Deserts and mountains and bays...

... oh my!

(To the tune of "lions and tigers and bears...")

That's right, we finally made it today to California! We were excited when we got up this morning, knowing that we were going to be driving about 100 miles less today than any other day and thinking that it would take us less time. We forgot, however, to take into account going over mountains as well as hitting city traffic during rush hour. It took what felt like forever to make it here tonight. But we did, and we are safe.

Dad started out the day how all days in the state of Nevada should begin: at a casino.

... just kidding! The picture sure makes it look like it's true, though. This was just your regular truck stop, with a convenience area, an Arby's, gasoline... oh, and of course, a casino (which we did bypass).

After our early morning gas stop, we finally, finally made it into the Pacific time zone -- hooray! That was a sign that the trip was close to being over.

One thing that I didn't anticipate, too, was how beautiful the state of Nevada is! I thought it would just be very flat with nothing to look at but the road and the sand around it. I was definitely wrong, and I was very excited to realize that Nevada was full of mountains/hills like the ones in the pictures below. The natural beauty and the Starbucks at the random stop in the middle of the state definitely redeemed my opinion of/experience in the state.



We stopped in Reno for lunch and ate at a Qdoba. Not eating at a traditional fast-food restaurant after being in the car for so long was like eating fresh, homemade, warm chocolate chip cookies after eating 3-month old, stale, store-bought cookies for a week. Seriously.

My trusty Honda Accord (Peanut) carried us across the state line into California around 3pm, Pacific time.

At that point, I think dad and I were so delerious from all the time in the car that we mentally prepared ourselves for another 2-3 hours in the car.

It definitely took a solid 5 hours, at which point we were both grumpy albeit happy to be safe. We saw a wreck on the Super-Long Highway yesterday in Wyoming (on the other side of the road) where people were being pulled out of cars; after that, we did not take our continued safety on the road lightly.

Despite our collective grumpiness, we saw some cool sites on the way into town, including another windmill farm (this one probably had at least 1000 windmills -- no joke!) and a view of the Bay from a bridge going west.




Overall, the trip cross-country has been amazing and a ton of fun. Dad and I survived 6 full days in very close quarters, and he heads home on Friday. We saw a fantastic sign in Nevada that I kept just missing with my camera. Next to some of the exit signs that advertise towns, about 5 of the stops had "Prison Area; Hitchhikers Prohibited" signs next to the city names. It was definitely a sign that I have never seen before. Also, does anyone know why the state of CA makes you surrender fruit bought in other states? It was weird; I've never before been stopped at an agriculture inspection station on the interstate. Guess there's a first time for everything!

Now that I'm here, your question is what do I do next? The answer: lots of things. Tomorrow's task is getting my car serviced along with just in general exploring the campus and town after taking dad to the airport. For now, I'm just going to bed!

Nevada: 2; Me: 0 (day 5)

Just in case anyone was keeping track, the official score is 2-0 in favor of Nevada. I was very excited to both drive into Mountain time zone as well as out of it in the same day today. I mean, how often do you gain 2 hours in your day when driving? Not often. But sadly the small border town of West Wendover, NV changed back to Mountain time (from Pacific) in 1999. So I did not get to fulfill that dream today. And on top of that, the hotel where we are does not have internet!! Thankfully, dad's work computer has Verizon broadband access, but it's slower than regular wireless (and thus not good for watching streaming videos of TV shows...)

Moving on from my current complaints about the state of Nevada, here is a quick run-down of our day today. We started out in Nebraska with about 175 miles to go before entering the state of Wyoming. I got really excited and managed to get this picture of one of the first signs of topography/hills that I saw! I also thought it was funny that someone put a large cut-out of a coyote on top of the hill.

Soon after that, we finally made it to Wyoming. The cowboy on the sign below is the same as the one on their license plate. As you can tell, it was foggy and misty and nasty for the first few hours of the drive this morning.


After we were past Cheyenne, the weather cleared up and the topography kept getting more interesting. There were a lot of really interesting rock formations in Wyoming, like the two below.

With such a wide open space and a now clear, beautiful day, the clouds were incredible. I know that Montana is supposedly "Big Sky Country," but Wyoming would've come in a close 2nd in that contest yesterday.

The wide open spaces also lent themselves to green energy; we passed several large windmill farms like this one.

I'm not sure if you can read the sign in the picture below, but this picture deserves a caption that says something along the lines of "Wait; what?" It says "Evanston 28 miles; Salt Lake 108 miles". Apparently there is an Evanston in Wyoming, too!

Finally, after driving for what seemed like forever, we made it to the great state of Utah! I was surprised to find that the terrain in the first part of Utah (mountainous, near Park City) was more similar to what I expected to find in the western half of Wyoming, where it was a high elevation but not very up-and-down mountainous. I thought going over the Rocky Mountains would be more like a long, extended version of going over Sewanee, but I was definitely wrong.

Utah also had some really cool rock formations.

While in Utah, my odometer hit 90K miles!! Fingers crossed that it makes it to 100K (unlike the Fiero).

Here's a picture of what we were passing when I reached 90K -- the Great Salt Desert (where part of the Great Salt Lake used to be).

Our one touristy thing so far was stopping at the Bonneville Salt Flats, which you can read about here. Sadly, we were not there on a day that they were racing. Here's a picture of dad...

And one of me... (yes, that's all salt)

After many "are we there yet"s from Dad, we finally made it over the state line, into the state of Nevada, where we stopped for the night.

Here's hoping that the drive across the rest of the state (we have a solid 400 more miles to Reno) is a better experience and that the score at least evens up.

642 miles to go...

Plains states (day 4)

We left at 6am this morning to drive cross-country to California. I was abnormally awake and ungrumpy, but I think it was only because I knew dad (who was driving) needed my help with directions getting out of the maze of Big City interstates and onto the Super-Long Freeway to head west. We started out with a highly nutritious breakfast of champions:

We also were met by an incredible, gorgeous, awe-inspiring sunrise. I got one good picture from the DD parking lot and one other one while driving (looking out the driver's side window -- from the passenger side!); the colors of the sky seemed especially vibrant this morning.

Once we were out of the city, I slept until we hit Iowa.

I decided that the state of Iowa was a kind, friendly state to road-trippers, mainly because the gas was cheap...
... but also because Sonic was an available food choice that was advertised on the interstate boards. Mmmmm, Cherry Limeade!

Next up was Nebraska... which, by the way, did you know that Nebraska is the official home of Arbor Day? That was news to me.

Nebraska has been an interesting ride so far. We've seen everything from beautiful clouds that seemed to scream "quintessential cross-country road trip picture"...

... to a plane on the side of the road that was the "sign" for the Military Vehicle Museum (it's a pretty good picture for being taken while in a moving vehicle, eh?) ...

... to a crazy storm that had a "window" in between the two huge arms. We made it through the window while just experiencing a small amount of rain -- nothing like what was going on in the actual storm.

What else have we seen? Oh yeah, lots and lots and lots of CORN. Here I am, pointing to an old ear of corn on a stalk in the field that is right behind our hotel -- look how tall the corn is:

We did also see a lot of soybeans, so it wasn't all corn, which was nice.

Overall, we drove 758 miles today, and we have about the same plus 20-40 more miles to go tomorrow to get to the Utah/Nevada border. Today was exhausting, but hopefully a good night's rest (my first in a long time) will help us bounce back and be ready to hit the road hard again early tomorrow morning. Thank goodness dad wakes up easily and is happy to drive the first leg each day! We'll travel all the way through the Mountain time zone tomorrow (we're in Central right now and aim to spend tomorrow night in Pacific), so we'll gain an extra 2 hours of sleep tomorrow night, which will be nice. Off to bed I go now...

Days 2-3.

Sunday and Monday were very full, busy, packed, hectic days. Amidst all of the cleaning, organizing, and putting things in order on Sunday, I went to church with J, had dinner with S, and then picked up T at the airport. I barely managed to have everything ready when the packers showed up at 7:30 on Monday morning, but I did (even if it did require throwing stuff into my large closet that was the "do not pack" zone). The packers were gone by 10am; the movers showed up soon after, and they had the truck all packed up by noon. They did in four and a half hours what would've taken me at least a week. Here's a picture of dad, hard at work while the movers were there:
After the movers left with the loaded-up truck, Dad, T and I went to the Best Pancake Place Ever for lunch. It was yummy as always, and the German pancake was bigger than ever:

Day 1.

I've decided that Saturday was the official "Day 1" of the move. That's when Dad showed up to help (thanks!), as well as when the rubber met the road. I had done a pretty good job cleaning out most everything a while ago, but there were definitely still parts of my apartment that required more cleaning out. Which I took care of while sending Dad out on various errands like taking clothes to Salvation Army, taking boxes of books/things that I don't need in California to the post office to be mailed back home, picking up another whole box of garbage sacks at the grocery store, dropping off books to be donated at the library, getting coffee, etc. He likes being useful, and I had a ton of stuff with which he could help! I also sold my bike (I'm going to buy a new one out there), and gave away my long-favorite, well-loved recliner to a couple who's expecting their first baby in 3 weeks. And cleaned. And organized. And cleaned. And organized. All in all, Saturday was very productive. I seriously don't know what I would've done if the electricity had still been out, and I'm glad I didn't have to find out. The funniest part definitely was the look on Dad's face when he first saw the state of my apartment. He apparently had forgotten that the movers were going to PACK my stuff as well as move it -- he thought I'd done nothing! I think he was a little scared; it was funny. He also took a picture of himself on the train ride up here from the airport, which I'll leave you with for now. More to come later about the move, but probably not until Tuesday night when we're on the road.

Dad, the ever-experienced rider, waiting at a stop:

Ugh.

I don't have any electricity, internet, or hot water at home. Due to a huge storm. Not exactly ideal for my last weekend in the Big City when I need to do tons and tons of organizing and cleaning out of my apartment before the movers come first thing Monday morning. Although I guess I'm really thankful that my car didn't get hit by a tree like the one in that picture!

My fingers are crossed that my electricity will be up and running by the time I get home from work today. Otherwise a long weekend will be even longer...

Sharpie headache, anyone?

Yup, I did all of these sticky labels today, plus about 100 more.

Gotta love moving!

This is real.

In less than 168 hours, I will be in the car and on my way out of town. Permanently. (Seven days sounds so much shorter when you put it in terms of hours.) ... I want to make the most of each of those hours and moments between now and then.

I can't believe it's actually happening!

Seventy-four.

That is the number of things on my to-do list for the move. I recognize that averages out to about 10-11/day for the next 7 days, but about 30 of those need to be done on Monday. Ridiculous!

At this point I'm really looking forward to finally being in California. This move has been in the works for over 2 years; I'm excited that it's finally happening and I can stop thinking about it and start living it.

Off I go. I have to do at least 5 of the things on this list tonight...

Preview to the reality

I am currently in the mountains on the east coast for a dear friend's wedding. (More to come on this later, most likely.) Since that's definitely not within driving distance of the Big City, I flew. And despite a grey, cloudy day, I managed to snap this shot of the downtown skyline as we flew past...


Nineteen days from today, I'll be driving out of town -- this time permanently. Scary! Exciting, too.

Seriously?

Is it really going to be this crazy/busy/hectic up until the time I move? I feel like I'm about three steps behind in (almost) every aspect of my life! Sheesh. I mean, I love everything that I'm doing and every one that I'm spending time with, but just this once -- can't there be 36 hours in the day instead of 24 so that I can get everything done? Please?

Moving, part 2

Well, I'm not leaving the Big City for another 4 weeks, but my bed left today. Since I'm moving into a minimally furnished apartment there in California, I no longer needed my wonderful, spacious queen bed (I'll have a twin there) so I sold it to friends who're moving into a house and needed a guest bed. Waking up in my bed this morning was bittersweet. My bedroom does have a lot more room now that all I have is an air mattress! As you can see, I went from this:


... to this:


It's not the Ritz, but it will do well for the next few weeks before I leave. Plus, now I have an air mattress for anyone who comes to visit me!

I think the reality of the fact that I am actually moving in 4 weeks is starting to sink in. I anticipate that they will pass quickly in a whirlwind of activity, despite all my best efforts to stop and savor every moment. Ready or not, California, here I come!

Yikes.

I think that I have completely underestimated the amount of stuff that needs to get done before the big move! If only I was just moving my self and my own stuff and didn't have to think about the equipment that needs to be moved or purchased, the supplies to be purchased and the transportation of frozen samples. However, if we didn't think about all of that, it would greatly increase the downtime on the other end. So if a few hectic weeks here result in a semi-smooth, fast set-up there... then I guess it's worth it. My to-do list for the weekend is frighteningly long, though. My goal is to get all of my personal move stuff (cleaning out, selling, giving away, etc) taken care of by the end of July so that I have all of August to work really hard during the day and play really hard at night. Fingers crossed that this weekend is productive!

Moving, part 1

I moved every single year of college. And sometimes more than once if you count moving into a storage unit at the beginning of a summer and out of it at the end of the summer. While moving that much was definitely never fun, it gave me several chances to go through all of my stuff and decide what was worth keeping.

I've lived in the same apartment here in the Big City for the last three years. By myself. Which means a). I've accumulated a lot of crap; and b). there's been no impetus of having a roommate to make me want to keep things cleaned out for their sake. Thus you can begin to imagine the mounds of stuff through which I find myself sorting.

The biggest, scariest job of all (that I've been putting off) has been my big closet. And when I say big, I mean BIG -- 6 feet deep and 3.5-4 feet wide. I remember looking into that closet when I was looking at apartments to rent and thinking "Wow, that's really messy! I can't believe someone could let their closet get that disorganized. It looks like they just opened the door, threw stuff in, and then shut the door. If I end up in this apartment, I'll always keep that closet clean and neat."

Those were my famous last words. The closet has been a disaster for the last three years.

Until today. I finally decided to tackle it, and several hours later, here it is:


If only I had actually thought to take a "before" picture. But, as you can see, the closet is clean! I'm not quite sure that I'm going to need all of my scarves in California, but I couldn't bear to get rid of any of them just yet.

Next steps re: moving? More cleaning. While I have always loved this apartment for its abundant closet space, I'm cursing it now. Oh well. I have 2 down and 2 left to go, but after surviving the monster, I think I can handle anything!