Fwd: Car Number 3!!! Seriously!

-----Original Message-----
From: Jason <jbarrett147@aol.com>
To: jasonrandall147.lasvegas <jasonrandall147.lasvegas@blogger.com>
Sent: Tue, Jul 19, 2011 9:52 am
Subject: Car Number 3!!! Seriously!

 Yes, we are driving a third car. This time we made it to Denver Colorado and the  gas pedal started hiccuping on us. We thought it might be the gas line, maybe  dirt or air or the different types of gas we've used. The Hertz in Denver did  not have any cars, but told us there was another office about 7 miles back that  had some cars available. We took a chance on driving it there and made it,  although we hiccuped there and stalled a couple times.   Now, as you see in this picture, we have upgraded again from the Toyota Camry to  a Ford Escape. Hopefully, we will escape any more car troubles and continue  home.  Sent from my jphone  

Car Number 3!!! Seriously!

Gas station in Des Moines, Iowa

New Buffalo, Michigan...Chicago style hot dogs

Middle America

We are pretty much right in the center of the United States traveling to the border of Nebraska and Iowa right now.  Stopping in Omaha for the night and driving to Castle, Colorado tomorrow which will be 11-12hrs, but we also gain another hour too.  I cannot wait to drive through and see the Rocky Mountains and my Aunt Noreen, Natalie and Donovan.

The rental car is great and the fireflys out here in Iowa are huge...I see tons glowing next to the highway, it's like a bunch of Smurfs with flashlight, LOL.

Good Night!

Back On Track

Okay...we unpacked Hindi and packed our rental Toyota Camry.  Who knew that we would break down just crossing the timeline.  I think she couldn't handle the skip back an hour.

We are basically a day behind schedule, but now have the rental long enough for Jay to drive to LA, drop off their stuff, then drive back to Vegas.  It's nice to have unlimited miles. 

Tonight we will stay at Andy and Jen's house, thank you again.  And maybe see Carrie and Mike if they are around.  We left Hindi at the garage and said good bye.  She was a hard worker, now being donated for charity.

Oh, we ran into Mark's brother Tim at the Hertz office.  He was towing some woman from CT's mini cooper who's front driver side tire flew off on a bridge because the garage that had rotated her tires, obviously didn't tighten the lug nuts.  Yiks!

Cross Country Adventure on PAUSE

Well, we almost made it to Chicago, but Hindi (the car) had to shut off while we were driving on I80 in the middle of the corn fields of Indiana.  We were lucky enough to pull off the shoulder a bit on the grass.  We called AAA but they had a tow truck about 80 miles away.  A state trooper named Bill aka Big Bill "Grave Digger" kindly pulled over to help us.  We got a local tow company instead and hopped into Mark's flatbed truck from Cloverleaf Towing. 

 

Mark runs the tow company with his 2 brothers and has been a family business since WWII.  He also so kindly invited us to the Fireman's Ball if we had nothing to do last night.  He said there would be a band, bratwurst, beer and wine coolers.  AND he would've picked us up to go and "someone there would give ya a ride home later"...well, it was very nice and we were definitely tempted to go, but not really having a ride back to the hotel was the decision-maker. 

 

This morning Jay walked down to the garage where we left Hindi and the machanic checked it out.  The repairs would not be a guaranteed fix, so the dicision was made.  Jay is still there now and we finally got a verdict from the owners of Hindi, that would be Nancy and Ernie...let her go.  Nancy is looking up a rental car place as I write and also a car donation place.  Jay is walking back to the hotel now.  It looks like we will transfer the packed car into a rental and drive it to Vegas and unpack at Ernie's parent's house. 

 

Also, there is a western movie on AMC right now in my hotel room.  Grandpa...aw, gee...

 

Signing off,

Dee

 

-- "Life is short! Break the rules!
Forgive quickly! Kiss slowly!
Laugh uncontrollably"

Hello!!!! We have embarked on a new journey across this great country. Heading to Chicago once again but continuing on the north route that takes us through Colorado and the rocky mountains. We've been contracted out by Nancy D's sister. Who is relocating to culver city CA. Grandpa Joe, uncle Rudy and Jose our guiding us through our journey and keeping us safe. Also Theresa once again blessed with holy water that she doused on us last night. Some of which ended up in my mouth. I've been having the holy shits since then!!!!! Kidding.

We will keep you all posted so stay tuned.

Love DD and JJ!!

Sent from my jphone

Lake Las Vegas

Well, we took a drive yesterday to see lake las vegas and it's surrounded by a private community so you can't get there.  It looks deserted anyway, but really pretty and huge houses there.

Today I had a job interview and Jay is going to a job fair.

Oh, I also got a keyboard off craigslist yesterday, yea!

Music Projects

Well, it seems that as of last week the starter band had found it's members and we were moving forward with a practice list.  As of this moring, the project has been put to rest, the new guitarist had a family matter that took him out of the project, yesterday the drummer was a no show to meet with my collaborator.  So the collaborator put the kabash on our band project today.  Honestly, we didn't try that hard to find musicians and only searched on craigslist, but if he thinks wer're done, ok.  I've got 2 other projects I'm working on for music anyway, solo and with the classic rock band "Silverado" who already has gigs twice a month, we practiced the other day and these guys are true musicians.

Another update, my scooter got stuck @ a friend's house and I realize I need to get a pick-up truck, something that will fit ruby in the back and is decent enough to drive with A/C.  For that I did look on craigslist and found 2 possible contenders, smaller pick-ups.  I actually like little old pick-ups.

Job Response

See, I told ya I would write more often.  I just got an email tonight from a job that I applied for online over a month ago.  They just responded with an "Idon't think you are a good match" today.  I know it didn't take them that long to look at my online stuff.  I think they just get a general overview of the tests and resume and probably some percetage of match for the position listed.  It's all done through a database and there is no way I wasn't qualified for that one.  Anyway, my scooter pooped on me today.  I had a great band rehearsal with "Silverado" and then went to leave and Ruby wouldn't start.  I think it's the battery, but really...what am I doing with a scooter in Vegas?  I've seen lots of them around actually and lots of motorcycles.  With the gas prices going up and up I would like to keep riding it, but you can't go too far here and it gets waaaay too hot in the summer to ride it.  I know I just posted this on Facebook, but.

Do I really have to get rid of Ruby and get a real car???  It's not really fun to ride her here, but when will I have a great placeto ride her?  Arg!

Two Months In

First of all, congratulations to Erica and her new baby Isabella, congratulations to Cyril and Sarah on their new house, Jeff and Jenn on finding a house... and a big hug and kiss goes for Jose, who now rests in peace, condolences to his family and I was lucky to have spent some time getting to know him before he passed.  A sorry also to Big Ernie and Marianne who lost their brother-in-law.  You all are in my thoughts and wish I was there to be supportive on all occassions joyous and sorrowful.  In spirit I am.

Wow, seems longer then 2 months.  Okay, so Las Vegas is good.  Jay and I have met a few cool people.  Ray and Kristine who I met through craigslist when I put my female singer looking for a band ad out there. They are great people, Ray is doing a audio demo for me to give to booking agents...we've done one song so far.  I was having a flat night and still coughing.  Apparently, there is something that happens to singers when they first move to Vegas, the singers voice, which means you lose your voice all together.  I guess it's the change into the dry climate and singing a lot.  Ok, so check on that one if I start to feel raspy, I won't panic.

Also Jerry and Linda, an older couple, who we met through meetup for a game night 2 weeks ago.  There are very nice, they lived in New Jersey and jave been out here for 11 years I think.  We played skip-bo and hand and foot, which just sounds like the disease to me, but it isn't and it was fun.

We've had one group of visitors so far, my cousin Donovan and Jenn...we had fun wandering the strip.  Next week a friend from college will be in town.  We have an air mattress and a sofabed, so let us know.

Things about Las Vegas:

U-turns everywhere...there are dividers on every street, so if you wanna take a left into a driveway, you have to drive down the street then do a u-turn.  We have to do it when we leave our apartment almost always, because we are at the end of the block and the highway is the other direction.

Little Squirrel-like creatures...they are the size of chipmunks with tiny tails, they are grey and fast, but for some reason they are called squirrels.

Tap water sucks....I tried it the first day, even filtering it through our brita twice it tastes gross.  We have a gallon bottle that we refill at the gas station, which is next door.  They have water machines for 25 cents outside every store.

Slot Machines...everywhere, as I was saying about the water machines, the slots are also inside the gas station, inside the grocery store...everywhere.

Empty Lots...you know in CT, or pretty much anywhere, if there is land that hasn't been built on yet, there are trees or overgrown fields or something there.  In the desert, when there is nothing built, there is nothing there.  It's like they tore down buildings and left dirt, brush and rocks, but that is the natural landscaping.
 
Color...or lack of...Yes, we are in the desert, but all the buildings are hues of sand colors like the surrounding mountains and valleys.  Ok, but when I'm trying to find locations to do my music video, I end up in the playground, LOL.  Yeah, I did.  There's one restaurant  near us that stands out because it is lime green and wood slates...it's a caribbean place, but I think it's closed.  Otherwise, every shopping complex and the multiple apartment complexes are all the same colors.  We drove out to Palm Springs after being here like 2 weeks and we noticed the green lush trees and grass everywhere.  Our eyes were in heaven.

Online applications...we've been filling out job applications like half the world, and now, because they can take the time, they have freakin' personality tests and accessments and it takes us like an hour to fill it out for one place.  What a pain.  Jobs which we are still figuring out.  My only grasp right now is being in 2 bands, one that plays out, the other is brand new.  Oh, and doing my pictures and demo for booking agents.

Hiking...Jason has discovered the mountain-man within him.  He loves it.  We haven't gone in a few weeks, but we've been sick and crazy. HA

I think I'm tapped out for now.  I'll post more often in the future, we do have lots of time on our hands still.
xoxo

Bellagio Gardens, Chinese New Year theme...year of the Hare

We went for a walk on the Strip last night cause Jay wanted to see his fountain show.  It is fun to watch and free, so that's what we are into, free entertainment.  We might be going to "Echoes of the 60s" at Planet Hollywood next week. I have a music contact to network with who plays for that show.

We are workin on the job search every day, yesterday we lost our internet for a few hours so we watched "West Side Story" and had some popcorn.  The best musical ever written in my eyes, by far.

It seems my whole family back east is sick as dogs with a bad, evil pukey awefulness.  Sorry guys and hope it passes fast.

Congrats to cousin Erica who just had her baby yesterday!  Woooowhoooo, 2 days of painful labor, but out came a beautiful baby girl...7lbs 11oz!  Happy Birthday Isabella!

Edweina!

Frankie and Edweina sunbathing

Ah, Los Angeles!

We were sooo spoiled at Posh Palm Springs bed and breakfast, it was heaven.  Jeff, Jenn, Suzie and Pam were the best hosts. I'm tellin' you, check out that website and book a stay if you are thinking about heading to Palm Springs.  They have 11 rooms a great pool right in the courtyard outside your door and they feed you well...all inclusive.  Yummy, and I'm soo lucky that my boyfriend is best friends with the owners, SCORE!

Anyway, now we are in LA at my brother's house chillin' with the three dogs, Frankie, Golda and Edweina - they are all little weiner mix dogs, very cute.  We've seen all my pals except one, but tonight we all go out to a comedy club and will catch up some more.  I do miss it here, and Jay loves it too.  I think that Las Vegas will only last 6mnths...but we will explore all around and take full advantage of our surroundings. 

We head back to Las Vegas tomorrow and will get back on the horse for jobs Monday.

Enjoy your weekends!

Hangin with tiki, shag and funkiness

Dee lounging at Posh

My feet at the Posh Palm Springs pool

Me looking up @ Memorial Bridge from Hoover Dam

Jay looking @ Hoover Dam from new Memorial Bridge

Happy Valentine's Day!

palm springs is soo cool. its all midcentury modern architecture , like brady bunch  loL. We are having a wonderful time here. We are thinking that we might go back and pack up again for here. Its very cozy and has its own character and personality.  My scooter would like it here. Well, I hope everyone is having a great week and we will send pictures soon.
Dee

Thursday and still no TV!

HA, yes, we don't have the cable hooked-up, mainly because the package we want needs a 2 year contract and we are not committing to that.  So, we've been watching tv episodes on the computer and using our instant que on Netflix for the big screen.  We've probably been watching a movie every night after our long days in front of the computers, job hunting.

Let's see, Sunday was the Superbowl and we watched it over our parent's house the A's - adopted parents.  It was great.  Food, commercials and some nice ball playing, HA.  I did watch the game too, it was a good one.

Monday, our job hunt began...Jay was doing a few tests online and I was searching Craigslist and local websites.  We did our Rockstar karaoke for the first time, and certainly not our last.  My cousin, Denise invited us to a friend's birthday party at Ovation, which is inside the Green Valley Ranch, which is down the street.  They do the karaoke every monday, so we will be back.  It's done with a live band...which is the best ever.  It definitely made me miss the band back home.  I did "Walking on Sunshine" then I did "Feels like the First Time".  Many of the singers had some chops too.  There were barely bad notes amoungst the group.

Tuesday, back to job hunt.  We woke up late and then discovered our kitchen sink was clogged and the water was coming up.  Raoul has been here three times now and he still needs another part.  So, thats 3 days without a sink to use.  We drove around atnight and found Sunset Park where...I found HOOPERS!  Yep, every Tuesdaynight they meet there.  I'm excited to see them next week.  We watched Zombieland - pretty funny.

Wednesday, the same ol...except we took a drive to Sunset Park again, this time in the daylight.  We walked around the pond and feed millions of ducks.  It was a bit chilly out, but we jogged and ran around the track.  Then we watched "Biggest Loser" and some highlights from "american Idol" on the computer, then 2 movies on instant que...both good, Wedding Daze - with Isle Fisher and The Ugly Truth - with Kathleen Heigel.

Today...dragging on the computers and finally went to In-n-Out Burger!!!!  Wooooowhooo!  Well. we went on our first day here, but had to go tonight.  Yummy...Jay was so excited cause he ordered the double double animal style, which is when they grill it with mustard and add pickles and extra sauce.  He was like a kid in a candy store, you have no idea.  You should've seen his eyes light up, LOL.  I was cracking up.

Now, another movie.  Oh, and we are driving to Palm Springs on Sunday to stay with Jay's friend Jeff at their family Inn...it's sooo nice.  Check it out online.  http://www.poshpalmsprings.com/

Hoover Dam today!

It's only 25 miles from our place.  We walked over this new memorial bridge that just opened in 2010...it's about 1,000ft above the water.  More vertigo for me, but I still venture across and catch my breath when we get off.
We went to the first fridays art walk last night and we were like the oldest most conservative people there.  The majority of the peeps were young 20s with tattoos, colored hair, peircings and really cool mohawks, in all directions.  Mostly wearing black, and here I am wearing my furry-collared blue plaid coat, funky and cool, but overdressed in comparison.  We did see some fun art in the galleries and Jay said it was eye-opening. :) 

We have electricity!

OK, we are all moved in and almost every box is unpacked. We even have pictures on the walls. Wednesday we moved our stuff in, which was pretty painless, Big Ernie supervised us and put a couple tables together, Marianne helped us carry a bunch of lighter things in, AND she help us carry that stupid couch, thank you A's...they are our new parents out here.  They have been wonderful and continue to be. 

We have no gas yet, which is the stove, hot water and heat, so no showers, no cooking and a really cold apartment.  The A's gave us a little space heater to plug in which has been extremely necessary because it has been the coldest the last 2 days here, we wake up to 24 degrees. Today the gas gets lite...we also get the internet connection. The only utility left is the cable for TV. We've watched some of our DVDs the last 2 nights.

We went out for lunch on our first day of moving to Grimaldi's pizza, ya know the famous pizza place in Brooklyn where pizza started. Well, our waitress Toni Anne is from Brooklyn and the hostess from the Bronx.  There are so many transplants.  We went grocery shopping last night and ran into our first aquaintence Toni Anne there.  It felt great running into someone who knew us, she remembered our names and introduced us to her husband.  It was nice.

Tomorrow night we will see Denise, my cousin, and hang out at her place.  And I just got an email from my other cousin, Donovan in Colorado, who said he and his wife are coming to Vegas for a short trip and we could visit with them.  I haven't seen him since the Germano's 60th anniversary (my granparents).

More later! Caio!
Oh, we still have not been over to the strip, but tonight we are going out with Samira and friends (Jays friend) to downtown Vegas where there is an artwalk the first Friday of each month.  

A Couple Days Rest...sort of

So, we got into Vegas Saturday night about 10:30pm. My sister's in-laws greeted us and showed us to our room. They have been the best hosts again, every meal and lots of great conversation and laughs...coo coo la la, Big Ernie's favorite thing to say.

Sunday we drove around and scoped out the 5 or so properties from our list and stopped in a couple.  And we took a 3hr nap mid-day.

Monday, we actually walked through and spoke with the leasing agents and made our decision.  We keep waking up @ 7am, which is fine, but we have been also going to bed at like 10pm.  I think this is also the day we skyped everyone. Jay can do it from his cell, so he is excited about that.  Let us know if you have an account, so we can video chat.

Yesterday morning, Tuesday, we went to Horizon Ridge in Henderson, and handed in out application and GB processed it in like 5 minutes.  We are near lots of things, my favorite is the Super Target on the corner, I know! Woooowhoooo! Also, both of our banks are right there, the library is down the street, an outdoor concert space and The Green Valley Ranch Casino, where my cousin Denise works, she also lives on our street nearby AND just told me we are near an awesome bakery. The Disrtict is at the casino, its like the grove in LA without the fountain, higher end shops and a bunch of restaurants. 

We move in today, I just woke up @ 7am again, and thought I should update the blog.  We will have pictures to follow, of course when we unpack a little.  The wind gusts are supposed to be like 40mph, so I hope we don't lose anything. We got a one bedroom on the first floor, so the move should be pretty painless, our hosts are gonna come supervise and check out the place.

Random thing, we were looking at all the stores and banks and gas stations everywhere, but we didn't see any movie theaters, we found out they are inside the casinos.  I just thought that was odd.

I hope you Northeasters are staying put after another snow storm and the crazy ice layer, yiks!  Be safe!
Dee

Good morning from Las Vegas!

We are here. Already awake at 7:45am because we went through a couple more time zones. Today, we drop off the car carrier @ Penske, wash the nastiness off of Jays car and explore some properties.

We both said how strange it will be to not keep driving today or tomorrow. We have really enjoyed our journey here.  And we will keep exploring new territory in the future. I highly recommend visiting other areas of the US, probably better with a smaller vehicle that isn't towing another vehicle, but we made great time.

This blog is not finished just because we have arrived.  There is still lots to do.  Thanks for following and we miss you all.

Xo Dee

Pertified Forest Nat'l Park - Chinde Point

The tepees at the petrified forest

The rainbow desert

Deanne coughed as she took a sip of water!!! Lol

I love these fireplaces...

The beautiful house we stayed in...

Santa Fe 2

Marilyn drove us around Santa Fe this morning to show us the Plaza in daylight. We went to The Shed for dinner last night. They ask if you want red chile, green chile or christmas, which is both, HA. It was great.  There are a million galleries, most houses are Pueblo style and there are some territorial style which is east influenced using red brick and slanted roofs, that we are most familiar with.  We saw the Theatre that Kate and Stephen used to run, the capitol building - called the round house because it is round, the Plaza that is the hub of Santa Fe, and the old neighborhoods that just had amazingly beautiful views.  If you wanted to buy one of the old pueblos in a good area, it would be about a million for about 800 sq ft.  The mountain views are beautiful and the buildings.  I absolutely loved it...we will be back to explore for a longer time next visit.

Our final destination is upon us today. We are in NM now and will arrive in Las Vegas around 8pm tonight.  This trip has been awesome and I really look forward the new adventures ahead in NV.

Santa Fe!

I am writing from my comfy bed provided by Stephen's mom. This house is awesome and I cannot wait to see all the buildings in the daylight tomorrow.  I love spanish style adobe houses, the curved archways, wood planks, stone everything.  There is a balcony off my bedroom with a view of the mountains, I'm gonna jump outta bed like Christmas morning tomorrow, to see them. 

Today's drive was nothing special, TX had lots of road kill, and I mean dead deer everywhere, not squirrels...and I saw at least three cow bones beyond the fence where they roam, at least I thought they were from a cow, the ribcage was big. We saw signs for Miniature Donkeys - come see, LOL.

Good Night!

Elvis sweater vest...I must find one, LOL

Elvis' Microphone!

Wind Turbines...the Now!

This Land is Your Land

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yuc4BI5NWU&sns=em

We started singing in the truck, then found this and both got choked up as we listened and looked out the window driving through our great country. Enjoy and take a moment to breathe.

Peace,
Deanne

Sent from my jphone

Good Morning from OK City

Love's...

Now, doesn't it seem like this should be an adult store? Maybe it was created for truckers to see off the interstate and deceptively draw them in, thinking it was a strip joint.  I'm just sayin'.

;)

OK

Jay is driving now and I should have a data connection. We are driving through OK now.  After going through AK with bumpy, aweful roads, we enter OK, where there was one lane for over 5 miles, a cement divider to my left, orange cones to my right, a drop off and Jason holding on to the oh s***t handle and sitting on the edge of his seat.  We finally make it through that and see some amazing stars in the sky, including the milky way...we did see one shooting star when we pulled off to view the sky.  We have hit, probably 3 more construction areas with one lane and the cement wall, yiks.  So far so good.  My eyes are starting to play tricks on me, but luckily I'm not driving now, HA. 

Graceland was cool, a jump back in time to the early 70s as you saw from Jays pictures.  I loved it.  We met some more east coasters, Nancy and Dan who we met at breakfast at the hotel.  They are from upstate NY Saranac Lake area and are driving to AZ  to their sons house.  We all took the shuttle to Graceland together.  She used to be a nurse and he used to be a truck driver, so they had stories to share. We thought we'd never get rid of them, they were very nice.

Did you know Elvis had an identical twin brother who was stillborn? Sad, but can you imagine if they were both around? Hmmm...

Liberace I mean Elvis

The jungle room at Graceland

The kings man cave section 2

Elvis's man cave

Memphis ribs and 32oz.

Memphi, TN

We pull into a Super 8 that Jason had spotted online to stay in.  There is an abandoned hotel next to it, an open lot and the "Ornamental Metal Museum". It was kind of a ghetto area, plus we didn't see anywhere we could park our house.  We decided to move on and stay somewhere I found online that was closer to Graceland, "La Quinta Inn".  They were really nice. We parked the truck, went to our room, changed our clothes and went back to the truck to take the car off. What a filthy, salty mess Jays car is.  We drove to Beale street and ate @ Blue City Cafe and chatted with Russell our waiter.  Jason loves to chat it up with everyone.  We found out that he was serving in the gulf, lived in CA, and now lives in Memphis with his mom @ his grandmas old farm, where he is now working on plans to build a greenhouse.  That was just most of it.

Then we stopped in a bar to hear some local band, we got to Beale street late and didn't catch much of any band.  But we got a 32oz beer for $5.  All the clubs have speakers outside that pipe in the band, so we heard some as we walked.  Oh, the street is closed off to drivers and you can bring your drinks out on the street and even into another club, in most cases.  We heard "Purple Rain" being sung by some scrawny 20 something white boys as we walked down the block, but then we heard it again from another club, both live, both totally different.  The second group consisted of older black guys.  We were laughing because what are the chances, LOL. 

Today was about Elvis...more on that later.   My turn to drive.

Day 3 of the big trip

We are almost in Memphis after driving all day with a couple of pit stops. We took a little detour to the Arch in St Louis the gateway to the west. Ironically we stopped going west at that point and headed south. The thing is massive for those of you haven't seen it. You can see from about 15 miles away. We also stopped at a fast food place called Culvers in Illinois. They actually serve you at your seats after you order. We both had hamburgers and Dee ordered fried wisconsin cheese curds with hers. They're like little surprises because they mix cheddar curds with mozzarella curds.

Well we'll be in Memphis in about 15 minutes and heading out to Beale st for a bit. Let u all know that goes later.

Jay

Sent from my jphone

St. Louis Arch

We just left there.

On the road again! Driving Day 2

Yesterday was a nice break from the road...took the Metra train into Chicago to see my friend Carrie and of course the Sears Tower.  Then we visited with Andy and Jen for the evening.  It was a great stay. I heard some more crazy high school stories with Jay and woke up this morning to sing a happy birthday to Jen, the big 40...have a wonderful day, mama!  You deserve the best!

Jay is driving and we are in farmland I'LL, the radio station said "home of the largest farmland" LOL

Yogi

Willows (Sears) Tower

Jason was sooo excited to get to the 103rd floor so he could stand out on the glass deck.  I already have vertigo, so I had trouble breathing, but eventually joined him out there.  I had to inch my way at first, sitting on the floor in my yogi position, then not looking down helped...oy vey.

Day 1 Complete and A Huge Success

We drove 14hrs and 45min to Chicago, I'LL.  We slept soooo well last night.  The plan is to stay here for the night tonight, then drive to Memphis, TN tomorrow (they are getting snow today).  We will hang on Beale Street tomorrow night and see Graceland the next day.  All pending on the forecast ahead, but it looks good.

The deep dish pizza was really awesome @ midnight as was our hosts, Jen and Andy...thank you sooo much. :)

Almost there!

Jay is driving for our last 2 1/2 hrs to Andys house and he is loopy as a loon.  Singin Kate Perry, pretending he is a pilot and announcing our final estimated arrival, etc...

Oh Germano family, I got my snoopy on the antenna, so Uncle Arthur is along too.

Day1

Almost in Indiana. Dam Ohio is a loooong state full of not much. Just got done with my turn at the wheel. Trying to take a nap. It's pretty difficult to sleep in a seat that doesn't recline and Deanne veering off into the grooves on the side of the road. Does anyone know what you call those things? Anyway the destination tonight is my friend Andy's house in Naperville IL just west of Chicago. TTYS our 5 followers.

Jay

Pilot Truck Stop!

I'm one of them now. They announced on the intercom that there was no wait for a shower, so I jumped in. JK, but Jay is driving now and we are still in PA, the longest state to drive through east.

Pennsylvania

So far so good 4 hours into the big road trip. Dee took over driving in jersey and we just passed rt. 81 in PA. That means we are heading towards deep dish pizzas in a probably unhappy windy city, because of the da bears of course. We'll check in later.

Sent from my jphone

Our Rig

Goodbye Morning

Early this morning with Jays parents, boy was it cold, like -5.

On your mark, get set....

Pictures

First stop for packing, mom and dad. :(

Packing Day!

well, we just finished packing the truck from my parents house and the storage unit and jays parents house. we locked it up and are heading to LI. We are hungry and tired, but its all part of the fun, right? We said goodbye to my parents with tears...pics to follow.  

Dual Authors!

Now, Jay and I can write on OUR blog, which I already created.  This will be fun!  There should be lots of pics and stories. You will feel like you are along for the ride, YEA!

Some of you may know that I have blogged in the past.  Well, I finally copied and pasted them to a word doc and archived them on my computer.  I really chronicled a lot of my past...first one was started in 2005.  I have to say I've experienced a lot of change since then.  Wow!

Happy reading!

Tying up Loose Ends

I gotta do some laundry, pack my travel bag and through the rest of my loose stuff in the house in some boxes. I dropped off my long wool dress coat today to be dry-cleaned, but it won't be ready til Monday. I don't think I need that one in Vegas anyway, so save it for next Christmas when we visit.

Thanks to Joan for providing us a cooler for our sandwiches, tomorrow I will buy stuff to make them...and soups.

Tonight we are off to Colony Pizza in Stamford with our parents and Nancy and the boys. Yummy pizza, I cannot wait!

Food for Drive

jay and i were thinking we would pack a bunch sandwiches for the drive and bring my hot pot for warming up soup and stuff, just like college. ha...make it at cheap a trip as possible, but of course we will do breakfast on the road...cheapest meal anyway.

and we were thinking of downloading a book on tape, any ideas of a good one?

This should work

im posting from my cell now, but it wont let me cap or do some punctuation. hmmm, well i have one day left of work, but i think i broke my pinky toe yesterday while snowrolling and its killing me. no housecleaning today.

i will miss you all. xoxo

The Truck is booked!

Well, it looks like January 23rd is set for our departure west. We get the truck on Saturday, pack it and leave on Sunday. The plan is to drive to Memphis and stop there! Wish us luck!