The Road Trip Journal

Alabama to California.
Five days.
2375 miles.
$292.66 gas
97.11 gallons

Jan 12, 2011 (SKYE)
The travelers: Sally and Skye. The destination: Jackson TN…ultimately Orange, CA.
Today is Wednesday. The time in 4:15pm. We have been driving for 20 minutes. We missed our first turn. We were determined to take the road trip without modern technology (ie. a GPS). Though we are still determined to complete the cross-continental trip without a GPS, we have dubbed the beginning of the trip starting when we pick up Heather in TN. We are now using the GPS and in the county outside of Birmingham….not a good start. We are driving Sally’s grandparents’ 2001 Chevrolet Lumina – Color: white.
6:31 pm – second turn off of the trip missed. GPS tells us to turn around 6 miles.
6:36 pm – second turn off of the trip missed for the second time. Back to the original direction…exiting on 86B…finally.
“I’m okay with being taken hostage” – SALLY

Jan 13, 2011 (SALLY)
The REAL road trip begins. Skye, Heather, and I are on the road. Snow is still covering the ground. We’ve crossed one state line TN/AR. Yay! Heather says AR is the world capitol of rice fields – I don’t believe her. Maybe the US capitol, but not he world. Don’t you think that would be in Asia somewhere? There has been snow in every state thus far. It is cold outside. We had to use an ice scraper to clean the windshield….a new concept for us Alabamians.

14:24 (HEATHER)
Skye had some trouble finding out if the car was already on – so she turned the key again. The car didn’t like that. It was definitely on. The lady at Subway thought Sally was stealing fountain drinks. She wasn’t, but we did have a suspicions eye on us while we ate our sandwiches. Heather (writing) ate processed chicken on her sub. She will probably live a long and productive life due to the heavy load of preservatives in the meat. She’s trying to be like sally and “choosing life” by eating as many preservatives as possible, thereby preserving her own body for life on this earth. We have discovered that Skye has a beautiful singing voice and should cut a record and Sally can’t sew a straight line. We are currently in Oklahoma.

15:58 (HEATHER)
Skye just saw a tortoise. Yeah, in Oklahoma. Sally and I aren’t so sure. We are still seeing snow, however – making this the third state which have seen snow – well, fifth if you count Sally and Skye’s jaunt to Jackson last night.

15:42 (SKYE)
There’s big news for me to share in the journal.
1) We saw the most beautiful sunset. The horizon looked like “embers” (sally). A bright blue streak through the middle of orange and pink clouds. WAR EAGLE. There were beautiful big windmills on the horizon too. Moving slowly and setting off the melting sky.

2) The car quit. It was about 6:30pm. We were stopping for gas, restroom, and dinner break. Yes. Call us efficient and we will nod in approval. We pulled off of I-40 for the first time since lunch. When we got tot the bottom of the ramp, the steering was heavy and the gas pedal produced no results. Sally suggested turning the car off and back on. It worked. Pulling into the gas station and the car died again as we pulled up to the pump. Expletives and howls of laughter filled the warm air of the unnamed Lumina….laughter that is nervous laughter – like what could be heard by all of the castle apartments while Melanie and sally pierced my left nostril so many years ago. So, we filled up, went to the restroom, checked the oil & stared disappointingly at the engine while saying back and forth to each other, “I don’t know anything about cars! Do you?” “No. But I think it looks okay”.
So we mounted our trustee steed once more with floods of doubt rushing in through every orifice of the now lethargic Lumina. By the time we reached the next block we had decided on the name – the White Warrior. She needs a good bit of encouragement to stay strong. Confidence is key for such car models. So, White Warrior or is! Christening is set to be at the Grand Canyon. We’re considering a Christening of micturation.

3) We ate at “Home Cooking Cafe.”
“Are girls allowed?” - Heather
“What are the vegetables tonight?” –Sally
“Corn” – the waitress.
“Corn it is!” – Skye.
15 fried mushrooms for Heather. A questionable decision as we still have two and a half hours left with very little airflow.
We are on track to arrive at our hotel around 10:00pm. 14 ½ hours day. Average gas price - $2.90.

Jan 14, 09:14 (HEATHER)
Best Western slept us well last night. Approximately 9 hours of sleep. Amarillo, Texas, wasn’t so yellow after all. Sally is driving. Already made wrong turn – but we’ve set straight and headed west. Heather hablo con el novio de Skye por telefono anoche. El dio el diario a las chicas y el quire leerlo cuando terminan el viaje magnifico de in calle. We are driving in Texas. It is extremely flat. We passed a very sad and stinky cattle farm. The small burned my nostrils.
10:08 we are no longer in central time. We just saw snow on top some distant mountain in New Mexico. Exciting times. Currently listening to Amos Lee.

13:33 M.T. (SKYE)
We’re in New Mexico. Skye writing, Heather driving, Sally sewing/quilting in the back seat. Listening to the Avett brothers. We just stopped in Albuquerque, NM. For lunch – Garcia’s – a recommendation from a local on authentic New Mexican food. Yummy food and Velveeta queso all around! Then we hit the open road for our final 5 hours stretch of the day. We loaded up in the White Warrior. As we approached the first stop light she showed her temperamental side once again. No steering, no gas, tough break…yeah, tough break White Warrior. So, heather restarted the engine, Sally gave a friendly smile to the honking, eye rolling, probably cursing woman behind us. We sped onto the I-40. 20 minutes later we’re getting low on gas and there is no sign of civilization. Oops… 20 minutes after that we pull off for a gas station. She dies again. This time the break was really tough and heather couldn’t get her to stop or turn, so we missed the gas station. We cranked her back up and all was fine. Nothing a healthy u-turn can’t fix. Checked the oil – good. Checked coolant – who knows what that is supposed to look like anyways. Back to the open road!

We stopped at the Continental divide for a picture. It’s not very impressive, but an interesting concept that there is a line where the water flows to the Pacific or Atlantic. I (still Skye) was barefooted and ended up with muck in between my toes. I washed my feet with a patch of snow. I didn’t feel regretful for the first few seconds. But there was a several minute window of pain following the fleeting confidence.

16:10 Mountain Time. We’re now in Arizona. There’s lots of snow again. It doesn’t feel much colder though. The rocks surrounding us are beautiful. Red, black, yellow, smooth, jagged, sandy. So many different qualities. The biggest trees don’t get much taller then 20 feet, and they are sparse, just dotting the hills. Mostly evergreens – cedar and pine, I guess.

17:10 (SALLY)
It’s been a while since I’ve gotten to write. Nothing exciting ever happens when I write – ok, I’ve only written once, so there has not been much opportunity. I kind of wish the car would break down again so I could write about it. Skye just claimed she saw blue clay. Oh, this sunset is exquisite! The open plains bordered by mountains make the perfect backdrop for the sunset. I think AZ will be my favorite state - I mean, with the Grand Canyon being here and all. Heather is chillin in the back seat like she owns the place and Skye is talking to Liam on the phone. Thanks Liam for the tire pressure gauge. We followed through with our promise and checked all the tires today. We received such great road trip gifts from Anna, Liam, Shatomi, Katie, David, Pop, Lou, and Kellie. Between the tire gage, flashlight, food, coffee, books, and this journal…we are well cared for. There is SNOW in ARIZONA!!! Skye just sang for us. Heather and I both wish we could sing like Skye. Even if we sit with the posture she instructed we still can’t produce a sounds that cows would not cringe to.

God has provided me with the most amazing friends. Here I have my oldest friend Heather. We have never lived in the same state, but our friendship has continued to grow. She has always been there to encourage and challenge me in my walk with God. And there is Skye, we have known each other for 3 ½ years, but you would think that it had been many more years. Skye is such a great encourager and wise woman. Walking through life with these beautiful women has been a wonderful blessing. I pretty much have the coolest friends in the world. I am constantly reminded how fortunate I am with the people God has placed in my life. The sunset is gone now and therefore my light has diminished. Peace.

1-14-11 (HEATHER)
“Buffet?! They should call it a barfet.” --- Sally

1-15-11 (SALLY)
Yes! I am finally in the journal seat when something exciting happened.

1-15-11 (SKYE)
Oh, poor Sally. The sun is now setting on Friday the 15th. Sally wrote the sentence about just as we pulled into the Grand Canyon general store. She then lost the journal seat.

1-15-11 (SALLY)
HA!! I got it back Skye! That’s right, I am once again in the hot seat, and there is news to be told. This morning we left our retro hotel in Flagstaff, AZ and headed north to the Grand Canyon. there were designated snow play areas along the way. Good thing because there was about a foot of snow on the ground. On to the good stuff… As we were driving the straight desert road (there were curves but Skye challenged Heather to drive straight and not give into the curves). Suddenly in the distance Heather spotted a lone stranger with thumb pointed to the heavens. Heather said, “Should we?” and we said, “YES!” A few minutes later Zack was tightly packed in our backseat. Did I mention that the three of us were bench seating for this leg of the journey? The following thirty minutes were filled with Heather grinning in celebration of her first ever hitch hiking experience. As we pulled up to the park gate Zack rolled down his window and let the attendant know he was a local. She waved us through. Our deed of picking up the overall wearing and cast carrying Zack got us free admittance! This saved us a whopping $25. We then dropped Zack off at the Grand Canyon General Store where he worked. People say that hitchhiking is dangerous… I agree if you pick up the wrong person. We all felt good about the situation and sure enough… it ended wonderfully. We went on to enjoy the spectacular views of the Grand Canyon. It was absolutely beautiful. Snow covered half the canyon while we enjoyed the perfect temperature of 50 degrees.

SKYE – “Does anyone want to go to the Hoover Dam?”
SALLY – “Na, we have a Hoover Dam in Birmingham.”
HEATHER – “I want to take the damn tour!”


11/16/11 (SKYE)
13:39 SO much has gone unjournaled because we were so late getting in last night. So we’ll step a bit into the past for this entry. Yesterday, Saturday, we visited the Grand Canyon. We bought delicious sourdough bread, muenster cheese, and a rotisserie chicken. We picnicked overlooking the canyon. We cut our bread and cheese with my big, beautiful Preston knife and fought off a crow for our goods. We hit the road, deciding to get down the I-40 a bit for a short Sunday drive. On the way south, we changed our plans a bit…Vegas would only be an hour or so out of the way. Heather and Sally had never been. We thought we could find a cheap hotel. So, when we got to 93 – we veered northwest for sin city. We stopped at the Hoover Dam on the way. We drove up to the dam and had to go through a security checkpoint. A guard shined his flashlight throughout the car and let us know we would be able to stop the car or walk on the dam… We crossed the dam and saw another guard stopping two rebellious walkers. SCANDAL! We parked at a designated parking area with a few bikers and took some glowing nighttime photos. Then on to Vegas! We drove up to the city. Lights everywhere, chapels abundant, dressed up people young and old. We parked at a garage under what looked like the Seattle space needle. We found out how much it would cost to go more than 100 stories up to top ($16 per person) and decided to see Vegas by foot instead of sky. So we walked down the strip for several hours. Lots of people! Extreme amounts of stimulation. Lots of pictures. Our jaws dropped & dragging the ground the entire way. We walked unto the Venetian. Saw lots of gamblers – complete with hoodies, sunglasses, and ear buds. We decided to get of the city for the night because the hotels were not as cheap as we expected and mostly booked anyways. Back to the interstate. Southbound. We were all mucho tired and so we hit up the first exit out of the city Jean, NV. The only things in Jean were gas stations and a huge hotel/casino. We fell into the clean beds, but found that to be the only thing we liked about the hotel. No breakfast, broken shower, sad people addicted to the machines, smoking and drinking at 9:30am on Sunday morning – yucky atmosphere. We split with our eyes peeled for good coffee.

1-16-11 (HEATHER)
14:46 PCT
It’s been a while since I’ve been in the journal seat. Not a whole lot has occurred today. I will, however, give you the skinny on a few events Skye left out. I think she may have done that to give me something exciting to put on paper. The White Warrior died four times last night – once going off the Hoover Dam, once on the interstate headed into Los Vegas, once on Los Vegas Blvd, and once going into the parking garage. We almost had an incident with a man on a motorized scooter. What would that be called…a scooter bender? Thankfully, due to the vocalization of both Sally and myself, and the cat–like reflexes of Skye and the White Warrior, the man made it across the street with no mishap. Vegas was definitely an experience - one I will be satisfied not to repeat, but am glad to have seen it at face value. Hopeless, dirt, sad, and empty are the adjectives that will forever come to my mind when I hear the words “Los Vegas.” Leaving the casino/hotel was no difficult feat this morning. We have seen some pretty amazing scenery today – desert, rolling hills, dunes, snowcapped mountains – to name a few. Starbucks coffee was a hit this morning – quite literally as in Skye’s case as her traveling mug hit the ground rolling as we pulled out. We have now discovered that the car roof is NOT the ideal spot for travel mugs – especially if you intend to partake of what is inside. No worries - the starbucks man was sympathetic to her dilemma, and once again we hit the road with full cups of joe (all inside the car this time). Currently we are in LA! The White Warrior has only died once thus far – this time going full speed down the interstate. After a brief rest on the shoulder, the White Warrior has gathered her strength once again and is currently bringing us to Sally’s new abode in Orange, California.

1/17/11 (SKYE)
We spent the night with the Little’s. Very hospitable. Lovely place to stay. All packed up and headed to the airport. This is my “CLOSURE” entry. The pressure’s on. We walked out of the house this morning to roll out to the airport and… the White Warrior’s final hurrah – A FLAT TIRE!!! Good thing we had planned to take the Little’s car for security’s sake. Goodbye White Warrior. Treat my friend Sally better than you have me. Oh, such a fun five days: getting to know Heather, seeing the many terrains of the States, being young and goofy, taking detours like the Grand Canyon and Vegas, good music, yummy chocolate, and great friends! Leaving the States with the American dream on my coat tails. Thailand here I come!

1/17/11 (HEATHER)
My time to close. Sad to be leaving sunny California. Even more sad to be parting with my old and new friends Sally and Skye. Oh, but what a memorable experience! My favorite city –Flagstaff, AR. Favorite food – tuna salad at the brewery in Flagstaff. Favorite site – Grand Canyon. Favorite quote – “La Boxing!” –sally... as opposed to “L.A. Boxing”. Favorite stranger – Zack the hitchhiker. Favorite shower – the hot one at the Little’s. And of course there are many more but for time’s sake I will close with a quote that I believe the three of us have fulfilled on our great American road trip:
“Wherever you go, go with all your heart.” – Confucius.

1/17/11 (SALLY)
I just took Skye and Heather to the airport. What a grand journey this has been. I can’t think of a better way to move across the country than our journey the past couple of days. We now go our separate ways; Skye off to Thailand and then on to Wamba, Kenya and Heather back home to Jackson, TN. As for me, well I just changed the flat tire on the White Warrior and took her to the mechanic where I await her diagnosis. Peace.