the story i find myself in

so we've made it to our first destination...gallup, nm! and its 11.30pm and i'm going to bed soon. but we are here at a holiday inn and they have free wifi, and i was stoked! so after talking with my lovely fiance and my dizzle ben this evening, i am honored to provide you with update #1!! i picked up my dad at 11.08am from the oc airport, and we headed east. it's amazing that we fit everything...we are packed like sardines. my dad said he was going to be 5'10" by the time we get back! here are some photos: at the wakelings this am the trunk! and it closes, believe it or not.... we experienced some of cali's finest traffic on the 91 and the 15, i needed to do that one last time ya know?! but after getting outside of san bernadizzle (for you nikki pooty) it was smooth sailing. our first stop was in barstow, at the famed tanger outlets and lunch at in and out (see below): after some great food, it was off to I-40, were we saw the sign for wilmington, nc : 2554 miles! and we are doing almost all of them!! our next stop was in needles, where my dad took over driving: here is my view: our faithful companion! he works very well!!! and so on through arizona we went: we drove all the way from mile 1 to mile 357, what a day! here are some photos from our travels through az: we must have seen like 4 or 5 rainbows today, it was cool. we came over this peak and saw these clouds and the sunset, and all i could say was 'wow' and just stand amazed. creation is abosuletly breathtaking... i dont know if you saw the moon tonight, but it was incredible...here are some shots of it and fun with long exposures!! come on, i gotta keep myself occupied somehow!! hehehe.. after stopping in needles, our only other stop was for gas, and that was right outside of flagstaff. once we started approaching flagstaff, we could see the snow coming. so we stopped for gas, ate our subway sandwhiches for dinner and headed out...in a matter of minutes, it was a complete whiteout! we could hardly see anything!! we had to go like 20mph until the snow cleared, it was coming directly for us...here is what i could capture of the moment, yet it doesnt do it justice! it amazes me that there is snow is arizona and new mexico...it is freaking freezing here!! we did not expect this weather, hopefully it wont slow us down too much. so that is all for now, time for sleepy...another long day of driving tomorrow, our goal is ft. smith (or something like that) ARKANSAS!! yep, all the way through nm, texas panhandle, and oklahoma...we shall see. til next time..

Posted by ashdown on Saturday, February 26, 2005 at 2/26/2005 12:22:00 AM | Permalink