The Road Less Traveled

On September 22, 2012 my husband and I got up at 3am...threw on some clothes, threw our bags in the car, said goodbye to the in-laws, and hopped on the highway...we were on our way from New York to Washington State.

That first day I was on a mission---to get out of NY...my in-laws thought I was crazy...but Kyle had to report for duty by September 27th so I was not taking any chances on us getting there late...it wasn't worth it...so we drove....and drove and drove....only about 12-13 hours that first day...I don't remember right now where we ended up stopping...maybe Michigan? Someplace like that...maybe I'll remember when I wake up more.

We were up by 4 the next morning and, cue Willie Nelson, "on the road again....."

Unfortunately, I don't really remember much about day 2...other than there being a lot of nothing, lots of these:

Which for some reason scare the crap out of me! I really hated driving anywhere near them...I mean really--what if it breaks and spins wildly toward you and cuts you into pieces?! Unrealistic I know....but that's me...
There were also signs all over the place for Wall Drug...which drove....Kyle...Nuts! Signs were showing up about every 1-2 miles but NONE of them said what it was! I wish I could remember what they said and that I was able to grab a picture of them...It actually got to be funny. I won't tell you what Wall Drug is...that's what google is for anyway...

I also remember driving through/past Chicago....which was the WORST driving experience, up til that point, in my life! We were making EXCELLENT time....until we got stuck for almost 2 hours in that horrible area..

We made it to our only 2 planned stops on the trip, due to the time frame we were working with--

We drove for about 14-16 hours on day 2 and I think we stopped for the night in Montana...we were doing really well...I was proud! We then got up at around 4 again the next morning and we pushed through...

The drive from Montana, through Idaho, to Washington went pretty quickly...not much there...but it was a nice drive....especially when we saw this sign:

Followed shortly by this one:

YAY!!! After a crazy 3 day drive that no one thought we'd make in that time frame we made it!!

I don't have any pictures of the base...which was still a couple more hours from the sign but it's HUGE! We lived in a hotel for about 2 weeks then we finally got a house and moved it! And unfortunately I don't have any of that on the computer but it's perfect for us! It's about 1,100 square feet, 2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, driveway with carport, washer/dryer hook up...which hopefully we'll be getting them in the next few months.

The craziness of the trip was perfect for us. We got married in December, then Kyle shipped out for his training in March and was gone for 6 months....so we never got to be "married" really...this road trip let us re-connect which we needed. 

So now here we are...a week from Thanksgiving, in our house, adjusting to Kyle's work schedule, and Army life....figuring out the holidays and when we are eventually going home to visit. That last part is super important because we've had SO MANY changes in the past year especially since the changes aren't done yet....

But that can wait until next time...