Friday, May 15, 2009
Still Love San Diego!
Just a quick update. Coming up on being here a year and I'm still loving coastal North County San Diego. Just renewed me lease for another year. :)
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
I'm Here!
A friend told me that anyone following the blog probably thinks I'm stranded in Arizona somewhere, so I'm borrowing someone else's Internet to make this quick post.
I arrived in California on June 30th in the afternoon. I have some stories about that day's travels, however, I will save those until I can upload the photos to go with them.
My Internet gets installed tomorrow, so I'll post Day 7 happenings and then I have some insights gained from the trip now that I've had a chance to process them that I'll share as well.
Today, Jeannie and I will be spending the day at La Costa Resort and Spa getting dry brushed, massages, facials and our nails done. We'll probably have a spa lunch somewhere in there and take advantage of hanging out on the beautiful grounds.
A HUGE thank you to her husband Ken for treating us to the massages--he said he knew we'd need them after being on the road for so long! Isn't he a keeper!
I arrived in California on June 30th in the afternoon. I have some stories about that day's travels, however, I will save those until I can upload the photos to go with them.
My Internet gets installed tomorrow, so I'll post Day 7 happenings and then I have some insights gained from the trip now that I've had a chance to process them that I'll share as well.
Today, Jeannie and I will be spending the day at La Costa Resort and Spa getting dry brushed, massages, facials and our nails done. We'll probably have a spa lunch somewhere in there and take advantage of hanging out on the beautiful grounds.
A HUGE thank you to her husband Ken for treating us to the massages--he said he knew we'd need them after being on the road for so long! Isn't he a keeper!
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Personal Development Day
ROAD TRIP DAY 6
STATS
Hours on Road: 8:30am Mountain time to 5:50pm Pacific time
Miles Driven: 477
States In: New Mexico and Arizona
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Gratefully, today was uneventful in terms of car trouble, weather and other unforeseeable natural disasters.
Finally feeling like we've gotten into the groove of driving, Jeannie and I spent the day listening to Abraham Hicks and Jana Stanfield from my iPod and Jeannie's Joel Olsten cds.
The big lesson of the day: "Nothing you want is upstream."
Basically, it's about going with the flow and not resisting what is because when we resist, we get more of what we're resisting. Simple, huh?
While we listened, here are some of the sights we enjoyed:
We also had some wonderful talks (as we have throughout the whole trip) prompted by the concepts shared in the programs. We came to the conclusion that this road trip has been like one big personal development seminar for both of us, which is pretty cool.
And now something funny.
For all of the previous posts, I have used photos that I took while the car was moving with my little credit card digital camera since Jeannie had been doing most of the driving. Some I took out the front window, others I would put down the side window and take.
Today, I drove and asked her to take some pictures. Here were her first attempts:
We both laughed hysterically and she announced, "I had no idea how hard it was to take a good picture while moving." And, here's one more...
Shifting gears again.
Today was supposed to be our final day of driving, however, with the delays earlier in the trip, we didn't drive the 500 miles per day as planned, so we still have one more day of driving. We estimate it to be about 6 or 7 hours which will be less than the 10 to 11 we have been doing.
When I realized this--sometime around 4pm this afternoon--I began doing some scrambling to reschedule Monday appointments and contact CoachU about possibly needing subs for my classes since I won't be anywhere near a landline tomorrow. This turned my evening into a bit of a frenzy.
Since it's Sunday, I was only able to leave messages. I'm trusting that all will be well.
STATS
Hours on Road: 8:30am Mountain time to 5:50pm Pacific time
Miles Driven: 477
States In: New Mexico and Arizona
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Gratefully, today was uneventful in terms of car trouble, weather and other unforeseeable natural disasters.
Finally feeling like we've gotten into the groove of driving, Jeannie and I spent the day listening to Abraham Hicks and Jana Stanfield from my iPod and Jeannie's Joel Olsten cds.
The big lesson of the day: "Nothing you want is upstream."
Basically, it's about going with the flow and not resisting what is because when we resist, we get more of what we're resisting. Simple, huh?
While we listened, here are some of the sights we enjoyed:
We also had some wonderful talks (as we have throughout the whole trip) prompted by the concepts shared in the programs. We came to the conclusion that this road trip has been like one big personal development seminar for both of us, which is pretty cool.
And now something funny.
For all of the previous posts, I have used photos that I took while the car was moving with my little credit card digital camera since Jeannie had been doing most of the driving. Some I took out the front window, others I would put down the side window and take.
Today, I drove and asked her to take some pictures. Here were her first attempts:
We both laughed hysterically and she announced, "I had no idea how hard it was to take a good picture while moving." And, here's one more...
Shifting gears again.
Today was supposed to be our final day of driving, however, with the delays earlier in the trip, we didn't drive the 500 miles per day as planned, so we still have one more day of driving. We estimate it to be about 6 or 7 hours which will be less than the 10 to 11 we have been doing.
When I realized this--sometime around 4pm this afternoon--I began doing some scrambling to reschedule Monday appointments and contact CoachU about possibly needing subs for my classes since I won't be anywhere near a landline tomorrow. This turned my evening into a bit of a frenzy.
Since it's Sunday, I was only able to leave messages. I'm trusting that all will be well.
Saturday, June 28, 2008
258 Mile Detour
ROAD TRIP DAY 5
STATS
Hours on Road: 8am to 6:45pm Mountain time
Miles Driven: 433
States In: Colorado and New Mexico
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My father took one look at what we were driving and towing and strongly encouraged a major detour in our route. He said that we would have a tough time going through the mountains. It would be tough on the transmission, the brakes and on whichever one of us would be driving.
Even though the detour adds 258 miles, he assured us that since thr route is mostly flat, that it would take either the same amount of time or perhaps even less.
So, this morning, we headed out on I-25 South toward New Mexico instead of returning to I-70 to head through the Rocky Mountains toward Utah. At the beginning of the day, we were excited about no steep grades and we had no idea what we would face in the afternoon.
Here are some pictures of the calm before the storm:
I have never seen this sign before. I'm guessing it's for elk crossing the road?
At about 3:30pm, the sky suddenly became very dark and within 10 minutes the rain was coming down so hard and fast that we pulled over. We stayed pulled over for massive winds that rocked the SUV and while hail fell. Thankfully, we only had to stay on the shoulder for about 30 minutes.
Here are some post-storm photos. Keep in mind...this is New Mexico and all that white on the ground is hail!
The three inches of hail on the road went on for about a mile and a half.
The rest of the drive was uneventful though and tonight we're in a nice La Quinta Inn and Suites. For the third night since we've been on the road, we ordered in Mexican food. I just love guacamole!
STATS
Hours on Road: 8am to 6:45pm Mountain time
Miles Driven: 433
States In: Colorado and New Mexico
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My father took one look at what we were driving and towing and strongly encouraged a major detour in our route. He said that we would have a tough time going through the mountains. It would be tough on the transmission, the brakes and on whichever one of us would be driving.
Even though the detour adds 258 miles, he assured us that since thr route is mostly flat, that it would take either the same amount of time or perhaps even less.
So, this morning, we headed out on I-25 South toward New Mexico instead of returning to I-70 to head through the Rocky Mountains toward Utah. At the beginning of the day, we were excited about no steep grades and we had no idea what we would face in the afternoon.
Here are some pictures of the calm before the storm:
I have never seen this sign before. I'm guessing it's for elk crossing the road?
At about 3:30pm, the sky suddenly became very dark and within 10 minutes the rain was coming down so hard and fast that we pulled over. We stayed pulled over for massive winds that rocked the SUV and while hail fell. Thankfully, we only had to stay on the shoulder for about 30 minutes.
Here are some post-storm photos. Keep in mind...this is New Mexico and all that white on the ground is hail!
The three inches of hail on the road went on for about a mile and a half.
The rest of the drive was uneventful though and tonight we're in a nice La Quinta Inn and Suites. For the third night since we've been on the road, we ordered in Mexican food. I just love guacamole!
Friday, June 27, 2008
Over Halfway There! (and the haunted room story)
ROAD TRIP DAY 4
STATS
Hours on Road: 7:45am Central time to 4:15pm Mountain time
Miles Driven: 440
States In: Kansas and Colorado
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I did a good amount of the driving today, so I wasn't the out-the-window photographer, so there will be no photo pictorial today. So sorry!
We are staying at my parent's house in Lone Tree tonight and they treated us to a lovely dinner out at Alexander's where we traded our fast food fare for Cheesecake Factory-sized salads--YUM!
Even though it's only 9:30 here, we are both beat and getting ready to head to bed.
But, quickly, what we learned today:
--not all of Kansas is flat, but the whole northern part of Colorado is.
--just because a sign on the highway says there is gas at the next exit, it doesn't mean there is.
--if you're really tired, even a cup of Starbucks coffee won't make you feel awake (This one is Jeannie's--I don't drink coffee.)
And, by request, the haunted room story:
The Days Inn we stayed at bordered a field to which we parked the SUV and trailer parallel. When I got the dog out of the car, she wanted nothing to do with the field. I sat her in the grass and she stood frozen. Finally I was able to convence her to do what she needed to do after which she immediately jumped out of the grass and wanted to get back in the car. I sensed a strange energy in that area, but shrugged it off. This cycle eith the dog repeated itself every time I needed to take her out. It was quite bizarre.
The other thing that repeated itself is that I would stick the key into the door of the room and get the green light then I'd push and it wouldn't open. Even when I put my full weight into the dorr it wouldn't open. Then just before I'd stick my key into the slot again, the door would just pop open without any effort on my part. I inspected the door and could find no reason why it would do that.
The dog also would not walk into the room on her own. I had to pick her up and carry her in whereas she nortmally would trot right into a room behind me. I suspected something was up with the room, but besides feeling colder than I would expect since it was 101 degrees outside, I didn't feel anything to be concerned about.
Later, I found out why the dog had been hesitant, right after I'd turned off the lights in the room, I flipped over and saw a man standing in front of the door to room (he was inside). He was looking at me, but I didn't sense that he was evil or bad in any way. I asked him to look after us and keep us safe, then I thanked him for sharing his room with us, flipped over and went to sleep.
The next morning Jeannie said she kept waking up in the middle of night and would look around, but see nothing and go back to sleep. This happened several times. I think the spirit must've been messing with her.
STATS
Hours on Road: 7:45am Central time to 4:15pm Mountain time
Miles Driven: 440
States In: Kansas and Colorado
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I did a good amount of the driving today, so I wasn't the out-the-window photographer, so there will be no photo pictorial today. So sorry!
We are staying at my parent's house in Lone Tree tonight and they treated us to a lovely dinner out at Alexander's where we traded our fast food fare for Cheesecake Factory-sized salads--YUM!
Even though it's only 9:30 here, we are both beat and getting ready to head to bed.
But, quickly, what we learned today:
--not all of Kansas is flat, but the whole northern part of Colorado is.
--just because a sign on the highway says there is gas at the next exit, it doesn't mean there is.
--if you're really tired, even a cup of Starbucks coffee won't make you feel awake (This one is Jeannie's--I don't drink coffee.)
And, by request, the haunted room story:
The Days Inn we stayed at bordered a field to which we parked the SUV and trailer parallel. When I got the dog out of the car, she wanted nothing to do with the field. I sat her in the grass and she stood frozen. Finally I was able to convence her to do what she needed to do after which she immediately jumped out of the grass and wanted to get back in the car. I sensed a strange energy in that area, but shrugged it off. This cycle eith the dog repeated itself every time I needed to take her out. It was quite bizarre.
The other thing that repeated itself is that I would stick the key into the door of the room and get the green light then I'd push and it wouldn't open. Even when I put my full weight into the dorr it wouldn't open. Then just before I'd stick my key into the slot again, the door would just pop open without any effort on my part. I inspected the door and could find no reason why it would do that.
The dog also would not walk into the room on her own. I had to pick her up and carry her in whereas she nortmally would trot right into a room behind me. I suspected something was up with the room, but besides feeling colder than I would expect since it was 101 degrees outside, I didn't feel anything to be concerned about.
Later, I found out why the dog had been hesitant, right after I'd turned off the lights in the room, I flipped over and saw a man standing in front of the door to room (he was inside). He was looking at me, but I didn't sense that he was evil or bad in any way. I asked him to look after us and keep us safe, then I thanked him for sharing his room with us, flipped over and went to sleep.
The next morning Jeannie said she kept waking up in the middle of night and would look around, but see nothing and go back to sleep. This happened several times. I think the spirit must've been messing with her.
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Third Day Is a Charm
ROAD TRIP DAY 3
STATS
Hours on Road: 9am - 7pm Central time
Miles Driven: 485
States In: Illinois, Missouri, Kansas
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As I said to my Mom when she called midday, today's driving can be summed up as being, "Smooth as a baby's bottom."
We ran into one accident that slowed us down, but only for a few extra minutes.
Mostly this is the kind of stuff we saw all day:
Tinkerbell is thoroughly enjoying the road trip.
Part of the reason may be because she has two of us spoiling her. Here's Jeannie holding her while I run into the truck stop.
Our biggest challenge is that neither of us are fond of fast food and choose not to eat it, however, it has been impossible to avoid this trip since with a dog, we have to eat what we can grab quickly. Subway is our favorite, but not always available.
We both ate at Sonic for the first time today. I have to say their salad was actually good and I'd eat it again over the nasty Burger King chicken sandwich I had yesterday. I also really liked the cherry limeade I ordered which tasted divine in the 101 degree humid heat. It probably contained more sugar than a cookie, but it was tasty.
Tonight we're in the Quality Inn in Salina. Aside from having to move rooms in order to get high speed Internet, it is a decent place to crash. As Jeannie said, "The beds are more comfortable than last night's."
And, it's a plus that this room isn't haunted, like last night's as well. (Sorry, I'm too tired to share that story tonight!)
STATS
Hours on Road: 9am - 7pm Central time
Miles Driven: 485
States In: Illinois, Missouri, Kansas
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As I said to my Mom when she called midday, today's driving can be summed up as being, "Smooth as a baby's bottom."
We ran into one accident that slowed us down, but only for a few extra minutes.
Mostly this is the kind of stuff we saw all day:
Tinkerbell is thoroughly enjoying the road trip.
Part of the reason may be because she has two of us spoiling her. Here's Jeannie holding her while I run into the truck stop.
Our biggest challenge is that neither of us are fond of fast food and choose not to eat it, however, it has been impossible to avoid this trip since with a dog, we have to eat what we can grab quickly. Subway is our favorite, but not always available.
We both ate at Sonic for the first time today. I have to say their salad was actually good and I'd eat it again over the nasty Burger King chicken sandwich I had yesterday. I also really liked the cherry limeade I ordered which tasted divine in the 101 degree humid heat. It probably contained more sugar than a cookie, but it was tasty.
Tonight we're in the Quality Inn in Salina. Aside from having to move rooms in order to get high speed Internet, it is a decent place to crash. As Jeannie said, "The beds are more comfortable than last night's."
And, it's a plus that this room isn't haunted, like last night's as well. (Sorry, I'm too tired to share that story tonight!)
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Dastardly Delays
ROAD TRIP DAY 2
STATS
Hours on Road: 10 - 10:15am; 11:30 - 12:45pm; 1:05 - 6:30pm
Miles Driven: 306
States in: Ohio, Indiana, Illinois
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We were on the road today for all of 5 minutes when Jeannie said:
The first thing I saw was the dummy computer telling us the liftgate was open (it wasn't totally opened, just not totally latched) so I had her pull over. I closed it and she indicated the light was still on. The one I saw wasn't the same one. Hers was a tire pressure gauge.
We are carrying almost 4,000 pounds, so we knew we'd need to watch the tire pressure. However, when we pulled off at the next exit to find that we couldn't maneuver into the area necessary to fill the tire with air at the gas station, I saw a tire place and she pulled into there. I'm glad we did.
We had a screw in the tire (I had the tech give it to me for putting in the scrapbook)and much more driving on it would've led to a blowout.
Over an hour later, we were back on the road and hit the first rainstorm of the trip.
We were humming along at the grand speed of about 35 mph when I noticed the lights weren't lit up on the trailer. Jeannie played with the switches, but they still didn't come on.
At the next exit, I hopped out into the pouring rain to look for a problem, but everything seemed fine. The actual brake lights did come on when Jeannie tapped the brakes, so as long as it was light out, we weren't in too much trouble. However, we didn't want to let a problem go, so when we saw a sign for a truck repair shop we decided to visit them.
Josh, one of the techs, was very nice. He found a cut in the grounding wire and taped it up, but it didn't fix the problem. He recommended that we call U-Haul and have them send someone out.
Having gone less than 100 miles and it being the afternoon already, we had lost a lot of time. We opted to not wait the hour plus it would take for U-Haul to get someone to us and get back on the road. Without back lights unless we hit the brakes we needed to be off the road before it started getting dark, so we decided to do our best to make it to St. Louis before nightfall.
And what was the dog doing during all of these delays? Sleeping, of course!
The rest of the afternoon passed without any more "events". Here's a few pix of the scenery from today:
Tired and unable to find a pet hotel in St. Louis, we decided to stay in Vandalia. We're at the Days Inn and the hotel attendant Tim has been amazingly helpful. He totally "gets" great customer service!
Jeannie dropped me off at the front lobby to check in and drove around the side of the hotel to find enough room to park. Unfortunately, the parking is in spaces around the hotel and it deadended.
Our plan to never back-up was shot. Jeannie and I worked for awhile to get the trailer and SUV backed up without success. We were covered in sweat (the humidity here is EVIL and it was 90 degrees), tired, hungry and yet we knew we couldn't give up. About that time, a guy pulled in and took pity on us. He not only backed it up, but got it facing forward so we can just drive out tomorrow night.
Here's how beautiful (haha) I looked after our days ordeals (actually I think this was just after the first two).
Oh, I almost forgot. U-Haul sent out Willy's Repair at around 8:30pm and they found that there may be a short in the trailer that caused the fuse to blow which is why it happened when it started raining hard. They replaced the fuse with one twice as strong and said it would probably hold. Let's hope...
STATS
Hours on Road: 10 - 10:15am; 11:30 - 12:45pm; 1:05 - 6:30pm
Miles Driven: 306
States in: Ohio, Indiana, Illinois
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We were on the road today for all of 5 minutes when Jeannie said:
What's this light on the dashboard?
The first thing I saw was the dummy computer telling us the liftgate was open (it wasn't totally opened, just not totally latched) so I had her pull over. I closed it and she indicated the light was still on. The one I saw wasn't the same one. Hers was a tire pressure gauge.
We are carrying almost 4,000 pounds, so we knew we'd need to watch the tire pressure. However, when we pulled off at the next exit to find that we couldn't maneuver into the area necessary to fill the tire with air at the gas station, I saw a tire place and she pulled into there. I'm glad we did.
We had a screw in the tire (I had the tech give it to me for putting in the scrapbook)and much more driving on it would've led to a blowout.
Over an hour later, we were back on the road and hit the first rainstorm of the trip.
We were humming along at the grand speed of about 35 mph when I noticed the lights weren't lit up on the trailer. Jeannie played with the switches, but they still didn't come on.
At the next exit, I hopped out into the pouring rain to look for a problem, but everything seemed fine. The actual brake lights did come on when Jeannie tapped the brakes, so as long as it was light out, we weren't in too much trouble. However, we didn't want to let a problem go, so when we saw a sign for a truck repair shop we decided to visit them.
Josh, one of the techs, was very nice. He found a cut in the grounding wire and taped it up, but it didn't fix the problem. He recommended that we call U-Haul and have them send someone out.
Having gone less than 100 miles and it being the afternoon already, we had lost a lot of time. We opted to not wait the hour plus it would take for U-Haul to get someone to us and get back on the road. Without back lights unless we hit the brakes we needed to be off the road before it started getting dark, so we decided to do our best to make it to St. Louis before nightfall.
And what was the dog doing during all of these delays? Sleeping, of course!
The rest of the afternoon passed without any more "events". Here's a few pix of the scenery from today:
Tired and unable to find a pet hotel in St. Louis, we decided to stay in Vandalia. We're at the Days Inn and the hotel attendant Tim has been amazingly helpful. He totally "gets" great customer service!
Jeannie dropped me off at the front lobby to check in and drove around the side of the hotel to find enough room to park. Unfortunately, the parking is in spaces around the hotel and it deadended.
Our plan to never back-up was shot. Jeannie and I worked for awhile to get the trailer and SUV backed up without success. We were covered in sweat (the humidity here is EVIL and it was 90 degrees), tired, hungry and yet we knew we couldn't give up. About that time, a guy pulled in and took pity on us. He not only backed it up, but got it facing forward so we can just drive out tomorrow night.
Here's how beautiful (haha) I looked after our days ordeals (actually I think this was just after the first two).
Oh, I almost forgot. U-Haul sent out Willy's Repair at around 8:30pm and they found that there may be a short in the trailer that caused the fuse to blow which is why it happened when it started raining hard. They replaced the fuse with one twice as strong and said it would probably hold. Let's hope...
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