. it wasn't a very good deal after all, but I enjoyed it all the same.

We slept in a bit that morning and enjoyed the buffet for brunch as a reward for making such good progress the day before.

It was time to move on to state number 4. The rest of the day will be a memory that I plan on repressing.

THE STATE OF LOUISIANA AND THE BRIDGES OF TERROR

No folks, not a fictional novel.. real life and real fear.

I don't have a huge fear of bridges, but I do have a fear of huge bridges. And the state of Louisiana is nothing but one huge bridge after another!!!!!

There was one in particular that I could actually hear the "tic,tic,tic,tic" as we drove upward. I could only imagine going off the side of the bridge to be forever entombed in my Budget rental truck in the bottom of a dirty river.
My only hope was that the roller coaster engineer that designed this stupid thing was in the car next to me and would go over with me.

Finally the bridges ended and we found ourselves welcomed into The Great State of Texas!
We drove a bit and decided to stop for the night. We ate some TexMex and settled in.

We woke to find ourselves just outside of Houston and I found myself not impressed.... I thought.. "uh, oh"

We "trucked on" and stopped for TX bar b que for lunch.. and I will admit.. the best turkey I have ever had in my entire life.

After lunch, we were back on the road and headed towards the capitol of this very large area. We made it into town about 3 in the afternoon and realized we had no where to go. We found a motel and hunkered down.

On that first day, we caught up with old friends and witnessed one of the most amazing Halloween celebrations ever.

The next day we did find a place to live, but they don't just let you walk in and move in so we paid for another night in a hotel and another day for the truck rental.. yay!

We got moved in ... and that's another story.. and now we are here.

So far.. I like it..
I have never moved anywhere that I immediately liked.. .Well.. except for Gatorville.. So we are hopeful that we will be here for a while and that we will be able to call it home.

Need to buy some shoes with toes..
Flip Flop

Bad Flip Flop, Bad... Tut, tut..

Okay, okay, okay....
I know, it's been a while and I have definately left some unanswered questions out there...
Let's just go basic for a while.

I left a big announcement out there dangling. The reason for all the mystery was that it was still sort of hush, hush at the time, and things tend to get around on the internet.. Big surprise..
And then it wasn't hushy, hush, but more towards confusing. I was confused enough without getting everyone else all swirly.

So... Drumroll.....

We moved to the Lone Star State.

Things weren't going as planned in the "Land of the Bored" and our lease was up.... so, what better thing to do than drop everything and move half way across the country!!!

We decided that our toes would take us further out West, so we wiped off the sand and took off.

I am still looking for a job I am passionate about.. ha
but Vanilla is working while I explore this new land..

As guilty as it might make me feel, I may have a little time during my job search to keep ya'll up to date.. I'll try at least..

Do they sell Flip Flops with Spurs?