Day Eleven - and all the days after

my passenger seat by the end...

As you can assume, I have made it to sunny CA. Apparently it has been in the 20s/30s in MD and while I wish I had more sympathy - I'm mostly just so glad I got out before those temps hit because BYE I DON'T FEEL BAD!

finally, signs for LA!

 Sorry, that wasn't supposed to be mean... I'm just really happy to have finally escaped winter.












 I arrived in Long Beach on Sunday night, my temporary sleeping quarters were all ready for me. I have brought minimal things in from my very full car, basically just what I needed, because I picked right up on Monday morning and am back to working full time. Yes, that is my "suitcase" at the foot of the bed, a very classy trader joes reusable grocery bag. I mean hey - it works!

The last day of my drive was uneventful, I expected to be excited when I woke up - but this whole time I have just felt very calm. The last 2 hours were long, it was dark and I was not interested in all the traffic.

sunset at Long Beach airport

Its so nice to finally be here, but also doesn't feel real yet because I'm so used to having a place where I stay to call home. At the moment, the closest thing to that is my car. I am excited to find a place (hopefully soon) where I can unpack and have my own space. I am sure my sister will feel the same shortly, if she doesn't already haha. She even graciously temporarily donated some drawer space to me so I can unpack just a bit, and we are sharing lots of counter space in the bathroom.


As strange as it is to not have a real "home" at the moment, I do feel very lucky because I have three sets of house keys attached to my car keys, and have 2 garage codes memorized to places I know I am welcome - both here and at home. Again, the support from everyone has been helpful beyond words.

This has been the truest test and pushing to my limits of my type-A plan everything ahead-ness, but I am becoming more comfortable with not needing everything to be organized all the time. I am taking every advantage I can to grow from this experience.

One cool thing about being here on the west coast for my job is that its easy for me to join my team whenever they come into town for a sales pitch. I got a chance to do that in Irvine and I hope to continue to contribute that way, I'm sure its pretty convenient not to fly someone across the country and also for the clients to have a point of contact who is more local aka. me!

last sunset on the road!

I have been so busy catching up with work and trying to find a place to live/buying food/doing laundry that I haven't made time for yoga or working out, and I really haven't made any new friends.

Hopefully soon I can start incorporating all that back into my life again - for now just a lot of very productive alone time!!

Day Ten - yay, more people I know!

Waking up in El Paso today was nothing special. I found a cute place on yelp for breakfast that was on my way so, as usual, I was very excited for my breakfast food!

After about a half hour drive towards Phoenix, I arrived for breakfast - I couldn't decide between the challah french toast and an egg/protein option, so I got both! Clearly I am excited to have made it this far, and am rewarding myself with crazy things like also ordering fresh squeezed OJ.

The restaurant was so cute, its also an event space, a garden, and it has a gift shop! It was so hot outside, I also was tanning while I brunched on the patio. Even once I was done eating, I decided to stay on the patio a little longer to get some extra vitamins from the sun!





Soon after I left for New Mexico, adding yet another state to my "photos with the welcome sign" collection.

Boy, was I happy to finally have finished my very long drive across Texas. It was at least 15-18 hours of driving to get across that one state!

I cannot report on the rest stops here, but I can say that in additional to becoming a connoisseur of rest stops, I have also gotten very good at taste testing the local tap water. The tap water in El Paso was very chemicaly, so I am hoping for something better at my next stop. 






Once I left I was headed to a gypsum park north of El Paso - this is also definitely one of my top 5 of the trip. Admission was free that day, so after a big ascent into the mountains, I arrived at the former missile site, ready to see something amazing. Its supposed to be a big reservation of what looks like stark white sand dunes where you can walk around/explore and also even sled around the dunes.

 The views did not disappoint, I would love to come back here. It was a perfect/gorgeous day, the sky and clouds were so pretty, I just felt like I couldn't take enough photos! Not that the photos can do it justice...

After visiting White Sands, I continued on the last long leg of my journey - to Phoenix where my friends were hosting me for the night. I saw another awesome sunset on my drive, followed by all those stars you can't see in cities like Baltimore.

Again I was so happy to see a familiar face, and spend time catching up. It has been so lucky that I had friends along the way to stop and visit. That has really been one of my favorite parts, because its rare that I would have had an opportunity to see them otherwise.

Day Nine - the longest drive

I was very sad to leave my ATX friends, but am convinced that I can get my sis to come back and visit them with me (Jess - if you're reading this, sorry in advance for the nagging). I had a great time in that city, so after a quick breakfast and packing of my things, I headed out.

these guys especially...

I stopped in Johnson City to check out a coffee/shop where I met these little guys and wanted to bring one home so bad! But, no room in my car...

this is really just for Jess/Lauren

The good news is, the drive from Austin to El Paso wasn't as bad as I expected. The bad news is that I had a truck kick up a giant rock onto my windshield resulting in a sizeable crack. Luckily I knew from other people that I should get it fixed as soon as possible so it didn't get any bigger. This happened around 4pm, I managed to be driving through a big enough town that had an auto glass repair shop in it, and got to them by 4:30 to fix it and be back on the road before 5! For some reason or another, luck was clearly on my side to have such good timing (before close) and be near an actual bigger city when it happened so that I could find a shop, plus they ended up not even charging me to fix it!! That's southern hospitality for ya.

I left around 10:30am and got here around 7:30pm - which includes a time zone change and a cracked windshield repair, so I'm happy with that travel time. I stopped around 12:30 for lunch in Fredericksburg at Sunset Grille, that little town was a cute treat to drive through, And I made sure I filled up my tank so that I wasn't stranded on the desert highway with no fuel.

I actually got to see the sun set on my drive here, and then arrived once it was dark - so seeing the city lights from far away as I drove up was pretty neat. Plus I got to see all the stars also!

I was planning to try and go out on the town tonight, but I'm so exhausted from my drive that I'm just gonna call it an early night. I'm less than 12 hours from LA now, so this distance is pretty real!

Day Eight - procrastinating the unavoidable

Tomorrow I have to drive to El Paso, this is worthy of procrastination because its a 9+ hour drive and I have never driving this far in one day before in my life. I suspect the drive from MD to Nashville was similar, but I had my sister with me then!

Today was a day that started with a lot of exciting activities, such as fixing my speakers, putting air in my tires (due to temperature changes), getting more mouthwash, all that fun stuff.

Rocket Pizza + Triple Chocolate Brownie

Yesterday I called to schedule a trail ride because TX. So once I got all my errands done, I headed that way since its an hour out of town. On the way, my friends suggested an awesome brick oven pizza place called Pieous, and it did not disappoint. My trail ride was very relaxing, and I'm glad I got in some time at the barn - I haven't ridden in years and basically forget how to do it.

me and Badger!

Once I finally got back to town, my local friend took me on a tour of where he works - this super cool place called Mobile Loaves and Fishes. It originally started as a way that a group of friends regularly brought food to the homeless population in ATX but what its grown to is astounding! The place I visited is called the Village, its a place that provides affordable, permanent housing and a supportive community for the disabled, for about 250 chronically homeless people.

a few of the residences

Each trailer or tiny home is specific to that resident, there is a health clinic on site, a city bus stop, and a market including food grown at the Village.

The requirements to qualify/stay there are non-traditional (ex. sobriety not required, pets allowed) and beyond having so many awesome features and amenities available, there is a lot of focus on helping provide income to the residents - including many jobs at the Village itself (cleaning, preparing food) plus opportunities to use facilities at the Villages (ex. blacksmith shop, carpentry shop, art/ceramics studio) to create sell-able merchandise.

The whole thing is just really awesome. I can't say enough good things about it, and I can't wait to come back to visit and see how much its grown! Check out more details here: https://mlf.org/community-first/

I also booked my airbnb for tomorrow - while I'm not excited about the drive, I am happy to have planned ahead a bit for once on this trip!

Day Seven - halfway

I literally can't believe I'm only halfway through this trip, its taking forever and flying by at the same time. I stayed in Austin today, and will be here again tomorrow also.

Leroys and Lewis

I kicked off today by sleeping in super late (8:30 instead of 7) and then since a cold front had just moved in, I had 0 motivation to get up and go outside/do anything besides that. So I had a bowl of cereal and got back in bed - and it was amazing. Eventually I figured I would regret actually doing nothing all day, so I pulled out this trusty old laptop and tried to figure out what I wanted to do.

My friends gave me lots of suggestions yesterday, so I checked those out and looked to see if there was anything else I should add to my list for ATX. Since I don't usually have the leisure of planning days in advance, I thought about today and what I really wanted to make sure I did: yoga and something outdoors.

After spending way too much time trying to find a yoga studio, and equally as much time figuring out the whole rest of my day + tomorrow (yes, I spent way too long trying to pick a studio), I eventually headed out.

in the prehistoric gardens

The first thing I needed to do at this point, was eat lunch. I had found a lunch spot thanks to yelp and headed that way as my first stop. I eventually narrowed it down to food truck and bbq since I thought that was very Austin of me. I was hoping for brisket, but settled for pork tongue - which was delicious. Unfortunately the cold front made eating outside less comfortable, but I insisted on the full experience.

After lunch I headed to Zilker Botanical Gardens just down the street, I stopped at Graffiti Park next. It was so awesome, I wish I lived here so I could see it change every so often. Lots of other people stopped by while I was there, some just for photos and others to paint. I even met a guy at the top who had been there 1.5 hours already and was racing the rain to finish! He asked if I was an artist also, and I had to admit that I'm not really - just sometimes acrylic on canvas, but that I recently gave everything except a few of my favorite brushes away since I was moving.

Then I checked out the first/original Whole Foods, stopped at 24 diner which was so delicious - I got chili and cornbread (with butter made from crack-cocaine I swear it was so good). I even met two older/cool dudes and the bartender there (since I ate at the bar cuz tables were a long wait) and then headed to the yoga class I finally decided on.

dinner at 24 diner

I haven't practiced since a few days before I moved, so it felt like forever since I really gave myself some time to do yoga. I hope I don't have to go that long again, I feel much better now! And the instructor for our class was originally from LA, moved to DC for school at GW, and then drove back to live in Austin!! What are the odds our stories are pretty similar? So anyways, that was cool.

Between random graffiti dude, friends at the bar/restaurant, and yoga instructor - I'm making so many friends!! Everyone is so nice here also, I love being somewhere where people hold open doors and say "thank you" or "excuse me" all the time. My kind of people.

Finally made it home from yoga pretty late tonight, had a quick chat with my friends before bed about how long/boring LOTR is, and then we were all ready to pass out!

I have some plans for tomorrow, but I think I'll just wait until they happen to tell you ;)

Day Six - finally, people I know!

multigrain/spinach/tomato/swiss/egg/avocado

Looks like I jinxed myself two days in a row - my speakers in my car randomly stopped working (if you know why a 2011 Hyundai Elanta would have this happen across the radio/bluetooth/cd audio, let me know...) So its a good thing I prefer no music, because my longest day of driving is about to have no music. Cant wait.








Today I kicked off Houston with an eggcelent breakfast, follow by what started as horseback riding but ended up as a massage. Luckily for me, those places aren't super busy on a Tuesday, so I was able to schedule a massage at the last minute. Its probably for the best... my body is pretty ravaged by 6 days of driving so far.

One thing I didnt realize is how many toll roads there are in TX, I definitely got on one without realizing and for sure will have a bill mailed to me. It was dark and I saw the flashes from the photo when they got me - but their signs are confusing and its hard to see them all in the dark! They do have very wide roads here though, which is nice. Maybe because they seem to have so much room? Everything is so spread out, I went just barely outside Houston but the drive to my massage place was 45 minutes (would have only been 25-30 if I used the toll roads, but they require the pass I don't have)

when someones in your photo doing a pregnancy shoot

full body + reflexology

After my hour long massage, it was time to wash the 1.8 mil bugs off my car and after I was headed to the infamous whattaburger for lunch and then the Water Wall attraction in the city. Whattaburger was definitely better than the other burger chains, and they had fun toppings and more options. I opted for the original because I wanted to taste the real thing.

Then I decided to set up for my drive to Austin. Strategically I tried to explore Houston as much as possible, but still leave before rush hour and get to Austin.

The drive from Houston to Austin was the easiest day of driving that I will have on the trip, so I enjoyed the lack of traffic and muscle stiffness today.

I arrived in Austin to another friends house who was kind enough to offer their guest bedroom - we went to grab some delicious and very "Austin" tacos and they did not disappoint. I still need to figure out what I am doing in Austin for the next few days... but I got some great ideas over tacos tonight!!

Torchys Tacos

ps. I am literally writing these as I go to sleep at night, literally falling asleep at the computer - please excuse any bad grammar, run on sentences or misspelled words. thx

Day five - I find alligators

starbucks time!

Welp, it happened today. Somewhere between New Orleans and Houston I finally, and very randomly, cried. It was much shorter than I expected, and was provoked by a Broadway song (not shocking, but also not what I expected). Of course, it was the only day so far that I have worn any eyeliner/makeup in general - but I should have figured I was jinxing myself by wearing it... If you know me at all, you know this isn't a bad thing, and personally I'm glad it finally happened so I don't have to worry about it possibly happening in public or anything - phew!


People are checking in on me, I am getting approximately one million reminder to be safe (um, duh), and asking if its sunk in yet/if I'm starting to question my decision. The long and short of it is that it still feels surreal, keep in mind that I don't technically have a place I am actually moving into. Maybe then it will feel real? And also that amidst all this driving, and despite my mini crying episode today, the whole trip I have felt very at peace with what I am doing. I actually don't really prefer to listen to music because I feel like it distracts me from the experience (don't worry, I'm sure I will change my mind once I get to the long Texas roads)

All this calmness is shocking I know, because going on a trip alone across the country with no plans from one day to to the next doesn't sound much like the usual me - just ask anyone who has seen or used my standard packing list! Today was a perfect example...

swamp trees

shrimping boat

I spent last night at a friends house again, since I knew there was more I wanted to do in NOLA before I left. Did I get to all of it? No. Is that okay? typically also no, but clearly this isn't my typical trip. When I woke up this morning I wanted to make sure I had some time to address the mounting stack of work emails in my inbox, about 150+ so I gave myself 1.5 hours at starbucks to sort through that. Then I had scheduled a swamp tour for the afternoon, which I found on Groupon and went really well! Who knew that alligators were such big fans of marshmellows!?

baby gator!

Once that was over (by the way, its like 84 degrees here) I got in my car, did some thinking and decided it was too hot to do anything else outside and it was time to keep heading west.

another state down!!

By the time I got to the TX border it was already dark, even though it was just like 5:30pm. Houston seemed a reasonable distance away, so that was my new destination. I booked a cute little room at an airbnb northwest of the city - and drove through the city on my way so I could check it out on my stop for dinner.




I finished my first audio book (finally) and then got to the place where I ordered my first ever bowl of ramen noodles, a hip restaurant where I could eat at the center community table aka not feel so lonely when I ate solo, since the bar area was full. I do have to say, driving up to and through all these cities is pretty crazy. All the skylines at night look so cool.

ramen dinner

Tomorrow my goal is Austin, but ideas of the Grand Canyon and a few other nature-y places have popped into my head... so who knows where I will end up!

Day four - NOLA

I have noticed that if I don't write this post before I go to sleep, I forget half of what happened that day. You're all welcome that I'm staying up late just to get all this info to you!

Last night I also talked to some people about fun things to do while I'm here and on the rest of my journey. Got some good ideas on outdoors experiences near El Paso in NM, so I'm excited to have some motivation there! The drives will be long/boring once I make it out that way I've heard.

Today was the first day that I woke up and didn't plan to drive 6-8 hours - and that felt amazing. I got to be a tourist, and it was a blast! I started at the French Quarter around 9:30/10am and went through the whole flea market, and then the food marketplace. Started considering Groupon for some fun things to do in the area - but its not the best for last minute plans. I think tomorrow I'm going to see if I can squeeze on a tour since Mondays will be less busy, hopefully.

string dolls - custom star wars even!

artisan work for sale

I considered a couple of items for purchase, but ultimately got nothing. Which is fine, because I literally just got rid of half my stuff since I have too many things already. My next and most vital stop was at Cafe du Monde (obviously) for some beignets. They were delicious of course, and also pretty quick - which is good when youre me and trying to do as much as you can. I walked all up and down the streets between Jackson Square and the French Quarter, so many shops/bars/restaurants/art galleries to see! Then I went to Jackson Square and explored around there as well. Lots more artists actively painting, and a whole block full of fortune tellers/tarot card readers. I skipped on that opportunity though.

obligatory stop!

this is all the hype!!

Next I stopped in a sports bar on the way back to my car to catch the second half of the Ravens game. We did not win, but we didn't play as terribly as we have - so I'll take it! Then I headed out to check out the Tulane campus/area and pick up some snacks.

masks

beads

boas

Apparently my gracious hosts insisted on making dinner, which was outstanding, and then we all watched some Stranger Things together. Overall a really great day, and I was so happy not to spend the majority of it in the car!

Tomorrow I continue the super touristy stuff... possibly some more planning and updating my itinerary to reflect some recent updates. Should I try to squeeze in the Grand Canyon? some beach time? An extra day in Phoenix?

The beauty of all this is that every day I wake up, I have the world at my fingertips and get to decide what I'm going to do. Its been such an adventure so far, and I have loved it!

Day three + updated itnerary

Woke up in ATL, and quickly got on the road - destination: NOLA! My route was 85 to 65 to 10, it was so easy I didn't use a GPS except when I first mapped my route.

Stopped at a few rest stops, these welcome signs have become my progress markers - so anytime I pass a new one, that's one state closer to LA :)

Luckily almost no traffic, probably because its Saturday - but its not like I really know what day it is anymore. I was trying to avoid rush hour still, haha. When I got close to the FL state line and started seeing signs for Pensacola while it was 82 degrees... I did consider taking a little detour.

First, Alabama rest stops were so terrible - especially after how awesome the ones in Georgia were. Also yes, this is my life now that I am comparing the quality of rest stops from one state to the next... ugh save me, haha. Mississippi was just a blip on my journey, I literally just stopped to take the photo. People have seen me doing this and offering to take it for me - but I have the selfie angle down so I tent to pass on the offer. Even though I clearly look like some crazy millennial taking selfies. Sometimes I just wish I could have a sign on my back that says "my mom asked for this photo" so people understood. But oh well!

At some point during this drive, I crossed time zones - I only realized because I thought I must have been driving so fast to be making such good time! (yes, I was speeding but not THAT fast) Getting to Louisiana was fun, but also sad. I was on the phone with my sister, and literally got off for about 5 mins to take my awkward selfie and run back to the car. I thought as a milestone, it was closer to LA than it actually is. Disappointing temporarily, but quickly got over it because I was really looking forward to getting to New Orleans!!! Luckily for me, I had a cousin of a friend who welcomed me into their home and their plans, so I got to watch the LSU game at a house party in the Garden District and drive down the parade route for Mardi Gras and see all the beads in the trees. Makes me excited to come back for the real thing!

After the house party, we went to a dive bar a few blocks away. Apparently bars in Louisiana don't have a close time (until Baltimore at 1:30am) which seems like a terrible idea to me, because nothing good happens in Baltimore on a night out after 2am! I guess people here are used to it and are good at knowing when to go home. Or they are all well seasoned alcoholics, who knows?









Either way, it was nice to get somewhere on time - and I was absolutely exhausted by the time I fell asleep. I updated my travel plans now that I seem (knock on wood) to be on schedule. Don't hold me to it or anything, but generally here is my plan as of night 3:
 

Day two - hotlanta

yoga time

Today has been so long it feels like 3 days, but I guess that just means I am making the most of this adventure! I let myself sleep in after staying up till 2 am last night trying to figure out what my travel should look like moving forward... finally got out of bed at 8:50 to grab a few bites of the hotel breakfast that was over at 9. Needless to say, it was less than stellar but I really don't care - I just needed some protein so I could get on the road and those watery eggs did the trick.










I set my destination as Atlanta, trying to be realistic even though it was only supposed to be 6.5 hours away. I was hoping to get here before dinner time so that I could find somewhere awesome to eat and make up for the terrible breakfast (not looking for pity here, I clearly do this to myself). After a few hours of driving I left NC, made a quick stop to stretch at a rest area - and just went all out LA and popped my yoga mat on the grass under the shade of a little tree and did a quick flow. The weather was gorgeous and it just seemed right. Not doing yoga/working out for a few days and missing those happy endorphins can really start to mess with your head. I'm sure all the random truckers also at the stop thought I was a weirdo, but since I basically live in my yoga clothes - at least I fit the part.

Quick break for lunch and gas at the next exit I found, but nothing exciting to report there (except I decided to let myself get a chocolate chip cookie). Then I headed through SC but got sleepy shortly after switching states - plus your butt literally starts to hurt after about 3/4 hours of driving. I decided to pull into another rest stop (those are very convenient along 85) and grabbed my yoga mat again but just used it for a little power nap in the shade.

Feeling very refreshed (YES I AM BEING SAFE AND NOT DRIVING WHILE I AM TIRED) I headed for Georgia. Wow - they have such nice rest areas in GA compared to NC/SC!! So clean and fancy, they even have vending machines that just sell "healthy" stuff. I would have killed for an apple or banana, but was too determined to go find a real store to buy those from.

am I good at these welcome sign selfies yet?

I also found and booked a hostel online for tonight (my delayed plans means nothing was/is booked ahead of time). Ended up not being a place I wanted to stay, so I'm at an airbnb instead with the sweetest lady from South Africa. Before I got here I stopped at the ATL International Night Market - that event blew my mind. I have never seen so many different kinds of food in one place before, plus they had performers and live music! The $5 was wayyy worth it. I ended up eating caribbean, thai, and mexican but I could have stayed there trying/eating everything for weeks.