Wednesday, January 27

PackedInTheCarLikeSardines

 I'm totally kicking myself for not getting pictures of the car once it was packed with everything.  But alas, my friends, do not worry for the title of this blog is called "Married & Moving", we're 95% done with moving but we're not done.  We will be stuffing our little car once again and then settling into our 500 square foot studio apartment at the beginning of the next month.  I'll make it a point to take a picture of the car then.

We did manage to get THIS little video in!

Right after eating at Jim's we started driving straight to Roswell, NM.  Our goal was to make it out of Texas that day and then stay overnight in the Alien city.

*Some backstory for you guys if you're new: Mickey has epilepsy and so driving isn't something recommended and so I was the one making the trip and he was my co-pilot, partner-in-crime and DJ.

About 40 minutes after we first started driving, Mickey informed me about cruise control. I'd heard about it but considering that I never made any long trips or anything I didn't care to learn more about it. So, he told me about it, we figured it out in my car and bam! I cruise control-ed it for a big chunk of the way there.  It was awesome.  It's the little things my friends.

 We started seeing a little bit of snow as we were making our way out of Texas which was pretty cool seeing as we'd never seen snow together.  We stopped at a gas station and had a mini snowball fight.  I won.
Just kidding.
It was a tie.
But seriously, it was fun!
 We drove for about 8 hours that first day and everything was fine and dandy until we got into Roswell.  *Cue alien-themed music like the one on The X-Files* There was so much snow and us Texans do not know how to drive in the snow because even when there's a little ice on the road we freak out so much you'd think the world was ending. We didn't have chains or anything.  At first we thought "this is fine, yay, adventures!" And then Siri decided to take us a crazy long way where driving became a very difficult task.  I told Anderson [my car] to go one way and he would go the complete opposite.  I tried to keep my cool and pretend like I wasn't scared but by the end of it I was a total mess.  I started crying because I was tired and I didn't know how to drive in the snow and I turned to Mickey and reassured him I was having fun. So there I was half crying half smiling saying "I know I'm crying but this is fun. Yay! Experiences!" And then I continued to blubber that out.

We finally got to our hotel and I swear to you, I thought we were going to fall as we made our way into the lobby.  Luckily, we didn't. We checked-in, our room was super nice and then hunger set in.  We ordered pizza but they said they couldn't deliver because of the snow and that was pretty much the only place we could find that was open and so we trekked our way of the warm and cozy hotel out into the treacherous winter snow.  We drove on a normal street and so I kept saying "It's okay, I'm a professional, this isn't my first time driving in the snow". Which, duh. It wasn't. But I had to drive like 15MPH and then we got a call from the pizza place asking where we were (because they were going to close early because of the snow) and long story short, we finally made it, we got our pizza, Mickey almost slipped and we headed back.

By the time we got back to the room, we were exhausted and famished.  We ate, watched The Food Network, my body started aching horribly, I took an Aleve, and then shortly after, we both zonked out.  It was awesome.  9pm. Ladies and gentlemen, you can just call us old farts now, it's okay with me. 

We woke up the next morning and the kind people that clean up the snow around cars and roads, had done so already. We made our way out of the hotel and got ready for Day 2 of the trip.  Not before taking these pictures though.  You can clearly see how cold we were.  But look at the snow!!

The next day was going to be the longest.  Like an almost 9 hour drive.  To be honest, it wasn't bad.  5 hours flew by and then it was like "We're more than halfway there!". What no one tells you about traveling west is how fun it is to be going through time.  Time change guys.  It's so cool.  We added an hour and then on the third day we gained another hour.  It was super cool.  Our drive to Phoenix was much easier because the snow slowly started diminishing.  Everything was fine until the last hour and a half.  My ears are big sissies when it comes to elevation.  Seriously, when I fly, Mickey and I found this to work when we went on our honeymoon [Whoop whoop!], I have to take a decongestant, have several packs of gum, use a nasal spray (Afrin) and use Ear Planes.  So apparently my ears don't discriminate.  I thought they were just sensitive when it came to flying. Nope. They don't like elevations changes in cars either.

I had some major problems (MAJOR PROBLEMS, How I Met Your Mother anyone?) with my ears, they were just as bad as they get when I fly.  It was pretty sucky. So, of course, I started crying.  Again.  When my ears hurt that bad, it feels like my eardrums are going to burst and my jaw starts hurting.  Yeah.  So I kept driving and chewing my gum like nobody's business.  We pumped up the music so I didn't focus on anything but the music.  We played Adele.  And just when I was about to belt out "HELLO FROM THE OTHER SIDE" my ears popped for the first time in a long time and it hurt like a mother.  I teared up.  Thanks Adele.  Always making people cry.  But it helped they kept popping and un-popping for a while.  It got better. 

At one point, just 30 minutes from our hotel in Phoenix this semi was blocking the entire road.  Cars started piling up behind us and we turned off our car and just relaxed.  It was too chilly to get outside although plenty of people were out of the cars behind us.  It was nice. It was like God's way of saying, take a break.

We got to the hotel. It was NICE.  We had food in the restaurant downstairs and enjoyed watching our boys, the amazing San Antonio Spurs, playing the Suns and beating them badly.  :)
We had spotted a Waffle House legit, like right outside our hotel and so we made plans for our last day to eat breakfast there.  We had survived the longest day of our trip!

We had waffles at the Waffle House and geez, they're sooooo good.  If you have near you, give it a try.  Seriously.  Yum.

We left for California that last day, on the 31st and we drove on Route 66! It was cool! We started looking around more and enjoying the scenery because that day we only had to drive for like 5 hours.  Pshh.  Piece. of. cake.
The drive was beautiful. 
Once we crossed the Calfornia state line we started playing California music.  What music is that you ask?



1. California Dreaming by the Mamas and the Papas
2. California Love by 2Pac
3. Californication Red Hot Chili Peppers
4. Hotel California by The Eagles.
ETC.
You get the idea.  
I highly recommend you do this when traveling to California.  It makes you feel like a total BA.  It's awesome. 
The rest of the drive wasn't hard. We were total goofs looking around and just absorbing California in all its glory.  

So, right now, we're staying with friends until we move into our 500 sq ft. apartment.  We're uber excited and so thankful for all of the help we've received.  Here's us crossing our fingers that our adventures have calmed down for the moment and we get certain things working in our favor.  I'm being totally vague but positive thoughts and vibes would be deeply appreciated. 
:)

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