Road Trip USA: Houston - Seattle

I did not blog while on my road trip from Houston to Seattle but I thought that I'd re-cap a few of the highlights along with posting photos.

Day 1-July 8, 2009: Houston, TX - Los Cruces, NM. This leg of my road trip was actually one of the best because my Dad was along for the ride. For some reason I thought that I would be bored. I was anything but bored. With my father I and both "talkers" there was not a moment of boredom in my 2006 little white Nissan Sentra. Even as we set the AC blasting to the max we were still sweating and hot. After San Antonio, like most Texans warned me, there is not much out there. However, surprisingly I found the landscape quite scenic. I had envisioned a brown desert like setting but it was green and became rockier with more hills and mountains as we traveled West.

I enjoyed the massive windmills an hour outside of El Paso.

My Dad and I passed two Airstream trailers (we are both huge Airstream fans).


Last the sunset in Los Cruces (40 miles north of El Paso) was spectacular. We found a La Quinta to crash for the night and while talking on my cell phone outside I learned that the beetles and bugs in Los Cruces were unfamiliar. "Texans are nice" my father observed and I was a little sad leaving the lone star state. The drive that first day was enjoyable: catching up with my Dad, listening to old school Michael Jackson, reading my travel magazine and enjoying the humidity one last time! :)


Day 2-July 9, 2009: Los Cruces, NM -Anaheim, CA

My Dad accompanied me all the way to Anaheim where his parents (my grandparents) live. That is why we did not drive to Seattle on a more direct route, say through Denver, CO or the Rockies.

Day 2 was enjoyable as well although I began to get a little restless in Arizona. Southern New Mexico is quite uneventful. Finally we reached Arizona and made Phoenix our lunch stop. My expectations for Arizona were much higher than the end result. Perhaps all the beautiful cactus landscape roads I had witnessed on movies were not filmed along highway 10? Instead the dry, brown desert did not impress me whatsoever.

Traveling twenty miles off of highway 10 to a suburb of Phoenix called Gilbert, my Dad and I sought out a diner that has appeared on his favorite television show Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives or triple D. The diner is called Joe's Farm Grill.




The Fontina Burger and Mexican Vanilla bean shake were incredibly delicious! The restaurant sat on land that used to be a farm owned by the Johnston family. My Dad believes that most likely the farm land was sold to developers and the owners used the profit to build the restaurant. Next to Joe's Farm Grill, there was also a Coffee Shop that had adorable cupcakes and next to the coffee shop was a scooter shop. So cute, modern and hip!

We finally reached the California border! From one of the US's largest states (TX) to another (CA). I was really looking forward to California because I have fond childhood memories of visiting Grandma and Grandpa and going to Disneyland.

I thought the windmills set up for wind power just east of El Paso were spectacular until just past Palm Desert we came upon hundreds upon hundreds of windmills. Nestled just inside a valley to catch the Santa Ana winds were at least 500 windmills. I was blown away by the number of windmills in California. If Texas is number two in wind power California has got to be number one!

Finally, Dad and I arrived in Anaheim. My Grandma was patiently awaiting our arrival. Doris is the cutest woman ever! She had her hair done and was so excited to see us!

My Dad stayed in Anaheim a few days before departing home to Seattle! I must say, he was probably the best partner in crime for two 12 hour days of driving. We had fun! He made me laugh quite frequently. I have never met anyone else who is so friendly to everyday people at gas stations, etc. He is very knowledgeable and informative on the trucking lifestyle, roads, highways, etc. Thanks Dad! Let the journey continue!

Can't Sleep so why not blog

Instead of lying in bed trying so hard to sleep this morning, I gave in, woke up, made myself a cup of coffee and I am sitting here at 5:30 am Friday, July 24th blogging. I have a lot on my mind these days. In twenty one days I will be boarding a plane for Dubai, U.A.E. to begin working. Where has the summer gone? With this departure comes all sorts of loose ends to tie up and all kinds of preparations. I will share with you a few things on my mind in hopes that this will relieve a few anxieties and bring a better night of rest later this evening.

First of all, I am really not that nervous to leave the U.S. for Dubai. People ask me this question quite frequently and I ponder as to whether I really should be answering the questioner or wonder what they are expecting as a "normal" reply. I am really not that nervous. I am more concerned as to what should go in my suitcase! aka what clothes and shoes to pack. Perhaps this anxiety or nervousness will arrive a few days before departure but I only envision myself becoming more and more excited! I look forward to the change in pace, being surrounded by Europeans, Asians and others. Meeting the girls, my new students. The fun things that arrive with a fresh new school year. New co-workers (not that I did not like my old co-workers) but the women who, like me, move abroad to teach I bet have some amazing histories and stories that I cannot wait to hear about.

Second, maybe the insomnia and anxiousness for my trip is a good thing. After all I am leaving some amazing friends, colleagues, my love and so many others so it might as well be worth all of this work. To be honest, I have not been dealing with the whole visa process just yet. I have renewed my passport (have you noticed the US Visa resembles the Colbert report with eagles and such?) and I endured the long process of getting my diploma and transcripts approved by four different offices ( I swear Hillary Rodham Clinton hand signed my documents:))

Last, maybe the lack of sleep is a result of too many Diet Pepsis or caffeine? I doubt it considering I drink quite a lot of caffeine on a daily basis but regardless it was just another option to throw out there! Okay, I'm going to end this rather lengthy entry and let you know that I am alright and will be fine. And no, I am not nervous about Dubai! :)

Garage Sales, Garbage and Getting Rid of Things

Since school ended on June 5th, I have realized that watching the Today Show, The View and Ellen is much more desirable than doing what I am supposed to be doing or organizing my life. I knew that I needed to be moving all of my things out of my apt. one way or another and boxing items that I wanted to keep but watching television and lounging by the pool proved much more fun!

Instead of throwing away all of my things or donating them to the Goodwill, I started by holding a Garage Sale (which I learned should have been called a Yard Sale) on my good friend Aimee's front lawn. Making a few dollar bills is always nice too! Too prepare, I spent an entire week gathering items that I knew would not be going in the suitcase to Dubai or stored at la casa Caskey in Seattle for 2 years. Here is a photo of my garage sale pile! Yikes!
The Garage Sale brought me a few hundred bucks but the effort and work to hold the garage sale was rough. I did not even have to post the signs and people starting hovering over the tables, bargaining, grabbing, etc. I sold everything from old work clothes, a guitar with an awesome pink case, I mean you name it, it was probably there! I also managed to donate a few things to Goodwill which is also nice!

Next came moving out of my apartment and cleaning the entire place. It was only a one bedroom but geez, I spent all of last Saturday, June 27th mopping, sweeping, dusting, scrubbing ... all in hopes of getting my deposit fully reimbursed. Now I know why people just pay people to clean. If I learned anything from moving out of my beautiful apartment on Commonwealth it is not to move in or out in June or any other time when the thermostat reaches 100 degrees!

Last but certainly not least, I am currently staying near downtown Houston in Melanie's town home on the bottom floor. It is a nice location and all my things are in her garage waiting to be piled into my car for the road trip home with my Daddo to Seattle. Since I arrived here last Saturday, I have combed through my goods a second time only to release more items to the recycling, Goodwill or garbage gods!

Getting rid of "stuff" can be an wonderful feeling! I have been evaluating in the past few weeks all of the essential everyday items that I truly need. Because otherwise it is most certainly not coming along with me half way around the world!