What a day

The snow continued throughout the night and morning in Flagstaff. All roads for 100 miles in every direction were closed. Luckily we were stuck in the hotel and not in our car somewhere. Bogey loved jumping, running, digging and playing in the snow, we think he was hoping we were stuck in Flagstaff for a little longer. There was nothing that we could do besides camp out in our hotel room and delay housekeeping from kicking us out. The interstate finally re-opened at 2:30 pm, so we dug the car out and packed it up. Since we had such a late start we decided to make a reservation in the greater LA area, rather than drive all the way to San Luis Obispo.

As expected the first 100 miles of the drive were extremely snowy and slippery, in our opinion it was questionable whether the interstate should have been open. As we made our way to lower elevations the driving conditions dramatically improved. Within 2.5 hours we went from the snow-pocalypse of Arizona to the dry and sun-filled Mojave Desert, it was the most radical change of scenery we had ever witnessed in a single car ride. As the desert ended so did I-40. We were hoping for some sort of sign signifying the end of the interstate that we had successfully driven 2400+ miles of over the past 5 days, instead all lanes anti-climatically merged into I-15 (boring). Soon after, Jodi was introduced to the traffic and driving along Southern California Freeways.

We made it to our Hotel around 8:00. Bogey was less than pleased that his snowy paradise was replaced by the cement jungle of Southern California. But seriously, it was not easy to find a place where he was comfortable to do his business. Tomorrow will be the last leg of our trip to Berkeley. For obvious reasons we plan to drive up the coast for most of the day. Although we cancelled our reservation in San Luis Obispo we still have to stop by the hotel as our landlord shipped the keys to our apartment there.

We apologize that you all will have to wait a day or so before we are able to post any more pictures. For some reason our hotel doesn't have free wireless, but what can you expect from a hourly-rate room in Compton.

(Same Post - Just with Pictures added, we will post the events of 12/31/10 tomorrow morning)

Snowed in

We made our shortest drive today (322 miles)

from Albuquerque NM to Flagstaff AZ. Jodi had

the foresight to look at the weather report, which read "blizzard conditions" for northern New Mexico and Arizona. For safety reasons we decided that we needed to get to Flagstaff as soon as possible, and because of this we were unable to do any sightseeing in Albuquerque this morning. However, on the way to Flagstaff (before the snow hit the fan) we made a stop at the Petrified Forest National Park. To our surprise the drive through the park was amazingly scenic, but like my Cousin Brad said there's a reason why the land in the parks has been set aside.

The entire drive was extremely windy today, keeping the car in between the lines was hard work. We were amused of all of the tumble weeds rolling across the interstate throughout the drive. The heavy snow didn't begin until we were about 10 miles outside of Flagstaff. When we pulled into Flagstaff we quickly realized we would be stuck in the hotel for the rest of the day/night. There was 8-12" of snow on the ground and the roads already with another 10" or so on the way; but don't worry Tim made sure we were prepared by picking up two 6-packs before we even checked in at the Hotel. Luckily there are plenty of restaurants, gas stations and stores within walking distance of the hotel, so we have everything we need except for an opportunity to explore Flagstaff, Sedona and the Grand Canyon.

We are hoping we're able to get out of here and make the planned trip to the California coast tomorrow, but for now we're sipping on the 6-packs and making the most of being snowed in.

We are to the point now that we need to post the rest of the pictures of our journey in an album, to see these photos visit this link: http://picasaweb.google.com/TimMillerDPT

Long and Flat (that's what She said)

We have entered the Wild West and thankfully put the Plains behind us today. The only bit of sightseeing we did today (besides the drive) was a stop at The Oklahoma City National Memorial at the sight of the 1995 Federal Building bombing.

We were both amazed at the vast amount of nothingness and amused by the sky touching the horizon in every direction, as well as the various wind-farms. I-40 is desolate throughout the Plains and for those without a hybrid you should fill your gas tank as often as possible. We made our lone stop today in Amarillo, Texas. For those who are Man v. Food fans, no we didn't do the 72 oz steak challenge at The Big Texan. Jodi was amazed to see absolutely nothing along the interstate until we reached a town. Even then, the businesses were simply lined next to each other, parallel to the interstate. This included Amarillo! She thinks Burlington is bigger than Amarillo...

To our surprise the landscape immediately changed as soon as we crossed the New Mexico border, making the drive much more interesting. It was cool to see the Mesas that we have only read about. We arrived in Albuquerque as the sun was setting behind the mountains, which was a beautiful site to see. We knew we had reached civilization again when we saw all the city lights of Albuquerque.

We decided that since we were in New Mexico, we needed to experience some authentic Mexican cuisine. So we ventured to Papa Nachos for tacos and some spicy salsa and it was delicious.

Tomorrow we head to Flagstaff, AZ. It should be a shorter drive than we have experienced thus far. Perhaps a visit to the Grand Canyon is in store....

Sunny skies and dry roads

It was smooth sailing all the way to Oklahoma City today, we are well into our journey through the Great Plains. It didn't take long for us to decide that the "Great" describes the size only.

Bogey (and Tim) began the day with a jog through the campus of Vanderbilt University. Then we drove through downtown Nashville before we headed toward Oklahoma City. We first stopped in Memphis to see the National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel and then to drive by Graceland. Other than these two sites, Memphis, TN leaves a lot to be desired.

We continued on, over the Mississippi River and into Arkansas and the beginning of The Great Plains...nothing but flat driving for the next 6 hours. We ended today's trip in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma after a long day of driving. Of course, Bogey was ready to run after he slept the entire trip.

Off to Albuquerque, NM tomorrow and thankfully the end of The Great Plains.

And we're off (to a very snowy start)

Day 1 of the cross country drive was much snowier and slower than expected, but we made the 486 mile drive to Nashville safely. The snow was very pretty, but it made traveling interesting. We were unable to drive faster than 20mph for about an hour while driving over the mountains near the NC/TN border (yes that picture of the road is of the interstate - we're not sure where the plows were).

Bogey did very well for all 8.5 hours in the car today. He was happy he was able to look out of the window and didn't have to be in his crate (we had to collapse his crate to save the space). We created a space for him on the seat but he decided that he was happier on top of all of the luggage.

We had plans to see the Christmas decorations at the Gaylord Opryland, but Bogey had other plans. We only made it to the lights outside when we got a call from the Hotel front desk informing us that Bogey was howling and barking non-stop, so we had to leave before we could step inside. It's looking like we not only need pet friendly hotels, but pet friendly sight seeing as well.

We're hoping for less snow for our 677 mile journey to Oklahoma City tomorrow.