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!