To California (and back)

Sorry for the delayed updated post. We have been extremely busy the past week, and are still without internet. We most likely will not have it for another week and a half, so I'll be spending lots of time in the local coffee shops!

Since I last wrote, Greg and I have gone to Yucca Valley, unpacked most of our stuff, and have already traveled back East to Massachusetts for my high school reunion! For those of you who don't know, Greg and I found a great house deal - it's owned by another military couple, who is currently stationed back East. It has a beautiful view of the mountains (including Big Bear -a ski resort here), and it in a great, safe neighborhood. It's about 30 minutes from base and 30 minutes from Palm Springs, which is wonderful. Our things arrived on Tuesday, and we spent all day Tuesday and Wednesday unpacking and breaking down boxes. The big obstacles that remain for us now are buying the "big things" - beds, a sofa, etc. We already bought a washer and dryer, so we are excited to clean our clothes once it's installed! Aside from some issues hooking up TV/phone/internet, we have been very blessed with how smooth this transition has been. 

Last night we took a combination of flights to get to Boston in the cheapest manner - first from Palm Springs to LA, then a redeye from LA to Philly, then from Philly to Boston. We were so pooped when we arrived! We are staying at my aunt's house, who lives in Concord. Tomorrow we head out to Groton to see old friends - I think it will be fun - we certainly have enough small talk material!

So far, we love it out here. Sunny skies, warm weather - it's everything everyone says SoCal is! It's a bit of a bummer coming to Boston, where it's rainy and 60 degrees...but at least we know we're going back to great (if extremely hot) weather.

So that's the weekly update - I miss you all - please keep in touch!

Leg 3 - Arizona

Greetings from Wickenburg, AZ! We arrived here late Friday night, after a marathon 14 hour drive from Abilene. Even though this was the longest leg, it was my favorite one. The first 7 hours of the drive were still in Texas, which was brutal, but still pretty neat. I loved seeing Texas change from huge cattle ranches to tons of oil drills as far as we could see, to a desert, hilly area. We made it to El Paso around lunchtime. This was another great area, because we were literally looking out the left window to Mexico, and out the right window to the U.S. At the Mexican border there is a massive Mexican flag, and beyond that we could see the city of Juarez, which seemed significantly less prosperous than El Paso. 

After stopping briefly in El Paso, we headed out to New Mexico, where we drove through the Continental Divide, and were warned by multiple road signs of extreme dust storms. Luckily, we didn't run into any, but we did see funnel clouds of dust in the distance. 

We arrived in Arizona (which was officially 2 hours behind Abilene, since it is in the Mountain Time Zone but doesn't recognize Daylight Savings Time) around 3:00. We drove through Benson, Tombstone, Tucson, and Phoenix, before reaching Wickenburg around 7:30. My parents were nice enough to let us stay at their house out here this weekend, so we are enjoying ourselves, and getting used to the beautiful, cloudless, 95 degree weather. It's wonderful! We are heading out to California tomorrow, to Yucca Valley. As soon as we get email access again, I'll give an update. Thanks everyone for keeping in touch!

Pic of the post - what got us through the long Texas ride - the best speed limit ever!

Over Halfway!

Today Greg and I reached the half-way point of our road trip. Yesterday, after Greg's training ended, we headed out from North Carolina to Birmingham, Alabama, where we had a brief but fun time with the Upchurches. This morning we left bright and early, and embarked on our 12 hour trip to Abilene, TX. I had never been to Mississippi, Louisiana, or Texas before, so it's been fun to see these states. The ranches in Texas are abundant, and it's amazing how spread apart the cities are! Tomorrow we continue on our 800+ mile journey through Texas, as we head south to El Paso, and head towards our weekend destination: Wickenburg, AZ.

Pic for this post: Greg and I after his graduation from Logistics School