Day 4 - Oklahoma City to Nashville 678 Miles

Waking up to Day 4 on the road in Oklahoma City at the Residence Inn "Penthouse Suite" again and it was hot.. real hot, damn hot.   whew!    We needed to hit the road soon because our goal was to get to Nashville.  Today was the biggest leg of our journey clocking in at 678 miles today.  But, we seem to poke around in the morning hours with repacking the car and of course a trip to Target!
The kids and I had some fruit loops in the lobby followed by a cheers of apple and orange juice shooters.  Mom was back at the room finding the last kids blankets, packing the cooler.

Off we were running to Target to grab a few items.  Kids needed some new jammies and some food.  I think I scored some new undies.   Next door to Target was Tinker Airforce Base.  Huge base with a lot of cool planes parked outside.  We found a park as well to run Cali and the kids for a bit.  Cash managed to hit his head on the only jet parked in the park.

Across I40 is Tinker AFB with the old war planes and what I believe is also a retired Air Force 1

Cash playing with Superman in the park with the jet he manage to hit his head on

During the trip, we tried our best to grab the state signs as we pass them.  Its quite comical to have the driver holler at the passenger to grab the camera, point and shoot quickly to grab the sign as we pass it.  Hence, the passing of Arkansas.

Cash making some fun with Saylor with cups.  You can only watch so many movies.   Surprisingly, this kid has yet to sleep in the car.  Not a single nap and no complaining at all.  He has been a rockstar.

Saylor has been our comic relief.  She seems to say and do the funniest stuff in the car.  You can quite see Cali, but she is back there in her bed napping the day away.

The family truckster spun to 50k I think before Memphis.

Heather had a great idea and to try www.airbnb.com.  She found a place and when it was her time to drive, I had to take over the booking.  Well, its somewhat of a long process to get signed up.  The verify who you are with all sorts of data, including wanting a profile picture.

We used the laptop webcam to capture Heather in her driving glory for her profile picture.

 We rolled through Memphis and I took over driving.  Memphis was loaded with cops on both sides of town shooting radar and being sneaky everywhere.  One dude was shooting laser at night, which defeats the entire purpose of laser.  We finally rolled into Nashville around 10:30pm to this cute little house just outside downtown.  The district was called Maxwell Heights.  The owner left the keys in the mailbox and we were in.   It was an older home, with no TV, but had air conditioning.  Everyone was exhausted.  The kids read a few books and the parents fell fast asleep.   In the morning we snapped a quick of the home and off we were running again, but this time to Fort Mill, SC!

Day 3 - Albuquerque to Oklahoma City 540 Miles

Day 3 kicked off with "where are we and what day is it again?".  The trip has been going pretty good.  Everyone seemed to sleep well in the Residence Inn "Pent House" suite.  We slept upstairs and the kids downstairs.  Cali.. well she was on our bed,off our bed, on our bed off our bed.  At some point she headed over to the kids room to sleep.  We cleaned out the family truck, repacked and off and running. But to help the kids out we found a place called ABQ Jump, jumpy house!  The kids and Heather ran in there for an hour while I ran to best buy to find a keyboard for my netbook.  Somehow, my netbook found malware and it hosed up my drivers.  I managed to use a USB keyboard and do a system restore of Windows to a previous version and it worked!  Took some time in the car while Heather drove, but back online.
We use the Verizon "JetPack" hotspot on the dashboard and it really works well just about anywhere.  The interstates have been loaded with 3/4G spots.  So lets get into the pictures!

There was nothing exciting in New Mexico all the way to Texas until we saw this sign

Well, nothing exciting until we got to Amarillo, TX and "The Big Texan"

This place is famous for its 72oz steak.  If you can eat it all, its free.  It was featured on "Man vs Food" a few years back.  I cant remember if he at it all or only a portion of the beast.

Basically, this place had everything.  The kids had fun looking around at all the stuff they had.

Basically I40 is Route 66 or vice versa.   "You man, we fed your father!"

Inside, it was awesome.  We had a light lunch and watched the tail end of the Packer game

The raised table is where one would sit to finish off the massive piece of meat for the crowd to watch and cheer you on!

The real deal

Picture time with the huge bear!

Cash was helping me look for a few things

Nothing in there.. I checked

Sun setting behind us as we drive out of Texas and into Oklahoma

Nigh Nigh Sun

A tiny kitty that was wondering around The Big Texan parking lot.  It was pretty cute

Free ghetto limo service if stay at a local hotel/motel to the restaurant.  And yes.. they were being used.

 Last night, we gained an hour going from Pacific to Mountain.  Tonight, we gained another hour when moving to Central timezone.  It all sounds great.. but when think you are pulling to your "home" for the night, its an hour later you thought it was..  We pulled into Oklahoma City Residence Inn and checked into our "Pent House" suite again.  Everyone seemed familiar with what to do, where to go.  We missed a picture opp though.  Across the street was a strip club where it said "Lap Dances are cheaper than therapy"

Saylor taking a nap on day three

Day 2 - Las Vegas to Albuquerque - 572 Miles

Waking up in Las Vegas at our friends Matt and Kay's home with a slight hangover from many vodka sodas the night before.  We had to celebrate right?!   We made it through the first day of travels!  We let the kids play and Heather tend to her wounds with a few stitches.  I cleaned out the family truckster and re-org everything and off we running!
We hooked up with Mr. Tony Ross at the Hoover dam. He was also in Las Vegas, but for an Iron Man Comp.  
Hoover Dam is about 30 miles outside Las Vegas.  You basically get off highway 93 and park.  You can walk up a hill and then onto the "new" bridge and see the Hoover dam which was quite impressive.   Helicopter tours were going on (as always) and for whatever reason, Cali was freaking out.  Never seen a dog get worried about a helicopter.  They were still high up, but maybe a combination of road traffic, people and copters... 

 The road below is the actually road to drive over the dam, which is free.  We found out though there is no exit.  You have to go back over.  Its $7 to park right next to it and take the tour.  We ran out of time and just drove across.  Lots of people where there. (it was a Saturday).  Id like to go back someday and see the tour.

The one and only Tony Ross

One big dam!

Bridge next to the Hoover Dam

Cashie making the best of a loooong trip somewhere in New Mexico/Nevada border

Enchantment?

 Heading out of the Hoover dam area, the road drops down to I40.  People were hauling ass.  I was averaging about 90mph..wheeee!  (not the best gas mileage though)

We stopped for gas and Heather was up for driving.  Which gave me time to catch up this silly blog and pictures.   I snapped a few pictures on the way to Albuquerque below.

She did awesome!

We hit some rain, but stopped for a Saylor pee break and saw these clouds

Lots of trains along I40

The canyon walls were pretty cool

A whole lotta nothing out here

We finally pulled into Albuquerque around 11pm and pulled into our Residence Inn "Penthouse" room.  1,000sq feet of luxury, two floors.  Not quite luxury, but it was nice. Kids were downstairs and we were in the loft area with Cali.

On to another day and Oklahoma City tomorrow!

Day 1 Walnut Creek to Las Vegas, NV 550 Miles

After not a super duper sleep in the double beds with the dog, we headed back to 1301 Walden to pick up our plug in cooler and load the hitch box up and a few misc items.  Took a few pictures and off we were running!

The last picture

To make room for Cali, we bought the Thule 665C adds 12.5 cubic feet for storage

Kids are in and off we go!

The rest of the day went fairly smooth.   Within 5 minutes of leaving, we needed coffee.  1 hour on the road, we needed a pee break.  The next stop was close to Bakersfield, CA for lunch and gas.    
As we head out of Bakersfield toward the Mojave Desert, this dense windmill farm popped up.

Up over the hills we dropped into the valley floor.  If you get a chance, which we did not.. the airplane boneyard.  Mostly commercial airliners come to die.  Somewhere just past there was the Hyundai Testing grounds.  We saw a stream of new Hyundais leaving the testing grounds.   Andrews airforce base is here as well, but could not see it from the hwy.  Although up in the hils, there were a ton of radar and satellites that was quite impressive.   The temperature increased to 110 degrees and my Tire Pressure Monitor went off saying I had a flat...  pulled over and false alarm.. whew.  

Of course, I snap a picture and it dropped to 109

As we climbed quickly, the rain started (in the desert) and temp dropped in about 20 minutes.

69 Degrees!

We rolled in Las Vegas and hit my favorite truck stops.  The Fly Js are all across America's interstates.  They all have something different and of course the staple loud speaker announcements, "Customer #45, shower six is ready for you".   The coolest looking van was there as well.  I didnt get a chance to talk to the guy because he was pulling out.   

We arrived at our friends Kay and Matt's home with boozes waiting for us. The kids played, the dogs introduced each other and the cocktails started.  We were not planning for a big night, but once the kids went to bed, the grown ups sat around the patio under the warm Vegas night air and laughed, sipped and stumbled our way to our beautiful room.  The kids were snuggled up with their buddies in bunkbeds.    We had a great first day and everyone survived.  Can we actually do this?  Well, stay tuned.  Albuquerque, New Mexico is the next stop on our journey across the states!

And The Adventures Start!

After the movers grabbed everything, we did some mild cleaning, shushed all the dusty bunnies out the door and went to pick up the kids from their last day of school.  The kids were excited, but Heather and I were sad.  The teachers made a cute book for Saylor from her friends. 

 That night we headed to the Marriott in Walnut Creek after having our final Skipolini's Pizza with dear friends.   Just to start out the adventure correctly, I managed to book our hotel for the following week.  They were accommodating and let us stay.  Two double beds, two kids, two adults and 60lb nervous lab is interesting in the room.  Cali the dog was very nervous and confused we think.   After a few walks, 2 dumps and a pea, she did calm down and fell asleep.   10 minutes after she fell asleep she woke up and puked on the floor.  Awesome.