TravelStream™ news feed for member jlovely on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/jlovely en-us Copyright ©2010 TravelPod.com Sun, 15 Jan 2006 16:52:22 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jlovely/usa_2005/1133092800/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jlovely/usa_2005/1133092800/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jlovely/usa_2005/1133092800/tpod.html Sun, 15 Jan 2006 16:52:22 -0500 Jenn & Naomi's journey across America

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Lexington, Kentucky, United States

6am:
Our phone alarms were set for 8am but at exactly 6am the clock radio in the room started to scream at us about trying "Southern Comfort" ---foreshadowing for the days later events but very unwelcome, clock turned off and back to bed.

9:15am
After our "deluxe" continental breakfast we set out for Kentucky's Horse Park (with the country's only museum dedicated to all breeds and disciplines) We saw many beautiful racing and show horses---learned that Kentucky is known for it's dark fences and that houses out there are BEAUTIFUL and probably cost as much as a condo in NJ. It was cold and rainy but we made it through.

12pm
Started out for the "Maker's Mark" Distillery, apparently Kentucky is known for two things--horses and Bourbon so we had to complete the day. The problem was that the distillery was in the middle of no where, we thought we had been to the middle of no where before but we were wrong. Naomi missed a turn (BIG surprise) but "Run around Sue", our faithful GPS was able to recover, but this road was BAD...at least it was called a road. It was just wide enough for one car but Naomi soon realized that it was indeed a two lane road. Just as this dilemma was being discussed Jenn noticed a dead deer in the road, Naomi however was paying attention to the HUGE oncoming truck. The truck pulled over but in order to save Jenn's life the deer had to be sacrificed. We thought this was the funniest (and grossest) event so far. No one else has been quite as amused.

1:30pm
We made it to "Maker's Mark" just in time to join the tour. We learned all about Bourbon vs Whiskey (made in US, stored in Oak barrels used once, and something about temperature). We were allowed to touch the fermenting mixture...it smelled and felt like a huge vat of warm baby puke but it was kind of cool at the same time. Jenn dipped a jar of wheat in the famous red wax. It was Sunday and since Kentucky loves the Bible, no actual Bourbon for us. We then set out to eat, not realizing that this would be the hardest feat of the day.

3:30pm
Drove past Abraham Lincoln's boyhood home...just a little history thrown in.

4:00pm
FINALLY had lunch...interesting people watching in Bonniesville KY, but what else did we expect. Time change to Mountain Time

5:00pm
Crossed the border into Tennessee, Naomi almost got the pic (by California she'll get it). Went to the visitor center, took care of what we needed to (Ronnie, your theory was disproved again). Found our night's hotel and relaxed for a little.

8pm
Headed out for our night on the town in Nashville. Went to the Big River Brewery for nachos,pork sliders (weird but GOOD) and beer then over to the famous bars to see some live country music(when in Rome do as the Romans right??) First stop was "Tootsies", only noteworthy things were the guy in his "sevens" that def was not from TN and the drunkest drunk girl ever, and we went to UCONN so we've seen DRUNK before. But the night's events truly began at "Legends". We had just sat down when a cowboy half way down the bar started to ask Jenn to dance. This was one persistent cowboy. Todd, we soon learned, and his wingman Rodney, were locals (not a huge surprise). They sure loved their country music, their Stetson hats, their wranglers (which indeed much too tight),their boots and Jenn's ass. WE know, Jersey girls are much too picky. So Todd proposed to Jenn on numerous occasions and planned the wedding (all the bridal party would be wearing saran wrap with aluminum foil accents). The idea of seeing Rodney in Saran wrap might cause nightmares. The girls gave in and danced with the cowboys...sometimes a girl has to sacrifice some dignity for the sake of the scrap book/photo album. Todd has Jenn's phone number so perhaps more updates to come. Although.. Jenn now knows the area code for the Nashville area so will make sure she does not pick up. He even had the band sing some Conway Twitty so he could serenade the tall brown haired beauty. We said our goodnights/snuck out the back and headed back to the hotel.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jlovely/usa_2005/1133852640/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jlovely/usa_2005/1133852640/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jlovely/usa_2005/1133852640/tpod.html Mon, 12 Dec 2005 09:32:50 -0500 Jenn & Naomi's journey across America

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Yuma, Arizona, United States

We decided today that our trip should have a new title..."Rocks, Rocks, Sunsets and Rocks"


9 am
Woke up and Naomi slowly was able to remove her hobbled body from the bed and went down to breakfast.

11 am
Checked out of the hotel and started to drive towards Sedona. When Jenn was 12 she had been on a "Pink Jeep Tour" through the red rocks of Sedona so we decided to try it. Naomi was a little worried about a bouncy Jeep ride seeing as walking up stairs seemed like a big feat.

1pm
Made it to BEAUTIFUL Sedona and had a quick snack before out tour started. The tour was literally pink Jeep Wranglers off roading in the red rocks. We saw some really pretty sites and found out a lot of good geology and botany info.

3 pm
We went to the artists area of Sedona and walked around for awhile. Our Cowboy from yesterday had suggested to us that if we went to Sedona we should check out the "Oak Creek Brewery". Seeing as we are the good Husky girls we are we never say no to beer. We got the beer sampler and pizza and enjoyed our lunch/dinner.

5 pm -11 pm
We had debated staying the night in Sedona (even contemplated a free night at a time share that we were offered). But we decided to head out south to get some driving time out of the way. We were worried about staying in Phoenix because we thought it would be expensive (keep this reference in mind for later in the story). Our GPS took us the shortest way, we love her BUT the shortest route didn't neccessarily include towns, which are sort of important when trying to find a hotel. We researched in our books, of course, and they gave us the possibilty of a town thst I can't think of the name right now but warned us that the town was on the sleepy side. This town wasn't sleepy, it was in a coma. There were 2 scary looking expensive hotels and we weren't sure what to do. It was 8 pm and the sign said "Yuma 96 miles" we looked in our coupon books and there were plenty of choices in Yuma so we thought it was early enough to try it (if you have common sense you would have stopped us at this point). We ended up on a two lane highway of nothing but darkness for about two hours. The highlight of this part was that our book recommended a place in Dateland that made excellent milkshakes. We found it and shared a date shake and a prickly pear shake. They were good, don't drive 3000 miles in darkness for one, take our word on it. Anyway after the milkshake Jenn started to call the hotels in the book. All Naomi heard was, "Do you have any rooms, no, ok thanks". The first time this sentence was said it sounded weird, by about the eigth time it sounded like a cruel joke. We drove past exit 12 which had a sign for one hotel but we knew that exit 2 had many more choices so we continued on. We got off at exit 2 and it was a booming metropolis (it's a relative term now). But there were a lot of stores and hotels. The first 3 hotels we pulled into had signs up that said "no vacancy". We stopped in at the fourth and they had nothing but the guy was really nice and started to call area hotels. He called about 6 before he found one, we said we'd take it, no matter what it cost. I got on the phone, gave them my info and found out that they were at exit 12. If you've been reading you would know of our trend of having everything closed but this was ridiculous. We are now in the one hotel room left in this crazy border town and only about 200 miles from San Diego, it's a huge suite and is the second most expensive hotel we've hadto stay in...what are we going to do tomorrow...we drove 5 hours too long today, guess we'll have to go sit on the beach!!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jlovely/usa_2005/1133753640/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jlovely/usa_2005/1133753640/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jlovely/usa_2005/1133753640/tpod.html Mon, 05 Dec 2005 12:39:09 -0500 Jenn & Naomi's journey across America

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Flagstaff, Arizona, United States

5:15 am
Alarm went off way too early but both of us had been up often during the night because we were worried about not waking up. Got dressed quickly and packed up. It was 15 degrees outside when we got in the car

6:20 am
Checked in at the desk for the mule tours. We both passed the weigh-in (Naomi was worried with her five layers of shirts and two pairs of pants). We got our canteens which were ugly and tasted like plastic and got all the info about our day with the mules. We went for breakfast at the hotel and finished preparing for the day.

7:24 am
Sun rise over the Grand Canyon. We couldn't actually see the best view but it was still beautiful. It is a wonder after all.

7:45 am
Checked in at the corral (it was now probably 20 degrees) officially no feeling left in the feet! The leader of the mule rides gave us a talk about all the dangers and difficulties of the ride. He said that it was more physically demanding than hiking and made is repeat our mantra of "nothing about the mule ride is easy." He was right. We were split into two day groups, ours was only six which was nice. Our leader was Mark, a cowboy from Texas...Stetson, chaps, spurs and all.

8 am - 3 pm
NAOMI STARED AT JENN'S ASS FOR 7 HOURS!!!!! Yes, both her real ass and her mule ass. So here's what you need to know in case you only know one of us. Jenn is an equestrian, she used to compete with riding and now works at a barn. Naomi is short, kinda chubby and not very coridinated...so you can start to imagine how this mule ride went. Getting on the very tall mule was not so easy for Naomi. Seriuosly, your leg has to be hip height and then you are supposed to just swing your body onto this GIGANTIC animal. Didn't go so well for Naomi, she did have a cowboy help her ass up though. The first twenty minutes of the ride were petrifying (for Naomi). The canyon is one mile down and the trail is about 7 miles long and three feet wide. The mules like to walk on the outside of the trail, so if you look over your left shoulder you can see your death. Jenn's mule was "cracker" he was kind of easy going and had some GI disorder (kind of like Jenn). Naomi's mule "Marci" liked to talk, eat, break rules (she had already eaten through the reigns when we got there) and spontaneously run. So excpet for the running she was just like Naomi. We went down to Plateu Point which took about 3 hours, had lunch then headed back up the trail. The trail was rocky and steep but the views were beautiful. I can't speak for Jenn but I can tell you that my body hurts in places I didn't even know I had, all of me hurts, even my...umm...feminine parts...they feel like...like...like they slammed against a hard saddle for 7 miles down the steepest trail in America. Oh, Jenn's pelvis hurts too...don't worry we'll be okay.

We drove down to Flagstaff and on the way we played a new game. It's a variation of the "stop in the middle of the road game for the pic" it's called "stop in the middle of the road and turn off all the lights so you can see the most amazing stars ever." Don't worry, we made sure no one was coming, and if they were we turned the lights on. We checked into the hotel in Flagstaff and fell asleep before we could order dinner.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jlovely/usa_2005/1133667060/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jlovely/usa_2005/1133667060/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jlovely/usa_2005/1133667060/tpod.html Mon, 05 Dec 2005 12:10:42 -0500 Jenn & Naomi's journey across America

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Grand Canyon, Arizona, United States

8 am
Woke up, no Katie and Matt to wake up to on Saturday but we survived. We went down to the hot breakfast and made waffles. Went back to get dressed and headed out.

10:30 am
We had read about some discounted jewelry stores in Gallup (pretty much the only thing to do in Gallup) and decided to try to find them. We ended up in 'Gilbert Ortega's'. It was amusing because every piece of jewelry we picked up was expensive but the guy working would offer us some ridiculous cost. "oh the necklace is $495, you can have it for $70" we bought some things, our expensive taste was proven yet again.

11:00 am
Made it into Arizona!! And the best thing happened, the visitor center was right over the border and the "Welcome to Arizona" sign was right outside, we didn't have to catch a moving target, even Naomi got the pic.

12 pm
We went to the "petrified forest and painted desert national park". It was beautiful. We went to the visitor's center (one of our new favorite things) and watched a video about the forest. Then we went and had a quick lunch of Navajo Tacos (fried Navajo bread with chili, cheese and toppings, seriously, we need to work out!!) The 'painted desert' is an area of Arizona that the mountains are different colors from millions of years of climate changes. At 1 pm we went to the first of many many overlooks. We set up the camera for our first self timer pic on the hood of the car, which was very difficult since the wind was like Antarctica. Jenn was standing in front of a fence and as Naomi walked up to it Jenn kept saying, "Don't put any weight on it, Don't put any weight on it." As soon as Naomi set the timer and walked over to the fence (she wants it noted that she did NOT touch it) the fence fell off the post. It was funnier than it sounds, the best part is that the camera caught it all. Don't worry we didn't cause damage in a National park, we were able to put the fence back on the post. The second part of the park was the 'petrified forest' over time trees become like rock and have layers and layers of beautiful colors. They were cool too but you can't really see the colors until they are polished.

3:15 pm
As soon as we got into the park we checked how much gas we had and had about ¼ tank. What we didn't realize was that the park was about 35 miles long and the closest gas station was 20 miles away. Our best friend Sue didn't let us down and she found us the closest gas. Our tired, dirty car made it just in time, she has served us well and when she can take a break we will give her a good washing.

4 pm- 7 pm
Drove up to the Grand Canyon!!! We had talked earlier about trying to take a mule ride into the Canyon. Jenn the researcher found out some info and we made reservations. Later Naomi read more info and found out the following; there is a weight restriction, mules are not donkeys, mules are BIGGER than horses, and they tend to walk on the outside of the trail. So at this moment Naomi is convinced that her GIGANTIC mule will throw her into the Canyon. I love all of you if it happens, just remember that!!! There are a few hotels inside the Grand Canyon and one had a decreased winter rate, so that's where we are. It's decent, don't need much, we have to wake up at 5:15. It's 27 degrees and not getting any warmer any time soon. We took a scenic route to the Canyon and saw a beautiful sun set/moon rise (don't worry we have pics), we were still playing yesterdays game of 'stop in the road to take the picture'. We had a quick dinner at the hotel cafeteria and then of course went to the gift shop. Apparently we have both adopted the motto "one present for you, one present for me." When we were leaving we met a guy from Vancouver, and no he didn't propose to Jenn, he told us that he had run a half marathon in death valley today and will hike into the Canyon tomorrow. We are SO lazy, we've been in the car all week and we're taking mules into the Canyon. We can't wait to make it to San Diego and be able to work out!! Going to sleep...and the cameras are resting for their big day tomorrow.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jlovely/usa_2005/1133583180/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jlovely/usa_2005/1133583180/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jlovely/usa_2005/1133583180/tpod.html Sat, 03 Dec 2005 00:05:49 -0500 Jenn & Naomi's journey across America

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Gallup, New Mexico, United States

8 am
Woke up (thanks Erica...just kidding, don't forget the time difference!!!) Got ready, spent an unacceptable amount of time trying to put the futon together. We are two college grads after all. Said goodbye to Leah and Marc and headed back on the road. We had decided to take a side trip North, we had gotten so far West so fast that we had some extra time to play with. We had heard that Sante Fe was beautiful and decided to check it out.

10 am
We got to Sante Fe and found the plaza where all the shops are. We apparently have VERY good taste, and everything we picked up was crazy expensive. We walked around for a while and bought a few small trinkets (that's a funny word). We went to lunch at the Cowgirl Barbeque. If you check out the picture of Jenn from yesterday she was just practicing. We had a buffalo burger...it was good, and sweet potato fries...we think by the time we get to San Diego our car will be carrying an extra 80 pounds, of us.

1 pm
Left Sante Fe and headed back towards Albuquerque.


3:05 pm
We wanted to go to the Acoma Pueblo, which has been populated continuously since the 12th century. It is supposed to be beautiful and the pottery is supposed to be famous. If you notice the use of the words "supposed to" it's because when we got there they told us that we could not go to the top of the 7000 ft mesa because there is a celebration tonight. Of course...but on the way there we were driving on this small road and we had just seen a sign that said "open range" when we noticed 3 cows on the side of the road. As soon as Jenn said "Is there someone leading those cows?" they looked at us and ran across the road, well actually they stopped and looked at us then continued on.


4 pm - 5:30 pm
We had decided to take a detour (that may have been our first mistake) on a road that had two national monuments and a Pueblo. This road is on the list of the weird small roads we have been on. We learned two new games on this road: dodge the tumble weed (it's kind of like "Pong" with the car, and the "stop the car in the middle of the road for the picture" game. It's not like anyone is coming.
4:23 pm
Crossed the continental divide (geography lesson follows) The divide runs along the crest of the Rockies, from British Columbia, through the United States, and continues southward into Mexico and Central America. It divides the continent's principal drainage into that flowing eastward (to the Hudson Bay in Canada or to the Mississippi River) and that flowing westward (to the Pacific Ocean).
4:50 pm
Got to the El Morro National monument. It is a huge rock that has been signed by travelers since 1250 (there are petroglyphs, conquistadors, pioneers). So if you have been paying attention to this journal so far you may have noticed a trend, not to let you down, it was closed. Our book said it was still open, at least we are still researching these things.

6:30 pm
Checked into the hotel and relaxed. We went to dinner, margaritas, tacos and tamales. This time the red chile sauce was the milder one. Our waitress was the so nice and we noticed that since Penn we have only met one person that wasn't INCREDIBLY nice. She worked at the hotel in Memphis, she is the only mean person this side of the Mississippi (well she was about 100 feet east of the Mississippi but we wanted something with effect).

We wanted to thank everyone for their research on cows/cattle etc.

By the way we have 44 license plates so far...
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jlovely/usa_2005/1133488800/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jlovely/usa_2005/1133488800/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jlovely/usa_2005/1133488800/tpod.html Fri, 02 Dec 2005 23:52:37 -0500 Jenn & Naomi's journey across America

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Albuqurque, New Mexico, United States

7:30am
Woke up to watch some Katie and Matt and got dressed. Our hotel had not been as promising as hoped, we couldn't connect to the wireless network and the continental breakfast was white bread and cheerios...NO COFFEE!!! Being us that was unacceptable and we decided to find somewhere to eat. There was a café near the hotel and Jenn had a much better breakfast burrito (not a huge surprise since we had been in OK for the first attempt and New Mexico for the second). Breakfast was good but no time to shmooze, back to the road.

11 am- 3pm
Arrived in Albuquerque. The drive there was really beautiful and yet again we took many pics from the car. This is becoming increasingly difficult since the dead buggies on the windshield have been accumulating for 6 days. Naomi's step father's sister (got that?) lives in Albuquerque and suggested that we go to a Tram in the mountains. We got there around 11:45. The Tram is the world's longest free something Tram up to the 10,000 foot peak. It was a nice ride up, about 15 minutes, and offered a fabulous view. There is a restaurant at the top and we had lunch. Some more Tex-Mex....some more cheese, YUM.

3:30-5pm
Our books had told us about a Petroglyph National Park. A Petroglyph is a design made by a Native American in a rock by chipping away at the rock as opposed to a Pictograph which is painted (that's the art history lesson of the day). Our best friend Sue got us there, we decided that if it wasn't for Sue (our GPS) we would probably still be in West Virginia and that would be bad because that's where the dead deer were. Anyway, the Petroglyph park was really cool and we went on a hike for about an hour. Seeing as our fat assess have been in a car for almost a week it was great. We saw a few bunnies but were hoping to see a Road Runner because how cool would that be?? We took another great timer pic and headed out of the park by sunset.

5pm-6:30pm
We went to "Old Town Albuquerque" which is a bunch of cute old stores and a pretty center square. The guy at the chocolate shop told us that tomorrow is the lighting of the Christmas tree and the prettiest day of the year...another poor planning moment.

6:30 pm
Went to dinner with Naomi's Step Aunt and Uncle, more Mexican...yum. We learned that every thing you order in New Mexico comes with either red or green chile sauce. Apparently each restaurant is different which is spicier. Last night's it was green...Naomi learned this difference the hard way when she assumed the green would be spicier at this restaurant as well. We hung out with Naomi's family and had smoothies made with the Magic Bullet...very cool (hint hint for holiday shoppers).

Some Random things we've noticed...
1. Every few hours there is a 24 hour porn/adult video store on the side of the highway. How much porn do the truck drivers need at 4am? Maybe we don't want to know.

2.Why are there drive thru liquor stores?

3. We can no longer drive correctly in residential neighborhoods. We have been driving at 80 MPH for so long that we are confused by traffic lights and stop signs.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jlovely/usa_2005/1133402280/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jlovely/usa_2005/1133402280/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jlovely/usa_2005/1133402280/tpod.html Fri, 02 Dec 2005 23:51:22 -0500 Jenn & Naomi's journey across America

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Tucumcari, New Mexico, United States

9am
Decided that we didn't want to go to any chain restaurants anymore (only been to Cracker Barrel) and thought we would try to find some local flavor. We did some research in our travel books and ended up at the Bickford Café in "downtown" El Reno. All these towns are pretty depressing, you can tell that they used to be booming and busy and now they are a few small restaurants on dusty streets. The café was a typical "sleepy" town and did offer us some good people watching and we decided it was there that we first realized that we are two Jersey snobs after all.

10am
We headed back out onto the open road...the flat, flat open road. We had heard that there was a pretty canyon just south off the highway and thought we would check it out. We went the way we thought was right and apparently we were VERY wrong. A few things that Jersey girls appreciate that this road did not have: pavement, signs, people, or gas. We did see a lot of really cute cows up close that made us very excited. We finally were smart enough to check if the GPS knew where that canyon was and our best friend Run Around Sue proved her faithfulness yet again. The canyon was nice but not nearly as exciting as we had hoped. The canyon was the site of our first of many pics taken with Naomi's timer on her camera.

1 pm
Three of our plethora of books told us that we needed to try some pie at the "Country Dove Tea Room" in Elkin OK. So we took a little detour and found this adorable café in an old house. We split some good pie and had some tea and coffee and headed back out. This was the first part of Route 66 that we were on but decided to get back on the interstate so that we could make it to California before January.

2:22 pm
Crossed the border into Texas, Jenn got the sign pic, she's still winning in case you're keeping track, not that it's a contest, we are a team after all. Jenn did point out that Texas looked just like Oklahoma, which looked just like Arkansas. We decided that we wanted to spend as little time as possible in the land of "Dub-yah" and kept right on driving. Taking most of our pictures from the car. At 3:30 we saw the "Leaning Tower of Texas," a water tower that was built on an angle. At 3:45 we saw the western hemisphere's largest cross, gotta love being in the Bible Belt. So we were driving down the road when we saw one lone cow...seriously there wasn't another cow for about 20 miles, we are still worried about that cow.

3:50 pm, 5pm
Found the "Bug Ranch"---here's a little history lesson of Route 66 kitsch. The "Bug Ranch" is 5 VW Bugs planted face down in some dirt. It's much cooler than it sounds, promise. It was erected in homage to the "Cadillac Ranch" which was our second stop in Texas. "The Cadillac Ranch is a group of 10 Cadillacs buried with their tail fins sticking up on land outside Amarillo belonging to local helium tycoon Stanley March III. It was created in 1974 by the Ant Farm, a trio of experimental artists. Their site specific art work was a tribute to the Cadillac's classic design and the featured cars range form a 1949 Club Coupe to a 1963 Sedan"--From the cool book Heather gave us (thanks Heath!!!). Travelers ever since have been signing their names on both sets of cars. It was cold, but the cars were a cool piece of Americana and of course we got some pics, thanks again self timer! Texas did offer us the prettiest sunset we've seen so far, a some great views of wind mills and tumble weeds. Jenn did drive over the world's largest tumble weed, in fact, it almost drove over us.

6:20 pm
Crossed the border into New Mexico--the sign was past where we needed to turn for the visitor's center so it was only partially Naomi's fault that the picture didn't come out.

7pm
Checked into a hotel in Tucumcari NM. Not much out here, that's for sure. We went for dinner at the restaurant next to the hotel and had some Tex-Mex, why not...we'd been in Tex and now we are in Mex. The restaurant was in fact in our book, an apparent new rule of eating. We then walked back across the street to our hotel and tried to plan our next few days.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jlovely/usa_2005/1133321400/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jlovely/usa_2005/1133321400/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jlovely/usa_2005/1133321400/tpod.html Tue, 29 Nov 2005 23:25:16 -0500 Jenn & Naomi's journey across America

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El Reno, Oklahoma, United States

So today's entry won't be that exciting because truthfully today wasn't that exciting. But don't start to think that that means we didn't have a blast and laugh our asses off.

8:00am
We started our day with breakfast at the hotel, and yes, we had peanut butter and bananas like any girl in Memphis should. We started out to go to the National Civil Rights Musuem but when "Run Around Sue" (our GPS girlfriend) got us there it didn't look too promising. We looked in our books and realized that the museum is closed on Tuesdays. So our plan of having no real plan kind of came back to haunt us but guess you can't have it both ways. Since there wasn't much else we wanted to do in Memphis we decided to hit the road.

10 am
Began our 600 mile journey through no where. In the same 15 seconds we crossed the Mississippi and Naomi took the Arkansas state pic (somehow we keep planning wrong and Jenn is ALWAYS driving when we cross the state lines!)

12 pm
Stopped for lunch at Cracker Barrel in Arkansas. Arkansas is flat, that's all we have to say. We only stopped at Cracker Barrel so we could return our book on CD...it's actually pretty cool, if you buy a book at any Cracker Barrel you can return it except for $3.50 a week to any Cracker Barrel. Our book was boring and Naomi was having some anxiety so we returned it. Back to the road.

1pm-7pm
DROVE DROVE DROVE there had been a forest fire in Oklahoma City which made some serious smoke, which was actually really beautiful with the sunset. We played some games, took some naps and have 40 license plates so far.

7 pm
Checked into hotel in El Reno OK, right past Oklahoma City. We weren't sure where we would stop but didn't want to pay to stay in a big city. Our new requirements for hotels are in order...email, safe, cheap, clean...need to keep this updated for our fans, just kidding.

8pm
Went to "Montana Mike's Steakhouse" food was good, decor a little creepy. Some taxidermist somewhere made a pretty penny decorating that place. But steak dinner and a beer cost $12, which led Naomi to mistakenly say the words "Maybe we should live here". Jenn quickly ended that idea with a look.

9pm
Back to the hotel to relax from our serious travel day.

-------------If anyone can tell us all the detailed differences between cows, cattle, steer and ox please let us know...this is what we've been discussing for an unacceptable long time today (Ronnie and Drew thanks for the info so far!!!)--------------------------
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jlovely/usa_2005/1133013600/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jlovely/usa_2005/1133013600/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jlovely/usa_2005/1133013600/tpod.html Tue, 29 Nov 2005 22:29:58 -0500 Jenn & Naomi's journey across America

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Hackensack, New Jersey, United States

8:00am:
Naomi picked up Jenn at 8am and we packed the car and headed out. Completely NOT believing that we were actually going to drive all the way to Kentucky by the end of the day. We had to prove our parents wrong and make it there no matter what.

9:40am:
Just got into Pennsylvania, and all we see is lots of silos...WHAT the hell do they keep in silos? Naomi thinks small children...we have yet to find out. Jenn has a feeling we'll see a lot of them along our way. We think we also started playing the license plate game around here somewhere. Although we've aready forgotten to pay attention for about 300 miles or so. Oh well...=)

10:40:
Our first gas stop in Frystown, PA. We were starving but realized it was one of the sketchiest rest stops ever so we didn't eat....or poop. And of course...the weigh station was closed. Go figure.

11:30am:
Naomi's first Cracker Barrel experience. We knew we had to stop at one sometime along our way and why not in PA?? It was pretty damn good, and we got to rent a book on CD that we NEED to return within a week.

1:23pm:
So our whole plan of taking pictures of all the state welcome signs has already gone to shit. Naomi sucks...and she's now officially fired at taking pictures of the signs. We're in Maryland...with no proof of it sadly.

3:00pm:
Gas stop at Friendsville, MD...might definitely be the most cleanest bathroom ever at the BP! You all need to check it out! Not to mention that everyone in Friendsville seemed friendly.

3:15pm:
Got into West Virginia. There are some crazy ass mofo hunters EVERYWHERE!!! There were cars pulled over all on the highway, not to mention men walking down the street with rifles. The highlight of West Virginia though, HAS to be the red Toyota with the two dead deer strapped to the back of the trunk. And yes...us being city girls....NEEDED a picture of them! Mission accomplished thanks to Jenn.

5:45pm:
Bathroom break and Gas. Naomi realized that if you win the quarter game, you could win a deluxe universal gun cleaning kit. Too bad she lost, we really could have used it.

6:00pm:
Charleston, WV....wow..it's actually a real city..go figure!! But of course West Virginia couldn't disappoint so we had to see the naked man driving the white pickup right next to us.

6:50pm:
KENTUCKY!!! WE MADE IT! made sure to call all the parents, now called the 'Doubting Dotties' to rub it in that we actually made it in one piece. Stopped at the rest stop to grab a few books and coupon guides.

8:40pm:
Checked into the Quality Inn..for an amazing $35.95 a night, including a deluxe continental breakfast. Can't beat that, right???? Oh...and after we checked in, we had one of Kentucky's world famous delicacies... SUSHI. And it was pretty damn good actually.

Hit the hay pretty early after all that driving....onto Nashville tomorrow!!



Famous Quotes of the Day:

"What do you think they keep in all the silos?" - Naomi

"Mooooooo" - Jenn

"I feel like an autistic kid, reading all the street signs." - Jenn
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jlovely/usa_2005/1133220540/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jlovely/usa_2005/1133220540/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jlovely/usa_2005/1133220540/tpod.html Tue, 29 Nov 2005 10:17:27 -0500 Jenn & Naomi's journey across America

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Memphis, Tennessee, United States

8am-Early wake up and pretty gross continental breakfast but there was a make your own waffle machine. Went to the shoe maker to fix Naomi's too big ugly shoes and set out on our way to Memphis. All would have gone smoothly if a small hurricane didn't follow over our car for about 15 miles, so the trip took a little longer than expected.

1:15pm--
Arrived at GRACELAND. We know, it's corny but it's a road trip and that's what it's about. Graceland was actually pretty cool but we both decided it was also pretty creepy. We want everyone to know that when we are famous world travelers and you want to make a museum of our houses please only show the items we own that aren't the ugliest things ever. Yet again we couldn't find anything to eat until 4pm...but when we finally did it was worth it. Yet again when in Rome...so when in Graceland we had fried peanut butter and banana sandwiches. They were delicious, we both may add them to our diet, but don't want to end up looking like the King (those last few years were rough).

5pm--
Checked into a hotel in downtown Memphis, caught up on email and this blog.

6pm--
Decided we were way too hungry to wait to find food. We researched the best places to eat in Memphis but when we asked at the front desk how to get there she said it was closed on Mondays. So we headed down towards Beale St where everything interesting in Memphis supposedly happens. We went to a great little place the "Blues City Cafe". We got the ribs (a Memphis specialty) and we both decided without a doubt that they were the best we'd ever had. When we were done inhaling some good southern food we weren't sure what to do since it was still so early. We ended up going to Jillians, which is an arcade and a bar and amused ourselves for awhile. Naomi was leading in skee ball for most of the night but on the last round Jenn pulled into the lead. We went out to our first bar, the "Rum Boogie Cafe" around 8pm. Rachel Ray had had a drink there so it HAD to be good, and it was. There was a good blues band and we had some rum drinks then decided to see what else was out there. We headed out into the freezing cold, and where should 2 girls go in the freezing cold, well of course a bar that only sells frozen drinks!! Jenn bought us her favorite drink at Wet Willys, called the call-a-cab, Naomi prefers to drink lighter fluid. We headed out (with our drinks, yeah Memphis) and while deciding what to do next two guys walked up to us and asked if they could buy us a drink, then more of their friends showed up. Here's the rundown on these guys, they are mostly Mexican and work for a few months in different places doing something with refineries. Little Ricky was the ring leader, a nice guy who showed us pics of his little girl. He turned out to be a pretty good dancer Naomi would soon find out. Fino, the small quiet one, Chad the guy who may have been attractive but he had a creepy 1970's mustache, Arturo who proposed to Jenn (if you are keeping track that's twice in two days), Joey (the white guy) who just got back from 13 months in Iraq, cute but way too dumb to even carry on a conversation. They were very nice and bought us a few drinks and Ricky and Joey each bought us roses. Overall good food, good drinks, good music and good company. Last call was midnight and we headed back to the hotel.
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