End of the Journey, but not the Adventure!

Not sure exactly where the time change was, but we realized we missed it when we woke up at 5 instead of 6 in the morning on Monday! Patrick and his dad went back to sleep after their showers since breakfast wasn't available yet, but I stayed up to avoid being the last one ready for once. It paid off in an additional way, since I was able to watch the sunrise over the mountains from the hotel window.

We had a perfect view of the Las Vegas Strip, except for that darn treetop covering up the middle casinos & hotels! It wouldn't have been visible in this photo anyway due to the lack of light, but it drove me crazy how close we were to a penthouse view!

Crossed into CA by mid-morning! But we still needed another 6+ hours of driving North to get to our destination.
Our drive took us through the Mojave desert. We actually saw an Oasis in the distance once too!

A lot of shrubby vegetation inhabited the area, but there were sections of these odd trees too. I'm not quite sure if they're a cactus or a palm derivative since I haven't observed one up close yet.

Now doesn't this seem like a mouth full of cheerios? What an unusual combination of letters!

And sure enough, with our large capacity vehicle and our potted plants in Doris' trunk, we were searched.... But the lady was very nice, just doing her job, and didn't make us jump through any unnecessary hoops. Just needed to open up the back so she could take a look, let her check our botanicals for any obvious diseases or bugs, and make sure our kayaks didn't have any fungi growing in the dents on the bottom. Only took a few minutes, thankfully.

Miles and miles and miles of this, with the occasional abandoned, graffiti-decorated home. First impression: boring. Second impression: apprehension about our new home-state!

We thought there were a lot of windmills in Kansas, but this took the cake! Patrick's mom told us later that this is the largest wind turbine field in the country, able to generate enough power in a year for 300,000 homes. When we drove through these hills, there were more waiting around each bend, and of varying sizes.

Past the windmills, we were surrounded about as far as the eye could see with these tall grass-covered hills. It was so startling (in a good way) after hours of flat, desolate, barren land.

We felt refreshed and relieved to see more dynamic topography, trees, and signs of civilization as we continued our route. And the sign on the left is one of many advertising strawberries, dates, peaches, etc. for sale.

Not surprising, considering all the farmland and vineyards that began to adorn the landscape. That instilled more positive feelings in us, as well!

Sometime between 4 and 5pm Pacific time, we arrived in Merced! Initial conclusions were the town was definitely more diverse, but not like we're the only white people in town! :) We've seen a pretty good spread of white, Asian, Hispanic, and some black too. Naturally that makes us a little more self-conscious, coming from 97% white Springfield, but all the people we've interacted with at the hotel, restaurants, stores, and the U-haul place (dropped off the car tow dolly; still got the truck) have been very friendly, putting us more at ease.

The town seems average- not too big or too small, rich/poor/middle class sections of town, both chains and independently-owned businesses. And as to be expected, HOT! :) However, it's much more dry out here. The lack of humidity is a mixed blessing since it makes the heat less intolerable, but it's obvious we'll need to use lotion and pumice stones religiously.

And as the title of this post suggests, even though we're here, only one part of our adventure is complete, as we look ahead to house hunting, new jobs, meeting ALL new people, and simply adjusting to the differences of being in California!

Sunday's Tri-State Travels

As we left Utah, we were surrounded again by enormous rock structures- look far ahead on the road and you'll see a semi for scale! It's dwarfed by the mountainous terrain we drove through.

We stopped at a few scenic overlooks just off the highway. The moon has often been quite visible during parts of the day, we've noticed. Seeing it over the cliffs and canyons was picturesque, but this photo doesn't do it justice since the depth of the real scene isn't apparent!

A few members of a family of Najavo descent were selling jewelry they make at these overlooks. I asked Patrick to pick me out one he liked when we were at Dragon Canyon, so I have a nifty souvenir I'm wearing in later photos. :)

Farther west in UT, there were pink-red layers of color in the distant mountains.

It wasn't a free park pass day, but with Denny & Candy's (Patrick's parents) senior pass, we got into Zion National Park for free anyway! Many of the attractions are accessed by hiking we just didn't have time for, but we drove a 5 mile path in the north section that was still enough time for us to see how the park received its name!

This is one of my favorite scenes from our whole trip. I felt like I was observing a landscape in a fantasy movie.

Not just the rock and skyline have changed- so has the vegetation! Not surprising to see cacti in desert region, but definitely intriguing to people not used to it.

There are strange trees out here. These ones just weird me out!

The drive through Arizona was an hour or less, I'd guess, but it was eventful, considering. The road took you through the middle of a giant, gorgeous canyon that words, and not even pictures can depict. But before we had time to enter it, or even get 1 mile into the state, a cop pulled us over! He claimed it looked like U-haul had altered the Arizona license plate on the moving truck and he needed to make sure it complied with the law. Wish he could have made the determination w/o making us park our large vehicle on a slanted shoulder of a slightly more congested portion of highway! Some welcome, Grand Canyon state! :P

At least he let us go immediately, without ticket or any other issue. There was a truck inspection point we skipped upon entrance into AZ (thinking it was only commercial/oversized), and got worried that perhaps the officer considered us to fall in that category, so we were happy to find that wasn't the case.
Nevada still had mountainous terrain, but with seemingly sawed off tops! I'ts amazing how flat and smooth they are.
The haze and the distance created a mysterious and lovely effect that gave a layered look to the mountains.
We arrived in Las Vegas during early evening, and ventured off in search of dinner. It was hard to make a decision, so we walked around a bit first. This ceiling decorated with blown glass was a brilliant distraction along the way.

The first convenient/reasonably priced place to eat we came across was the PBR Rockbar & Grill, which was more money than our typical eatery, but served some pretty good food. Patrick had a side of potato salad we swear was one of the best versions we've ever had. On our way back to the car, we paused for a picture with the Bellagio in the background.


Since that's also where we parked, there was no way we were leaving without watching at least one fountain show. It was a short, slow operatic song that was an elegant and romantic contrast to the busy, party atmosphere around us.

Oh- forgot to mention! What's the other thing you can't leave Vegas without doing? I was determined to at least make one play on a slot machine! :) Patrick gave me $20 to make some luck with, but after it dwindled to $13, I called it quits. Fortunately, his winnings made up for mine and actually resulted in a net $11 profit that was not staying in Vegas despite it happening there. ;)

Saturday, Sept. 25: Aurora, CO to Green River, UT

On our way out of Denver, we experienced a traffic jam....

It doesn't look bad here, but we were stopped enough that the GPS asked us if we wanted to switch to pedestrian mode! :) Once we got past that though, the rest of the trip had much better sites to see than back bumpers. I couldn't put my camera down, as every second it seemed we passed another breathtaking scene!

We were literally driving through mountains! They got much closer than this.


Prettiest rest stop I've ever been at! :) A greenway trail for bikes & scenic trail for pedestrians met up with it.
Also at the rest stop- dipping my feet in the Colorado River! It was freezing and I couldn't bare to keep that foot in any longer!

The scenery gradually changed, but as you can see, it's quite dynamic and full of variety in this area of the country! Just hours after the rest stop, we passed other-worldly rock in Utah that could pass for set designs in the old Star Trek! The sky is such perfect blue, it looks like a studio backdrop.
What perfect timing! A free national park pass day on the day we're near Arches National Park. The drive through the park takes only 45 minutes, but we turned it into a few hours between gawking and picture taking. The structures around us were truly amazing!The 7:15ish sundown came before we could finish the complete tour of the park, and it was another hour or so to our hotel. By the time we were checked in and at a restaurant, it was 9:30 we ate our dinner. Late nights, early morns, long drives, and site-seeing sure have tired us out, but it's been worth it.

There are a ton of interesting photos from this day- I'm overwhelmed by all I saw! I'll have to create a facebook album eventually to share more with you, as this was only a taste of the beauty we experienced two days ago!

Day 3 in Golden, CO

Friday we spent the day exploring the Denver area a bit, starting with Golden, Colorado. It was a charming town, with a historic main street full of little shops, a bike and dog friendly personality, and a mountainous background.

The peak in the back is called Mount Zion. The M was placed by, and stands for, the Colorado School of Mines.The town is home to the Coors Brewery. It's the second largest (Budweiser is first), but has the largest brew-house in the country. We all went on the tour, so pictured above you see Patrick & his mom waiting to be picked up by the bus taking us from the parking lot to the company, with a unique backdrop, beautiful weather & colorful flowers!

Standing in front of Coors Brewery. Below is a look into the room where the beer is made. Patrick & I were a bit surprised to find out it's made through a natural process and is cold-filtered with enzymes, since we don't think it tastes good.

Biologists are employed to run multiple, thorough tests on all batches! This shelf contains examples of all the company's beer- more than I realized, since as Patrick explained, Miller bought Leinenkugel's, then Miller & Coors merged.

We were entitled to 4 samples each, but we weren't fond enough of anything to cash in all our credits. Even so, it was an interesting tour, and the parking, admission & tastings were all free! Afterward, we walked down the mainstreet to have lunch at the old state capitol building that's been converted into a restaurant. We also found out there was a second brewery in town, owned by a geologist (go figure) who makes his own recipes in 50-gallon batches. Patrick & I bought the sampler, which included a homemade rootbeer (they ran out of one of the regular samples). It was too sweet & overpowered with vanilla flavor for our liking, but there were a couple options on the tray we thought weren't too shabby.

Mid-afternoon, we stopped in Denver to shop at the flagship REI store (an outdoor sports & recreation store). I met an employee around our age from Grand Rapids, because he noticed my Oberon earrings (bottlecaps from Kalamazoo)! He went to Christian H.S. & lived near Alpine & Leonard, but came to CO for mountains and the economy. Crazy, huh?! Patrick spent a bit of his b-day money on a mountaineering book, then we left town to avoid traffic.

We had a short visit at the home of Patrick's parents' friends, then returned to the hotel to do some laundry (oh the glamor of living out of a suitcase!) before meeting up with them for dinner (at the exotic Denny's- hehe) and to say goodbye.

Nothing else to report from that night, except we had to prepare for a major day to follow. It's gonna be difficult selecting just a few pictures for the next entry! :)

Day 2: Hays, KS to Aurora, CO

A lot of Thursday's scenery was flat farmland to begin with, as we crossed the border from Kansas to Colorado.

(Holding the camera crooked makes it look like we were on a hill though!)

Unfortunately, I missed the state sign on the interstate, so a little old lady at the Welcome Center rest stop took our picture in the lobby, and we recorded in a guest book where we were driving from.
Part of the reason the truck was stressful to drive was the alignment was off. We have to cock the wheel nearly 45 degrees to the left to keep it straight! Because of this (and strong gusts of wind), we struggled with hugging or straddling the line, but luckily it was on the side bordering the shoulder. Oh- and my GPS battery went dead our first day of driving because all three cigarette lighters, provided "for your convenience" according to the U-haul dash sticker, do not work.
When Patrick & I visited Courtney in Fort Leonardwood, we joked about the restaurant next to our hotel, since it's name was simply "Restaurant." Looks like there's more than one! hehe!

It was exciting to see the silhouette of the mountains grow closer & clearer as we approached Denver! However, Aurora (just outside of Denver) was our destination. We were delayed meeting up with Patrick's parents for a bit because Google & Garmin both had the address of the hotel wrong!

Patrick's parents were visiting friends who live here (which is why they are able to drive the rest of the way to CA with us), so the 6 of us went out to dinner at Ted's Montana Grill. Patrick & I split the super delicious Red Rock bison burger with jalapenos, fried onions, Z-sauce & Monterrey cheese. Mmmmm. There was also free bowls of sliced cucumbers seasoned with garlic salt on the table. At the end of the meal, I used a slice to support a candle I had been carrying around in my purse for Patrick's birthday (notice it's bent! haha!). I found it when I was cleaning our cupboards and thought I'd put it to good use! We all sang to him & made him wish on it. Everyone thought I was a little crazy, but in a good way. :)

We returned to the hotel afterward, to relax and take care of a few things. Luckily the land-line phone in the bathroom makes it easy to multitask. Haha!

Tune in for more later! Hope you all have a great weekend! :)

Goodbye, Springfield!

Two-and-a-half weeks is a quick amount of time to visit your favorite spots in town, say goodbye to friends, tie up loose ends at work, run errands and pack & clean a house! We knew that, but it still flew by faster than expected, which is why Tuesday night (Patrick's 27th b-day, by the way) our awesome pals Ben, Andrew & Heather spent several hours helping us! The majority of work was finished, but Patrick & I polished things up, depriving us of a reasonable bedtime (2:30 AM, and we got up at 6:30 to shower & implement final touches) so we'd be ready for our 8AM inspection. Luckily the place looked great & we were given a check for the full refund. Thanks to the generosity of Jackie Womble, we were able to pick up a delicious Panera breakfast (coffee was essential) with a gift card before heading out of town to the first stop on our journey: Hays, KS.
We rented the 14' truck, but were presented with a 17' at the U-haul store (no extra cost). At first we weren't happy about the larger truck (didn't want the extra weight on the mountain roads), but it ended up being for the best, as you can see our full load!


Between the truck and a tow dolly for the car, our 45' ensemble was nearly as long as a semi. I thought it was interesting, Mom, that the fun fact on the side of our U-haul was about Prince Edward Island. :)

Our friend, Alicia, gave us 2 buckeyes for goodluck, and the metal token in the middle is a souvenir from the Vancouver Olympics (thanks, Derek & Erin!) that means "Safe Journeys."


Manning the giant truck was one of the most stressful driving experiences I've ever had. Note my serious expression and death grip on the wheel! Patrick did most of the driving, bless his heart!There weren't any gas stations near the exits when we hit a quarter tank, so our plan was to hold out for the city about 30-40 miles away. With hills and wind and lots of weight, our 8.5 mpg vehicle lost gas fast though (a warning beep & digital countdown commenced at 50 miles to E), and we realized we needed to take an exit ramp and drive 7 miles out of the way otherwise we'd be stranded. (The screen was dropping 1 mile every 30-60 seconds.) This is what it said just before filling up.
Leaving Missouri, we saw some cowboys rounding up & herding cattle. Eastern and mid-Kansas was rather lovely, with rolling hills and pretty colors due to ripening crops. We also stumbled across miles of windmills- some not too far from the road. And after the scenery flattened, it was interesting to see the oil derricks pumping in the fields.Kinda cruel to put a steak ad up in a cow pasture, huh? :) The last hour of travel was tough, and when we got to Hays around 7:30 PM, we had to mess around in the hotel parking lot a bit to drop off the truck. But after walking to the adjacent Carlos O'Kelly for a late dinner, and balancing checkbooks/paying utility bills from our hotel room (we didn't have time to tend to everything before we left Springfield), we crashed for the night. Should have gone to sleep a little earlier (ended up being 11:30ish), but 7.5 hours in a comfy bed sure helped us recharge for today... which you'll hear about soon! :)

New Beginnings

It's been ages since we wrote a blog, so I figured I'd update those that we don't talk to on a regular basis on what we've been doing.  Since our last entry we've made a trip to MI to throw a wedding reception/open house and spent a week vacationing at Houghton Lake with the entire Womble Clan.  Since then, we've been to a few baseball games and helped some good friends of ours get ready to move to Knoxville, TN.  We'll post some pictures from our adventures in the near future (hopefully). 

Also, I've had two interviews-- both of them with UC-Merced.  They must have liked me because they offered me the job!  After talking it over with Atalie, family, etc. and praying, we decided that I should take it.  I sent my acceptance email on Labor Day and the paperwork was processed this past week.  My official title will be "Research Associate III" and I'll be working at the Sierra Nevada Research Institute in Merced, CA (housed in UC-Merced).  I'll be the project leader in charge of maintaining a bunch of field instruments up in the mountains, downloading the data off of them, processing the data, writing reports (ew...), and presenting the findings at meetings.  It's a bit above my head but will be a good growing experience.  The catch is that the start date is October 4th-- so we are packing up and moving out on the 22nd of this month.  It looks like I'll be spending my birthday packing the truck...  We're excited (and nervous) about the move but ready to get on with this adventure!  Now I must get back to filling boxes...

Digging out the lamp that I packed around-- oops.

The living room, with half of our belongings in it.