We've got a long way to go and a short time to get there

July 17, 2010

It ended up not being the dogs that were loud and kept us awake, it was Krystal. Apparently 15 hours on the road will start to mess with your head a little bit. : So we ended up getting about four and a half hours of sleep, which meant we were all pretty crabby when we woke up!

Before Mom left the room to check out of the hotel, we told her to ask the employee where the nearest Starbucks was. Mom came back and said that when she asked the lady where there was a Starbucks, she was given a "Stupid-City-Slicker" look haha We left Santa Rosa, NM at 8:00 a.m. and planned on ending the day in Van Buren, AR.

Right after we crossed the Texas border, we stopped at a picnic area to take a picture. The truck was left running and it was a VERY good thing that Alicia rolled down a truck window because the doors automatically locked when we closed them...of course, we didn't realize this until we tried opening the truck doors! haha We almost locked the dogs inside the running truck!

Right before we reached Amarillo, TX, Krystal was driving her Jetta, Mom was driving the truck, and Alicia was napping in the passenger seat. Alicia was woken up from the nap to: "Alicia, wake up, I'm being pulled over!" When the officer asked what we were hauling, my mom told him, "Personal items to Virginia, we're moving my daughter." The officer told us that they pull over trailers like ours to make sure that people aren't hauling things for money and to have a nice day. Even though nothing came out of it, it was still a nerve racking experience!

As we drove into Oklahoma, it was Krystal's turn to take a picture of the welcome sign and she missed it just like mom did the day before! Alicia thought Oklahoma would be a dust bowl, but it was beautiful, until we were about an hour away from the Oklahoma-Arakansas border...we had our first experience with humidity. Alicia said it was horrible and Mom said it was only going to get worse as we got further east!

It was Mom's turn to take the welcome sign picture when we crossed into Arkansas and she missed that too! haha But she swears that this time, it was Krystal's fault! About fifteen miles into Arkansas, we stopped for the night...or so we thought. We pulled into the hotel, were Krystal did a magnificent job parking the truck and trailer, only to realized that there were not any 'pet rooms'left! We drove down the road to another place, were Krystal did another amazing job of backing up and maneuvering the trailer, and got a room (Mom conveniently forgot to tell the man...who look like a she...that we had pets. Oops).

And now here we are, at 9:30 p.m., in Van Buren, AR: in a Super 8 Motel, that smells like cheap cologne and has a wet carpet. Gross. We're going to get MUCH more sleep than we did last night and head for Knoxville, TN. In Memphis, we're going to stop and have lunch with one of Krystal and Andrew's friends for a nice, southern lunch. Can't wait!