The Drive

Day 1: Rochester to Casey, IL

Accidentally deleted the post from this day. :(

First day of the drive wasn't too exciting. We took the dogs to the dog park to run around before we left. Matt and his friend Josh took off very early in the morning with the moving truck and we didn't see them at all this day. Stopped at the Hard Rock in Indianapolis. They had barely any city specific pins, and the one I got ended up having 2011 on it instead of 2012!

Day 2: Casey, IL to Clinton, OK

Not sure what time we got on the road, but Susan was still dead tired, so I did the driving. First major stop of the day was St. Louis. We saw the arch on the way in and stopped at the Hard Rock. It was a cute little one, tucked back behind a mall. They had a much better selection of pins.

Susan napping with Baxter and Zoe.

We had been in touch with my brother throughout the day and they had hit St. Louis a little before us. They were taking a tour of the Budweiser factory while we were at the Hard Rock. Since we had the animals, and no real interest in the Bud factory, we kept on going. A few hours later we made a stop in Lebanon, Missouri for some food, a walk for the dogs and the Russell Stover Candy Factory/Outlet. We spent so much time there, that the boys ended up catching up with us. We put some stuff that we no longer needed in the truck and parted ways again. (The truck could only go 75mph, so we were able to go a bit faster than them in certain areas.)






Later that night we stopped in Tulsa, OK for my last Hard Rock of the trip. This one actually wasn't a cafe, but a hotel and casino, so it was located a little outside Tulsa. It was pretty flashy and noisy, but what else do you expect from a casino? In the shop, while talking with the sales girl, I found out that she actually knew where Rochester was and had spent some time there for school. This would be the first in a series of odd encounters Susan and I would have over the next few weeks of meeting people from the area.

Tulsa Hard Rock Hotel and Casino

After grabbing a pin, I got back in the car. I'd actually been driving all day and wanted to see if I could drive the rest of the way, which I did! We made it to our next hotel around 1030pm. Susan had been developing a cold all day, so by this time she was miserable. I unpacked the car and took care of the animals while she got some rest. My brother and Josh pulled in a little later and had a room around the corner.

In general, Illinois, Missouri and Oklahoma were pretty flat and boring. Reminded me of Nebraska an Iowa, but much less corn.

Day 3: Clinton, OK to Las Cruces, NM

Matt and Josh got going pretty early, as usual. Still feeling sick, Susan slept a while in the back of the car while I drove, but we had to switch out after an hour or so because I was getting sleepy. After a little nap, I was back in the driver's seat. By this point, we were on the new Route 66, so there were lots of Phillip's 66 stops along the way to refresh ourselves.

Catching up with our truck!

I had been looking forward to making that left at Albuquerque, but Google Maps has us turn South a little earlier. While we were going through New Mexico, we caught up to the boys in the truck and passed them by. They both had their shirts off and the windows down. They looked like they were enjoying themselves.







Because I didn't know we would be taking this different route, I was pleasantly surprised to see that we were going to pass a National Monument - White Sands National Monument. Not knowing anything about it, except for the fact that it was probably that large patch of white sand I'd been seeing off in the distance, we stopped off to see what it was all about.

 
At first, it didn't seem that impressive. There were a lot of white sand dunes, but there was a lot of scrub brush growing out of it. As we drove further in, though, it became more surreal. The sand dunes were everywhere and the sand was all over the roads. It was like driving on snow covered roads through snow covered hills. At the point furthest into the park, we pulled off and let the dogs run through the dunes. They LOVED it! Zoe even tried to eat it because she thought it was snow.

 In the distance we could also see people sledding down the dunes. We stopped quickly at the park store and I discovered that they were selling sleds and sled wax there! At first I couldn't understand why they would let people do that, but then we figured that it's not like people are hurting the dunes. By the next day, the sand would have swept away all traces of the people and started over!

Somewhere in New Mexico

After White Sands National Monument, we drove through Alamogordo. They do a lot of missile testing there and there were a lot of signs about not driving on the highway between there an Las Cruces if the lights were flashing. Apparently, they still do a lot of testing there and the road closes a couple times a week for an hour or so. Creepy!

Susan and the menagerie, tucked in for the night

Even with the stop at the park, we got in to our hotel at a decent hour. My brother and Josh had passed us up and were already checked in. They borrowed my car and headed out to a bar. Meanwhile, back at the hotel, while walking the dogs, I rolled my ankle badly. It hurt so much that I was half tempted to have Susan take me to Urgent Care. We iced it up and she went out for some bandages for me to wrap it up. It swelled up a lot and made for a very unpleasant evening.

Day 4: Las Cruces, NM to Tucson, AZ - Move In Day!

It was only about a 5 hour drive to get to our new apartment, so we had plenty of time to unload the truck and set some things up. When we arrived, we had to go over the lease and sign the paperwork. We got a look at our new place and were happy that it was a decent place and there was nothing we hated. Once we got the keys, the boys were great at unloading everything.

Now entering Arizona!

Boxes were everywhere, but Susan and I had to go out and procure some furniture. We ended up going to a Big Lots 30 minutes away, because the closer one didn't sell furniture, and then we couldn't get the couch we wanted because they didn't have it in stock. Additionally, even if we picked a different one, they couldn't go out back to the storage area when it was dark, so we couldn't get anything there anyway. We ended up going home empty handed but were pleasantly surprised to find that the boys had set up the bed in our bedroom. They went out for the night to one of the local Casinos and we just settled in for the night in our new home!

More to come about our Arizona adventures!