Navarre, FL to Cullman, AL

An exciting day on the trip as we left Florida to head to the Carpenters project. We were up at 5:30am with Bryan as he got ready for work and had the car packed and ready to go by 7, right on time.. Morning rush hour out on the beach area was kind of rough but we were able to get ourselves into Alabama with very little effort. There was construction all the way up I-65 which we joined well before it hit Montgomery. Long story short, we made it in time but ran into an unexpected situation...

As we were about to turn into the driveway at the project a little kitten was in the middle of the turn lane running towards us. Katie got out and picked the little guy up and noticed that he was dirty and had some sort of eye infection. Not having any idea what to do we gave the guy a little box to lay in and then hooked up the wireless modem and had google find us an animal shelter. The timing turned out great as we got the kitten to the shelter not long before it closed. Not being a vet i dont know how sick he was but he seemed to have energy enough to climb all over Katie and was purring like a monster. He drank some milk from a plate but we arent even sure he was old enough to know what to do there. The shelter people werent excited about taking him in since he was looking kind of pathetic but it turns out that a girl came in to turn in a stray dog and she was a foster for kittens... she took him to the doctor and then assuming he only needed a few shots and some meds, home. He was adorable and I am glad we were able to get him to someone that could help since 3,200 miles is a long way home for a kitten.

For the record, since I dont live in cullman county the lady put my address down as:

Nathan Speulda

319 NE Autumn Rose Way.. Oregon

Anyhow, We went to get some lunch since we missed it while taking our little friend to the shelter and then headed back to the project. The weather was beautiful and we milled about until it was dinner time. Dinner was Catfish and Hush Puppies - very nice.

The people were great, it was like meeting 20 different uncles of Katie's. Tomorrow will be interesting as Katie works on electrical and I either work on CD burning or putting up interior walls (which I did in my community service class back in 8th grade so maybe something will come back to me...).

We will post more on the CFC project tomorrow after everything is finished.

The hotel we are at is the Best Western just down the road from the site which was a good deal and is pretty clean.

We are working on an alternate route home since our plans are changing... we will post the updates here.

-Nathan

Jackson, MS to Navarre, FL

We're at the beach! Jackson was wonderful. Dinner last night was so nice and the hotel felt like a palace after the night before. I still can't believe there was a dehumidifier in the room! We are in the South!

We slept in a bit and got Chick-Fil-A biscuits on the way out of town. Hwy 49 is nice, not interstate like we've gotten used to, but easy to handle. Saw lots of roadside stands selling everything from tshirts to watermelons to peaches to boiled peanuts....

Took about 5 hours and only two fishy steps in the directions but we've made it to Bryan and Katie's. We'll go out to the beach itself tonight and feel the sand between our toes and a warm ocean (gulf) current.

Tomorrow we leave to go to Cullman, AL where we'll be working on the Carpenters for Christ mission project of Stoney Creek Outreach. Should get there roundabouts lunch time if traffic cooperates.

Columbia, MO to Jackson, MS (Replaces St. Joseph to Memphis)

So let me recap the fun that was last night..

We decided to push through past Kansas City to avoid the traffic that would surely be a nightmare this morning on our way to meet Jeff in St. Louis... Had we stopped in St. Joseph like planned we would have had to get up at 4AM to make it in time. The decision landed us in Columbia as basically the farthest I could get without falling asleep (I was thinking, hey college town like Corvallis or Athens right?). We used a coupon book and found a Days Inn.. not great but not bad right? heh, wrong. It looked good at first but the room was horrible and the area was terrifying. We decided to just post the blog then go to bed since I had driven 15 or so hours and had another full day today..

I basically ended up staying awake all night because I didnt trust the place if i fell asleep, I had joked earlier today about staying awake to make sure we still had our kidneys in the morning but I am not sure how far off the truth it was! This being said, once I finally did fall asleep a massive lightning storm rolled in (though my snoring is too loud she slept like a baby with artillery shells exploding outside).. We got up at 6 and got ready and left as fast as we possibly could - 2 hours earlier than planned. This got us into St. Louis at like 9:00 at which point we found the mall where we were meeting Jeff and getting Chick-fil-A.

Thanks to Jeff's directions we made it in and out of St. Louis with absolutely no effort, I like to know where i need to be and at least there is some order to the freeways there. Because we had made it way further last night we decided to power on through to Jackson where we had found yet another Fairfield Mariott.. a great relief after last night. I was sure I was going to crash on the way, going 15 hours then 1/2hr sleep then another 15ish hours but I am here typing this blog with plenty of energy and not much caffeine in me... go figure.

The trip from St. Louis to Jackson was boring and when we got there we found our hotel... hallelujah and then got our first real BBQ food in forever.. it was a great little place called the Hickory Pit - complete with a metal pitcher of sweet tea, college baseball on TV (The super-regional that OSU got knocked out of) and good food.

We got into town with lots of time to relax and can sleep in tomorrow because we are so far ahead of schedule. Overall we are having a great time despite my lack of sleep. Katie is in love with the weather here in Mississippi - 85 degrees and humidity that makes me break a sweat by just clipping my finger nails. I partially appreciate the humidity since the -50% humidity at 7,200 feet in Laramie was even worse.

It is amazing to think that in four days we have gone over 2,500 miles and are in the deep south... Today was a good day of Sweet tea and sunny weather.

Laramie, WY to Columbia, MO

Yes, you read right. We skipped ahead to Columbia instead of stopping in St. Joseph. Nebraska was the most dull state ever (from the I-80 perspective) and Google's directions scared us a little when we left the intestate in Lincoln. They were right, they just didn't look right in real life. SO when we got to the Missouri state line (not much to see in 5 miles of Iowa either) we decided to keep going since we weren't all that tired and Kansas City would probably be a nightmare in morning rush hour. Turns out we were right that the interchanges of highways and interstates in KC are kinda complicated and as Jeff warned us, drivers aren't nice! But, we made it thru there in one piece and not too flustered. Columbia is where University of Missouri (aka Mizzou) is located so thinking of other college towns we're personally familiar with (Corvallis....Athens....) we decided it'd be a good stop. The Days Inn at Exit 124 had the best rate for what you get (wireless internet, hot breakfast, etc) but it's kinda sketchy and outdated. The mattress sinks at least 6 inches when I (Katie) sit on it. Truly, it's clean and functional....just not pleasant feeling. We definitely got spoiled by Marriott's and have learned you get what you pay for.

We plan to go ahead tomorrow and try to make it to Jackson, MS. We will be stopping in St. Louis for Chick-Fil-A.....and to see Katie's friend Jeff (just kidding, we would've stopped to see you even if you didn't have a Chick-Fil-A...it's just a nice bonus!) Then we're looking forward to some good southern BBQ in Memphis as an early dinner before cruisin' down to Jackson. This should let us get some good sleep there before going down to Bryan and Katie's in Florida. Mmmmm 2 days til I can walk on a beach! =)

For those of you with schedules and want to know how they'll be updated, we'll still be in Central time (+1 for Eastern, -2 for Pacific) taking 9 hours, 24 min to go 618 miles. This does not include stops for food, etc. Rough estimates are to leave Columbia around 8am and get breakfast. We plan to get to lunch w/ Jeff in St. Louis by 11ish. Then 6ish we'll be in Memphis for BBQ. With stops, that should put us in Jackson by 10pm.

We drove 813 miles today which pushed the car over the 10K mark just outside Kansas City. Pretty amazing =)

There wasn't much to see so most of the pictures I took were of interstate signs....and one at a rest area warning us about rattlesnakes! I'll add some tomorrow as this part of the country looks a lot more interesting!

Time to try to sleep now.

Boise, ID to Laramie, WY

Well this was a fun drive, 696 miles is an awful lot and ended up taking us 11 hours (with stops) but it really went well. We found Katie some Starbucks and then hit the freeway... I-84 was boring right away and never got much better with an exception if a mid-day rush hour-ish festival in Ogden. We followed I-84 until it ended and split into I-80E somewhere in the northeastern part of Utah. From that point on it was nothing but mountains, plains, and an overwhelming load of nothing. There were some deer I think too but I was driving so I didnt look.

We stopped at four rest areas to stretch, one just before Twin Falls in Idaho on I-84, One right before the Idaho/Utah border, One right inside Wyoming at Bear Park, and the last one was at Bitter Creek off of I-80. The first three were ok, somewhat clean but the Bitter Creek one was nasty!

We got to enjoy Chick-fil-A for lunch after a relatively tense drive through the commerce district of Ogden, Utah right before I-84 and I-15 head apart from each other. Have never had bad Chick-fil-A and this time was just as good. It was kind of funny that this place had won regional best branch 2 times since there is no other Chick-fil-a for like 1000 miles in any direction.

The driving was not bad, I discovered the benifits of cruise control today - my legs wouldnt have survived otherwise - There was *no* traffic on I-80 so I just put it on 79 (75 limit) and cruised.. i did think the car was gonna asplode as we went up into the mountains and the CC kept the engine at about 5k rpms. The result of this technology is that I feel just fine after 696 miles. Tomorrow will be almost as much but it is more of I-80 so it shouldn't be bad at all. I just hope I dont have to deal with Trucks passing Trucks going up a mountain and pointless construction.

We got into town and found a Brand Newish Fairfield (2/2 nights so far) and though it was a bit more than 60, it should get us free stays somewhere with our rewards...

Next stop, St. Joseph, MO!

-Nathan

Hillsboro to Boise

We made it! We left a little earlier than planned (which was good) and arrived a bit earlier too. Google seems to be ok on estimated travel time for now. 7 hour trip. We got drinks/snacks from 7-11 and made it thru the Portland interchanges in the most miserable gray weather.

First actual stop was at Memaloose Rest Area where we were greeted by the biggest and most friendly squirrels! The term "tree rat" seemed most appropriate for the rascals eatting from tourists fingers! Note for future travelers: bring snacks for the squirrels and try to stop right after they've cleaned the bathrooms because it's nice =) I picked up 2 travel coupon books that cover the entire Pacific NW (Washington, Oregon, California, Idaho, Montana, Utah) and found quite a selection for Boise.

Tonight we are staying at the Fairfield Inn (Marriott) for a mere $60 from the coupon book. I thought it was "ok" til I saw the listed room rate on our door of $169 and found online that next Friday night w/ no discounts is $84. Wow for interstate books! =) Who knows what deals we'll find the rest of the trip! We are near the airport but I can't hear any planes *inside* our room, only in the parking lot. We're also near Boise State University...home of Smurf Turf!

Baker City was a great spot to stop for dinner (Subway) and gas (we made a full tank last over 300 miles!) The attendant was really nice. He just graduated high school but didn't start caring about his grades til his senior year so he's gonna do some extra classes to improve his transcript and then he hopes to go to Oregon State like his uncle Brad who just got the highest meteorology degree possible! Oh, and his cousin has a '06 Tiburon. Yes, he was talkative. =)

A couple different thunderstorms along the way but mostly good weather and good traffic. The Columbia River is fun to follow. And these mountains are huge...especially when seen in perspective, such as a farm house in the valley at the base of one mountain.

I took 183 pictures while Nathan drove. He had plenty of caffeine (and adrenaline) which is good because my left contact has been giving me fits all day. The car has been fine. Cruise control is great! We made a playlist on our iPod that has ~750 songs and on shuffle, it created a varied selection that was fun!

We miss the boys. It was hard to leave them but honestly, who wants to travel in a coupe w/ TWO cats??


For tomorrow: We are in the Mountain Time Zone now. The hotel has a continental breakfast which should hold us over til we get to Ogden, Utah. Ogden is one of my favorite cities on our trip. Why? Because it is the first city we come to that has a Chick-Fil-A!!! =) We have 696 miles to cover in 9.5 hours. We will be taking I-84 down thru Utah to pick up I-80 which we will be on for a looooong time. Our plan is to stop in Laramie, WY tomorrow night. Laramie is near Cheyenne and is also the home of University of Wyoming.

Thanks for keeping up with us. See you soon!
Much love,
Katie and Nathan

Road Trip 2009 - The Plan

This is our estimated schedule for this summer's road trip. Actual details will follow in daily posts during the trip.

Fri 6/5:
Hillsboro, OR --> Boise, ID

Sat 6/6:
Boise, ID --> Laramie, WY

Sun 6/7:
Laramie, WY --> St. Joseph, MO

Mon 6/8:
St. Joseph, MO --> Memphis, TN

Tue 6/9:
Memphis, TN --> Navarre, FL

Wed 6/10:
Navarre, FL --> Cullman, AL

Thu 6/11:
Cullman, AL (CFC mission trip)

Fri 6/12:
Cullman, AL --> Athens, GA

Sat 6/13:
Athens, GA (Katie's family)

Sun 6/14:
Athens, GA --> Birmingham, AL

Mon 6/15:
Birmingham, AL --> Nashville, TN

Tue 6/16:
Nashville, TN --> Columbia, MO

Wed 6/17:
Columbia, MO --> Hays, KS

Thu 6/18:
Hays, KS --> Vail, CO

Fri 6/19:
Vail, CO --> Twin Falls, ID

Sat 6/20:
Twin Falls, ID --> Hillsboro, OR

6739 miles in 104.5 hours

Athens, GA - April 2009

Nathan and Katie flew Continental April 15 and April 19. Dave dropped us off at the MAX stop at the Fairgrounds after coming over to meet Peyton and Eli. We got to the airport just after pizzicato closed even though their website said they'd be open 2 more hours (apparently summer hours are posted and they're still operating under winter hours....blah) We met "Apple" at our gate. Apple, or "Manzanita" was an appleheaded chihuahua headed to Costa Rica for a 6 week vacation...with his owner. Such a sweet dog, 18 months old, had never flown before. He only whimpered a little when we took off and landed as he stayed in his under-seat crate the entire trip. We connected in Houston right as restuarants were opening for breakfast. This is the only Starbucks to still serve marble loaf (chocolate/vanilla marble pound cake). We learned to appreciate being "Elite" members as we got to board the plane second to only the first class customers. This proved beneficial on our first flight since the overhead bins filled too early and people had to check bags last minute...I hope they got them at their final destination! The second flight wasn't quite as crowded so we got to share 3 seats together and pretend to sleep on the 2 hr flight to Atlanta. Wayne and Kay were at Hartsfield to pick us up and we did our best to stay awake in the car. We stopped at the new Chick-Fil-A in Monroe and Katie got a stuffed cow for Nathan to take to work since the cows were for children and she is Kay's child =)

We flew down for Kim and Daniel's wedding which was on Saturday but had acouple of festivities to attend before it. First was the shindig at Dave and Buster's in Gwinnett. They serve LOTS of food as a "normal" amount. It wasn't our favorite spot to be but most of that was because of how tired we were after staying up 40 hours or so. Luckily, Carla drove us to and from dinner so we only had to drive to and from Carla's apartment in Athens.

Friday we got biscuits from AJ's where we saw the sweet lady who always works there. I think she remembered us too! Then we had Jason's Deli for lunch before meeting Ashlie and Derrick and Hosea and Levi at the park to play for a bit. Then Wayne and Kay decided we should squeeze in visits to Katie's grandmothers which was fine except for how hurried they were and that they were almost late to Kim and Daniel's rehearsal dinner. The dinner was at Blind Pig Tavern and Nathan tried fried pickles for the first time and liked them! We also got more sweet tea =)

Saturday we stopped by to see Ricky on the way to Kim and Daniel's wedding. Ricky had been in a near-fatal car accident a month before and since Katie had babysat him for 6 years, she really wanted to see him. He looked a lot better and has improved even more since then! We left their house and began our quest to Carlton...just past the middle of nowhere. The wedding was gorgeous and the food delicious. Katie did receive warning that there were ticks in the area (outdoor wedding/reception) so she decided to apply bugspray just in case. We rushed to Laura and Jeremy's reception (their wedding was also the 18th!) but were unable to see them because the bride and groom arrived 1.5 hours late. By that point we had to leave to have dinner with Katie's family in Braselton at the Cracker Barrell. Nathan had been wanting to try hush puppies ever since hearing Brad Paisley's song "Ain't Nothin' Like" where he says you should have "good hush puppies with some sweet iced tea" so he made sure to order some with his dinner.

Sunday Kay cooked breakfast as she and Katie had been trying to figure out Fran's homemade biscuit recipe. It's getting closer. Then it was time to go to the airport. We got drinks once we cleared security but opted to get food in Houston. Once again, Continental overbooked their flight and took forever to get people sorted out as there were three people who had all been given the same seat! Finally we landed in Portland and took the MAX to 170th where Casey picked us up and took us home.

Astoria, OR - Easter '09

Nathan and Katie drove to Astoria for Katie's birthday. Stayed at Cannery Pier Inn.

Cannon Beach, OR - Valentine's '09

Nathan and Katie drove to Cannon Beach and stayed at Hallmark Inn. Then drove down 101 to Newport, stopping in Lincoln City, Depoe Bay...