Day 22- HOME!!

Total miles- 550 today

Overall total- 7040

Well, we made it!! This actually seems like a short 8 hour drive... Considering yesterday was 12 hours.  Our ride was pretty uneventful!!! Thanks God for getting us across the country and home safely!! Our car troubles were minor and we only hit a bird!!!

When we walked in the door, our fridge was full of food and fruit and snacks were on the counter!! I loved our small group family!!! They stocked our fridge with essentials so I didn't have to run out this morning and get food!!! Thanks you to 2 awesome people... You know who you are!!!

When we drive up in the driveway, Russell's mom was waiting on us with freshly make eggplant Parmesan, avocado salad, homemade pickles and some other goodies.  Then, my parents stopped by with some Chinese food.  We ate a little of everything.  

Our trip was awesome.  Would I do it again? Absolutely.  Would the girls? You have to ask them, but I am sure they would say yes!! We had a wonderful time with friends and family.  We saw things you would never see if you flew!! A moose running out in front of you, hundreds of windmills on a hill, 50 degree temperature increases and decreased in a matter of hours, massive amounts of corn, pitching a tent 30 minutes before dark, steaks on the iron skillet, etc. 

 

The whole house slept til 9am, even Russell.  Now it's time to wash and for Russell to catch up on his reading and writing papers... Life has returned to normal!! But we are forever changed by our memories and fellowship with our family!!!

Day 21- Corydon, Illinois

Total Miles-840!!!

What a day.  We didn't plan on driving that far... A few little mishaps along the way... Somehow, we lost the keys during lunch.  The whole staff helped us look for them.  After 45 minutes, a dish washer said he found them in the parking lot.  So why didn't he turn them into the manager??? Hmmmm.  Anyway, while this was going on, a friend was checking on our house. But somehow, I accidently gave her the wrong code.  Yep, the alarm went off and the police came. After everything cleared up, off we drove.  We found out that there aren't that many hotels once you pass St. Louis!! We finally found a little town with hotels. However, the Jehovah's Witness were having a convention and all the hotels were booked!!! So we drove 150 more miles and found a hotel!!! Good thing we only have 550 miles to go til home! 8 hours will be a short day!!!

Day 20- Colby, Kansas

Total miles- 740... WOW

That's a lot of miles... We left Logan, Utah at 630am and arrived in Colby at 7pm (minus the hour we lost). The girls were great riders.  Sarah took 4 naps today! Rachel took 3. I drove for a couple of hours while Russell wrote a paper.  Technology is terrific! We are 1300 miles from home!!! 

Day 19- Logan, Utah

Total miles- 30 miles

Our day began with an oil change and a dead battery.  Thank goodness Auto Zone was quick and easy!   We made a quick stop in Ogden to pick up Russell's souvenir from the trip.  (Lani's brother owns a bike store!!) We had to do a little rearranging to get it to fit. Luckily, both girls fit too!!!

Then we headed up the canyon to Logan to rest from 2 long days on the road.  Trying to decide our plan for the next week.  We ate lunch at the Pita Pit... Delicious.  

 Rachel, Sarah, Avi, and Brooks played (and fought) like old times!!! Then we sat outside and enjoyed the low humidity. 

After relaxing all day, (and washing really dirty clothes!!!) we headed out for sushi.  Yummy!!!! 

Everyone gets a little goofy after dessert!!!!

Day 18- Salt Lake City, Utah

Total miles- 650

Last night, we fell asleep listening to thunder and 50 degrees temp.  No rain and we all slept sound!!! We took down the tent and jumped in the car and started on our 1 1/2 drive out of Yosemite.  The sights were beautiful.  Once again, the pictures don't match the beauty. There were mountain lion warnings but we only saw a little woodchuck.  

As we began our climb down the mountain from 9900 feet, we came across a pullout where we could see the road ahead of us... Check out the truck on the road, and there was NO guardrail!! It was kind of freaky driving down!!!

We made it to the bottom and headed out towards Utah.  Once again, the girls took a couple of naps in the car!!

Our other excitement for the day was driving by the jail where OJ Simpson lives, a mudslide in the middle of the desert, driving through Hawthorne Army Depot (where they produce and store ammunition) and driving through the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. And yes, we stopped along the interstate so we could walk on the salt. For 50 miles, nothing but salt flats!

After 11 hours of driving and one time zone change, we made it to Salt Lake City. We ate some dinner and enjoyed the hot tub before going to bed.  Easy day tomorrow... Only an hour drive to Logan.  

Day 17- Yosemite National Park- In a tent

Total miles 450.

Russell woke us up at 630 so we could get an early start.  We had a long day driving through CA heading towards Sequoia National Park.  Our view  was vineyards, cows, fruit trees and vegetables.  Not nearly as boring as the desert!!!

We stopped to get gas, burgers, fresh

Fruit and olives from the nearby groves before we headed up to Sequoia.  Russell bought some oodles of noodles and corn as a back-up plan... Just in case!!!

The drive through Sequioa was beautiful and had lots of winding roads.  Needless to stay some of us developed headaches and felt sick to our stomachs... Guess who that was... 

We hiked to see General Sherman, the largest Sequoia in the world.  We followed all the other tourist and took a picture or two!!!

After an hour drive into the park, we had an hour drive out of the park. We started with a temperature of 90* and at the summit, it dropped to 59*. That's a drastic drop in an hour! With the windows open, this was our view driving down the mountain... 

Yep... Both girls asleep!!!

We had to drive a couple of hours to get to our second national park of the day.  Before climbing up that mountain, we stopped at a local diner and grabbed some dinner and ice cream. 

And finally, the climb to the top of Yosemite.  Once again, curvy roads and this time the temp was 102. At the top of the mountain, 9946 feet, the temp was 51*. We finally made it to El Capitan and Half Dome.  Once again, the pictures don't begin to show the beauty of  these mountains!!! 

After 12 hours in the car, we were all tired.  We only had to drive to 3 campgrounds before finding an open site.  It was getting dark fast, so everyone chipped in and quickly set the tent.  At 830, we were all starving.  Thanks goodness for our emergency oodles of noodles and corn!!! 

We were all bundled up in our tent and asleep by 10pm!!! Very Long Day!!!!

Day 16- Solvang, CA

We drove about 100 miles today.  

After a great night's sleep, we packed our things and headed out to see LA.  Our first stop was the Hollywood sign.  We weaved our way through the streets of LA to find the sign.  

We found Beverly Hills, 90210, Rodeo Drive, Sunset Blvd, Hollywood Blvd, and a couple of "stars". All the tourist attractions. 

Next, we headed to Sony to meet Cousin Judy for lunch and a tour of the studios. We had a great lunch and sat close to Cuba Gooding,Jr.  Next we ordered coffee next to Adam Arkin ( Sons of Anarchy, Chicago Hope). We met some of Judy's friends who were writers for Saturday Night Live. We saw where they film Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy and The Ray Donavon Show.  It was amazing to see the little things like thousands of lights and tons of plants.  

We passed a huge,white house. It was used for Tara in Gone With The Wind. (That's the best picture I could take with all the trees!) 

 

After a wonderful tour, we had to leave LA.  We fought the traffic to PCH and headed north.  We drove through some gorgeous seaside views.  

Although, Sarah missed these views... 

Once again, she took about an hour nap...  (Which gives her an amazing amount of energy for an evening ride!!!) 

We drove through Santa Barbara and UCSB, University of California, Santa Barbara.  Beautiful.  The college sits on top of a hill and overlooks the Pacific.  

We found a unique Hawaiian BBQ restaurant for dinner.  Wow.  We need some of these in Charlotte.  Good food and not too expensive!!! 

After dinner, the girls laughed and giggled as we headed to Solvang.  It's a Dutch town. All the buildings make you feel like you are in another country.  

We finally checked into our hotel and mapped out our next couple of days.  We are a Looooong way from NC!!!!!

Day 15- Santa Monica

We left our hotel and drive to Venice Beach.  What a sight.   We walked around and watched some basketball games, handball, surfing, skateboarding and some kids drawing graffiti. 

 We found a great little restaurant and had some awesome sandwiches and mini doughnut for breakfast.  

Next, we headed to Santa Monica to hang out with Cousin Judy and Sophie.  We left Russell at the house so he could study while the girls headed to the pool/beach.  But not just any pool... It was a restored pool from the 1920's that belonged to Marion Davies, actress and mistress of William Randolph Hearst.  The pool and guest house still stand.  It was beautiful.  

We had lunch at the pool and the girls ran back and forth between the beach and the pool.  After a couple of hours, we headed back to the house for a quick change and dinner.  There is a restaurant in Malibu called Reel Inn.  Great local place.  Salmon, scallops, shrimp and fish filled us up!!!

After dinner, we headed to the Santa Monica Pier. Lots and lots of people!!! Lots of different languages!! But a beautiful sunset! 

We left the crowded pier and headed inland in search for ice cream.  We found a great place... Thanks to Sophie!!!   They had flavors with items like rosé, hyssop, and anise. We didn't try any of those! 

We made it back to Judy and Sophie's house where we all piled in.  But, not before we picked some fresh lemons off their tree!!!

Day 14- On PCH near LAX

60 miles total for the day!! 

We awoke to a beautiful day. Hardly any clouds in the sky and a cool breeze.  We began our drive north up PCH, Pacific Coast Highway for you southerners.  We stopped at a local fresh market and picked up some fresh almonds, tiny grapes and a bunch of pluots (plum + apricot) and cherums (cherry + plum).  They tasted great.  

We were going to meeting my cousin Judy and her daughter, Sophie, at a resort called The Montage on Laguna Beach. Along the way, we passed a Tsunami warning sign!!!

 

The beach was amazing.  This was our first time to see rocks, cliffs and sea lions on the beach.  Yep... a sea lion. 

We hung out on the beach and had some good conversation.  The girls actually got in the cold water. Then we found our way into the pool and hot tub.  They were much nicer than the cold water!!! Too bad we didn't have $800/night or we could have stayed a few days...

After an afternoon at the beach and pool,

we headed up PCH.  Our hotel was in the town of El Segundo, the home of Fred Sanford!!! It was near the airport and waited 30 minutes to check in.  We could actually hear the planes from our room!!! For dinner, we walked across the street to a pizza place.  Delicious.  

Day 13- Laguna Beach, CA

Today we drive 250 miles from Vegas, through the Mohave Desert, to Southern California.  There is NOTHING in the desert.  We have been up so late and walking so much, that the girls napped in the car! Sarah slept of 2 hours!!! 

We went through a California 

Inspection stop on the interstate.  We passed!! 

After fighting multiple lanes of traffic, we finally arrived at the beach.  We checked into our hotel and found a grocery store so we stock up on food.  Except the tiny store was full of gnats and smelled like dead animals... The girls held their noses the whole time. No worries, we left without buying food!!! Thank goodness CVS sells food!!! Peanut butter, chips and salsa saved the day!!!

And yes, there are 7-11 out in LA.  They don't sell gas, but have free slurpees!!!

We threw on our bathing suits and headed to the beach.  Beautiful sand and pebble beach.  But the water was FREEZING!!! We enjoyed the 70* weather and nice breeze while listening to Amtrak pass by.  

Dinner time arrived and we rode around looking for a quaint little place.  We found a Korean/Chinese restaurant.  Delicious Korean Beef, Teriyaki Chicken and sushi!!! We knew we found a good spot when a couple of police officers showed up!!

After dinner, we walked on the pier and tried to catch the sunset over the Pacific Ocean.  We were a little late.  The sun set at 8:00 on the west coast!! We will see another one tomorrow.  

We are actually having an early night... 10pm. The blog is up to date and we are ready for bed!!!