Day 6 – 454.9 miles

Day 6 started out grey and overcast, but soon cleared up by the time we reached Albuquerque. As we moved west, peaks rising several thousand feet above us became visible on the horizon. When we pulled off of the interstate to check out Petroglyph National Monument, we were consumed by them. After driving through a suburb where residents replaced their grass with rocks, we arrived at a volcanic site with black boulders strewn across a gentle hill. After checking out the visitor center, we headed down a trail in search of our first petroglyph. At first, the search for petroglyphs was difficult, but as we began to venture from the trail, we discovered dozens on the backside of boulders. It was hot, and AJ had issues in the heat, but was carried in Angela’s purse. In his defense, the sand was burning hot, and his little paws couldn’t handle it. The Natives who made the images on the stones must have braved warm temperatures, as we were parched after just a few minutes of walking. The petroglyphs were amazing, and we could have spent hours there if we didn’t have to hit the road. Unfortunately, several images have been disfigured by drunken campers, and the Park Service, for all its wonders, has set up cameras in the parking lot to stop such activity. After a few minutes of exploring we became uncomfortably hot, not used to the dry heat, so we retreated to our car, found some food, and headed to Arizona!

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!