Day 5 – 587.5 miles

We awoke fresh and ready to mark off an ambitious trek to New Mexico, deciding to travel further in one day to give us more time at sites in Arizona. Fort Smith had a great preserved fort on the edge of town, when the Arkansas fort stood guard against the “Indian territory” in Oklahoma. Ironically, this was situated on a Trail of Tears monument. After a fantastic Chick-Fil-A breakfast, we started to climb in elevation to the West. Trees became sparse and we were soon driving through a flat, endless grassland. After a few hours of nothingness, we stopped in Oklahoma City to see the 1995 bombing memorial. Parking across the street, we were struck by the simple beauty of the monument. The eerie beauty hung in our hearts, as we can’t experience someone else’s pain without our own coming back to life. The memorial has 168 chairs, one for each victim within the former perimeter of the Murrah building. Wreckage and the original foundation were preserved to give a sense of the chaos on that April day. (It was April 19th, 1995) After briefly studying specific incidents of car bomb acts of terrorism, it was sobering to witness the results here in America. Along the former foundation of the building is a shallow reflecting pool, with the shadows of the times floating on top. 9:01…9:03. The most unique part of the memorial is a standard chain-link fence eructed in the days following the bombing to protect the cleanup effort. This fence is still strewn with personal items of remembrance and kept in place for that purpose. After April 16th in Blacksburg, visiting these sites has taken a deeper meaning for us. It was difficult leaving. We were silent for a while, until we encountered wind farms. I have never seen these out in the open, and was impressed in their size and number. After Arkansas, we dipped into the Pan-handle of Texas, so AJ got a taste of his home state. It was an awesome feeling driving through Texas knowing that we were ‘driving through!’ Amarillo was a seemingly endless strip of hotels, but we got off on a frontage road to find a grocery store. We greedily ate a half pint of Blue Bell Ice Cream… really just manna from heaven. Unfortunately you cannot buy the brand outside of Texas. It was fantastic! Luckily, we gained an extra hour of driving with the time change to Mountain Time, getting 2 hours behind our native eastern time. We crossed over into New Mexico, and by this point the land had become decidedly more desert like, but grassy still. Large billboards proclaimed fast food and hotels miles in advance, as well as an assortment of native gifts and sites to see. We had run into historic route 66 and would stay along it into Santa Rosa, NM for the evening. We spent the night in the black New Mexico desert, watching a grumbling thunderstorm light up the sky with an impressive array of lightning.

Day Four – 510.3 Miles

Today we trekked out of the long state of Tennessee and through Arkansas. We are staying in Fort Smith, a quaint town only a few miles from the Oklahoma border. Arkansas started off sketchy, as we left the green hills of Tennessee, passed through Memphis, and drove through miles and miles of flat nothingness. Angela was getting bored and AJ was becoming restless when we happened upon the presidential city of Little Rock. They have cashed in on William Jefferson Clinton’s presidency and named much in the city along presidential themes. (Hint…if you want your child to be the President, you should probably make his middle name Jefferson…) Using our Garmin, we were able to easily check out some of what Little Rock has to offer. We visited Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site, where the state and federal government fought over desegregation at the expense of 9 students lives. The NPS had a brand new visitor center, an adjacent park, and a restored gas station. The High School is still in use and is one of the best schools in the state, despite it being the center of a desegregation firestorm in 1957. It is absolutely crazy that we have only had desegregated schools for 50 years, and I think Angela and I both have a false sense of race relations after attending school in Hampton roads. It was too bad we didn’t get to spend more time at the school, learning more about our nation’s history. Even though we didn’t get a chance to spend a whole lot of time there, AJ enjoyed getting out of the car and going on a small walk around the building. The school was constructed in the 1920s, and it is beautiful and well kept. Angela is convinced that we would learn better in high school and care more if our schools looked nice. After stopping for the essentials, coffee and gas, we got on the road and found the beauty in Arkansas. The rolling hills of the Ozark Plateau provide a great backdrop to any drive and unlike the morning, the time flew by. After finishing Stephen Colbert’s “I am America, and so can you!” audio-book yesterday, we started Bill Bryce’s “ A Walk in the Woods.” “I am America, and so can you!” was awesome and way too short, but we are enjoying Bill Bryce’s account of his journey along the Appalachian Trail. We got to Fort Smith in early evening, found everything we needed in a nice little town, and are now updating our blog and planning tomorrow’s travels.

Day Three – 409.3 Miles

We started day three to a beautiful Blacksburg sunrise, or late morning sun. A few extra hours of sleep was much needed and welcomed, or the next few days of driving would be miserable. Before leaving the hotel, we completely repacked the trunk, as the car had been driving with an obvious pull to the right. Forty-five minutes later, as we closed the trunk, three guys in the parking lot cheered for us. It made me smile…and it made me sad that we were leaving Blacksburg for more than six months. We began our goodbyes to Blacksburg by stopping by Angela’s old office in University Studies. AJ enjoyed the attention, and tried to make everyone feel bad that he was stuck in the car for so long. We then made the slow walk across the drill field to stand in front of Burruss to remember our friends and our community. After stopping by the memorial, Angela had to go shopping downtown for some final Hokie items followed by an awesome Jimmy Johns sandwich! And then we were off! Seven hours later we were in Nashville. Driving along the “Music Highway,” headed out west. Tennessee has generally been stressful for Angela and I, as the tractor-trailers drive like NASCARs, swerving in and out of traffic. We have actually passed through Tennessee several times since we met, but have rarely had much reason to stop, except for a wedding a few summers ago. Nashville is nice, and seems like a good place to spend some time. We stayed south of downtown in a Holiday Inn with a good pet policy. We enjoyed an awesome Chick-fil-A dinner, complete with sweet tea, as we are leaving the South and San Diego doesn’t have an abundance of Chick-fil-a’s. After dinner, Angela applied to a job and worked on a paper for school while I crashed. AJ is starting to get upset with car travel after only two nights in a hotel...

Day Two – 365.7 Miles

We are actually moving out west to California!! It still hasn’t really hit in, but we are really excited. Day two just felt like another trip to Blacksburg, not a stop on the way to the west coast. Blacksburg is such a special place for us, and it really was a necessity to stop there to say goodbye. Unfortunately, we got off to a really late start, as James was still feeling awful, and we were debating about waiting one more day to get on the road. But, the reality is that sick or not, James has to report on July 8th, and we had to get going! We had dinner plans with friends in Blacksburg, but we had to push them back to desert at 9:30, as traffic was awful and we ended up stopping by the farm for dinner. was great saying goodbye to Grandma and Grandpa, as we hadn’t seen them in over a month. And I absolutely love the farm and I am going to miss it like crazy! We were exhausted by the time we got to Blacksburg, and after a last meal at Macados, we crashed in our hotel that had a gorgeous view of the Blueridge Mountains!

Day One – 0 Miles

Though we had been planning to get on the road on Saturday at noon, we ended up at the doctors instead, as James had developed quite a sore and swollen throat. In the entire time that I’ve known James, I think this is the second time he’s really gotten sick, which is kind of ironic.He started feeling bad late Friday afternoon, and when he could barely swallow anymore, I began to get a little bit nervous. It’s actually quite a hassle to get an appointment for an active duty person once they have departed from their duty station, but we were able to get one at 2:45 on Saturday afternoon. Though it pushed us back an entire day of traveling, it was so important that he get better before we began our trek across the entire country. The doctor didn’t really know what was wrong, although he muttered something about the swamp fires causing irritation, but he gave him lots of drugs, and they have seemed to be helping. It was actually wonderful getting an extra night in Virginia Beach, as I had been going non-stop in my Linguistics class, and I was giving my presentation on Saturday morning. By the time Saturday afternoon rolled around, I really wasn’t ready to jump into a car and drive for days and days.It was nice to have the opportunity to get dinner with my family and Jamie and Benjamin, because even though we lived there, our schedules have been so crazy that we really haven’t had a chance to see them. James’ sickness was actually a blessing in disguise! And he can actually swallow again now…yay!

Gringos!!

I am back from an AMAZING time in the Dominican Republic, and I can't wait to share all of my experiences with all of you. Thank you so much to everyone who helped fund my trip. I won't have a full listing until August, so until I can thank you personally....thank you from the bottom of my heart! <3 I am in an intensive Linguistics class this week (and by intensive I mean every day all day and all night and I can't figure out how to transcribe...yay!) so I really have no time to share my stories and experiences. The move is also interfering with my sharing, but trust me, as soon as I get a chance, I will fill everyone in! God bless!

Dark Hollow Falls

No Mas Saturn

The Saturn is no longer in our ownership. We sold her to a couple who just needs it for a few years, and got more for it than a dealer would have bought it for. With one car, we are set to be an eco-California crazy. Not really. Okay...maybe Angela.

Angry Bohemian Photographers strike again!

While on a merry hike with the family in Virginia’s historic National Park, we came upon a group of photographers competing for picture time with a picturesque waterfall. While young Colin learned how to slow a hiking trek to a crawl through his frolics in the stream, the photographers were visibly shaken at the sheer volume of visitors at the site, interrupting their images of nature. But what is nature? Sure the waterfall was natural, but was it wild? Man had inhabited the area for centuries, and had mined, farmed, hunted, and cultured orchards in the vicinity. In the 20th Century, THE MAN came down on already economically depressed property owners and claimed their land was too beautiful for them to possess it. But I digress; the photographers became increasingly annoyed to the point of sighing loudly and ceasing from picture taking with other visitors enjoying the serenity of the place. I surmised that one photographer may have lost some expensive equipment in the falls and was simply upset. That may be, but true bohemians would have lit up a doobie and claimed it was all part of the experience. We then traversed a less crowded trail to a tall summit (over 1200 meters) and experienced a rat infested shelter where Dad G spent the night once while hitchhiking throughout VA during the last great gas crisis. There were majestic views of New Market Gap, Luray, and other summits in the park from this vantage point. It is also noteworthy in that Colin led the trek, leading us straight to Bambi’s mother. That will be another life lesson for him.

NEWS FLASH!

“Ladies and gentlemen, can I please have your attention. I've just been handed an urgent and horrifying news story. I need all of you, to stop what you're doing and listen. Cannonball!”
Maybe we just love Anchorman more than anything in the world Ron, but it is a fantastic movie. There is a scene about a squirrel that can water ski, so in honor of the Channel 4 News Team we experimented to see if poodles can float. Lizzie is an able swimmer at home in the pool. After crossing the Rio Grande, AJ has developed a fear of water, and took some time to get used to swimming. He enjoys riding on the boogie board, particularly before we got him groomed and he needed to cool off. The pictures you see are the result of several pool attempts.We even bought AJ a life jacket in case we are ever out in a boat with him. Lizzie, for all her faults, has braved the frigid waters of Lake Superior and is actually better than AJ at something other than begging. I swear she could be a circus dog. I saw her clear a 2 foot bag to get a bone today.

Geometric Buildings

Growing up in Bad Newz we drove by a golf ball shaped house, and thinking this one was particularly unique imagine my surprise when later in life I discovered that houses come in many shapes and sizes, like people! My parents rented a round house in the Shenandoah for the long Memorial Day weekend, which ended up being among the first ski cottages built in the resort area. The house has likely seen its share of awesome parties due to a unique design. The bottom half of the house was obviously designed for entertaining. Angela noticed recent renovations had taken out an old loft open to the spacious bottom floor where a pool table had been, evidenced by the existing pool stick closet 6 feet up the wall. The center of the house is transported by a large, circular stairway. We had to bar a certain toddler from playing on this, but it would have taught him about round stairs versus normal stairs. His world has already been shaken to the core. Given this house’s location at a ski resort adjacent to JMU and the greater Harrisonburg area, I can foresee this house being a great real estate investment for renters. Angela and I would love to invest in a venture such as this one day, essentially a sure fire investment with minor improvements, given gas stays below 200 euros/barrel. Perhaps we’ll purchase a triangular building, like the hot dog kings on the Peninsula, or a patriotic pentagon, or even better, a red octagonal building that just screams “STOP!”

2 Years!

Two years goes by fast. We have lived at 5 different addresses since we wed, and traveled many miles and seen many things. But we have seen how great our relationship is and how awesome it is to hang out with your best friend everyday!

Government Outing

Last week I headed with my Navy training class up to our nation's capital for an up close look at the alphabet agencies that help keep our country safe. It was a good networking tool for us when we get to the fleet, but was also a welcome change of pace from our cold, windowless classroom. We stayed at Bolling AFB, right on the Potomac. The trip was typical of many in government, poorly executed. We nearly left people in Virginia Beach and did not have enough transportation for everyone... But it worked out. I got to see Screech and Tall James as well. After a particularly long day, a few of us took a stroll around the Mall to see the sights. I had not seen the WWII memorial yet, so that was neat. The Pentagon was my favorite tour. We were led on a 9/11 tour of where the plane hit, which was particularly touching as a Navy work center was among the worst hit. The building is immense with well over 20,000 people working there each day. We left DC around 2pm to hit Hampton Roads just in time for summer rush hour... good idea!

Pat Robertson and Al Sharpton

Miss Bianca and Bernard

Ever since I watched the Rescuers as a little girl, I’ve always wanted to go boating through a swamp. I think that movie also encouraged me to want to adopt a child one day…I mean…who wouldn’t want a little Penny with pig tails? It’s amazing how influential movies are in children’s life…I mean…just watch Happy Feet. Doesn’t it make you want to save the penguins and save the earth? And the Lorax? Who doesn’t love the Lorax?

"I am the Lorax. I speak for the trees.
I speak for the trees, for the trees have no tongues.
And I'm asking you, sir, at the top if my lungs"-
he was very upset as he shouted and puffed-
"What's that THING you've made out of my Truffula tuft?"

(Mary…you HAVE to read this book!) Perhaps it’s because I grew up in California to be an environmentally conscious liberal, and their classroom agenda is to encourage us to be tree huggers! And I probably love adopting dogs because of Oliver & Company. Cartoons corrupted me! Anyways…the Rescuers was released in 1977, six years before I was even born, yet it is one of my favorite movies of all time. So last weekend, I finally had the chance to canoe through an awesome swamp! James and I drove down to Merchant Mills Pond in North Carolina (which is a little less than 40 miles from Virginia Beach) and enjoyed a few hours out on the water. The swamp was surreal, like something out of a movie. The peace and quiet was intense, and as you listen to the birds and the bugs, you can easily get lost in the eerie beauty of the moss and green water. The spiders in the canoe didn’t even bother me, and I enjoyed watching them scatter about the water lilies. We saw lots of sunbathing turtles, lots of bugs, majestic birds, some fish, and an adorable little red frog. There were signs for alligators, and I was hoping to see one, but unfortunately we didn’t cross paths. There is something really special about moss hanging off of a dead tree reflecting in a calm pond on a late spring day. We could have spent hours out there on the pond, but work beckoned us back to the suburbs. North America is a blessed continent geographically, and we are excited to leave one coastal plain to see mountains, Great Plains, desert, and a southwestern coastal new home!

GO WEST YOUNG MAN

"Go west young man, haven't you been told
California's full of whiskey, women and gold
Sleeping out all night beneath the desert stars
With a dream in my eye and a prayer...
In my heart"

Ever since I met Angela, she has always raved about how great the state of her birth is. We are just weeks away from heading to California, and we are getting excited. Other than finding a place to live and learning to navigate a new city, we have much to do here first. However, I am just glad to finally get to do some real work. Among the best aspects of being in the military is the ability to move often, between jobs and cities if you so choose. Getting paid to move across the country is awesome! We are planning to visit several national parks, including the Grand Canyon, the Painted Desert, Montezuma’s Castle, and steakhouse in Amarillo, TX. Yes, we are traveling through Texas again, but this time we are hitting up the pan-handle. We are excited about our route as I have rarely been out west and I have never ventured as far as California.