There She Is!

That cruel cruel mistress, LA.... with her equally cruel driving etiquette.

WE DID IT!!

That There Yonder....

... Is CALIFORNIA!!!

Amazing Sculptures!

We just bought the whole lot! Our front yard will be the talk of the town, and people will stare with looks of envy! (like they do when Cari wears her house pants in public!)

Good Morning!!

We'd like to take a moment to wish our dedicated viewers a happy new year! So have a seat, nurse those hangovers and join us on our journey back to Cali. We spent our last night on the road in Holbrook, AZ. Holbrook is a smallish town (& pretty much only town with services) between albuquerque & flagstaff. We were pretty excited to be out of the car, and fell asleep well before the new year rang in! Although we did do the countdown for the east coast new year! My official last act of 2011 was stepping into a pile of dog poo while taking Ralphie out for a walk. Let's talk about that struggle! As soon as he heard all of the coyotes howling, he wanted nothing to do with being outside anymore.....and I wanted nothing more than to have not just stepped into a pile of poo.
Oops! Gotta go! We just might have found our first REAL CAFE that's not a Starbucks!!!!!

Yikes!

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cholla_Power_Plant

The Last Leg!

Oh dearest dedicated viewers, can you believe our American journey is coming to a close?! We are doing our last day of driving from Holbrook, AZ to Santa Monica, CA.
Happy 2012!!!!!

We're in Arizona!!!

Hay Bales!

The first time I saw these giant hay bales, I didn't even know what they were!!! They are as big as a house!!!

Dowd's Catfish & BBQ!

This is the catfish and BBQ restaurant that Jess has secretly been running for the last couple of years! :)

Campbell's Asphalt Company!

Why didn't anyone ever tell me about our asphalt company?!?!

If Only...

...we had a bigger car so we could have space for all of the amazing gifts we find in the country stores we frequent. Who doesn't want a stuffed buffalo for their living room?!?!

Theme: Jesus

Theme: Native Americans

It seems that as we've driven across the southwest United States, there are two common themes we cannot escape: Native Americans & Jesus.
This post is interesting pictures relating to the theme of Native Americans. Enjoy!!!

Tucumcari!!!

Ok, so I know we can all agree that anything that has "Cari" in it is going to be amazing, but who knew that Tucumcari had so much to offer?!?!

(BTW, this is Cari posting!!)

They have a historical museum, a mountain, and even 3 gas stations! WOW!!! 

Now for some fascinating facts for our dedicated viewers about my new favorite place on earth:

Origins:

In 1901, the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad built a construction camp in the western portion of modern-day Quay County. Owing to numerous gunfights, the camp became known as Six Shooter Siding. After it grew into a permanent settlement, it was renamed Tucumcari in 1908. The name was taken from Tucumcari Mountain, which is situated near the community. 

In Pop Culture:

• Many of the scenes in the television showRawhide (1959–1966) starring Clint Eastwood were shot in the Tucumcari area.^[9]
• One of the killers in Truman Capote's 1965 book In Cold Blood asks about the travelling distance to Tucumcari. This scene appears in the 1967 film version of the novel.
• Tucumcari is the setting of one of the first scenes in Sergio Leone's 1965 film For a Few Dollars More, starring Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, and Gian Maria Volonté. However, this is a prochronism since Tucumcari was founded many years after For a Few Dollars More is set to take place.
• A scene in the 1971 movie Two-Lane Blacktop, starring James Taylor, Dennis Wilson, and Warren Oates, was filmed at a gasoline service station on U.S. Highway 54 just northeast of Tucumcari. Tucumcari Mountain is clearly visible at the beginning of this scene.
• The city is mentioned in the 1988 film Rain Man by the character played by Tom Cruise. However, the location in the scene is not Tucumcari.

As you can see, Tucumcari is a magical place. (the pic with me in it has beautiful Mount Tucumcari in the background!!!)

Correction!

Tucumcari, NM!
We're out of Texas! Hooray!!!

Texas BBQ

Well.... As close as one can get without sitting down! So, as you know, we've been on "the road".... eating "road food". We ARE SO SICK OF ROAD FOOD! Thank goodness for the snacks my mom packed <3!!! Since we have pretty much turned our noses up toward "road food" our meal today consisted of a shared package of powdered donuts, a shared orange and the weakest cups of coffee....ever. By 1pm, I was cranky, hungry & determined to find BBQ. We pulled into an establishment that was sit down. The name escapes me at the moment, but we didn't want to leave Ralphie unattended in the car, and upon opening the door were completely overwhelmed by the smell of horse poop. While Ralphie expressed great interest in this smell, it was enough to make us turn around... fast. We found another place that had a take-away window, perfect!! Two brisket sandwiches, a small cole slaw, & beans later... We are happy and content! The sandwich was delicious! Although they forgot to give us our BBQ sauce... Thankfully it was still so flavorful we almost didn't need it..... almost. Next attraction: Tucumcari, tx. Cari is excited.

Texas, Yes!

Welcome To Texas, where everything is bigger, it's 74 degrees, & where the state motto is "friendship". What you don't see in this photo is the Texas copper saddled right on the state line, ready to catch anyone too comfortable with the Oklahoma speed limit! (which hasn't changed..) We are excited to be spending the last day of 2011 on the road. Now if we could just find lunch that isn't mcdonalds, we'll be happy! Oh, and by the way, Cari has become an expert at identifying roadside carcass..... & Cari-ism for the moment. "had I known it was going to be so hot, I would've worn my house pants today!"...

Here We Go Again.

Apparently, we did not learn our lesson when it came to the Oklahoma Turnpike, and once again found ourselves scrambling for toll money. After last nights purse, wallet, and car pillaging... oh, and did i mention the canadian dime that was returned to us? All because it was... canadian? Total nightmare, right? We decided to look up what the toll might be once we'd reach our exit. A dollar? Sweet! We've got that! We are confident that we've dodged a bullet until we realize that the toll is not a dollar like the website stated, but 4 dollars. Oh Oklahoma, WHY?! We ended up with a total of $3.60 in loose change (including cari's beloved last dollar coin of which I most likely will never hear the end of) and hoped that the toll lady wouldn't notice.
(toll lady counts out endless change)
Lady: 40 more cents please
Cari: (long pause) what if we don't HAVE 40 cents?
Cari: (whispers to Jess) we could ask the people behind us?
Jess: go for it
Lady: you could write a personal check?
Jess: for 40 cents?
Lady: (unintelligible) hold on a minute....oh, I think I found 6 more cents, yup. That's ok, have a great day!

Dear dedicated viewers, there was no additional 6 cents that magically appeared! She, unlike the previous toll lady from last night was doing us a solid, saving us from embarrassment. I bet she would've even taken the Canadian dime!

We promptly pulled over at the EZ GO, where I pulled out some cash! Lesson learned.

Day 2 Done!

Ralphie & Jess are so excited to have reached our destination for the night that they decided to play a game of chase. We love Tulsa!!!

Hello Okla-uh-oh!!!!

Ummm....does anyone have $2 we can borrow?? I missed getting a picture of the "Welcome to Oklahoma" sign because we have encountered an unexpected toll road. Fee: $4. Change in Cari's purse: $2.14.
Maybe Ralphie has a hidden stash of coins...

Thank You, Joplin!

For giving us gas for only $2.95 a gallon!! When was the last time our dedicated viewers got gas for less than $3?!?!

Molly Brown Can Moo, Can You?

Molly Brown's Fireworks (and gift shop) looked so inviting that we had to go inside and see for ourselves what wonders could be found.
What we found:
1. An entire warehouse of fireworks and about 5 shelves of gifts.
2. All the people inside shopping were families with children.
3. Nobody had a full mouth of teeth.
4. Conversation overheard between mother and daughter:
Daughter: Mom, where are you going?
Mom: I need to go have a smoke before we do the fireworks, I don't wanna blow nothin' up.

Gotta love the Ozarks!!!

Effingham, IL

We effing stopped in effing Effingham to get us some effing souvenirs and we were so effing disappointed to find there was not one effing item that said Effingham on it! Eff that!!!

My East Coast Peeps!

Jess' New Grill

Jess & I got blinged-out grills for Christmas from A's friend, Shannon. Here's Jess giving her best gangsta face! Hahahaha

Wonder Bread!!!

This post is for my Dad!
In the last 2 states we passed through, I saw an old Wonder Bread factory in Ohio and then a Wonder Bread truck in Indiana!! Maybe someone's looking out for me on my road trip?! :)

FYI...

This is the town Jess had us spend the night in...and the town that I got my horrific spider bite in!!!

Best Stop EVER!

First of all...Blogger Cari is baaaaaack!!

Second...we just stopped at the most amazing antique/mule trading post off Route 66 ever! It was a humongous shop with multiple hidden rooms- we could have spent hours in there! And the couple who own it told us its been there for 62 years!
I found myself quite a treasure there...I will take a picture of it at our next stop!

You Know You're In Redneck Country When....

Every commercial you hear is about guns, every billboard is about fireworks, dentures or guns... there are body parts coming out of pick up trucks....the attendant at the gas station talks about how having an applebees in town would be a dream, because she never did eat at one before...and you see not one, not two, but three roadside butt cracks.

The Gateway To The West!

What a beautiful city!

CARI-ISMS

(who is driving btw)
"I can't believe we missed that place!......I'm so mad at us...

As we drive right by the exit to the "Indian Crafts" place we planned on hitting!

Sent from my iPhone

Helllllo Illinois!

Contest #4!!!

Using the identifying words on this water tower, can any of our dedicated viewers guess where we are? Hint: we aren't in Ohio.
This contest is brought to you by our new sponsor "Quaker, Steak 'N Lube". Winner wins one free steak extra crispy and a lube job.

....and helllllo Indiana!

We're thinking about hitting up Spiceland. Or the Amish Cheese Shop!

Goodbye Ohio!

We in God Country Now!