This is the road that never ends, yes it goes on and on my friend!

In all seriousness, I know that I-40 probably isn't the longest road in the United States but I would like to argue that it might just be the flattest. We drove 600 miles yesterday on the flattest road I have ever seen. When we got in the car in Amarillo yesterday, we drove 280 miles to Albuquerque, NM and then 317 to Flagstaff, AZ. It truly is beautiful out here - it's a completely different kind of landscape than what we were accustomed to in Georgia. Instead of the tall, needle filled, Georgia pines, we see flat cow pastures, grass filled planes, and tumbleweed/cactus infested desert. For some reason, the sky really looks bigger out here...I guess it's just because we can see for miles and miles!

We also keep running into Indian Reservations and driving through Indian Nations. So far, we have driven through the Cheyenne, Arapaho, Choctaw, and Hopi nations and we have seen signs for numerous reservations. In addition, we have driven through a few National Parks such as The Petrified Forest and the Painted Desert. We got there too late to drive through it but the interstate cuts through part of it and it was very pretty.

Yesterday, we also got to see the continental divide. I didn't really think that this was a physical structure, I just knew that it was the point on the continent where the rivers/runoffs flow different directions - on the west side of the divide, water drains to the Pacific Ocean and to the east side of the divide, water drains to the Atlantic Ocean or to the Gulf of Mexico. The continental divide consisted of huge cliffs that were all shades of reds and browns - the way the sun lights them up is just awesome!

Now I know many of you have heard of Route 66...currently it is not used as a major interstate like it use to be but it still exists. It basically parallels I-40 and is a simple 2 lane road goes from somewhere in the east, to at least Arizona - I'll let you know if it goes further still tomorrow. Yesterday, Brian said he wanted to drive on Route 66 just to say he did it, so we took a detour for about 2 miles somewhere in Texas and drove on it. All of the old motels and gas stations from back in the day were still there and some of them were still functioning...I don't know if I would stay in one of the motels but that's besides the point.

As for Brian and myself, we are hanging in there! Brian hasn't been feeling very well and seems to have a cold or some type of sinus infection. He's been taking some medicine to help and has been a trooper...he's still up for driving to the Grand Canyon today! I'm so excited! We'll stay here in Flagstaff tonight and then drive on to Las Vegas tomorrow so we can be there for the 4th of July! I can't believe we made it this far!

The Continental Divide somewhere in New Mexico

Continental Divide

Continental Divide

Route 66 detour that we took.

Huge cow farm! I've never seen so many cows!

Sunset in Flagstaff, AZ

Sunset in Flagstaff, AZ

Just thought this was a neat picture.

Continental Divide

Continental Divide

Don't Mess with Texas

Before I begin, I would like to apologize to anyone who may be reading this...it's driving me crazy that I haven't had time to organize the blog like I want it. I feel like it just looks like a big hodgepodge mess! Tomorrow I will have more time to take care of this and to add some additional pictures to the posts!

Well yesterday we drove from Little Rock, AR to Amarillo, TX. After I posted yesterday morning from Little Rock, we had a very odd experience. We went down to breakfast and encountered a 70ish year old man who was walking around in his skivvies and a sweat band like he just got done running a marathon. It was so awkward! Brian and I were both so disturbed that we took our breakfast back to our room! The hotel in Little Rock wasn't the best but it served its purpose.

We left from Little Rock and Betty (the GPS) told us we had 580 miles to go before we hit Amarillo and get this...it's all on the same road. So we drove, and drove, and drove some more until we got to Oklahoma City. We ate some lunch and let the dog out. Speaking of my dogter (get it...dogter/daughter?), she has been doing wonderful in the car. She actually likes looking out the window at all the cows and horses that we've been driving past. When she's not looking out the window, she's sleeping. She's such a trooper!

Last night, we rolled into Amarillo around 8pm central time and took Vida straight to a dog park so she could get some of her energy out. We couldn't believe the weather last night - it was about 80 degrees with no humidity and breeze! It was awesome! The sunset was beautiful again...it's so flat out here you can actually see the sun go down on the horizon. After she had her fill of playing with her buddies at the dog park, we checked into our hotel (which is 100x better than the hotel last night) and then went to dinner at a Mexican restaurant, how appropriate right?

This morning we are going to go and run the dog and then head on to Flagstaff, AZ. We plan on being there for 2 nights so I'll be able to update these other posts with pictures when we get there! Hope everyone is doing well!

This cross is supposedly the biggest cross in the western hemisphere. It was pretty huge and very random!

We just thought this leaning tower was kinda neat...the leaning tower of Texas.

Garth Brooks' home in Yukon, OK

Kind of inappropriate but just wanted everyone to see how she spends her days in the back seat...very lady-like, I know!

When she's not sleeping, this is what she's doing...checkin out all the stinky cows!

And we're off!

Yesterday Brian, Vida and I left the Atlanta area around 10 in the morning. We had a wonderful breakfast with Brian's parents and took our leisurely time getting ready! Finally, it was time to go...we said our good-byes, loaded the dog in the car, and slowly drove away. It was kind of a shock as we drove away and the reality set in that we were really on our way! Ahead of us, we had about 500 miles of driving to do! Don't worry though, we were completely prepared - we packed 4 books on tape...I wasn't sure how that was going to go but we figured we might as well be kind of productive and read instead of just staring at the road for 8-10 hours a day!

Anyway, we drove through Alabama without a hitch. While driving through Alabama, I realized what a pretty city Birmingham was. Although, we didn't get to see the pretty parts because we trustingly followed our GPS, instead of using a map, and ended up in the ghetto!! This won't be the last time we end up in the ghetto on our journey I'm sure!

Next, we made our way through Mississippi...a state that I personally have never visited but Brian has many times. We made a few stops in Mississippi including visiting the birth place of Elvis Presley and a rest stop to let the dog run around! We also made a pit stop at Brian's grandmother's house - we visited with her for about an hour and a half and then continued our journey to Little Rock, Arkansas.

After spending some quality time with Brian's grandmother, we drove through Memphis, and again, our GPS, aka Bitchin' Betty, took us through the ghetto! We're 2 for 2! We drove over the Mississippi River - another first for me and continued on into Arkansas. Finally we were in our destination state for the day! Once we crossed over the Mississippi River (which is huge by the way), we started to notice all flat land and crops around us! Eventually, after about 12 hours of traveling, we finally made it to Little Rock - another city that neither of us has visited. Little Rock surprised me! There is a gorgeous river here, the Arkansas River, and there are beautiful mountains/rolling hills that surround the city...who knew Little Rock was so pretty! The sunset was unbelievable last night...I'll post pictures as soon as I can! Don't be fooled though...we found the ghetto here last night as we tried to find a park to walk the dog. Needless to say, that didn't happen!

Although we spent about 12 hours traveling yesterday, it really didn't seem like it was that long! Brian drove the whole way...that's his personal goal for the trip - to single handedly drive the car across the country, and I, shockingly, stayed awake the entire time. We listened to a book on tape, which I full heartedly recommend to anyone who is taking a long trip. We listened to "Tuesday's With Morrie," and we both loved it! Everyone should read this book! We also amused ourselves by looking at all our surroundings. We saw two hilarious billboards along the way...I wish I was quicker with my camera but I couldn't get it out in time so I'll quickly explain and then be done with this post for the day:)

The first one said: "Where's the Birth Certificate?"

The second one said: "Our kids can't read!" and then it spelled the word Mississippi but all of the "s" letters and "p" letters were written backwards. Looks like they can't write either!

Anyway, we're getting ready to journey to Amarillo, TX! I'll update this tonight with pictures! Have a wonderful day!

Sunset in Little Rock over the Arkansas River

Brian and his Grandmother

Elvis Presley's childhood home

Vida's ready to go!!

So much for packing lightly!

Family Dinner

The night before we left, we went out to eat with Brian's family to celebrate our move to California. We went to a steakhouse in Alpharetta called Pampas which was absolutely delicious...the surf and turf was incredible! When we showed up, Brian's mom had decorated the table with American flags and red, white and blue in honor of the Air Force. It was such a treat! At the end of dinner, Brian got a dessert and when the plate came out, it had "California bound" written in chocolate...a bitter sweet ending to a wonderful dinner!

Get ready California cause here we come!

I can't believe the time has really come for Brian, Vida and me to pack up the car and drive all the way out to California! As many of you know, Brian graduated from dental school in May and was stationed at Travis Air Force Base in California. We have been super excited about moving out there but we still can't believe that we're actually doing it! For the next week or so, Brian and I are going to update our blog so that anyone who is interested can follow along with us....so from now on you can just call us Louis and Clarke...and Vida can be Sacajawea I guess! We are going to travel from the East Coast to the West Coast in our over packed car with an 80lb dog and a Garmin GPS that we are blindly following! So let's get started....