Our 4th Cross Country Drive

You would think we just can get enough of that drive huh?  Every single time we've done it Charlie says "I'm never doing this again."  Sure enough it happened again!  This time we would be shipping my car out and driving out the Kia.  Also, we were bringing a little extra luggage with us..our friend Kyle!   He was going to be going to CA for vacation for a few weeks so for some unknown reason he volunteered to come with us.  It was nice to have the extra company and driver but as you can imagine it was a little tight...

Leaving NYC

But we managed to squeeze everything and everyone in with a little bit of breathing space left.  Our journey began on February 1st which happened to be SuperBowl Sunday. Our plan was to drive to West Virginia where Kyle has a cousin and stay the night and watch the game.  WV was not our ideal spot to stop because it was only about 7 hours away from NYC but it turned out to be great.  His family was super hospitable and they had 3 kids who were really fun.  Not to mention a free bed!  From West Virginia was needed to make up for miles on that first day so we ended up driving all the way to Missouri.  It was about a 15 hour drive.  Again, because we had an extra driver it really never felt like it was too unbearable.  Missouri was kind of a trip, pretty middle of the country kind of state but we actually liked it more then our stop in New Mexico.  In Missouri we posted up in a hotel, had some drinks and ordered some pizza.  Kyle offered to buy dinner so he called an ordered saying, "Can i get a sausage and pepperoni pie?"  Pretty sure the guy on the other end had NO CLUE what Kyle was talking about, he had to ask a few times before Kyle just said pizza...not pie.  Pretty funny.

Needless to say there were moments (hours) of sheer boredom.

St. Louis Gateway Arch.

What do you do on a cross country drive besides listen to every CD a few times? Take selfies.

As you can see the back was a little snug. 

But we all rotated shifts..

After Missouri we went to New Mexico. Until end of TX the drive isn't too scenic.  I was surprised at the areas where we were seeing snow though.  We saw all the way to AZ.  Leaving New Mexico we got to see some pretty neat looking terrain.

The picture below was actually Arizona!

I liked this shot with the train going by.

Don't remember where "Two Guns" was, most likely NM or AZ.  After a while it all starts to blend.

On the evening of February 4th we arrive in San Diego.  We came in at like 9pm and dropped of Kyle at a friends place in Encinitas.  It always seems like the last 2 or 3 hours is the longest.  I don't know why it hits us that way but maybe because we know how close we are.

My goal was to spend my 28th birthday with my family and we were able to achieve that :)  

Hopefully there won't be a next time but who the heck knows!

 I have to say that one of the hardest parts about leaving NY was leaving Johnson.  The last few days when we were packing up he knew something was going on.  He has seen suitcases enough to associate it with separation.  The last day he was following Charlie and I around constantly.  My heart broke when we had to actually leave him.  When Charlie and I went to Puerto Rico, Kathy said he didn't move, eat, or go to the bathroom for 2 days.  He was just laying under the kitchen table, she actually thought she might have to put him down.  Because he is getting up there (already up there) in age there was a likelihood that when we leave for San Diego it was the last time we would get to see him.  I still can't talk about it too much because i get chocked up.