Feeling like a rock star

I've been slacking on the blogging front the past week, but when it comes to setting up shop in California, I feel like a rock star. :)

Jess helped me move most of the boxes out of the storage unit. I quickly remembered how helpful it always was to have a truck around. We fit everything into the car (in multiple trips of course), but some of the things barely fit in the back seat.

Then Thursday rolled around . . . the official end of the Trip and the day Jess had to fly back home. :( We spent the morning and early afternoon in San Diego, enjoying the heat (over 90 degrees!) and exploring the waterfront.

We had our final FRG meeting Thursday night as well, the first one that I was actually in town to attend. The meeting centered around the boys' homecoming and it served to make us a million times more excited!

As of Saturday the house has furniture, thanks to two of Bryce's friends that are back in California. They were lifesavers, considering I certainly couldn't have lifted most of the furniture, let alone drive the moving truck or put the bed or dressers back together again.

So why do I feel like a rock star you ask? Is it because when I sing and dance around I remind my neighbors (and all passersby) of a superstar? Well, as true as that may be, nope. In addition to furniture, in the past week I have unpacked the entire house, rented a washer and dryer, set up wireless internet and hooked up the cable TV. I ordered a dining room table, and have put together the chairs (still waiting on the table and bench to be delivered). Curtains are up on the windows and frames are on the wall. The house is almost completely decorated and the kitchen is pretty well stocked with groceries. The freezer is filled with muffins, rolls and cookies. Oh, and the DVDs are in alphabetical order... :)

Now all that's left to do is wait. Actually, that's a lie, there is lots more to do, but for tonight I'm going to just imagine that I am all done. :)

California Baby

Well the trip is technically over, but Jess is still with me in California so the vacation continues on. :)


Bryce called at 5:00 this morning, just in time to wake me up. We were able to talk for a while, which was amazing, if frustrating. I left Kyla’s early to head into Camp Pendleton to get new tabs for the car (hello traffic), which of course I couldn’t get. On the bright side, I did get a temporary pass, which means that getting new base stickers are now Bryce’s responsibility (thanks hun. :) ). Then it was off to two different housing offices to get the place set up. At the first I was helped by a woman who was almost from the same hometown. Upon recognizing the area code of my phone number as Washington, she asked where. My vague answer of Vancouver is usually enough to confuse people not from the area, but she asked again where, and it turns out we were town-neighbors. She was helpful and apologetic when it came to explaining why it was taking so long for me to move in, and soon sent me on my way to the next housing office. There, I spent an hour signing my name (and Bryce’s via POA) on our lease agreement. Then, just like that, she gave me the keys and I headed over to check out our new home.


I LOVE IT! The house was renovated in January, new carpets, cabinets, everything. When you walk in the front door, there is a laundry room immediately to your right, with a door to help silence the (currently non-existent) washer and dryer. Next are stairs, and a bathroom on the other side of the hall. If you continue on, you reach a dining / living room, and a doorway to the (big!) kitchen. From the kitchen you can either exit through the garage (also big!) or go out to the patio.





Taking a left at the top of the stairs puts you in the extra bedroom, which I am thinking about finding a desk for so that we have a place to put the printer and wireless router. Next to that is a door to the full bath, which also leads into a back door of the main bedroom. That door leads to two closets, with the bedroom on the other side. From there you can exit out to the main hallway/stairwell. Oh, there is also this random room upstairs. It looks like it could have been a laundry room, except there aren’t any hookups. Unless anyone has any better ideas, I’m thinking of commandeering it as my closet. Bryce can have the other two for uniforms and civilian clothes. :)



After I made my rounds of the house, I began the lovely process of unloading all of the stuff from the car. It’s weird to finally see the backseat again and have an empty trunk.



Jess and Kyla (and Ben!) finally made it over to the house, and we hung out for a bit before heading out to Vista to pick up some stuff from the storage unit. We unloaded the car back at the house, and Jess watched Ben while Kyla ran a quick errand. Once she came back and picked him up, Jess and I made another trip out to the storage unit. The boxes were heavy and awkward, but we managed to fit a few in the car and bring them home. I hope to have all of the small stuff out of the unit by Friday afternoon (we’re taking tomorrow off to have some fun :) ), and then one of Bryce’s friends is going to help me bring the furniture out.



On our way back from the storage unit, we stopped at the Commissary to pick up some groceries. Kyla met us back at the house and Jess cooked up some Mac & Cheese and grilled some chicken on the barbecue. Jess convinced me that it was okay to set the barbecue on the (plastic) table. I’m sure you can see where this is heading…Fortunately nothing caught on fire, but the table is pretty much done for. We also met the some of the neighbors tonight. The wife, Cathy gave the three of us mini pumpkin pies. :) I have a feeling her and I are going to get along well.



With that, it was time to head to bed. I have been trying to organize things all day (which, I might add, is very difficult to do when you don’t have places to put things, like bookshelves or dressers), so the house doesn’t look too bad. I can’t wait until I can get the furniture in here and have a place to put everything. I think I will spend an entire day just putting pictures on the wall.

Day Twenty-Eight - Camp Pendleton, California

We made it!

Alright, we packed up and made it out of the house right on time this morning (7:45). Our first stop (after filling up the gas tank), was Cracker Barrel. Yes, again, but for the last time unfortunately. :( We were meeting Stephanie, a friend of Jessica's for breakfast before we left Phoenix. Breakfast was delicious, as always and we were all stuffed afterwards.

We got on the road by 9:30, and started the trek towards Camp Pendleton. Jess and I took turns driving, and made it "home" by 4:00. Our first stop was Kyla's, since it was on the way and I haven't seen her since I visited a few months back. It was fantastic to see her and baby Ben again. The housing office closed at 5:30, so we left shortly after 4:00 to drive through base. Which I clearly didn't think through, since there was traffic everywhere. Thirty minutes later we made it to housing, where I was told that I didn't have the right paperwork, and needed to go to a different office in a different area of base first. That office was five minutes away from closing, so they pretty much told me I was SOL for the evening (in nicer words, of course). I was royally pissed. I had originally been told that all I needed to do was call the day before I was set to move in (which was today), to schedule an appointment to sign the lease. That was it. I called, left three voicemails before finally getting ahold of someone, who told me that I didn't even need an appointment, I could just show up. I show up...nothing. I was (am) pissed. Plus I cut my finger and the woman looked at me like I was insane when I asked her for a band aid. I had blood running down my finger (TMI, but true), and she acted like she had never heard of a band aid before. Grrr. Oh, and I was reminded that the base stickers on the car are expired, so there's another thing to add to the list.

Fortunately, Kyla is amazing and has a super comfortable couch. I'll be waking up early tomorrow to head down to base to figure everything out.

Well after I became super frustrated, we called Kyla and had her and Ben meet us for dinner at Islands. We were a little mixed up on the location (ie, we ended up at two different restaurants), but we figured it out and enjoyed some delicious hamburgers. Then it was back to bunk down at Kyla's for the night. I can't wait to see the house tomorrow and get everything unpacked and set up! Yay!

Day Twenty-Seven - Phoenix, Arizona

I was awake right around eight this morning, but the rest of the house was quiet so I stayed put in bed (playing solitaire...darn addiction). Jess and Amy woke up around eleven or so, but they had partied a little harder than me the night before so there wasn't much movement going on.

I eventually found the keys and drove to Wal Mart to pick up some milk for my Carnations Instant Breakfast, spotting a picture at a garage sale along the way that I wanted to check out later.

We didn't do much for the rest of the morning, except watch Dexter. I hadn't seen that show before, but it is definitely something I could love. I eventually got Jess out of the house and to the garage sale with me. The picture was of the same painting that we had in one of the hallways of our high school. I loved it then and can't believe I found it on the side of the road. Only $10 too. Definitely worth it.

Jess still wasn't feeling well, so we spent the next few hours in the house laying low. When we finally headed to her other cousin's house, it was after 5:00. Once there, we played with her adorable dog, some sort of pit bull mix I would guess, and got ready to find some dinner. We decided to see a movie (Life As We Know It) and headed to Macaroni Grill near the theater for dinner first.

The movie was fantastic! It stars Katherine Heigl and Josh Duhamel as godparents who are forced to work together to parent the orphaned baby of their two best friends. Oh, and Josh Lucas is also in the movie (love him and his accent) - he was the leading guy in Sweet Home Alabama.

And with that, I'm off to bed. We leave early tomorrow morning for breakfast and then hopefully to Camp Pendleton in time for me to sign the lease for my house. :) I can't wait!

Day Twenty-Six - Phoenix, Arizona

Jess snoring kept me up pretty late last night, but I was still awake before her at 8:00 this morning. We rolled out of bed, halfway packed, and headed down to enjoy the hotel's continental breakfast. We caught up with one of the other guests that we met last night and chatted with him for a little while. Him and his wife had flown into Vegas from Buffalo, New York and had rented a car for the trip.

We made it out of the hotel by 9:30 and headed towards the Grand Canyon. I took a nap in the car, and before I knew it we were at the gate paying $25 to get into the park. I don't mind paying to get in, but I hate having to buy a seven day pass when I will only be in the park for an hour or so. Like every other park we have been to on this trip, Mather's Point was under construction so we had to go to a different lookout point. It seems obvious, but the canyon is HUGE. There really isn't any other word to describe it. Informational boards posted answers to commonly asked questions. One of the most commonly asked ones..."how often do people fall over the edge?" The answer..."People seldom fall over the age. Those that do fall seldom survive the original 300 foot drop." Power of positive thinking, right? We crossed to the other side of a barricade and I couldn't help feeling queasy standing so close to such a massive drop. We followed a highway that led along the canyon for a little while, stopping to look at over at the views.

Just a heads up for any future Grand Canyon visitors, fill up the gas take before you get off of the freeway (I think it is I-40). Gas near the freeway was $2.89 (still pretty pricey). We were running on E on the way back down and ended up paying $3.39 (which is still cheaper than the $3.47 we saw right outside of the park). It was ridiculous. Jessica getting cornered by this massive tumbleweed helped distract me from the highway robbery that we encountered at the gas station at least.

We made it into Phoenix by mid-afternoon and relaxed at her cousin's house for a few hours. We eventually headed out of the house to get some dinner (KFC!) and to get some drinks before we went out tonight. Arizona has drive through liquor stores, which means we didn't even have to get out of the car. Ha. I picked up some things to (attempt to) make Washington Apples. This way I can bring the leftovers to California with me and show Bryce the new drink I learned when he comes home. I made some back at Amy's house, but it wasn't as delicious as the ones we had back in Missouri. Oh well, practice makes perfect I guess. After drinks and dinner, we got dressed up and headed to Westgate, a collection of bars near Cardinal Stadium. We started in Margaritaville (I was hoping they would play Fins, but no such luck) and then headed to Saddle Ranch to watch people try to ride the bull. Luke AFB is near here, and there must have been some sort of ball going on tonight. The Marine Corps birthday isn't for another week and a half, but we saw lots of Marines in their dress-blues with girls in dresses and a few sailors dressed up as well. A few rode the bull, and by some miracle none of their uniforms ripped. We chatted with a few airman (not dressed up, the mystery continued), and it was entertaining to see the branch rivalry.

Oh! And I found one of my favorite people...Maverick! He wasn't sure if he was Maverick or Goose, but I told him he should go with the one that survives.

A friend of Amy's showed up with another friend, and we headed back to Margaritaville. I headed outside to get some fresh air, and wound up wandering around the complex for the next hour or so. People were surprisingly friendly, and I enjoyed seeing all of the different costumes. While wandering, I found a sailor (an actual one, not a costumed one) that had evidently been abandoned by his buddies passed out on the sidewalk. I woke him up to make sure he was alright, then headed into a bar to find some bottled water. $10 later, I came back out with some water for the (now throwing up) sailor. A police officer had stopped and the guy apparently had his friends coming back to pick up up, so I gave him the water and continued wandering. Word to the wise, drink with friends who will watch out for you. Never having experienced it (and never planning on it), I don't know for sure, but Ron White has taught me not to be drunk in public.  If you don't know that joke, please go rent Blue Collar Comedy Tour.

We finally made it out of there and headed back to Amy's house. We're spending tomorrow in Phoenix too, so we don't have to worry about waking up early. Jessica's camera is currently MIA, but I will add the pictures as soon as it turns up, assuming (and hoping) it does.

Day Twenty-Five - Flagstaff, Arizona

Sleep last night was nearly impossible, and by 7:00 I had had enough of the freezing cold and the rock hard ground. We packed up and were out of there before 7:30. We headed out of Albuquerque and started the trek out to the middle of the desert, to Four Corners Monument. We stopped at a Subway (you would not believe how many Subways we have seen this month) for breakfast, and ended up waiting over forty minutes for them to bake the bread (apparently we misunderstood the woman behind the counter when she said "twenty seconds"). The manager was apologetic and gave us each a five dollar certificate (officially the best part of New Mexico). I have never felt more unwelcome in a place in my life. We were on a reservation and the other customers acted as though we were trespassing. The feeling continued through the rest of the day.

We finally made it to Four Corners. My cousins Stevie and Charlotte had warned us that it wasn't much more than a plaque in the middle of the desert, and they were right. The intent behind it was cool, being able to stand in four states at the same time, but the experience wasn't much more than that. We had to pay $3 for each of us in order to get it; which isn't much unless you consider that the only thing there is a plaque and some stands selling Indian wares. We skipped the bathrooms...too dirty, and headed back to the freeway and to lunch.

We weren't expecting to cross into Pacific Time for a few more days, the line borders southern California, but we shortly realized that Arizona doesn't follow daylight savings time, so we were equal to west coast time.

We were passing people like crazy on the highway, but this truck managed to stay close. Kinda creepy, right?

We finally made it to Flagstaff (4:00 ish local time), where we were staying at a decent hotel, with a POOL! And more importantly, a hot tub! We checked in and unloaded the car before heading to CVS to pick up some shampoo, conditioner and razors (yay, razors!). Then it was time to shower and check out the pool. The pool wasn't heated, but I spent some time swimming around before joining Jess in the hot tub. I LOVE hot tubs. It was the perfect ending to the day, even though the day wasn't nearly over yet. We headed back up to the room to relax for the next few hours, no more excitement for us tonight. Jess eventually ordered pizza for dinner and we stayed settled in for the night.

Day Twenty-Four - Albuquerque

For those of you paying close attention, yes, we are now a day ahead of schedule. We hadn't heard anything especially good about Amarillo (sorry for any Amarilloans out there), so we passed right on through and continued on to New Mexico for the night. We'll make up the day with an extra one in Phoenix, where I hear rumors that temperatures are in the eighties and Jessica's cousin has a pool.

We were out of the campsite and headed to Cracker Barrel (no dinner equals big breakfast) by 9:30 this morning. As usual, Cracker Barrel was welcoming and friendly, with good food. And I finally beat the peg game that they have at every table, at every Cracker Barrel.

We then backtracked into downtown Oklahoma City to see the Oklahoma City National Memorial; the site of the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. I studied the bombing back in middle or high school, and have wanted to see the memorial ever since. For those of you who aren't nerdy (and morbid) like me, I'll give a little back story. On April 19, 1995 Timothy McVeigh left a moving truck packed with explosives at the base of the building and took off. At 9:02, the bomb exploded, destroying the building and leaving 168 people dead, 19 of them children under the age of 6 who were in a daycare center inside of the building. It was the most destructive terrorist attack on American soil (up until September 11, 2001), and remains (to the best of my knowledge) the deadliest homegrown terrorist attack. McVeigh planned the attack because of what he believe was a mishandling of the incidents at Waco (Texas) and Ruby Ridge (Idaho). I'll leave research and subsequent opinions of those incidents to you, because I don't think that they will muddle the point. Regardless of how the government handled the previous incidents (right or wrong), it was not the direct fault of anyone inside that building. Timothy McVeigh was disturbed and just plain crazy. I don't know how you can intentionally kill that many people, with so many children, without being crazy. If I remember correctly,  his primary target was the ATF (the agency most involved in the prior two incidents), one of the agencies with a branch in the building.

Timothy McVeigh was caught and executed by lethal injection in 2001.

The memorial is especially poignant when you consider its location. It is located on the grounds of the former building, but more noticeably, it sits right at the edge of a busy downtown. You can walk on to the upper level of the memorial, which includes the seals or logos of the agencies and companies that were housed in the Alfred P. Murrah building (I want to say there were 14 of them; including the Marine Corps, Army, US Postal Service, AFT and the DEA, among others). The upper level also looks down over the rest of the memorial.

The memorial is bordered by two double gates. The gates are doubled to give you a moment to mentally prepare yourself to enter the memorial, or to enter back into the rest of the city. The eastern set of gates has 9:01 written above the doorway, the minute before the bombing occurred. The western set of gates has 9:03 written above the doorway, the minute that healing began. The space directly in between the gates holds a reflecting pool. Walking around the pool, you pass some of the walls of the foundation of the original building. Names of survivors are etched into stone, categorized by the agency or company they worked for or were visiting.

On the south side of the reflecting pool lies the Field of Empty Chairs. Each chair symbolized one life lost in the bombing; large chairs for the adults, small ones for the children. The chairs are bronze, and sit on a light rather than legs, so at night it appears that they are floating above the field. 171 names are etched into 168 chairs. Three of the people killed in the bombing were pregnant women, the names of their unborn children are inscribed beneath the names of the mothers. The chairs are organized into 9 rows, to represent the 9 floors of the building. Each person's chair is arranged by the floor they were on, the agency they worked for or were visiting, and then alphabetically by last name. There are five chairs separated from the rest on the west end. These represent the five people outside of the building that were killed by the blast. According the a park ranger, the chairs symbolize the empty chairs at the dinner tables of families who lost a member in the bombing.

On the north side of the reflecting pool lies the Survivor Tree and the Rescuers' Orchard. The Survivor Tree was originally in the middle of an 80 some car parking lot. The cars were damaged, thrown about, and many caught on fire during the blast. No-one expected it to, but the 75 year old oak tree somehow survived and continued to grow. It was renamed the Survivor Tree because of the hope and perseverance that it came to represent for the survivors. You can still see the char marks on the tree from where it caught on fire. Surrounding the Survivor Tree is a collection of young trees planted for the memorial. Oklahoma redbuds (the Oklahoma state tree) are the closest to the Survivor Tree, and represent the Oklahomans that were first on the scene. Various other flowering or fruit-bearing trees are spaced farther out to represent all of the other rescuers. The trees appear to be charging to the assistance of the Survivor Tree.

The north edge of the memorial (immediately behind the Survivor Tree) is flanked by the former Journal Record Building, which sustained damage during the bombing. The building was repaired, but in a way to still show where it was damaged. The roof lifted off and collapsed, you can still see the jagged edge of the brick wall. One fire escape was completely torn off the wall, with the exception of one support. Another fire escape had different levels blown off. The windows are filled in with black bricks to represent the blown in glass. The Journal Record Building now houses a museum dedicated to the tragedy.

Exiting the memorial from the west gate, you see part of the original chain link fence that was erected immediately after the bombing. Mementos are periodically removed and sent to the archives, as more are constantly being added. Cards addressed to multiple family members lost in the bombing bear childrens' handwriting, "Happy Heavenly Birthday." Poems laminated to protect against the sun and rain bear witness to visitors from all of the country and world, "we all died a little that day." Biographies and photographs of the children killed included one who had just reached his third birthday, his grandparents wrote that he was just starting to grow into his personality. If you have learned anything about me from reading this past month, it should come as no surprise that I was crying at this point.

The memorial was unsurprisingly sad, but also gave a good deal of hope. The memorial was completed in about 5 years, which seems like an incredibly short amount of time to get agreement and approval on anything. Submissions for the design came from all 50 states as well as countries around the world. As the park ranger explained, terrorism isn't just about taking lives, it is a method of communication. The memorial was a way for the world to reject this mode of communication, and that they would not be pinned down by terror.

However, the attack still forced changes. The current federal building is sprawled out and lays low, maybe only two or three floors tall. It is set back away from the roadways. Purchases of explosive-making materials are monitored (McVeigh used ammonia nitrate, found in fertilizer, to make the bomb).

Well, that was our cue to head back to the car and get out of dodge. Downtown Oklahoma City was heavily under construction, but even with that, I was a big fan of the city. The roads were wide downtown and signs clearly directed you to where each of the tourist stops, art centers, concert halls and other public attractions were located. Plus, I fell in love with the billboards in Oklahoma...

Amarillo wasn't much to write home about. The "Yellow Rose of Texas" seemed like so many other cities stretched out along freeways, only Amarillo also had cow farms (probably butcher farms, :( but I try not to think about that) nestled alongside I-40. By the time we hit the middle of BFN in New Mexico on I-40, it was almost 4:00 (oh, and we hit Mountain Time, so the phones said 4, but our internal clocks said 5), I was starving and all of the roadside towns had died. We tried to stop for fast food in one, the KFC was closed and GPS directed us to a Pizza Hut that had disappeared off the face of the earth. We finally stopped at a gas station, hoping for milk (to drink my carnations instant breakfast, or lunch in this case), or if I was really lucky, a package of raw top ramen. All we got was a tank of gas at $2.89 a gallon (compared to $2.47 in the last major city...yes, we were robbed), and dirty bathrooms. The gas station store and "grill" contained nothing but candy, chips, soda and cookies. Usually I would deal, but I've already bought a dress for the USMC birthday ball in January (yes, delayed), and I'd like to fit into it which means no gas station candy bars. So I grabbed a Monster (so much better, I know) out of the trunk and we headed out. I'm sure you can imagine my fantastic opinion of New Mexico at this point of the trip.  We finally made it to Albuquerque at 8:00 local time, I was shaking (yay for caffeine on an empty stomach), but we picked up some Domino's and headed to the campground. (And yes, I am well aware of my twisted food logic.)

The KOA was well-equipped with a playground, which we were conveniently located right next to. Unfortunately playtime had to eventually end, and we set up the tent and crawled inside. Oh I almost forgot to mention New Mexico's one (major) redeeming quality. The sunset here was absolutely breathtaking, even when viewed behind the lines of city lights and mobile homes. I am running low on battery now, but I promise I will stock up on pictures tomorrow. We are (hopefully) going to splurge and stay in a (hopefully) decent hotel in Flagstaff tomorrow, after another day chock-full of driving.

Day Twenty-Three - Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Jessica's alarm went off at 8:00 this morning, but we didn't make it out of the house until 9:30. Jeri's mom made us pancakes and ham, so we had an awesome breakfast and played dinosaur with Ayden before heading out to the car. Bryce called right as we were leaving, but unfortunately Missouri isn't the best place for Verizon service, and I lost the call shortly thereafter.

From there, we drove straight through to Oklahoma, stopping only for gas and for lunch at Chili's. I haven't had Chili's since the day Bryce left (when a few of us girls went out for lunch/drinks and pedicures). He introduced me to their queso, which is probably the best dip ever. Well, with the exception of Catherine's chili dip and the Turner family clam dip. So maybe it is the best dip you can buy at a restaurant, yeah, that's about right. We drove around the boonies of Oklahoma City for about an hour (45 MPH feels like crawling after the 75 MPH limits on the turnpikes. Did I mention that we passed back into toll road country? Well we did, I'm not sure where the logic for bringing aforementioned 75 (plus) MPH traffic to a standstill to pay $4 comes from, but whatever, at least I don't live here and have to do it everyday. Back to the timeline at hand, we made it to the KOA by 6:00, checked in and set about putting our campsite together. Somewhere between Ohio (the last time we used the tent) and here, one of the tent poles lost an end, you know, the ones that the keys of the actual tent hook into...the important ones? We dug the pole into the ground and tried to secure it with a stake, so I'll let you know tomorrow if it collapses on us tonight or not.

For now, we are sitting inside a lodge thing, waiting on our clothes to finish drying. Word to the wise for anyone planning on taking a road trip (or moving to a college dorm for that matter), pack quarters. And then don't spend them on anything else but laundry. Fortunately the camp stores have been open whenever we've needed to get change for dollars, otherwise we'd be stuck.

I didn't get a chance to write down many observations over the past couple days when we have been in the (not deep) south, but I've made a couple.  First, and most obviously, accents. Where I'm from (Jess too) people do not have accents, or if you have to call it an accent, it is a neutral one. I was chatting with someone from Arkansas a night or two ago and debating this. He called it a "proper" accent (I'm pretty sure he was making fun, but eh). I had to ask him to repeat half of our conversation because I couldn't always catch what was being said. I do love southern accents, but I am excited to be around people whose speaking I can clearly understand. :)

Further on in this conversation I was referred to as a Yankee (again, I'm pretty sure this wasn't a compliment). I can't agree with this at all. Washington wasn't anywhere near being a state during the Civil War. If anything, we should be frontiers(wo)men or pioneers or something. I came closer to winning this argument when I suggested that grouping all northerners together would mean that we could put all southerners together, thereby grouping him (a conservative if I ever met one) with liberals in California.

On another note, I was shocked in Nashville when the people we were talking with did not know who Chris LeDoux was. We were headed to a bar called the Cadillac Ranch (which I would think is named after the song, but I'm not positive) and they had never heard of him, either as a singer or as a rodeo rider. I was quizzed in Missouri to see if I knew who John Wayne was (I would think everyone would know that...).

Day Twenty-Two - Poplar Bluff, Missouri

Today was as laid back as we had hoped. I only slept in until 8:30 or so, but went into the living room and flipped between watching CSI and cartoons (my favorites: Scooby Doo and Tom & Jerry) until Jess woke up shortly after noon. Then we showered and slowly got ready for the day before heading into town to get the oil changed on the car. My legs were still pretty sore (I believe from dancing in Nashville), so I dug out my Flexall (basically IcyHot) and boy did that make a difference. I shouldn’t have to whine about it at all tomorrow.

By the time we made it back to Jeri’s house, they were already back from St. Louis. We headed back into Bullwinkle's to see Keri Ann (the amazing bartender from the day before). After all, we are in Central Time and it was 5:00. She had made (and won) an informal bet on the football game the night before, and the funniest thing was when she told one of the regulars that his “Tony Homo lost the game for them last night.” Jeri, Jess and I couldn’t stop laughing at that one. I asked for a glass of water and Jessica requested a surprise so Keri Ann made us each a Grasshopper. I’m not sure what all goes into the drink, but it was a delicious, minty, creamy, green-colored concoction. She followed that up with a shot called a Caramel Apple. I thought it tasted similar to the drinks last night, just stronger, but they didn’t as much to Jess. Either way, the shot tasted just like the caramel apple suckers. During all of this we were picking out songs on the jukebox, with the help of a couple of middle-aged gentlemen from the next table over. We ended up with a eclectic mix of country, classic rock and pop (one of the men was a Katy Perry fan). Jess and I also each got a shotglass from Bullwinkle’s, and I’m pretty excited to add that to my (recently started) cup collection. I have a martini glass from the Hard Rock Cafe in Niagara, a pilsner glass from the National Mechanic in Philadelphia, two mason jar mugs from the Stage in Nashville and now a shotglass from Bullwinkle’s in Poplar Bluff. All places that we have had a memorable time at on this trip.


From there we headed to Kroger (I believe the Eastern/Midwestern substitute for Fred Meyers) to pick up some stuff for dinner. Jeri had offered to grill some steaks, so I bought the steaks and some corn on the cob. It was delicious! I am a huge steak-lover (how could anyone not be?) and this was very good. I haven’t had corn on the cob in a while, but it was the perfect complement.

After dinner we hung out with Ayden and Jeri’s mom before heading into Buffalo Wild Wings for karaoke. Jess and I didn’t brave the microphone, but Jeri is quite a good singer. Buffalo Wild Wings also makes quite a good Patron Mango Lemonade with (you guessed it) Patron, mango puree, lemonade and club soda. Jess got a Lemon Drop, but neither of us would recommend that. Her next drink was a Screwdriver, which apparently was pretty good. After Jeri had sung a couple of songs, we headed back out to Bullwinkle’s one last time before Jess and I leave town.

Day Twenty-One - Poplar Bluff, Missouri

*pictures to be added at a later date*

Jess ignored her alarm this morning and I slept through any and all noises, so we had a decently pleasant wake up around 9:30 this morning. Bryce had also called early in the morning, and talking to him helps me sleep much better. We picked up our stuff and were ready to head out by 10:15 or so. Jessica's Uncle Brian had left out a note and some food for breakfast and road snacks, so Jess grabbed a bagel and I grabbed some chocolate peanut butter cookies (who was I to even try to resist their chocolaty, nutty goodness?) and we loaded up the car.

From there, we headed down to Louisville (pronounced Lou-ah-ville, according to the people we met in Nashville and data collected from random passerbys). The giant baseball bat (the world's largest, I am inclined to believe), marks the entry into the Louisville Slugger Factory and Museum. Entry into the museum includes a tour of the factory and was only ten dollars...so worth it. The factory tour actually takes you into the working Louisville Slugger Factory (unlike the Hershey's Chocolate Factory tour - which, while fun, does not actually show you the candy being made). The tour guide speaks in a voice reminiscent of game day announcers, beckoning you to the start of the tour and instructing you to stay in between the yellow lines, do not touch any of the machinery (duh...) and lets you know that photography inside the factory is not permitted (insert *sigh* here). All (wooden) Louisville Slugger bats come from 80,000 acres of maple and ash forests on the border of Pennsylvania and New York. The forest is maintained by the company and is considered to be one of the best hardwood forests in the world. The trees are allowed to mature for approximately eighty years before they are cut. The trees are then cut into billets, cylindrical pieces of wood about 42 inches long and three inches in diameter. At this point, the wood is inspected to determine what type of bat it will be used for. The highest quality wood is used for professional bats, then commercial bats (what we would buy in retail stores) and then mini-bats. Originally, a billet would be secured to a device that would spin the bat while a worker would sand the bat down to the desired dimensions. Shaping bats this way would take approximately 20 minutes per bat (which still seems impressively quick). We were able to watch a demonstration of this, and it was indeed impressive. Now, however, machines allow bats to be made much quicker. A different, more complicated, computerized machine makes the professional bats, engineering them to within 1/100 of an inch of the requested model (less than the thickness of two slips of paper). Up until this point, the bats still maintain a stub on either end which allows them to be sanded without damage to the bats. Once they are sanded, the stubs are removed and the ends sanded smooth before they are branded. A brand is heated up to 1,300 degrees before the bat is rolled across it. The Louisville Slugger logo is placed on the point where the grain of the wood makes a "V." This is the weakest part of the bat, so for all of you budding baseball stars, hit with the logo facing up, so that the ball strikes the strongest part of the bat - where the grain is straight and closer together. Depending on the type of wood, the bat is either branded or a logo sticker is added. I believe it was maple that was too brittle and would not handle the high temperatures without cracking. The branded bats are sanded again to remove excess char, and then dipped in the paint or lacquer of choice. On our way out of the factory, we were each given a complimentary mini-bat to take home with us. Pretty cool for only a ten dollar entrance fee.

The museum itself include famous bats of the past 125 years (approximately how long the company has been in business for) as well as photos and quotes from baseball greats. We were able to hold (with gloves on) one of the bats that Mickey Mantle used during the 1956 season. The museum also included a batting cage, but we had to save something for next time.

After a quick peak around the gift shop, we headed back to the car and started making our way to Poplar Bluff, Missouri. I was thinking about eating KFC for lunch (since we were in Kentucky and all), but Popeye's has ruined KFC for me, so I held off and enjoyed some top ramen in the car. It is exceptionally difficult to eat without making a mess (at least for me), especially in the car, but I am getting better with practice.

We made it to Jeri's house in Poplar Bluff by 4:30, crossing back into Central Time on the way (Nashville is in Central Time, but our venture to Lanesville, Indiana and Louisville, Kentucky had brought us back to Eastern Time). We met her adorable son Ayden, and left him in the care of her mom while she gave us a brief tour of Poplar Bluff and set us up in the campus library while she headed to class. Which means that we are currently listening to someone's rap music while a sports team (I'm going to guess basketball) sits in some sort of enforced study hall while the coach sits in the back and reminds them to get off of Facebook and do their homework.

Once Jeri was finished with class, we headed to Fazoli's, an Italian fast food chain (another food that just doesn't exist one the west coast). The breadsticks were amazing (and yes, if you're counting, this is the third night in a row for breadsticks), and the fettuccine. From there, we headed out to Bullwinkle's, a unique bar that Jeri used to work at. The place was laid back and fun, and like I said, unique. The walls and ceiling were adorned with all sorts of randomness, from a zebra hide to a pterodactyl. One corner of the bar contained a jail cell with an authentic cell door. We tried a new drink, a Washington Apple (as the bartender put it, we had to come all of the way to Missouri to try a Washington Apple). It was a delicious mix of Crown, Apple Pucker and Cranberry juice that tasted almost like apple cider. I tried to practice my pool skills, but I am still nowhere near decent at that game.

Finall it was time to head back to Jeris house and get some much needed rest. Tomorrow we get to sleep in, so it will be nice to catch up on the sleep that we have missed since Nashville.

Day Twenty - Lanesville, Indiana

By some miracle, Jess and I were awake by 9:00 this morning and managed to pack up and be out of the hotel by 10:00. We headed straight back downtown and found a place to park by the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. The Museum was impressive, it included pictures, video, sound recordings, clothing, instruments and other mementos of famous persons that have influenced the evolution of country music.

Our next stop was lunch, we were both feeling a little off from last night and though that a decent lunch might help. We ended up going back down to Lower Broadway (where all of the bars and clubs are that we were at last night) to Jack's (the place that the police officers had recommended last night). I tried the beef brisket, it was pretty good but the really impressive food was the mac and cheese and the baked beans. The Kansas barbecue sauce was a little sweet, but tasty.

We also went back into The Stage, to pick up some pretty sweet tee-shirts, and a pair of mason jar mugs for me.

Unfortunately, we had heard that the Grand Ole Opry was closed to tours because of a concert, so we started the drive out to Louisville. We passed back into Eastern Time, but only for the night. We made it to Lanesville, Indiana (just across the state line from Kentucky) by 6:00 and found our way to Jessica's Uncle Brian's house. The house is beautiful, I wish Bryce and I were headed this way so we could buy it. :)

The three of us then drove down towards Louisville and found an Olive Garden. Believe it or not (especially if you know me well), this is the first Olive Garden stop on the trip. The Zuppa was delicious as usual, as was the fettuccine.

I was dozing off in the car (huge surprise there, considering I slept less than three hours last night), but once we got back to the house it was time for showers (the hotel room was ghetto last night), laundry and hanging out with Uncle Brian until bedtime.