The Journey Down

Ok, so I have needed to blog for sometime now. We got our internet hooked up last Friday and our household goods arrived today (yay).

Friday - May 4
We didn't start leaving Grand Rapids, MI until about 11am, really should have left sooner. We let the movers in to start loading and finish any last packing, stayed a bit, said some last goodbyes and then left my parents in charge of signing off on our stuff (make sure everything got packed that can move and so on and so forth). Oh yeah and here is a tip if you ever have someone move you, that cannot move liquids (juice, detergent, etc.). I know the full extent of why now too but I'll tell you about that later.

Ok, so we are going along, I told Jesse to pick up speed realizing we are only going about 65. We just break 70 and have to pull over. Ok I know what you are thinking but nope, it was the Audi. Yup, it decided if we go that fast it was going to shake so bad like a tire was ready to fall off (which btw, are brand new). So of course our top speed for the remainder of the day was 65mpr. And oh yeah, we stopped not once but twice for that.

The drive just seemed to last forever. Finally we entered into St Louis, MO, and would you believe it I didn't have a camera in hand when we pasted the arch (so yeah the picture I added I snagged off the internet but gives you an idea of what it looked like as we past it).


We finally got to our hotel at like 9pm cst.

Saturday - May 5
Back on the road. Again, kinda late, like 10am, very bad for that day. Nothing special really that day, just a very long drive. And all of our stops really are what drag us down in time and oh yeah, the Audi not breaking 65 would be another. We finally enter into OK, its evening and we still have a long way to go to our hotel. It was in Lawton. We are tired its late, decide to call and see if we can't switch to something closer, like in Oklahoma City. Yeah, no, all Best Westerns are privately owned. So back on the road since we had reservations and all. We FINALLY arrive into Lawton at 2AM! Oh, of course it didn't help that we got lost a couple times. Like how we got on the wrong turnpike. Like where you need coin change for the unmanned stationed. Another hint, if you don't have exact change for your vehicle type, at least put it in for another size. After throwing in at one point a total of $0.60 for a $0.30 toll, Jesse yelled at me to just go, so I did, and yup, set off the buzzer.

After we got to the hotel I said we just couldn't kill ourselves anymore like that and we are splitting the last day. So I called the next hotel and moved our reservation a day back. The next morning the first city in the middle we found, I called BW and set up a reservation there.

Sunday - May 6
Ok so after making the reservation we hit the road again. Oh and so far we had a free continental breakfast at the first and a hot breakfast at the last. We didn't care and left later, like between 10-11 again. This time we were headed for our next stay in Odessa, TX.

On the way we stopped and ate at the largest McDonald's (or so they say at least). It was the bridge over the highway. I think the kids got a kick out of it. And Jesse took his time checking the weather as that is when the tornados where hitting and being spotted. Don't worry, we actually drove down and around it all, ok, got a little, very large rain drop rain for a bit but that was it.





Our view from our seats:

The McDonald's itself:


Monday - May 7
We get on the road, no big breakfast there, only stuff we brought along. We get about 20 miles outside of Odessa and yup who called it..........Jesse has to pull over. So here we are in NO WHERE LAND with a broken down car. Its nothing that he can't fix but let me say this again, THERE IS NOTHING AROUND. So we called out insurance and they got a tow truck out.

Check it out, where we stopped is amazingly on the map.

He had to be towed back to the nearest city with like an auto store. So backwards, about 40 miles. No one had the part but he was able to patch it until we got to El Paso, uh huh, cost under a $1. Oh and this is all after having to wait over an hour for the tow truck. Back on the road, now really glad we split the last day (and yeah don't worry, we had rescheduled signing for our house). Arrived into El Paso in the evening. Again, I don't have a camera in my hand but as we drive down the highway, on one side is El Paso, on the other Mexico (no lie).

Tuesday - May 8
Finally, the journey is over. After a full nights sleep, get a little something to eat (again a free breakfast), we head on out to the base. More about that in the next blog.